Travel Back in Time

Adam is my first-born son. He was born on April 18, 1989. He's 22 now! He's the older one in this picture. I included this photo because one of my greatest memories of Adam is what we call "kick and splash." Whenever I bathed Adam, I'd say, "Kick and splash." And he'd kick away, splashing water all over the place. It was tons of fun! As he got older, we still did it from time to time, especially when he climbed into the tub with his brother, and later all his siblings. Over time, the saying became something fun and comforting in general. Whenever Adam was upset, I'd say, "Kick and splash!" We'd both laugh and remember and he usually felt a lot better!

Neil is my second son. He was born on January 7, 1991. He's now 21. This isn't really the best picture to include here, but it's one that I had on my computer that illustrates the smile, so it's here. Neil is the one in the back of the photo, grinning from ear to ear with his classic Neil grin! I have about 100 pictures of him with that look on his face, just all in hard copy. He had such a zest for life when he was little! That look gives me an image of him saying, "Vroom, vroom" and motoring around like crazy with total focus and intensity. He looked like this when he sat in cardboard boxes that were really race cars, when he constructed things with blocks and tools and when he knew he was getting his picture taken! I love that look!

I just giggle when I look at this picture of my first daughter, Cassandra. Cassandra was born on January 15, 1993. She's now 19. This is a picture from Cassie's 3rd birthday party and it really shows off her gorgeous, curly hair . . . which she now hates with a passion! It also shows her missing front tooth, which she knocked right out of her head when she was swinging at the park! She was a little accident-prone, as you can see from the picture below, too! She was a little fire-ball.

The picture below shows "the big owie." I just got home from my prenatal checkup to find out that Cassie had fallen on our cement stairs in our back yard. I had to turn around and go back to the doctor's office to get her cheek and eye checked! She was fine, but was really bruised for quite a while!

Stephanie is my last child, born June 12, 1996. She's now 15. This is one of my absolute favorite pictures of her! I smile every time I see it. She was playing outside in the yard with a friend this particular day and they decided that it would be the most fun thing ever to cover each other in mud! Notice how they missed the clothes! Too funny. I decided to cut the picture out and create a scene with it, showing her taking care of the yard. Isn't she adorable? She still loves this picture, too . . . even though she's an independent-minded, free-thinking teenager with multiple facial piercings and clothes that show off her unique style!