Our Halloween included. . .

Star Wars,

books,

treats from Grammy,apple bobbing,

jackolantern pizza,

headlocks, and hugs!

Our halloween included. . .

mama's littlest pumpkin,

peeking,

and posing!

Our halloween included. . .

A "Kit Fairy"

wings made by Grampa and Grammy,

and 4 Trick or Treaters!

Our Halloween included. . .

traditional pizza at Grammys and Grampas,

and a cute lil lobster,

on their porch!

The glasses

Boys are funny. I've learned that. I've also learned they will go out of their way just do something funny. And it is rubbing off on me. We got GooFs glasses from when he was a little boy and I had to see my boys in them. And then I had to take pictures. And post them. They definitely resemble GooF and his bros. Gotta love them boys.

GooF saw them laying on the floor dreaming over a lego catalog today and he had flashbacks from his childhood :) Fun to see my man raise these little men. And even if they need glasses someday, I still think they're handsome :)

Operation Christmas Child. . .and thoughts on motherhood

The oldest two look forward to packing shoe boxes every year! This year we will be following our shoe boxes and the kids can't wait to see where they end up!! Such an awesome gift. . .we only wish we could hand deliver them. . .add that to our dream lists of travels, including meeting our Compassion Child and helping at an orphanage . Ainsley packed a box for a girl her age and the boys packed boxes for boys their age. A few snapshots of the notes they stuck in their boxes. . .

Completely unrelated, I have been doing some deep cleaning and came across this sweet card. . .some days are rewarding as mothers. . .

others have been not so much. I was chatting with some playgroup and mops moms the other day about how mothering has changed. Those days when they were all really little sometimes got long and lonely. . .counting down the hours til we'd greet daddy after work. Now the urgent demands of mothering tiny ones have somewhat passed and we've moved on to a busy with activities/friends age, but there is still plenty of family time too. As much as I enjoy myself a brand new baby and then those cute toddling steps Ryker is currently taking, I am so enjoying my kids that can put on their own shoes, buckle themselves up, talk with me, run to greet daddy themselves, etc :) Like mama always said, each age is fun. And mamas of those tiny ones, you will make it. . .in the mean time, stop over or meet up with us or give me a call. . .I always enjoy fellow mom friends! By the way, I am mom now to Porter, not mommy :) He must be too cool for that mommy talk, but he still did hold my hand on our recent date.

PS Have I ever mentioned I always use the last of the cookie dough to make a heart shaped cookie for my man? Well, I do. And I just did again the other day.

Pumpkin Time. . .8 yrs ago, today, and our lil lobster

We picked pumpkins from my parents garden and carved them, but they got rotten, so we carved more this weekend :)

My friend, Annie, dropped off a lobster costume for Ryker to borrow and before she was out the door the kids were saying their dads famous quote, "Put it on!" Isn't our lobster yummy lookin ;) and I'm not even a seafood gal

Here's pumpkin time 8 years ago. . .overdue with our lil pumpkin Ainsley

soon to be a family of 3. . .
I look happy and in love. . .the daddy looks a bit worried, and the baby is screamin I think :)

I also came across this carving pumpkin pic from our first yr of marriage, at Dave and Traci's apt across the hall from ours :) A funny story about them. I would hang cute things outside our apt door, etc and Traci told me she had to "keep up with Jones' ". . .well, I didn't know what that saying meant and I told GooF that they thought our last name was Jones. Yes, about as funny as the time in college when my prof crossed out a word I'd written and wrote "trite". . .not knowing what that meant, I used "trite" in place of the word I'd origanally used there. Fun times :)

I am so thankful for our college years and those first few years of marriage in Ames, IA. I believe they were so good for our marriage. We had an excellent group of Bible Study friends (mostly all newleyweds and grad students). We grew in our relationships with God and with each other. I will always treasure those years, and the months spent travelling out east (our next big travels will hopefully take us to FL. . have never been to Disney). And then when we got back from out east I was eager to be a mommy!

8 years ago we were awaiting the arrival of this girlie girl!

I came across the Pumpkin Prayer this year and Ainsley just loved it! Not sure who it's by but it goes

Dear God, as I carve my pumpkin help me to say this prayer:

Open my mind so I can learn about You

(cut the top off the pumpkin)

Take away all my sin and forgive me for the wrong things I do.

