Cute Abby

Cute Abby and some newly blooming flowers.

Finding Positivity Through the Darkness

I'm thinking about my amazing mom today. People remember her as as the smiling woman in these pictures. She loved her family and friends fiercely. She never met a teenager that she didn't love in her decades of working in a high school and in serving the youth at church. We used to joke that she had hundreds of best friends. In her last few months, we had to limit how many people could come visit her every day; so many wanted to come. There were hundreds of people at her funeral; the church was packed! Her love was far reaching and genuine.

What most of her friends and associates didn't know about her was that she battled severe depression. As long as I can remember, my mom fought depression. Yet she got up every day and put one foot in front of the other. More than that, she put a smile on her face and looked for the good around her. And she found it! Her love shone through the darkness that continually tried to engulf her. This kept her going.

When darkness threatens to engulf me, I think of my mom. Her persistance in seeking for the positive through difficulty was one of the best examples she gave me.

As I shared more pictures on Facebook today, I realized her example has influenced me in this way. The last few months have been the hardest I've experienced, but I realized that sharing so many pictures has helped me recognize the positives and love in my life. It's the main reason why I've shared so much this year. Over and over again I've found myself looking through my own highlight reel. It has become a record that helps me remember my blessings and find light through the darkness. When I've felt like a failure, it's shown me that there are winning moments in my life. It's been one little thing that has helped through recent months.

My current challenge is different in many ways than my mom's was, and the ways I seek positivity are different as well. Yet her example continues to influence me. I'm so grateful for my angel mother! ❤❤❤ 

Our Duck Friend

We rode our bikes to the lake today and made friends with a duck! At first I thought the kids were bothering the duck. Then we walked over to the dock. Pretty soon the duck was by the dock as well. We thought it a coincidence until we started walking around the lake and it totally followed us! It stopped whenever we stopped and even turned around to go back down the trail when we did.  It particularly stayed close to me. When the kids left me, the duck stayed by my side. When I moved, the duck moved. What a hoot!

More Adventures With Alex

Alex joined me on my walk again today. We followed random trails and even found some geocaches. He's pretty fun to explore with. 😊

Greenbelt Adventure

Alex and I walked 7 or 8 miles through the greenbelt today. It was a great workout! We found a lake that we didn't know about, and also stopped at the dog park. We've never been to a dog park before, so we enjoyed watching the dogs interact with each other. I think Alex enjoyed the other dogs as much as Maui did! Ha ha!

Afterward, these awesome kids decided to cook dinner which is fantastic because I'm tired! 😍

Kids Say

Laurel, "Mom, when you sit down it looks like you have a small body."

As opposed to when I'm standing .....??? 🤷‍♀️🤣

Brig, "Dad I don't want to be with you. I want to be with the girls."

Jim, "You don't want to be with me? You're gonna break my heart."

Brig, "No. You don't have a heart daddy."

Brig calls hugs that he gives me 'mommy hugs', and hugs that he receives 'Brigham hugs.

Me, "I need a mommy hug." 

Brig, "No you don't. Your mommy hugs are all filled up."

Me, "Hey Brig, Logan needs a Logan hug."

Brig shrugging, "They're all missing."

Me, "Can you look for one?"

Brig (excited gasp), "I found one!"

*The rest of these are from a year ago:

Abby playing Monopoly, "I landed in jail! Yeah baby!"

Brig looking up my nose, "You not have boogers? You has hairs!"

I was pretending to snore and Brig said, "You sound Daddy!" I stopped to laugh and he demanded, "Do it Daddy!"

The kids got flip flops in their Easter baskets. Brig, "These are church flops!"

Laurel riding her bike, "Dad! I hit your car! Bur don't worry, it's not broken."

Laurel, "I can't read a big book because I'm almost tired!"

Jim, "Brig, get your finger out of your nose."
Brig, "That's not a nose. That's a booger. I'm picking! I'm picking!"

Abby, "Momma, your eyebrows are hooking together and are coming down your nose!" She noticed my unibrow.

Abby, "Momma, I love you so much! I love you even when I hate you. But I don't hate you right now."

Annie, "I know how to drive basically."

Cuddling in bed with the little ones and everyone was sharing their dreams. Brig made one up and when he was finished I said, "Good job sharing your dream Brig." Brig, "Aaaa-men!"

Laurel, "Mom, I will listen when I'm 5 years old."
Me, "Will you listen while you're 4 years old?"
Laurel, "I'm too little. I don't know how!"
Me, "You're not too little. "
Laurel, "But I don't want to!" 🤣🤣🤣

Laurel, "Mom? Dad's getting really old. His hair is getting really old."

