Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!  I don't know about you, but I love Thanksgiving.  I love the simplicity of it...the whole day revolves around being with family and celebrating all that we are thankful for.  Around our home this month we have been talking a lot about the verse in I Thessalonians 5:8 which says "...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus..."  Giving thanks in all circumstances...the good, the bad and the mundane...sometimes that's hard...really hard.   However, as we have focused on that, I have come to realize how truly blessed we are.  To help the boys visualize an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude and as a way to count down the month of November, we made a little "Thanksgiving Tree" for them.  I found the idea on Pinterest...anyway, the basic idea is that every night the boys sit down and write one thing that they are thankful for on a leaf and then we place it on the tree.  I was shocked at how much they have enjoyed this activity...Braden often reminds me at the end of the day that we need to do "our Thanksgiving leaves."  I love that their, (okay let's be honest) "our" hearts are revealed in this activity and that we are practicing what the Bible teaches us.  On our Thanksgiving Tree this month you will find written that we are thankful for anything from "our house," to "paint," to "grandparents" to "God's Sovereignty," to "baby C," (our sweet little one growing in my womb), to the fact that "batman flies," or that "F-14 planes get the bad guys," to "police" and "model airplanes" and let's not forget "the couch."  Anyway, we have lot's to be thankful for...

Here is Asher anxiously awaiting his turn to put a leaf on the tree - 

 And Braden practicing his writing on a leaf to put on the tree -

Reflecting back over this year, I found so much to be thankful for...

...like sunsets...

 ...and brothers...

...and for laps to sit on when there is clearly no more room in the house...

...and for laughter, the take-your-breath-away kind of laughter...

 ...and for Grandparents...

...and for those that are wiser and older then we are and the privilege of looking up to them -

We are also thankful for the gift of making memories with those we love most -

 ...and the big yard we have with huge trees and lots of leaves for little boys to jump in...

....and for an imperfect marriage to my very best friend whom I've walked beside for 16 years now...

  ...and for "Smores Fridays" at our house around the firepit...

 ...and for sweet friendships with those in the same stage of life as we are...

 

I am thankful for the opportunity to slow down and hold little ones while they sleep, for I know soon they will be too big to hold and too busy to cuddle...

 ...and I am thankful for huge imaginations and for little boys who love to pretend they are super heroes and fighter pilots who are practicing their survival skills in the wilderness...

 ...and I am thankful for the God-breathed life of this little girl growing in my womb...

 ...and for sweet, protective brothers who cannot wait to meet this little one...

 ...and for big messes that remind me that I am privileged to share my home with little friends and for the reminder that the days as mommas are long, but the years are short...

 ...and for a country that allows us to dream big...for this guy, that dream is to fly one of those fighter planes someday....dream big little boy, dream big...

 ...and finally, we are thankful for an empty tomb and a Risen Savior...and for innocent childlike faith that encourages me daily...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Happy Halloween

We had a sweet Halloween a few weeks ago and as always it is such a joy to see your little ones dressed up in their costumes, ecstatic about the thought of collecting way more candy then they ever need to consume.  My boys are almost always in costume, so in some ways I feel like it's Halloween almost daily in our house, but still it was such a fun night.  We even hosted what I hope will be an annual tradition in our family...our first Halloween party where we invited all our dear friends to come and eat with us and then walk down and trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.  We had a wonderful night filled with yummy food (many thanks to my momma),  about 20 of our closest friends and some really cute costumes.  Here are some pictures of our night. 

Maverick, the Fighter Pilot and his sidekick Batman - 

 Family photo attempt - 

 Um, perhaps the cutest Batman I have ever seen -

 A few of the dads, some creepier then others -

Photo of most of the kiddos -

 Batman and a Fireman, riding in style and enjoying lots and lots of candy on the ride -

 Braden with one of his best buddies, Mac -

 Surveying the loot, although much was already consumed at this point -

Now it's time to gear up for my favorite time of year, Thanksgiving and Christmas...and then baby girl's arrival in 11 short weeks. 

Oh Yeah, It's a...

 So along with most of my posts, I'm behind on my blogging.  It seems to take the back seat most days, but I do hope to one day look back on this blog and hope that it stirs some memories of mine, so for that reason I continue to post even when things happened, well let's say almost two months ago.  One of those sweet memories, that I want to always remember is the day we found out that this sweet baby growing in my womb was a GIRL!  Sometimes it's weird for me to even write that...my brain is so wired for boys..it's all I've known for the past 5 years.  My world consists of blue and dirt and mud puddles and trucks and fighter planes and superheroes and wrestling and loud, wild voices and endless hours of pretending to be good guys who lock up the bad guys.  All I know is talk of guns and shooting and baseball and super powers.  I could tell you anything you wanted to know about F-14 aircraft or Lego Police.  Part of me just assumed we would always have boys, even though in my heart I wanted a house full of boys and at least one girl.  On my 10 year anniversary (more about that in a separate post), God blessed me with this sweet news...that I get to be the mother of a baby girl.  I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed I feel!  Honestly, I feel blessed beyond words that God is so good that He gave me two amazing little boys who are such good friends and are so close with each other and now a sweet little girl whom my boys and I get to love and protect!  When I heard the news, I literally sobbed.  Tears of shock yes and tears of joy, absolutely!  So thankful for this precious gift that even now kicks from inside.  Oh and ps...I thought I should mention that ever since we found out that we were pregnant with "baby C" as my boys call her, Braden has been wanting a sister.  Asher (my wilder child) wanted a brother...(why not, it's one more person to wrestle with), but Braden has been wanting a sister.  In fact, last summer, he and I were outside swinging one day when he told me he wanted a baby sister.  If you know Braden, then you know his heart and his faith and he immediately prayed to God in a sweet innocent prayer that simply went "Dear Jesus, Please put a baby girl in mommy's tummy next summer.  And please name her Sally because that's a really nice name for a lady.  Amen."  And sure enough, God answered that prayer because this summer, God did just that and put a baby girl in my tummy!  I can assure you, her name will not be Sally, but this was such a sweet prayer from a little 4 year old.  Anyway, here are some pictures from our day -

