Happy Easter

Hope all of you had a beautiful Easter. 

Love,

The Armstrong Family

Lucky Copper Penny

Witt won Grand Champion at the Tournament a few weeks ago for his nunchuck routine. He was amazing!!! We are so proud of you, Cowboy!!

Lucky Copper Penny

I'm so glad for the moments when you shine

because I know sometimes you feel left in the shadows. 

I hope you always remember those shining moments

because they are your moments

and you deserve them.

I know you get frustrated.

I know it sometime stinks being the middle kid.

I know it's not easy being the "big" brother to your big brother sometimes.

I know it's hard to reason with him as you try getting him to see things your way.

But I'm so glad you keep trying.

I know playing with him is sometimes difficult,
when you call him outside to climb trees and play in the dirt, and wrestle on the trampoline.

I know it's confusing to you 

why some days he just can't handle those things.

But I'm so glad you keep trying.

I have seen the hurt in your eyes time and time again.

When I had to grab his hand in the parking lot and not yours

or you have to tag along sometimes while we take him to therapy 

or I have to drop you off somewhere so I can take him where he needs to go

or when I have to deal with his melt down before your hurt feelings.
...I am so sorry.

But I'm so glad we keep talking about it.

And I'm so glad you tell me.

And I pray that you always will.

I'm so grateful for our "date nights". 

When it's just you and me

for our talks and our jokes

for the way you try to understand the world around you

for how tough you are, but also sensitive too.

Your strength amazes me

you're my breath of fresh air.

I'm so glad you're a fighter
and stubborn too.
For your adventurous spirit.
You're my little Huck Finn.

I'm so glad you're his brother.

I'm SO blessed you're my son.

God hand picked you for the job.

You shine every day

my Lucky Copper Penny.

Written for the Cowboy, by his Mama

Piano with Mary

We drive all the way to Clarkdale every Friday to take piano from this wonderful lady. She and Race always have lots to talk about...

Mary is a retired world traveler: she spent time studying in Antarctica and Europe, she loves birds as much as Race, and always have yummy things coming out of her oven for us to sample. Plus... she is the perfect piano teacher for Race. They both look forward Fridays.

Thank you, Mary. For blessing our lives.

Race loves piano. He loves music. And we're finding it comes very natural to him.

Watching him practice makes me wish I would have stuck with it all those years ago.

Ladyhawke

I'm not a big bird fan, but meeting Uncle Michael's new friend in training almost convinced me I actually liked birds... but then I was reminded of the chickens back at home.

The boys loved Jake. Yep, that's this beautiful bird's name. Jake. And it was pretty amazing watching him swoop down from the trees to Uncle Michael's arm. 

I was having flashbacks of my favorite childhood movie. The theme music blasting in my mind as I watched Jake fly around. And I was right there again, pretending I was the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer putting up with Matthew Broderick's horrible English accent, dodging arrows in the sky. 

  

Oh yeah. I was Ladyhawke. :)

The Book Section

On Fridays when we have time to kill after therapies and before we pick Witt up, sometimes we run to Walmart to pick up odd and end things needed at the house. And sometimes while we're there, we just visit the books. Sometimes longer than other times. Depends on how much time we have to kill.

Love it.

Snow.

We've had a lot of snow this winter.

Even Spot liked how much snow we got. Right after Race and Spot came in from their morning walk, we had a coyote running through enjoying the snow as well...

This is the cowboy snowman named Slim. He had a zucchini for a nose. The boys are still in their PJ's and haven't even had breakfast yet. They saw the snow when they woke up and ran out to build Slim.

And we even got up the rim a few times to sled with friends the Wimers and the Bryants. These are the friends I told you about who have been my mentors through the whole home schooling experience. We are so grateful for each of them!

Race and Dathan:

Lane and Addy: Lane didn't much care for the snow... at all. He did a lot of crying on our outings.

Witt and Justin: After this winter, I have decided Witt will never own a dirt bike, motorcycle, or anything that goes too fast. :)

Race and his buddy Easton.

Lane and Porter:

Gunner and Witt (this is one of my favorite pictures):

We love snow.

We love our friends.

We love playing in the snow with our friends.