Juggling Our Way Through Life

We got back yesterday from a great trip with my parents to the Smokey Mountains. We walked around downtown Gatlinburg, went on a few day trips into the Smokey Mountains, saw some bear and deer, saw beautiful landscape with mountains and waterfalls, went to the Ripley's Aquarium, and experienced Flapjacks Pancakes restaurant-very yummy pancakes. Here are some pictures from the week.


Love this shot of my boys! Cale loves lollipops!

The men taking pictures of each other taking pictures.

A cloudy day in the mountains.

God sure makes amazing creations!

More lollipop please!

Can't get enough!

Watching the ducks downtown Gatlinburg.



Every wooden bear Cale had to kiss and hug!

Playing with his new mountain animals with papa.

Eating Oreo Cakesters for dessert on Jeff's birthday!

More beauty.




An old town in Cade's Cove-they still make corn meal with this mill!

And what does Cale do in the house from the 1800s-he sits in the fireplace and plays in the dirt.

All smiles with daddy.

Playing with the water at Laurel Falls.





Love this shot of mom and dad.

Exploring with Gaga.

Ripley's Aquarium-totally awesome-Cale loved all the fish, sharks, and penguins-he was in heaven. All week long we heard "swimming water" for swimming in water.

Checking out the fish-you should have seen the smile on his face!

Awesome jellyfish display.

The coolest penguin exhibit ever-you could stand up and be right in the penguin exhibit.

Crawling through the penguin exhibit tunnel with dad.

Oh yes-we had to give the penguin a hug too.

Cale and mommy got to pet the sting rays-it was awesome!

Bye bye curls. Check him out chowing down the fruit snacks!

Cale got his first haircut on Sept. 9. We weren't sure how he would do, but he did awesome!!! The stylist of course bribed him with fruit snacks and he got a lollipop at the end! It wasn't just a trim, she styled it for him. Holy cow-our little one has a style! Seriously kiddo, when did you get big enough to have a hair style-can you please slow this growing up stuff down a little bit!

The Lewis and Clark 1/2 Marathon was this past Sunday. Jeff, me and my sister, Mal ran it and it was awesome. I would totally run another one-I thought this would be something I would only do once and just cross it off my bucket list-but I am hooked and would enjoy doing another one! The day started out a little chilly, but it was great weather for running a race! Jeff came in at a little over 2 hrs and 6 mins. I came in at a little over 2 hrs 16 minutes and Mal came in at a little over 2 hours and 17 mins. And the cool part is is that Jeff ran it to raise money for a group called the Micah Project which basically supports boys on the streets in Honduras-very cool organization! Not sure how much money was raised yet, but our church is matching up to $2500 and we've seen God move in some pretty awesome ways in raising money from neighbors seeing Jeff on TV and seeing him out and handing him $10 bucks to one of my good college friends donating to the cause. Pretty neat stuff!!!



The 3 rockstars after the race!


Jeff's cousins Mike and Jen. Jen actually found me during the race and we ended up running pretty much the whole thing together and encouraging one another. I was so thankful to have her to run with!


Cale waiting at the race. Thanks so much to my mom and dad, Ray and Diane and some of the Koziatek family for coming out and cheering all of us that ran on and to Andy for all of the training help!!!

My sweet Cale,
Where can mommy begin with you. Like your daddy, it's hard to sum up all the ways I love you as they expand and grow with time. Do you know how much your mommy and daddy love you? We adore you, love you, and are blessed that God has given us the privilege of being your parents! This momma's heart continues to grow and grow with love for you!
I love the way you put words together and are saying more sentences.
I love the way you repeat what mom and dad say and can learn a new word after hearing it only once.
I love the way you giggle and laugh.
I love how you love Bailey and Addie and chase them around the house.
I love how you say "sit with you" anytime you want mommy or daddy to sit with you or snuggle with you.
I love how you love to dance and request the penguin song from happy feet.
I love how you watch your daddy juggle with excitement.
I love watching you try to juggle 2 balls!
I love how you like to give hugs and kisses.
I love the smile on your face when you see us at the end of a work day.
I love reading books with you and how you request more and more books! You could stay up reading until midnight I am sure!
I love rocking you and singing to you.
I love how you say "Cale fall down" and then you name everyone else that is in the room until they all fall down on the floor with you.
I love watching you explore and get to know the world around you.
I love when you fall and come to one of us and say "kisses"and how the kisses magically heal your boo boos.
I love when you run through the house before a bath saying "naked baby."
I love listening to you begin to recite some ABCs and numbers.
I love watching your personality develop and even though it's hard some day's it's interesting to watch you push your boundaries and try to expand your boundaries more.
I love listening to you talk even when I can't understand all of the words you say.
Cale-there is so much to love about you. Mommy and Daddy are proud of you for who you are, excited to see who you become and what God has in store for you in life. We adore you little man and will always be here to love and support you!

Just some thoughts for my hubby.
Dear Jeff, I love you so very much. As the time goes by I can truly say that the love I have for you continues to grow, continues to reach deeper into the depths of my heart. I love so much about you that I don't think I could put into words everything, but will try to put some here.
I love your creative thoughts and mind.
I love how you get excited about new ideas, new shows, and live out your passion.
I love your talent-your acting talent, juggling talent, producing and directing talent.
I love how you captivate any audience watching your juggling show and make each audience member feel valued.
I love watching kids run up to you after shows for your autograph.
I love how no matter how many times I see you juggle, every show is new and exciting to me.
I love how you care about others, how you want to invest in others.
I love how you love God, seek him, and constantly look for areas where you can pursue Him more.
I love that you take initiative in praying together at night even when I don't want to be the one that prays or would honestly some nights rather just go to sleep than pray.
I love the way you wrap your arms around me-I physically feel your love.
I love your smile and the way you sometimes pucker your lips like only you can do.
I love your business sense and understanding that people need to be treated like people not just someone you can take advantage of or plow over.
I love how you love on our son. It melts my heart to see you with him-whether it's snuggling on the couch, playing toys with him, reading him books, or juggling for him.
I love that you connect with him on all levels-emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
I love how you listen to people.
I love your looks-hot stuff :)
I love dreaming with the future about you.
I love that we can be real with each other-with our feelings, thoughts, words.
I love how you push me to open up when I am so good at just shutting down and holding things in.
I love slow dancing with you and how the world honestly just freezes for that moment of time we are in each others arms.
I love that you call me beautiful and tell me you love me everyday.
I love that you just trust in the ideas you come up with and pursue them from the get go as ideas that are going to work. It's hard for me to do that. I am more of a person that has to see something before it works, or know for sure that there is a chance it will work otherwise I get really scared.
I love that you share your thoughts and ideas with me openly.
I just love you, Jeffrey David Koziatek. You bless me more than you will ever know and I thank God for you!