13 Photos Of My 13 Year Old

Since I have been on a blog-break, something very important has happened. My baby girl turned 13! (In fact, all the celebrating from that is part of why I have been on a blog-break.) At some point between that day 13 years ago when my life changed for the better and now I blinked... and now my little black headed, dark skinned, teeny-tiny baby girl is a beautiful, thoughtful, creative, responsible teenager. I have had several people ask me what it is like to have a teenager... to be the mom of a teenager. Is it any different than the day before when I was a mom to a 12 year old? Well obviously, nothing changed on the morning of October 31st when I awoke and my daughter was 13 instead of 12, but something substantial has been taking place during the last year or so. Allie has been changing and growing and maturing, and so has our relationship. We are not "there" yet - we both still have a lot of growing to do, but to answer those questions... yes, it is different to have a teenager... or at least to have my teenager. In many ways it is easier than when she was an infant that woke at night or a toddler that was as strong-willed as any child that I have ever seen, but in some ways it is immensely harder. I feel like, more than ever, that I can't mess this up. If I do, it is the course of her life that is at stake... not just that her schedule gets out of whack. There is more emotion - on her part and mine - than I think we have ever had. Sometimes that is good, sometimes that is challenging. For the most part - and I know that we are just getting started - it is the best time that I have had in her life. It is wonderful to get glimpses of the woman that she is growing into. It is amazing to share a conversation where she shares her thoughts. It is an honor to be the mother of the one and only 13 year old Allie Jill, and I look forward to seeing what 14, and 15, and 16... and 20, and 40 hold for my baby girl.

Every day I think that Allie is beautiful, and on this day - shortly before her birthday - I took some pictures of her when she came home from school to mark this point in time. Here, in honor of her 13th birthday, are the 13 photos from that shoot that I liked the most.

Happy Birthday, Allie Cat!

I'll love you forever.

I'll like you for always.

As long as I'm living,

my baby you'll be.

Pumpkin Patch '09

This year's October was the rainiest one that I can ever remember. I think it rained all but about 3 days during the month. So, that made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch a little hard to pull off. Finally, the week of Halloween, the rain let up enough for us to give the Patch a try. The kids all put on rain boots, and we headed out to the Pumpkin Patch to play with friends, ride a hay ride, climb through a hay maze, jump in the inflatables, and to eat snow cones. ( I know, that last one was a bit random, but there are snow cones there, and they have become something that the kids try to talk me into each year. :) ) Unfortunately, Allie was not feeling very photogenic.

~ Jack on the hay ride ~

(Oh, I love this boy!)

~ muddy Pumpkin Patch ~

~ Cooper, hay riding ~

~ taking it all in ~

~ climbing in the hay maze ~

~ hay maze ~

~ Farmer Cooper ~

~ one of my favorite photos ever of Cooper ~

See? Muddy!

Cowboy Cooper's Western Day

You know those kinds of dreams that some people have where they show up to the first day of a new job wearing their pajamas? The kind where you dream that it is Christmas morning and you forgot to buy presents? Well, I had a real-life day like that recently. It was a day a few weeks ago that I was running at full-speed from the time that I woke up. The kind where everything on my Mommy-schedule had to fall in to place perfectly or all heck could break loose (and by that, I mean I would melt into a heap and bawl like a baby). Anyway, it was a very busy day. And on that very busy day I pulled into Cooper's preschool carline to see that all of the teachers that were helping kids out of their cars were dressed in cowboy boots and cowboy hats and bandanas. The thought crossed my mind that it might be the "Western Day" that I had a vague recollection of reading about, but I instantly thought, "No! I would not have missed putting that on my calendar!... They must be "advertising" for Western Day that I am sure is next week." Lo and behold, however, when the teacher-lady opened my van door, and I said, "This isn't Western Day, is it?" She not-so-happily (and as if I had forgotten the most important day of the school year) said, "Yes, it is." I instantly had (irrational???) tears well up in my eyes and imagined my little boy being the one and only non-cowboy in his class, instantly rearranged my schedule in my head, and said, "I'll go get Cooper some cowboy clothes right now". I flew back home, flew through the house and grabbed some cowboy garb, and flew back to the school, and I made it back to Cooper's classroom just moments before his little class headed out the door to get their cowboy pictures taken.

And wasn't he just the cutest cowboy ever?!?

I know that the whole crying-over-cowboy-clothes thing is a little irrational and is probably something that only a mother would understand. I just could not bear the thought of falling down on my mommy-job, and I had run out of brain-space and emotional tolerance. In the end, we pulled it off... Cooper had a great Western Day, and I got to exhale and run my errands. I think I might have even gotten a Starbucks to help me through the rest of that crazy day. And no matter if you understand it or not, I'd call that a successful day.

Trunk or Treat

The weekend before Halloween, a local church had Trunk or Treat where the members of their church decorated their car trunks and handed out candy to the kiddos that were there. My boys dressed in the costumes that they were planning to wear for Halloween - Indiana Jones (or "IndyAndy Jones if you're Cooper) & Dallas Cowboys player, Jason Witten. Allie and her friend Katie were not up for dressing in their Halloween costumes yet, but they were up for collecting candy. We had a nice surprise that night when my friend Amanda & her family called us with a last-minute dinner invitation. Since we were already planning on Trunk or Treating then going to church but couldn't pass on hanging out with friends, they joined our fun.

