Our Favorite Trip to Take

by Steph // Tuesday, April 1, 2025 // 2 Comments

Hello bloggy world!!
This has been a LABOR OF LOVE.
Blogging is one of my favorite hobbies, but I am not knowledgeable about all things technology!
And this little ole blog of ours just WOULD NOT LOAD PHOTOS.
Sigh.
Blake watched some You Tube videos and worked on it for many hours.
I can now load photos – but only from my phone….SIGH.
We are going to keep trying though, friends!!
Because I had just gotten back to this blog of ours when it quit working, and was enjoying catching up!!
Here’s hoping we will get it fully working SOON!!
Now onto this post….

I am sure if there is anyone reading this, you already know that we like to travel to visit extended family several times a year.

And that is just what we did the first weekend in November!!

This time, though, my in-laws were here in Wisconsin with us, so we did not travel to see them – they now just live up the road!!

We did stop in Illinois to see Blake’s Mom on this trip!

The weather was BEAUTIFUL for the first weekend of November!

We sat outside at our favorite coffee and scones stop to visit with each other.

Jazzy loved it too!!

Our trip was one night shorter, so we headed on to Indy after our visit in Morton.

We have routines with our travels!!

They work well!!

We got to see my Mom and brother on Saturday morning!!

I always LOVE being there – and my Mom remembered us all!!

My brother and I had a plan because the weather was so crazy warm and sunny.

We headed to Tuttle’s Apple Orchard for the afternoon!

It was VERY fun – but I was only there for one thing – the apple cider slushie!!!

After all that fun, we just hung out at my Mom’s place until it was time to head back to the hotel to sleep.

And then Sunday we had the long drive all the way back to Wisconsin!

I am so far behind on this scrapbook of mine that we have already been back to see my Mom and brother again – just a few weeks ago!!

If I had my way, I would move them and Blake’s Mom here too – they are just too far away!!

Maybe someday all of my dreams about that will come true.

Until then, we will gladly make the trip to visit them!!

It is such a JOY to be together any time that we can.

I already cannot wait until next time!!

Looking Back on October

by Steph // Wednesday, February 5, 2025 // Comments off

The beginning of October brought the day that Tate and Eliza’s Invisalign were ready to be fitted.

Thankfully getting Invisalign is much easier than getting wire braces put on!

Tate and Eliza both needed to have attachments and buttons put on their teeth first.

When called back, Tate went back for his appointment on his own, but I went back with Eliza.

She was super nervous and anxious, but she did SO GREAT!

They have been handling their Invisalign wearing like champs and taking care of it all so well.

October was the month that my in-laws moved to Wisconsin!

Dreams really do come true!!

We worked hard to get their new home ready and then to get them here.

The Lord literally blessed every single thing!!

Yes, that second photo below is Blake and I driving to Illinois in the middle of the night!

It was a literal race against the road crew the day the moving truck arrived at my in-laws new home.

Blake and I met the moving truck on both ends – in Illinois and here in Wisconsin – and got my in-laws house set up a little bit before they made the trip to their new home!

We had to get that huge truck unloaded before the crew putting in all the driveways and the new road reached us!!

It actually got to be super funny and kept us running around quickly!!

Big families are a good thing – we had such a great crew of helpers as we got everything ready!

We are SO glad to have my in-laws here with us!

I will say it again because I mean it –

Dreams really do come true!!

The end of gardening season happened in October.

I cannot wait for spring!!

These first two photos were the evening after we had laid sod in my in-laws new yard on the most freezing cold day of the year!!

It was SO windy and FREEZING cold!!

Then Tate and I drove home fast and used a flashlight to get the rest of the peppers out of the garden before the freeze got them!

Oh my goodness, the wind was whipping, we couldn’t stop shivering and laughing, but we got it done!!

This photo of Tate was taken with a flash which makes it look like it was not dark outside!

Then just like that we had a warm nice day and pulled out the garden and put it to bed for winter!

We did leave the rest of the onions and carrots in the garden that day, but they eventually were harvested and enjoyed!

It was a fun day – I LOVE being outside!!

This trio of ours, Lane, Tate and Eliza, have been SUCH troopers as we got my in-laws moved here and settled.

They are such JOYFUL, enthusiastic children!!

And they have been left at home a lot. A lot.

This is a shout out to our routines, chores, meal plans, stocked freezers and pantries….ALL the things we do to keep this place running smoothly WORKED.

It just kept on running smoothly because they knew what to do to make that happen!

Thankful for that more than words could say here.

It kept them busy, purposeful, and on track with school!

And they really are each other’s BEST of best friends!!

These photos are of Sunday stuff.

I told you about Sunday’s in my September post – Sundays fill my cup SO full!!!

Sundays also wear Jazzy completely out!

Have you all ever seen the northern lights??

We have several times!!

My hubby is the BEST at keeping track of cool opportunities like this!

We stood on our driveway one night watching the lights.

IT WAS SPECTACULAR!!

Even with all of the travel and crazy of October, we still ate!!

Imagine that!

I just downloaded these photos and it seems to me some good stuff came from our kitchen in October!!

Back in July, right before we had our church’s baptisms in our backyard and pool, we did a little refresh on the bathroom downstairs.

Before pictures would sure help you all see why this still makes me smile!!

We literally worked on this until way too late the night before the baptisms – nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Then my twenty-year old son told me the next morning he felt like he was living in Pinterest – ha, ha!

I was thrilled that I found a print with the song The Blessing on it – it is a song from our daughters wedding!

Let me add these photos I took of the lower level family room!

I cannot remember why I took them, but I will be thankful to have them in my little ole scrapbook here!

I have been slowly but surely getting through this home of ours now that colder weather has been upon us.