Pella

Jim and I had an excursion to Pella on Saturday. The flowers were beautiful and we enjoyed way too much yummy Dutch food (which I forgot to take pictures of). We also visited Lake Red Rock where we climbed the observation tower and went for a hike. It was a great day! 😍

Avoiding Bedtime

The kids came up with a brilliant plan to avoid bedtime: cleaning cupboards. I can't say no! 🤣

Tooth Fairy

Sweet Laurel lost her first tooth last night. 

Abby helped her write a letter to the tooth fairy. Cute little girls! 

April 2021

Our April Fool's Day fun: 

*Expert level toilet seat... of course someone had to try it despite the warning not to. Boys! 🤣

*I put a sign on the back of Jim's car to honk, but it wasn't very successful.

*I changed Jim's birthday on Facebook to April 1st. He started getting birthday messages early that morning! The best part is that he couldn't change it for a month. 🤣

*Green milk for the kids.

*After realizing I'd messed with his Facebook, Jim created a new account for me and made it look like my original account. He had my phone logged into it, so I initially thought he'd somehow cleared everything from my account, friends and all. 🤣

*Logan made it look like the dog had accidents inside. 🤣 

Two cute girls hanging out at the park.

Easter egg fun.

General Conference

Brig was funny cuddling with Annie's foot.

Easter! We had a fun egg hunt with friends. 

Our favorite Easter tradition is our 'Jerusalem' supper. We have foods that are mentioned in the New testament or that were similar to food of that time and place (except for the chicken... not everyone likes fish 🤷‍♀️), and we read about Christ's life and sacrifice.

The littles enjoyed their chalk from their Easter baskets.

Easter baskets

Abby and Alex had their swim team celebration. This was their first year on swim team, and they had so much fun! They became great swimmers, made new friends, and even each set a team record. (Granted, those two events didn't have existing records yet, but it's fun that they set them.) Our favorite moment of the night, though, was Abby's 'Sweet and Spicy' award. That describes her exactly! 🤣

Cute Annie

Peanut butter playdough fun

I had my gym bag in the car and was ready to head to the gym when I realized what a beautiful day it was! It would have been a shame to workout indoors, so we went for another geocaching bike ride. It was definitely the best choice! 😍🌞 

Peanut butter playdough creations 

Dance picture day for Annie. I didn't buy pictures, but since she was all fixed up for class pictures I snapped a bunch with my phone. I can't possibly choose a favorite. 😍 

Abby turned 8! She had a great time with her friends at her party. 🎉

We celebrated her birthday all weekend.

She had a tsunami cake. It was super easy and really neat!

I taught a kitchen fun class in our homeschool co-op this semester. We had a blast! 

Abby received a mermaid tail for her birthday. She's had so much fun swimming with it!

Flowers from a sweet friend. 

A mermaid at the pool!

A sweet reading moment caught on camera. This one does my heart so much good. Between Alex's struggles to learn to read and Abby's stubbornness, it's been YEARS since I've had a little one read to younger siblings. Annie used to do this all the time when she was little, and now Abby is starting to do it more often. 😍 

We watched Castaway (filtered) recently as a family.  The kids were fascinated with the idea of survival and his use of coconuts, so we decided to process a coconut.

I've done this before without too much trouble, but I decided to try a new trick I read about: freezing it before processing. Bad idea! That made it so much harder. 🤣 Thankfully my big kids helped. 

I was so happy that my tulips were blooming! Unfortunately, one of the kids thought it was a good idea to cut a bunch of them down. 🤦‍♀️ They didn't last as long this way, but we were able to enjoy them inside. 🤷‍♀️ 

I've taken a LOT of walks through the bluebells in the last few weeks. I love spring! 

Other wildflowers are coming out too!

Homeschool perk: Flexibility for what is needed when it's needed.

My teens were up quite early for classes, and then we continued our school lessons together with everyone else once they were home.

Our natural progression after lunch looked like 4 kids getting needful sunshine, and 2 tired teens taking a nap. Meanwhile, I had some unexpected quiet time. 

We did a little exploring.  I'm always impressed with the things my kids find during our rambles. 😊 

Abby made the decision to be baptized. We're so pleased with her decision. She is maturing into an amazing young lady! 😍

We had a fun excursion to the Rockford Quarry.

We had a mini adventure day. We started at Fontana Park to see the animals and nature center. Then we visited a few Amish shops. Later on we went for another walk through the bluebells. It was a beautiful day! 

Annie and her best friend are on the track team together. It's been fun watching these girls compete!