Preston Turns 5!

I can't believe it! My baby boy is 5! The time has certainly flown by, just as everyone says it will! This year Preston really wanted a sledding party at Diego's house (cause he has the coolest sledding hill at his house) and he wanted it to be Star Wars theme. So, we got busy planning, and had a great party!

Here is Preston with his homemade Jedi cake (making cakes fancy and pretty is not my speacialty....but it sure tasted good)!

Darron made Jedi robes for all the kids and I might Ligh Sabers. They earned their robes and became Jedi's after passing the "Jedi Training Course" of a light saber battle, pod racing (sledding), shooting the bad guys, and learning to use light sabers by keeping a balloon in the air. After earning their robes, they were surprise attacked by Darth Vader....but boy did they take him down...and down....and down! He didn't have a chance!

While we were in Texas, Preston and his Maggie (my mom) had a great time making him his own Jedi robe, complete with a hood!

Here is a great picture of Jedi Master Darron putting the kids through the training course of learning to shoot the bad guys!
I'm not sure who had more fun, Darron or the kids!

I love my Preston! He is funny, easy going, sensitive, happy, talkative, playful, kind, and outgoing. He is comfortable in new situations, and enjoys making new friends and being a helper. He is thrivin in Preschool this year and looks forward to learning and playing everyday. He absolutely loves his baby brother Parker and puts up with Payton pretty well. He is still a snuggler, but it's on his own terms. His cousins, Brookelynn and Max, are his favorite people and he never gets tired of playing with them. He loves Sunday School class and singing and he's doing a great job trying to understand about Jesus and Heaven. Preston brings joy to our lives. He is easy, and fun, and loving, and my boy! I'm so glad God chose ME to be his momma! Happy 5th birthday my big boy!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving time together with family this year. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures! Confession time: I LOVE having pictures, but I don't really enjoy being responsible to take them. And Darron doesn't either. So it's not uncommon for us to forget our cameras and end up without pictures! Maybe this should be a New Year's Resolution for me!!

My family and T/Scott's family went up to Grandma's on Wednesday night. We had a quick dinner and let the kids play for awhile. Then we made pallets on the floor and got the kids settled in to bed for the night. The guys had rented a chick flick for us, and it was terrible! But we still enjoyed just relaxing together.

Thursday morning was very relaxing and we started making the food for the feast! About mid-day Chris' family and Suzie's family arrived, along with two family friends that celebrate with us. The day was complete with a huge dinner, sledding, movies for the kids, and just relaxing and playing. Darron and Scott headed to Scott's house to sleep a little before they started their 3 a.m. shopping. The rest of us slept at Grandma's. The older cousins (Tressa, Richard, and Randall) babysat the rest of our 6 kids so us girls could do our annual shopping. We were out from 4 a.m. until about 5 pm (we did sneak away to lunch and a movie during that time as well). We all had a wonderful day, including the kids. Darron and Scott took the three teens to dinner and a movie as a thank-you for keeping our kids. And Chris, T, and I (and the kids) spent one more night up at Grandma's....just for fun since the guys were out anyways.

We slowly woke up Saturday morning, had coffee and a late breakfast, played with the kids, and finally headed home for nap time.

This was the first major Holiday without Darron's dad. We all missed him greatly, and shared some fun memories of him. Darron's family is always positive and remained that way, even when missing Keith.

Although it's been a tough year enduring the sickness and loss of Grandpa Keith, we still feel very blessed in this life, and even more so in the tight family that makes up the Rizer's. We hope you had a great day celebrating and being thankful for blessings as well.

Halloween 2010

I'm back! I've been gone from the blog world for awhile. Lots going on, and then you throw my laziness into the picture, and I end up MIA from blogging. But, I know I'll regret not having more in my printed blog books to look back on, and since I'm even worse at scrapbooking than I am blogging, I guess I better attempt to get caught up!

We had a great time "celebrating" Halloween. To be honest, I'm not a huge Halloween fan. I grew up wearing costumes, decorating the house, and trick-or-treating. And while I have nothing against dressing up and getting free candy :), I just don't like all the dark and scarey undertones of Halloween. So I like to think of it more as celebrating Fall and we decorate with lots of pumpkins and scarecrows...although I give in and let Darron put out a few of his Halloween-y decorations too.

Since our church didn't have a Fall Festival this year, we improvised. Several of our friends and their kids came to our house. There were 10 adults and 8 kids total....ages 5 to 4 months. We had dinner together and let the kids play for awhile. Then we suited up (it was COLD) and headed out for some trick-or-treating.

