February Recap

February is basically come and gone so I thought I would take a quick few minutes to update you on our life. This is pretty much another photo dump and some explanation because, really, the pictures do the talking. 

1. We've had so much snow

Snow, snow, and more snow around here. I love the pretty views and have no problem with snow if I have no place to go. We have gotten out sledding so much and the kids love building snow men and making snow angels. Most recently, they pretend they are snow pirates and spend their afternoons looking for hidden treasure.

2. The girls still get out

Our chickens may not be making as much of an appearance with all the snow but we have had a few days we've gotten them out. They love a little sunlight and times of less snow as much as we do.

Payton is still our little hen whisperer.

3. Date Night

Payton went on her father/daughter date night to the annual snowball dance and she had such a blast with her daddy. I took the boys out for dinner, to feed the ducks at the park, and then brought them home for a long (and extra bubbly) bath. All in all, we all had the best time spending a bit of time separated.

4. Valentine's Day

Payton had some huge plans for this day that included buying her daddy so many hunting items and a new gun. We hope we didn't disappoint too much when we settled together as a family for valentine's, flowers (from daddy), homemade pizza, and a special dessert heart shaped jello. We had a fun movie night with the kids playing board games and watching AristoCats.

5. School days

Since we're stuck indoors I have been piling on the school activities as fast as I can with the kids requesting them non-stop. Even Jayden has been getting into all the art and science projects we have had.

Even Batman has made an appearance to school:

6. Lots of pajama time

With all this snow we have been home a ton. So much time at home! There have been too many days to count where we have stayed in pajamas and skipped getting dressed all together.

7. More TV than I would like to admit

You could also find us in this arrangement more than I would like to own up to. I got sick this month and crashed hard. I'm thankful it started and ended with me for the most part, but it has taken a long time to feel like myself again. So, until then, we have resorted to tv quite often this month.

8. We worked on our to-do list

I have found some down time to get a lot of little things around the house taken care of. I have sorted tons of storage items, started decluttering, decorated the playroom, and tried to catch our cleaning back up.

I also made the time cut my own hair and Payton's hair. It can be a challenge making time for everything, but I am trying harder to keep plugging away at my never ending to-do lists.

Here is Payton sharing her newly trimmed hair!

And that's a wrap for February! We are looking forward to spring and maybe some warmer weather! We will also be celebrating 10 years of marriage this week, which is quite exciting news for our family! Our children are full of many plans for our big day!

January at Our House

This may be a little early since January isn't quite over yet, but I wanted to get this on here while I am thinking of it. January came and left so quickly here. I have so many pictures to share so I will just let them do the talking, so, let's sum up January 2019

10 Things you should know about our month:

1: Outings

Despite being in the middle of sick season, we have gotten out on many adventures this month. Weekly story time, gymnastics class, and we also made it to the Children's museum 2 times this month! Our month has also been full of family visits, play dates, and a birthday party!

2: Crafting

It's true: our craft game is strong. Really strong. We love crafts and science projects at our house. The kids beg for them constantly. Payton actually spent a whole 2 days holed up in a room working on Christmas presents for everyone back in December. I love art and science days because the easiest projects please the kids so much.

3: Baking and Cooking- it happens every day

Part of my preschool process includes focusing on learning kitchen skills. My hope is that my children will be (somewhat) helpful in the kitchen for their entire time they reside at our house. We have branched out recently and started letting our children plan an entire meal and assist with making that meal from start to finish. Those knowing Payton will know that her meals include everything, from several sides to dessert. She loves a full spread of food! Riley has found a favorite meal of corn dog muffins and they are so easy we will be making them frequently.

For treats, banana bread and jello (cut into hearts) is the most requested. I love to make these while the kids are resting in their rooms so they get a real surprise.

4: Scooters is here

We were lucky enough to get a scooter's in our town and I am so excited. Our budget is a little nervous though.

5: This boy

*Sigh* babies just don't keep. Seriously. This boy is getting so big and so on the move. He isn't walking quite yet but my days are limited. He is talking more and more and getting so much more opinionated all the time. Oh, and he is still just one of the happiest boys.

6: Outside play

We still get out almost daily, even if it takes longer to put snow clothes on than we spend outside. We all need the fresh air. We have gotten so much snow. So. Much. Snow. I'm ready for the sun and warmer days.

