365Project.2015 | Week 25

Blessed.
I think that's about the best word I could use for summarizing this week.
The Lord has shown Himself strong in so many ways,
and we are thankful for His continued guidance in our lives.

Day 165. A rose bush by our front door is in bloom! Matthew counted 13 blooms later this week!

Day 166. We are so thankful for our big helpers!! We have a small fruit orchard which we finally got trimmed up last weekend. On Monday, Hannah and Peter dragged a huge pile of branches down to the burn pile. Definitely took some team work! :)

 And Matthew was working hard, too, with his trusty Tonka sidekick. :)

Day 167. Our crew loves climbing trees! (Much to Mommy's chagrin at times!!!) I hold my breath and pray and remember that generations upon generations of children have climbed trees and survived. ;)

 And yes, Peter loves being king of his mountain. ;)

 Day 168. Oh my yes. My mobile Abby-girl found the bookshelf. (And a myriad of other things!) :)

 Day 169. A picnic lunch with Daddy made for a fun adventure. Although, getting a crew of six in a single selfie might be the greater adventure. ;)

 Hannah's truck happened to be at the shop ... :)

Day 170. Drum-roll, please! For the first time ever, I found Abby-girl sitting up when I came upstairs to get her Friday morning. :) (She wasn't overly impressed with the delay caused by Mommy sending Hannah to go get the camera to capture the moment, though.) ;)

 The big kids enjoyed spending the night with Nanny & Poppy,

While Mommy and Daddy enjoyed exploring a new running/walking spot :) By the way ... what do you think of our $2 garage sale stroller???? :D So thankful!!

Day 170. The business has been going full-tilt ever since we arrived, but we were glad to be able to squeeze in an evening of food and fellowship at our house with both Nanny and Poppy for the first time since we moved. In honor of Father's Day, Poppy got his favorite dessert ... :)

 After dinner, the boys played softball,

 And the girls played Qwirkle and Spot It. :)

The adults continued our Euchre tournament after the kids went to bed. We won't mention that the ladies won. Quite handily. ;)

Day 171. Happy Father's Day, Daddy!! We love you so very much!!! ♥

 Couldn't resist cropping this sweet smile out of the chaos of the rest of the picture. ;)

And that be our week. Mostly just the normal stuff of life,
punctuated with smiles, love, and a touch of adventure. ♥

365Project.2015 | Week 24

It's official! Abby-girl is crawling! She progressed from scooting backwards on her thighs, to getting up and rocking on her knees, to crawling forward throughout the week! Fun stuff! Let the adventures begin! :)

Day 158. As Abby will testify, moving backwards can lead to some rather awkward situations ...
 ;)

Day 159. It was a good week. Mommy made a concerted effort to spend some more focused time with the kids, and we all had a lot of fun. :) A rousing game of Forbidden Island was one of the first requests. :)

 Hannah was ecstatic to receive a letter from her best friend this week. ♥

 And we were both rather excited to receive our first KnitPicks order! A box of lovely, yarny goodness!!! :)

Unfortunately, Mommy should have watched the video instructing her on how to properly handle a hank of yarn before attempting to do so. Ugh. Epic. Fail. So thankful for my hubby who gave up over an hour of time helping me untangle it.

 

Day 160. Chris left early Tuesday morning for a brief business trip. A full dishwasher was a huge reminder of his absence. I am blessed with a husband who unloads it for me every. single. morning. It's a "small" thing, but it's a huge help for me in my daily routine. So thankful.

 Special activities today continued with some Lego enterprises for the boys ...

 Yarn on the needles for Hannah ...

 And yarn on the hook for Mommy (with her yarn now nicely tamed into a ball ...) :)

 Day 161. So. So. Close. !!!

Day 162. Peter got a new Lego remote control this week and had fun sharing the experience with Abby.

She was suitably impressed. :)

 Hannah was very excited to learn how to sew this week! :)

 A drawstring bag to hold her new knitting project is in the works!

 #heartmelt

Day 163. We loved celebrating Nanny's birthday with her!! ♥ (Poppy left that morning for another business trip ... happily, he left Daddy home this time.) ;)

 ♥

 And it's official! Abby crawled forward for the first time on her knees on Nanny's birthday. :)

Day 164. And while Abby learns to crawl, Mommy is learning to run. I successfully completed Day 1 of Couch to 5K ... :)

My DIY Flipbelt seems like a really good alternative to carrying my phone in my hand. The fact that it was free and took less than ten minutes to make didn't hurt my feelings either. ;) And for my Grandpa, who I'm sure will be wondering why on earth I need my phone to go running ... I have an app on my phone that tells me how long to run and how long to walk. As I progress through the Couch to 5K program, I'll slowly increase my running times and decrease my walking times. :)

 

And somebody was very pleased with herself for finding the Norwex cloth and ...

 Figuring out how to use it! :) We start them young around here! ;) LOL! :) Just kidding. :)

And such be our days. :)
Thanks for visiting! :)

365Project.2015 | Week 23

It's a blessing to be settling into a routine. We've sufficiently progressed through the unpacking phase to have things very functional. :) The "feathering of the nest" is most definitely a work in progress, but it will come. 

Day 152. The kids enjoyed quite the ride over to Nanny & Poppy's house Monday evening ... it just might have been even better than the pizza dinner. :) (And yes, we're officially working on the making the switch from Grandma and Grandpa to Nanny and Poppy.) ;)

Day 153. It's official. The plates are switched. :) Chris also passed his CDL permit test! Thanks for praying!

The boys are enjoying having a place to spread out with their creations. Mommy and Daddy enjoy not having to wade through the piles every night before bed. ;)

 Day 154. Miss Abby is still working on crawling ...

 Day 155. So. Close.

Day 156.We love being near family, and we enjoyed a great visit with Jenny's grandparents this Friday! So thankful. This was the first time they had been able to meet Abby. ♥

 Grandma had fun teaching the big kids how to make ornaments from fabric scraps and styrofoam balls. :)

 So thankful for a really special visit! ♥

Then we had more fun that evening ... the big kids enjoyed spending time with Nanny and Poppy while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a date night. :)

 We managed to pick a very. nice. restaurant. :)

 And afterwards enjoyed walking around the canal.

We even had the privilege of seeing the inner workings of the lock when a canal worker decided to interrupt the monotony of his quiet evening with some conversation. :) We were shocked to learn that the gates, the lock itself, and the engine/gears/levers are still original 1910 equipment!

Day 157. I truly am a blessed momma. Peter surprised me Saturday afternoon with this bouquet gathered from around our yard.

 And my hubby figured out a very creative solution for stacking our "non-stackable" dryer on our washer. :)

 

 

And such be our days. :) Thanks for visiting. :)