Ryan's 1st Birthday!

Wow!  Ryan is already 1!  This little boy has stolen my heart with his wide-mouth grins and blond curls.  He absolutely adores his big brother and would love to be able to talk.  Ryan picked up on walking quickly, so we are having lots of fun watching him weeble wobble around the house.  He is a happy soul and we love him dearly.  Happy Birthday Ryan!

With Ryan turning 1 and really starting to enter the training/disciplining phase of life and with Jacob being 3 I am daily overwhelmed by being a parent.  It is this tremendous task that I feel completely unworthy of experiencing with all of it's joys and pains, trials and triumphs, good days and bad days.  I have been reading a book that encourages parents to take obedience and respect a step further and teach their children honor.  The definition of honor used in the book includes treating people special and going above and beyond what is expected of you all while having a good attitude.  The concept is wonderful and the ideas are great, but wow do I feel ill equipped to teach something that I daily fail to do myself.  


Having children has humbled me more than any other experience so far in my life.  When I first got pregnant with Jacob the focus and excitement was on delivering, bringing home, and loving a tiny little baby.  I'm not sure how much thought I gave to the fact that not only was I responsible for making sure this child was clean and well fed but I was also responsible for teaching this child how to behave, think, act, and respond to this world and the people in it.  Yikes!  It is a monumental task that weighs heavy, but praise the Lord #1 for His new mercies each morning...each moment I should say, #2 for His Word and the tools and principles He has given us, #3 His forgiveness because I am continually in need of it, #4 His creation of resilient children that forgive and forget with such ease at this early age when I am learning so much, and #5 for the people around us who come alongside and encourage, teach us, help us, and remind us that we are not bad parents even when I feel that way.  Praising God for His hand on our family as we trust, grow, learn, and give it our best!

Meet Poonee

Last week, the hottest week of the summer, we decided to tackle staining our deck.  Thankfully in the evenings we get shade on that side of the house and there certainly wasn't any rain, so it was a fairly successful event and the deck looks so much better.  Here are some photos!

The portion on the right is what our deck looked like.  The left side is after a good power wash.

This is the final product!  It took a lot longer than we expected, but worth the effort!

While staining the deck one evening, we found a baby praying mantis.  We have been talking about bugs this summer and reading books on bugs, so the decision was made to catch and keep the baby praying mantis as a pet.  A bug cage and a cricket keeper with live crickets are now a part of the decor in our home:)  A second praying mantis was found and Jacob named the small one Neenee and the large one Poonee.  Now I had read online that praying mantis insects have no shame in eating each other, so I knew we were at risk of this occuring....and sure enough the next morning while we were eating breakfast, Poonee cornered Neenee and had a tasty meal!  Survival of the fittest at work.  Since then, Poonee has eaten several crickets and shed his skin once.  Here's Poonee!

Our Newest Addition

Well, Mitch took his motorcycle class and loved it!  The four of us spent all day Saturday in the Harley Davidson store on the Southside of Indy.  Originally we were not supposed to have Jacob and Ryan with us, but it turned out to be a great way to spend Father's Day weekend.  We were all together supporting Mitch in his new adventure and that was better than any card.  Sometimes actions speak louder than words.  Anyway, after hours of paperwork and picking out gear and spending...some money here is what arrived at our house Monday...

Jacob thinks the motorcycle is super cool.  Ryan wants to push the buttons!

This is a video of Mitch on his first ride.  I believe his words when he arrived back were, "That was awesome!"  He is really having a blast riding!  Not the greatest video, but you get the point.

Jacob Quotes

"So guys, what do you think about picking up lunch?"

When he says things that sound like he should be 30, not 3, we can't help but laugh.  We try to keep the laughter on the inside, but it's almost impossible.

Jacob Quotes

"Hey Mommy!  Ryan thinks it's funny when I hit him in the head!"

Oh boy...here we go!  I walked in on Jacob throwing a ball at Ryan.  Since Ryan was laughing, Jacob assumed that meant it was okay.  Yikes!  Needless to say, we have had multiple discussions recently about how fragile Ryan's neck still is and that under no circumstances is it okay to hit him or anyone else in the head.  I think I am going to have more stories to tell like this...

A Little Catch Up

In late May I traveled with my grandma, dad, and mom to St. Louis to witness my sister, Bethany and brother-in-law, Andrew graduate from St. Louis University.  Bethany graduated from the Doisy College of Health Sciences with a masters degree in Occupational Therapy.  Andrew graduated from the John Cook School of Business with a Master of Business Administration.  It was great to spend some time in St. Louis with family.  I missed my boys, but came back refreshed.  Congratulations Bethany and Andrew!  We are super proud.  God has amazing things in store for you both!  Yay for no more tests and homework...ha!

"Yay Aunt Bethany and Uncle Andrew!"



We also celebrated several birthdays while in St. Louis (my mom, Andrew's mom, and Andrew).  The cake was more for the moms!  Isn't it cute?



Following my trip to St. Louis, we were invited to a last minute Memorial Day weekend trip to a houseboat on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky.  We packed up Mitch's truck to the brim with everything from bedding to swimsuits to food to sunscreen and headed down.  We spent two days and one night with several of Mitch's family members.  The boys LOVED it!  Jacob was super excited that we got to actually sleep on the houseboat.  We could have done without the truck ride down (we discovered that Jacob gets car sick...twice), but otherwise had a wonderful time!  The water was FREEZING, but the air was hot so it worked.  We jumped in several times to cool off, which didn't take long.  At first Jacob didn't want to stay in, but after a little while he was having so much fun we had to force him out when his lips were shaking.  It's always great to spend time with Mitch's family.  Thanks for the invite!!

Ryan's first boat ride!  It was in the evening and he slept the whole time, but I'm sure he enjoyed it:)

Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob!

We celebrated Jacob's 3rd birthday yesterday!  He is typically a very animated child, so you can only imagine how excited and well hyper he was yesterday, but we loved it!  He was certainly the life of his party with grandmas and grandpas of various generations surrounding him with love and of course presents:)  Jacob's excitement for life and all things big or small is something that I just treasure about him.  A lollipop gets the same excited reaction as does a new bike.  He just loves life to the fullest and I could learn some things from him.  I pray that somehow he will hold on to the simple joys of life and treasure each moment of each day always.  I also pray that his simple joy would rub off on me and others around him.


We love you Jacob and Happy Birthday!