Whew. September.

September might possibly go down as one of the crazier months of our lives.  We started September by moving which was one of the most exhausting, longest 4 days of my life.  Not much of a break and rolled right back in to work and life.  

September is a very busy month for the church and especially my team.  The weekend after the move, I worked a Saturday for a new leader to training.  Even though we had boxes stacked high and a patio/back of house totally under construction, Justin had to take care of the kiddos while oft to work I went.  He took them on their first dove hunt!  The day before he stopped by Gander Mountain and got them camo and shirts.  They could not stop talking about going hunting with Daddy.

All their gear laid out the night before

Daddy and his boys

Yep.  That's a power ranger mask and sword he insisted on taking

Doesn't look to impressed to me!

Hunting is hard work!

We built a patio on the back of the house.  We are blessed to have a great pool but we had no shade on the back of the house for us or the doggies.  I cannot believe house fast the patio went up.  A week later (just in time for the Bama/Aggie rematch) we had a gorgeous new patio complete with tv watching!  

watch the "struction"

Have I told you what great neighbors and friends we have?  On one side we have the sweetest couple.  They are about our parents age and have a grandson that is 4.  Their children all live out of state so they are loving on us and these boys.  The first two weeks we lived here, the cabinets and trim in the kitchen was painted so we couldn't unload all our dishes.  They not only invited us to dinner but showed up multiple times in the late afternoon to just drop us off dinner.   The boys love going to their house.  The first time we had steak and she had the table all set with candles.  The lights were on dim and so when Eli sat down she flips them on for it to be brighter.  Eli looks at her and says "I like mine by candlelight please?"  Ha!  He loved steak by candlelight at the big boy table. 

Beckett the power ranger.  Dinner by candlelight, sauteed shrimp, naps on the couch, and homemade tomato jam!

 Another set of best friends blessed us by bringing over dinner to grill as well.  The boys enjoyed swimming, we enjoyed the conversation, and the grilled tuna steaks and sides were amazing.  

My tickets to the A&M game fell through but it didn't dampen our spirits around here.  Justin got up at 5am and went dove hunting. I got up at the same time and worked diligently on boxes in the garage and downstairs.  By the time he got home, I had a couple of hours of work for him putting things in the attic but we made serious progress that day.  And saved plenty of time for Bama game time fun.  

Favorite Aggie girl stopped by

And glad we pulled it out and thank goodness!  A few good sports on the losing end of this deal sported Bama's finest to our staff meeting on Tuesday.   I'm sure they are already plotting next year. 

q

The same weekend we celebrated Justin's birthday.  The week before the boys and I went to the kid's art store.  They each picked out something special for Daddy and painted it. 

What was even more fun than painting?  The ball pit to play in while their masterpieces were drying!

On Sunday morning of his birthday we surprised Daddy with his art and cards.  A great start to birthday morning!

Superman from Beckett and a tie from Eli

Daddy birthday love

That morning Justin's Haiti mission trip was commissioned in "big church".  We took the boys this time so they could watch Daddy. Pastor Dan asked everyone to reach their hands forward while they prayed for the team.  I look over with watery eyes and the boys have their sweet little hands reached forward to Daddy and their eyes closed.  On their way to Kid's ministry they kept telling everyone.. we prayed for Daddy today! Such a sweet moment for our family.

Haiti LWI trip 2013

After church, we had a great lunch and Daddy shared his ice cream cupcakes with us.  Everyone got a candle!

Crazy September get on coming.  On Tuesday, I took Beckett to Children's Hospital for a minor procedure on his circumcision.  It was awful and we both cried.  It seriously was not as quick and painless as the doctor said it would be.  Poor buddy.  Such a long day and stressful for mom and Beckett. 

We made it through that and Justin traveled all week right up to the day we dropped him off at the airport for Haiti!

and he's off!

After we got Daddy dropped off at the airport, then came the long afternoon of waiting on Dee Dee to arrive!

where is she mom???

We had so much fun with our Dee Dee here.  I'm telling you.  God richly blessed us with 2 sets of amazing, supportive parents/grand parents.  Justin's parents stayed all week with Justin and the boys while I was in Honduras and my sweet Mom and Dad stepped up immediately to help this time with Justin gone almost 2 weeks total.  

Dee Dee's here!!

Giggling looking at the growing zombie that they put in the fish tank

Art time!

Crafting a spooky house

Dollar store stick on mustache fun!

The boys and I had a blast!  We were sad to see Dee Dee go but excited that Poppy was coming the next day!  After Dee Dee left on Thursday, we waited in anticipation to pick Poppy up from the airport on Friday.

Poppy and his boys "relaxing" in the hot tub

Birthday party fun!

Bed time story did the job!

helping Poppy pick up our new couch

One of the reasons that I needed help over the weekend was that Justin's plane came in from Haiti at 11:30pm Saturday night.  As you can imagine with the boys the logistics of that proposed a challenge as did the fact that on Sunday, Justin left again for the airport at 10:00 headed to South Carolina until Tuesday night!  

A few hours together on Sunday morning

Eli read his card to his daddy.  "It says Welcome Home Daddy"

So grateful for Poppy driving to get him, handling the boys, bringing them to church, and helping us pick up our couch.  It was another packed weekend of fun and there were lots of tears when we dropped Poppy off at the airport Monday morning.  

We are grateful for everyone that has help us, prayed for us, and loved on us through on of the busiest craziest months we had.  Justin's Haiti trip was a blessing to all of us and we are grateful for our new home and opportunity to get settled in.  October is my favorite month.. Birthday month for two "not so little" boys.  Looking forward to lots of new memories as we enter our favorite season in our new home.

Love,
The Riley's