Here is Payton, the Pirate Princess. :)Our friend Brad planned some very fun games for adults and kids to play together. This is Marquel, gracefully wearing a stocking and trying to beat my time in knocking over bottles. I won! :)


Preston, Payton and I had fun digging out our pumpkins and getting them ready for Darron to carve. I think I've almost perfected my roasting seeds recipe...they were YUMMY!

After the kids were tired and winding down, we put on a movie in the other room and let them have some down time. Then the adult fun began! Brad divided us into two teams and gave us a bag full of random supplies. We had 20 minutes to dress one team member in a costume. The kids voted on the costume they liked the most. I think it was a tie! :)

Darron and Brad sported some great looks!

And here is my Parker boy! He was a clown! :) He and I stayed home during the trick-or-treating and enjoyed visiting with Kimi and Marta as they stayed to keep us company. Parker seemed to love all of the attention he got that night with so many friends holding him!

Becca sporting the hose and trying her best to beat my time! Nope Becca, that title is ALL MINE BABY!! :)

Payton getting in on the games too!

I can't believe I didn't take any more pictures than this! I was so busy having fun and taking care of kids, I just didn't get many pictures. Kimi got a great picture of all the kids in their costumes before trick-or-treating. I'll have to get a copy. And poor Preston didn't even make the pictures! He was a cute little Iron Man, plastic mask and all! :)

Seasons of Life

**Warning, long post with no pictures!**

I remember when I had first had Preston, I made the choice to not be involved in as many activities and things so I could really focus on being a mom. I remember feeling guilty about not being as involved with ministries at church when an older, more experienced mom said, "Just remember, there are seasons of life we live through and you're in a new season of being a mom. Enjoy this season while you're in it." I have thought about her words of wisdom many times over the years, and especially during these last five months.

April 1, 2010 began a new season of life for our family. A tiring season. An unfamiliar season. A scarey season. A sad season. A memory making season. A season spent with family and valuing time together. A season spent learning to compromise and support each other. A season that has brought us closer together. A season that has challenged us and forced us to grow up. But thankfully, a season that we know was determined by the Lord and covered in his love and mercy.

April 1, 2010 was the day we found out the devastating news that Darron's dad had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That day, our priorities in life changed. Everything we did centered around spending time with dad and making our last memories together.

During these past five months, our lives have been full of chaos, challenges, and time together:

*I quit my job at a school I dearly loved and had been a part of for nine years!

*Darron went solo in his business that he has shared with his dad for the past 10 years. He moved offices. And he had a huge audit for work (which of course he passed with flying colors)!

*Parker was born, then three weeks later spent seven days in the hospital. This was also the week of Darron's huge audit for work and a family fishing trip to celebrate dad's 70th birthday! More on this story in a future post.

*Countless family member flew into town to spend time with mom and dad and our family.

*Dad turned 70.

*Mom, dad, Darron, T, and Chris went to Seward together for 5 days.

*Mom, dad, Darron, T, Chris, and Suzy went to Hawaii together for 10 days.

*I flew to Texas by myself with the three kids and SURVIVED! :)

*The entire family (except for me and Parker) went on a fishing charter to celebrate dad's 70th birthday.

*Numerous weekends were spent at the cabin together and numerous evenings were spent on the Hillside having dinner together.

August 31, 2010....the pancreatic cancer that had spread to dad's liver and kidney's finally caught up with him and he passed away at 5 am. He was at the cabin surrounded by all five kids and mom.

September 9, we celebrated dad's life with a beautiful memorial service and reception. Over 300 people came to honor dad and remember the beautiful life he lived.

This season of life has been the most challenging during our 9 1/2 years of marriage. Although I don't feel as though we are transitioning to a new season yet, I do feel like the rain is letting up and the flood waters are beginning to recede.

While I don't wish for another stormy season like this, I am so thankful to have been carried through on the shoulders of dear friends, an incredible chuch family, and a close physical family. Although I still have many questions and don't understand why some things had to happen, I know that the Lord is still MY Lord and He has carried our family through. And for that I praise him.

Just like the seasons change from Summer, to Fall, to Winter, to Spring....I know our seasons in life will continue to change as well. And I'm really looking forward to a more calm, peaceful season!

Summer Fun!

We have not had the best of weather this summer. May and the beginning of June started out BEAUTIFUL! Lots of sun and temps in the high 60's and mid 70's. However, we are now setting records for the most rain in years....the second rainiest July in record with 28 straight days of rain! YUCK!!

Despite the rainy weather, we take advantage of being outside anytime the sun peaks its' head out. Luckily we get direct sun in our backyard, so we have a great time playing.

Here are a few highlights of our summer fun in the backyard!