my boys this fall.

OK, can we be done taking pictures now?

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Thankful

for green bean casserole.
for a leisurely afternoon talking with loved ones.
for a little sister who plays with & keeps my boys entertained for hours.
for a refrigerator so stuffed with food I can barely shut the door.
for a whole day with my AJ home.
for a no-stress holiday.
for a healthy, happy family.
for more blessings than I deserve.
for a BIG, HUGE GOD who loves me passionately and pursues me constantly. Pin It

Sawyer's 1st ever birthday

 . . .with a LOT of pictures.  Get ready for it, this is a first birthday post.

For our sweet Sawyer's big day, we decided to just have a small family party.  Between all my parents and AJ's, we had a full house.
AJ's parent's drove down for Sawyer's big day.

Sawyer loves to play with balls so I went with a ball/circle theme for his little party.

One of his favorite activities is to roll a ball back and forth.

All of the finger foods were in the shape of a ball. 

Yummy cupcakes. :)

 Party favors.

 

Sawyer's own little cake.

My daddy & sister Hannah.

Sawyer "walked" around with this thing the whole time.  All my boys have learned to walk with that thing.  We call it a "walker." :)

Happy Birthday to Sawyer....

Sawyer wasn't sure what he was supposed to do when we first gave him his cake and stood around staring at him with huge grins on our faces.

He patted it a lot.  But he finally got the idea.

He really didn't get much past the icing before he was done. 

After the party we went downtown to the Christmas parade.  I miss small town parades.
But the boys had fun.

Happy Birthday baby boy!  I love you so much.

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sweet Meliyah and some turkeys

We are so enjoying our time with Meliyah.
The Lord has definitely blessed our time with her.
She is such a sweet heart and seems to be getting more and more comfortable with us.
At first she seemed so distant.
Now, she gives me a big hug when she comes in and takes off her shoes to get busy playing. 
I am praying that she can taste and see Jesus through us.  I am praying that our time with her makes a life-long impact.  Please join me in praying for her and us!

Her favorite thing to do when she comes is play with play-dough.  She goes to the cabinet to get it out every time.

We've been doing Thanksgiving crafts the past few days.  On Monday we made handprint and footprint turkeys.

I think they turned out so cute!

Meliyah really enjoys crafts so she fits in well at our house!  :)

She also loves playing outside.  She often goes to the door with her coat and shoes and asks to go outside.

The boys really enjoy having her here and always want to wake her up from her nap to play some more.

I am so thankful for this opportunity for us to serve Jesus together.  It's not always easy, but it's good.

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Happy Birthday Sweet Sawyer

A year ago today God gave us the gift of our Sawyer Daniel.  

He was a gift we weren't sure we were going to get. 

I so wanted to have a third baby and for a while it seemed like God might have other plans for our family. 

But, God said "Yes" to my pleas and allowed us to have another sweet boy. 

The day of his birth was a trying one, but so worth all the pain to get this gem of a baby. 

One of the sweetest memories of that day is my sweet daddy singing praise songs over him as he held him for the first time. 

This year has absolutely flown by.  It's been filled with wonderful memories of watching our Sawyer grow and change.   We are all crazy about him and race to be the first one to get him out of his crib in the morning.  I am overwhelmed at the gift of this sweet, precious boy.

 

 

 

 

I love you my Sawyer Daniel.  You were so worth the wait.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

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After

For all of you who sat at your computer tonight hitting refresh over and over in anticipation of this post, your wait is over. 

Oh how I love Mac's photo booth.

There you go. 
You can go on with your night now. Pin It

World Altering News

Soooooo.........
I have way more important things to blog about.
Things on my heart.  Things I'm passionate about.
Things that actually matter. 
But I'm a little emotionally and intellectually sluggish today.
And I don't have the stamina to put those real thoughts into words right now.
So instead....I'll give you something superficial.
That doesn't matter.
I've thought way too much about it.
I'm getting a hair cut today.
Here's the before.

I'll post an after later.....unless I end up looking like Kate Gosselin. 

I know this is riveting stuff.
You're on the edge of your seat. Pin It

Gracias

Thanks everyone for praying & checking on our little buddy. 

He did awesome.  The I.V. was the worst and I'm pretty sure the lady who did it should retire that position.  Even still, Avery was so tough and brave and held still even though tears were rolling down his face.  :(   

The hardest part of the day after that was keeping him on "bed rest."  It was a very long day but we made it.

He's my tough little boy. Pin It

If you would . . .

Please pray for my sweet Avery tomorrow. 
He's having a little mouth surgery in the morning.  It will be his first timing going under anesthesia.  He doesn't seem to be nervous.  But I am.
Pray for his safety.
Pray for little or no pain for him.
Pray for him to be brave & not be scared. 
Pray for me to chill out.

I've stocked the freezer with all sorts of yummy treats for him. :)  If all else fails, we've got popsicles! Pin It

the non-holiday, in review

So, October could not be over soon enough for me.

What I like about October:

*four family members' birthdays to celebrate

*the fun of autumn...crisp weather, baking, cider, hay rides, pumpkin patches, etc.

What I don't like about October:

Halloween

I know I am a stick in the mud, but I just hate it.  It cannot be over soon enough.  I hate all that nasty stuff in every store you go in.  And I really hate that creepy guy who stands out on the corner of the road in a grim reaper costume pointing you to the Halloween store.  Seriously.

I do love family traditions and making memories.  So, I try to make the best of it and focus on Fall.

I usually try to find a Fall Festival to go to so that my kids get the fun of dressing up without having to see some kid with a half-bloody face and a hatchet in his hand walking by. 

The boys have a huge box of dress up stuff  and love to dress up all the time. 

On Wednesday we went to a Fall Festival at Finley's preschool and just let the boys pick whatever they wanted from their dress up box.

It's so much easier that way and they are just as happy as can be. 

Since I don't like Halloween anyway, I just decided from now on, costumes will be of the free variety.  i.e.: whatever they can come up with on their own.  Plus that's good for the creativity. :)

On Saturday we carved (and roasted the seeds) from a pumpkin.
That's always a fun family activity.

Avery always has specefic plans for how he wants it to look.
He insisted that AJ cut out hair and a hand on the side. 

That night we went to our friends' house for some fall fun. 

The boys had about 3 different wardrobe changes before they decided on their costume.

This summer I scored a huge box of dress up clothes from our neighbor whose boys had grown out of them, so they had many looks to chose from.

Sawyer = cutest little cow you ever did see (besides when Finley was the cow a few years ago). :)

All the kids at the party had a big time painting pumpkins, eating way too much candy, & bobbing for apples.

 

Good memories.  Fun times with friends & family.  Glad it's over.

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