A year missing

As it stands, I am officially one year behind on my family blog. I guess that tells a story in and of itself: one of a busy family and days that seem to never end in the grind of dishes, laundry, school, work and messes, but for some reason still slip away, lost to that ever-marching void that is time.

This past year has been full of all those things that memories are made of—trips to the beach, our last baby learning to walk and talk, family members passing away, a new house, new schools, old and new friends. I’m scared that if I don’t have a record of it, these priceless times will be lost forever, stored away in the recesses of our minds awaiting their moment to be relived but never getting the chance.

I have a confession to make. I am a bit of a hoarder. Not in the physical sense, although if you ask George he may say otherwise. I am a hoarder of memories. Even as a child, I would save and put away programs from my band performances; ticket stubs from everything from flights to movies we watched; quotes I heard at church; even candy wrappers from valentine gifts I received. I think I must get it from my grandma Rachel. She is our family historian and a savant when it comes to recalling the details of long ago. Her house is filled from floorboard to ceiling with journals, genealogy, and carefully saved mementoes from not just her life, but those of her parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. One of my prized possessions is a book she took years to write, detailing her early life and telling stories from when she was a child. Through that book, I feel like I’ve come to know and form a relationship with my family from the past, even those I never had the privilege to meet because they left this world before I came.

My goal for this blog is really that—I want my family to have a history they can look back on and remember. Remember the grandparents that came and spent time with them; remember our family trips and time we spent with cousins; remember births and deaths and how much those people mean to our family; remember friends they’ve made; mistakes we learned from; and most importantly the love we share.

So, maybe I’ll go back and fill in the void of this past year. Maybe I’ll have to be okay with simply starting again here. Either way, I need to move forward so I don’t give up all together. I’m so behind, it feels insurmountable to attempt to catch up, so I’ll start where we are and hopefully be able to fill this past year in little by little.

With that, please stay tuned for updates soon!

May: kitty snuggles, muscles, and Endgame

 Playdate! We had Lily's friend Annie Sawyer over one afternoon after preschool. She's a sweet girl and the kids had so much fun running around playing. Of all the things Lily misses about our old house, I think she misses Annie the most.

Pusheen still seems like a pretty chill cat. She's sweet, has a loud purr that she turns on constantly, and is content to snuggle (most of the time).

Cole calls her his "dream pet".

She's also discovered Bender's food is pretty good. He's a good dog to share and doesn't seem to mind the couple of pieces she steals every day.

Documenting that I was fit and kinda buff once. I'm pretty proud of my arms right here.

I weight about 127 lbs and am the fittest I've ever been. I've been training with Dominque at the gym and have made some pretty significant gains in my lifting. I'm excited to see how far I can take this.

More kitty snuggles

Still training...

Date night, thanks to Mom and Dad! We got to see Avengers Endgame in IMAX. Loved it!

Welcome to the family, Pusheen!

It must be the kids' lucky day! Not only did Jude find a four-leaf clover...

...we added a new member to the family!

We told the kids we could get some "barn cats" and Cole had his heart set on a grey tabby. He's been really into this character named Pusheen, a fat grey tabby cat, and insisted our cat needed to be a Pusheen.

I had been scouring the SPCA's website when one day it popped up that they had several kittens and one just happened to be a grey tabby! It was meant to be.

We met her at the SPCA where we did the family check and filled out all the paperwork. Surprisingly with five little kids in tow they let us take her home!

This little kitty is going to get a LOT of love!

Bender, on the other hand, wasn't too sure what to think. 

Valerie thought Pusheen was the best thing ever.

I think Pusheen's biggest problem will be finding some alone time. Because she certainly hasn't gotten any since she came home.

This is what my life looks like right now much of the time--me in the car driving with my gym clothes on. I am constantly driving kids to and from school, spending 2 hours in the morning just taking kids to various schools all about 20-30 minutes away. I try to make it to the gym most days for some alone time while the kids play and I work out. Its a nice break and I'm grateful I have access to such a nice gym and that my kids love going. The ladies in the KidZone are amazing, especially Pam. She's our favorite. She's like a fun grandma and my kids adore her, especially Valerie.

Lance and Scott are still plugging away at their training and doing a great job. They ride almost every weekend for up to 50 miles at a time.

This view makes my heart sing. Can you imagine a prettier place? I pinch myself every day that this beautiful piece of heaven belongs to us.

Farm Life and a sad Good-bye

Our new house isn't just bigger and better than our last house (although the kids ALL miss our old house and ask regularly when we will go back...). It also is giving us an opportunity to get outside our comfort zone and try something new. We don't have any animals yet and probably won't for a year, but we do have the space and the equipment, so sometime in the future we will be able to jump into animal husbandry. 

Until then, we'll just have fun trying out the tractor.

Thank goodness for the tractor. We will need it to mow all these acres of pasture.

Aaaand... apparently this is a part of farm life too. George couldn't see the mud because the grass was so tall and got the tractor stuck. How do you unstick a tractor?

George and I worked together for an hour trying to get some plywood under the wheels. It was muddy, it was dangerous, and it was hard.

 
But it worked!

Like I said--ample opportunity to learn new things and step outside our comfort zone.

Lance has been training for his High Adventure with the Vienna group this summer. They will be biking for several days and camping on the way. He and Scott have been diligent about training and Lance is becoming quite the cyclist. I know my dad would have been proud.

Just a very common view having a nursing baby. You learn to nurse anywhere and everywhere. After 6 kids, I've become pretty adept at popping it out discretely wherever we are. I think I'm going to miss this...

I had a moment today (May 2nd) sitting in my nasty, covered in crumbs and who knows what else car while I breastfed Valerie during a pitstop between dropping off kiddos at school and running errands.

I’m going to miss this. It’s so busy that I forget to enjoy the sweet tiny moments—the little noises Valerie makes, Lexi’s laugh from the back seat when Lily says something silly.

It’s going so fast. Too fast. As the day to day drags on, I’m realizing life is speeding up. I blink and I have a teenager. My last baby is almost one. Half my kids are in school and in the fall I’ll only have two at home.

So I took an extra 5 minutes to snuggle my baby a bit longer and laugh with Lexi and share her Easter candy she was snacking on. These are the moments that make everything else worth it.

Lance went to Circa with me the other day, a shop that sells all kinds of random and previously owned things. He found these glasses and had to try them on.

The girls newest thing is climbing out our sun roof on the van. Its pretty impressive and kind of annoying, especially when they slide down the windshield and put their feet on my wipers. Gah!

Oh these girls.

Lexi asked me the other day: "Mom, do you love us?"

"Yes!!" (me feeling emotional...) "Lily and Lexi, I love you more than my life. I would die for you."

Lily looked at me thoughtfully and then asked, "Uh, how would THAT help us?"

Our old house sold! We got above asking price for it and are very grateful that the market was beneficial to us. The kids and I ran over one last time to mow the lawn before the new owners moved it. These kids MISS this house. George and I assumed the new house would be so neat and beautiful and big that they wouldn't be sad, but we were wrong. This is the only house Lily, Lexi, and Valerie have known. We spent five years here and it was perfect for where we were in our lives. We are ready to move on, but I will always have a special place in my heart for our house at 153 Olton Place in Willoughby.