7: But, the views

Take my breath away. I love where we live so, so much. The views are so gorgeous to me, especially in the winter. I mean, I could sit and look out my window all day if the kids would let me. I guess I'll just the minute where I can get it.

8: School

Preschool continues to be so fun for me. Both big kids love to learn and it's less of a balancing act than I ever thought it would be. If I could lock these moments in forever, I would in a heartbeat!

9: Bring out the costumes

Since we are forced inside so much, I grabbed our tote of halloween costumes and let the kids play. They have LOVED this and it has passed so much time for us. I think we have been doing costume play for about 2 solid days. Their imaginations have grown so much and I am astounded at what their play time looks like in comparison to last year.

10: Marie Kondo it and DIY projects

I got sucked into Netflix and watched Marie Kondo's show about decluttering and keeping items that spark joy. I have read her books but the show really lit the fire I needed. My husband and I have cleaned and decluttered and organized so much stuff. I'm feeling good about this.

We also have been doing several DIY projects around the house such as converting a guest bedroom into a play room (something I wonder why we didn't do sooner) and preparing to put the laundry room downstairs (currently upstairs). The picture above shows some frames I have painted white to do a picture collage for the play room.

Life stays so busy here! I hope your January has gone as well as ours!

2018 Year in Review

I will keep this short and simple and just let the video do the talking. Each year I make a video of some of our favorite videos we recorded. I will warn you, they are long. I did narrow them down but I take so many videos and love them all. In the end, there are still too many videos but I hope the kids will appreciate the work put into these.

This year my husband made the video and it was so fun to see life from his eyes. This means more footage of myself since I wasn't the one always behind the scenes.  2018 was a hard year for me personally but, as a family, it was still one of our best years. We were sad to say goodbye to 2018 but we definitely are welcoming 2019.

Thank you 2018:


In 2019, we have lots to look forward to. Our 10 year wedding anniversary, 5 birthdays, one kid will start kindergarten, another kid will start his first summer of gymnastics, the baby will start to walk, and those are just the highlights.

If you want to look back at my past videos, here are the links:

2017 in review
2016 in review

I do try to make goals for our family. Last year, we focused on trying to give more. More time, more money, more donations. I think we hit that out of the ballpark. In some ways, I gave more of myself to others that my family suffered at time. So, this year, I will focus more on serving my family, reading more, and turning to gratitude daily.

What are your goals for 2019?

Merry Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday season has been filled with as much love and fun as ours has.

 We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at home but prior to that we made a flying trip to see my husband's family. It was good to spend some time with them and watch all the cousins playing. It's amazing how large the family is (we definitely contribute to that) and how much each child changes as they grow a bit more between the previous visit. Riley stayed hyped up on sugar most of the time and Payton was obsessed with using her cousin's camera to take pictures. Jayden was extra attached to his mommy and shy with his extended family. Mom and dad came home exhausted.

Payton really wanted to make gifts this year as she has in the past. She loves the Little House on the Prairie books and I think that plays a huge role in her wanting to create things for others. I just love her giving heart so much.

 So, Payton and Riley went out to the shop with their daddy and crafted away. This was the better part of a weekend. When they aren't crafting, we are playing hard.

We made one more trip to see Santa and do some fun activities making puzzles, snowman bags, and gingerbread houses. The kids also took another opportunity to send a letter to Santa. 

We try really hard to make time for each child 1 on 1. I snuck away with Riley earlier this week to grab groceries. He then convinced me to go to the park. We had a blast and ended up surprising him with his daddy, brother and sister meeting us there!

We had a great time as a family playing the afternoon away. We came home to what we thought would be a burned pork roast. It was all edible so we called it a success!

That night we also crashed hard and Monte took a picture of Riley and I asleep together. This is rare any more as Riley is generally pretty insistent that Daddy lay with him. Some days though he still asks for me.

It is sad how quickly time goes and kids start to decide when they want you. It breaks my heart when I'm not chosen but my heart definitely sings when I am picked.

We have been busy making and handing out salt dough ornaments with our family Christmas cards and baking, baking, baking. We love to bake and (more importantly) to eat.

Here is a picture of the big kids making cookies for Santa.

On Christmas Eve we drove around looking at lights as a family and opened our gifts to each other. I was so surprised and honored to receive the gifts the kids made for me with their daddy:

They are some of the most creative people I know!

