The Many Faces Of

Just this little dude and me home tonight and we decided to go for a walk after we ate our ice cream from the ice cream truck. (Hints the snap bracelets). I couldn't help but take a few pictures, he was in an awfully bubbly mood. The giggles were cracking me up. Our conversation-
"Ryder I can't remember how this song goes... was it Marry had a little frog, little frog, little frog - Ribbit" **insert laughter like I am the funniest person on earth** I mean I kind of am close at least "No mom she had a lamb" "What did you say she had a lion" " MOMMMM NO SHE HAD A LAMB"

I am currently thinking about quitting my day job to start a comedic career. ;)

Three Turtles, Nemo, A Whale, and Lady Walk Into Dinner

He was taking their orders and cooking them dinner tonight. Looks to me like there was some excellent conversation going on at that dinner table tonight. I would assume this would be an under the sea type event, but I think Ms. Lady is a tad confused on which table she was supposed to sit at. :) 

Little Hands

 I love these little hands. The remind me of how far he has come and how far he has left to grow. They are big, but still tiny. A very long ways to go from having the man hands, but such a big difference from his tiny little newborn flaky hands.

Making Dinner

I was cooking dinner and he asked me if he could cook dinner in his kitchen too. He wanted me to move it out by me. He pretty much followed my every move. When I asked him if he put the olive oil in he responded with a quick "yep". So we were just listening to our nightly music and cooking together. It was a sweet calm moment with this little man.

Man This Pups Cute

I Am Batman

We are still digging the superheros over here. This Batman mask is usually on and usually ends with Hulk gloves while running through the house trying to fight dad.

Summer's End

It always happens and I can't quite figure out why summer ends and I have to go back to work. :)) It has been a summer for the books, I won's say it wasn't stressful and the best summer ever. But it was an emotional summer and a summer spent hand in hand with family. For that reason yes it was a great summer. I am nervous about my time being locked in now and it will be so much harder to get home. My heart is at home right now with my dad so I will find a way to make it work and continue to get back often. Last night we wrapped up our summer with a little late night fishing adventure. It was a beautiful night with a GORGEOUS sunset. It literally looked like the sky and tree tops were on fire. It was a fun way to end the break. Deep breaths and praying for strength and balance as this new school year unfolds. 

Moose

We enjoy being outdoors. It's not unusual for us to pull over and go for a quick 10-15 minute walk somewhere in the woods. Tonight we had about thirty minutes before the ran came and Ry wanted to go walk around. We were walking out the door when he asked if his moose could come with. "My moose wants to go to the woods mom". Hey who am I to deny that cuteness. As we were walking the rain came quickly and the clouds started to cover the sun, but in turn left us with what looked like a lighted path up ahead. The light stayed on the path the whole way out. I felt that we were being guided out, and as soon as we reached the car the downpour happened.

Ask A Stupid Question Get a Stupid Answer

I was just finishing up cleaning the house, I was vacuuming the back bedrooms when I came out to this scene.

"Ryder what in the world are you doing"
"Watching TV mom"

#seemslogical #forthelove

Grifferson

Simply because I am obsessed. How did we get so lucky to get another amazing dog?

Navy Pier {iphone}

Went to Chicago today on our way home. Did a little shopping, stayed in a hotel, and ended our trip with Navy Pier. Such a fun weekend with a couple of my favorites. Lots of walking and very hot and an almost 4 year old who seems to think his legs don't work. :)) Thankful for this sister who loves him like her own and stays patient and will carry him even when her own feet hurt. He may not always show it, but he loves you so much girl!

Looking forward to our November girls trip ladies!!! <3

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

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.