Another attempt...

Life gets so busy around here that I usually find myself declaring after a month or two of not posting anything that it might be time to let this little blog of ours go.  Then I need to remember something and I find myself back here looking through the pictures and memories. Every time I do this I find myself falling in love with this little space all over again.  So I make a promise to myself that I'm going to do better, because these days and years are full of things I want to remember and probably wouldn't if it weren't for this space. So here I go again...

A little random rambling as to how I found my way back here again today...  It's actually quite sad, but I can't for the life of me remember what exactly Christmas looked like here last year.  Honestly I'm convinced that I have the worst memory of any 34 year old around.  My husband and kids think it's funny, but it's actually starting to scare me a bit.  So this morning as I laid in bed trying so hard to remember having Molly home with us last year on Christmas, I just couldn't do it.  So I decided to look here.  Looking back through pictures and posts of last Christmas might seem like a strange way to see what kiddos sat around our tree last year, so that I'll know for certain which one's will be around our tree this year.  It's just that it's so much more pleasant then skimming the filing cabinet looking for an ugly, dusty divorce settlement.  And for the record I could have just as easily and quickly text or called Molly's mom for the answer (which I do a lot) but I hate to bug her and really, really hate how scatter brained it makes me feel.  Even though the truth is that I am a bit of a scatter brain.  Which is just another reason that having this space is so important.

So where to begin.  Hmm....

I think I left off with a couple of cute picture of JK and Lillie at the start of the football season.  And oh what a season it was!  The jr braves ended in 3rd place with an awesome winning record 8-2.  It was a great year to end our time with the youth football program.  JK's team is stocked full of really good, sweet boys that Im excited to watch him grow with.  Through this team we have created amazing friendships we know will last a life time.  While we were a little sad to see it come to an end, we know most of these boys will be moving on into high school together and as strange as it is to say it, I can't wait!  I am so ready to cheer our Braves on through the next chapter of their lives.

And who knows we very well might be with this program again next year if Lillie decides she wants to cheer again.  While there were a few rough patches in the beginning she ended the year so strong.  All of the girls had a little dance routine they learned over just a few weeks to perform during a halftime performance and Lillie rocked it!  She really did do such a good job this year and was beyond cute cheering her little heart out.  I was reminded quite often that she was a fan favorite for sure!  

Molly ended up playing soccer closer to her other home this year which meant that we had to make a long drive up north to watch her play.  While we made it to a handful of games, it was hard to schedule it so we could get to all of them and we ended up missing more games then we would have like.  What we did notice this year was that she was definitely the star player of her team and showed improvement every time she played.  As I've said in the past I think she could really go a long way in this sport and wouldn't be at all surprised to see her playing in college one day if she decides to stick with it.

Like the Jr Bethel team JK's middle school team also had a winning season, though they did struggle a little to find their balance.  They were anticipated to be undefeated at the end of last year but with a new coaching staff their team had a little more trouble then they probably should have.  JK was named team captain at the beginning of the year and did a great job leading this group of boys under a coach who a lot of them were reluctant to play for.  In the end the boys did well and are all looking forward to starting their high school careers next year.

   
Moving onto Halloween...

For the first time in I think forever we did not get to the pumpkin patch as a family this year.  We did some switching of weekends in the month of October so that Molly could be with her other family for some fun things they had planned and it just never worked out for all of us to get there.  It made Clint and I both a little sad and it's been decided that it will not happen again next year.  It's one of our favorite things to do as a family and we both realized this year how much we missed all of us not getting to go as a family.  Lillie and I were able to make a quick trip there with some friends while Clint was at work one day, but JK didn't want to go.  I should have made him and regret that I didn't.  I've decided that I'm really starting to loathe the month of October.  Every year it seems to get busier and busier, pulling our family in what seems like a hundred different directions.  I used to think December was our busiest month, but it's a different kind of busy.  An all together busy and I'd take that over having to split up most weekends any day!

