Fall Update

Where, you might ask, are the spring and summer updates?  Isn't the last blog post from about this time last year?  Seasons are such interesting things, and I've been learning a lot about them recently.  I've been learning that the season of having adorable, little, highly dependent children is a short but intense season.  It's a season to treasure, hold close and pay close attention to.  It isn't a season (at least for me) with a lot of extra time to blog or scrapbook.  I've been doing a pretty good job of continuing to take pictures, but I have thousands in files on my computer that I long to organize and share.  So, at some point I will, and, until then,  I will be grateful for the moments that I DO get to upload a few here!

So, here are a few moments of wonderful from this fall....

Shea and Cooper loved harvesting tomatoes in our little garden.  Because of the weird weather this summer and fall, we had tomatoes until the second week in November!

 Look closely and you can see our cute little chipmunk that has come to live in our backyard.  He spent a whole week stuffing his cheeks with bird seed, so we're sure he's set for winter now.

 Cooper is a lover of all things trucks or cars.  He said he's going to to have a truck and basketball themed birthday party, too!

Here are some pictures from our visit to Deanna Rose farm and pumpkin patch 

Cute kiddos!

I love this one with their grimaces....can we be done smiling now?

Fishing! 

So, what could Josh be building in the play room???

Why, a 2-story playhouse for the kiddos, of course!

It comes complete with lookout loft...

Slide...

Climbing wall...

Make that a SUPER FAST slide....

Stairs...

And their kitchen inside!!!
Needless to say, the kids are THRILLED with their surprise.  We kept them out of the playroom for a week so that Josh could finish the project.  They had no idea we were planning this as a birthday/Christmas present for them.

Annual Pumpkin Carving

Danya tried her hand at it and found out  how tough it is!

I had the flu during Halloween, but thankfully I was able to snap a few pictures before the  poodle, fairy, and monkey took off for trick or treating.

Finally, here are few pictures of the everyday sort of wonderful: 

Shea and Cooper "doing school"

Danya, working on her school work and Shea listening to a Sparkle Story (all of the kids' favorite right now).

Today, the weather seems to have changed to winter, and I'm looking forward to snuggling in with these kiddos for another wonderful SEASON!  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, snow, Plaza lights, traditions, our normal slow-daily rhythms of school, work, play and the joy of close friends and family (near and far).

So Much To Be Thankful For

As we finish up this holiday season and this year, I know I have a very important choice to make. I can look back at the year with all its changes and challenges and begin a very long list of things that could have been better, should have been different, or that I failed to do at all (such as blogging!). The other choice, of course, is to look back at the year and see the DAILY blessings that my family and I received. Jesus is without a doubt the greatest blessing we are given today and every day. Beyond His grace and love, every other blessing I receive is icing on the cake! And yet, as I look back and look around, I see blessing after blessing after blessing. How can it be that we are so blessed?

At the Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting at the Crown Center Plaza

• A loving and supportive marriage
• The best kids on the planet
• A new (to us - 100+ yrs old to everyone else) home in a great downtown neighborhood
• Brand new sewer lines (like I said, I'm choosing to look at the bright side)
• Many sets of grandparents that add depth and breadth to my kiddos' lives (and date nights to our lives).
• A heart overflowing with friends and family that we are missing. It's wonderful to know that we have people praying for us and missing us, too.
• A great church family here in Kansas City that we are connecting with and finding how we can best serve.
• A small community group in Lee's Summit that is seeking to love those God has put around us.
• The hope of new friendships. We've met some pretty awesome people that we look forward to becoming close with in the year to come.
• Financial challenges that help us take a step back and re-evaluate what is important, necessary, and remind us that we can trust God to supply our needs. We constantly see His faithfulness.
• TIME. Time to teach our kids and play with them since we are homeschooling them (for now). Time to rest, read, explore, be creative, be intentional, and be focused on what we think is important.
• GRACE. We are so aware that we do so many things that aren't right or best, so we are very thankful for the grace God extends us through Jesus and therefore the grace we can extend to ourselves and others.

I know there are more things that I'm forgetting to put in this list, but even writing down these few things has lifted my spirits and made me hopeful for the year ahead.

What does God have planned for us in the year to come? We don't know specifically, but we are confident it will be good. We plan to keep our eyes open and daily pay attention to what blessings are all around us.

Summer Fun

I intend to start blogging on a more regular basis very soon. We will be starting our "school year" in a few weeks, and I am planning in time to write. Until then, however, I have a few topical blog posts planned to cover what we've been up to since we arrived here in Missouri.

Once we unpacked and settled in to our new home with Dave and Jewell, one of the first things we did was research fun things to do in and around Kansas City. We made quite a long list and have been having a great time crossing things off.One of our first outings was to the City Market in downtown Kansas City. It was crazy busy, but lots of fun and full of pretty and yummy things. We learned it wasn't the best place to bring our "cadillac" stroller. Other than getting some great fruits and vegetables, we did have another "first" occur at the City Market. Danya was enjoying a fruit smoothie when all of the sudden she let out an ear piercing scream and dropped the smoothie. Yep, you guessed it, her first brain freeze.

That same day we went to a park that I went to when I was a kid, Penguin Park. I have fond memories of this park, but they've added a TON to it and made it WAY COOLER than it was 30 years ago! The large animals are all that used to be there. They had swings or slides coming out of them. Now they are surrounded by all sorts of fun toys. The girls had fun running from one area to another...so much to see and do. Cooper spent the entire park visit swinging.


One of the next fun outings we went on was a family date to the Plaza for cupcakes, walking around, and then listening to our brother-in-law's band (Red Guitar) play. There was surprisingly great weather, and the kiddos loved the cupcakes, the fountain, and listening to the band! I have to say that my girls have some great moves.

Well, this post is getting long enough, so I'll start working on the next one. Stay tuned for scenes from the 4th of July, my trip to Omaha, dance camp and lots of cute kiddos ;).

The Big Move

My last post brought this blog a little closer up-to-date, but as I was looking through pictures, I noticed a few from the BIG MOVE that I wanted to share. So, here they are.....

Loading the Truck - big boy tetris!Ready to hit the road!

Bye-bye, Nampa...

My dear, sweet friends, I miss you more than I can express. You made cleaning and leaving my house for the last time fun!

Our post-cleaning lunch at the Mona Lisa....mmmm, yum! Fondue makes saying good-bye a little easier. It was also great to have Becki, Mindy, and Heather stop by to say good-bye in the parking lot!

One final look at my cute little farm house.

Relaxing on my parents' back patio with my sister, "the cousins", and my parents. We miss you all.
The airplane trip was so smooth with the kiddos! I'm so thankful that we got to take the faster mode transportation. Moving across the country with a 5, 3, and 1 year old could have been a lot worse. We had a good day!