Life lately

Here are a few photos from life recently...

Elise....this feisty girl loves to swing, loves sneakers paired with dresses and loves to be outside with mama.  This picture represents her well!

Bike races in the driveway.  Every day.  

Polaris Ranger rides around our property were Brenner's thing with the kids.  Many days after work, while I was fixing dinner, they would ride down to our pond, check out the frogs and geese with Jake racing them the whole way.  Well, I have taken over this job; the kids keep telling me I go slower than Daddy but they think I'm doing ok :)

It is starting to feel like summer so naturally we busted out the kiddie pool.

Posing and taking pictures of each other.  Cutest. Thing.  Ever.

Cole reading to the girls.

Our friends invited us to go riding on their horses and the kids loved it.  They loved it so much that they have been consistently praying for the horses as their "friends" when I ask them to choose a friend to pray for each day.  

Dinner with sweet friends.  These two mean a lot to me, they mean more to me each time I hang out with them.  They are reminders to me of God's goodness!  When we decided to join active duty Air Force, we immediately began to pray for friendships for me and the kids as one of our specific prayers.  I was leaving some incredible friendships in Texas and knew that it would be really hard.  God has answered my prayers for close friends more than I can believe.  Four hour dinners are not long enough with Jen and Katie. 

Sometimes my kids don't want to eat their food at meal time.  Sometimes mealtime is a battle.  Anyone else have this issue?  Anyone else go to drastic measures to get their kids to eat?  Sometimes bunny makes an appearance and shoots the kids if they don't eat.  If they eat what they are supposed to, they get to shoot bunny.  Anything to motivate them without discouraging me, and laughter is usually the best thing.

Eggs, eggs, and eggs.  Our chickens are at their prime laying time and we are loving it!  And how do you like my fancy egg collecting system?

My little military man...and a vintage Army belt for the win.

Early morning Bible study is often crashed by my Clara.  Coffee, God's word and Clara Beth on the front porch might be the perfect way to start a day.

Life here is good.  It keeps going with Brenner gone and that keeps us sane but makes it hard too.   But my God is so good.  So, so good, and all these good moments, plus the thousands I can't keep up with fill my heart daily.

Life lately

Here is a little glimpse into our recent days....

Cole is reading like a champ these days and we are focusing primarily on that during school.  When it is nice outside, which it has been so much the last month, we take school outside to the treehouse, our favorite study spot

The weather has been so nice that we took the boat out and hope to do it again soon.  

Chapel family day in downtown Sacramento with some of the chapel family.

Clara Beth.  My girl that loves to hoard and carry multiple purses full of treasures like baby dolls, dried flowers and tubes of toothpaste.

One morning after breakfast we had nothing to do and nowhere to go so we crawled back in bed and read books for an hour....hello perfect morning!

Playdate with some favorite friends.

I love it when she picks her own outfit 

The girls got new bikes for their birthday and I cannot believe how big they look riding them!!

This little monkey ( Elise) can basically do the monkey bars by herself

Came out to the front yard to find Cole hacking the ground digging for treasure and with Brenner's hoe

Sweet whispers I overheard between the girls....about babies, puppies and stinky feet.  These two crack me up and melt my heart.

Loving these days with these three....

Things that I don't want to forget...

In the business of life, the comings and goings of our day to day, it is so easy for me to forget the things that I didn't think I ever would.  

I hate the fact that I will not remember each moment I have with these kiddos. 

I don't want to forget the little things that bring me big joys each day...

like the girls' love for their babies and the way they sway back and forth and rock their hips while singing their babies to sleep....

Like Cole and Elise dancing around my room pretending to be husband and wife....

like Clara Beth keeping chapstick in her pocket ALL the time and when she doesn't have a pocket, using her underwear as a storage facility....

like Cole making forts, rocket ships, boats, air craft carriers, and army base camps out of our sofa cushions every single day......

like these three piling into the power wheels and driving around the house together laughing and laughing after making up from a fight....

like indoor trampolines in tutus and football jerseys....

like little girls wanting to be big girls and big helpers....

like them sleeping in baby positions and me forgetting that they are rapidly turning into little girls....

like big brothers wanting to carry little sisters into the store to be sure they don't get hit by a car....

there are so many things each day, so many phrases and laughs and moments that I cannot remember and cannot document....but I don't want to forget these sweet moments and pray I always take the time to pause and smile when they happen so I remember the joy that they bring me.  While I can't remember it all, I can remember the daily joy if I choose too!

Life lately in photos.

Here are a few photos of our life lately...

Clara Beth snuggled in our bed after another night full of bad dreams.  At least sweet baby gets comfort from her mama...and her mama's bed :)

Just a regular morning around here, fighting bad guys and karate chopping some sisters.

(he has never watched spiderman but he loves the concept of superheros and so he just makes up his own super cool things that spiderman can do!)

I love this boy's imagination!

Helping mama clean the playroom with her tiny vacuum 

Cole wanted to help me get ready to make bread so he got the flour out himself....and fell and spilled it all over the floor.  So while I made bread, they played in flour, complete with dump trucks to haul the load!

I decided that even though it did not feel like fall, I would pretend it was and try something new and pumpkiny. 

The result was my first successful homemade pie crust and first pumpkin pie.

My aunt Shirley would be so proud!!!

Family hike and exploration on Columbus day!

Tiny girl swinging.

Elise is quite the determined and independent two year old and perfers to choose her own outfits...today's was with a side of sassy.

My mom reminded me that she used to know a little girl like that too.  hmmm........

Clara reading her bible to her baby.  

"tell baby bout shesus, mama"

Silliness with these three!

I love our weekly activities: Classical Conversations on Tuesdays, PWOC bible study on Wednesdays and Bible study Fellowship on Thursdays; but I have to tell you, that I adore our Mondays and Fridays when we usually do not go anywhere, play and take walks and swing and bake, clean and make messes, do puzzles and read books, and just laugh a lot.  These days, while sometimes are long and hard, are the best days of my life.  

I would not trade these years for anything.