A Sunny September

Visiting Grandpa & Grandma 

Grandpa and Joshua enjoying the playhouse :)

Jenni helping Grandma make peach jello. One of my favorite things to make as a child :)

 A trip to get frozen yogurt! One of Jenni's top things-to-do with Grandpa and Grandma. This was the first trip that Joshua got his own bowl and boy did he like it :)

 Feeding the ducks with Grandma

 Sibling love :)

 Joshua had a BLAST playing in the water. So glad he enjoyed it as much as he did!

 We enjoyed the start of September visiting with my parents. We enjoyed celebrating my dad's birthday, cooler weather, outdoor activities, and did some shopping. One of the things I enjoy so much about Jenni is that she celebrates someone's birthday for many days. I have always thought that birthdays should be enjoyed for a good week...or maybe even a whole month :)

Ballet
Jenni is enjoying another month of ballet and Joshua has made friends with a little two-year-old boy. They play cars while the girls are dancing. It's sweet watching two little boys play cars and trucks on the floor next to each other.

Soccer

 J practicing in a purple tee and purple shorts.

 Joshua enjoys climbing on equipment, kicking and throwing the soccer ball around, and playing in the dirt. I love the boy!

 Their first scrimmage!

 After practicing in 104 degree heat, running through the sprinklers is a joy to a small child!

 Game 2 - Kicking the ball in

 Such little girls and such cuteness!

 Game 2 consisted of lots of goals and lots of high-fives!

 J kicking her way toward the goal!

 I am so thankful for wonderful coaches who are so encouraging and make soccer fun!

Notice the two girls at the top of the hill. Jenni and the coach's daughter, Sophia. They decided to take a short break from practice and pick flowers at the top of the hill.

Game 3. Jenni is #2 kicking the ball to start the game.

I asked J what her favorite part of the third game was - it was walking through the tunnel :)

 Joshie loves playing on the playground equipment while J is playing on the field next to it.

September has brought more soccer practices and the start of Jenni's games. She is in the U5 division and is learning so much! Her favorite rule of soccer is "to never give up." She is having so much fun making new friends, learning about teamwork, running like crazy on the field, and using all kinds of new soccer skills.

Freezer Meals
I have started making "freezer meals" this month. For the past month or so I have been trying to figure out a way to spend less time in the kitchen preparing meals. Preparing three meals a day plus snacks for the kiddos, I have been spending too much time in the kitchen. So this month I decided to start making freezer meals. I spent six solid hours in the kitchen cooking, dicing, and packaging meals for our freezer. I made several pans of meatloaf, lasagna, beef and cheese burritos, chicken enchiladas, french chicken, waffles (for breakfast), and sausage, egg and cheese burritos (for breakfast). I am so glad that I started this. It has allowed me to focus my time daily on other things and makes meal time much more enjoyable! This next month, I'm going to focus on making soups and crock-pot meals.

Bible Study Fellowship
September was the start of BSF. I am loving the study of Acts and am looking forward to what Jenni and Joshua are going to be learning in their classes as well. They are blessed to have wonderful, loving teachers during our Bible study time. The kiddos will be learning from the book of Acts at their own age-appropriate levels and we will be able to come together and discuss and share what we are learning at home!

Andrea and Gavin's Visit x 2

 My sweet, precious, adorable, loving, and wonderful nephew came for a visit! His mom came too :) We ADORE Gavin Michael. What a wonderful boy he is. Jenni has loved him all along and this was the first time Joshua met his new cousin. Jenni and Joshua enjoyed having a baby around, holding Gavin, playing next to him, and touching his sweet face. It will be wonderful having cousins close in age!

Sweet Snapshots

 My sweet smiling boy :)

Joshie taking a picture of me taking a picture of him:)

We had a break in the 100+ degree heat, so we made sure to play at the park!

Joshua exploring the castles!

The best football team in the nation is back in action! Jenni and Joshua love watching OU play!

 Little man being silly with daddy's hat on backwards :)

I always love a sweet sleeping picture of our babe.

Joshua looking for just the right crayon to use :)

As we were grocery shopping, I noticed Jenni wrapping her arm around Brother :)

Ice Cream Date

The kiddos enjoyed ice cream cones after lunch one afternoon. It was a delight watching them eat their yummy treat. They are so precious together!

Overheard
Halftime at Jenni's first soccer game...
Jenni: "The girls on the other team aren't saying please or thank you when they're taking the ball away from me." Jenni couldn't get past the fact that please and thank you manners aren't necessarily used in soccer. She also couldn't wrap her head around taking the ball away from the other team. She kept saying, "Mommy, it's not nice to take other people's things away from them without asking." (Thankfully Jenni's coach and I were able to explain to her how to play a soccer game and still be kind at the same time. The future games were much better :)

On heaven...
Jenni: "Mommy, I wonder what the angels are singing this morning."

Jenni "never giving up" in all aspects of her life...
A frequent prayer: "Jesus, please help me never give up doing ballet or soccer."
Another prayer: "Jesus, please help baby Gavin (Jenni's newborn cousin) never give up drinking his milk."
Every night at bedtime for a week: "Mommy, please don't give up being a mommy and I will never give up trying to be a good child." Such a sweet girl!

Jenni on her future (she's a planner)...
Jenni: "Mommy, I just can't decide what I want to be when I grow up!"
Me: "Well you have a long time to figure that out. I wouldn't worry about it now."
Jenni: "I'm not worried. I'm just trying to plan. There are so many options."
After thinking for a few minutes...
Jenni: "I can't decide. I guess I'll just stay a child forever."
A few days later...
Jenni: "I decided what I want to be. I'm going to be an ice cream girl."
Me: "What will you do?"
Jenni: "I'll drive an ice cream van around serving children ice cream."
Me: "Why are you choosing to do that?"
Jenni: "Because ice cream makes children happy!"

Jenni planning ahead...
Jenni: "Mommy, when I was trying to fall asleep last night, I was thinking about Christmas shopping."
Me: "What were you thinking about?"
Jenni: "I was thinking how you were going to do it. Do you think you'll just take me and Joshie along and we'll all go shopping together?"
Me: "I think I'll leave you at home with daddy while I go shopping so the presents are a surprise."
Jenni: "What about if we all go visit Grandpa and Grandma? Joshie and I will spend the night with them and then you and daddy can go shopping together!"
(I love her idea. And I love how she is always trying to plan a visit to see her grandparents!)

Jenni being a helper...
When I was making all the freezer meals for the month of September Jenni told me, "Mommy, please let me know next time you're making all this food. I want to help you. Friends help each other!"

Jenni also always asks for jobs to do. Many times I run out of jobs for her to do because there are only so many jobs that need to be done on a daily basis. Finally one day I asked her what she had in mind. She said, "I want to do something useful for you." So we created a "chore list" for Jenni of things she is responsible for and put it on the refrigerator so that any time she wants a chore to do (which is often), we can look at the checklist for a job! She loves helping out and I love the extra helper!

An update on our little man, Joshua
He is learning oh so many words! He likes to walk around with his pretend phone, saying "cheese" and taking pretend pictures of people. He enjoys running "boy errands" with Eric and he loves watching football on the weekends. Sooner football that is. He has taken a strong interest in potty training. He knows the sign for potty, so he uses that many times a day. We bought him a little boy potty training chair and will be starting that out and seeing how he does with it!

We are looking forward to the start of October. We will be traveling to see the grandparents! We will be making our annual trip to the pumpkin patch which is a favorite. And at the end of October, Jenni J and Joshua will get to wear their costumes to the Fall Festival that I am sewing for them. We probably won't be going trick or treating but they'll mainly be used for dress-up fun!