So my son comes home from Kindergarten yesterday with two pictures he had drawn. “Tell me about these, Trysten!”

(As I look at this picture)

He says, “Well, that’s a guy running down the street with a snake chasing him and the snake ate his clothes and his butt cheeks are showing.”

I’m only human, I laughed and asked where he came up with that, “Just in my head.” Obviously.

“What did your teacher say about it?

“She didn’t see it, but my friends at my table thought it was hilarious.” Obviously.

Then I see the next picture.

“And what is this?”

“Oh that is a guy pooping on everyone else.”

“Trysten, that is not appropriate.”

“Well my friends thought that was even funnier than the buttcheeks.”

“And now you just sound like your father.”

And he is, just like him. I happen to love them both.

After six years of marriage there are still things you learn about each other. We were in the car yesterday and I had my legs crossed. Zach says, “You have dirt on your leg.”

I looked down and saw that he was looking at my BIRTH mark that has (obviously) been there since we met. It’s on my shin for goodness sakes. I told him what it was and he said, “I guess I’m too busy looking into your eyes.” And by eyes he means boobs.

What can you do? I think he’s charming.

So…meet the newest Klipsch. Isn’t he the cutest? His name is Abe and he is a great dane (hi, mom!) He is Zach’s birthday present and my substitute for another child (only kidding).

So he’s 14-weeks-old and already weighs 45lbs. Doesn’t look like a puppy but is cuter than cute, if I do say so myself. Have I told you how much I like big dogs? Okay, you’ve waited long enough, here are the pics!

And though there might be some friends (and family) who might question our sanity at this point in time, we love dogs and since we live on 265 acres we think it’d be sacrilige (sp) if we didn’t get another, right?

Kids waiting for Abe (they picked his name, by the way) to get out of the car.

Abe laying down getting to know his surroundings.

Look at that face!

The brothers and their bones.

Doozie watching a movie and enjoying her new dog. All of the kids love him, especially Tariku who giggles every time he comes around.

Oh, and Cindy, Zach’s tattoo means “father” in Amharic and that is (obviously) the outline of Ethiopia. Love it!

Yesterday was a GREAT day! It started with Trysten’s first soccer game. It went well, but we lost. I’m blaming it on the fact that the other team’s coach was Scottish. Anyone who calls the soccer field a “pitch” and refers to soccer cleats as “boots” is going to win against the coach who uses the former words. Don’t you think?

After soccer we came home for some naps where I baked bread and did some laundry. Upon waking, the kids played guitar with daddy and Dailah did what she did best, played with babies.

Once the bread was in the oven, we went for a hike around camp. As you’ll see from the pictures, we are dogsitting my nephew-dog (i.e. my sister’s dog) until she moves back here in a few weeks. He is enjoying the great outdoors and I’m not real sure he’ll ever want to leave. Though he’s never been on a walk without a leash, he was just fine for us and the boys took it upon themselves to help out.

After the hike we made some delicious spagetti, had baths and then rented some movies. It was a really great, really relaxing day and just what the doctor ordered! The only thing that could’ve made it more perfect was if my allergies wouldn’t have been flared up! Enjoy the pics, holla!

Trysten getting prepped for game time, while holding our coffees, niiiice.

The spectators.

We had chairs for both but it’s infinitely more fun to be with the ones you love.

I showed Dailah how to wear her baby like the Ethiopian women do, it caught on real quick.

This is how Dailah likes to hike.

Trysten training Leo to heel.

The doggie cousins, too cute.

I love when they just do this without me asking them to.

When the internet is working well out here, I go for it. So here are some more pictures to show what we’ve been up to lately.

My brother (#10) playing soccer last weekend.

For some reason my parents thought it would be a good idea to face the sun during the game, so this was us.

Tariku going down the slide (this was 1 minute after I pushed him and 30 seconds before he thanked me)

Trysten going down the slide, no forcing with him, he wanted to show up little brother.

Kids helping my uncle Vic water my mom’s flowers that were driving him crazy.

Tman, mommy and my cousin, Storm, on the tubes after I forced Trysten…I sense a theme here.

