Evening At The Park

March Comes In Like a Lion...

March has definitely come in like a lion around here, bringing cold, snow, and all sorts of excitement and challenges!

We celebrated Dan's 40th birthday over four days (one for each decade?), and we even had a couple rounds of pin the tail on the donkey. (Kids seriously make birthdays so much fun!)

The kids helped to make this fantastic fruit pizza!

My parents came to visit us and we had a great time making memories...

My Dad had the idea to roast hotdogs over a campfire...never mind the snow!

Enjoying pipe cleaner crafts with Grampa

So blessed to have time with their grandparents!

The pipe cleaners my parents left behind have continued to be put to good use, creatively speaking.

Easton enjoys taking videos, and Miss Emmery loves to watch them!

Calvin had a fantastic season of Upward Basketball!

Calvin was very intentional about exercising at home almost every day during the basketball season so that he would be in top shape for his games.  I was impressed by his zeal and diligence!

Before jumping in the van on the way to his end-of-season tournament.

We celebrated 17 years of marriage! Our kids blessed us with breakfast in bed to start the day.  They dressed up as a chef and waiters and brought us drinks, fresh fruit, and french toast with strawberries and bananas on it. Seriously, I had no idea that marriage would be so amazing.  I am truly married to one of finest men on earth. 

March has also been filled with doctors visits for Miss Abigail. Her cardiologist and geneticist both diagnosed her with a connective tissue disorder (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) that causes hypermobility and (in her case) dysautonomia.  It helps to explain a lot of symptoms she's had in recent months, and now we know what we're dealing with so we can continue to educate ourselves and make the best choices to minimize her pain and maximize her energy.  It's been an emotional journey for me, but (not surprisingly) God keeps pouring out His mercies on me each morning.  He gives "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow."

Abigail is showing maturity beyond her years as she deals with consistent foot pain and unpredictable bouts of extreme fatigue, dizziness, joint pain, etc.  It's a hard thing to process in addition to the challenge of normal growing up, but her spirits are good and her heart is sweet.

We turned our visit to the hospital in Cleveland into a date by getting frozen yogurt in the hospital cafe, enjoying the artwork in the hallways, and riding the escalator (Abigail's request. :)

And Emmery never ceases to amaze us and bring us laughter.  Lately she keeps changing her name, often to someone else she's seen recently.  She's been Starkweather, Sally, and Annabelle.  Today a stranger asked her what her name was and she said, "I'm Emmery, but you can call me Cyrus."  She's having a blast being two!

Munching on an orange for all she's worth!

It's been a month of wild weather, exciting celebrations, sadness over physical challenges, and happiness over time with grandparents. Lent could not have come at a better time.  It's the perfect reason to pause amidst the joys and challenges of daily life and stand in wonder of the sacrifice our Savior made.  Reading Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson has been a huge encouragement to both Dan and myself as we seek to keep our hearts where Jesus wants them to be.

Music for a Mother's Heart

There's nothing quite like having my two middle children decide that they'd both have more fun practicing their instruments if they played duets! It is such a blessing to have our home filled with beautiful music created by our budding musicians!

Veggie Girl

Here's a photo of Emmery munching on fresh mushrooms. She often stands in a chair at this counter watching us prep food, and she just loves to nibble away on veggies! Today (while eating some frozen mixed veggies) she declared, "Emmie loves veggies!" Then she proceeded to eat fresh carrots, celery, green pepper, cilantro, and green onion as I chopped those up.

Snow Day

No Upward Basketball today because of the weather. The weather? Oh, the kids thought it was just perfect!!! And Dan was once again Dad-of-the-year right out there with them...building a snowman, hiking along the frozen creek, braving a white-out of snow, discovering an abandoned sled and converting it into a snow mobile or dog sled (depending on your imagination. Good times!

Simple Woman's Daybook 1.24.14

FOR JANUARY 24, 2014

Outside my window...

