my new favorite (pic of the kids)

two walks

Two big walks on Saturday - giving mom and dad a good look around our temporary resting spot.  

First up, campus.  Matt spent many happy years here and now it's fun to live just tucked right inside all the campus activity (although not unusual to hear some late night shenanigans from the neighbors!)

We visited his first dorm and the nearby cafeteria. 

But the highlight from the tour was a stop at this classroom where Matt studied Physics.  

The kids loved playing school in this real classroom.

Julianna teaching even the littlest students.

We also loved the underground tunnels - a smart (and warm) way to connect classroom buildings and other campus locations.

Cutest toddler in the tunnel, all decked out in his mud boots.  (this little guy can take off his jacket in the blink of an eye - doesn't believe in wearing it indoors)

The morning walk was a bit colder than I thought it might be, so I started to have some doubts about our afternoon walk - planned for a nearby state park.  But Matt had his game face on - so we bundled up and headed out :)

And we are SO GLAD we did!  It was absolutely beautiful!  The low lying area was out of the wind and the snow/slush combo made for a very fun hike.  Matt and I have been out here a number of different times (we camped here just weeks after our wedding!) but this was my first winter visit.

Some of the areas were pretty slushy but for the most part it was a dry-ish walk.  Luke did topple face forward into one slush puddle but we were nearing the parking lot and ready to shed boots and snow pants for a warm dry ride home.

The river is still pretty frozen, but that didn't stop us from throwing sticks off the bridge.  Some travelled downstream and others landed on icy spots and didn't go anywhere.  No problem.  We just kept throwing.

Matt and I love being outdoors together, and taking our kiddos (and parents) along is such a delight.  Plenty of fun memories of previous Turtle River visits and dreams of more visits in our future.

spoons

So fun to have my parents here - there are getting used to our cold temps and enjoying their grandchildren :) 

The girls had a day off of school (yay!) but John Paul was at speech bright and early this morning.  He's so proud of his 'speech school' and it was a treat for him to show it to his Grandaddy (and namesake).

Last night Matt and I went on a date and then again this morning I left the kiddos with Mom and Dad for a bit.  Live-in child care has its perks :) 

[tent building this morning, kids still in pjs. nice!]

And then after a fun afternoon at the pool it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner.  After the meal we introduced my parents to the extremely complicated game of Spoons (not!).  

If you don't have a game that delights everyone from toddlers to the grandparent generation, I highly commend Spoons.  It never fails to entertain.    

A room full of people you love and enjoy does help :)  

guess

Guess where I went on Sunday.

And guess who I went with.

And who I saw when I was there.

And where we ate dinner.

And who I met at the MSP airport on the return trip this afternoon.

So now I'm back with my family, and my parents are here too.  It's been a good front half of the week.   And I've got a good feeling about the next few days too ;)

Wednesday afternoon (our library)

Wednesday after school pick up we like to go to the library.  Church dinner starts at 5 and the library is a block away from church, so it works out just perfectly.

The library here is just great - lots of space for kids to be kids.  A large pirate ship structure at one end and then another block-filled play area, plus a high tolerance for some kiddo-noise make the children's department a fairly relaxing place for me, even with all my little troops!

I can spend almost all my time relaxing on the bean bags while the kids play or read or listen to me read.   Seriously.  I sit.  This is worth noting!

I love that at this stage we can even find some books that appeal to everyone.  The girls would listen to me read for hours, and while the little boys won't sit through long chapter books, they will cuddle in for some minutes.  Plus the girls are hardly "too grown up" to look at a picture book or three!  Especially if it involves snuggling up with Mommy.  [In the picture above Lydia is tucked into my right shoulder, out of photo range.]

Thankful for these afternoons at this library.

and then he was TWO

This little Luke had himself one great birthday!  It was so fun - for everybody!  He was rock solid convinced that the day was all about him, and he was eating it up :)

The balloons, the streamers, the cupcakes, the gifts, the singing, the candle.... he was thrilled to be in the center of it all.

The big siblings (all four of them) even did a decent job of letting little bro open his own gifts.

Grandma and Grandpa and a family friend (Tammy) joined us for spaghetti dinner and the dinner-gifts-cake chaos.  It was so fun.

Luke wanted a candle in every cupcake, and then we decided to put a second candle in his - it's his 2nd birthday after all.  This is his "serious" face.  He thought he was pretty big stuff.

And then he blew them both out!  yay Luke!

After dinner the sibs broke out some more gifts.  They LOVE to give, just love it, even when they are just passing around trinkets and low-dollar finds.

Fruit snacks and a plastic puppy.  Two year old happiness.

These girls are just tremendous.  The big brothers too.  Luke buddy, you are one precious little guy.  And you are living in one pretty precious spot in the family.  Life as the baby of five comes with challenges, and also many blessings.

You are one loved little brother and son.  Happy Birthday buddy.

a 5 year old boy

My oldest boy is FIVE.  It sounds crazy old to me :)  How is it that he is 5 already?

But on the other hand, he totally seems 5.  He's such a great little guy, my Isaac.  I love who he is, and I love the glimpses of who he is becoming.  He's got a warrior-fierce heart but also tender.  He can be so rough and tumble, yet also so gentle and kind.  His daily word count must be three times the average.  He talks all day long.  All. Day. Long.  And he talks about the greatest things, it really is fun to listen to him.  At least, most of the time ;)

I worried about this spring in the States for him.  I knew he would miss his sisters terribly (his best playmates at school all day?!)  I prayed that God would provide friends for my Isaac and God provided abundantly!  He has so many little buddies to run around with and enjoy!