All complaints aside, we did end up finding a little bit of time to host a dinner and pumpkin carving party at our house with friends the weekend before Halloween.  On Halloween Lillie had lots of fun tick-or-treating, filling her snack bag full and then eating more candy then she probably should have.  Frankly, after her class party and night of trick-or-treating, I'm dreading her next dentist appointment.  She chose to be a princess (again) and fell in love with a little southern bell dress while we were walking through Fred Meyer one day.  It's the first year that she has not changed her mind on costumes, ever!  This little girl of ours truly has a princess heart!

With October and Fall sports now behind us we've got a little bit of a lull in our schedule (which is quickly filling up with lots of miscellaneous events and other projects) but the best part of all this year is that we FINALLY have Molly coming back again.  We went an entire moth without seeing her and decided that was just much to long.  We were all missing her tons and then when she finally came back last weekend it took a little bit of time falling into our normal, comfortable routine again.  We did get to have a fun girls night out and enjoyed dinner and Disney on ice.  I know Molly is probably getting to old for this little tradition, but I'm hoping she'll want to continue to go for at least a few more years.  As much as I love watching our kids grow into amazing young people, the speed at which they're doing it is hurting my heart a little. 

So I think that about covers most of what we've been up to the last couple of months, and now my fingers are crossed that I'll actually be better at keeping this little place a little less dusty. 

5th Annual 4th of July Camping Trip

We celebrated another 4th of July with a long camping weekend with some of our favorite peeps!  While our guest list has changed a bit over the years, we still have a few of our besties who have attended each and every 4th with us over the past 5 years, rain or shine.  When Clint and I were putting our guest list together we decided that we honestly have some of the best friends with the best kiddos in the entire world!  

We celebrated the day of the 4th with some fun kid fireworks and then Clint did his big show on the 5th.  This year I decided to video tape it so that he could actually see his show and therefore didn't get any pictures.  As always his show was spectacular and earned a lot of oohs and awes throughout it.

Because of the large amounts of time we spent in the water over this beautiful weekend I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked to.  But by Sunday I think our pink cheeks and permanent smiles showed just how much fun we'd all had.  In fact none of us wanted to pack up and head back to reality. 

     

While normally we make this just a 3 day trip we decided to take advantage of the 85 degree plus weather that was being forecasted and extend our trip to cover the actual 4th (which fell on a Thursday) and make it a 4 day trip.  Our extended weekend included lots of friends, a spectacular firework show, great food, smores' (and one of our new favorites fire roasted banana boats), lots of dogs, an entire day floating the lake, some fishing, lots of sun and of course sunscreen.  Tons of laughter, and one small accident that left Clint and I in the emergency room until 4am on Monday morning with a burned hand and a bit of a burned ego.  Aside from the er visit, there is nothing I would have changed about the weekend.

A few of the boys telling us just how big the fish that got away was. 

Welcoming in 2013 with a BANG!

Last night I had envisioned a quiet little night at home playing games and sipping on sparkling cider while some New Years countdown show played in the background.

Instead our New Years went like this...

6 adults.

7 kids; 5 boys, 2 girls and 1 little Hunter dog.

A whole ton of fireworks.

  

Good company and a fire pit to keep warm around.

Saying goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013...

Sparklers, pop its and a much anticipated show at midnight.

A delayed countdown.

A quick kiss.

Then ONE bad firework that blew out of it's tube...

A hit to my stomach that resulted in me using a 4 letter word (something I honestly never do!) and leaving me black and blue with Clint arguing with me that we should make a trip to the er.  I refused.

A shattered back window to our neighbors car.

A small garage fire that would have burnt the whole house down had it gone unnoticed for another 2 minutes.

A friend running the kids across the street while the men ran into the garage to put out the flames and I ran into the house to save the dog.  Dumb I know!

And a husband who couldn't sleep and woke me up nearly every hour to make sure I was okay.

