It’s Always Summer Here!

Even though the weather in May was up and down, the greenhouses we visited for our garden and our front porch were a refreshing taste of summer time!

Addie Mae was always the one in the past who cared for our landscape, flower pots, and hanging baskets outside the front of our home.

She was a welcome addition to our shopping trip to get flowers for our front porch!

The greenhouse at Valley Market in Coon Valley was beautiful and made it very hard to limit our choices!

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I gave Eliza my phone while we shopped and she had some fun taking photos!

She has quite the eye for photography.

She is very creative, though, so it does not surprise me!

Everything was so colorful!

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I had a friend who works there take our photo.

I sweet treasured memory!

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We did a good job getting what we needed!

The front porch looks so beautiful now that all of the plants have finally gotten so full.

I was smart and put Blake in charge of the front of the house this year!

He worked at a greenhouse in high school and still has a green thumb!

We get lots of compliments about how pretty it is out there – so now he is stuck with that job forever!

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May seems like a lifetime ago already, and we are loving some hot summer weather now!

I am hanging on tight!

These warm, beautiful days are what we have been waiting for!!

Our plants, flowers, and gardens are thriving without the need of a greenhouse now!!

Let’s Do This Day

I wake up every single morning with a full day ahead…..

I am still raising children, homeschooling, running a busy home, and feeding a table full of hungry people three times a day!

There is so much I could share about living this “same” season of life going on 40 years now – but I think the thing that sets any Mom or homemaker up for success is their attitude.

How do you have a good attitude – and attitude of gratitude?

It comes more naturally for some than others, but it takes intention either way!

THIS is why the first thing I do every morning (since I was a very young wife and mother!) is spend time in God’s Word, prayer and journaling.

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This is why I take a long walk outside every morning seven months of the year.

This is why I go to Pilates and work on strength training with my trainer.

This is why I drink water, take supplements, and eat the best I can each day.

This is why I work hard on my thought life, memorizing scripture, and putting only the best things before my eyes and into my ears.

This is why I go to bed at the same time each evening with few exceptions and get a good night sleep.

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That all sounds intentional, doesn’t it?

It is! It can feel like work at first!

But then it becomes second nature.

And the benefits of those intentions are SO WORTH IT!

When you take care of yourself in these ways, it is so much easier to tackle a day, because your mind and body are healthier.

Do I still walk into the laundry room, see the heaping mess, and want to sigh and grumble??

Yes. But I very quickly say outloud to myself, “Be thankful that you have this beautiful family in your life and you GET to do their laundry.”

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Do I then walk into the garage to head out on my walk and trip over alllllll the shoes and want to complain?

YES! But I say outloud to myself, “I am SO thankful that You, Lord, have allowed my hubby to provide for us that we can afford every pair of shoes that we need.”

Usually by the time I have talked to myself the second time, my heart is turned back to gratitude!!

Some days I don’t have to give myself a talking to at all!

Some days I have to do it all day long!

Ok, I will get off my soap box now, and share how we “do this day.”

A local girlfriend and I text each other often in the early mornings and we spur each other on to “just do today.”

Most of my days when we are home start in the kitchen.

Our “away from home” activities are in the afternoons most often.

Feeding my crew, especially with our food sensitivities, takes first priority most days because there is not another option.

I LOVE running our kitchen, and I never have to talk to myself about that!!

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I also spend time during my days here at home directing the children.

They are VERY good at knowing their tasks for each day, though, and doing their day too!

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Sometimes our days have appointments.

Some appointments are NOT fun, so I stop at a fun library on the way to help calm both my and Eliza’s nervous system.

Not always a day we would rather “do!”

Thankfully everything went so well and recovery did too!!

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Some days have very fun things to do!

Like the morning Eliza’s new chicks arrived.

Blake was so kind to be late to work to help us get them settled!

Eliza loves animals and her hens are no exception!

They are SO CUTE at this stage!!

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Some days don’t lack emotion!

We cheered Lane on as he took a new full time job, that is a literal “God is so cool” thing, but is keeping him away from home ten plus hours a day.

I miss that guy!!

But we are so thankful for the path he is on!!

Nothing better than having front row seats to your children growing in to adulthood!!

