Grandparents Day 2013

ICS celebrates Grandparents once a year with a special performance from the kiddos. This year Grammy and Grandma came to be honored by Brooke and Ali.

Ali's class sang a few songs

(Front row, second from the left)

Brooke's class recited a poem

(Far right, white sweater)

Afterward we enjoyed some yummy snacks and quality time with our wonderful grandmas.

They do so much to love on us and we think they are AWESOME!

Ryder's First Steps!

Our big boy is finally walking! At 13 1/2 months Ryder took his first REAL steps. When he was about 9 or 10 months old I thought he might be an early walker. He would take one or two small steps from me to Steve but then he got nervous and for the longest time he was not interested in even trying to walk. But then Ali showed up with her mint M&M's and our boy finally had the motivation he needed! We spent about an hour luring him all over the house with M&M's. It was a fun night to celebrate that big milestone!

Here's a video to show our boy's new skills!

Day by day he is getting better and more steady on his feet. Here are some more action shots from day 2 of walking.

Ryder is so much more content now that he is up on his feet. He can get around on his own, chase his sisters, escape puppy attacks, and run to mommy whenever he wants. He's also finding his way into trouble quicker than ever. His walking has quickly transitioned to climbing and now explores the bunk bed ladder and other tricky heights. Mommy and daddy better get ready for trouble!

Daisy

Our doggie, Delta, has been a wonderful addition to our family. She's lovable, quirky, and all around awesome. Our friends, The Neilsens introduced us to catahoula leopards. Their catahoula, Hooka was due to have puppies in the middle of December. We got to go join in on the puppy birth-day fun! Those newborn puppies were sooooo cute, but watching them be born caused Brooke to have this reaction...

EIGHT puppies later...

From very early on, Brooke had attached herself to one puppy in particular. In fact, when I looked back through all my puppy pictures I noticed that she is always holding the same puppy!

Well, her name is Daisy and she lives with us now. Mommy wasn't terribly excited about getting another dog, but while Daisy was getting old enough to leave her mommy, Brooke worked her magic on mommy (plus I also found out that Brooke was asking for prayer at school so that she could get her very own puppy).

Daisy and Delta get along great and now I can't imagine how Delta survived without her bud. They play together a lot, wrestling, chasing cows and digging holes.

Brooke has a sweet bond with Daisy. She says that Daisy has a way of sensing when Brooke is sad and Daisy will curl up next to Brooke and rest her head in Brooke's lap to comfort her.

Welcome to the family, Daisy!

Messes

It's possible that on occasion I let my boy make messes on purpose. If a box of sandwich baggies will keep him entertained for 15 minutes then it's totally worth the 2 minutes it takes to clean them all up again.

If I can answer a few emails or get the laundry put away in the amount of time it takes for Ry to unload, reload and unload the plastic spoons, it's well worth it.

But don't worry.. I didn't let him play in the dog food for too long. 

Delta wasn't amused about that mess.

Feeding Children Everywhere

Feeding Children Everywhere is a new favorite for me. It's a locally based organization that puts on food packing events all over the country. They set up assembly lines and you show up and serve for 1-2 hours packing healthy meals for hungry kids. They use the meals to feel hungry kids locally and all over the world. I love it because it is a kid friendly way to serve and it's been hard for me to find service opportunities that allow young kids to participate. The girls love it because they can get involved and be a part of the serving. Mom and dad joined us in February for a morning with FCE.

Our assembly line in action

Ali decorated a box that the meals will get packed into.

Brooke makes sure her lentils are measured perfectly!

Rockin' the red hair nets!

Lori's 36th Birthday

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeee!

Goodbye 35, and hello 36.

For my birthday lunch we loaded up the kids and headed out for some zingers. Steve tried to get a pic of me and the kids and despite several attempts, this was the BEST one! You can just imagine what the bad ones looked like. But that's life with three. Sometimes your best picture is squinty-eyed with hidden faces, a piece of celery and a baby falling out of your lap.

Mom made an awesome mexican dinner for us that night. 

She always knows how to make each occasion feel really special.

A few days later Steve and I got to head off to the Silver Spurs Rodeo. Beforehand he took me boot shopping and I got some cute new cowgirl boots!