My Beautiful Children

Hello all,

I realized that I haven't written in a while and I had promised myself that I wouldn't let significant amounts of time go between writings. So, I decided that I had better get on the boat. However, to be honest, I don't feel any good stories coming to me. I could tell you all about my camping trip over the Pioneer weekend, but I don't have the energy. I could tell you how running this morning felt like I was dragging one-ton weights on each foot, but I persevered, even though my time is getting steadily worse. Again, no energy. So, I decided to write about my beautiful children. Now, I use the word beautiful, but that's because I am their mom and I feel very biased. I will let you decide for yourselves...

Audrey is nine-years-old, going on about 30. I swear, she is me incarnate with a bit of Caradon thrown in for good measure. But, I pray for her sake that she will not put herself through what I did at her age. She is tall and slender and very sweet. She is always thinking of other people, always trying to make life easier for everyone. She gets that one from her dad, I can't rightly take credit for that trait. Here she is at her third-grade play. She had a few lines in it and her little chimes group played a few songs. She is very talented, a wonderful singer, and shows some interest in sports...we will see if that persists. She is pretty well-liked at school and she is extremely smart. What a wonderful kid!

Then, there is my Dallin. This was the most attractive picture I could find of him, wouldn't you say? We are quite the pair. Dallin is his dad's shadow. Whenever Mike is home, Dallin follows him around to the point where he will run right into him if Mike stops walking abruptly. It's kind of cute. I can't say Mike would agree, but he loves hanging out with Dallin just the same. Dallin is also very smart. He is a good friend to all the kids in school and he has a great sense of humor. He has a gentle heart, but sometimes he lets it get the best of him and he cries a lot over not so important stuff. I am sure that is something that will get better as he gets older. He is most definitely my favorite son by far!

Okay, here is Emma...again, the most attractive picture I could find. Emma is quite the drama queen. She loves to do anything imagination-oriented. She plays dress-up, dolls, puts on plays, does gymnastics, digs for gold...all the wonderful things a little girl should do! Emma has quite a temper along with all those great characterisitics. We have had to put together a scream chart to get her to not freak out over the tiniest things. She is a wonderful big sister to Claire and she has a very loving heart. I do fear that she may be my most difficult teenager to deal with, but I'll deal with it as it comes, I suppose.

Finally, our little Claire Bear. She is the youngest and last member of the Mike Jenkins family, so needless to say, she gets a little spoiled. Not even necessarily by me, though! She tends to get it from all her siblings as well as her dad too! She is very sweet. She is funny and quite the ham, always looking for ways to get a laugh out of everyone. She is full of cute little Claire-isms and even with her jumbled words, she gets her point across without much trouble. She is finally getting the hang of potty training which is quite the milestone for me! No more diapers for the first time in ten years!! As she is sitting here next to me, she is whispering in my ear that she doesn't like corn dogs. Just so you all know...! She also has an adorable lisp that, as cute as it is, will hopefully go away soon. What a cutie patootie!

Well, that wraps up today's post. I hope it is as entertaining to read as it was to write.