This morning the song “Let Them Be Little” by Billy Dean came on the radio. It was after I had taken the kids to school and I had an empty and very quiet house. I almost started to cry! A couple lines in the song say “Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle. Oh, and let them be little.” Chase is growing out of the stage where he comes and climbs in our bed in the middle of the night. On the occasions that he does, we love to snuggle together. James is at the age where he thinks he should act a certain way — to not show so much emotion towards me in front of his friends. We use to have this little hand signal and word that was just between us and I have noticed that he is less interested in them any longer. Annika is still just as sweet as ever but is getting so grown-up. She asked me to fix her hair up for her today for school. She looked so beautiful — so I had to take some pictures. Just stay sweet forever Darling!

After football practice yesterday, James requested a certain location to do some pictures of him. He was already wearing his game uniform from the team pictures we did earlier in the day, so who was I to turn him down? As I look at these, I can’t believe how big he is getting! He (and his brother and sister) is growing up way too fast! Can’t we just slow down time and keep them young and sweet and innocent a while longer?

And here is a storyboard I am offering to the players as part of a fundraiser for James’ team:

Chase started Kindergarten this week. I now have all 3 of my children in school full-time. It’s crazy — I don’t feel old enough for this! Chase was kind enough to humor me while I took a few pictures of him tonight… 5 to be exact. That was his stipulation. I miss him terribly during the day and will be so sad the day he forgets to tell me “I will miss you SO VERY much, Mommy!” when I drop him off at school. In my mind, I hear his sweet voice telling me that in my ear all day long until he gets off the bus and he says “I missed you so, so, so much today while I was at school!” That has been the ritual these last three days. I hope it lasts forever! *I love you Chasey!*

It’s pictures like this next one where I can really see that he’s growing up: