Happy Mother's Day! (5 Minute Freewrite... introducing my Kids)

_{Photo Courtesy of @ikaraboutyou from KS Visual Media}

I wrote a post to my kids a while ago, called, "To My Kids: Let's Talk About Mother's Day" and now here it is, the day to celebrate our mothers. <3 Because I feel SO freaking lucky to be a mom, my mother's day post is going to be about my kids.

My mother is off traipsing about the country, but if she happened to be in the area, we'd probably go out to eat and then go window shopping and make inappropriate jokes about weird things like odd shaped paper towel holders. We aren't as close as we once were, but we still have fun together. I appreciate one on one time much more than the chaos of gatherings, though...

And as it turns out, that's what MY kids like, too. For many MANY years now, each of them asks for a one on one Mother's Day "date" throughout the week and I'm happy to oblige! Today I'm going to go spend time with my oldest daughter while her husband is home to be with their two boys. The best gift for a stay at home mom is a break ;)

I guess what I probably want MOST is more professional family photos, because I'm pretty spoiled with TONS of visits from these guys every week as it is:

And we have plenty of random, weird family photos (that I'd gladly hang on the walls!) but we always seem to be missing somebody! Especially since there has been a new grandbaby since 2015!

I ALSO want a new photo to update this picture from when they were little... now, to get them all here when there is still enough DAYLIGHT to take it! :)

That was a really long winded post already, but I'll use my five minute freewrite to tell you about my kids (hint: it took 10 minutes instead of 5).

Starting from oldest to youngest:

Sprite (named after the soda): Sprite is now 26 years old with two babies of her own. She was the kid who always wanted to grow up to be a mom and a teacher. She wrote her own children's church curriculum at a very young age when we lived on the bus traveling. She'd gather together kids at campgrounds and teach them the songs she'd written, have them do projects and take class. She was awesome with kids and it's no surprise that she grew up, got married and now has two kids. The only surprise is that she only has two! I've written about Grandma Day here and this Awesome book I made for the boys as well!

Kainan is 22 (23 next month). He's my 'momma's boy' and he will tell anyone (and always has) "Yeah, I'm a momma's boy. If you had a mom like mine, you would be, too!" He is pretty awesome. I'm still waiting for those days that people 'warn' you about "One day they will be too embarrassed to hug you" because this boy still insists on his hugs, even when I visit him at work where he works as a butcher with all the badass guy types. At 6'3" and 250 pounds, he'll get hugs whenever he wants them ;) I can only hope he knows his own strength! He has always told me that I can live with him when I get 'Old and unpleasant" AND he brings stuff over for us to make lunch together once a week (did I mention that he's a butcher? He brings the GOOD STUFF!)

Jaedin @knightengale is 21. He's my science geek, techie guy (Mr. Fixit for all computer issues!) and resident genius along with my husband. He was always the quiet one and kind of still is, but he is SO freaking hilarious. Kainan is loud and boisterous and funny, but Jaedin waits until he has the perfect moment to let a joke fly and cracks us all up beyond belief with his wit. He's pretty awesome. He is the kid that built a forge in the back yard and started melting down and making things out of metals... that's the kind of kid he is.

Paris @loliboofae is 20 and I recently wrote a longer post about her for her birthday She is my strong, vivacious, artsy child and you'll see her pop up often in my cover photos, because she's not only very photogenic, but she always loved doing modeling days with me so I have TONS of photos of her. If you know me at all, you know I love my photos!

Abyni @abyni is 17 and she is the resident musician. As with the rest of the kids, she was homeschooled most of her life and just this year attended a Technical school for sound engineering and visual media. She graduated this past week with honors and numerous certifications for programs that would have cost us a fortune, but she managed to go way over and above the school's expectations and got them all accomplished. She taught herself guitar and the ukulele (and is currently working on the piano) and plays soooo many covers for me. She wrote me a Mother's Day post today

Oh! And She wrote this song called "Mother" for me last year. It is SO so sweet and I love it beyond belief!

Anyway, that's the base group of kids that we started with. We've since gathered a few extra over the years... but that's all I have for now.

This was my 5 Minute Freewrite

_{Click the graphic to join the fun}

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics

And some of my other more recent posts:

Fitting in Fitness: My Mindfulness May Challenge

Daily Adventures with our dog, Tiberius the Brat

VOICES: The Party (Real Life story of Multiple Personalities)

_{Photos are mine except where they are credited to their source under the photos}.