The kids went to bed early and fell right to sleep, despite thinking they could stay up all night. Santa arrived but put their presents in our basement play room. Sneaky Santa.

The kids spent the day playing with their gifts. We had some friends stop by in the afternoon to bring us a dessert and they ended up staying for dinner. It was a great Christmas for us and we feel so blessed.

Today, we splashed in the puddles after getting a cold rain. I wanted to get outside before the snow. Now, we are snug in our home, cuddling and waiting to be snowed in.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Reminiscing on the NICU last year

1 year ago we were walking our hardest journey in our life. I was reminded of this journey with a Facebook memory shown to me.

Our NICU stay was challenging and we were so blessed to bring our baby home with us. But that isn’t everyone’s story. I feel like I stayed fairly silent on my NICU story and may always choose this route. It isn't really my story to tell anyways but really only a small handful of us will ever be able to remember the walk that was taken. It was a journey of 1,000 steps. Full of setbacks, milestones, hard moments, and happy tears. We prayed and prayed and prayed. And when we felt the weakest, we prayed some more.

It was so incredibly hard to see Jayden with so many cords and monitors. Yet alone that he had to have surgery within the first few days of life. So much of my basic knowledge to care for a baby was completely removed from me. I had to rely on medical teams to help me understand how to best care for my own baby.

I will always be humbled by the outpouring of love and support we received during this time from all walks of life. Family, friends, strangers, and medical staff reached out to us. On the day Jayden failed his esophagram, our surgeon came personally to talk to us. Our doctor on staff for that week embraced me and let me break down. Nurses that we had bonded with filtered in to offer their support. It’s amazing the bonds you can create with people in the shortest period of time. Friends sat with us for cafeteria meals, played with my children at the rainbow house, and offered their houses for the holidays. My in-laws cared for my children and provided a Christmas so my children wouldn’t miss out. My parents took our dogs during this time. FYI- my 2 oldest children look back on this time fondly and think of it as the greatest Christmas.

I watched my 2 big kids become even bigger over night. They learned to see me less and even to fall asleep without me. They played away their days with their dad or grandma or their cousins. That was hard. Really hard. Mostly for me. They handled it all like a champ. 

Looking back, I was so strong during this time. But, I know that going through it, I feel so weak and unprepared. I was just going through the motions and surviving. I took everything one day at a time. Each morning, we prayed together as a family. I also frequently asked God to hold my hand and give me strength. 

I'm so thankful to have brought our baby home and survived our first year. I'm thankful for the path God gave me and I know my hardship brought so much more to who I am and what I have to offer this place. For that, sweet baby boy Jayden, I am eternally grateful you chose me. God knew I was prepared and strong enough for you. I just had to show the fight I had in me. For you, I would do it 100 times over again. Love, Mom

Comparing Smash Cakes Between the Kids

I wanted to do a quick little something just to compare each of our kids on their 1st birthday. I wholeheartedly accept that each child is different and each child has had a bit of a different first birthday. BUT, but, I do like to take pictures of them eating their first cake. Okay, I like to consistently do some things the same. Like put both boys in the same shirt and khaki bottoms for their first birthday.

Our first was ever so cautious and ended up needing someone (ahem, daddy) to help you actually eat cake. She likes to stay clean you know. Our second was especially hesitant but after a few minutes dipped a few fingers in. he stayed semi clean until the end. Our third one, well there is just no stopping him. He dove right on in and never looked back. And loved every second of his day.

Had I looked at the siblings past birthdays originally, I definitely would have made sure to get a picture of Jayden looking down at his cake. But, what can I say, he just may have a different personality. Yes, they may all look like siblings but they are each so unique.

Flash forward to the party that happened a few days ago, and you can definitely see how unique these children are.

My life shows repeated "trends" in our house frequently. For instance, I have a picture of each of my children in a hooded towel after bath at around the same age in my bathroom.

I also have a newborn picture of each child in my room.

I love to compare first birthday pictures. I love to compare the boys in my favorite outfits from each size. You see the trend.

Each baby has so much to offer the world and each child has been similar and different in many ways to their siblings. I am so excited to see what the next 5 years holds for us and how these picture comparisons change in time.

To my babies, thank you. Thank you for just being you and calling me mama.

Love,

Mom