Playing in the mud after the last rain

Found a turtle.
Made a slide
Ruined some clothes...completely worth it

Carving pumpkins

Asher didn't want to carve this year. Has he already out grown it? Sigh! Addison wanted a lightening bolt jack this year. Cute!

New family

Growing fast

Addison's camo room

In the new house we gave the boys an option of flooring. I completely expected both to choose carpet, but neither did to my surprise. Asher's room is still in the decision/brainstorming phase....meaning I still haven't figured out how to execute what his heart desires. Addison wanted his floor painted camo...ok, I can do that. He loves it!

entering double digits

Every year for the boys birthday I make them a special birthday cake of their choice. Usually the selection is based on the theme or decoration they want on it. Last year Addison chose a "hunting" cake "with a deer on it, please". So for my little "deer" I made him this cake....

I think the year before that was camouflage cupcakes. This year when I asked he says, "I want a peanut butter chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough cake". Can you believe I found several recipes for ccc dough cakes online. Google is such a good friend of mine. What did I even do before Internet? I made this cake over a course of several days using multiple recipes. It was a true labor of love as all my homemade birthday cakes are. My little Addison deserves every bit of time that it took to make this cake though. He's always the first to volunteer to help out with whatever I'm working on. He's the one that jumps when asked for someone to feed the dog and he's the one that wants to organize and clean out the garage. Addison is the one that spend hours with me working on projects. Just this Saturday he worked very hard labor clearing an area and preparing for building a chicken coop.

Motorcycles

My brother gave the boys some motorcycles that my nephews had adventured on when they were younger. As a mother of boys I knew this day would come and I tried to talk myself through all the emotions and prepare myself. My heart was gripped with fear and I prayed hard as each boy took off on their first ride. I was amazed at how they immediately rode off with no problem like they were born to ride. I am happy for them to have this fun experience with their father but all the talk of faster and flips definitely has me on my knees!!

Addison shoots his first buck.

Our last weekend to hunt. Robert, Addison and I headed to a stand at pa's suggestion in hopes of finding a good old buck for Addison to take as his first buck. Addison took a little nap as we waited for the feeder to throw. Several young ones came in. But not the shooter. We noticed a large buck running a doe in the distance but weren't sure he would make it into shooting range. Just towards the end of shooting light, "Steve" came into the feeder. Addison aimed, took his time and let the bullet fly. We didn't find any blood under the feeder and our hearts all sank. Robert and I both felt certain he had made a good shot. We looked a bit more and found him in the draw. Addison was so excited. It was such a wonderful memory to share with him. As we were dragging the deer out Addison politely asked him "Steve, stop licking me." We cracked up. Have you seen the cabellas hunting game commercial where the deer is on the couch with the guy in the Xmas sweater?

New carpet

As soon as we got home from our holiday travels we were surprised to find out our carpet was going to be installed a bit earlier than we had planned. We rushed to finish all the painting and prep the new subfloor. Both boys rooms and my studio got fresh paint and new carpet. A lot of work. But So worth it. Addison loves his new room. He hardly comes out. He plays army men and star wars and blocks all day. I recovered a lamp and added a deer silhouette on his wall. He also has camo curtains. More later. Just wanted to keep you up to date.