But if he had to choose best buddies, he'd probably choose them from one family.  They are becoming dear friends and providing such sweet fellowship for us during our time here.  And they have three boys Isaac's age (two 4 year olds and a 5 year old!)

So we invited Simeon and Joshua and Caleb (and their whole family) to a swimming pool birthday party.  Big bonus that they have a big family, including two girls whom my girls adore and lots of older brothers too.

But before heading to the pool we decorated the cake.  This is part fun part not so fun chaos for me, as the kids want to be totally involved and the icing gets everywhere and I just wonder exactly how many crumbs I can disguise on the cake, but in the end everyone declares it "perfect" and I'm thankful that it is perfect.  In their eyes at least!

Our pool here is just incredible.  So much room and so much fun for all ages - who would've thought that we'd be at the pool weekly even with sub freezing temps for weeks on end?

And then pizza and cake and gifts and plenty of free time to roam and play (at Grandma and Grandpa's house).

At one point during the afternoon Isaac told me "Mom, all us boys are downstairs and we are having so much fun!"

He smiled so big and so much his cheeks must be sore.

Today (Sunday, his actual birthday) we celebrated a bit more.  This boy is worthy of the celebrating, and we are happy to do it.

Tomorrow is a day off from the party-ing and we'll start back up again Tuesday when Luke turns 2!  [Luke was due on the 30th but arrived 12 days early.  He was my earliest baby by a long shot - Isaac 5 days early, both girls born after their due dates.  I'm confident his early arrival was in part an answer to Isaac's prayers that "mommy's baby would come out on his birthday".]

Happy Birthday to my oldest boy.  You are an incredible gift.

drip drip drip

Winter is melting away.  Several days of above freezing temps (and today even close to 50 degrees!) mean lots of wet dripping, everywhere!

Julianna's snow fort just a shell of it's former glory :)

And snow boots turned into rain boots for a stomp at the end of the driveway - ice chunks fill this puddle, which will freeze overnight, and be a nice slick entry by morning :)

The tell-tale beep-beep-beep of a work truck in reverse gear lured us down the block early this afternoon.  A bulldozer working on snow removal.

Gives you an idea of how much snow there is to remove, huh?  A bulldozer this size is no joke.

And then, bless Matt, he took all five for a walk while I got dinner on the table.

{be still my heart.... I just cannot get enough of that blue sky!}

Luke with a nasty fever all last night and today too.  My arms are sore tonight from the many hours I spent holding him today.  And the 45 minutes pre-dinner that Matt had the kids outside - I scrambled fast paced to work on the many things I'd put off because I couldn't do them one handed :)

[Luke never really felt well at all today, and spent both outdoor times on my back or Matt's in our ergo carrier.  He's sleeping now, and it's difficult to imagine tonight could be any worse than last night was, but we shall see.....]

just a day

This morning my neighbor brought over some extra food that she got from the senior center in town.  Not the first time that she has done this - shown up on my doorstep with free food!  Apparently the senior center sometimes can't use up all the stuff that it receives and she's happy to pick up the extras and bring some along to me.  [......wonder why she thinks we might be able to eat up some extra food.... ha!]

Today's load included about 30 precariously ripe bananas.  I made four loaves of banana bread and we still have a pile on the counter (that will end up in the freezer).  

Grateful for this unexpected gift.... 

Early afternoon Isaac and I worked on his allowance poster.  With his fifth birthday just a few days away he's eager to begin receiving allowance :)  We usually start with a poster style set of envelopes as we divide saving/spending/giving and later move to an easier to use method for money storage. 

Our house is full of creative energy and this young lady is constantly dreaming up something.  Today it was "scientists in the jungle" and the team of researchers was busy scanning for animals .... 

... and examining interesting finds with their magnifying glasses. 

The carpet-clutter is all picked up, the kids are all in bed, and I can't think of any more good ways to procrastinate so it's officially time for me to head over to the pile of work that I've put off for a few days now.  ugh.

racing through the weekend

Last weekend brought a few more days on the road for Matt and me.  Although it was a jam-packed working weekend and not really planned around having a kiddo in tow we both felt like it might be best to take John Paul along.

Man oh man am I glad we took him along.

And man oh man are we worn out this Monday morning.  Not from the little guy, just from a packed schedule.  But a totally-worth-it packed schedule because we saw so many people that we enjoy.

John Paul is busy busy busy but he's also our best car sleeper.

He slept 200 of the 270 miles on our drive there.  Score.

And we saw grass for the first time in months :)  Lots less snow as we headed south and west, and perfect snow-ball making temps.  We took a brief break on Saturday afternoon to walk through a park.

We got home Sunday evening and picked up the other four kids from Grandma and Grandpa's house. There was plenty of snow melt here too, but not too many grass sightings yet :)

We're looking at a gorgeous weather forecast and I'm planning on plenty of outside play.  I'm also discovering just how WET outdoor play is in the spring.  This morning's outdoor romp produced three sets of soaked mittens and soaked snow pants and soaked jackets.

With Matt's help we rescued our fallen snowmen from a few weeks ago and re-made them bigger and better.  Although as warm as it'll be today and later in the week they may not last long.

I'm off to gather my boys and then head out to pick up the girls at school.  Last Friday was the fifth (and final) Fun Friday where they dress up along a certain theme (pajama day, crazy color day, beach day).  March 7th was 'team colors day' and - no surprise - they were all decked out in Sioux gear.

When in Rome.... you cheer for the Sioux :)