4

It's hard to believe, but it's true; Riley our baby girl is 4 today!!!! She has been a huge blessing in our lives and I can't imagine life without her.

She is full of joy and laughter and has a ready smile for everyone. Riley loves to sing and can be heard daily making up songs. She also loves to color and will spend hours with some paper and crayons drawing and "writing". There is nothing she does not think she can do and she has spent her life doing whatever her boys are doing. This has helped make her fearless and advanced beyond her size.

We like to joke that she is a whole lot of personality in a tiny body, but it's really true. She is a joy to be around, full of life and love, always ready with a hug, and not afraid to stand up for herself. She truly has been a joy these past four years and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet Riley!!!!!!

Halloween

We took the kids trick-or-treating for the first time this year. This is the first year we have lived in a neighborhood with kids and trick-or-treaters. They loved every minute of it and you would not believe how much candy is now in this house.

Here are a couple of pictures of my adorable trick-or-treaters. In case you can't tell; Riley is Cinderella, Seth is Ben 10, and Noah is HeatBlast (one of the Ben 10 aliens). Can you tell what cartoon is most popular at our house?

The other girls in the picture are the next door neighbors and the kids best buddies in the neighborhood. The jack-0-lantern's are the kids and we put them on the brush pile during trick-or-treating. They looked great with the candles lit, but wouldn't show up very well in the picture.

Sleeping

A couple of weeks ago we went to a family get together with Jared's family. The kids had a great time fishing, eating, and running around. While we were saying goodbye and getting ready to leave we found Noah like this. He slept for about 30 minutes like this without falling off the couch or sliding to the floor. I think he was a little tired.

Dancing

Dance has officially started in our house. After 2 years of asking to take dance class, Riley is finally old enough to participate in the dance classes at the Y.

Her favorite part of the class is ballet, but she also loves wearing her "snappers" (her name for her tap shoes).

Summer

It was a very busy summer for us and I thought I would catch everyone up on our adventures.
The kids had a great time playing with friends and we spent a lot of time at the pool or other water activities since it was so hot here this summer. Oh who am I kidding, it's still hot here. Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying a morning at a local water park.



Jared is playing in a softball league again, this time a Sunday double-header league. So we are back to spending our weekends at the softball fields.

I tried something new this summer and participated in the Dragonboat Races in Nashville on the Cumberland River. It was a lot of fun, although extremely hot that day. Our trainer from Boot camp, Micah, put together a team made up of boot campers and personal training clients. We did a great job in our first two races, but did not do very well in our final race. I will definitely be participating again next year. I don't have a group picture of all 21 of us, but here is a picture from earlier in the day.


We also moved into our new house. It was a full, busy, hot, and fun summer. I am trying to catch up over the next few days so check back for first day of school pictures and more.

Birthday Boy

I'm a little late in getting this posted, but I couldn't let Noah's birthday pass without a post for/about him.

Six years ago we got a huge surprise when Noah was born. For months we had been expecting a baby girl and then this amazing, beautiful baby boy was born. After the initial shock, I couldn't imagine life without him, and I still can't.

He is a happy, fun loving, handsome boy. He loves to draw, color, dance, and sing. He is one of the lights of my life and a true blessing in every sense of the word.

I can't believe he is already six and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Kindergarten

I'm a little behind in posting this, but it has been a hectic couple of months. We are mostly moved in to our new house and we are loving our neighborhood and our neighbors. All of our things are in the house, I just have some boxes left to unpack and hopefully that will happen before the end of the year.

On bigger news, Noah is officially in Kindergarten. He loves his new school, his teacher, and riding the bus. Our next door neighbor, Quincy, is in the same class as Noah, which I think helped make the transition a little easier. They ride the bus together and have the same class, we are truly blessed to have them living next door.

I did not get as teary as I expected on his first day, I think having Seth and Riley with me helped keep me distracted. I mostly got teary when he got off the bus that afternoon. I can't believe how big he his and how quickly the last six years have gone.


Noah's new school

Mommy and Noah on the first morning of Kindergarten.

Moving!!!!!

It's official, WE ARE MOVING!!!! We have found a house and everything appears to be falling into place. We close on July 23rd and are very excited to start in our new house. Currently, I'm tired of packing but that is just part of the process and will be worth it once we get finished.

I will let everyone know our new address once we are official, until then here is a picture of our new house.

Legos

Noah has recently become interested in legos. I was hoping to avoid this toy, but it seems to have invaded our house. He is doing a great job building different things and I think we are going to be seeing more legos our future.

