The Wedding

Just a tiny peek into a beautiful day.

Congratulations, Jeremy and Anna.

Again, I am humbled and thankful that you allowed me the opportunity to have a front row seat at the celebration of your marriage today.

The Swing

One of the sweetest memories we have of Granpa's recent visit is a giant rope swing he and the boys engineered, built and played on.



We carved a new path down to the beautiful tree line that surrounds our property.



It is such a colorful, peaceful path this time of year.




The first stage of construction required a lot of muscle and a few power tools. So thankful for all the man power this home can put out!




The work crew had to remove half of an entire tree which had broken off during one of our summer storms and could have been very dangerous had it fallen when one of the kids was swinging.

This is the point in time forever remembered as Ryland learning and using the term widowmaker. It has a very, very funny ring coming from the mouth of a four-year old.

"Mom, we had to take down the widowmaker. We used all our muscles to take out the widowmaker. Look, Mom, another widowmaker! Widowmaker, widowmaker, widowmaker. . ."




The site of The Swing. Is this not a dream land for an adventurous little man?

"Langston, do you know what a widowmaker is?"

Our cat, Bo, who thinks he is a dog. He's the greatest.

One very cool swing done - and now, the boys had many days to try it out with Granpa. And they disappeared for a few days, only reappearing at meal times.

Thanks, Granpa Bill. The boys would like you to know that despite frequent use and sharing it with our neighbors and 50-mph winds these days, it is still holding strong. And we can't wait for you to come back and spend more days having adventures in the woods with us!

The Swing

Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside--

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown--

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

{Langston especially loved Granpa's pretend roller coaster clicking and instructions to "Release the boy!"}

A new bridge and fort were constructed over the brook.

All this work wears a guy out!

Beautiful hues of fall in the woods.

So much fun!

Thanks, Granpa Bill! We are ready for the next adventure!

{Time out for a silly song with Granpa Bill!}

Harvest Time

We are so blessed to be able to watch the seasons change from our back window. We know Fall has truly arrived the afternoon that the combine and grain truck show up. There is something so final about hearing the hum of machinery and watching the golden fields stripped bare in preparation for winter. It really feels like we have crossed the threshold between waning summer days and full-blown Fall now.

This marks the beginning of cozy family evenings spent reading or playing board games together. Bringing out the flannel sheets and wool sweaters. Mowing the lawn for the final time until Spring. Preparing our hearts for winter-truly a hard time of year in this part of the country.

So thankful, so blessed.

Advice on courting - in the eyes of a 4-yr old

"Mom, since the guy is s'posed to give the girl flowers and love notes to make her want to marry him, I was thinking: Wouldn't it be a good idea for the girl to give the guy a car to make him want to marry her?"

Hmmm. . .I'm pretty sure my husband's theology on dating is being passed on.

Pumpkins & Little Hands

Here is a fun little craft that I came up with three years ago when Tarver needed some practice sewing buttons as a part of a Cub Scout requirement. I love to do projects with the boys - but I'm really only excited about projects that have a purpose. The thought of sewing a button on a piece of cloth just to take it off again didn't really appeal to me.

I also love to save mementos of these days of little hands and feet. The little hands and feet grow so, so quickly. I try to remember to soak in these days well of my little ones {now just two little ones} reaching for a hand to hold. These are the memories that come to mind each year when I pull out our box of fall decorations and find these little pumpkins.

I let Braden and Tarver design the shape of their pumpkin on a piece of scratch paper and then let them cut it out {scissor practice!} I then transferred the 'pattern' to fabric and did the cutting myself with the sharp sewing scissors. I also did the machine sewing but they got to stuff their own pumpkins and sew them closed at the top. Again, great practice of very basic sewing skills.

We then traced outlines of their hands {Ryland was just 18-months when his was made and Langston was in the womb. . .guess I should make him a pumpkin this year!} and again I transferred the tracing to green felt and did the cutting of the fabric. Braden and Tarver sewed their own hand 'leaves' at the top and then went through our button jar to find just the right eyes for their pumpkins. They sewed the eyes on and were done.

Very simple - and very much worthwhile to this sentimental Mommy. Look at how tiny this little hand was!

I love projects- do you have anything fun you do with your kids in the fall? Please leave a comment and let me know. I'm always looking for ideas!

Get ready, get set. . .

Granpa!

We are enjoying a visit with family this week. My boys especially enjoy having Granpa Bill visit! First things first, they erupt in a friendly rooting competition. I did ask Dad if he would help us fill the P.E. void by going over some sports basics with the boys. Rooting wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but. . .

Bible study in the front yard with Granpa.

We love to do day trips when Dad visits. We made a stop at the Durham Western Heritage Museum at Omaha's Historic Union Station.

W.O.W.

This was so much fun.

Wow.

We love living in Nebraska - look at these awesome, sensible Omaha proverbs.

Hands-and-feet-on displays are always popular with my bunch.

Moo!

Amazement.

More Amazement.

And it gets even better with a real train that we were able to run through.

I mean, we walked through it.

I know you are all tired of hearing how much I love Starbucks, and really Starbucks has nothing to do with this picture - other than the fact that this would be the perfect spot for a Starbucks because I could sip 2 or 3 lattes before my boys ever tired of watching the mini-train.

Langston would run from one end of the LONG display to the next to keep up with the train. Hey, we could have P.E. here!

The boys could run while I drink coffee and grade them on running form.

Hmmm...

Inside a train car.

This wonderful volunteer spent so much time teaching us the history of the railroad in the Omaha area. Ryland freaked out when he began speaking- he thought this nice gentlemen was an 'electric statue'! He's still talking about it.

A chocolate phosphate at the diner inside the museum.

Almost as good as Starbucks.

I wandered into the Aksarben Royalty Gown display and apparently took a little too long. I heard all sorts of laughing and noise and upon investigating found my bunch making hand shadows during the video that talks about the pretty gowns. Apparently they are not all that impressed with royal gowns and had to do something to pass the time away.

There must have been a hundred gowns here.

It was so pretty until the movie area got loud.

The beautiful main hall of the Union Station.

On the way home from the Durham we stopped at the cutest pumpkin patch in Avoca, Nebraska.

Granpa remarked that he had never picked a pumpkin in 92` weather before.

Then I was reminded that this same weekend one year ago it was snowing here.

That's Nebraska for you!

Our one guideline when selecting a pumpkin is if you can't carry it yourself you can't keep it.

Ryland thought the pumpkin patch farmers would enjoy having a pumpkin barricade built and set to work 'helping' the farmers at once.

{show-off}

So much fun!

The farm's version of a sandbox - the cornbox.

More fun with Granpa, and a geography lesson, too.

I just can't get away from learning, no matter how hard I try to take a week off from studies.

Life is too much fun!