Rhys turns 11!!

My boy turned 11 today...I know you hear it all the time, but time does really fly by. He is in full on tween mode, with the attitude and the lying and the general not listening. It's frustrating at times, but he does things to remind me that he is still my sweet, amazing kid.

And this is yet another milestone for the most difficult year of my life, and as we were out at dinner, I was once again reminded that something was missing. Or rather, someone. Rhys chose the Asian buffet we went to after my dad's funeral. The place him and my mom and their church friends frequented after church. I think all this was too much for my mom and it was hard to watch her force herself to eat thru her tears.

My mom returned from her extended trip to CA yesterday, and it's nice to have her back with us. I think she had fun with her friends but maybe things got a little uncomfortable with one of them, and she got tired of staying with ppl and not having a car and really the freedom to do whatever she wanted. But now she's home and hopefully she can find her schedule and keep herself busy. we have just over 5 weeks til we close on the new house and hope to start moving in that weekend. I'm sure she'll be a lot happier after we move.

Here's a picture of my dad when he came out after Rhys was born. My mom came out a little early to help us when he was born, but my dad came out 2 weeks later and they went back home together. The joy in my dad's face...I love it. I remember when Whit brought my dad home from the airport, I greeted him at the door and he was wearing a suit! I said, "Dad, why are you wearing a suit?!" and he responded "I wanted to make a good impression on my grandson, I can't have him thinking his harabuji is a bum!" It was things like that that made my dad so amazing and wonderful, and just one of a kind. Rhys reminds me in many ways of my dad, so I feel like he is definitely living on in Rhys. 💙