Bryce's Birthday Bootcamp

On November thirteenth we celebrated Bryce's sixth birthday with a military themed birthday party. Bryce is a big fan of camouflage and since his Uncle Eric became a Marine, Bryce has taken a keen interest in all things military. For the party we decorated with military posters I got at our local recruiting office along with green and black balloons. The kids received dog tags as they arrived and then competed in training drills. We had an Air Force flying competition with paper airplanes, an Army Airborne drop with parachute men, a Marine obstacle course for the recruits to conquer, and a battle of tug of war. At the end Bryce got to blow out the candles on his Army tank birthday cake. It was a fun event and a special way to celebrate our now six-year-old. We are so blessed to be your parents, Bryce Daniel. We are amazed at your many talents and appreciate the zest for life that God has given you, sweet boy.

Happy Birthday Bryce!

sweet notes

While he can be a handful at times, my little kindergartener has quite the way with words. Multiple times a week lately I come across these sweet notes left for me around the house.

When I find one of these notes I smile and realize that these days of wiping noses, changing diapers, settling squabbles, interrupted sleep, and battling table manners (or lack thereof) will be gone before I know it. Savor the moment, I remind myself. What a treasure I have in my five little ones and what a blessing it is to be their mom.

3 things learned

If nothing else, I can console myself with the hope that my boys are learning new things every week. Here are three things they learned this past week:

1. Two year olds should not play on the top bunk and they should never stand on a stool on the top bunk. This will always result in injury.

2. Your teacher will not think it is funny when you write the word "butt" on your paper, even if you do spell it correctly.

3. No, your sister is not having "wacky hair day." These are called pig tails.

Fall Fun

October ended with lots of fun. We enjoyed carving a pumpkin with the older boys on Halloween afternoon. We've found pumpkin carving to be a really fun way to demonstrate in a tangible way the transformation of salvation. Cleaning out the yucky, slimy insides = God cleansing us from our sin (Rom. 3:23, 2 Cor. 5:17) and the light we put inside the pumpkin = the Holy Spirit coming into our hearts when we accept the free gift of salvation (2 Cor. 4:6, Matt. 5:16). When we have the Holy Spirit living in us it should brighten our lives and our faces just like it does the jack-o-lantern!

Later that evening we went to the annual Fall Festival at our church. It was a blast! The kids enjoyed wearing their costumes, playing games, pony rides, eating cotton candy and getting lots and lots of candy.

Claire was a butterfly

Davis the monkey

All five in their costumes.

Gramma and Davis

Claire with Aunt Jessica. Jake and Jessica were able to join us at the Fall Festival.

We appreciated the help corralling the kids!

Grant going up the inflatable rock climbing wall.

Bryce's turn. He was perhaps the smallest and the fastest to make it to the top.

Davis loved the train.

Davis riding a pony for the first time.

Hilton Head, S.C.

At the end of September we were able to join our friends Sandy and Juliana for a vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina. This was a couples only trip and we truly enjoyed and appreciated the time of relaxation. We divided the kids between both sets of grandparents (a BIG thanks to Gramma and Grandpa and Grammy and Pappy!) and headed south for a four night get away.

Us with Sandy and Juliana

The Harbor Town Lighthouse--aren't the yacht's amazing?

We spotted several alligators while biking around.

This six-footer came a little too close for comfort!

Another gator on the golf course.

The golfers weren't even aware of the alligator until they saw us snapping photos. Yikes!

Bike riding on the beach. So much fun.

Our find of the week was this little local hole in the wall seafood restaurant called the Sea Shack. Below is a photo of their "shrimp burger." Yum!

We had fun biking, eating out, playing golf (the guys), outlet shopping (the girls), enjoying the beach, and being kid-free for a few days (although I did miss them!). Our "little ones" had just as much fun as we did during "grandparents week" and I don't think they missed us at all.

Long time coming

Pink sippy cups (and anything pink, for that matter) have been a long time coming in the Little household. Since welcoming Claire Elise into our family I have been introduced to a whole new world of pink. I've learned that for every baby item there is a neutral, non gender specific version and also a pink version. Pink strollers, pink car seats, pink rattles, pink socks, pink blankets, pink towels, pink pacifiers, pink, pink, pink.

"Too much pink," I've heard other mothers sigh, "I'm tired of all the pink."

But you won't hear this mama complain, oh no. I say bring on the pink! After all, it's been a long time coming...

Treasures

As I was stepping out of the garage the other day I peeked down on "Bryce's shelf" and I couldn't help but smile a little. You see, Bryce has claimed a surface in our garage as his "treasure" shelf--a place where he stores his collection of random, interesting, boyish finds. It is a rotating array of various things and when I stop to look there is always something new that has been added to the shelf. Today there were rocks, a crab shell (which he ironically found on the shore of a nearby lake), a dragonfly carcass, and a teeny tiny skeleton from some creature.

Since this photo was taken a new find, a 'camouflage' stick, has now has found a place on the shelf.