January 2020 in Review

Another month has flown right on by. I had about 5 posts I wanted to do this month and didn't get to, sooo... this month recap will be another long one. I know not many will sit through all of this but I do pray that one day at least one of my kids will take the time to look through my documentation of their life. Or maybe it will be me, in my old age, looking through these cherished memories and crying like a baby thinking hard about how fast time goes.

Your guess is as good at mine.

But, let's get on with this, shall we?

Let's start with this one. The one picture that makes me want to freeze time and my feelings:

Holding hands with my babies. This is where it's at. Life is so good in these moments.

I am so blessed that all 3 of my children will still hold my hand but the window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller as they are getting older. Life is too busy for them to stop and hold their mama's hand. So I'm thankful when I do get the chance. And I dread the day the hand holding stops all together.

But, back to this month. There was so much outside time, playing in the snow! The kids even built a snow cave and then turned it into a tunnel in the back yard.

Winters here can get cold and long but we love us some good outside time in any weather. We have been loving sledding and fort building but are starting to look forward to laying out in the sun in the middle of summer!

When we can't get outside, we are found inside crafting and creating and spending lots of time together.

Payton even created her own doll after learning about the past ways of living at school (and she's listened to all of the little house on the prairie books)

And the boys know how to throw a good tea party while Payton is at school!

We took a few trips this month. The first was to get some more answers on our sweet little Jayden. He had doctors appointments so we made a trip out of it and got away for a few days. Payton was so excited to get out of school and get a break from life.

 We went swimming and shopping at the mall and got some of our favorite restaurant foods. I marveled at how much my kids are maturing. But the spotlight was really on this guy:

We learned that he has a milk and peanut allergy and are now changing our diet to accommodate his needs.

I packed so much food that we ran out of quickly on this trip so I need to pack even more next time.

 While on our trip we let the kids pick out new outfits for their bears and doll:

I have started adjusting to our milk and peanut allergy and am labeling everything in our house our child can't have:

So far, the transition, which started out as very overwhelming, hasn't been so bad. We were mostly eating foods Jayden could have but had to swap out the milk products. It's just a learning curve!

Payton and I decided to leave town one weekend and go see my family. We hadn't been back in so long. It was a quick trip but so, so fun!

These are all pictures with my grandmother. I love her so much. It's hard to think about how each time I see her, this could be the last time I get to say goodbye and hug her. We helped her clean out a closet of hers on this trip as she starts to prepare for transitioning to an assisted living facility (at some point down the road). I wish I lived in my hometown. Our visits home are so bittersweet.

Payton also got an updated bedroom! She is totally loving not having the washer and dryer in her room any more and a fully functional room for herself.

The weather warmed up towards the end of the month and the kids were able to get out without all the winter gear and start to learn to climb trees.

Payton even got herself stuck the other day and Monte had to come save her! She went a little too high!

Some very big news at our house is that we sold one of our rental houses, which happens to be our first home we had together. We spent our last night before closing at this house as a family. Oh, if these walls could talk.

Another moment that has been bittersweet. When we lived in this house we had no idea where life would take us. I can't believe how much has changed and how far has come. Monte and I started at this house with our two puppies. We had to say goodbye to Wes (one of our beloved dogs) in December. I wish he could have said goodbye to this house with us.

One day, Payton came home from school asking to make stone soup, a recipe she got from the school librarian. We let her do just that! It was great!

I personally got so much 1 on 1 time with each of my kids and I am ever so thankful for that. Quality time is my love language and I have soaked up every second I could with each of my children.

 Both big kids got outings out and both wanted the same thing: a treat with a park stop.

We also spent quality time at the house with each child:

 I have also started running again as time allows. Riley has been joining me for these runs:

I see so much online about 4 year olds being challenging but I find the 4 year age to be so freaking great. Both of my big kids have been just so fun and loving at 4. I just love every second I get with sweet Riley and enjoy the fact that he wants as much time with me as he can get. 

As I type this, I have spent the day enjoying the boys who wanted to dress "handsome" today.

We played cars together and got some outside time. Payton came home and our day shifted a bit into the doll world.

Life is so good to me and I am so thankful for this little family God has blessed me with. I hope your January has gone as well as ours has!

Purging clothes. I didn't plan to say goodbye to this so soon...

With school on break over Christmas and the start of a new year, it seemed natural to start to sort, organize, and purge our house a bit. I asked my daughter if she would like to sort some of her old clothes to give away to one of her younger cousins and one of her younger friends. She obliged. So, we started to sort through the totes of clothes I had saved.

I watched as my child sorted an entire tote of clothes, separating them ALL into 2 different give away piles. She didn't even bat an eyelash. Then, we moved to the dress up clothes. She found costumes she decided no longer fit or were close to not fitting and put them into the give away piles.

She didn't even stop to tell the outfits goodbye (we typically say goodbye to our stuff and thank them for their time with us, as is recommended with the KonMari method). But she just tossed them into their piles and was done with them. Just like that. It was too easy. 

I have stared at these piles a ton. I keep opening the containers I sorted these clothes in to and resist the urge to pull them out. And then I did pull them out. I took a picture and then promptly returned them.

You see, so many of these outfits, especially these two, represent a bulk of my memories with my 2 to 5 year old daughter. Both of these outfits are actually closer to rags than they appear as they were worn CONSTANTLY. My daughter loved both of these outfits so much she has slept in them (the few times we let her), worn them outside, worn them all day, worn them to parties, twirled in them while watching their corresponding shows they match, had tea parties in them, had dance parties in them, and even attended a princess party in one. Am I ready to see this season come to an end?

No, absolutely not. Yet, the door slammed close on me in a minute.

But, really, the season ended when my daughter started school. The week before that we were playing in the dress up box and as soon as school started our life began a new season. One that was busier with less time at home. Less time for imagination within the four walls we reside. I suppose it isn't all bad. We love school, her teachers, and her new friends. We love learning and seeing how much our child has grown. 

But, I will always lovingly remember the time we spent with these 2 outfits. So much time just being together.

I have since thanked the clothes and they are on their way to their new house awaiting a new girl to play with them. I hope they are loved as much as they were here during the season we needed them.

I imagine this will not be the only season in life that I struggle to enter while my children jump right in, embracing their newness. Bare with me, children and husband, I need the extra time to let things go.

2019: The Year in Review

One of my favorite things to put together for my kids happens to be the most time consuming. Our annual year in review video is done! Its really the only time I post any videos. I take a lot of videos on my phone all year long and I sort through them for keepsakes.

The last few years this has been extremely time consuming with the computer not working (or losing) my work along the way. This year my husband and I tried to work with our phones first and created videos on there and then combined them.



2019. What a fun year with so many good moments and hard stuff. Some highlights:

- We celebrated 5 birthdays!
-We sent a child to kindergarten!
-Our very first tooth fairy visit (and more subsequent visits) happened this year.
-Our middle child can write his name and name the letters in his name. He rode the ferris wheel for the first time ever this year!
-Our youngest started walking at the beginning of the year and was running laps by the end
- Said our final goodbye on Earth to our sweet puppy Wes
- Lots of sickness. Our youngest has had so much respiratory issues but we are hopeful he will eventually outgrow being this sick
- We had flooding for the first (and hopefully only)time ever.
-We made it to the zoo not just once, but several times.

So many memories made this year and we are so looking forward to the memories 2020 will bring!