weekday days

What exactly do I do when the kids are at school?  Well, honestly, I'm still figuring it all out.  I run.  I walk.  I do tons of stuff that gives me an excuse to be outside.  I read.  I try to get dinner totally prepared before I leave to get the kids.

There's the constant laundry and cleaning and shopping and cooking but honestly, all these tasks are simpler and quicker in America so it doesn't feel like too much (though I do miss having my helpers around to pick up some of the tasks... of course, the flip side is without them around the house stays much cleaner!)

I have some big and little projects I've been working on too - things that I really really WANT to get done but never seem to make it to the top of my priority list.  I've got 9 years worth of books I've created from my blog and I finally got the 2016 book finished and printed. 

John Paul opened it to the first page and - lucky guy - with a New Year's Day birthday he's front and center on page 1.  Now I've pulled out all the other years and there is much flipping of pages and it's so fun to see everyone enjoying these.  Each book is 200ish pages and a huge undertaking but I'm committed, and now with 2016 behind me I'll turn to getting this year under control.  

I love love love views like this.  (taken on my old phone through the front windshield and it's still just gorgeous)

And we continue to watch a lot of soccer :).  It's really been a fun treat for all of us.  Luke scored twice this morning .... once during a throw in from the opposing team when the ball bounced off Luke and into the goal.  5 year old soccer is pretty awesome.  The other goal was a bit more legit and he brought the ball downfield and took a shot on goal.  He was pretty proud. 

Isaac too plays for a great team and they've only lost once (with maybe 7 or 8 wins).  His team is super fun to watch, and I know a lot of the parents and siblings on the sidelines.  

John Paul?  Well his team is pretty spectacularly terrible.  They loose, catastrophically, every single game.  Matt says John Paul is perfecting his lament.  His spirits are remarkably high considering, and he's definitely the least competitive of the boys around here, so it's nice that we aren't dealing with emotional fall out from a loosing season.  

And the girls?  Well they are good sports about the whole thing.  At least most of the time.  Julianna and Lydia are loyal in attendance, if not attention.  And pretty soon they'll have their own fun - they start swim team this Monday.  

UND football

It was last weekend, a week ago, that we were watching Fighting Hawks football.  And now tonight we are watching them again (online coverage).  And both games it's been a bit of disappointment from the Hawks.  ugh.

But the entire experience last week at Alerus didn't disappoint, and my kids were excited to be there.  College football was a big part of my childhood and I'm glad to share some of it with them!

Although none of my childhood football games looked quite like this :)

The pre-game was pretty fun stuff.

We just bought tickets for a hockey game too - in a few weeks when my parents are in town.  I guess you could say we are loyal fans as long as we're in town - ha!

Turtle River trips (and a little soccer too)

Thursday Matt and I took a picnic to a nearby state park and did a little hiking.   It was gorgeous, sunny and warm.

The next day I drove for Lydia's class field trip to the exact same location!  Cloudy and cold!  ha!

Lydia's teacher is just perfect for her!  I'm so thankful!

the 3 fifth grade girls (Lydia, Marit, Kaela)

It was a really fun group to go hiking with....

and then a little science work back at the visitors center!

Soccer has been the same weather story.  We've had several nights of games when I could have sat there and watched kids play for hours!

Setting sun, running kids, it's pretty perfect. (Isaac on the right in the red jersey.)

And then we've had two Saturday mornings of games when it was just so so chilly.  argh.

Everyone is still really enjoying the soccer and I'm thankful for the girls who have done a lot of soccer watching!  Julianna and Lydia were the only two on the sidelines last week when Luke scored a goal!  Yay for big sister cheers!

And Julianna missed a lot of photo ops last week because she was gone on her school retreat!  She had a great time and it felt so good Saturday morning to all be together again!

blue skies on a Wednesday

So yesterday was just gorgeous.  My weekly walking date with a friend got cancelled and while I enjoy waking with friends, I like walking by myself too :) Ahhhh, so quiet, so beautiful, so much time to myself.