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My summer days are filled with purging, organizing, and deep cleaning projects that just don’t happen when I am teaching school through the winter months.

One project kept me in the basement for an entire morning as I did all those things in our storage room.

It is amazing what you find and didn’t even know you had until you rip everything apart!!

These photos were my reminder on my phone to get another grey tote like the one here for all of Blake’s cleaning things that float around on the top of our extra fridge.

I also scrubbed out that fridge!!

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Many days in May I did have to talk to myself about the weather.

Goodness it was crazy cold!!

My walks in the morning had me bundled up in winter clothes – but we do live in Wisconsin after all!!

We had frost several mornings too.

All of Tate’s precious garden plants lived in our basement greenhouse for a long time.

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There are so many opportunities to choose gratitude as I live out this beautiful calling the Lord has allowed for my life!

Did you know I was voted “most like Mom” my senior year of High School?

I don’t think it was meant as a compliment, ha, ha!!

But it truly was (and is!) my dream!!

I am living my dream come true.

Now that is something I should start telling myself everyday!!

Here’s to another “just do today” as I tackle all that is before me on this day.

Go get ’em, mamas!!

We have got this!!!

Hey May!!

We started May in Illinois and Indy – making our favorite trip visiting some very favorite people.

We just had Tate and Eliza with us this time – and, of course, Jazzy!

This is how things will be more than not now, I think!!

They are good travel buddies!

I try to make use of the endless hours (while Blake is driving) on these trips, but honestly I don’t last long with that!

We do have traveling down to a smooth rhythm, which is very nice.

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Our first stop was at Blake’s Mom’s house where we hung out for the afternoon in the backyard on a chilly but beautiful day.

Jazzy loved all the running around she got to do!!

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After that we were on to Indy!

We ate snacks once we got to our hotel.

The next morning it was time to see my Mom, and my brother too!

It was the most beautiful day!!

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Spending time at my Moms’ with her and my brother is always the most precious sweet time.

We enjoy endless conversations with Mike, good food, and get a chance to be a part of their world for a short time.

I might have said it before, but the reason these trips are so short is so we can do them multiple times a year instead of staying a whole week at once and using up all of Blake’s vacation time from work with just one trip.

I am glad we do it this way!

But it is still always hard to have it end so soon and have to say “until next time.”

We love to take walks around their beautiful community!

It was chilly, but warm enough.

Blake brought Tate and Eliza’s scooters along and they really enjoyed riding them while we walked.

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Of course there was good food!!

My brother is an AMAZING host!

He made frogmore stew because it is a tradition he has with the kids.

I love it ALL so much!!

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Sunday morning we headed back to Wisconsin.

The drive is long, but oh so worth it!

Jazzy has gotten pretty used to traveling with us!

We also have our normal stops along the way.

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Thankful for another safe and wonderful trip!!

My brother will be coming our way soon this time – for Chad and Kailey’s wedding!

Then we have another trip like this one planned in October.

I can’t wait to see my Mom again!!

Thankful for each visit and the memories made!!

Does Spring Arrive in April?

Well, after two posts recently about the crazy weather in April, I had to think about what happened the rest of the month!

I do know that I started walking outside early every morning again on April 11th and I was still wearing winter gear for quite some time to be able to do so.

The daylight would start to appear right around 6:30 a.m.

Now I walk sometimes as early as 5:00 a.m. – as we have daylight already by then!

I know it won’t last!!

I have only missed one handful of morning walks since that cold day in April.

My walks are fast paced, long, full of prayer time and also some messaging with a best friend!

But most of all, my walks are all about being underneath these BEAUTIFUL skies.

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Days here for me are all about taking care of our home, making food, buying food, caring for my in-laws, making food, doing all the things my two besties participate in, and making food.

Emphasis on the fact that I have two full-time besties and make A LOT of food, ha, ha!

I make a lot of sourdough based baked goods.

Just look at how beautiful my sourdough was!!

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Then I got a new 25 pound bag of organic brown rice flour from Azure Standard.

I did not notice it was full of bugs until AFTER I fed that beautiful sourdough starter.

As Tate would say, “BARF!!”

