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September, 2019:

A preteen crush?

Parenting …

I’ve had those guilty moments, like WTF did I just do or say that

I pick my battles

It’s exhausting to argue over what they do or do not eat.  Why some people fight their kids on this is beyond me.  They like what they like.  Their tastes are going to change.  Unless they’re spooning frosting out of the container for breakfast I’m not going to freak out if they decide to have a slice of left over pizza on their way out the door to school.  They get vegetables, dairy, meats, carbs, proteins …

I try to keep an open dialog with them.  Both of them seem like they can come and talk to me when they need to.  I don’t make a big deal out of things so that they don’t feel uncomfortable talking about stuff.

So just the other day she is with me in the car.  It’s just the two of us.  And she says daddy can I ask you a random question.  What would you say if I told you I had a crush?  Because I do.  He likes me too.  Is this an Ogden boy I ask?  No, a Cossitt kid.  Hmm…

That’s sort of the end of that conversation though and we move on.

But over the next 24 hours it’s running through my head.  Where is this going?  What’s going to happen next?  I’m thinking of my teenage years…not freaking out, sort of, but more or less borderline.

Then the next evening she says she doesn’t have a crush any more.  But that she does have guys who are her friends.  Phew?!?!?!  I didn’t ask any more.  She feels like she can come talk to me and I’m hoping to keep it that way.

I could envision her mom’s side of the family asking question after question, trying to get the scoop so that they can then go gossip about it.  That’s just not me.  I think that causes people to put up walls sometimes; to avoid those types of situations and to stay more or less closed mouth.

Anyways I’m confident there’s more to come and this was just a brief introduction to the teenage years ahead of us … yikes!

I Love My Little Guy

When is the last time he’ll hang out with me like this?

He sleeps next to me in my bed nearly every night.

He holds my hand when we’re out on a walk.

He tells me often that I’m the best dad ever.

I’m certainly not taking this time for granted.  I know it won’t last.  While I can’t wait to see him grow I also want him to stay like this as long as possible.

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Summer 2019

It felt like the summer just flew by.  I think it actually sort of did.  But looking back at pictures we sure stayed busy.

Her softball all star team won the district tournament and then went on to play at state.  She played pitcher, 3rd, catcher, left field and 1st base.  In the 1st day of the state tournament the actual temperature outside was 100+ and the heat index was worse.  They had to play a double header.  The heat was ridiculous.   They went 1-1 the first day of games but lost our first game on the 2nd day (officially ending up in 3rd place in state) … there were some tears 🙁 but it was a great experience all around.  Plus she made some awesome new friends through this all

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What in the world is the girl in the outfield doing while Ellie’s out there giving it her all???  This is why they didn’t win.

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Catching in 110+ degree humidity.  Notice the parents in the background with umbrellas?  That wasn’t for the rain (not a cloud in the sky)

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By far the most emotional of the kids.  I think she wanted it the most out of all the girls.

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Early summer with family & friends

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Then still doing it into August with some more friends

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We’re missing a couple little ones in this picture but we’ll do this again next year and make sure we get them in the picture too

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4th of July Weekend with the family.  We went home for a game and came back out to make it in time for this 🙂

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The not-so-giant slip & slide courtesy of the association.  Still super fun but last year it was 3x the size.  Hopefully we can make that happen again next year.

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He caught 20 fish between this day and the next morning

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We have a new toy at the lake. So much fun!

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In an effort to make taking the garbage cans to the street fun they get to ride back down the driveway on these 🙂

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Last year I worked on the porch.  This year I painted this.  It took two coats.  I should have sprayed it

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He took a whack at this and liked it (although I’m pretty sure he missed the ball on this swing)

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Loras Year 2.  Badminton, Lacrosse & Football for him.  Aerial Dance, Badminton & Kayak/Canoe/Dragon Boating for her.

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More time with family labor day weekend.  It wasn’t a warm weekend but we still made the best of it

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And then these two got up and out on the lake by 7:30a for some quality fishing.  Being able to do this with her (and him too) … priceless

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She has a bass on her line and her cousin (hidden behind her) also has a fish on.  Uncle Mark did well too but he needed some gloves when handling those fish 😉

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