The beauty of Fall

WE LOVE FALL !

Its amazing to think that God created all of this for His glory and our pleasure. He speaks to me so vividly through His creation. I am always humbled and in awe of Him when I'm outside...especially in Fall. He could have just made the leaves fall off in one day, but instead He paints them all different colors, gets the lighting at sunset just right, and scents the air with that crisp, fresh smell so that I'm standing there in utter amazement at the beauty of it all...and of Him.

The kids and I have been having a blast in the leaves. Brayden & Savannah ( and me, too!) love seeing all of the pumpkins and watching all of the farmers around us harvesting their final crops for the season. We're drinking up all of the local homemade apple cider that we can because, like everything in life, this too will pass. Truly, to quote one of my favorites, This is My Father's World!

The Red Race Car Saga

Our saga began back in the summer when Brayden went with Daryl and Eric to Miller's Turf and Trail to look into the cost of a zero-turn mower. Yes, the bigger the boy the bigger the toy. While there, Brayden saw (maybe rode in?) a blue kid-sized go kart. Brayden was ecstatic when they arrived home and wanted to know if I had the money for his race car in my pocket (some explanation his Daddy gave him--hahaha good one, Honey). Anyways, every time we'd see an ad for Miller's or drive by on our way to the cabin Brayden would say, "There's my race car that we're going to buy."

Now fast forward to a few weeks ago. Brayden was playing in our backyard with his cars, trucks, etc., one of which is a little four-wheeler. Well, this little four-wheeler had gotten stomped on/run over and the wheels were broken...along with Brayden's heart. So at this particular moment of Brayden's life being flipped upside down my mom phoned. Now I must preface this by also saying that every time Granny walks through our door there is sure to be gifts and/or treats of some sort. And there have been so many packages sent in the mail, that our kids now scream, "Granny!" every time the postman delivers a box, oversized envelope, etc. whether or not its for them! You must understand that in my kids eyes Granny always has the goods. And not only does Granny deliver the goods, there is no limit to what the woman will do at playtime. Crawling into a kid-sized tent, wearing crazy get-up to play the part, making up games that only toddlers (and people with our odd sense of humor) find fun. In simple terms, Granny rocks. Big time.

All that being said, back to the saga. Brayden promptly gets on the phone and informs Granny that, and I quote, "my car broke, Granny. Would you please go out and buy me a new one at the store and wrap it up like a present and send it to me?" Did I mention that I love four-year-olds? Well somehow in the course of the conversation it got altered in Brayden's head that Granny & Pap were going to buy him The Race Car aka the kid-sized go kart at Miller's...and now it was red instead of blue. Before the phone was even back on the wall, Brayden was at the window wondering when Granny and Pap were going to pull in with his race car.

The best part of this story was the fact that Brayden then phoned nearly every day to inquire about his race car. One afternoon he phoned and asked Granny if she had talked to Pap about hitching the trailer to his truck to bring his race car out. Mind you, Pap doesn't even own a truck let alone a hauling trailer! And once when Brayden asked about his race car and Granny replied, "I'm working on it" as in "I'm seeing about buying one", Brayden took that to mean she was working on it literally. Like in the garage. With tools. And he exclaimed, "Well, is it big and red, Granny?!"

Needless to say, a red race car arrived at our home Friday, October 12th. Brayden was in shock for a brief period of time and our lives have not been the same since. I've never watched Nascar in my life, but there is no way that it can be more interesting or entertaining than watching my boy tear around our yard and beyond...usually with his sister sitting on the back waving like a Homecoming Queen! I LOVE IT! So enjoy some shots of him and them and, of course, the red race car.

Where does the time go??

This little guy is now 4 years old...I sit here typing in disbelief!! These are two of my favorite photos of him at 6 mos (below) and 1 year (above) and I can tell you every detail surrounding them like it was yesterday. Where does the time go?? What an adorable little baby...and now he's my adorable, double-slingin' "big boy". Sniff-sniff.

Brayden absolutely LOVED his fourth birthday. It was an entire weekend of celebrating his life...and what a blessing he is to us (and to all who love him). He played with every present that he received before going to bed AND some even went to bed with him. So needless to say, we have a serious need to catch up on sleep in our home!

Our "new" home

Here's some views of our "new" home for those who only got to see the realtor webshots or nothing at all. We are currently (as in today) beginning to paint the shutters, the front door, and the garage doors (which you can't see in these photos, but are located to the right of the second little porch). The siding will get painted as well when Daryl's season slows down. What a blessing this year has been--so much work still to do for the business and we're in October! We can honestly exclaim, "Jehovah Jireh, My Provider!" I also included a few shots of the back view of the house. Its hard to properly photograph it due to 1) all of the trees in our backyard and 2) the length of the house and garage seem to go on FOREVER! FYI...we absolutely love our screened in porch!! If you don't currently have one, I would highly recommend it. As a little disclaimer: we are on the 10 year plan here for all the fix-ups we'd like to do. If you're at all interested in hearing about all of the things we have planned, I'd love to share them. But be certain that you have some time and good visualization skills on hand! Anyways, enjoy. I'll upload new shots as we revamp things. And, just so you know, we look forward to entertaining you in our home no matter what the design stage!