It is gray and windy...snow is whipping across the fields.

I am thinking...

How good it feels to be sitting here blogging.  I write so many posts in my head, and so few on this blog! :)

I am thankful...

For protection from the elements in this very cold stretch. Our wood furnace is working as hard as it can to keep our house heated in the low to mid 60s!

Calvin and Easton deposited all this wood thru the window (shown), and we're burning it very quickly!

In the kitchen...

An enormous pot of black beans, waiting for me to bag them up and freeze them. My two crockpots have been given a work-out this week - beans & rice, beef stroganoff, soup, lasagne - oh, what would I do without my beloved slow cookers?!

In case you needed help visualizing my 16 quart pot nearly filled with beans!

 

In the school room...

  Comets & meteors, all things fractions, reading a biography of John Adams, listening to Scott Joplin (King of Ragtime), studying Van Gogh, and Calvin and Abigail sculpting clay into fairy tale creatures they are writing about.

I am creating...

Me? Not much.  But Easton? He is the creative mind around here and recently he's been on a kick with all the different creative sets he can make to decorate his bedroom.  Here's the one he put together this afternoon:

I am going...

Possibly to Calvin's first Upward basketball game tomorrow...if it's not cancelled from the expected snow and wind.

I am wondering...

How I could have hurt my back by simply bending over a drawer to get Emmery's crayons out for her?

Emmery sees her big siblings sitting on the couch drawing a lot (they produce all sorts of master pieces while I'm reading aloud to them!) so now she likes to have her own drawing time on the couch too!

I am reading...

Sparkly Green Earrings which is making me laugh out loud. Eat.Move.Sleep which is about exactly those three things! Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (to the kids.)  And Praying God's Word by Beth Moore.

I am looking forward to...

an abundance of fresh vegetables from our garden.  Doesn't that sound good right about now?

I am learning...

about Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) because it may just be present in our family.

Around the house...

Emmery is bouncing in her johnny jump up (yes, i know it's for babies, and she still LOVES it!), Abigail is writing in her journal, and the boys are playing a duet on the piano.

 

I am remembering...

hot weather and ice cream running down faces:

A favorite quote for today...

source

 

One of my favorite things...

The other day when Emmery only had a quick moment with Dan before saying goodbye and she said carefully and deliberately, with a pause between each sentence for emphasis,

"Daddy, please don't leave.

Stay with me.

Don't go anywhere!"

 

 

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

One Head

This morning:
2+ hours
19 braids (rope twists, actually)
80+ beads
4+ movies
4+ servings of raisins
1 bag of Beanitos
And now this:

She loves shaking her head back and forth whenever she has beads in!

She is holding imaginary maracas behind her back, doing one of her Baby Dance moves. She'd already finished eating her bean chips which she considered a perfect follow-up to her breakfast. :)

Simple Celebrating

The boys are still regularly having coughing fits that make me wonder if their brains are about to fall out, but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying the simple pleasures of the season!  Yesterday the girls were matchy-matchy in their Christmas sweatshirts from the grandparents:

In the afternoon I read Christmas stories aloud while the kids made a pomander ball....

...and Easton made Christmas tree poptarts...

...and Calvin & Abigail made a super long Christmas paper chain to hang around our dining room...

And after a morning wrought with frustrations and things not going smoothly or happily, and all of us showing how desperate we are for Immanuel...God with us...sent to rescue and redeems us... it was just what we all needed.  It was absolutely lovely. And I cherished each moment (not of the morning, but of the little "party" we had in the afternoon. :)

Here's Emmery rocking one of her Christmas t-shirts while she hangs out on the rebounder...

...and literally hangs out on it!

Today we were blessed with almost an inch of lovely snow which made it feel so "Christmassy."  Emmery got to play with a bit of snow in the kitchen sink...

...and the big kids enjoyed sledding in our front yard...

...then they came inside and made a gingerbread house (using a kit :)...

...while Emmery played with her pattern blocks...