The apple and the tree

You know the saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Well, it would seem, the older it get the closer and closer I roll back toward the tree from which I fell. Maybe I didn't fall to far in the first place, but I just keep getting closer and closer to the tree with each passing year.

I recently posted this picture on Facebook of my mom holding me as a newborn. I posted it because it is a picture that I love and happened upon that day and thought was worth sharing. The response that I got was one I didn't expect. People actually thought the picture was of me holding one of my newborns! People who know me well and know my mom and see me on a regular basis. Weird! I knew we looked similar, but I didn't realize we looked THAT similar. I have known for a while that I am like my mom in many ways (unfortunately not as it relates to prowess in the kitchen or classy style!), but am realizing more and more ways that I am like my dad too.

My dad often comes home with random things that he finds. A pair of shoes from the side of the road. An entire floor worth of cubical "walls" from the dumpster outside an office building (possibly still gracing the furnace/utility room at my parent's previous house). Way too many wallets to count (all of which he returned to their grateful owners). Cell phones, entire bathroom vanities on someone's curb following a remodel, winter hats . . . you name it and he has probably "found" it at some point in his life (and worn it, when applicable). When I was a kid, this drove me crazy. Why on earth would you dig around in a nasty dumpster? What could be in there that you would possibly want? (I also didn't appreciate garage sales or thrift store or hand-me-downs in my younger days!) Fast forward a few decades and I bet you'll never guess what I spent my afternoon doing yesterday . . . digging through the dumpster in my front yard! First I dug some stuff out of there that really should be recycled and not thrown in a dumpster. (Thankfully I didn't get injured on a 90-year-old rusty nail in the process!) It is a pet peeve of mine if something is put in the trash that belongs in the recycling! After pulling out some cardboard, pop cans and plastic beverage bottles and moving them to our family recycling bin, the real treasure hunt could begin! The company doing our remodel doesn't have a dumpster at every job site, so sometimes there is stuff in our dumpster that is from another job they are working on. I salvaged some new scrap wood that I can use for crafty endeavors, some fun architectural salvage from another job site, and some old boards from our front porch that I will have to save for a special project. I spent the following hour or so, pulling out old rusty nails and screws, sanding and cleaning up my finds. I never would have imagined, at 15, or even 20, that I would follow in my dad's footsteps by scooping up free stuff off the side of the road and digging through dumpsters for potential treasures.

This all makes me wonder what things drive my kids crazy right now that they will end up doing themselves a few decades down the road.

My parents are fabulous people! I'm so glad to have had the blessing of such wonderful trees from which to fall!

Teachers are my heroes!

Despite having children in the public school system for more than a decade, I have never volunteered in the classroom on a regular basis until this year. I always had a little person at home with me that made regular volunteering challenging. Sure, I went along on some field trips and helped with stuff from home and worked the book fair and open houses and the school carnival. But regular, weekly, in-the-classroom volunteering is new territory for me.

Each Wednesday morning I walk my kids to school like usual (except for today, when we drove, since it was rainy!), but instead of kissing them goodbye and turning around to walk back home, I go to the office, sign in on the iPad, don my volunteer badge and head off down the hall to spend the morning with some great kiddos!

Until now, I've mostly had the opportunity to maintain my ignorance about what kids -- little kids! -- have to deal with in their lives. I know, intellectually, and on a general level, that there are kids in my kid's school (and in pretty much every school in our country) who have yucky home situations. Who don't eat breakfast in the morning. Or dinner at night. Who struggle with academic stuff that their peers mastered long ago. Who don't have appropriate clothes (coats, hats, boots) to wear to school. Who don't have supportive parents. Who don't have a home, or a bed of their own. I know these facts intellectually, but to know these things more intimately, in my heart, by working each week with kids who struggle in these areas, is heartbreaking! If I knew the specifics of each of the 20 or 30-some kids in the classroom, I think it might do me in! I don't think I could take it. Even the kids who seem to have things going for them (kids like the ones that live at my house), have struggles. Real struggles. Some not as "big" as being homeless, for example, but just as real. No one is exempt. And to know those struggles for dozens of kids is so weighty! I told one teacher this morning, "I really don't know how you do it. It's heartbreaking!". She agreed and said she doesn't sleep too great many nights. These men and women are heroes! Their love and concern for kids that aren't their own blows my mind. The hours they spend working with, thinking about, worrying about these kids is WAY more than the hours written in their contracts. I am so very thankful for them!

