My Grandpa's Book!

I'd heard it was coming, and now it's here! This is the story of my grandpa, David Ririe, and his 13 month experience in Hitler's Nazi prison camp after his plane was shot down during World War II. If it's your genre of book, check it out!

11

11 years ago early, early this morning this sweet boy joined our family.
I am so proud of the young man he is turning into. He is kind and compassionate, thoughtful and respectful. I so very much appreciate the example he sets for his brothers and sister.

Happy Birthday my boy.

Squidie

Last week I was greeted at school pick-up with "Mom! I have a squid!" Half unsure of what I'd heard and half completely aware that with Trey, I probably heard right, I questioned his comment. Sure enough, his class had studied the squid and at the end Trey asked if he could have it. I guess there weren't any possible complications that crossed his teacher's mind when she bagged the thing up and packed it in his backpack.
The kid came home like he'd just found gold. I couldn't get rid of it, aside from the fact I'm not really sure how to dispose of a squid carcass. He had already named it, "Squidie". Darling, I know. We now had a dead squid, in a baggie, in my kitchen. I quickly googled "preserving a squid" (never saw that search coming) and Bailey and I ran out to get the necessary supplies. Squidie now sits in a mason jar filled with 91% alcohol on a shelf in Trey's room (details provided should you ever need to preserve a squid- apparently it's a realistic possibility).

A Little Surprise

My sister in law came across this little video clip taken just a month or so before Peyton was diagnosed. Peyton couldn't find his pants...

It's amazing how quickly you forget this child. His sweet voice is music to my ears.

Happy Occasion

Robert's sister, her husband, and their 3 little girls were sealed together in the Houston Temple.
They looked like little angels - 3 little cousins now part of a forever family...

B.I.G.Love Fun Run

B.I.G. Love Cancer Care provides care packages and necessities to the families at Texas Children's, MD Anderson Children's, and Arkansas Children's Hospitals. Last year a group of teachers ran in their annual fun run in honor of Peyton. This year, Team Peyton was the largest team entered and raised the 3rd highest amount of money in the school category.

(SOME of this year's team)

The Peyton Project was invited to add fliers in the race packets, and we were offered the opportunity to do a table in memory of Peyton. His sweet little belongings came together in such a perfectly reflective way. I appreciated the chance to share him.
We are truly blessed to feel so much love and support. Thank you to all of the teachers, families, cheerleaders, and friends that participated in memory of Peyton and supported such a wonderful cause.

"What manner of men ought ye be?"

First Day of School

This boy has started preschool like a pro. Why? Because his classroom is well stocked with monster trucks and dinosaurs. He attends two mornings a week and loves it!

Bailey is now in 1st grade and still isn't quite sure what to make of it. She loves her teacher, friends, and big kid desk but misses the coziness of kindergarten.
Trey is in 2nd grade. He comes home every day with some brand new information to share. This past week I've been taught the finer details of rural, urban, and suburb areas. He even drew detailed pictures of each for me so I'd clearly understand.

Tyler has started 5th grade. Here, that means middle school! As long planned, he is now being home schooled. This was a decision Robert and I made very early on in our children's schooling career and the time (middle school age) has finally come. I've had years to prepare and am pleased that so far my preparations have all worked out well. I have the support of the people whose opinions matter most to me and that is a huge encouragement. I realize that, as a friend put it, this is "a road less traveled". But like the poem concludes, I hope this makes all the difference. Tyler is loving it. He's such a great kid.

Our sweet Peyton would be starting 4th grade. His picture would have been of him with a blue shirt and manatee necklace. He would have come home telling me the funny things his friends did and said. I would have seen little doodles of superheroes and manatees on his homework papers. His backpack would have held library books on penguins and polar bears. I'd have one more lunch to pack, one more folder to go through, and one more kiss to give each morning before drop off.

In cleaning out the glove compartment in my van, I came across the bright yellow paper in the plastic sheet protector that I used for pickup in the car line the year we moved here. One side says "Tyler Ricker". The other side says "Peyton Ricker" (Peyt was in kindergarten so I picked him up an hour before Tyler). That sign now hangs taped to my windshield with a new yellow sign facing out for Trey and Bailey. On the back side, "Peyton Ricker". It's nice having little reminders.

Sweet Reminders

He's more like his big brother than he realizes. Whenever we tell him he's a lot like Peyton he says "no, me Jack". He's stubborn and sweet and has a wicked little mischievous side. He loves super heroes like no one other than Peyt. He loves to know he's being covered in Peyton's blanket, or playing with Peyton's toys, or watching Peyton's favorite show.

He points to the pictures of Christ in our home and says "Peytie with Jesus".
I often find him in our library looking through his Peyton book. This particular day he took it with him into my room and this is how I found him.

The joy this little boy brings to our family is impossible to describe. He reminds us all so much of Peyton. Although Jack is definitely his own little person, I'm grateful for the frequent glimpses I get of my sweet Peyt's personality in his little brother. I can just imagine their embrace when they meet again. They'll have a lot of catching up to do.

Big Love Cancer Fun Run

I'm passing this information along, just in case your're interested. No pressure, really.

On September 17th, a group of friends and teachers are participating in The Big Love Cancer fun run in Angleton. As they did last year, they will be racing this year in honor and memory of our Peyton.

This year, they are having tshirts made for those wanting to participate in the race as part of their team, and for those not participating, but wanting to support the The Peyton Project and honor his memory.

