So Long August

Hhheeelllooooo!!!!

Yes, I am aware that we just said so long to September in real life, but I’m a smidge behind, ahem.

I do have a good excuse reason!

I had surgery on my left hand/wrist three weeks ago today, which has given me limited use of my hand.

All is well though!

And I am typing with two hands, praise the Lord!

So, let me get our memories from August in our little scrapbook!

Most of August our dryer was still broken, and we were spending time each week at the laundry mat drying our clothes.

In the middle of August, Blake bought a new washer and dryer for us!

I might have been in the store with him convincing him to not spend too much on them – saying we did not need the bells and whistles and all.

Little did I know that the cheap ones don’t even have a light that comes on inside the washer and dryer when you open their doors!

It’s all good, though.

We are washing and drying all things at home now and I am so thankful for that!

Carrying all that wet laundry up town to dry it and then carrying it all back home to fold it was a big job!

Even though we fought Japanese beetles our gardens did so beautifully and were a JOY to us!

Especially the cut flowers we grew!

I am sure we will choose to do that again!

Speaking of those Japanese beetles…this is what everything they touched looked like.

Our cucumbers did SO amazing this year!

My favorite thing was to just pick things from the garden and eat them right then!

Having green smoothies with some kale from the garden is a favorite too!

We also put up things for the winter.

I shredded all of the zucchini to use later.

Zucchini, green peppers, and jalapeƱo peppers are my favorite things to put in the freezer from the garden.

Our landscape in front of our home was beautiful too.

I’m so thankful for how pretty it looked all spring, summer and even now!

You know we ate in August, don’t you?

It was cool enough to bring in some of our fall like meals – soup and roasted chicken!

I am super hungry now after looking at these photos!

We fought a bit of sniffles back in August.

I am so thankful because it didn’t last but a day or two and wasn’t that bad!!

God blessed our efforts for sure and I just praise Him for it!!

School continued on, and continues on!

We are really enjoying school!!!

Is there anything better than walking into the kitchen and looking over to see your sweet girl praying during her Bible time?

Lane is still building all kinds of cool things in his STEM class!

It’s during the kids table school work that I do all kinds of things while being completely available to help them too.

One day I put little nuggets all over the house – here are a few of them!

One day, after Grant moved to his house, we did school at his place so we could let the internet guy in to get Grant’s internet hooked up.

We LOVE being there, of course!!

I took a photo of the dining room light they had just hung that week, and Grant’s new (to him!) dining room table that his big sis Kayla had found him on marketplace!

Speaking of Grant’s place – Chad moved in with him at the end of August!

YES – I cried my eyes out – while standing in our walk-in closet – which is where Chad found me when he came to say good-bye that Saturday night after he had all of his stuffed moved down there.

Man oh man did I cry.

But – we are THRILLED that our boys are sharing this season of life together – we are always better together!!

This is the only photo I have of Chad for this post, which is really a photo of Ruby, but I will put it in here for good measure and all, ha, ha.

I miss those boys of mine SO much!!

Our days are ALWAYS better when there are our GRANDBABIES in them!!

This first photo is how you know you had a WONDERFUL Sunday with your grandbabies!!

Kay’s got new wheels too – and we were thrilled when they came to show us!

My favorite is when they pop in and stay for lunch – IT IS JUST ALL SO FUN!!!

Other happenings in August – our annual church baptisms took place in our pool.

My heart about explodes every year as we listen to the testimonies and watch the sweetest people publicly profess their faith!

I also did the HUGE job of the big clothes switcheroo.

Growing children means they have to try on all of their warmer clothes for fall and winter.

Then we have to make a list of all the needs and shop for them.

Then we sell all of the things we no longer need at a second hand store.

Glad that job is done for another season!

We got outside every chance we could in August – the weather here has just been incredible!

I cannot get over how creative our Lord is, can you!?

I mean, just look at this guy!!!

No, I did not touch him!

We had a cooler and rainy summer, but many gorgeous days too.

I know we will be longing for days like these come March!!

On that note….August brought us some of the most BEAUTIFUL skies.

Hi!!

I’m the lady who loves the sky!!

I just don’t understand how anyone could look at it and not see God’s hand there.

Oh my, I have a lot of photos of the sky in August.

Please look at them, though!

They are each unique, God’s handiwork, and declare His glory!!

And there went August!!

It seems like FOREVER ago already and yet just yesterday too.

Life is FULL and AMAZING and CHALLENGING and WONDERFUL and BLESSED and sometimes PAINFUL (hello, left hand).

Couldn’t be more thankful for it all – because I trust the Lord I love with ALL of it.

His ways are higher than mine!!

His ways are BEST!!

And I sure hope I can bring glory to His name for whatever ways He chooses for me.

Happy October and fall, friends!!

Hoping to keep catching up here – all of September memories are up next!!

Happy Birthday Grant Evan and Addison Mae!!!

At the end of August we had the privilege of celebrating Grant and Addie’s birthdays!

They were born 364 days apart, and have shared their birthday parties their whole lives!

Thank you two for this photo – I love it!

