Bullet Points...

The past few months in pictures!

Somehow over the years, this baby girl...

 Turned into this beautiful girl.

She is everything a momma could hope for in a daughter.  Thoughtful and responsible.  Kind and generous. 

Patient and sweet.  

Jackpot.

 

Her very best friends threw her a Hunger Games themed birthday party!  

 *Halloween came and went quickly.  The older the kids get, the less stressful this becomes.  We had a Ninja, Batman, and Katniss this year. 

Oh and Michael Jordan, of course...

My Mom and Dad came for Grandparents Day at Elyria for Caleb.  It was so, so special! 

 They are really just the best.

Our second annual MacTown Throwdown proved to be much bigger than we anticipated.  

75 athletes from 3 states.  It was an awesome problem to figure out.

We freshened up the gym a bit.

Friends came to the rescue in many different ways.

This guy made the whole thing run like a well oiled machine.  It was logistically insane because we didn't really have enough equipment to accommodate that many athletes.  We had other gyms help us out and Chad had it all figured out.  It was impressive to say the least.

*Thanksgiving was awesome, as usual.  Grace and Seth came again this year which makes it super special cause they are so stinkin' fun!
Autumn made CHEESECAKES!!  

 My sister is so pretty.

 Family!

My brother is really pretty too ;-) 

And finally, these are hanging in my kitchen now.  They were my grandma's from Haiti and I adore them.  They make me smile.

I think I'm caught up.  Kinda.  In pictures, at least.  In thoughts? I may never be caught up there :)

Pause

It seems after something tragic, my brain shuts down a bit and it's hard to put together thoughts in a "bloggish" fashion.
We're busy.  It's the holidays.  I have a million thoughts in a day that could be shared and no time or energy to share them.  Things have happened in our lives(competition at the gym, first middle school games, birthday for the girl, etc), in the world (Ferguson, ebola) and I have thoughts on all of them that I would like to put in my little journal here, but it's too much to keep up with.  I feel a bullet point post coming on ;-)
I haven't been sleeping well and I have 2 canker sores which is a sure sign that I'm stressed.  Money is super non-existent after paying out our annual affiliation fee and insurance at the gym. Holiday shopping is looming and this next week is full.  End of semester assignments and tests that aren't getting done, basketball games, and Christmas concerts.  That beautiful thing called margin

And then today, when I had big plans to put a big dent in my homework, this...

Sick baby.  

The rest of life shut down and I remember why I'm here. 

 Sometimes I need the reminder.  Wish it didn't have to come in the form of a vomiting child.