And with our angels...

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

The end of March.... we finally made it!

Tomorrow is April Fool's Day and while I normally love to celebrate this holiday, I'm kind of deciding in my mind this year, the April fool's joke was that March 2020 was the longest month in the history of the world!

But we made it through and while today was a bit tough... everyone is getting tired of this groundhog's day life, we are thankful for our health, grateful for those on the front lines and determined to do what we can to help lower the curve... we are staying home.

We go outside for 2 walks a day... 2 laps around the block and then back inside.

The kids are wound up like a spring, and we make them exercise but they are desperately missing their normal routines, and with the announcement they won't get to see their friends for who knows how long, everyone was kind of in grumpy camp today, especially mom.

Hope you made it through the day.

Until next time,
Angie

Monday, March 30, 2020

Living her best life...

While the big kids seem to be missing their friends so much and have decided Mom School is for the birds, Madelyn seems happy no matter what. She likes to go to school but pretty much she's happy no matter what. She is so easy going, cheery and loves to play.

So with the orders to stay home and play a lot more than we normally get to, Madelyn is living her best life. She dresses up as Elsa everyday, and at night she transforms into her Elsa pajamas, with her cowgirl hat and her high heels. She then tucks them under her bed at night so that when she wakes up in the morning she can resume her Elsa duties.

I have so many videos of Maddie loving life these last few weeks, I could fill up all the data in my phone....

Here are a few videos to capture some of the fun she's been having...

Today she was Cowgirl-Elsa-Fairy-Queen... and here she is testing the strength of her wings to fly.

She insists on wearing a dress everyday. This dress she had gotten chocolate on and I told her I was going to have to wash it. A few minutes later, after insisting she didn't have to take it off, she came in to tell me she had solved the problem herself.

One project I had the kids do for Mom School was to make a news broadcast. Madelyn served to introduce the newscast and she happened to forget what her name was.

And then there's the fun she has with Jennings. He loves to play with her and she loves to play with him. Just hearing their giggles makes my heart so happy.

Yes these days of staying home are kind of challenging but I am reminded to be so thankful for this time.

Until next time,

Angie

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Stay at Home... Stay away Corona Virus

These are some of the most interesting days of my life thus far. Never would I have imagined even at the beginning of this month that we would be sitting home here now for several weeks and that the news playing on our TV's each day would be so sad. I could go on and on and on as this really has consumed me for the last few months, but because I'm short on time (school is so time consuming, along with having the kids home all day everyday), but it feels like it has been a year since I've gotten on here and wanted to write....

Home quarantine is going I would say well. I actually LOVE the idea of having to wake up and not go anywhere. My introvert personality feels quite comfy at home. Everyone is getting used to being all together, all the time and while we do get on each others nerves and I think everyone will someday enjoy getting back to their normal routines, for the most part I would say everyone has been enjoying it. ( Well, except Jack... he's gotten used to his quiet (peaceful) days when he's the only one home. He's been sleeping in my closet most days, I think wishing we would leave.

Here are a few photos of just some of the many things we've been doing each day!

We decorated the drive with inspiring messages!

We have daily "mom school" which the kids think is for the birds! They can't wait to see their teachers again!

Madelyn loves the activities but she misses her class too and keeps asking me "Is today the day I get to go to school" She knows about the "corona" and that we have to wash our hands ALL the time, but she doesn't understand why that means she can't play with her neighbor friend Connor or go to school

There has been LOTS of playtime, LOTS of dress up and LOTS of Frozen play!

Speaking of play... the house is kind of destroyed... this was one fort pillow! 47 pillows went into the making of this "fun" I've started instituting 15 minute pick ups throughout the day, so that at the end of the day the house doesn't seem like 7 people are living here 24 hours everyday!

We also build exercise into our daily schedules, well because the kids have A TON of energy and they need to get it out! The girls do yoga or PE online each day and the boys created a home gym.