This morning, one of the kiddos I work with one-on-one wasn't at school. That allowed me to spend a little more time helping out another teacher, but I couldn't help but worry about why this kiddo wasn't at school today. I was looking forward to our game of "war", where we sneak in work on some math facts under the guise of just playing a card game. I want to be a bright spot in the lives of the kids I come in contact with. I don't want to just help them make academic strides (although that will, hopefully, be an outcome as well), I want to build them up. Make them feel seen and cared about and noticed. I want them to know that they matter and are important and can do it . . . even when they think they can't. I want to give them big huge hugs and tell them that I pray for them and buy them a nice, new winter coat. But some things aren't appropriate to do and I just need to keep pouring into them and praying for them and loving them in the ways that I can. I only know the specifics of a very small number of kids (and even then, there is lots of stuff I don't know about them) and it is hard. I know I am more sensitive than some, but I don't know how pouring in to the life of a kid who is struggling in life couldn't get to you, no matter who you are. They are kids, for crying out loud! Life should be (mostly) carefree and fun. And for many it isn't. That is hard for me to know. To really know. Not just to be aware of, and know in my head, but to know in my heart too.

I could not handle being a classroom teacher. For way more reasons than I could begin to list. But I am so very thankful for teachers! They are my heroes! Thank you, teachers!

Blessings

I haven't done a gratitude journal update for a while. Here are a few of the blessings that I've noted lately as I go about my days, which turn into weeks and months and years and make up a life. There are so many and I like to write them down so I can remember how blessed I am when I need such a reminder.

5825. Joe back on the swim team
5826. 9 pm family meetings with the "bigs" (oldest 3 kids). Prayer and sharing time.
5829. thunderstorms
5832. the honor of being asked to be godparents for the son of our dear friends
5838. perfect fall weather
5842. leaves crunching underfoot
5849. turning in early
5867. 20 years of marriage to my best friend
5872. the smell of autumn
5874. understanding, empathetic friends
5876. a better-than-expected WRTC 10K race
5879. the generosity of my parents
5880. the power of music
5881. productive crafting
5882. my huge mum from Costco
5889. Lexington open again heading north, after being closed for over 4 months
5895. clothes on the line
5896. morning walks to school with the Falcon kids
5898. great homecoming at UNW for Kirb
5900. finding Joe some pants that actually fit
5908. sunshine
5910. shadow pictures

raining morning pre-race friends photo

and we're done!

sunny afternoon coffee date

sunshine is the best!

walks in the woods

sisters in the morning sunshine

Elementary school and our "village"

Our community is such a blessing. I love where we live and am so grateful! I try to not ever take it for granted. We are surrounded by wonderful people. I walk out my front door (actually I never walk out the front door, so make that the side door) and within about 10 minutes I can be deep in the woods spotting deer and fox and owls and all sorts of creatures. I can drive to Target or the library in less than 3 minutes . . . unless traffic is bad, then it might take 4 minutes. We have amazing parks and trails and outdoor spaces. It is a wonderful place to live and we are so blessed!

I adore our elementary school! I can't say enough good things about it! Amazing families. Fabulous teachers who are smart, gifted at what they do and have genuine care, love and concern for the kids that they are teaching. It's not perfect (no place is!), but it is so wonderful. It's a smaller, public K-6 school. It is far enough from our house (almost exactly a mile) that my kids qualify to be bussed, but for years we've walked to school pretty much every day. Joe is a walking patrol this year, which makes his "oath" similar to that of a postal worker, "in rain, snow, sleet or hail" or however that goes. The only times the walking line is cancelled is if the air temperature is below zero or the windchill is below 17 below. So, pretty much he has to walk every day, rain or shine. The other day, on the way home, the kids got pelted with some pretty serious hail! (I picked them up that day, after Joe had safely crossed the kids -- which only included his sister and the other walking patrol who has taken the same "oath" -- across the busy street. His most important job is to make sure everyone gets safely across Hamline Ave. After he had done that, I picked them up and drove them home. I even yelled at the other kid on the walking line to hop in and drove him home too.)