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Thankfully Kayla was kind enough to give me a baby from her sourdough starter.

They call it Bertha.

So say hello to baby Bertha.

It came with a cute red checked cover!!

Thanks, Kay, I love it!

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Our food choices started to shift a bit in April to more salads and fresh produce.

I still bake though!

Blake says I bake like it’s a sport.

Well, Ok, maybe – but they eat it ALL!

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My two besties help me constantly!

They can run this house and kitchen better than I can most days.

They also push me to make very fun and sometimes challenging things that are always delicious!

After they made these corn tortillas for the first time, I surprised them and bought a tortilla press.

It works so well and makes much thinner and rounder tortillas.

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Tate and I pulled all of the tomatoes we froze from the garden last fall out of the freezer in April and canned some barbeque sauce.

It is delcious, but a little too runny – so we need to work on that!

They love it though and we are using it fast!

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Eliza took on a 2010 unfinished scrapbook project for me – bless her!!

She is very creative and loves to craft, so it was a win for me and for her.

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Tate continued to work on the gardens in April.

He also bought a lemon tree!

We named it LuLu the Lemon Tree and we would play “where’s LuLu?” every morning when Tate would carry it outside to harden it off.

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Well, seeing those photos tells me it was warm here and there in April!

We started mowing the land and Blake taught Tate how to push mow the front.

We enjoy being outside so much – especially on Sundays when it’s Family Day!

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Speaking of the fam bam – yes, we still do Family Day on Sundays!

I host lunch and we all hang out and have snacks for dinner.

IT IS THE BEST DAY OF THE WEEK!!

Kayla did some hemming for me one Sunday which drew quite a crowd.

Then Eilza was instantly wanting to learn how to sew!

Kayla had her over soon after that to teach her how!

We also stole some grandchildren one evening to take them to a play.

It was super fun and we had ice cream aftewards!

Then we returned them to their parents way past their bedtime and full of sugar – just like all good grandparents do, right??

Big families are THE BEST!!

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Jazzy is such a big part of our days.

Did you know that Blake and I have always had a dog since our first wedding anniversary except for one year before we moved to Wisconsin?

I guess once you are dog people, you are always dog people!

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Blake still travels with work now and again.

Don’t ask me how I feel about that, how well I sleep, or any of it, ha, ha!

But when he is gone the children and I will eat a very chill easy dinner and usually find a good movie to watch.

We watched the first and second I Can Only Imagine movies and they were SO good.

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This is what someone who hugs the insides of trucks all day looks like.

He does his own laundry, thank you very much!

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Blake and I try to have a date night every Friday night.

It hardly ever works out, but we keep trying!!

Usually I have to drive to town so that our date doesn’t start after everything is already closed – and then I follow Blake home.

That part it not the best, but it is so nice to be together and having a chance to talk!

We also eat out and watch the sunset over the river – sometimes at the same time.

I LOVE date night.

We need to make them work out more often!!

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Just a few more April memories!!

Follow the numbers across each row.

  1. We had some lost dogs visit us, but we found their owner!

Eliza, of course, wanted to keep them – they were SO sweet and SO friendly!

2. I got new glasses.

I love being able to see.

3. There must have been a lot of wind one day, because our grills are not supposed to be at this end of the deck.

4. We still work on Bible memory together!

These kiddos have so much scripture tucked deep into their minds and hearts!

5. I had my tongue tie released, four buckle ties released, and my upper and lower lip ties released.

SO much I could say about ALL that!!

Lots of long months of therapies and hard work and pain – but it was worth it!

As everything hard usually is!

My new water bottle makes me use my tongue in the right way – it is all so fascinating!!

6. I love this treat I found – dates and chocolate – that’s all I have to say about that!

7. Took a photo of the clean “mud room” portion of our garage because that is a HUGE job I do about three times a year.

8 and 9. We had a meal together at my in-laws, and I provided cinnamon rolls and grilled chicken that Blake made for us – IT WAS SO GOOD!

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So long April!!

On to May!!

I want one of those chocolate dates and some grilled chicken though first!!

Hope you all are having a great week friends!!

I can’t wait to tell you all about TODAY!!!

I better get this little ole blog of mine caught up so I can do that!