Cliche

When in Iowa you sit on tractors... it's just want you do. :)) Today we went to a small town fair. There wasn't much at the fair other than tractors and some animals, but we had fun.

Four Legs

This four legged friend is looking a lot bigger lately. Still the same sweet heart and great personality, but I thought he deserved a post.

Peanut

A special little visit with this peanut and her mom this week. Love having them here, she is so stinking cute.

We Gained Another One

With seven children our immediate family seems to be bigger than most. Now add on spouses and three little boys and a little girl and you have one large Thanksgiving dinner. :)) There are 17 of us total now. We welcome Jeremiah into our family and had the beautiful opportunity to celebrate Molly and Jeremiah and their lifelong commitment to each other. It was a beautiful night and Ryder ate up all the attention (yes I know the attention should not have been on him, but it seems to follow him). What a beautiful night with a beautiful group of people.

Be Still My Heart

My dad and my son. heart emoticon There is something so special between the two of them. My dad always says that they are the same person with many years separating them. This picture makes my heart soar and makes my heart sad. Life is so beautiful and completely unfair at the same time.

The Dreaded Eye Roll

Hey Ry, you look pretty darn cute back there with your hair. Can I take a picture of you?

**insert first ever eye roll at me**

Where in the world do they pick this stuff up. Wondering if the eye roll is just instinctual. :)) I am sure this will be the first of many but makes me giggle that I caught it on camera.

Dad's Birthday

It is dad's birthday weekend so we decided to have some fun in Cincinnati. A very short trip, but it was nice getting to spend some uninterrupted time as a family since our summer has been apart. We went to the aquarium, walked around downtown, swam at the hotel, played in a fountain downtown,  went up in a tall building, and went to a lego exhibit. Little man is a bit obsessed with cities right now and talking about tall buildings so he thought it was pretty cool. A very HOT weekend but still so nice.

Cheese Balls

These two are something else. They have a great time when they are together and to be able to watch them grow closer this summer has been such a blessing. I wish with all my heart we could do weekend get together and this bond would continue, but for know we will continue to use our summers to build a friendship.

Dirt Ball

You know that moment when you give your child a bath and then things get quiet for a minute... probably enough said.

You Can Stand Under My Umbrella

As mentioned in a previous post we no longer seem to get to enjoy rainy days on the couch watching movies. When it rains I hear an excited little dude running to get his boots. Today we were playing and he kept offering to keep Griffey dry with his umbrella. I happened to catch this moment when Griffey actually seemed to appreciate the favor. <3

Batman

I was headed home to go to one of my dad's appointments with him and Ryder told me he wanted to paint papaw a picture. I giggled at his get up he had on and wondered if he would continue to paint looking like that. I of course knew the answer already. He cracks me up, after all who doesn't paint in their underwear and Batman mask!

Rainy Days

The days of thinking "movies and rest" during rain days are long gone. I swear when it rains he wants to go out more than when it is dry and sunny. He loves it, I may have created a monster when all my puddle encouraging. If he sees that it is raining out he brings me his rain boots and says, "mom let's go play in the rain".

Sweet Griff

I haven't said much about him because simply put our life is crazy right now. We are living in two different states (that are not right next to each other) and just trying to remember where we put what. But he hasn't had much written about him and he deserves it. I am so head over heals for this little pup. He is seriously such an amazing dog for our family. He is calm, happy, easygoing, sweet, and such a nice puppy. He makes us laugh and I am so very thankful he has joined our family. He is at my feet every hour of the day except when we sleep. He wants to make me happy and is the kind of puppy that you wish you could find. I know I know, you get it. Losing Berks last year was really rough on me but the similarities between the two of them is strong. It makes me happy that we were so fortunate to get such an amazing dog again.

Disappointment

Today was a hard day. As a mom I know we all have them. I am the mom of an overly cautious little dude. We try to talk him into many things and he always turns to us and puts his hand up and says, "mom that is too dangerous". He doesn't try too many new things and is proud of himself when he accomplishes something new, and disappointed in himself when he can't talk himself into doing something he wants to do. Today I had him all talked up to go to the splash pad with me. When we got to the splash pad there were some older kids there and the water was coming down pretty quickly. He was overwhelmed and I knew it wouldn't end well. We left and he was sad. I decided to head over to the local pool to give him a chance to redeem himself. Well without going into depth, that did not end well either. He was so disappointed in himself and I felt terrible because nothing I could say could help him feel the joy of just doing it and having fun.   I couldn't let the day end like that so I stopped by target and got him a pool. We filled it up and he had a blast. He forgot about the other situations was laughing and playing and enjoying the water. I love that he is my quiet, simple boy but I do get sad when I see him feel disappointment in himself.  He's little and doesn't need to have those feelings yet. I know he will get there in his own time and until then I hope I can continue to find things to turn bad days into something to smile about.

Independence Day

We had a great day with family today. A small afternoon lunch and just took it easy. Some of us went out for fireworks afterwards. I think this little face sums it up. He waited patiently for the fireworks to start and when they did his face lit up and his cheeks tightened to a huge smile. Pretty fun to watch your child experience things that you remember the magic of when you were little.

Just Like Papaw

I was cleaning out the car when I looked behind me and saw this little guy wearing grandpa's motorcycle helmet that he got out of the garage. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "being just like papaw". I giggled at the amount that his head filled out that giant helmet and I sighed at the cuteness of his love for his grandpa. <3