IT WAS A NEW YEARS CELEBRATION WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

With everything that didn't go right about the night, I'm counting our blessings and declaring that this is going to be a very lucky year for us.  Lillie who is almost always on my lap or right in front of me just happened to be standing to my side last night.  Had she not been, whatever hit me would have hit her right in the face and it would have been devastating.  I can handle a sore, slightly swelled black and blue belly.  I couldn't have handled what would have happened if my sweet girl had been hit.  I'm thankful that nobody else was hurt and that the fire in the garage was caught just as it had started to melt through the lid of a bucket of oil and was only a few inches from a full propane tank we had just pulled from the motor home.  Today as we clean all of the fire extinguisher dust up, I'm thankful that we had one available and ready to use when we needed it.  I am thankful that God was watching over us and turned a situation that could have been disastrous into a story that we will probably be laughing about by the time summer comes.

So while I was a little sad to say goodbye to what was an uneventful, relaxing year in 2012... I have no doubt that 2013 will be exactly the opposite.  With lots of new adventures and changes we're heading into this year, I'm praying that God will continue to guide our path and leave us looking back at the end of 2013 as a year that was truly a blast!   

Here are the last two photos that were take in 2012.  When we all still thought fireworks were cool!

Christmas 2012

Sometime after the kids opened their annual Christmas eve pajamas, and were (finally) tucked snug in their beds while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads, Santa visited our house.  He ate all of the cookies the kids had carefully picked for him and then must have gone straight to work setting out gifts and setting the stage for what would be a magical morning at our house. 

I'm guessing Santa's visit took place sometime in the wee hours of the morning because we had a super excited little 5 year old who couldn't get her eyelids to close.  After what started out as cute excitement and then turned into about 100 trips up and down the hall to put her back in her bedroom, threats started to work there way out of my mouth.  Threats that Santa would not come if the entire house was not sleeping.  Threats that there would be one very unhappy brother and sister in the morning if Santa had to skip our house because Lillie wouldn't go to sleep.  And at about the two hour mark of going back and forth Hunter took it upon himself to stake out in front of Lillie's door.  It wasn't to long after that, that our sweet girl finally gave into sleep, until about 3am when Clint caught her trying to sneak into the living room to see if Santa had come.  Oh I love the age of our fun little girl and get just a little bit sad when I think about the fact that she's the last five year old we'll have in our little family. 

A few hours after Clint got Lillie back to bed I heard Molly stirring.  It was 7am when I stuck my head in her room and could tell that even though she said she might, she wasn't going back to bed.  We decided it was a good time to check to make sure that Santa had come and then wake up the rest of the kids to see what awaited us.  I just love the joy, excitement and squeals that is Christmas morning at our house!

Hunter was the first one out of our bedroom and instantly found the bone waiting under the tree for him.  The kids seemed to have gotten most everything they had asked for and were so sweet and thankful as they opened their gifts.  Molly found a special letter waiting in the tree from Santa letting her know that he had arraigned for her to send her American girl doll, Holly to the hospital to get her hair fixed and her ears pierced.  The sparkle in her eyes was pure magic!  She was so excited that Santa had gotten her letter and given her the one thing she had asked for but kept secret from the rest of us.  The joy and excitement of her response to Santa's gift brought a tear to my eye.  I loved that even though she's growing up and didn't ask for any toys, Santa's gift brought with it the slightest glimpse of our mature girl as her little girl self for just a few minutes again. 

After all the gifts were open and most of their new treasured items were put away,Clint's parents came over and shared in a big breakfast with us and then some more gift giving.  After they left we lounged around with full bellies watching the Christmas story.  Our all time favorite Christmas movie and the only thing that makes it's way to our t.v. set on Christmas day. 

After spending a good part of the afternoon relaxing we loaded into the car (all still in our pajamas) and headed to my parents house for what felt like Christmas morning all over again.  We enjoyed a dinner feast with more food then any one family should consume and then spent the rest of the evening playing games and spending time together laughing and reminiscing.  I know I say it every year, but I honestly think this was the best and for sure the most relaxing Christmas ever!

