Still here

Hi.

It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I never planned to be away so long, but life had other plans for me.  So much has happened in our little family over the last 5 months and a great deal of it I couldn't really document publicly.  It has been all consuming many days and if that's all I'm thinking about, then I've had nothing left to share here.  But I've missed it.  For the two of you that care, I've missed documenting our life and our fun and having an outlet to write when something is on my mind.  So I've decided to give it a go again.  I'm not promising anything, but hope to be around here a little more often.

We have had our fair share of fun this summer, despite some really hard days.  But I'm ready to get back to school (Monday!) and routine and some structure to our day.  I don't feel quite ready, but probably won't until we actually get started and I can get a feel for what it might look like.  These two wonderful kids have kept me on my toes this summer.  We've laughed a lot, played a million games, cried together, prayed like never before and were thankful for each other in a whole new way.  Having a 6 year old and a 4 year old is pretty great I decided.  Mostly.

So that's where we are today.  It is our last day of summer vacation, but feels quite fallish outside.  We don't mind though. We're going to enjoy a lazy day doing what we want, taking it as it comes.

Still here

 My six year old and her pancake cake

Well, that turned in to quite the hiatus, didn't it?  Totally not planned, but then nothing in my life feels like it is these days!  We're still here, plugging along. We've been sick (who hasn't?!!) and traveled and are trying to navigate our way through the foster care system (that's a whole other post that will probably never get written!).  I honestly can't believe it is March and that the two day old who showed up on my doorstep is now two months old!  We're still trying to figure out life with three kids, homeschooling, ministry opportunities, and general life responsibilities. So here's a few pictures to bring you up to speed and we'll consider ourselves caught up, okay?

This is what my kids do to themselves when I'm otherwise occupied

 Heart shaped pizza for Valentine's Day with heart shaped pepperoni- a big hit!

 Haven and Cale ready to hit the slopes for a day of skiing

 Mati's first trip to the dentist- he did so well!

Three babes in a bed for a morning snuggle

I'll be back soon...promise!!  

December in pictures

So I don't forget it, the big and small...

 my three favorites...Christmas tree hunting

 the perfect Blue Spruce made its way home with us

 all dressed up and heading to "The Nutcracker"

 family tradition- Lebanon Christmas Parade

 best seat in the house at the parade

 Christmas crafting- torn paper trees

 progressive dinner with our home group

 good friends, sweet girls and good food

 Christmas program at church

 my two little cheeseballs

and again with my favorite peeps

 700 toys bagged up and ready to go

 what consumed much of my December- Toys for Tots

 cookie helpers-Mati was so proud of "his" apron

 little dough snitcher

 my big helper

 showing off their efforts

 the artists' work!

early gifts-hooded towels that became capes that became Mary and Joseph costumes

It has been the merriest, and definitely the busiest, of Decembers!

weekends are good for...

...cleaning and purging and making room
...finding ingenious inventions at every one's favorite Swedish store
...making a pot of soup that was my favorite as a child
...getting those little items checked off my list

...carving pumpkins
...making a list of Christmas presents
...pinning
...catching up on some reading
...pizza and The Cosby Show with my kids
...cheering my team to a win
...curling up with my love to watch a movie

The not-quite-camping Camping Trip

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to get away with our home group from church to some beautiful property about an hour from our house.

Unfortunately, it was only this beautiful outside for about 2 hours of the whole trip, but we didn't let that deter us from having fun.

 These two earned some sort of merit badge from the weekend.  Despite the cold, rainy, windy weather we decided to still attempt sleeping out in the tent Friday night.  We put the kids to bed out in it (alone- no one else was stupid enough to attempt tent camping when there was a nice warm lodge to sleep in!) and they never once complained about being cold.  They slept through til 3am when we carried them inside because we couldn't hack it.  I'm not sure if it was the 38 degrees or the 20mph winds that really did me in!  Either way, having the lodge as our back-up plan was awesome!  As were our friends who didn't get mad when we woke them up banging our way inside and helped us get set up and warmed up.

The kids didn't let the cold wet weather deter them from their one true goal this weekend which was fishing.  I took no pictures of it because, hello, it was cold and wet out there!  But they went out 3 different times for at least an hour to fish and loved reporting back on who caught what and how many.

 Love this guy even though he made me sleep out on the cold ground!  He more then made up for it with the perfectly cooked pizza mountain pies he made me.  He knows the way to my heart!

