Time.........

~Yesterday was a gorgeous day!  The sun was shining brightly.  It was warm.  And the wind only lightly breezed by a few times.  I love days like that!!!
~I'm still unpacking.  Brian and Zack brought over the last of our things in storage yesterday so I don't have to worry about adding more to the mix, which is a HUGE relief!!!  This place is bulging at the seams.  I've already taken out something like 5 boxes of things we are getting rid of which is nice but there is still so much more.  Our boys have always LOVED dressing up in costumes. They are so cute!  You never know "who" is going to walk in the room.  As I've been unpacking and organizing and sorting I've run across many of the cute little costumes our boys have always loved dressing up in. Of course Matthew and Max were so excited to see them again after being away from them for the last 8 months.  They put them right on and much to my surprise and both of our disappointment...they have grown too big for most of them.  I knew they were growing like weeds this year but I had no idea just how much until now.  It's sad that they are growing up so quickly.  It's wonderful that each new phase brings new joy and excitement for them and for us.  It's so exciting to watch them grow and change and progress in so very many different ways.  I'm a little scared of what the future brings.  It's kind of a crap shoot.  You raise your kids the way you believe you should and some of them turn out great and others...not so much.  There is no secret.  There is no magic potion or formula that will ensure that they will turn out the way you hope they will.  I have seen so many people that have been very good, decent, people and they raise all of their kids in the same way, in the same home and each result is different.  I just hope and pray that our children will turn out to be happy, good, kind, decent, loving, family oriented, successful, spiritual, productive, honorable, upstanding, members of this world we live in.  They are growing so fast.  I hope we are doing it right.  I hope they are taking the good things from life.  I hope they hold onto the good things of their childhood and not the bad.  I hope I can try harder to enjoy the moments before it's too late and they are grown and the opportunity is gone.  I see my nephews and nieces and I can't believe how quickly they have grown.  I blinked and they are all in their late teens/early twenties.  Some are parents.  I just can't believe how fast time flies by.  I want to capture this time somehow and remember it forever.  Everyone that is past this stage tells us to savor the time, enjoy it more, it goes too fast, don't let it slip by without taking time to just ENJOY.  I'm trying.  Really, I am.  Sometimes LIFE gets in the way and time slips away a little more and I stop and think, wait! Hold up! SLOW DOWN!!!  Crazy how it doesn't.  It just goes by faster.  One thing that might help is to take more pictures.  The more kids I have, the fewer pictures I take.  Too busy taking care of everyone to think about capturing the moments.  If I do though I will at least have the pictures to look back on and help me remember this time after it's gone.  Scrapbooking is so great for this.  I should do it more often.  If you scrapbook you are thinking all the time of the scrapbook and what moments you want to capture in their books forever and you take more time to really look for those special, sweet moments to capture on film.  I am so grateful that our children are so healthy and can grow and flourish.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  I will ENJOY this time more and appreciate it more and try harder to make this time more enjoyable for all of us!!!!