And there is no homework on Wednesday so I picked up the kids and drove straight to a park because it was the kind of afternoon where no one wants to be inside.

Swings!  These are a rarity in Asia and Luke learned how to pump our first week in America and now he is a steady swinger!

And then? AWANA!  My kiddos have been looking forward to this for three years :) We've got two in Sparks, two in T&T and one in youth group!

Lydia and Isaac both worked hard to pass their Start Zones and earn their t-shirts (Lydia needed 9 verses, and she did them all in one week!).  John Paul and Luke earned their vests the first week because they only needed one verse and it was one they already knew.... they are so proud to wear them and maybe next week I'll get their picture.

Matt helps with older elementary boys and I teach in the Puggles class so it's a big night for our family and lots of children to disciple.  Thankful for this program and these months to enjoy it!

Tomorrow Julianna comes home (!!!!) and then Saturday it's soccer games in the morning and a UND football game in the afternoon.

pre-dinner hoops

Basketballs bouncing on concrete is the sound outside our window as I'm finishing getting dinner on the table.

and this is the view from our front stoop :)

just missing one big sister away at camp!

Mexican dinner crowds

We invited friends over for dinner and S'mores - and then it rained and rained and rained and we amended the plans and just had the dinner, postponed the S'mores (to a crowd of disappointed kids who were hoping to roast marshmallows in a chilly downpour?!?!) 

So fun to have a crowd in the house and it still amazes me that we get to have good friends on both sides of the globe.

We improvised and set up extra tables in the garage!

Which is reason #692 why I love having garage space - even when my car isn't parked in it!

Friday night was the start to a busy weekend - soccer and then an overnight trip to Fargo to see family.  We got home about 3:30 Sunday afternoon and Julianna was super excited to pack for her middle school retreat!  The 6th, 7th and 8th grades left this morning on a trip to a Bible camp in Wisconsin!

I don't expect to hear from her until Friday late afternoon.  Life already feels different without the biggest sister around, but I'm thrilled for her to have this opportunity.

freezing on the soccer field

Well our first full week with all three boys playing soccer Saturday morning and the weather was cruddy.  ugh.

John Paul started us out with a 10:00am game.  In his age group they play 25 minute halves and it's a big field for little guys!  John Paul's team had no-one on the bench (I'm thinking some other moms weren't interested in watching soccer in 50 degree mist?!?) and he played the entire game.

With lots of sideline encouragement :)

and he has neat coaches who are super encouraging even when the other team scores more goals! 

While John Paul was just getting started Luke was lining up on an nearby field for his 10:15 game!

The five year olds play 20 minute halves on smaller fields with smaller nets, and the main strategy seems to be "chase the ball". 

The kid who gets to the ball first gets to kick it ;)

Game-ending huddle and some encouraged little guys as they had a lot of balls go into the net! 

And then we had a short break before Isaac started at 11:30.  His team is my favorite to watch.  No offense to my other guys ... but I have lots of friends with boys on Isaac's team, and my favorite coach in the complex to admire :) 

Also, Isaac's team is just fun - they pass and really play as a team, and they are good too :) 

Isaac is #2, in the black hoodie.  And I know this is from early in the game because those boys warmed up and started stripping off the layers well before halftime.  

Those of us on the sidelines never got quite as warm :). But we had a great time and we'll be back again next Saturday!  

morning views

This is new for us - out the door and off to school in the morning - but it's starting to feel normal.  And good.

It's been so warm this week, no one needs early morning sweatshirts and the morning's have lost their crisp ND feel.  But I checked the weather forecast and today's high of 93 is going to drop to a brisk high of 60 on Sunday.  Fall is coming :)

In what feels like crazy lavish blessing God provided a way for our kids to eat both breakfast and lunch at school!  I still can't believe it!