~ Indiana Jones & Jason Witten at home ~

~ my boys ~

~ Allie & Katie ~

~ Matthew & Jack ~

(I love what a good buddy Jack is to his friends!)

This was my favorite "trunk"... Neverland, the nursery window, and Tinkerbell & Peter Pan.

~ our crew ~

Katie, Rylie Grace, Allie, Cooper, Matthew, & Jack

... and the "cherry on top", Brystol (who rode in her mommy's sling the whole time)

Allie's First Overnight At Camp

We wrapped up our day at the State Fair to get Allie back to town to go to a weekend retreat with her friend, Katie & her church's middle school youth group. I have great memories from my childhood (or would that be called kidhood?) of going to church camp. They were some of the most fun and carefree days that I had in my junior high & highschool years, so I was excited for Allie to have an opportunity to go have those kinds of experiences when her friend Kaite invited her to join her youth group at a church camp that is a couple of hours away for a Friday - Sunday retreat.
We got the girls all packed up and ready to go... and then the time came to say goodbye. I had not anticipated that that would be emotional for me at all (It was just a weekend retreat, right), but when it was time to walk away and leave my little girl in the (capable, I'm sure) hands of someone that I did not know, I had tears in my eyes and a sick feeling in my stomach. I had never left my kids in someone's care that I did not know. Most every time that they have been away from me, it has been with family or very close friends, so this was new territory. Territory that I realize I will be stepping into more and more as my children grow. As Allie gets older, the stages become more and more complicated and risky and emotional. All of the hard work that we have put in to raising her is becoming something that we just now are starting to step back and watch what she and God do with. It is out of my comfort zone, but I am totally confident that she and He will make some great things come out of her life. The day that she went to camp for the first time, the mommy inside of me wanted to chase that Greyhound Bus down the road with a water bottle - in case she got thirsty, and some Tylenol - incase something got hurt, a bat to hit any boy that got close enough to speak to my princess - incase he just might catch her attention too, and a listening ear to hear anything that could be inappropriate or hurtful - incase someone else didn't have a mother that was as insanely protective as I... but I know that I have done my best to prepare her, and it is now time to begin letting her step out into this great big world, and I think, by the grace of God, that she is prepared.

So, she went.


And she had a really great time. There was lots of food and night-time-games and fun & learning over the weekend, and I think that she enjoyed it all.


And I think that I could let her do something like this again. And some day I might even be able to let her go away for a week... or to college...

One little baby step at a time. Right?

~ Allie & Katie ~

Texas State Fair 2009

Almost every fall for the last 15 years I have gone to the Texas State Fair. It is something that the kids and I look forward to doing each year. Last year, we had one of our best trips ever to the fair as we spent all day there and even shut the fairgrounds down with the evening parade. This year, Corey wanted to go with us, so by the time we waited for him to wrap up his work we only had a couple of hours before Allie had to be back for an activity. But they were fun hours.

~ the petting zoo ~

~ watching a horse show ~

(There is almost nothing cuter to me than little kids standing on a fence.)

The Pee Wee Stampede is the little-kid rodeo that they have at the State Fair. Somehow, I missed knowing about it every year until last year. Now that I know about it, we will make sure to make it to the Pee Wee Stampede every year that Cooper is the right age to do it! (He is the only one that qualifies.) It is so cute - and I think it is officially my favorite thing at the fair.

~Jack waiting with Cooper in the line to sign up for the Pee Wee Stampede ~

~ nothing cuter than a little cowboy ~

He melts me!

Can you tell that I loved seeing Cooper as a little cowboy?

~ the opening parade ~

Cooper was assigned the role of "Bull Rider". I love this photo of all the little Bull Riders waiting for their turn.

~ Ride 'Em Cowboy! ~

~ Cooper "riding his horse" at the end of the rodeo ~

~ Sister, watching her little brother ~

Corey & the kids had their photo taken with the Heisman Trophy.

~ Big Tex ~

~ my little boys watching the miniature trains ~

~ an icon of the Texas State Fair ~

~ heading home ~

Because I'm Ridiculous, That's Why

One might wonder why I have not blogged in so long... and there are several answers to that question. The first one being, I don't want to post things out of order! I am ridiculous like that. I have boocoos (Is that how you spell that?) of photos from my sister-trip to Seattle that I want to post that I have been having ummmm... issues with. So, I have not wanted to move on on my blog until I have those posted. However, I don't know how or when I am going to make that work, so I am about to post several entries that I have been storing as drafts "until I get Seattle posted". I will have to (HOPEFULLY) come back to the Seattle trip and add it into its rightful place later. For now, hold on to your hats 'casue I have a few blog posts up my sleeves... We have had tons of great, wonderful, fun stuff going on in our family (another of the reasons that I have not blogged lately - I've been insanely busy!), and I am now... officially... prepared to move on in ummmm... un-chronological order...

Here we go.