Yard Work

It’s the weekend and we’re back to working on the backyard! Brad’s in the process of moving sprinkler lines, we had the curbing guy over to make a plan, and hopefully after a few more weekends of work we’ll be almost done. 

So far, I’ve enjoyed working on this project with Brad and the kids. I think the yard will look much nicer!

Sunny Park Days

We met at the park for playgroup today in order to enjoy the beautiful weather. Ryder ran around freely with his little buddies. He is my most independent child. He’s always up for adventure and doesn’t mind at all if I’m by his side or not. It’s a little bit endearing and a little bit disconcerting at the same time.

Time with My Kids

I joined the kids outside this afternoon. We read a lot of books, ate snacks, and I watched each one show me how fast they could go on their bikes and their scooters. It was the best way to spend my afternoon.

For mutual tonight we met up with youth from the Catholic church and helped to clean their Catholic cemetery. It was fun to work with people from another faith and it was a gorgeous night to be outside!

Afternoons Outside

This nice weather we've had lately has kept the kids outside all afternoon when they get home from school. Their neighbor friend Katarina usually comes to join in the fun as well. I've loved having them outside having fun as opposed to inside on electronics. It's been great.

Memorial Day

There were several people we remembered today and although we would have loved to visit each one of their graves, it wasn't possible this year so we remembered them in other ways. It ended up being a very rainy Memorial day for us which kept us from working on our yard. Kade’s friend came over to play this morning and then we decided to go look at couches. We need a new couch downstairs but we didn’t find anything that we loved.

After the furniture stores we decided to visit all the Dams in the city. We saw Black Eagle Dam, Rainbow Falls Dam, Ryan Dam, and Morony Dam. It was a fun trip around the city!

Morony Dam

Ryan Dam

Black Eagle Dam

Rainbow Falls Dam

Primary Songs

We decided to have live music while we sung our songs for family night tonight. Each of the kids took a turn leading the music. It was pretty adorable to see Ryder conducting. I love the primary songs so much!

Hard Work

We’ve been wanting to landscape our backyard for a while now and we finally decided to get started on it today. We plan to put rock and curbing by the fence line and have a place for garden boxes. So we had a lot of grass to dig up. It was hard work! Brad and I are pretty exhausted and sore now but it felt good to work so hard. I was so glad that the kids were willing to help us and/or be with Luke. It made it possible for us to get all the sod rolled up and out of here! Yay! We have a lot more work to do, but it felt good to get that part of it done.

Montana in Spring

The weather has been amazing! We spent so much time outside enjoying it. We played in our friend, we walked to the park with the dog, we grilled pizza for dinner, and we spent the night in the backyard. This is why we love living in Montana!

A Good Night

My amazing friend Becca is a KonMari consultant and has been helping me organize my home and my life. It's been so amazing. The first thing she had me do was create a vision board of what I want my life to look like. One thing I put on there was more time outside with my family. I love fresh air, I love the outdoors, and I love being with my family. Tonight was one of those perfect nights that I envisioned when making my vision board. After dinner we played outside all evening. The kids and I jumped on the tramp while Brad played with Keena. We had dessert out there as well. Then we came inside to say prayers, but Kade and Tenley wanted to play some new songs that they're learning on the piano first. Ryder had to play the Iron Man theme song when they were done. He almost knows how to play it all by himself! Then I read my kids a book and put them to bed. It was amazing!

The other day when I was talking to a friend she was complaining about how hard bed time is for her when she's trying to put all of her kids to bed. I've definitely had those nights, but I don't want to! Putting kids to bed doesn't have to be miserable. This whole KonMari process is helping me realize that life doesn't have to be hard. There will be challenges, yes, but we can figure out what we want and create and live the life of our dreams!

Motherhood

Tenley and Ryder have been fighting a lot lately. And they get aggressive! They will kick and hit each other and it is not pretty. They had such a fight this afternoon while playing in the front yard (so all our quiet neighbors could witness their awful behavior) and somehow I kept my cool. Honestly it was probably easier to stay calm because I knew we had neighbors watching. But still, I was grateful that I stayed calm and was able to diffuse the situation AND get them to give each other a big hug afterward. For one tiny second I felt like I rocked at motherhood.