I do not feel like there is a method to my madness these days – but at least things are being gone through and deep cleaned!

One morning I dug in this front closet for some reason and then this all happened, ha, ha!

I sucked up a few spiders and cobwebs with the vacuum hose, got rid of things that no longer fit these children of mine, and scrubbed the floor in there – it was a good thing in the end!

We still are having our monthly Hymn Sing at our friend’s home once a month!

It is a favorite of ours and we are so thankful it continues on!!

I see Blake and I had another DATE NIGHT in October!!!

I know there cannot be one this weekend because of travel that will be happening – but SOON!

I promise!!

Blake did meet me at the grocery store over his lunch one day last week – and I called it a date!!

It honestly was really good to be together in the middle of a random day!!

Back in October we had a date in town and then watched the sunset over the river.

FAVORITE!!

Here are a few more of my favorite things!!

Besides everything above these words in this post, I mean!!

And these favorites are in no certain order!

Bible time in a dark quiet house, hot coffee with frothed coconut milk, cuddles with Jazzy, sunshine, my hubby, my slippers, playing music through spotify all the day long, chocolate truffles, diffusing essential oils…..

It is a GOOD life here, friends.

You know I love the sky.

It is just SO pretty ALL the time!!

I look at its beauty and think “God did that JUST FOR US!”

I mean He didn’t have to give us a beautiful sky to look at!!!

Goodness, I hope you notice it and thank the Lord for it too!

October – you were good to us!!!

How fun to look back at a month that felt crazy busy and see the blessings at every turn!!

I think that digital scrapbooking might almost be as fun as making scrapbooks with printed photos was all those years ago!!

Next up, November!

Until then….stay tuned!!!

NER Robotics

by Steph // Thursday, January 30, 2025 // Comments off

Our resident want to be engineer (Lane) has been involved in combat robotics for a couple of years now.

Blake is the principal of our home school, but also the permanent substitute teacher for Lane’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) class!

Lane has far surpassed my abilities, just saying!

He is on track to have an impressive High School transcript with hopes to use it for his future studies.

I am not sure when it was that Lane named his robotics team – but the name is NER Robotics – which stands for No Experience Required.

CUTE!

Back at the beginning of October I decided to travel with the children and Blake to the robotics event Lane was competing in.

It was my first time to go along with them.

It was only a couple of hours away and we knew we could just take Jazzy with us!

Lane also had a friend that came along that day – which made it even MORE fun!!

The drive that day was BEAUTIFUL as we were on a road along the river.

And it was a gorgeous day too!

It got SO HOT for the beginning of October as you can see on the temperature guage in the van in the photo below!

I enjoyed seeing what these guys have been traveling to be a part of all these years!

I will say I was shocked when it was Lane’s turn to compete and the competition lasted TWO MINUTES.

What in the world???

All that prep and all that travel for two minutes???

They laughed so much at my shock!!!

He did compete three times that day – so six minutes total!!

The children and I did a lot of hanging out and were very happy to see some food trucks drive into the parking lot!

French fries for everyone – even though I had a cooler of food for lunch and snacks.

We left the competition right after dinner time, but stopped at a Chipotle to get some dinner.

I stayed in the van with Jazzy while they all went in and grabbed some food!

It was a beautiful drive home too.

Lane has another event coming up in a little over a week!

They will actually be traveling back to the same place we were that day back in October.

I will be cheering them on through texts and phone calls this time!!

Lane has learned SO MUCH through his CAD designing and building of these robots and I am so very glad that they do this!

I know that the hands on experience with this over the years will take him MUCH farther than any textbook could!

Very excited to watch the Lord write Lane’s story!

It is so fun to see your children’s interests and personalities emerge as they grow up!!

Here’s hoping Lane has good success at the next competition!!

GPa and NaiNai Camp Out

by Steph // Wednesday, January 29, 2025 // Comments off

Back in the middle of September, right before a weekend that promised beautiful weather, I asked my hubby if we could finally do our annual camp out in the backyard.

Of course he said yes!!

It was then planned for Friday night, which meant that even set up would start in the evening, but I was SO excited!!

I asked David and Kay if we could steal two grandsons for the occasion and of course they said yes too!

We had a random not very well planned meal over the campfire, and then got on with all the FUN!!

The kiddos didn’t care what they ate – they were just so excited to be camping out!

But of course there were smores!

Even in our last minute planning, my hubby SHOWED UP – as he always does – with some FUN.

Glow sticks in abundance provided hours of play for these kiddos!

I can still hear their feet pounding through the grass and their squeals of laughter if I close my eyes for a second!

These are the good things of childhood, are they not??

I can still remember running around my childhood neighborhood playing Ghost in the Graveyard with my friends while all of our parents sat on a patio enjoying each other’s company!

I cannot remember when we finally made everyone get into that tent, but we did, and they fell asleep quickly.

Blake and I had air mattresses under us, but the kiddos just had sleeping bags on the hard ground that was underneath that tent.

Oh to be young again, ha, ha!!

The next morning I snuck inside to get some coffee, clean up a little bit, and start on breakfast while everyone else was still asleep.

Pretty soon there were several hungry children wrapped in blankets running around the yard so we got busy on a HUGE breakfast!

I think one of Blake’s favorite things to do is cook breakfast for a crowd on his Blackstone, and that is just what he did.

After breakfast the guys made a plan to use a piece of equipment that Chad was able to bring home from work.

At first I was a little disappointed that our “camp out” day was going to be spent working, but it ended up being SUCH a fun thing for the children!

We still had the huge pieces of our fallen oak tree in our yard that needed pushed into the brush pile, and also had a birch tree in the front yard that has needed trimmed since the day we moved here.

It was very fun to watch all the work be done and cheer on our guys!!