So, Joe carries a big orange flag and wears the reflective vest and the whole deal. We leave our house (via the SIDE door) about a half hour before school starts each morning. We pick up the neighbor girl 3 houses down and continue collecting kids along the way. We can have up to 10 kids in our "pack" by the time we get to school. I have walked with the kids from time to time over the years, but this year for the first time I get to walk them pretty much every day. (If my memory can be trusted, I've only missed 1 day so far this year). We've been hot. We've been cold. We've had to work hard to not blow over. We've gotten wet . . . sometimes REALLY wet. And still we walk. It is, truly, my very favorite part of the day. Fresh air in the morning. Time to talk with my kids and hear/see them interact with other kids who aren't their siblings. The morning/before school energy of elementary school kids is good for my soul.

Once we get to school, I wait outside with the kids until they go in. Sometimes, we even walk them in to their classrooms. And, on occasion, Sara and Anna play a trick on Anna's teacher where Sara walks into Anna's classroom (while Anna hides in the hall) and puts Anna's folder away and proceeds to sit in Anna's spot and "get to work". Bless her, Anna's teacher always "falls for it" and calls Sara "Anna" and tells her to start on her morning work. Anna's friends are all in on it too (they started doing it last year -- shockingly, last years teacher "fell for it" every time too. Amazing! These woman are saints, I tell you!). It doesn't ever take long before Sara's crazy laughter starts and she admits that she's not actually Anna and Anna comes in and gets to work. The teacher laughs and says "you fooled me" and I give Anna a hug and Sara and I head out to make the trip home again.

On any given morning there are probably a couple dozen parents who either walk with their kids to school or drive them and walk them in, rather than just dropping them off at the door. I love to watch other parents interact with their kids. The kids are all young enough that you see LOTS of have-a-good-day hugs and kisses between parents and their kids. You see kids high five their friends and hug their teachers. Now, I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture . . . you also see some tears, have to yell at kids to settle their bodies down a bit, see a kid push a classmate and hear words you wish kids that little kids wouldn't know, let alone say . . . but 95% of what I witness at that school each day brings a smile to my face and warmth to my heart. It is good for my soul!

Once in a while I will be there at the end of the day too. It is just as heart-warming at the end of the day as it is at the beginning. If you are in the younger wing of the school at the end of the day you will see LOTS of hugs. I'm pretty sure 90% of the younger kids have some type of physical contact with their teacher at the end of the day. Hugs, high fives, maybe a fist bump. Lot of hugs! It is so sweet. If you are in the other wing, where the older kids are, there are certainly less hugs (they are a big too old and cool for that), but you will still see some form of physical contact from many kids. Usually a high five. Some days it's enough to make me thankful for the sunglasses that I'm wearing which hide the tears welling up in my eyes. Such caring, loving, genuinely kind teachers and such sweet kiddos. My heart nearly bursts! And I am thankful!

On Tuesday mornings before school there is a student-led Bible study that meets at the high school. Often our two high schoolers get picked up by another neighborhood parent on these days . . . but on the days when I drive the early-morning crew to school on a Tuesday it also makes me crazy happy. Tooling around the neighborhood picking up kids in my big van while it's still dark (depending on the time of year and what side of daylight-savings you are on) and dropping them off at school before 7 to study the Bible before beginning their days is almost more than I can take. Last week I dropped off my 2 and 3 others (poor Jacob was the lone boy in the van . . . good thing he's used to it) and felt so much gratitude for countless, nameless things as I watched them walk in together. For their friendship, their love for God, their desire to get up early (I've never once "made" my kids go, they genuinely want to) to study the Bible, their boldness to attend a Bible study at their public high school, the Christian teachers that I know are in the building silently cheering them on, the wonderful community of people we have in our neighborhood who love my kids. And the list goes on.

I really couldn't even imagine living in a better place. I think it is really quite unique and not the norm, and I am so grateful! (The Roseville area visitor association didn't even pay me a penny to say any of this, in case you were wondering!)

History Lesson

We live about 2 miles from the place where my parents first met. It was a college campus then. The college has since moved (about 5 miles north), due to expansion, and the campus where they met in the 60's is now a job training center.

Earlier this year I was running by the old campus and decided that, although I'd heard stories from the time when my parents met and their early dating days, I wanted to do a walking tour of the start of their life together. See where it all began. Hear the stories while we were physically present in the place where they actually took place.

