she's 3 today

elliana grace turned 3 today. what a gift she has been to us these past 3 years. she will always be my first baby, the one that taught me to be a mama and my precious girl. i count it a great privilege to be your mommy elliana grace.elli... you are such an amazing big sister. though your brother might be bigger than you right now and will be for the rest of your life, you watch out for him and are teaching him so many things each and everyday. i love seeing your relationship blossom . i know you will be such a big help as a new little person joins our family in a couple weeks.
though i am your mama and it is my job to teach you, you are teaching me so much even though you do not even know you are doing so. the pure joy that you display daily is such an amazing example for me on how i need to live. because of our hope in jesus we have no reason to not have joy pouring out of our lives regardless of our circumstances. thank you for reminding me of that daily! you are a precious friend that loves to be in relationship with people. i love to watch you play with others and pray that you will continue to care for others as you grow.

i am thankful for these past 3 years... more thankful that you can know! i look forward to as many more as the Lord will bless us with. i might also pray that they go a little slower but i doubt that will happen!

i love to pieces elliana grace! you're 3 today!

harvest days

jed and daddy have been having a little extra quality time together these days in the combine. jed seems to be right at home next to his dad!

jed's first harvest (2010)jed's 2nd harvest (2011)
so thankful for an abundant and safe harvest... praising God for His many blessings

makin' cookies

elli spotted a cookie cutter in one of the kitchen drawers the other day and asked what it was. i told her it was a cookie cutter and from that point on she has been determined to make cookies for her friends. (i'm sure the thought of being able to eating cookie dough in the process never entered her mind! oh wait... she is related to me so you know that that was her REAL intentions!)

conquering our fear of loud appliances... she finally took her fingers out of her ears!

the best part... licking the beaters!

baby #3

so word on the street is that i haven't been staying on top of my bloggy duties. at least that's what my girls kim, danielle and kara have told me! :) i'm surprised grandpa hasn't been calling about this too! so i was trying to think, what could i even blog about?!?! and then i remembered... oh ya... we are having a baby and said baby will be arriving in 9-10 weeks!! oh and i also just happened to have some 4-D pictures taken of this child. so maybe that is a blogworthy happening! baby was a little camera shy and wouldn't take his/her hands off of his/her face so it made it hard to take a peek, but this is what we saw.

so what do ya think? boy or girl?? ya... i don't have a clue either! it will truly be a surprise!

today i tried to snap some pics of the kids "playing" with the baby... but the self-timer didn't want to cooperate. i was on the floor crawling around picking up toys and jed thought that was an invitation to hop on for a horsey ride (a favorite pastime the kids share with their daddy) i said "mommy can't give you a ride because i have a baby in my tummy!" he plopped down in front of me and pulled up my shirt to just see why in the world this baby was ruining his fun. then elli came over and said "baby want to play?"

this sweet child is going to have quite a loud, busy, crazy life awaiting it when it decides to come out! but i think it already has a clue just from the behavior we noticed on the ultrasound... hands over face, trying to get some peace and quiet!

a couple recent pictures of big sister and brother... you know... for grandpa & grandma!

branson family vacation

we had the privilege to travel to branson a couple week ago to celebrate jon's parents 40 years of marriage. we met up with his mom and dad, great grandma and all of his siblings and their families. it was a wonderful time to hang out, eat great meals together (that we took turns providing), being on the lake, take in some sights around branson and celebrating norm and bettys wedded bliss! :) with the guests of honor
sharing a rootbeer float

riding the carousel with nana

daddys pushin the babies

sweet cousins

we rode the ducks

don't let elli's face fool you... she had a good time... it just happened to be 108 degrees that day. it felt like we were in a furnace!

daddy's co-captain brotherly love

lake time

family water gun fight... even nana and gigi got into it!!

so there was our vaca in a nutshell... it was definately a wonderful week!! tons of great memories were had!

jedidiah .18 months

here you are. you are 18 months already! here are some things i want to remember about you at 18 months:you sleep like a champ or maybe more like a teenage boy... usually around 12 hours at night and take a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. you eat like a teenage boy too. you are finally saying please and thank you (sometimes). you outweigh your older sister. you love kisses and hugs and snuggling with your mama. you think your dad is about it!

you like to read books by yourself. you enjoy carrying around random junk and if anyone tries to take that little junk away from you, they WILL hear about it! you are not a huge fan of the pool, you prefer to fill buckets with water and carry them around. you love any sort of ball. you love your two blankies.
your dark hair is bleaching out and almost blonde now. you have had one haircut but those curls have quickly come back and in the humidity get really tight. you love accessories... especially hats. if you spot one you have to put it on! jedidiah. we love you so much and are thankful that you are our son! we look forward to each day we have together! happy 18 months!

photo challenge day twenty nine: black and white

the second this guy caught site of daddy's tractor he wanted to get as close to it as possible! he even said "daddy tra ter" and if you know jed, he doesn't say much! i let him sit on it and when i told him it was time to go he shook his head no. i have said since he was a tiny baby that he had a black or white personality... and to this day he seems to hold true to that! its seems that tractors and things of the farm make this kid smile.