Double Digits

Nine short years ago we were celebrating Evan's first birthday in our tiny apartment in Germany.

Today we celebrated his tenth birthday. It is so cliche, but where did the time go?

Ten Things I Love About My Evan

10:  His fear of severe weather. Two tornado warnings within a week and countless hours in the closet, I guess, can do that to you. Don't even get him started with the off-hand reference to an approaching low pressure system.

9: Evan's love for the outdoors. It can be 95 degrees, the boy will be outside playing some sport sweating blood, and it will actually be fun for him.

8: His love for reading - especially when we read something together.

7: Evan's affinity for apples. He eats at least one every single day.

6: Evan's heart for others; especially for the disadvantaged. He's our gentle giant.

5: His quest for understanding right from wrong and defining justice.

4: His competitiveness to win at every single thing he does - even when it gets him kicked out of Sunday School.

3: His opinions. He can argue about anything - even the need for society to rid itself of currency.
Which by the way would lead to less materialism and a greater concern for others.

2: Watching him play his game with such intensity.You'll never see another ten year old with more yellow cards. I call it heart, but the refs seldom agree with me.

1: And the number one reason I love my Evan .....he belongs to me! He's all mine, and I couldn't be prouder!

Happy Birthday, Baby! May all your wishes come true this year!

Pictures Worth a 1000 Words

Last Saturday Wes went to Savannah for Keagan's friendly. After the games, they stopped at a small town on the coast to take pictures.

Keagan entered a local photo contest with these photos of his.

Old County Jail

When they win their first photo gig with a travel magazine, I have agreed to hitch a ride with them as the luggage girl.

Midway Church

SpookTacular Halloween

Clearly I did not partake in this year's costume purchases. What happened to wearing super heroes and zoo animals?

Keagan as Haunted Scarecrow

Evan as the Troll

A woman stopped Evan on the sidewalk and asked, "What you is? A troll on meth?"

Point taken.

Boys Try to Scare Mom

We were down to the wire, though, when Evan told us Sunday at 2030 that he wanted to go trick or treating this year. Of course there was nothing in our costume bin that would come close to fitting the Man Child so I did the next best thing. I sent Wes to Wal Mart on a mission, and I told him to do whatever it took to secure the very last XL costume he could find. I warned him to be ready to battle. However, there was little I could say to prepare him for the reality of a trip to Wal Mart two days before a holiday.
He will find a way to pay me back.

I'm hoping his night of trick-or-treating with these two guys will help him forget all about his shopping experience.

We hope your Halloween was filled with tricks and treats and lots of spooks!

Good Googley Goo!

Oh, Mom! Who knew these would be such a hit? 

If they ever find out I posted this, I'm dead.

Family Day

For all of you experiencing snow and horrible storms, I'm so sorry, but this is how we spent our first day at home with Wes. St. Simons is even more beautiful in October when you are the only family on the beach. 

The boys played football on the beach, until Wes realized that after wearing combat boots for almost 48 hours, his feet were covered in blisters.

The boys and I returned home sunkissed; Wes came home beet red.

Welcome Home

Last October, Evan agreed to take on Wes's weekly chore of taking out the trash while Wes was deployed. For nine months we counted down the trash days, celebrating each Tuesday night as we got closer and closer to no more trash days and thus Wes's return. That is until we reached zero and Wes was still living the high life in Camp Beuhring. It was on this day that Evan declared that he had served his time; his trash days were over. Since then I have been taking out the trash, and I am happy to announce that I am done with trash days. Late last night, Wes finally made it home. The other travelers pulled out their phones and started taking pictures when they saw Keagan running down the tunnel with his arms opened wide. 

Wes asked this morning,"What happened? Evan's like a teenager now?"

A year is a long time, and yet it seems like just yesterday he left.

What Time Is It?

This can only mean one thing....our excitement is overwhelming!