smooches in heaven

My sister shared this conversation that she had with my niece the other day.

It was too sweet not to share...

my niece: "Papa Sal is in heaven, right mom?"

my sister: "yep."

my niece: "And so is my Ethiopian Mom so they can talk to each other."

my sister: "yep."

my niece: "And they can (puts two little thumbs together and makes them smooch) smooch, smooch, smooch, smooch."

my sister: "for sure."

my niece: "And God is there too so they can all talk together."

I could not love this little girl more...

time with my mom

Every few weeks, my mom will take the train from her house to ours.  We love when we get to  have time with our Mia.

We worked on pajamas for our upcoming family trip.

 I love when she gets to be with my babies...

There is always lots of wrestling, games, and laughter!

WE LOVE OUR MIA!

cousins

Yesterday, my sister brought her kids to our house after a day of playing at SPLASH in La Mirada.

You would have thought that they would be tired of water, but they weren't!

We pulled out the slip and slide and had the small pool blown up.  They were doing tricks and having a great time together!

 Ryder loves every second that he gets to be with his cousins!

We made tasty pizzas for dinner:

 We made cheese for the kiddos:

All the cousins together!

Ryder SOBBED when they left!  I was so sad for him...

Rosies~

We love EVERY minute that we can spend with you!

WE love you all so much!  Thank you for such a wonderful family evening...

connecting with old friends!

We spent saturday with Kit's closest childhood friend, Brian, and his wife Bailey and their youngest son, Cole.  They are missionaries in the Philippines and we have not seen them in over 4 years.

Needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on.

We talked about parenthood, daily routines, ministry, hearing stories about airlifting sick people out of the jungle and bringing supplies to remote tribes.

We talked about families, struggles with work and relationships, what the Lord is teaching us, ways we have seen God's faithfulness, provision and grace and we laughed about how silly the guys were when they were growing up.

(From 5th grade to 12th, Kit and Brian were inseparable best friends.  They did EVERYTHING together!)

It was such rich time of connection and friendship.

So here are the photos, because you know I would have the camera out and ready!

Bailey and I with the babies.

Cole is about one month younger than Eden.

 The guys with the babies:

 Getting Ryder in on the action:

 The guys:

(Blurry but still makes my heart so happy!

Bailey and Brian~

We love you and are thankful that we get to share life with you, even if it's from thousands of miles away.  We are so proud of you guys... We are praying for you and send all our love and support as you head back to the Philippines!  
Hey, let's Skype soon!

making flubber with Ryder

I made flubber awhile ago when Ryder was about 7 months old, for a mom's group I was speaking to.

Yah, Ryder didn't help at all with that batch...

Here is the recipe that we used.

So we found the recipe and made it together.  He LOVED it!

"Counting" the bottles before we got started:

 Getting his hands in it wash his favorite:

It was so sweet to see how much he enjoyed it!

 I ended up stripping him down and putting him in his chair to "contain" the enthusiasm for this stuff.

I hope you have a great weekend!

If you think of it, say a little prayer for Kit.

He has been sick the last few days and it is NOT fun to have him out of commission and not feeling well...

Ryder's book review

In the last few months, Ryder has really gotten into "I Spy" and hidden picture books.

Using them has been a great way to introduce and learn new words.

Our two favorite authors right now are Bob Staake and Walter Wick.

Bob Staake wrote:

And is coming out with another one:

(we just preordered it...)

And in regards to Walter Wick...

 We are pretty big fans!

 Anyone who can get a toddler to do this has a gift!

rediscovering an old favorite

On Monday, my sister shared my nephews "Thomas the Trains" with us.  Needless to say, they are getting lots of love!

 Already the aquarium car is one of his favorite trains... 
I wonder why?

 He plays for HOURS:

 My poor little guy: 
the farmers tan, bumps and bruises, and results of an "at home" haircut...

He is ALL boy!

My nephews LOVED these trains.  It is so fun getting to see Ryder enjoying them too!

Thank you Rosies for sharing with us!

We love you all!