Contact Lenses, A Square Dance, One Silly Goose and More!

February was full of all kinds of really great things!!

Tate decided to try out contact lenses to see if he liked wearing those daily over wearing his glasses daily.

I was SO proud of him for his perseverance in learning how to put those contacts in his eyes and how to take care of them.

This did not come easily to his Asian shaped eye lids and we had more than one visit to the eye doctor because of that!

Ultimately he decided to stick with his glasses for now.

I love how his glasses look!

Visiting the eye doctor gave us a good excuse to spend some time in town shopping, using a gift certificate that Eliza got for Christmas, and having dinner out!

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Eliza’s violin instructor does SUCH an amazing job at giving the children opportunities to use their violin talents!

At the beginning of February she hosted a square dance where her students played while everyone danced.

The students got a chance to dance too!

It was really SO much fun!!!

We had a lot of the fam bam join us for that evening which made it even more fun!

The caller for the square dance was very talented herself and included the children so seamlessly into all the fun!

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We all headed to David and Kay’s one Sunday in February after church to celebrate our newest one year old, Miss Goldie Hayes!!

No, I cannot believe she is one – time is such a thief!!

Our grandchildren are such joy and one of the brightest spots in life right now!!

Goldie is SO cute – she reminds me a lot of Kayla at that age!!

She enjoyed her party very much and loved the camp chair and books her GPa and NaiNai (that’s us!!) bought her for a gift!

I was thinking of summer already, folks – what can I say!!

Kay’s place is truly one of my favorite places to be….they serve the BEST coffee and have such a warm and cozy home to hang out in.

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Well, for goodness sake, I could never have just picked one of these photos!

It’s a NaiNai’s privilege to have as many photos as she wants, right??

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Some NEW things in February were a new author Addie told me about that I started to enjoy, a new wax craft for Eliza that she bought with some Christmas money, Tate earning money as he received his very first paycheck ever,  a new card game that we really got into and enjoyed over and over, and a newer thing worth mentioning again would be that Keurig that has its own water line!!!

I love that coffee maker that doesn’t need filled!

It’s the little things!!

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February had us continuing on with our school and school like activities.

I really enjoy looking back on our routine photos at home the most!

These memories are what shape the biggest part of our days.

Tate, Eliza and I had to get used to just being the three of us – and I think we did (and are doing) a pretty good job!!

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I am thankful for the routines I have in a solid place in my life these days.

The capacity I need to take care of everything that is on my plate depends on these solid routines.

Things like my non-negotiable Bible time each morning, journaling in my journal, working out with my trainer, taking supplements, eating a strict AIP diet, getting to bed on time – all these little things add up.

I praise the Lord all the time for blessing my efforts!!

He has been SO kind to me!!

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We had some big snow storms, beautiful skies, and beautiful birds throughout the winter!

One of our biggest storms had Blake and Lane stuck at home in the middle of February – they could not get out of the end of our road as there was a three foot drift there.

We were seriously land locked!!

The snow was so so pretty though.

We were thankful for our neighbor who came to help us unbury our driveway.

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I sure do take a lot of food photos!

I have a reason, I promise.

My time in our kitchen is what I share most over on Instagram.

I get a lot of questions about my cooking and baking over there!

I like helping those who are just learning to love cooking and baking too.

So – food photos will be a big part of my memories here too!

It sure is easier to put them all here in my scrapbook with this collage format.

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I have shared my sourdough waffle recipe here on the blog.

They are still a constant staple in our freezer!

They seriously turn out perfectly every single time!

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Of course all of this food has to come from somewhere!

Was it two years ago already that I started shopping in bulk from Costco and Azure?

Time goes so fast – I am guessing it was!

We still do that!

But we are not driving to Costco once a month anymore.

I do order dry goods from them and have them delivered.

Blake stops there when he is near one to get our frozen goods.

I do still order Azure monthly – which is a huge blessing for all of the rest of our bulk dry goods!

I will stop at a grocery store whenever I have time when I am in town for the rest.

We go through food fast here!

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There are always appointments to attend to, no matter what month it is.

We have routine dentist, orthodontist, haircut, and eye appointments.

We also have had some not so fun dentist appointments along the way.

We are very thankful for all the care we receive!

There are times though that I want to fire whoever is in charge of our calendar – but then I remember that it is ME!

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I have enjoyed being part of our Women to Women ministry at church for (I think) ten years now.

It has been very fun to watch this ministry grow over the years!

Sometimes I am taking care of ministry tasks at the last minute while sitting at violin lessons, just saying.

I cut bookmarks during one violin lesson just a few hours before our monthly ministry gathering – but I got it done!

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All I can say about these photos is:

TO BE A DOG.

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And about these photos?

I LOVE FAMILY DAY!

Especially one warm enough in the middle of February that allows us to hang out on the deck!

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Let me add some sky photos, so you know it is really me and all!

My signature!!

Yes, I still LOVE the sky and gawk at it every single day.

I bet I have thousands upon thousands of photos of the sky in my photo gallery!

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Well, lookie there.

More memories that were made are now kept!!

