....Collin. My oldest. The kid who looks most like me (for which I say that he's lucky I'm a boyish kind of woman...). The one who made me a mommy for the first time. My karate buddy. He's so much like me that it's scary sometimes. I look at him and watch what he does, and I see me at that age. It's tough to find a picture of him these days, as he doesn't much like to pose.

....It's so amazing to see your kids get older. It's a wonderful and scary thing. You hope so much for them. You hope that it will be so much better for them. Yet you hope that they experience the same joys that you have, especially when it comes to parenting. And the mean side of you hopes that they'll experience some of the frustrations....the same frustrations they're dumping in your lap!

.....the first picture is from Christmas morning (which is why I'm at the heighth of loveliness!). I was surprised he posed with me. The second picture is more recent. We spent a lovely afternoon at Cool Creek Park in Westfield with the Phillips family.