Purpose

I think Luke’s purpose in life right now is to discover what this world is all about. But in so doing it often seems like his purpose is to destroy everything in his path. And my purpose has then become to put everything back together that he destroys. It’s an exhausting game, but he seems to enjoy it!

Two Boys with Swords

Ryder’s friend Hunter came over to play today. They found the swords and light-sabers and ran all around the house fighting ‘bad guys’. The bad guy turned into Keena and they chased him all around the yard. Keena played back and even stole their swords a few times. There was a lot of laughing and giggling going on and it was the best background music for me while I did housework. Kids can be so adorable.

Piano Recitals

It's been a big, long, fun-filled weekend that ended with Kade and Tenley's Spring piano recital tonight. They amaze me. They both worked so hard to practice both of their songs 100 times before the recital. A week ago they were only to 60 and Tenley often complained that she didn't think it would be possible. Each day after school they would come home, fight over who got to have the piano first, and then practice each song ten times! Their hard work and dedication paid off! They made it 100 (Tenley likes to remind me that she actually got to 106 on her songs), earned their $5 gift card from their teacher, and played their songs beautifully for their recital! I'm so proud of them!

My Tiny Dancer

Tenley’s big, end of the year dance recital was tonight. She’s been a little bit nervous about it. I kept telling her, “If you just believe in yourself, you won’t be scared!”

Well my sweet Tenley must have believed in herself because she did not seem scared at all. She smiled and danced so well. We were so proud of her! Brad and I had a fun night watching all the dancers. They sure work hard and it shows!

Visitors

George and Judy left us today but not until after Brad took them to the Ryan Dam Island. Judy was freezing and didn’t last long but everyone else seemed to enjoy seeing the falls.
Brad took Kade to see the church play and Kade was thoroughly entertained! I was glad that Brad and Kade were able to enjoy it, but that left me with the little boys at Tenley's dance practice for 2 hours. I think I'm going to get some strong arm muscles from wrestling Luke so much. Phew! It's a hard stage and he doesn't do well when he doesn't get to sleep in his bed, but we survived the long night!

Good Plays and Ice Cream Sundaes

Our morning was filled with school and dental appointments and then we partied all night. We had a fun dinner out all together and then we left the kids so we adults could go see a play. A woman here in town wrote a musical retelling of the Good Samaritan with original music and everything. It had me laughing a lot. It was so funny, though provoking, and uplifting. We all loved it!

When we got home and saw all the kids sleeping peacefully we decided to make banana splits. Yum!

Luke's Birthday

My cute, chubby little baby turned a year old today! It has gone by quickly, although there have been days where it feels like it won’t go by quick enough! He’s a busy and curious boy lately. We spoiled him with noisy, bright toys, but he’d still rather play with the dog’s water bowl. This past week he’s finally been sleeping through the night! I’m trying not get my hope up on that being the new normal, but I’d sure love it if it was. Even with the hard moments, I can’t wait to get him out of bed in the morning to squeeze and cuddle him and smell his sweet baby smell. I love holding his sweet little fingers and kissing his smooth round cheeks. I love my little Luke!

Grandpa and Grandma Judy arrived tonight just in time for the party to begin! We had Luke’s favorite dinner, rice and chicken, opened presents, and attempted an adorable “Luke stuff your face with cake!” moment, but he was not interested! We ate the yummy cake and ice cream for him. 

Mexican Popsicles

A friend recommended Mexican popsicles to me a few months ago. They sell them at a health food store down the hill from our house. It was so hot after school today that we decided to stop and try out the treat! They were all delicious! Beside the mosquitoes that are already out and eating us each night, it was a good afternoon with my kids.

Luke turns one tomorrow and he is so mobile! He still isn’t crawling on his hands but he’s really good at pulling himself up on furniture, sitting up on his own, and reaching for everything. He’s a cute little turkey!

My Golden Boy

I always call Ryder my golden boy because he has golden colored hair and golden colored eyes. He is so cute and so helpful when he wants to be. He loves playing with Keena and with the beautiful weather that we’ve been having lately they’ve been playing more outside. Ryder loves playing fetch with him. It’s so cute and makes my mornings so wonderful!