LIFE

 

Willem and Nellie

Frontier 7th grade football
How is Merit old enough for this? How am I old enough for this?
Man, we love this
Merit is #14

Will has had a terrific season! #7

One of my teeth broke on Friday. A molar. ugh. Feeling this sharp edge for 4 days is kind of stinky, but I am not in pain - huge answer to prayer. My dentist was closed Friday and today so I get in tomorrow morning and will finally have it fixed!

I got so many tomatoes off of my bushes today! Yay!! I fry them up pretty much every day for lunch, with leeks and zucchini and a farm fresh egg! Yum.

Merit is working so hard at school and football and last night all the pressure sort of hit him hard, praying this week he can just go with it and that the math concepts are learned a bit more easily. My sis in law Cary has four kids. Her third (Isabel) is Merit's age. I find I am living conversations I had with her five years ago, eight years ago. It has been good to glean wisdom from her. And I have so many friends who help share their joys and struggles with their kids. It is good to talk it out. And pray it up.

Hazel is a kindergarten rock star. She is such an emerging reader!! And is such a great friend!

My photography has been fun! Just a photo shoot once a week or every other week. Perfect. I have had my camera almost six years. I had to replace the lense this summer, but man that camera has been great and from time to time I am still learning new features and functions.

Willem and Oren are buddies. The bond they are growing makes me smile!

I saw War Room with Katie Allred last week. Wow, a powerful movie. And seeing it with her was icing on the cake. I have the best girlfriends a gal could ask for.

My dad will have hip replacement surgery tomorrow. hmmmm I am so happy he will get this done, but everything leading up to it is a little bit hard. Phil and my dad have a bit too much interaction so Phil helping with the after care might be asking too much. Matt is working away. Tasha is in AK and I am here and Lesha is busy working part time, taking care of her family... It just all gets tricky. I talked to my dad yesterday and his attitude was great. Lots of laughs and he was just in good spirits. That makes things easier.

I have three more loads of laundry to get to today and need to vacuum a couple of rooms. The family is excited to watch the Seahawks tonight!

I am praying that God will show me the JOY in this week and I pray I face it with a GRATEFUL heart.

oh Autumn!

a country hike, good for the soul

A hike with Will is so good for the soul. I don't know who needs them more, Willem, Nellie or me? I LOVE where we live and maybe this appreciation is highlighted every Autumn... it seems that way at least. Fall is certainly my favorite.
I am on a healthy eating kick and am feeling really yucky?? Maybe a headache from cutting out refined sugar? Today this headache is kicking my butt!
I am in awe today of my kids' teachers and the amazing, hard work they do.
I am itching to sub! Just a little! Would love to be at Longview.

Oren and I ran a couple of errands this morning and then came home to watch Curious George and play. He is napping now and I will hit the laundry pile and load the dishwasher. Better get to letter writing too. Something else I am doing weekly and it feels good.  Football is going well for the big boys! Kinder suits Hazel so well.  

With my camera in hand...

mouth full of marshmallows, both of them reaching for more!

A little update...

This child. All boy. A lot of spunk and heavy on opinions. ;-)

This picture! The other night before Willem's football game the four kids and I stopped at DQ for some dinner to go. I had just finished a girl's senior pics, three locations. Vance was in meetings in Portland. Our night called for an easy dinner. I got one small pop with a kids meal and also ordered waters to go with our other meals. Oren was SO excited about the kids size Sierra Mist. But he had to share it. Hazel wanted a couple of sips and this was Oren's totally frustrated face. This kid has so much expression, so much personality. Grocery shopping with him is a pain in my rump. Being home with him is wonderful. Going to the kids' events is always interesting. He is usually so fun and social and well sometimes, he is not.

MY THREE SONS

This sweet girl got glasses.

Please pray for the adjustment. She does not enjoy wearing them.

My pics are a little dark, wrong mode I guess.

Oren's face on this one cracks me up!! Someone told him no about something!!

Life is busy, fun and full. Oren and the chickens keep me entertained during the day. Yesterday I hosted a small card making party in our loft and loved every minute of it. The evenings are full! I worked at Book Fair BINGO Monday night. Last night both big boys had football practice. Tonight they both have games. Tomorrow night baseball and football. Friday night football practice for Merit... I love it that they love it! And I love running into many friends at all these outings.

I enjoyed a little thrifting with Maria Friday afternoon and great conversation! And last night, their sweet baby boy was born!! Jaron Isaac!

Let's Spread Sunshine

Hazel when she was a baby. Such a sweetheart.

My goal this week is to spread a little sunshine! I'll write more letters, try to spread cheer where I go and do my best to spread sunshine and have patience at home too. I have a dear friend who is due any day to have a baby and another who sent her son off to college today. So many emotions.

Yesterday morning, Oren's diaper was slipping off shortly after he got out of bed. Turned out he had pooped... I was sitting on the floor changing him and cleaning up the mess wearing pajama pants that were my mom's! And I stopped and thought about how many messes she cleaned up wearing those SAME pajama pants. When things begin to "run out" I feel I am grasping. The pictures of her stopped. The memories of her stopped. No new ones have been made for quite a few years now. I think this is why I am such a ridiculous saver, sentimental maybe to a fault. A few clothing items she gave me 20 years ago I still have, because when I wear them I think of her all day. I am thankful that many memories and her kindness never leave us and they impact us now. Today. Every day. I think about how many times she chose joy, how many times she had to make an effort to be extra patient, how busy she was raising five chilren. I feel kind of overwhelmed and incredibly grateful. SHE was a lot of sunshine.