The shirts are available in child and adult sizes and are $10 each if you are racing, $15 each if you are not racing.

For information about the race go to http://www.biglovecancercare.org/

For information about the Peyton Project, click the link on the right.

If you're interested in ordering tshirts, please let me know by Saturday, August 27th.

You can e-mail me at jennajricker@yahoo.com

Thanks in advance!

A Visit to the Valley

Or as my kids pointed out, it's not a valley, there are no mountains. They instead decided it should be called the flat, hot place. Whatever you'd like to call it, we took a trip down to Harlingen with Robert's mom to go take care of some "Grandpa" buisness and decided to make a little vacation out of it.

We spent a day at Schlitterbahn- South Padre Island, and then the next day while Robert and his mom got some work done at the house, the kids and I went off exploring. Thanks to Charlotte (what the kids have named our GPS) we found the Iwo Jima Memorial and Museum and the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site. Tyler and Trey were a bit disappointed I wouldn't let them roam the battlefield looking for blood and bullets. Boys.

Open to Interpretation (I suppose)

Robert: "Trey! Why were you playing in the mud?!"
Trey: "I wasn't, I was in the dirt."
Robert: "Wet dirt is MUD!"
Trey: "It wasn't wet, dad. It was moist."

Really. Who can get mad at a kid for that kind of reasoning. Obnoxious? Yep.

We're off to scout camp this week. I'm sure he'll find lots of moist dirt to play in. Boys are great :)

There's Nothing Like...

Waking up to "Mom, don't freak out, but Astrid got out last night. Don't worry, Trey and I are setting up a trap to get her. "

This is Astrid.I am VERY pleased to report she is now back home safe will her pal Hiccup.

"Peypie"

I've been reminded on more than one occasion that our family blog was a bit behind on upkeep. The last few days I've been working on fixing that.

Yesterday I was sitting on my bed uploading pictures and I had my little Jack sitting next to me watching a "Thomas" show. The pictures peaked his interest and as I scrolled through the entries, he pointed out everyone in our family by saying his version of their names. When we got to the December posts, he jumped up, pointed to my computer screen, and said "Peypie". He saw his sweet big brother. We then went looking for more pictures of Peyton and made it all the way back to August of 2009 where we watched a video of Peyton singing.

This morning I was in the kitchen baking and Jack came running in. He said something to me that I didn't understand. We did our normal back and forth of him talking and me trying to decipher. Finally he said "Peypie". "Peytie?" I asked. "Yeah!" he said and then pointed towards my room. I started to follow him assuming he was going to point out a picture we have hanging in our bedroom that he likes to look at. What I found was my laptop opened with obvious signs of lots of mouse clicking. "Peypie" he said, "Compu". It was "computer" he had tried to tell me when he first came into the kitchen. He hopped up on my bed, got comfy, and waited while I pulled up the video of Peyton singing. I went back to work in the kitchen and twice was interrupted with "Again!". 3 times he watched that video today. I'm so glad he feels a closeness to a brother he only vaguely remembers.

After watching that sweet video of Peyton singing I went looking for this one. Taken just weeks before he passed away, I knew I'd want to be able to remember how sweet and gentle his little spirit was as it rested inside his increasingly weak and fragile body. We sat in our game room and played.

Baseball Season

We'd avoided baseball like the plague. We knew it would be a big time commitment. But, it's baseball. I figured we had to let him try it. He'd asked forever so we finally said "yes". He just barely made the age cut to play Machine Pitch 1. So, Trey was one of the youngest players in his entire division, a good head shorter than most of them too, never had played before while most of the other kids were in their 3rd season, and was having fast balls pelted at his head. He absolutely loved it. His favorite position? Catcher. The gear was so big on him he could hardly walk. His most played position? Right field, which he was not wild about but good at. He changed his feelings toward the the position when his great-grandpa told him that the great Babe Ruth played right field. The coaches were so sweet and supportive of him, and his little teammates did a great job catching him up. Even Tyler who began the season with absolutely no interest in baseball is so anxious to play next spring.

Kindergarten Music Program

Bailey and 5 of her little gal pals were asked to perform a dance number to the Zebra Zydeco song in their kindergarten music program. The best part (well, according to Bailey)- the great sassy zebra outfit. She's "always wanted zebra clothes". I shouldn't be surprised.
She's in pink on the left...

Aunt Sarah's Wedding

Robert's youngest sister was married last month in our church's temple up in Houston. On what couldn't have been a more beautiful day, it was a good excuse to get all the little cousins together (well, minus 4). Here they all are being so sweet and patient.

Groundhog Trey

"We're lucky to have a gardener who appreciates their blooms. He likes the way they smell so nice, like natural perfume!"

That was his line and he said it just perfect.

Easter Weekend

There's a little zoo just outside of Austin that we decided to check out. My kids have decided that this is the "best zoo ever"! We were the only ones there so the kids roamed freely getting up close and personal with the animals.

We went to the State Capitol and Visitor's Center. It was exciting! And by that I don't mean educationally stimulating. I mean we lost Trey on one of the 4 elevators and Jack jumped the rope and made a mad dash for the judge's seat. I'm not sure what standard protocol is, but I'm going to guess that there were some security guards seriously under performing. There's no way we didn't provide reason to be kicked out.

Also on the agenda, a cavern tour and river swimming at McKinney Falls and Pedernales Falls State Parks. Just for kicks we drove through Bastrop and Buescher State Parks too.