These are the days!

I love you Oren Paul

Whenever I go to the fabric department I think of my sis Natasha and my friends Katie A., Shelli and Maria -- I have handmade treasures around my house sewn with love by these ladies! I texted Natasha yesterday and shared that I was buying fabrics for a fall bunting. She informed me that their WalMart in Kodiak doesn't have a fabric department. ugh. No pumpkin patches in Kodiak and no fabric department. And limited a lot of things! So I have decided I will send her some Christmas fabrics to have some fun with -- if she is up for that with a darling newborn.

Our cabin is painted! Vance pretty much picked the color and I love what he picked!

I decided to look back at my blog today.
It has been a joy to document these moments in time, I laughed a bit though because some of our story is told through my blog, but the moments of rushing around, hollering "do I have any clean socks?" and my trying to keep up isn't depicted. Life is full. There are days I am spread thin, but for the most part things are so great. I love the ages and stages of these kids!

We really do soak up these kids. There is a lot of laughter in this house. There is also some tears. There is a lot of working together and some argueing.

I LOVE raising these kids in the country. It is a huge blessing. Running around out here, golf cart rides, gardening, hiking... it is really fun.

Crab Creek, Autumn Air

Oren Paul

I was challenged by my friend Sharon to do a Gratitude Post on FB. Three things I am grateful for each day for five days. It has been good! I think I may make it a seven day challenge though because I have several more things I want to list and only one day left. 

Oh I am thankful for this little boy!!! He is such a blessing! A bonus baby who brings us a lot of joy.

Yesterday late morning my Aunt Jill and Jeff stopped by! It was so good to see them. Jill had never visited us in our house in Moses Lake. It was fun to catch up. They are headed back down to Texas after a summer on Whidbey.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon down by the creek. The weather was so beautiful! I love the crisp Autumn air. The boys fished, Vance built a fire. Oren soaked in the sights, Hazel pretended.

This imaginative sweet girl made a "salad." She pretended to have a "camping spot" next to ours. 

The other day it rained off and on all day. 

The rain is a treat here because we don't get much of it. 

Hazel and I ran out and picked flowers for a bouquet for our kitchen. 

We also picked some tomatoes and squash.

I love the above picture of the rain bouncing off of the table.

These homegrown veggies have been a treat.

Grasses along Crab Creek

Vance and me

It was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon! 

I have two photo shoots tonight, another tomorrow night. 

My camera is out and ready. I love capturing sweet moments in time! 

Merit, Will, Hazel and Oren... life around here!



These two LOVE playing in Hazel's room.

Tonight Hazel asked me if she could take my camera outside. I told her yes. The boys were playing catch and this is a shot she got of Willem! I think it is great!!

Sending this girl off to pre-school has been a bit harder than both of us imagined.

I am so very thankful that I have a daughter. I do feel, however, that I am a better "boy mom".

Hazel has a very kind heart and is sensitive. She has had some hurt feelings in pre-school. :( lots of good experiences too though and lots of learning.  I will keep encouraging her and helping her be a kind friend. I will help her feel good about herself. Girls are SO much different than boys! 

Today she had a great day at pre-school! We are both smiling!

Garden baby.

This guy has gotten GOOD at basketball. I play him often and MAN, I want to be able to beat him. Those days may be over.

We are getting into the swing of things with school. Three different start and end times for Merit, Will and Hazel and a little guy who often has his nap interrupted, but happy kids, enjoying life. Fall football is going great for Merit too. 

These days...

It is so fun to walk out to the garden and pick tomatoes, onions, etc! Our nachos were so delicious with home grown veggies. Also, I sure appreciate having a husband who likes to cook.

a praying mantis on our basketball hoop

A praying mantis can turn its head and look over it's shoulder at you! No other insect can do this.

a bee on one of my garden sunflowers

We love these little tomatoes!

My view from the treadmill. 

I, once again, am getting on that treadmill every day - if even for 20 minutes.

Pancakes, in a muffin tin... add what you would like! These were a hit. We made buttermilk pancakes and added wheat germ, ground flax and zucchini. Some also had blueberries or chocolate chips!

This boy. 

He is growing too fast.

He is so sweet. 

I love him SO.

We are praying for those hurting. 

9-11 brings back many memories

Vance's mom lost a brother just recently. 

We are praying for those in need. 

I want for our children to have compassionate hearts. We pray often. We thank God for what he is doing in our lives and we hope to be a bright light in others.  I could actually write on this topic for hours. Merit, especially, is noticing those less fortunate and those who can't come to school "equipped" to learn because of maybe their home life, struggles, etc. I encourage him to help them out when he can and to whisper a prayer.

We got some exciting news this week too! Vance's sister Kelcy is engaged. 

Kelcy and Alex are a cute couple, they respect each other, they have fun together!! This was great news.

A little Sunday update...

I found a Lincoln Logs set at Goodwill the other day. We have one other set that my Grandma Alma
gave Merit when he was little. Willem was excited about this and got right to building. He LOVES third grade! And he loves his teacher! But he is a boy who needs unstructured play and down time too!!
I push, push, push to practice spelling words, read together, do homework. He will do it, but wants lots of breaks.
This has been a bit challenging for me, but it is okay we are are still getting into the swing of things with school starting back up. We are finding our routine, we'll get there. I have been busy with photography too so that is just something else that is on my plate, but I do love it. I have no fancy editing programs so I only spend about 45 minutes editing each shoot. I use free online programs. I sure love to interact with families though and it is so fun when the lighting is just right... I am enjoying it and unfortunately have to turn some work down because our family of six is just pretty busy. :)

Hazel loves pre-school.
Merit is really enjoying middle school.
Oren loves HOME.

My brother Matt came to visit last weekend and very quickly he was put to work running chains. :)

Oren, in the stroller, at Merit's football game. This fourth child has seen a lot of sports in his 15 months!





Merit and I cannot get enough of these.

We have zucchini coming out of our ears.

Gardening is so, so fun. I hope to get some things planted for fall! Cooler weather leafy greens and veggies.

First Day of School!