Favorite Days of Summer

Today might go down as one of my favorite days of summer. Spending our summer in Iowa has some definite perks to it. Including this little gem right here. We spend the day at the Iowa Children's Museum. We live about 45 minutes from the worlds ggest children museum, but this one was different. It's not huge, but the imaginative play is of control. In one day Ryder got to - work at a pizzeria, grocery store, airport, hospital, dentist office, post office, and grow a garden. He drove an ambulance and an actual airplane. Everything was "his size". I was so impressed with this little museum, it was so geared to the younger age and that is sometimes hard to find. He loved it and I loved watching him play. I remember my mom taking us to a pizzeria that in the basement was a kids grocery and a kids weather station. It was one of the best memories of my childhood. I had a lot of fun watching him experience that same type of imaginative play.

Wedding Celebrations

One of my baby sisters is getting married and I am finding it hard to believe that four out of five of us will be married women. When did this happen? How does time move at such a fast pace? We had such a fun night celebrating Molly and her wonderfulness by a simple night at a beautiful winery with music, wine, and laughter. Love you so much Molly and love celebrating you. #worldsgreatestsisters

Museum Day

I have to admit, I love all this rain. Love these indoor days together. Went to the children's museum today and he loved it. He spent four and a half hours there and could have stayed longer. He was all giggles and kept saying, "mom, we go see something else" in hopes that we weren't leaving after each exhibit. Love this kid. He is seriously so fun to hang out with.

Lights Out

We had a storm rip through here last night, and we lost power for a few hours. Ryder was in the bathtub when the lights went out and he was a little taken back. It took some long conversation to help him understand why this happens and it will be ok. After the conversation he did start to enjoy the dark quiet night. Grandma and Pa-paw got him some camping gear so we decided it was the perfect time to use it! He had a fun bath with his lantern. Makes me think back to the days of my dad and when our electricity went out. I remember a specific time when mom was in Colorado and our lights went out for about three days. Dad set up a campsite in the living room and it was probably one of the most memorable experiences of my childhood. It was just so fun to all be confined to the living room and see dad figure out feeding us and how to entertain all of us kids together. I am thankful for those memories and hope that maybe this was one memory that will stick in my child's head when he thinks back on his childhood.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Lots of rain here in Indiana. So much so that there are some pretty massive puddles. We ran around the neighborhood tonight with no shoes and came home soaking wet. It was perfect and messy. <3

Daddy's Boy

He is a little obsessed with shooting his bow and I have no idea where he got it from. ;)) Just kidding. He tells dad he is going to shoot some "geese, turkeys, and deer" with this (nerf) bow. We are down to one arrow thanks to the doggies, so it is pretty humorous to him shoot it, sprint for it and load it up again to do it all over again.

Peace & Yelling

This was my view from breakfast today. He was alternating between a mean face and a screaming face, this was kind of a mix of both. No one ever says summer is quiet right?? This little dude is a pretty quiet even tempered little man, so it is funny to me to see this little personality outbursts come out.

Cuteness

... simply because he is cute and starting to look so old. 

... aunts.

What do you get when you leave the room and your child is left with an aunt and his favorite thing - Parmesan cheese?

Yep, this pretty much sums it up... this happened about 4 times and he loved every minute of it.

Sisterhood

Anyone who knows my sisterhood knows it is something special. We have been through a lot together as a family but have always stuck by each other side by side. One of my favorite magazines is Bella Grace I am slightly obsessed with it's nature meets lifestyle meets inner peace way of print. the images are beautiful, the fonts are beautiful, the writing is beautiful. My goal for 2015 was to be published in this magazine and when I wrote my entries you can imagine my excitement when they told me that they would publish two of my submissions and one of those being a story and photographic journey of my sisterhood. <3 Pretty magical seeing those beautiful girls who mean so much to me forever in print for the whole world to see our bond.

Bring On Summer

Thankful to be on summer break with this little guy. I know this summer will not be like our other ones and we will spend a lot of time away from home. I do know that it will be fun to spend so much time together and we will make memories together. <3 this little man and love my time with him more than anything in the world.

Sandbox

We got a new sandbox at our house, we did a severe downgrade in sandbox world. But he could care less, he is just excited he can get out there and dig around. Fun to see his back from the kitchen window again.