Dear Brit

My sweet girl,

It has been so long since I have taken the time to sit down and write you.  Please know it is no indication of how often I think of you.  It is just a matter of sitting down long enough to actually type you a letter.

Today I decided to do a quick update to you using pictures I've taken over the last two months.  So here it goes!

In my last letter to you I told you that I have started dating a new man.  Things are going really well.  Actually, things are absolutely perfect.  He is so good to me and the boys.  He treats me like I am the most special person he knows.  I can't wait for you to meet him.  He will LOVE you.  He has two daughters of his own and he loves them like crazy.  I am sure he will want to spoil you just as much.

I introduced my new special man and his girls to a great store in our city.  It is filled with candy you could only imagine.  Lots of your favorite - CHOCOLATE!

 This summer I had two college baseball players living at my house.  They played for a local summer team in our town and the boys loved watching them play and having them around.  When the baseball season was over, there is a World Series and one of the players was recruited to a team that played in the tournament.  The boys, the new man and one of his girls came to several of the games with me and we watched Jason play.

The boys and I snapped a picture with Jason right before he left to go back to college.

I volunteered as an usher at several of the World Series games.  It was SO HOT!

D was the bat boy for a few of the World Series games.  He got to meet some great players.

The summer finally came to an end and the boys went back to school.  D is a 7th grader and loving the middle school.  LanMan is a freshman and seems to be doing just fine in the big high school.  If they would have let me take their picture on the first day of school, I would have shared it with you here.  But what you will realize with your little brothers at your house, boys don't love pictures being taken, especially when they are super cool and with their friends.

So in August my special new man turned 40 and we had a party for him.  It was a nice night out and his oldest daughter was even able to join us.

This is my favorite picture of the night.  I love how he loves his girls.

A couple of weekends later, I took a trip with my sisters and my mom to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.  We took my mom to Branson and had a great time.  Someday I hope you will be one of the "girls" that joins us when we take a girls trip!

A picture of all of us together before the Dixieland Stampeded show

While I was in Branson I got you a couple of small gifts.  My sisters laughed when I got you the little kitten.  It was creepy how life like it looked.  They all thought I was crazy for getting it for you, but I liked how it does look real so I thought maybe you could carry it around like it was your pet.  I don't know if you liked it or thought it was creepy, but either way, know that I bought it becuase I thought of you the entire time I was on my trip.  I also got you the little bag of polished rocks because that has been the thing you like best the few times you have visited with us.  Every year we spend time playing in the rock pile in BF's backyard.  Maybe the polished rocks will be special to you.  I can't wait until you are old enough to let us know when you get our packages and let us know if you like the gifts.  Right now we just have to guess. 



I hope you thought sleeping kitty was cute, but if you didn't at least you got the rocks!



I also sent gifts for your brothers and sister.  Wanted to make sure everyone got something.

Once I got back home from the trip, I spent a few days taking care of my friend's chicken.  Yes, I said chicken.  My friend is keeping a chicken in her backyard as a pet.  It makes us all laugh.  She went on vacation for a week so the boys and I would go over and collect the eggs and feed the chicken.  By the end of the week, D wanted to know if he could get a chicken of his own for our backyard. 

Then, the newest news is that the boys and I finally talked the new special man into letting us get a dog!  Our neighbor was fostering a rescue dog that lost its family in a tornado in Oklahoma.  As soon as we met sweet Ella, we were in love.

This is the picture we sent to my special man asking him if we could bring her home with us.

He finally said yes, and now Ella is a new member of our family.  She really likes me, and spends lots of her time at my side.  LanMan took this picture just yesterday as she was laying on my legs.

You know what my favorite part of this picture is?  It is the book in the background.  I'm not sure if your parents have shared the book with you, but you have one just like it too.  It is a picture book from your last visit with BF and me.  My new special man has it displayed right next to the bed so it is the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and the last thing I see when I lay down to sleep each night.  It makes me smile to see your precious face so many times a day.

I suppose that is enough for tonight.

Know that I miss you every single day and I cannot wait until the day that you and I can just pick up the phone and call each other, or even better yet, spend time just sitting on the couch talking.  I keep telling myself every day that passes is just one day closer to that day!

I love you to the moon and back!