I told my mom and she thought it was a great idea. Schedules and weather and life made it tricky to pull off for a while, but, finally, this past weekend we took our family history tour. My mom brought her photo album from college and we saw the pictures from 1968 as we stood right where those pictures ware taken. Many of the buildings look the same (at least from the outside), which is fun. They pointed to the windows that had been their dorm rooms nearly 50 years ago. We walked around the buildings where they took classes and ate dinner and lived. I'm glad we had the chance to do it and to hear the stories. Our stories. Our history.

The campus as it looks today ::

The kids enjoying the campus green . . . at least until they got scolded and told not to play there.

Oh well, moving right along ::

All because two people fell in love.

The result of love found here nearly 50 years ago. Grandchildren (8 out of 9, anyway) with their grandparents in front of the dorm my mom lived in the year she met my dad. (I bet you never knew Cousin It was in our family, did ya?) ::

Getting them all to cooperate and look kinda normal-ish can be a challenge ::

The lovebirds. Right where it all began . . . 

The dorm that my dad lived in as it looks today ::

I'm so glad we got our visit in this fall. It was a beautiful day and I'm glad my kids have seen the pictures and heard the stories. It's important to know the stories and hear of the faithfulness of God to our family. What a great heritage we have.

Fall Family Fun

We planned a trip to the apple orchard (our favorite one!) with some friends. The day we had planned to go turned out to not be quite so fall-ish, as the temperature was about 85 degrees -- which is a bit warmer than my liking for mid-October. But we went ahead with the plan. We just wore shorts and t-shirts and flip flops rather than jeans, sweaters and boots.

We had a great time. We are so thankful for the friendship we have with this great family. Their 8 kids added to our 6, plus the 4 adults make us quite a site when we are all together!

The (good looking) kids. 14 of them, ages 4-16 :: 2 preschoolers, 2 2nd graders, a 4th grader, a 5th grader, a 6th grader, a 7th grader, 3 8th graders, 2 freshman and a junior ::

Buddies ::

Hay wagon ride to the corn maze (love his shirt!) ::

Friends ::

Helping make cider :: 

it's not easy ::

the cider press (it was super cool) ::

It was a fun fall Sunday. We also celebrated a couple birthdays (with such a big group, it's always bound to be someone's birthday) with cake and a song! I'm thinking it might very well become a tradition.

Lately

There have been so many days the past few months where the devotional I read through each morning has said exactly what my heart needed on that particular day. It's uncanny to me (and, at the same time, so very like God) that it can be so impeccably timed. So many mornings it brings me exactly what I need in my life for that day. Some days it is so specific to certain circumstances in my life that I can hardly believe it.

Anyway, the other day I read these words ::

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hand. {Psalm 19.1}

Right now all the leaves are falling, and there's no reason that they have to turn electric bright red before they fall, but they do and I want to live like that. I want to say, "What can I do today that brings more beauty, more energy, more hope?" Because it seems like that's what God is saying to us, over and over. "What can I do to remind you again how good this life is? You think the color of the sky is good now, wait till sunset. You think oranges are good? Try a tangerine." He's a crazy delightful mad scientist and keeps coming back from the lab with unbelievable new things, and it's a gift to be a part of it.

. . . I want my every day to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift. {Savor, by Shauna Niequist. Entry for October 5th}

I love fall! I try to savor it each year. Spend as much time as I can outside. Looking around. Smelling the smell of it. Listening to the leaves crunching underfoot. Absorbing the beauty.

I also try to live this way. Loving the gift of this life. In the big things -- and, much more importantly, in the little, day-to-day things.

Here are some of the blessings from this past week. Keep track of your own "gifts". The things you are grateful for. The little things and the big things. See if it makes a difference in your life the way it has in mine ::

5029. a walk with Kirbs on a beautiful fall evening
5030. the smell of fall
5032. finishing up a big project
5033. a clean house (even if it only lasts 5 minutes)
5035. carpooling
5036. perspective
5039. the little girls playing dress up
5040. finding the lid to my travel coffee mug (that I use nearly every day) that I lost while walking the kids to school
5041. crisp fall air coupled with sunshine
5042. wearing socks
5044. Jacob's first ever varsity playing time (go #19!)
5048. Friday morning date with my mom
5049. the boys both asking for pink football socks to wear in October in honor of their Ama
5050. Joe and Anna snuggled up together in Joe's bed, fast asleep
5051. an eagle flying low overhead as I was running
5053. Joe's great catch for the extra point in his football game
5054. a great Homecoming week at UNW
5058. the 3 little kids giddy with excitement over new episodes of their very favorite show
5060. while mowing our neighbors lawn for them while they were out of town, Jacob noticed that their mower blade was dull and sharpened it for them.
5062. the 3 littles having a sleepover on the living room floor
5066. cheering on friends at the Twin Cities Marathon events

flashback friday

A good friend of mine from college had an aunt who was the manager for DC Talk, back in the day. So during our freshman year, she took me along to a concert and we got to meet 'the guys'. Here is a picture from that day more than 21 years ago. Me, TobyMac, Liz, Michael, Liz's sister and her friend and Kevin ::