So our mornings are low key and easy peasy - wake the kiddos by 7:15, a few things to get ready for the day, Bible as a family, and we are out the door by 7:45 (ideally!)

The drive to and from school is one of my favorite parts of the day.  Car rides are so much less stressful here than in Asia and we talk and laugh and I love hearing them talk to one another and to me.  Today John Paul was reading his library book to Isaac and Julianna was spouting off lists of be/helping/linking verbs for her grammar test.

And now I'm off to pick up them all up.  This is when the energy level kicks up a few notches!  woohoo!

potato bowl fun

Potato Bowl weekend is a pretty big deal and we had a pretty great time!  First up, Thursday evening's French Fry Feed.

Trays full of piping hot *free* French fries and a grassy field full of bouncy houses.

Then Saturday morning we were off to the parade - and the kids were in it!  Riverside had a float and everyone had been talking parade all week long!

Small town perfection right here!

good times, and we came home that afternoon to watch the Hawks win their football game.  Isaac is the area's newest, biggest fan and it's such fun to watch him enjoy cheering for UND!  We are hoping to get tickets to a football game and go ourselves!

soccer evenings

We are getting into the swing of soccer season and now that I've wrapped my head around the "we really truly must sit down to dinner by 5:05pm at the latest" mantra, it's pretty smooth sailing around here!

The three boys are only three years apart in age (3 years, 2 days from top to bottom, to be exact) but we still managed to land them in three different age categories. Sigh.  Luke plays on a kindergarten team, John Paul on a 1st/2nd grade team and Isaac on a 3rd/4th grade team.  I had to type a schedule to keep up with it all! ha!

Isaac and John Paul practice at the same time on Tuesdays, but two different parks!  Lucky for our one-car family, John Paul's practice is just a few blocks away, so we walk or ride bikes :)

Luke practices Mondays for a half hour :)

And then the older two boys have games Thursday evenings and everyone has Saturday morning games - but the games are all at the same park! Perfect!

Yesterday Matt dropped me and the kids off at the pool to swim while he took Luke to practice.  Then he brought Luke back to the pool and headed off to a meeting and we kept on swimming!

The little two guys changed out of swim suits and straight into pjs for the short drive home!

an old-fashioned threshing bee

Sunday morning we were heading to an old fashioned threshing bee near Stump Lake.  But first, Grandpa recorded everyone's win-loss guesses for the boys basketball team season.  We'll know the winner in January :).

Then, a 50 mile drive to Stump Lake.  Stump Lake is in a large county full of North Dakota prairie and not so full of people (less than 3,000 in the entire county!).   The threshing bee was really cool, kinda like a small county fair.  There were horses and old steam engines and horse-drawn plows and an old grain mill and a one room schoolhouse and all kinds of things to look at and walk in and explore.

There might be more restored vintage tractors in Nelson County than people.

Notice the horizon.  Yep.  That's prairie farmland.

Grandma grew up on a farm with a truck just like this one!  And Grandpa grew up driving tractors just like the ones on display - and he was driving them early too... started when he was 7!  {It's stories like this that encourage me that my boys can be held responsible to remove their dirty clothes from the bathroom floor and put them in the laundry basket - if Grandpa was driving a tractor at their age?  Also, I have one son who would be a superb young tractor driver, one son who - propelled by sheer curiosity - would dismantle the entire tractor and one son who could charm a stranger into gifting him a tractor.  Any guesses?}

Parade time!  this was rural North Dakota awesome.

The kids even participated in a pedal tractor pull.  Based on Sunday's results I wouldn't counsel any of them towards a career in tractor pull (but their older cousin Carson did win one when he was younger!).  But they were so brave to try a new activity in a new environment and these people make me so thankful I'm their mama.

Back at the campground, time for another yummy meal and campfire.  Brothers learning to be strong together :)

What a sweet weekend!  And now back to the real world and a washing machine full of camping laundry - perfect start to the week!