Here we are on our 10 year anniversary, on our way to dinner.  The boys stayed with a sitter while Austin and I went to dinner.  We had had the ultrasound earlier in the day and took the boys with us so that they could see the baby and hear the heartbeat.  Wish you could have seen their faces when they heard the heart of this sweet baby girl beating!  Anyway, we chose to find out the sex of the baby over dinner instead of at the ultrasound -

Here is the card Austin and I opened over dessert...I honestly was speechless when I read this surprise.  The tears started to fall and I couldn't even get the words to come out of my mouth to tell Austin that we were having a daughter -

The next morning we told the boys that in order to find out whether they were going to have a baby brother or a baby sister, they would have to bite into a cupcake and see what color icing was in the middle.  They absolutely loved this.  Here is Braden showing his cupcake...

And Asher showing you his...

A sweet little surprise for all of us!  We are so excited to meet this little one...only 14 weeks left!!!! 

Fall Fun...

Fall is here in all it's splendor and I must say that I love it...the leaves, the cooler weather, the fun decorating and all the excitement of the upcoming holidays!!!  The boys are so excited too which makes it even more fun and we've found so many fun ways to enjoy the fall.  Earlier in the week we made a visit to the local pumpkin farm with my mom...here are some pictures from our day!

The boys in the tee-pee

Fun on the tire swing...Asher could literally sit on here all day long...and Braden actually enjoyed the pushing more then the riding so it worked out lovely...for a few minutes :)

 So this is what happens when you have a tired three year old who decides to have a melt down about who knows what in the middle of a tunnel in the straw maze...it was a bit interesting for this pregnant momma to get him out of there...

 Toto, me and the boys before the tractor ride -

Speaking of fall, this has become our favorite fall weekend activity!  We bought a fire pit recently and every weekend now we spend our evenings sitting by the fire and roasting marshmallows.  My boys don't really like the taste of roasted marshmallows, (just the cold ones as Braden would say) but the dog sure does, so he eats the majority of their labor and that keeps all parties happy if you know what I mean.  It's been such a fun family thing for us and the boys will literally sit for an hour next to us and just watch the fire and talk with us...this is pretty amazing if you have little active boys like I do! 

Speaking of fall, it hit me today that November is just a few short weeks away which means that Thanksgiving, Christmas and baby girl's birth are just a few months away.  15 weeks is all we have left till my due date...time is flying and we have so much to do get ready for a little one again! 

A Batman Birthday Party

Per Asher's request, we had a Batman Birthday party to celebrate him turning three.  Since Asher LOVES to swing (and by love, I mean the boy will literally sit on a swing for an hour straight if I let him), we headed to one of our favorite playgrounds and spent the afternoon with friends, family and Batman celebrating my little man.  Here are some pictures of our fun afternoon -

Asher spent the first half hour of his party fast asleep on Toto.  He fell asleep on the way to the party and kept on sleeping for about 40 some minutes.  I think my momma got the best job of the party.  It's not often that three year old boys sit still long enough to cuddle - 

 Asher and I in front of his Birthday Banner -

 Braden and one of his favorite buddies -

 The Batman cake -

 Blowing out the candles -

 Our best attempt at a family shot -

 So thankful for friends and family to celebrate life with us -

 Batman and his Nana -

 Big Batman and Little Batman -

Happy Birthday Asher!

Well, my baby officially turned three last week and I still can't believe it.  I so distinctly remember being pregnant with him so it's hard for me to believe that he is no longer a baby, no longer a toddler, but now a big boy.  We celebrated in true Asher style with lots of sweets, a trip to the playground to swing and at the pottery place to paint since art is one of Asher's favorite things these days.

Asher awoke to batman balloons all over his floor...that's birthday tradition around here.  The boys love waking to a floor covered in balloons -

 Another birthday tradition around here is making pancakes in the shape of your birthday age -

Later that day, Asher and I went on a special date to the pottery place to paint and it was so sweet to spend some one-on-one time with him on his birthday -

Earlier in the day, Asher and I made his birthday cake...the boy loves to cook, so it was fun letting him help in the kitchen make one of his favorite sweets.  After we picked Braden up from school, he and Braden decorated the cake...they were going for a Fourth of July theme I guess.  Asher's trying to show me how old he is -

Our family of four (soon-to-be five) -

 

Playing with the camping set that Asher got for his birthday -

 Celebrating at school with his class full of boys the next day -

Sweet Asher, I'm so very thankful for the gift and blessing you are to us.  You bring more joy to my life then I ever thought possible.  I love that you are so very happy and that you know how to make someone laugh, even when that someone is your dad and I when we are trying to discipline you.  It makes it quite hard to punish you when you make us laugh so hard that we have to walk out of the room so you won't see us laughing! God has truly blessed you with the ability to bring smiles to others faces for you are truly one of the funniest people I have ever been around.  You are carefree and fearless, determined and outgoing.  I love that at three we can have lengthy conversations about almost anything as you love to talk and listen and ask questions and explore.  You are my little buddy and I love you more then you will ever know.  Happy 3rd Birthday sweet little boy!