Fast forward a couple decades and my kids LOVE TobyMac (who was the lead guy in DC Talk). We got the 3 bigs tickets to his February concert at the Xcel center as a Christmas gift, and at the last minute we also got some back stage passes and got to meet him and have a picture with him. They were SO excited! I brought the two-decade-old picture along to show him. He loved it! Guess what else? My friend, Liz, from the picture above (purple and blue stripe shirt) was there. I hadn't seen her in over 20 years and we had a mini-reunion backstage at the concert. Her aunt is STILL TobyMac's agent/manager/whatever after all these years. What are the chances of that?

How's that for a flashback story? Pretty fun, huh?

multitude monday

Well, my parent's 42nd year of marriage started out not as uneventful as we would have hoped. The abbreviated version is that my mom thought she had the stomach flu last week (my dad was out of town), but I finally convinced her to let me take her to the hospital where she was admitted, "vacationed" for 5 days, had an obstruction surgically cleared from her abdomen and had her appendix removed. She is home now and is recovering and hoping and praying for no more hospital stays or surgeries EVER. Praise God it all turned out ok in the end.

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

3030. 41 years of marriage for my parents
3031. summer planning -- it WILL come someday, right?
3032. morning phone calls from Al -- a great way to start the day
3033. folding clothes, still warm from the dryer, on a bitter cold winter's day
3034. chocolate chip cookies sans chocolate chips -- a favorite of mine!
3035. good advice from a smart friend
3036. getting my mom to the hospital before things progressed any further
3037. great medical care
3038. caring, loving, praying friends
3039. cell phones
3040. my wonderful, flexible, sacrificial husband
3041. nurses :: I sure couldn't do that job, and they do it SO well!
3042. ear buds that don't fall out . . . FINALLY!
3043. a good run :: sunshine, warm temps, paths free of ice and snow (although I did have to dodge a few puddles) and faster times
3044. a great retirement celebration for our senior pastor who has faithfully served our church for the past 23 years!
3045. my mom being home again after 5 days in the hospital
3046. my nephew's preschool program -- a bright spot in a not-so-bright day!
3047. when the kids play well together
3048. a visit from my aunt and cousin from Massachusetts -- so wonderful to see them!

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

twenty

Twenty months already. That's closer to 2 than I would like to admit. These days Sara is always on the move, gets into everything, LOVES to be outside, is quite opinionated, still loves her dad, still doesn't sleep through the night most nights, is getting a couple more teeth, has a diaper rash {and has for WAY too long} that I can't seem to get rid of completely, eats like she has a hollow leg and gets cuter by the minute. She also talks up a storm! Some of her newer words are ::

• Becky {for Rebekah}
• nigh-nigh
• ball
• happy
• hola
• morning
• Luis {Luis is the Spanish-speaking contractor/carpenter working on our basement project -- so "Hola" and "Morning" are usually followed by "Luis" . . . and said over and over and over again so that it's surprising Luis can get anything done at all. She also says "Luis" whenever she hears the air compressor come on, or the nail gun fire, or the saw turn on, or screws going in to the wall or a hammer pounding or any other loud noise, for that matter. Whether Luis is here that day or not, he gets credit for all the noise these days!}
• birdie
• Joe Joe
• van
• please
• up
• dress
• off
• belly
• Haddon
• bus

She's a funny girl . . . and she knows it. She says "beep" when she burps or toots and then proceeds to giggle. That gets quite the reaction out of her siblings, so I'm sure that "trick" will be around a while. She has also just recently started to sing along to music. She has a couple words in a few songs that she knows and comes in with her few select words at {pretty much} the appropriate times. It'll be interesting to see how she changes with all the kids home for the summer. Hopefully she'll still manage to get a little down-time, even with all the activity that will be going on around here the next three months!