Brothers, their hearts have no idea they haven’t always been.

I love this, the expression is in his eyes (and he’s not picking his nose, he’s wiggling his tooth).

I have no words for his beauty or his personality, only lots and lots of praise (but seriously, when is his molluscum going to disappear?) AND THERE’S A TARIKU (From Ethiopia) IN THE 5000 METERS IN THE OLYMPICS. HOW COOL IS THAT?

LOVE her!

Trysten talked Papa into Applebees for his night before Kindergarten. Imagine that.

And I think this is the picture of happiness, don’t you?

We went to River Roots Live last night in Downtown Davenport. It’s a free concert series this year so the kids and I went to Andy Landers and the Ragamuffin Band. We also got to catch a friend’s brother’s band beforehand and they were tops as well. I’ll get their name so you local folks can check out their CD. It also happened to be ribfest as well, which basically brought the best ribs in the U.S. Of A to our local Davenport and needless to say, Zach and I were smitten kittens with all the ribs surrounding us. Here are some pics that will make you jealous you weren’t there as well.

Zach after he ate the ribs when he asked for “hotter sauce”. He said he felt like his mouth was going to explode and he just wanted a pound of ice to just sit in his mouth. I took the boys to the bathroom and came back 8 minutes later. In that time, Zach drank a total of 40 oz of fluids. It was amazing. Check out his eyes and lips. The guy is miserable.

How could I not?

Rare is the shot when I get his actual smile.

C’mon, really.

2 of my favorite musicians of all time. Andy Landers (on the left mic, who is Jody’s hubby) and Ellis Kell, the scruffy bearded one.

Look how she’s looking at her brother. You can often find her giving him a huge bearhug.

Uncle Frank did his best to throw Trysten around enough to have him sleep hard for the night.

The kids showing our friend, Jill, some moves.

I’m trying to talk Jill (above) and Drew (below) into adopting from Africa. Drew played the tough guy but this was him, by choice, at the end of the night.

And she’s spent.

Here’s what we did leading up to the big K day.

We asked Trysten where he wanted to go out to eat after purchasing his school supplies, his answer? Applebees. You would think this kid has no culture or parents who support local restaurants. He can’t resist the corn dogs.

Cart full o’ goodies and one happy boy which makes one happy momma.

Trysten’s ice cream at “Unpack your backpack” night.

And I could just eat those cheeks.

Do I see a future in the Olympics for her? Good form, good form.

Kindergarten started today. I did surprisingly well, I’m not going to lie. Just got chocked up one time when I was taking a picture of him and it struck me how old he’s getting. He was sitting there in his Kindergarten row by himself. It was obvious he was a little hesitant to start up a conversation with his classmates but he also looked calm, like he knew it was going to be okay. He walked right up to his teacher, “Hello, Mrs. Comstock.” Such a great kid. But I’m so excited for him. I loved school (probably didn’t tell my parents enough) and am so excited for him to start. His teacher seems nice and he’s oozing enthusiasm so it makes it worth it. He was, in fact, a little bummed that it’s already the weekend and his first day was a half day to boot. What a bummer. 🙂 But he got to do recess, PE and lunch today so he thought he got all the good parts of the day anyway.

What scares me most about Kindergarten? Trysten is my empathetic one. He cried when we took our dog to the vet the other day because he’s not walking well. He cries during movies when they’re sad and is just overall the one that wants to make sure everyone is happy and comfortable. I’m so afraid of that preciousness, the one that is so gentle and rare in boys. I don’t want school to beat it out of him. He is my little angel and I can’t stand the thought of losing an ounce of that. But I’m excited for the years to come and watching him come into his own, whatever that may look like.

The kids ready for Trysten’s big day.

My baby boy. My goodness how he’s changed my life in ways I didn’t dare pray or ask for but received by grace.

Seriously, I’m a mom to a Kindergartner…who is a bit tired in this picture.

And he is a dad to a kindergartner…and even more tired than I was.

Showing his teacher his loose tooth, I knew he’d be okay then.

