The view from here

Following a 30 second backs scratch my girl was out! Love a quiet Sunday evening cuddling my girl!

Last soccer game 2012

Wy had his last soccer game yesterday! It was a great season. I can't say enough about how awesome his coach was! He made some great friends and a couple of them are in his class! We had a family picnic with the team so it was a nice opportunity to talk with the parents and let the kids play outside an organized game or classroom! I wish soccer was longer but can't wait til next year when I have two little players!

Fall sunsets = beautiful

Kites

Who needs wind when you have really fast legs?!

Happy 13th ::not so little anymore:: Rod

Today is my first and only nephews 13th birthday!

Dear Rodney,

You are literally the smartest kid I know.

The things that have come out of your mouth have been jaw dropping. As a 2 year old, you told us you were 'parched'.

As a 3 year old you full on tackled me and pinned me in a wrestling match - uncle Adam wouldn't rescue me and I was legit-ally stuck!

I learned how to do an awesome underdog by practicing on you...thousands.of.times.

Uncle Adams favorite memory is karate chopping 100 styrofoam plates with you.

My favorite (of many) quotes of yours came out of desperation on a family trip 'I haven't had a cheeseburger in miiiiiilllllessss!'

Oh and you were the cutest ring bearer ever!

Adam and I had to be the coolest people on earth when we told you we were having your first boy cousin. You've been such a fun and good role model for him!

I've watched you kill 47 fish sticks in one sitting.

You had the creepiest penguin mask known to man.

Your frankness and quick wit are one of your best attributes.

And I like your long hair.

Its surreal that we are celebrating your teenage-hood today. You're such a great and intelligent kid and I don't see that changing, ever. I hope for you to always be yourself because you're an awesome dude and that your teenage years are a time of fun! Continue to learn all you can!

I love our more grown up chats because 'kids are so simple minded' (another Rod-ism). :)

You'll always be my lil buddy, we are so proud to call you put nephew, and we love you so much!!

Happy 13th birthday!

My whole world.

I recently decided to get behind the camera and booked a local photographer to do our family photos!

It was a lot of fun and I'm thankful for great family pics, as I love photography so much.

We are not perfect, we're super messy, our life feels busy and chaotic, we fight....

BUT.

We love and play hard, we know how to have a good laugh, and we work really hard.

These three people pictured with me are my whole world, my life, and every meaning to my existance.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Wordless Wednesday

Their prince

He definitely lives the royal life when they're around! :). After all, an hour long soccer game is rough stuff!

The big 4-0!!

Our family has lots of birthday milestones this year! Today is one of them and I'm sending out a huge Happy 40th Birthday to Amy!

This lady plays many roles in my life.
She's my sister in law (the older sister I never had), my kids wonderful Aunt, and my best friend!

Over the last 12 years I have formed an incredible bond with you Amy! You're my go to person when I need to get something off my chest, I've observed you being a fantastic mom and tried to model some of your awesome skills with my own kids, your were my bridesmaid, we've taken many memorable vacations, shared personal ups and downs, and you are someone who just gets me.

I'm sure over the years I've driven you crazy with dumb teenage drama, wedding stressors, pregnancy hormones, and what's felt like life crisises in the moment. But not one time have we ever had terse words. Ever.

I keep a small inner circle of people I really give my heart to and you're definitely one of them. Ive been honored to have you along for my biggest life moments and to share in yours too!

Lastly, I hope I can come into my 40's with as much grace as you. You know what you want and aren't afraid to go after it. It's awesome seeing you come into your own and embrace and be excited about this time in your life. As always, you're an inspiration!

I wish you many more and love you dearly.

I hope this is your Happiest Birthday yet!

Love,
Adam, Amber, Wy-guy & Emme-Lu

Happy 17th birthday Sissa!!

Find #2

'Bridge on the creek crow 1'

A beautiful fallish night tonight so we headed out to find another Geocache! Tonight I was the lucky winner who spotted it! I was scared to put my hand in the spot for fear of spiders so Adam nabbed it! Clever hide!

We'd never been in this town before so it was fun going somewhere new. Despite taking in the rural beauty, this girls ragweed allergies were running ramped so rifling through the greengage probably wasn't ideal. But, I'm trying my best not to let it slow me down.