This morning I made them run with me, they thought it was going to be easy because well mom your old and out of shape... turns out one quit before we were even 5 minutes in and the other one only stuck it out because he was determined to earn video game time. I might be old and out of shape but I can still hold my own with them!

How do you like those milk jug bar bells? Pretty resourceful if I do say.

And then there's this little guy who is growing and changing daily. He's an expert crawler... He pulls himself up on everything and loves his walker (man can he go)! I feel like he's so big and it makes me sad to think my baby is getting so so so big!

He's a big helper for mom when I'm working!

He's also wiped out... the house is definitely not conducive to having quiet naps!

We hope everyone stays safe and healthy. This is definitely not something to take lightly and when they are telling us to stay home, please do so. Your health and that of your family's is worth more than any money can buy.

Until next time,
Angie

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Isabelle is 8!

This past Friday we celebrated Isabelle turning 8! I can hardly believe she is already 8... I still think she should be 5 at most. Time seems to slip through our fingers and so we give thanks that we've been blessed to have 8 wonderful years with her.

8 years ago our lives changed with a single phone call. I'll never forget hanging up the phone after learning our dream of having a little girl was coming true. That night when we arrived at the hospital to meet this precious baby girl, we had no idea how wonderful she was going to make our lives. Her smile, her genuine love for others, her kind spirit and her joy radiate through her everyday.

We are so proud of the person she is becoming and we love her more than she will ever know.

Happy birthday beautiful Belle! Dad and I are truly honored to be your parents. Our wish for you is that you always believe in yourself, find confidence to achieve all of your dreams and know we will always be there to cheer you on.

All of our love always Belle....

Happy Birthday Beautiful!

love,
Mom and Dad

Family Photos...

When Jennings was just a month and a half old we had our family pictures taken. It was quite an experience and realizing now we are a family of 7 takes quite a few attempts to get a good picture.

I'm just thankful that they are halfway decent. :-)

I have a feeling next time we have these taken the two little ones will seem so much bigger.

Until next time,
Angie

Monday, February 3, 2020

Family fun and Wedding Rehearsal

In early January our family from Iowa came to Arizona to celebrate Alicia and Rhett's wedding. It was so fun to see our family and even meet some of the newest members Ronix, my nephew is now over a year and we didn't get to meet him until this trip. Here are some of the fun photos that captured the memories made.

Willa and Madelyn shouting at Grandpa Chip.

Ronix helping Jennings learn how to do a push up correctly. :-)

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids! Quite the crew!

We went to the zoo to see zoo lights. It was really fun, although Mason was disappointed he couldn't see the animals when it was dark!

Jennings was all snuggled in tight as it was cold!

Family pictures in front of the huge xmas tree, even though Christmas was over, it was so fun!

The whole group!

MaeLyn and Aaron and Ronix

Before Grandpa had to go home we had to snap a few photos.

Saying goodbye is always for the birds. We miss our family in Iowa so much!

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids!

Even mom got in one of the pictures!

The guys shot below.

Here's a photo of our extended family who came all in for the wedding! It was so fun to see so many of them!!!! And this isn't even the entire family... there are several more that wern't able to make it.

One night while Grandma was still here, we went to watch Michael with his new sport of BMX bike racing. Jennings was all smiles getting cuddle time with Grandma.

It was Michael's first time racing and he ended up getting third place. He was so excited!

Because I have so many pictures, these are out of order.

Here is the first moment Jennings got to meet his next oldest cousin, Ronix.

Jennings thought he should eat Ronix's hand to say hello!

Ronix wasn't so sure about it as you can see by his face!

Then uncle Aaron got to hold both boys.

Having the cousins all together to play was fun!

The girls were trying to help Ronix walk.

There were coloring moments.

and resting moments....

hugging moments...

checking out grandpa's pocket supplies moments...

lots of smiling moments...

and then it was time to get ready for the wedding moments.

Rehearsal...

Madelyn was the flower girl in the wedding and the boys were ushers, and Jarrett the officiant so we all went to the rehearsal. Here are some photos from the fun the practice session was!