Last night was Trysten’s first soccer practice. The coaches (also known as mom and dad to Trysten) did a great job (I think) and my offspring had a great time. Here’s some pictures to give you a quick taste.

Doozie mentally preparing for soccer practice.

Tariku doing the same.

Look at that face, that’s her game face baby.

Trying, trying.

Tariku showing his natural abilities.

Trysten just LOVES soccer.

Looking good…check out little sister behind him, story of her life.

And where they, obviously, got their abilities. ahem. Just a little of mommy and daddy competing.

Zach made the biggest “settle” of his life by marrying this ole’ gal. And I’m laughin’ all the way to the marriage bank.

When I was 13 years old I was on an AAU basketball team. My team (from Des Moines) went to a tournament in Burlington, IA and stayed at the Best Western Hotel. After checking in and getting the okay from our parents to run around a bit before game time, my friend and I moseyed on over to the front lobby. There, checking in, was a beautiful boy with a big head, braces and a red jersey with, who we were assuming was his father. The father (if I remember correctly) had a red shirt and hat, pants giving him a front AND back wedgie and sausages for fingers. My friend and I commented on this particular boys good looks (I’m sure I mentioned his specific great ASSets) and continued to our game.

When we got back from our game, most of the girls team met in a room. We hear a knock on the door only to find a pizza box when we opened the door. Inside the pizza box was a note, “Meet us by the pool, the good looking ones are 15, x, x,” (I don’t remember the other numbers except for one in particular, and that’s because it was also my jersey number). So by the pool we went. Who did we find by the pool? Well that check-in boy with a bunch of his good looking 13-year-old friends. What luck! So by the pool we chatted in all of our 8th grade glory. Their team from Davenport, IA (where I was sure all the gangsta’s lived) and ours from a town called Altoona, that the boys just loved. After that night of a couple hours of talking around the pool, we left the hotel never to see them again.

Throughout the years my friends and I would reference “The Davenport Boys” a number of times to talk about funny things they said and strange behaviors our friends did with the male eye watching. The year after we met them, in a moment of sheer genius, I wrote “Zach and Tesi” in the Australian sand.

You see where this is going…my sophomore year in college I had just transfered from The University of South Dakota to University of Iowa where I was staying in a dorm. The second night there one of my suitemates invited a girl from across the hall over. Low and behold she was from Davenport. I started telling her about “THe Davenport Boys” and how I only remembered two of their names, Zach and Brian. She said she went to school with boys with that name (imagine that!) who both played basketball and one of them (Brian) was going to Iowa! So she called him to come over that night and as he walked down the hall I saw the same Davenport Boy from 6 years before.

Then Liz (my davenport girl-friend) said she knew Zach’s screen name. So I tried it. He was in Muscatine at the time playing baseball and after awhile we realized we both had plans to hit the bar scene the next night. Skip ahead 24 hours. WAAAAY to late/early and too much beer for this little lady left me closing down the bars with my friends and not enough beers for him and waaay too much dancing left him doing the same. In a stroke of genius, Zach yells out “Tesi” in the middle of downtown Iowa City at 2am. Who was standing in front of him but a less-than-sober me. After giving this relative stranger a hug, we parted ways with promises of talking to each other. In true Zach form, he takes one last look at my ASSets, which my friend witnesses. The rest is, as they say, history. We went on a date the next night and I’ve been in love with that man since.

After dating just a few weeks we were saying “I love you” and planning our future together. A few months later Trysten was en utero (oops!) and we were planning a wedding. We got through a baby and college in 4 years and since, have wrestled our fair share of marital demons.

But he is honestly the most perfect mate. I can’t believe it’s been 6 years ago when I literally almost sprinted down the aisle to the man with the long eyelashes and ridiculous amounts of love and patience. But here we are. I’m more in love with him every day. We often talk about how we’re the perfect couple and feel bad for everyone else (I know, that’s ridiculous) but we can’t imagine being happier than we are together so that just makes sense.

We may not be perfect (or might be!) but we are perfect for each other which is why I just can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this dude I get to call husband. Happy Anniversary love machine!