Snippets From The Month

 

This week I thought I would take a cue from Michelle and share some photos of the week with you.  One bad thing - maybe the only bad thing - about being off of Instagram is that I can't easily share the little things we are up to - the things that don't seem worthy of a whole blog post end up getting lost.  I like the way Michelle has been sharing snippets of daily life on Fridays, and so I'm stealing her idea!  Maybe it'll become a weekly occurrence. (I'm at least shooting for once a month.)

-We had out-of-town family to visit recently, and we ate Mexican food and then went on a hike.  Gramie happened to know a lot about the history of the buildings in this particular area, so you can bet I counted it as a field trip!  It was so nice to see our East Coast family - we always have such great conversations with Derek's brother and sister-in-law, and it had me itching for a visit out there again.

-We went out for a visit to our friends ranch a couple weekends ago!  We enjoy taking the kids on day-trips like this, and I love catching up with these particular friends from my childhood.  They make it so interesting for the kids as well, and it's a cool experience for them to get to see how a real ranch works!  There were adorable lambs born the night before we went, and the kids loved feeding them.  My friends were also quite impressed with how far my five little kids rolled that huge hay bail!

-Just a couple outfit pictures from my main opportunity to "dress up" (as in, not in sweats) - that would be Awana nights!  My kids are in a perfect sweet spot right now, where all five of them can be in Awana at the same time, and you can bet we are taking advantage of this chance for weekly date nights!  When Wyatt gets old enough to age out of the program I'll probably volunteer, but we have to take our opportunities while we have them.  I'm trying to be cognizant of what kinds of pictures I share of my kids on here, but I wish I could show you their outfits for "Decades Night" at Awana - the girls were 80's, the boys were 50's.  They all looked ridiculously adorable.

-A certain little child of mine turned 7 years old!  He asked for a mountain bike and a Woody doll from Toy Story, and was so excited when his wish came true.

-Four of my kids gathered around the laptop for an art tutorial on a Friday Fun-day (Clyde was gone on his birthday shopping day with grandma). Gwen in particular has an artistic bent and has been asking me non-stop for drawing lessons.  For now, online lessons will have to do.

-It has snowed a few times in the last couple weeks, after almost summer-like weather.  The only time I have trouble with snow is typically in the spring, when we are teased with lovely weather and then hit with another storm - however, this last bit of snow has not bothered me at all.  I'm not sure why, maybe it's the knowledge that summer is coming fast and the moisture will be so good for our grass.  I think I also am feeling the freshness of spring anew this year, even snowy springs, after we were all locked down last April.  I resolved last year to never complain about a normal spring again, mud and all, and so far my resolution has held.  It also helps that in April and May snow melts off so fast.  We got some drippy icicles in our trees the other day that were so pretty, but I had a hard time capturing them.

-On days when I can't make it to the gym, sometimes I do a quick walk to the mailbox instead, and the last couple times this crazy dog has been following me.  I tried to make sure he was locked inside before leaving last time, but when I finally reached the mailbox, closed it and turned around, who do you think I saw?  He used to be quite the dog about town in our old neighborhood, and we had to keep him on a collar to make sure he didn't roam, but in his old age he doesn't want to leave our sides.  When we are home, he never goes farther than our driveway.  When I go to the mailbox, he has to tag along.  

Not pictured:

-Derek got a new job this month!  He is still in accounting, but a more interesting version of accounting for him.  He's excited about attacking a new challenge, and I'm excited that (for now at least) he still gets to work mostly from home.  Having him home this last year has been a huge blessing - it has allowed us more family time together since he no longer has to commute, and it has actually made homeschooling easier, because when certain children are getting too distracted I can send them in to work with dad (which works in focusing them like a charm).  It is also not lost on me how lucky we are that Derek has been able to work through everything that happened in 2020. I know that working situations have been so hard for so many people.

-April has been such a busy month in that we have been able to spend so much time with people we care about.  We had a great Easter with my family, we got to see Derek's family, and we've had several dinners with various good friends.  I've also been able to schedule some visits with our homeschool social group, and park days with individual friends.  It's been a really busy month!  It doesn't appear to be slowing down - Wyatt informed me that he has a busy couple weeks ahead with several events at church he would like to attend.  When I contrast last April with this April, I am just so pleased with the difference. People are starting to relax with the arrival of the vaccine, and so much feels normal again.  

Normal is a gift.  I'm very satisfied with normal.

I hope you all have had a beautifully normal month too, friends - comment and tell me what you've been up to!