When you blend a family, you tend to wind up with twice as many toys at the beginning. Look at this mess. They sure had fun.

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Today is my baby brother’s birthday. Of course - he isn’t such a baby and well, he’s taller than I am. In fact, I might be five years older than him, but he might as well be five years wiser than I.

He is celebrating his 29th birthday today. Enjoy it while you can Stephen, because in only one more short year you will be 30 years old. Remember how you joked about my being 30? Remember when we actually thought 30 was OLD? Well dear little brother, you are only 365 days away!

I love you and am so incredibly blessed that you are my brother! I admire your strength and courage and I hope that you will continue to see the blessings in your life and allow them to surround you with love.

Happy 29th Stephen!
Love, Your big sis!

Joyeux Noel. Seasons Greetings. Happy Holidays. Feliz Navidad. Merry Christmas. Fröhliche Weihnachten. Mele Kalikimaka. Buone Feste Natalizie.

However you say it, I hope your holiday is beautiful, merry and bright. Cling tight to your children, watch the wonder in their eyes and love them as much as you can.

Hope your day is magical.

At less than 5lbs he was super light and could be held in one hand. He’s much bigger now.

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We almost have every gift we need. I forgot how hard it is shopping for five children with different tastes, wishes, lists and desires.

Our oldest boy didn’t actually ask for anything this Christmas. Well, actually he asked my mom for two things, but didn’t tell us anything, so he proved to be a bit more challenging. We finally settled on a stereo, because…well…he’s 13. Santa will bring it though.

The oldest girl is a manga, origami loving artist. She is so creative. Santa is bringing her some roller blades that she has been wanting for a long time, and we’re giving her a whole bunch of origami stuff and some manga drawing books.

The middle girl is our writer. Just like her step-mama. We bought her an alpha-smart for her birthday so we were trying to locate a case for her. That hasn’t happened yet. She’s also a monkey lovin’ Bobby Jack wearin’ kid. So we decked her out in some serious duds.

The second youngest girl (my youngest) is a born rider. Everything horse. In fact, there isn’t one thing for her under that tree that doesn’t scream horse or “I’m a rider!”. (not literally of course). Except the roller skates Santa is bringing. She really wanted those.

The very youngest (his youngest) girl is a pig lovin’ wannabe cheerleader. So we got her some cheer stuff, pig stuff and well, she’s easy. She’s getting skates from Santa too.

Woohoo! Just a few more odds and ends like stocking stuffers and we are DONE!

How are you doing?

I thought I was going to lose my dinner last night when Nicole informed me I was going to need to run to the store. I am one of those men who does not mind running to the store to get womanly items, and I’m used to running out occasionally for her. What I wasn’t prepared for, was who they were for.

How could my little girl need them? My little girl with that beautiful blonde hair and those tight little ringlet curls and her pretty fancy dresses. How could she need them yet? Oh yeah. Because she is thirteen.

It was inevitable of course, this thing she is succumbing to. Her body becoming more and more womanly everyday. It is so hard to see her in certain clothing, or listen to her when she talks about certain things. I don’t have my baby anymore. She’s all grown up.

The plus side to this of course, is that she came to Nicole for help. At any point at her concert she could have gone to her mother, and she didn’t. I will never know why, because she is closest to her mother. But she came to Nicole who of course handled it with grace. I knew something was up because my daughter was walking around looking for Nic and kept saying “I need to talk to her.” Well, she did and I just knew.

I guess I have to let her go. I have to stop thinking of her as that little girl with pigtails and curls and see her for who she is. A strong willed, independent, beautiful young lady who is growing up right before my eyes. Who knew it would be so hard?

My step-daughter met Aunt Flo today at school. She didn’t tell me until about twenty minutes ago and went the whole day with nothing. What are kids thinking? She had plenty of opportunities to say something, and I even grabbed her from school early to get her hair cut and styled for her concert tonight.

I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. Part of me is freaking out, I didn’t think I was going to have to go through this for a long time. My daughter is only nine. But then when I became a part of a blended family I should have reminded myself. I was prepared without being totally prepared. She was just standing there and it just poured out of her mouth like word vomit, and I kept thinking, this is a bad dream.

On the other hand, I am absolutely thrilled. She came to me. She talked to me. She wanted me. Not her mother. I must be doing something right. You see, she’s 13. She’s also been through a lot because when her mother abandoned them, she went though a period of extreme mourning and depression. She was a mess when I came into her life as a pseudo-step mom. She’s a totally different girl two years later and I am amazed and proud.

She was with her mom tonight at her concert, which at any point she could have told her or talked to her. She even could have come to her dad, but then that’s weird for a girl, so I get that part. But she actually sought me out.

Our little girl, the oldest girl - She’s growing up.

(oh, and it totally clarifies her odd behavior lately that was about to kill me. Mood swings, anger issues, laziness. Check. Check. and Check.)