We had a bit of a hiccup as Emmersyn had to pee! Girls have it way harder - squatting and all. We had an audience of a passerby, and managed to get pee everywhere. It was a 'good' thing I'd just cleaned out the truck and had no extra clothes. ((One day previous there was no less than a closet full!)) Wyatt was a good big bro and had shorts on under his jeans so roadside stripped and loaned them to sister which was so sweet! Especially considering his modesty!

I don't think I'll forget this one! :)

Find #1

We went back to the cemetery and had no luck again! Very tricky!! Ps I created a monster...Adam made us drive circles in the spitting rain, stopping to google for hints for no less than 30 minutes. I was getting majorly annoyed - however I'm super stoked he's as excited as me about this!

We did however snag out first find on the way to Adams moms! ((we were headed there to faithfully watch daBears ::lose:: :( as we have no premium stations).

Major excitement as Wyatt pulled the cache from some brush by a tree on an old path outside town. We signed it and headed on our way! I think now that we found one the kids are definitely hooked!

Adventures in geocaching - take 1

Well my mom threw the idea of Geocaching to me today as something fun for us to do as a family. If you don't know what it is - google it! Short summary - it's like a real life treasure hunt or hide and seek! You go to specific coordinates via a gps or handy iphone in our case, and find a box that someone has placed there - then sign the paper tucked inside that you've been there or find a trinket and replace it with something of equal or greater value.

I'm slightly obsessed with this idea as they are hidden world wide! Some hard to find, others easy. But the idea of going to places near or far that we've never been excites me!

Theres one was at our local cemetery and the kids and I decided to give it a try. Adam is working tonight and as a rule of thumb I want to try to go as a family! But I downloaded the app and wanted to get a feel for it. The kids were mega pumped - only to be kinda let down as we didn't succeed in finding the cache. They insisted we leave, Wyatt reciting we were losers! It drove me nuts to give up but upon reading some hints we are ready to try again tomorrow on Adams day off.

Have y'all ever heard of this before? Search by zip code and I bet you wouldn't believe how many you're close to!

I foresee lots of days spend on the weekend and stops on road trips to vacations!!

Clearly I'm excited!! :) theres so many crazy fun things out there, that have been for years - how did i never hear about this?!

Meet Moe

Adam has this gy-ganimous eyebrow hair that keeps growing back no matter how many times is pulled out. He's named it Moe and he gets lightheaded and weak when it's pulled as its rooted in his brain I think. All jokes aside - it does grow at ridiculous speed and he's insistent on leaving it - until it grows into his eye. Weirdo

Saturday.

A fun filled day staring with soccer! Wyatt got to be goalie for his team, however got 0 action as his team dominated the whole time! Then since the other team was short he was goalie against his own team and did really well. A few times he might have been pushing his face through the net or backing into it on purpose getting his arms tangled and missed a couple opportunities but he was cute while doing it!

Later that day was birthday party time! He stole all of our hearts with his gratefulness and excitement over every little thing. Some intense volleyball was played and it was a blast. The two littlest girls got filth-y and went down the new slide at least 87 times. And the bday boy had so much new loot that we stayed up til 12:30 am nano buggin, tinker toyin, trainin, and playing to our hearts content! He was so joyful and fun!

Today was laziness and catching up at the same time! Da bears dominated on the first game of the season! And I caught up on all my photoshoots to get ready for the next wave coming up! Thankful for the family time we had!

Proud moment in domestichood

I love to make the kids' birthday cakes! A) it's something a little extra from the heart
B) it's a million times cheaper!

Check out these homemade ice cream cakes I just made for Wyatt's birthday tomorrow, ((and in less than a 1/2 hour!))

Not a little proud right now or anything ;)

Flag girl!

Emmersyn got to hold the flag at school. Though she looks totally unimpressed in this photo she is totally thriving in school!!

I feel like we are constantly running and it's quite expensive having two in prek - but it's entirely worth a few sacrifices to see their smiling faces after a great day and see all that they are learning!!

Birthday Happenings

Wyatt had a great birthday!! (he may or may not been entirely overtired, overstimulated, and over done by day end) BUT it was a great golden birthday! Thank you to all who wished him a happy birthday by phone, text, and mamas Facebook page! Party time tomorrow and I'm making ice cream cakes homemade! Wish me luck!