Wyatt the Photographer

uh oh. fingers!


better.


even better...

nice job, Wy-man!

Similarities

Lately, some people have mentioned that Walker is looking like Wyatt. I've not yet been able to see that they look alike until I went back through some pictures. While I don't think they look JUST alike, there are certainly similarities. And I think the similarities show up in their expressions more than their actual features. Familiar indeed.

(I don't think captions are needed as I'm sure you can detect who is who)



Sleeping Face.

Smile.

Expressive eyes.

Mrs. Jackie Has Won My Heart

It's probably a phase.

But its a sweet phase.

And I embrace it.

Wyatt chooses something to be and we pretend he is that. This morning he was a kitty and we were a family of kittys. He told me he was going to see Mrs. Jackie kitty (his teacher) and Miss Oscenia kitty and to a class full of kittys.

So upon entering his class, Mrs. Jackie greets him at the door.

"Hello Wyatt."

And Wyatt responds, "I'm a kitty and this is our kitty class."

And what does Mrs. Jackie say to him?

She knelt down on his level,

looks him in the eyes

and lovingly says,

"Oh in that case. Meow. Meow."

Mrs. Jackie knows how to speak my child's love language.

And I'm so thankful she chooses to.

Fall is my Love Language.

Maybe it stems from my mothers abundance of fall decor or maybe it stems from my love of the mountains, but either way, I absolutely adore Fall. I love wearing Fall colors. I love filling my home with Apple Cinnamon aroma. I love putting a family of pumpkins on my front porch. I love the way the sun reflects itself just before it goes down. I love pumpkin patches. I love the story of the Pilgrims fighting their way over the ocean on the Mayflower. I love to see a tree transforming and showing off its 3 to 4 colors. I love picking the leaves off the trees and giving them to Wyatt. I love that you can't tell where yellow begins and orange ends. I love anticipating Thanksgiving. I love absolutely everything about Fall. Oh, except scary Halloween stuff.

So this was one of those amazing Fall days. Where the air feels sooo good on your skin. And it feels sooo good to be in the sun. I had Wyatt dressed in Fall colors. He was running around, playing in that amazing time of day where the sun's reflection is glorious. He was eating an apple that my sweet friend Emily gave him (which they had picked in the mountains). I was wishing I had a fiddle and a bluegrass band. :)

What a gift we have in Fall. How crafty our Creator is to give us the beauty in this season. When one single leaf has 3 colors.

Amazing.

I adore Fall.

Sweet Baby Walker

is 6 months old tomorrow.

such a big boy.

He loves... to grab things, chew on things, hold things, roll over from his back to his belly, sleep on his back, find a way to take off whatEVER I've put on his feet (be it shoes or socks), watch his big brother, SMILE, be tickled, eat oatmeal, eat veggies, take a bath and laugh.

He also loves to wake up around 3am every night and try a new tactic to be fed. He is very persistant and so that translates to crying...for a...while....

But while he's not a by the book kind of baby and the 3 day experiment has not worked for weaning him off of that night feeding- he is an individual already and that persistance (that we see at 3am) will be much to his advantage later on in life.

Walker Reeves Andrews you are a gift!

Overcoming Fear

A few weeks ago Wyatt was very unsure of fire trucks. While he loves to watch them go by (from a distance) and play with "rescue heroes" - there was something triggering much fear in him at being close to a fire truck. He was unsure, uneasy and scared. My parents took him to see a fire truck up close and even meet a fireman - same response. Uninterested, insecure, fearful. He responded the same to the various ones we'd see after that.

We've had some good talks about fear, being brave and the Lord's loving role in our fear. He's learned Isaiah's words "Do not fear. For I am with you." and we've reminded him a lot of those words in these moments.

Coincidentally, it is "fire safety" month at school for him. They've had firemen (and women) come to talk with them, they've made fire trucks, discussed actions during a fire, etc. This week was the week to go ON the fire truck - look around it, touch the siren button, meet the fireman, etc.

So the talks began again about overcoming our fears. Wes decided to walk alongside of him for the big occasion and my sweet mom even gave him a real fireman's uniform - so we even encouraged him to wear it.

Which he did.
And he absolutely loved the fire truck.
He overcame his fear.
And I'm sweetly reminded that:
Our Daddy's presence always helps.


with buddy, Cooper on the way to the truck!


with pal, Micah ON the fire truck!


"He and Micah climbed all over it!" Wes said.


"and LOVED it!"


"they were the first ones on it!"


a REAL fireman!


pals Jayce, Noah and Micah on the front of the truck!

I Found a Lion

...and He was Roaring.

Wyatt went to Anna Grace's dress up party as Aslan, the Lion. He was quite confident, asking me if he could roar at everyone on the way into the party. "Sure," I said. "You are a lion." He puffed up his chest and bravely walked inside the gate.

Well there was a huge parachute game going on when we walked in.

I saw a frown appear on Aslan's face.

"Come on, Wyatt. Let's go join in the parachute."

"NO," Wyatt said firmly.

"Aslan is nervous."

The Trip

Wes and I have been anticipating a trip to Sacramento, CA for the last few months. He had a Youth Specialties Conference (for youth ministers). These conferences lend themselves well for spouses of youth ministers to tag along. So we decided that I would go and attend the conference and make a little getaway for us as well. We literally counted the days approaching this trip.

The goal.


The little ones we left behind.



The destination: Beautiful Sacramento, CA


The airplane ride.


The restaurants.

The food.

The worship: Shane and Shane

The car.

The grapes.

The rock. (that hit our rental cars' windshield)

oh man. the food.

seriously. the salsa.

the coffee.

the water.

the relaxation.

the friends.

the views.

the parades.

the time.

what a gift. thank you mom and dad for the gift of taking care of our little ones so that wes and i could have this. thank you also first pres for the conference. truly, what a gift.