I asked Addie what she would like us to do for their birthdays and she wanted to stick with tradition – so that’s what we did!

We love traditions.

And good food.

And Sundays with our favorites.

So it was perfect!

I made a huge spread of chicken tacos with all the fixings and it was perfectly yummy too.

There were gifts!!

The BEST part about birthdays is getting gifts for the ones you love!

There was cake!

I actually made the cake, but Addie did her magic to make it beautiful!

And she made some grain-free cupcakes so we were sure to have enough dessert to go around.

Once again I wish I had more photos!

Which means I was not thinking of you all as we were celebrating that day.

So sorry, but I think it is good to be present instead of always behind a camera, don’t you?

It was a GREAT celebration!!

How I enjoy gathering around good food with our family on Sundays.

Adding birthdays to that weekly occurrence makes it more special!

Grant Evan and Addison Mae – you bring so much joy, laughter, and life to our lives and we are SO thankful for you both!!

May this next year be a year of growing closer to the Lord as you live out this next season of life!

Happy, happy birthday to you both!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Family Nights in August

Our Thursday family nights have continued and I LOVE THEM!

It’s not at all about what we do, it’s just about that intentional time we are spending together, focused on each other, and making some awesome memories while doing so!

Our first August family night was planned by Chad.

We went to a local park, literally five minutes away, and played a round of disc golf.

It was a BLAST!

I am not good at disc golf, but I had the best time trying to learn it and improve this skill!

After we finished our game we came home and had homemade ice cream.

It was yummy!!

Our second August family night was planned by Lane.

We had the most hilarious spelling bee!!

We laughed so much my face hurt the next morning!

Of course there was dessert – cake – which I forgot to get a photo of.

Our third August family night was planned by Grant.

He blessed my heart SO much!

I had not even reminded him that it would be his turn, and he called me first thing that Monday morning to say that he had already reserved two lanes at our local bowling alley!

What a great idea for a family night!!

We even had a gift certificate to use there!

Unfortunately, Lane was getting sick that day and had a fever, so he and I stayed at home.

But everyone else had a great time!!

Our last family night of August was planned by Blake.

I received a text that day with about fifteen options on it, ha, ha!

I quickly replied – “you are supposed to plan it, not me!!”

He did a great job and we headed out after dinner to do a scavenger hunt in town!

We split in two teams and set a time to meet back at our cars.

I do not have any photos of the other team because as soon as we were handed that list I took off running and yelled at told my team to follow me!

I have heard that the lady behind the camera is a little competitive, ahem.

Tate’s team ultimately won the hunt though!

Afterward we headed back home and had root beer floats provided by my awesome husband!

Family night has been a wonderful thing.

Intentional.

But simple.

It would be SO easy to race through this life not being intentional about ANYTHING.

We don’t want life to consume us!!

Relationships can be pushed aside in today’s world of busyness, social media, and trying to keep up with expectations that should not even be a part of your life.

I am prayerful and hopeful that our family night will stick around!

In some form or another!

It’s still going strong as I type this, because today is Thursday and I know our plans for this evening!

Here’s to another awesome evening together making memories that will last!

Memories made and now memories kept!

Happy Thursday, friends!

Team Tate and Eliza Back to UW Madison

On Tuesday, August 16th (the day after we had started school), we headed to UW Madison for appointments for Tate and Eliza!

Team Tate and Eliza included Blake, myself, and Lane.

It was a beautiful day and we had a beautiful drive.

Blake and Lane dropped Tate, Eliza and I at the Children’s Hospital to head to their first appointments.

We were told in our appointment reminder e-mail that no siblings of the patients were allowed in the building.

Blake and Lane headed to the Co-op to get lunch for all of us to enjoy after our first appointments were finished.

First up for Tate and Eliza were renal ultrasounds to check on their bladders and kidneys.

We call this “jelly on the belly”, ha, ha!

They did PERFECTLY because they have had several dozen of these ultrasounds over the years and are old pros by now.

I asked about Blake and Lane coming in the building while we were at those appointments and they told me it was fine for them to join us.

I figured as much because the place looked like a ghost town.

We went out to the main lobby and waited for the guys to return so we could eat lunch before their next appointment!

Since we still had some time to kill, Tate and Eliza played the piano for us.

Soon it was time to see the urologist.

We were not expecting any surprises at this appointment – but remember, we must go with open minds and prayerful hearts – which is what we did!

Thankfully everything looked perfect and stable for both Tate and Eliza and we do not need to see the urologist for another year.

The sad news of the day was that Dr. Ann (as we call her) is retiring and we won’t see her next year!

We were glad to get to see her this one last time and wish her well!

After we were done at the hospital we headed to Costco to stock up on some grocery for ourselves and for Kayla!

Glad we had such great helpers with us!!

Afterward, we all grabbed a Starbucks for the road and enjoyed the long drive home sipping coffee.

It ended up being a GREAT day!

I was thankful to have my guys with us, as that was not the original plan!

Also thankful to check another appointment off of our list!!

We are grateful for the care Tate and Eliza receive – now more than ever.

Praise the Lord with us for a stable report times two from the urologist!!