As we finished lunch, Kate decided to take the rest of Alyx's PB&J. Alyx and I went to the den to work on our project, and Kate followed us with her brother's food in hand and took up her usual place on the bottom stair. I caught her in a weird moment before she took off again. Silly girl.

Football practice, take two. I must find some means of entertaining myself for two hours three nights a week for Alyx's practice. Most of the time, I can't even find him on the field through the throng of boys. The communication between the coaches and parents is basically nonexistent aside from the general emails they send out. I was pretty frustrated today with the amount of questions I ended up having with no one to ask. This is so not my thing. I can't wait for Jeremy to take over this part!

Alyx loves playing football, it's right up his alley. It's hard for a momma to hear the way coaches are with our babies, but I know this is going to be good for him. 

Yeah! That's my boy!!!

Beautiful late afternoon sun at Stadium High School's football field. I love imagining Jeremy being here when this was his field.

Today for the first time, Kate put her finger up to her lips and says, 'Shh.' I'm not sure where she got it from. She's repeating almost every word that stands out to her. She takes off like a bullet everywhere we go. During our two hour wait, she walks all over, smiling at people, waving, and coming back to me for more goodies or to play with me. When she wants to be held, she looks up at me, and very clearly says 'Up'.

She kept walking around, and when she would find something of interest (this time pieces of a dandelion), she would bring it back to me. She usually gets really excited at this point, this was part of her baby gibberish and goofiness. Hahaa, she's your daughter babe! :)

I love, love, love this pictures!! When she would walk away, I would watch her until she turned around, and when we made eye contact, she would coming running back with her arms out wide for me, with a big smile and lots of giggles.

When she got closer this time, she was drawing attention from the people next to us, so she slowed to smile back at them. 

Tonight when I laid Kate in bed, she put her foot up on her knee while it was bent (almost like crossing legs while sitting). It was so cute! My time with them is so precious, and I am all too aware of each moment. While at the store this evening, Alyx mentioned his birthday invitations. I instantly said, "No, your birthday is still far away." Until I really realized that school starts for him in 3 weeks, and his birthday follows shortly after that. We got his invitations. He'll be going into second grade, and turning 8 years old. What the heck?! How on earth does that happen?! I keep wondering how I have an eight year old child! Having Kate is a constant reminder of how little Alyx used to be. When he was her age, I joined the army. My oh my, how time changes things. *Cue song - look at me now, look at me now*

I am so looking forward to the day Jeremy comes home and there's no more leaving, just living. As hard as days get with out him, I couldn't be more thankful for everything he still manages to do for me. I always remind myself that it's not like he is there for fun or just because. We have purpose, meaning, goals, and our family. Even if things don't always work out as we planned, we still have everything we could possibly need and so much more, and I'm thankful for that. Always.

I love and miss you so much. xoxo