{Liam (aka Dennis the menace) in the tree 2, Molly 10, Lillie 5, Landon 2, JK 13}

Santa 2012

{Jk 13, Molly 10, Lillie 5}

This past weekend we visited Santa and then spent hours baking, decorating and taste testing cookies for his big arrival on Christmas Eve.  And because Lillie has decided that his reindeer like oranges better then carrots, we even bought another bag of cuties I'm hoping won't all be gone by next week.  

While we all love the Santa we visit, Molly and Lillie have determined that he is most definitely not the real one, but one of Santa's very best helpers.  Molly came to this conclusion after he asked if she wanted a movie for apparently the second year in a row.  She thought that seemed silly being that Santa has never actually left her a movie on Christmas morning.  Clint and I had the discussion with the kids on our way home that Santa does have helpers who listen to what each child wants and gets pictures taken as he is obviously super busy this time of year and couldn't be at all of the malls at once.  Lillie was satisfied with the explanation and Molly being the smart big sister she is assured us that the information we were sharing was old news to her.

The kids had put their letters to Santa in the mail box at the end of November and I'm really hoping he received them.  Lillie can't remember what was on her list, but wants just about everything she sees so I'm assuming it was pretty random.  Molly is being super secretive about what she asked for and won't tell a soul what was on her list to the big guy.  And JK, well being the teenager he is, his list is pretty much full of really expensive electronics and items I just don't think Santa could or would deliver on.  Luckily I was able to get him to scale his list down to some reasonable items that he wants so he won't be super disappointed come Christmas morning.   

That's My Daddy!

"That's my Daddy!"  Those are the words JK shouted during his 6th grade graduation when a picture of him and Clint taken at 6th grade camp made it into the slide show.  And what a good daddy he is!  


Happy Fathers Day, Clint!  I love you and am so proud of the amazing daddy you've become!       

Mother's Day 2012

One of my all time favorite things about Mother's day is the all around knowledge by my family that  Mom gets to sleep in.  Just going to bed knowing that fact seems to allow me a better nights sleep, which means I'm always well rested to celebrate this special little day with a few of the people I love most.  When Clint and the kids woke me up I was presented with a few sweet homemade cards the kids had worked so hard on.  Then it was time to rush like a madwoman to get ready for church in time.  For the record, sleeping in is so worth the rush that comes with feeling like I'm running a little late! 


After church we enjoyed a yummy brunch with my mom, dad, sister and her family at the local golf course.  And since the sun was shinning and our bellies were full we decided to dust off our clubs and spend a little time at the driving range and putting greens.  (We had thought maybe we could play the executive 9 teaming up with each of the kids; but with the sun shining so bright we decided that might be a little much for Lillie.)  My parents had decided to stay and practice their swings, too.  And by the end of our third bucket of balls my mom had decided that she just might want to take up the game of golf as well. 


After golf, we were able to relax a bit before Clint's parents came over and enjoyed a delicious assortment of Barbecued steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob and watermelon.  The perfect dinner that doesn't include too much help from mom. :)  


It was a great day full of Clint and the kids spoiling, surprising, and pampering me all day long.  I am truly one lucky momma! 

Easter 2012

There was the coloring and breaking of Easter eggs, egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, peeps, little gifts left under pillows, and fun Easter baskets hidden around the house... Even one for Hunter.

There was a super cute girl in a bright colored dress and a handsome young man dressed, in what he felt was nice and Springy. :)

There was a super yummy breakfast and maybe a little bit of chaos in getting everyone ready and out of the house in time for church.

There was fun in the sun and time spent with family and friends, laughing, loving and making memories.

And best of all... There was celebration! Celebration in knowing that when Jesus conquered the grave, He gave us the gift of eternal life. Such joy there is in knowing that death could not defeat Him and that one day we will live for all eternity with the King of all Kings!