 Late Saturday afternoon the clouds broke open and we got out there to enjoy as much sunshine as we could. The property we were on used to be gravel pits that are now a series of small lakes.  There were tons of trails, but it was too wet to try any of them out.

How much do I love these two?!  And this picture!  Mati's actually smiling appropriately which is a rare occurrence!  (See above picture for proof!)  Mati loved playing with his buddies and just general running around all weekend long.

Thanks to our friend, Sandy, Haven discovered her love for checkers this weekend.  She spent hours, usually in front of the huge fireplace, playing checkers with whomever would play.  Hello, great gift idea for my girl!

So we didn't really camp on our camping trip, but we still had a blast!  Good friends, cooking food over the fire, staying up late playing games, kids enjoying themselves and a huge fireplace to keep us warm. Who needs a tent to go camping?!

notes from today...

I'm guessing the best way to get back into a blogging groove is to just start blogging, right?  So consider this my humble attempt.  I really do love to write and share around here, but this has fallen to the bottom of an every-growing list of things that demand my attention.  But maybe this week, I'll try a little harder.  A few thoughts from my day...

-Happy mail today- my new checkbook cover I ordered off etsy.  Seems like an unnecessary purchase, but for $4 it's going to bring me a lot of happy.  (Amy Butler Camel Geisha)

-I wore 2 patterns together.  I know this is all the rage, but not really my thang.  But I tried it- stripes with a pattern.  Dipping my toe in the waters.  And I liked it.

-We are big fans of Compassion International and have supported kids through them for years.  Sadly, we are not the best at writing to our kids even though we know it is so important. I got on there today and they have totally revamped their online letter writing process.  It is awesome and such a great use of technology!  You can pick cool papers, upload pictures directly to your letter and even duplicate it to send to more then one sponsor child.  In 15 minutes I was able to send two letters across the world.  How cool is that?  So if you sponsor children through Compassion- go write them a letter today!

-It's soup night around here.  I've been making this soup since we got married and it is still a favorite- Baked Potato Soup.  I've lightened it up a bit and it's one of those recipes that I have memorized because I've made it so much.  We love it!  Tonight it will be served with salad and biscuits- a yummy fall meal.

-Anyone else out there started Christmas shopping?  I've spent way too much time browsing today trying to make some decisions on a few gifts and also maybe get to a certain amount for free shipping.  The person who decided that offering free shipping with a certain amount spent was a genius!  I'm currently $2.27 short of the amount I need.  Annoying.  And I just keep buying more stuff!  Ya gotta spend money to save money, right?

-It's Fall Break around here!  We officially have 6 weeks under our belts and are on break with Classical Conversations so mama decided we're having a break here, too.  Well, as much of a break as Haven will let me do!  We still did some worksheets and reading and she really wanted spelling, but I cut her off.  We're going to do some fun crafty things and maybe even throw in a field trip or two.  And plan for the rest of the year!  There's no break for me!

Happy October Monday!

it's wednesday

a few highlights from the day...
-crossing things off the list that get us one step closer to our next big thing (more about that another day)
-cupcakes from a new shop to share with friends in honor of haven's happy-half-birthday
-spending time with friends
-my first trip to the farmer's market and besides delicious veggies, scoring a beautiful bouquet for $4
-above trip dictating my dinner plan and the new recipe we tried was a winner
-homemade bread from the Mennonite lady at the market...i don't know what she puts in there, but we love it
-being outside for more then 5 minutes and not instantly sweating- it was almost pleasant out
-a quick trip to the fountains to round out the day
-an evening with not much to do but hang out with my man
-success in finally capturing a family picture that i don't hate

The Highlight Reel

It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I didn't really intend to take such a long break, but life just happens and here we are 2.5 weeks later.  We've been busy living up summer fun and visiting with family.  So here's a few pictures...we'll call it the highlight reel:

A day at the lake with friends...tubing and Cale's annual try at skiing (he's always good!).

Although this year when he did fall (or give up because he's getting old and his back hurt!) Mati cried, "He fell down!  Papa fell down!" and started crying.  It was a sad, but sweet moment!

One of our three dates we got to go on found us at one of my favorite places in the world- Presque Isle for a sunset.  Even more enjoyable then the view was my company. But it was a beautiful sunset!

Ice cream treats with Nana and Papa Jim are always a hit.  And it was very entertaining watching both of them inhale their "kid cones" that were giant sized!