school's out for summer

Well, we officially have an 8th grader, a 6th grader, a 5th grader and a 2nd grader . . . oh, and also a 4-year-old-preschooler and an extra-cute toddler! Where on earth did that school year go? It seems like it just began. For the most part, everyone had a good year. The report cards, although not perfect, were good and showed hard work from our crew. Think what they could do if they were only children {or even one in a family with 2 or 3 or even 4 kids} and their parents actually helped them with their homework and did other parental things like making them practice their spelling words . . .  I guess they'll never know how that would be.

last day of 7th grade

Rebekah, Savannah, Brita and another Savannah :: right before their last couple hours as 5th graders

what greeted Joey and his classmates as they walked into their classroom

Lydia and her FABULOUS teacher Mrs. Schroeder

Joey and Mrs. Norgon {who also taught 1st grade to Rebekah and Lydia}

Rebekah and Mr. Hausman {who has a daughter named Rebekah -- same spelling even :: those 2 were a wonderful student-teacher match}

some of our very favorite teachers chattin' it up after the buses all pulled away and most of the students had cleared :: we are blessed with a WAY-above-average staff at Falcon

It was a great school year, and now we're excited for the change of pace and activities that summer brings! So, that's a wrap on the 2011-2012 school year. We are so thankful for all it held for each of our kids and for us as a family!

I ran away

For weary mothers outnumbered by children.

To be played by squeaky, nails-on-the-chalkboard beginning violinists

A Lament

A Psalm of Shana

I could not take it one more second.

Will they never get to sleep?

With no shoes and no bra – in my jammies – I left

Straight out the door, without thought.

Walked down the road in the dark;

In the dark of night.

I cried out to the Lord, “I don’t even know what to say.

I can’t do it anymore. They are making me crazy.

I am quite possibly already crazy!”

I returned home and sat in a lawn chair

It was dark.

It was quiet and still.

I was cold.

Not ready, yet, to go back in,

I got in the van, reclined the seat and covered up with a size 6/7 raincoat I found strewn on the van floor.

It was surprisingly warm and comforting.

Finally someone came looking for me.

It was late.

I went inside, brushed my teeth and headed for bed.

The baby cried.

I ignored her.

I want to sleep.

When I lay down in my bed, one is there.

When I try the couch, one is there.

Oh when will they stay in their own beds?

How long, oh Lord, until they sleep through the night?

Sleep finally comes.

I wake and see an adorable, dirty, peaceful, sleeping face ringed with curls and remember the depth of my love.

Thankful that Your faithfulness is new with each morning.

Today is full to bursting. So much to juggle!
Lord, have mercy!
But then, really! harmonicas at 6:38?
Do they not understand some are still asleep and need to stay that way?

Let me remember the Mother's Day of just days ago,
Full of love and (relative) peace and blessings.
Return to me those children, oh Lord.
Return to me those children.

Multitude Monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post, which all started a while back, right here on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2166. spending the evening at the library as a family
2167. jigsaw puzzles
2168. 3 years since Grandma joined Papa in heaven
2169. 19 months of Sara::
2170. a bunch of retired guys (I assume they are retired) playing a serious game of softball at 9:30 on a Thursday morning
2171. naps in the sun :: soaking up vitamin D
2172. garage sale bargains
2173. basement progress::

fun discovery :: the year our house was built etched in the foundation

2174. an older man (grandpa, I'm assuming) and 2 preschool-aged kiddos carrying fishing poles and walking down the sidewalk toward the lake
2175. chats with friends
2176. a fun 5th grade concert
2177. friends willing to let us peek in every nook and cranny of their basement and talk "basement remodel" with us
2178. celebrating 40 years of life for a dear, dear friend {Happy Birthday, Karin!!}
2179. a glorious weekend
2180. a dry run of next weeks 5K (my first ever!) :: running while Rebekah kept me company on her scooter
2181. the privilege of being a mother
2182. my 6 crazy, adorable kiddos::
2183. all my amazing mom friends and how they help me to be a better mom
2184. my fabulous, beautiful {inside and out!} mother!
2185. a family trip to the park on a beautiful evening
2186. celebrating Mother's Day with my mother and her mother

my adorable grandma and me

2187. family
2188. watching squirrels frolic in the yard
2189. warmest day of 2012 so far :: 85 degrees


Alrighty, that's it's for now. Tune in next Monday for the next installment.