Birthday time at the Cabin!

We celebrated Big D's birthday (as well as Dad's, Devin's, Jeff's and mine) at the cabin. You see, the family has started a tradition of spending a weekend of every month at the cabin. This was our first one and it just so happened that it fell on Daryl's birthday. Everyone had a great time...especially the kids (thanks to the adults!). As Aunt Krystal so aptly stated, "This has been the best day in the life of a kid!" Hiking, creek-walking, four-wheeling, a trailer ride, sleeping in a tent (even if it is set up in the basement), extended story-time, waffle breakfast, steak dinner, campfires each night, having all of your cousins with you when you go to sleep and wake up--what more could a kid want?? Did I mention the number of kids...TEN under the age of four! Kudos to all the aunts & uncles and Gramma & Grampa. It was truly wonderful! We're all looking forward to the next one!

Bugs, birthdays and bats

Like father, like son. Brayden surprised us one day by putting on a new Jayco shirt and Daddy's boots. What a moment to capture on film! He said, "I'm just like you, Daddy, huh?!" He's growing up so fast. It won't be long until he can actually fill those boots! He loves going to work with Daddy and "helping him get the job done". Today he decided to give me a heart attack after we came inside the house. He began screaming and jumping around on the carpet while grabbing at his foot. I thought it was a yellow jacket. He's screaming and shrilling while I'm yelling, "Is it stinging you?!" all the while swatting at his flying foot over and over again while he continued to scream and shrill. I was finally able to smash the living daylights out of our "yellow jacket", and we propmtly discovered it was merely a long-nosed beetle. Once we both clamed down, I asked Brayden if it had been stinging him and he promptly replied, "No, it was just eating on my toe!"

Daryl always said that he wanted a little girl who was just like her Momma. Yep, prayer answered. She is loud, stubborn, loves to sing, and can definately hold her own in any crowd. Sound like anyone you know?? Ah yes, and she also is very fond of her Daddy! The sun rises and sets around him...and rightly so. He is a great Daddy! She also thinks her brother and sister are something quite special. Her vocabulary is taking off. She is so much fun and so absolutely ornery too! This look says it all. She was getting a kick out of me fighting a bat today that was hiding in our porch. I had a huge blue stick and was swinging like a mad woman while this little furry bat squeaked and scatched inside its hideout trying its best to remain there. Needless to say, the bat is still there and my kids had some good laughs at their Momma's expense! (I did have flashbacks to our house in Naomi when a bat was in our house. It was clinging to the blanket being used as our safety shield--the best part was the gitups my uncle and dad were wearing to "fight" this little bat out of fear that they would get rabies! That bat's life ended quickly with a hammer if I remember correctly.) Did I mention that there's never a dull moment around here?

We're in the midst of birthday season. I got a great cake made on my birthday by my man and kids! We then all made ourselves sick eating it. Totally worth it and so special. I especially love this picture because I'm rarely in any of them--let alone one with all my kiddos--due to the fact that I'm the photographer! Note the lettering on the cake. Its in a smile shape...by accident. The cake was still warm and when we went to hold it up for the photo all the icing began sliding! Good times, good times. The big D's b-day is next, followed by his Dad, then Leight-dawg, and finally Brayden-boy! All of these by next Saturday!! Lovin' it.

What a mess!!

It's official...Sophia has her first infection and it's in her sinuses. After too many nights of little sleep due to her snorts, grunts, and crying over not being able to eat properly, we went to the doctor. And now its amoxicillin twice a day via a dropper. Now any parent can attest to this--what are they thinking?? Thankfully she takes it well, but it does get a little messy (AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE SIDE)! I think that she rather enjoys the fun little game of watching Momma try to catch the medicine as it rolls out of her mouth and onto everything else. Only nine more days of this, thank goodness!

The Beginning...

Well, this is (hopefully) the start of something special. A little insight into the wild & wonderful world of our family! I struggled (at 11pm) to come up with something creative as our title--I thought that it summed us up quite nicely at present...seems that's what my life entails--babies, blankies and our business...who knew that all of the above at the same time could be so lively, entertaining, and sometimes draining??

Anyways, I am hoping that this site will give all of our family a chance to see the kids growing (its happening WAY too fast) and also to enjoy hearing some stories of our weekly antics and the like. We really have a good time around here--NEVER a dull moment. And I must admit that I am truly enjoying it! Well there are days or moments in any given day when I think, "Huh?", but I think that every parent feels that. Nonetheless, life is good. I have a phenomenal man sitting beside me on this wild roller coaster we call life--and I'm lovin' every minute of it. Yes, life is good and God is good....all the time.