A Tuesday Catch Up

The way the sunlight is shining through our house right now, beautiful! Even through dirty windows. 

Willem and Oren! Buddies

Baseball fundraising begins. Dear heavens. But when you have two kids that play 3 sports, there is going to be some fundraising! Considering delivering banana bread or chocolate cream cheese cupcakes to those who buy a gold card! :-)!

I baked banana bread today, got a bag of clothes going for Goodwill and am putting together 2 baskets and a bundle of cards for our youth auction Sunday. The baskets are so fun! One is a little baking basket and the other is a "spa" basket! It includes a loofah, a handmade soap, a face mask and.... hmmm thinking of a hair product or nail polish. 

Oren begged for a stroller ride this morning. Yesterday was a gorgeous day for a walk and ride! Today was a bit cooler and the wind felt really chilly. Our adventure took us downtown where we had some protection because of the buildings. It was cold but good. 

Baseball try outs are going on for Merit. 

Willem is still in basketball. 

Last weekends tourney was a favorite of mine. We had fun in Wenatchee and it was great to hang out with the team. Smash won 4 games and lost 1. We took third in the tournament.

Hazel is so excited to go horse back riding again too. She also took an art class on Friday and I had the pleasure of being a volunteer. She is a creative girl.

Oren loves writing, building with blocks and playing trucks. He likes school most days.

More pictures from a beautiful afternoon outside yesterday.

ENJOYING the NOW

 I have gotten misty eyed so often over the past week or two. Keeping our kids safe.


I am reminded time and time again to pray, knowing God hears our prayers, and to ENJOY the NOW.
Yesterday was a great day of doing just THAT.

 Oren is such a goofball and I love it.

Happy Tuesday

Our Presidents Day Weekend was really good.
The kids were out of school at noon on Friday. An afternoon of just hanging out felt good.
Willem played black light dodge ball with a lot of cool kids Friday night at church!
A fun game and a great message - that started off the weekend terrifically.
Saturday Vance took Willem to Kittitas for two back to back basketball games. They were home in time for dinner, worked great. Merit, Hazel, Oren and I hit the park and took a cold, refreshing walk.
Sunday, Vance made a big pot of split pea and ham soup. Delicious, and the day was just relaxing.
Yesterday, Hazel, Merit, Willem and I headed to Kittitas for two more games for Willem. They were WINS yesterday! Willem's youngest fan, Quinn, cheered him on during his first game. This team is fun and has a lot of strengths.
We ate at Jimmy Johns, yum! Got to visit with family there which was great. And enjoyed a sunny, cold day.
Today is full! Oren has pre-school, piano for Will, Awana for Hazel, basketball for Will, maybe baseball for Merit... LOTS of laundry for me! And I am having a couple of gals over this afternoon.
Happy Tuesday.

Sunday

A McDonalds coffee with 2 creamers and vanilla is pretty yummy

He did such a good job on his Paw Patrol valentines.

 We woke up to snow valentine morning

 Our chickens are ready for spring.
We have four chickens and get one egg a day.
Vance teases me about this chicken raising and farm fresh eggs (or the lack thereof). Seems easier than it really is. But we will get chicks this spring! Can't wait! And six months after that, they will be producing.
Oh and when they aren't laying, they are still eating and pooping. Chickens are messy! But they are entertaining too.

 It was a COLD day to hit the park yesterday, but it was also a lot of fun!
The fresh air and exercise felt oh so good.

It's FRIDAY!

Me at 8 a.m. this morning: " I have no idea what we are going to do for dinner tonight." Hazel in a cheerful voice, "Well, it is morning time and you have ALL day to think about it!" -------haha, yes!

I have had some great moments and some tough moments while substitute teaching lately.
I subbed yesterday in a warm, welcoming class with a wonderful learning environment. Most of the day was really nice. But there was a behavior incident at recess. A little boy who was supposed to spend his recess in the office did not (and I failed to remind him of this). The event was a bummer and sad and I felt I did not totally do my part. And it is even more tough when I walk into a classroom where I am very unfamiliar with behaviors. I am often very encouraged my subbing adventures, but there can be hard stuff too.