Here are some of his most recent creations....

Activities

It has been a busy few months at our house. Here are a ffew pictures of our activities.

Painting

I had a painting of the kids commissioned. It is one of my favorite pictures of the kids and I wanted to be able to display it as more than just a photograph. Seth's teacher is an amazing artist and agreed to paint the picture for me. I'm so excited, it is finished and I can't wait to get it framed and hung. For those who will not be able to see it in person for awhile; here is a picture of the portrait for you to see.

For comparison purposes, here is the original picture she used to paint from.

Riley

While I was writing the last post I found this sight on the couch. I thought you all might get a kick out of her newest sleeping pose.

Washing machine problems

Yesterday as I was getting ready to go work at the Y, Riley came running out of the laundry room talking about Sethy. I could not understand what she could possibly be talking about so I followed her to find out what was going on.

As it turned out, my washing machine was full and unable to work. Upon further investigation here is what we found to be the problem....

Yes, that is Seth in the washing machine. And before anyone who doesn't know him gets the wrong impression; he put himself in the washing machine; he thought it was a great joke; and no we did not start the machine before he popped his head out or while he was still in the machine.

It actually was a great joke and before I made him get out of the machine I called Jared in from mowing the lawn to "help" me figure out what was wrong with the washing machine. It was the hardest I have laughed all week and a great representation of just who that little guy is.

What have we been doing?

It's been quite awhile since I've posted anything so I thought I would catch up with what we have been doing.

Our house has been on the market for just over 2 months now. We actually had it sold once, but the buyer backed out halfway to closing. We are praying everyday that God will send the right people to our house soon. In the meantime, we are having fun and enjoying all of our many blessings.

Jared and I have been participating in boot camp at the YMCA since the middle of Nov. We have a great time, and while it is a very hard class we enjoy it. Our class is mostly my co-workers and we all have a great time working hard and encouraging each other. We are happy with the results, but man is it hard.

The boys are back in soccer and loving it. It is great to finally see some sun and sit on the sidelines cheering them on and enjoying the spring weather. Riley is still too young to play on her own team, but she is the biggest cheerleader for the boys at their games each week.


Here is a picture of my dad's "new" truck. The kids loved playing in the truck when we were up there a few weeks ago. Jared could barely fit inside the cab.


One of the pictures from our afternoon of hiking Easter weekend.

More pictures

SNOW Today

We did actually get snow yesterday. It started snowing about 9 am yesterday and snowed all day. We went out this morning in anticipation of making a snowman or two with the kids, but found that it is mostly ice on top and the snow underneath is too dry to make a snowman. Hopefully, we will be able to make one soon.

We did have fun playing in the snow though and then came inside to enjoy some hot chocolate. Nashville only gets this kind of snow every few years, so it might be awhile before the kids get to see snow like this again at home.

Snow

Schools are out again in Nashville. There is no snow on the ground. This is the second time this month that school has been cancelled before a single snowflake has fallen from the sky. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a crazy method for canceling school.

For anyone reading this, a prayer request. Our neighbors from our old neighborhood just lost a dear family member. She was very young, had cystic fibrosis and a year year old daughter. Her husband and daughter are in need of our prayers for peace and comfort at this difficult time. They are surrounded by loving family, are very strong believers in Christ, but I know that other believers prayers will be felt.

In other news, our house is officially on the market. The sign went in the yard today and hopefully will sell soon, although, not too soon since we haven't even started looking for another house yet. We would also appreciate any prayers for this stressful situation.

I promise I will post some pictures soon.

My Brother

Here are a couple of more pictures from Christmas of the kids with my brother. They loved seeing their Uncle Walter and since he lives in Montana and they only get to see him once a year it made Christmas even better for us all.

Christmas

December was a crazy, but fun month. We celebrated Riley's birthday with her friends at a princess themed birthday party. She had so much fun having her first friend birthday party.

The middle of the month brought the kids Christmas program at their preschool. We had a lot of fun watching the kids perform their songs and motions. Riley was in her element being on stage performing in front of the audience. They all had a great time and did a fantastic job.

We spent Christmas at my parents' house in Northern KY. We had a great time visiting with friends and family. My brother was able to com e into town from Montana for most of the week and we had a wonderful time visiting with him. The kids were especially excited to play with Uncle Walter and followed him everywhere he went around the house.

Here are a couple of pictures from our time with my family at Christmas.

The kids with Mamaw

The kids sitting with Uncle Walter