Mati and his buddy P, riding around the yard.  Doesn't P look worried and Mati slightly mischievous?  Always fun to see old friends and let our kids play together!

Climbing trees and playing outside with cousins...the good stuff summer memories are made of.

 Mati and his cousin Levi on the merry-go-round while the big kids rode something scarier at the local amusement park we visited.  I went there as a kid and my mom used to work there; its a place full of memories and was the perfect way to spend an afternoon with family.

Mati and Cale rode one of the roller coasters together.  The fact that my three year old can ride it tells you how "big" it must be.  He loved every second of the ride!

Funny, there are no pictures of our actual 4th of July celebrating.  I think my mom captured all the fun on her camera so sadly you won't be seeing pictures of my sparkler dance or Cale's fireworks show.  I know you're bummed.  So that's what I've been doing lately.  What have you been up to?

a summer day

We squeezed a lot of summer fun out of today...who knows when these perfect temps will return to us?  We didn't want to waste them. So we went to the playground with friends.  We bought strawberries at our favorite farm stand and made strawberry pie.  We sat on the deck and read books.  We chased bunnies and cut hydrangeas to bring in the house.

We played basketball and taught Haven to play H-o-r-s-e.  We chased and caught some fireflies.  We went for a walk/scooter/bike ride.  We played bocce ball.

We built a fire and made mountain pies for dinner.  We (well, Cale) did yard work and some of us played with the neighbors.  We toasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  We are going to bed tired, but very happy.

Thank you, Lord, for the abundance of this summer day!

First week of summer

We didn't have an official last day of school at our house, but we did have a first week of summer fun!  I am definitely a schedule girl so I need some structure to our days. As with everything, I want the schedule to serve me and me not serve the schedule.  So we're shooting for some happy mediums here while enjoying the best that summer has to offer.  This was our first week so I can't say it will last but it worked well this week.  Week-to-week I'm sure it will look different, but you get the idea!

Monday: Outing somewhere (this week it was Wegerzyn Gardens)
Tuesday: Errands
Wednesday: Library
Thursday: Animal Day (Haven wants to have "school time" all the time- this is our compromise.  She picks one animal a week to learn about.  We'll read some books about the animal and do a related craft.  This week it was giraffes and we did this based on Giraffes Can't Dance.  Really fun!)
Friday: Friends- Invite a friend over or go to some one's house.

We're also reading together everyday which is something we usually do, but I'm focusing more on fun chapter books.  We just finished Mrs.Piggle-Wiggle and we all really enjoyed it (even Mati sat and listened which really surprised me).  Next up: My Father's Dragon. Have any good read aloud book suggestions for me?

And in other exciting news, Haven lost her other front tooth today, courtesy of the dentist!  She's pretty darn cute toothless on top!

Spontaneous sunshine

We awoke to sunshine this morning and if you live anywhere near us, you know what a welcome sight that was.  Cale and I, realizing that the next several weeks of our life won't leave much time for spontaneity, decided to make the most of the day and do something together as a family.  Cale took the day off and we headed off to Carriage Hill park for the morning.  

Carriage Hill is a historical farm operating as if it were the 1880's. In addition to barns and a home to visit, you can also play in the visitors center and pretend you went to school and had farm chores.  The kids loved it in there.

Haven and the manure wagon.  She wasn't too excited when Cale explained to her the purpose of this particular equipment.  She had the same response when we discussed chamber pots.

Mati kept reiterating that he had a "fun time" at the farm, but he was terrified of the loose chickens and wouldn't go near any livestock.  

Can't say I blame him...this cow was eyeing me from across the field.  

In addition to mean looking cows, we got see some fresh little lambs.  One of the three was baaing like crazy the whole time we were in the barn.  They were sweet, but loud!  We also got to see horses, goats and pigs.

My little monkey...climbing up the ladder to no where, but she didn't care.  Probably not safe or legal, but who's to say.  You might be wondering why my children are wearing snow boots in April and I've got a good answer for you.  MUD.  It's everywhere here because it's done nothing but rain.  Surprisingly it wasn't too bad at the park, but we figured better safe then sorry.

We ended our day with a great dinner that Cale cooked on the grill.  Unfortunately it started to rain just when he needed to cook so he borrowed Haven's umbrella.  He makes me laugh.

A great day, minus some stinky kid (and parent) moments.  But that's life as a family I guess.  Some bad doesn't negate all the good.  We spent time together, did something fun, learned a little, laughed together and made a memory. I'll call this one a success!