It sure does feel good though to be a listening ear for this kids, to be an encourager and to help them learn.

We are excited for a 3 1/2 day weekend!!

This week was good here...
It was letter "O" week at Oren's school. He had a fun Valentine party too!
Hazel enjoyed making homemade Valentines! And on Valentine evening she made chocolate covered strawberries for all of us!
Willem was sick and is finally starting to feel better. - He loves P.E.! He has it first period. He is doing well in all of his classes!!
Merit is eating us out of house and home. Last night I was listening to him help Hazel with her math. I loved it. 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A Valentine Late Start!! YES!
And we don't have to make up late starts!! Willem starts at 10, Merit at 10:20 (this is a guess, he'll be there by 10!) and Hazel 11 - YAY! Oren loves having his Hazel home a couple of extra hours! 
The snow is beautiful!! Maybe 4 inches? The sun is shining now though so it is beginning to melt a bit. 

Eight years ago I was reading blogs and posting on my blog, regularly. If I had a half an hour to sit down in the afternoon, I read blogs. I got to know people in different corners of the U.S., big cities and small cities. They shared child rearing, recipes, Bible studies, family vacations... I was introduced to great books and loved reading about the lives of other women. And then blogs became less popular, it seems. Facebook, Instagram, texting... anything INSTANT sort of took their place. And people maybe didn't want to take the time to read blogs or write blog posts for that matter.

I know that REAL conversations, REAL people, a handwritten letter and a hug do far more for any of us than a Facebook or Instagram post. But when I can share pictures of my kids and see pics of other kids in our lives, when I can quickly learn the score to a basketball game, when I can see whose child is doing a fundraiser, when I have the opportunity to wish someone a Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary; Facebook and Instagram are pretty cool. Although it takes more time to blog and to read blogs, it really is worth it and I hope to do even more of it. When I was home more with napping babies and nursing babies it really was a fun. If I was up at night with a sick baby, I could read (and often be encouraged) by a blog I love.

I hopped on Knit by God's Hands this morning! She had a neat Valentine message. Lady in the Stone House is always a good read. I love her adventures.

And today, we are delivering little valentine bundles to teachers and a few friends!
Oren shared valentines with his pre-school classmates yesterday. He had a very fun party. Hazel has her party today!

Tomorrow I get to be Hazel's teacher! YAY!

ENJOY THIS HEART DAY! AND LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY ARE LOVED! 

Random Happenings

 I sort of got my craft room work space ready for working.  - this room is a catch all for sure! Lots of out of season clothes, tons of card making supplies, binders of school work from previous years, holiday decor... oh my saving haunts me at times. But once somewhat picked up, this has become a great, quiet place for Merit to do his homework. And I sneak in here now and again to make cards.We have an old TV in this room so Oren thought it was pretty cool the other day to watch Stuart Little while I made a few cards and folded some laundry.

 These chickens beg to free range on sunny days! And I cannot help but give in.

Willem's defense is awesome! 

He is gaining the confidence to shoot a bit more too. 

Oren Paul

Imagination!!

Rocket pics from a few weeks ago!

I subbed yesterday and was tech impaired!! And once 4th graders see you are struggling (as a sub)

many students are ready to take over. I was sweating and frazzled. That hasn't happened in a long time! My next gig is second grade, Hazel's class. I will do better. 

Alice in Wonderland

Our high school has some very talented kids.

Alice in Wonderland... the peculiar, odd, entertaining story was done SO WELL by a talented group of Moses Lake High School students!

During half time Kurt, the Mad Hatter's dad, discussed some baseball with us - and wait I think that break in play is called an intermission. This Jansen family has much more time in the gymnasiums and on the ball fields than we do watching plays but a Saturday night spent in the auditorium watching this talented group was pretty great. Willem joined me Wednesday, opening night! And then we knew we had to come back! Merit was excited to see his buddy Kam on stage and Hazel loves anything of this sort. Grandma Kris joined us too. 

Can't wait for the next one.