(clean out the inside)

Open my eyes so Your love I will see

(Cute the eyes in the heart shapes)

I'm sorry for turning up my nose to all you've given me.

(Cute a nose in the shape of a cross)

Open my ears so your word I will hear.

(Cut the ears shaped like the Bible)

Open my mouth so I can tell others You're near

(cut the mouth in the shape of a fish)

Let your light shine in all I say and do! Amen.

I'm sure it will be our new pumpkin carving tradition! Tomorrow night is our annual pizza at my parents :) So thankful, God, for the blessings in my life.

Joy Tripled

And I thought it was exciting when Ainsley learned to walk! You should have heard the cheering when Ryker walked across the room tonight! OK, well, maybe I missed watching Ainsley learn to walk, as her daddy taught her while I was out for a few hrs, and when I came home she was running across the front lawn. . no kidding. But I didn't miss Ryker. And either did his siblings. The JOY was TRIPLED watching him walk across the room, hearing the excitement of his big brothers and sister cheering him on. I pray that they may always be each others biggest fans. Trey had big tears tonight (as we were walking through the store of course) because he no longer wanted to be Green Lantern for Halloween and wanted to be Spiderman at that given moment I believe. And he didn't nap. But anyway, the cool part was seeing Ainsley and Porter start telling him how great Green Lantern is. . .Porter was REALLY talking up Green Lantern and pretty soon had Trey laughing and wanting to be Green Lantern again. It really is fun watching them interact. . most of the time :)

The Party

We had a football themed party for Ryker's 1st Birthday!

We had fun preparing the food

and the decorations!
His girlfriend, Grier, came :)
But honestly, he seemed kinda sleepy and stunned most of the party. . .
But he got celebrated!
Everyone got to take home a sampling of some playdoh with a recipe (which I tried and I really didn't like the recipe. . oh well), a football shaped cookie cutter, and a football ornament.

Thanks to our family and friends for helping us celebrate Ryker's 1st Birthday!

HappyFirst
Birthday
to one of my favorite
Little People. . ha. . it must be getting late ;)

Encourage, Encourage, Encourage

"Therefore, encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." 1 Thess 5:11

As a mom, I am so thankful for those old ladies when we're out and about, or the neighbor down the street, who take the time to encourage me or comment on my well mannered children, who of course don't always act that way. Well, today we were at the local breadstore, and one of my children accidentally bumped into the lady in front of us. She yelled. The cashier looked stunned. I barely held in the tears til I got to my minivan. Not wanting to judge the lady, just wanting to pray for her. And, I'm just reminding myself of the importance of encouraging one another. . .esp other moms on this mothering journey!

I delight in the sounds of backyard football. . .

It appears as though Ainsley is leading them in some stretches :)
And making them huddle :)
She is the natural leader around here. . .even in backyard football. Her future sister in laws can thank her.

We got photos back from Trey's short stay at preschool. . .smiling. . . AND, how he really felt about preschool ;). . .

or he's just trying to be Mr. Tough Guy. Not sure which. I had a different outfit picked out for picture day, but really, this is his FAVORITE shirt, a hand me down from his big bro. The kid loves monster trucks :)

Today I was out watching Trey on his bike. He took a break to come sit on the steps by me. I felt his little arm wrap around me and his hand rest on my back. It was a sweet moment. His personality reminds me a lot of his daddy's personality :)

Dear Ryker.

Here are you and your siblings each at 1 yr old. . .


Today you are One! Your siblings were SO. VERY. EXCITED. for you when you woke up this morning!! They made sure you got a number 1 pancake and they gave you lots of love. Porter made you some robot arms out of paper and Ainsley gave you her old teddy bear. You are adored! You crack us up! When you play peek-a-boo you don't quite get your hands over your eyes so you squish your face. . .we laugh and laugh. You say "dog" and "woof woof" often. You also say mama and dada. When I say bye bye or that daddy's coming home you start waving the cutest wave. You still like to rockabye and nurse to sleep and I like that too. We think you are OH. SO. SWEET and we just enjoy you so much! We love you baby Ryker!! My how you've grown in one short year!! We thank God for you Ryker Matthew!
love, mommy