The end of February we took a fun trip – I bet you know where??

Any guesses?

That is coming up next!!

A Sweet Valentine’s Day

This year for Valentine’s Day, Blake and I had the pleasure of traveling to a marriage retreat that our friends invited us to!

We only had a 3 1/2 hour drive to get to Iowa City, and did not need to be there until noon on a Friday, which was nice.

I usually do not enjoy sitting still in a vehicle!

But these days I am starting to enjoy it more and more – especially when my hubby is in the seat next to me!

The weekend of the retreat we had the MOST beautiful weather!

It made traveling easy and packing a lot lighter!

The conference was being held at the Hyatt Regency, which was a very nice hotel.

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The conference started at noon with lunch and then a speaker.

I could not believe how very well cared for I was over this two day event!

This place sure knew how to handle food allergies – and I am here to tell you I ate like a queen!!

Lunch was DELICIOUS.

After the first speaking session, we had the rest of the afternoon free to be with our spouse.

Blake and I enjoyed getting some coffee and going for a walk outside because the weather was so beautiful!

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As we walked around town, of course we saw things that the children would love and ended up talking about them the whole time!

It was a really nice place to take a walk.

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The Valentine Banquet was that evening, and we had to be ready for it at 5:30.

I was very excited to get to eat “out” again!

Before we had our meal though, we played some games as a group – they were really fun!!

I think our favorite was the selfie game.

It was a wild scramble of finding the right people to get the selfie you needed!!

There were 225 people there!

I am not sure it helped us get to really know the other couples there – it was a competitive group – and everyone was running around!

Oh my goodness, our selfie skills are so on point, aren’t they??

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Dinner was fantastic, by the way!!

Tate had set my girlfriend and I up with some chocolates he had made for our dessert.

They brought everyone else a giant piece of “tuxedo” cake that looked like a stomach ache, or maybe a heart attack, ha, ha!

No one at our table hardly ate it.

But then they brought my girlfriend and I a fruit dessert and we were the envy of the couples at our table!!

It was delicious!

And I even got a photo with my very best bestie!!

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The next morning we had a buffet breakfast before the speakers started.

I found plenty to eat and it was perfect!!

Before we left our room to go down and check out, Blake and I watched the trees out of our room window.

We were right on the river where we were staying and there were SO MANY EAGLES!!

I have never seen so many eagles in one place!!

We counted 36 eagles in those trees!!

It felt like a hug from the Lord.

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Of course once the retreat was over, we headed right to Costco!

How can you be five minutes from a Costco and not go??

Our friends went there too so we shopped together.

It was a great way to end our couples Valentine get-away!

Then it was time to head back home to our kiddos!!

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That was the most wonderful retreat!

Blake and I could not even talk about all we heard without tears!

We are SO grateful to everyone who made that retreat possible – they really believe that strong marriages and strong families are what this country needs – and we AGREE.

Our friend’s invited us to join them again next year!!

Time will tell, but I am sure hoping we can make that happen!

Blake and I NEED time away alone, with each other, where we can focus on our marriage.

Thanks, babe, for taking off work and making this very special Valentine get-away happen.

You are one in a billion, Blake Moschel!!

 

Catching Up!! January Stuff

We always end the holidays and start the new year with several birthdays!

We celebrated Blake’s 60th and also Kamryn and Aspen’s birthday during our family day lunch on a Sunday after church.

We really laughed at Kayla’s creative gift!

My poor hubby has lots going on with his teeth right now, and is wearing an appliance to cover some teeth that had to be removed.

We thought Kayla’s case for his appliance was adorable!!

We enjoy celebrating birthdays!!

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Sundays are our all time favorite day of the week when we can set aside the time to just be all together.

Brings such a big smile to my face as I look back on these photos.

Aspen got to have a sleep over at NaiNai’s house for her birthday too and I cannot wait to continue that tradition throughout the rest of this year!

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We ate a lot of food in January.

I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen!

I still have a dinner party of six every evening for dinner and we are up to twenty-two of us on Sundays!!

I LOVE cooking and baking!

I LOVE tending to my kitchen!!

I just don’t love the grocery shopping.

That’s ok though because we buy in bulk with anything that we can!

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Sometimes I have a plan for all of this food preparation.

But then sometimes I say to myself, “Just make ANYTHING!”

They eat it all no matter what, ha, ha!

When we have afternoon activities, I do try to plan ahead so that when we finally walk back in the door dinner is ready to bake!

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Family Sundays are the biggest meal I prepare each week.

Winter is easiest, honestly, because soup is in season, in one pot, and delicious!

We also have some form of tacos often on family day!

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If anyone is even reading this besides us, you know there are a lot of predictable things here at Twin Oaks for me.

My morning quiet time, my love for coffee with frothed coconut milk and for chunky monkey, my love of Pilates and meeting with my trainer twice a week, my love for the kitchen, my love for our pups….

I like routine, what can I say?

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I LOVE my birds!

We have a feeder on the corner of our deck all winter long, and it brings us SO much joy!

This winter there were 23 red cardinals visiting here AT ONE TIME.

It was majestic!!

God is so kind!!

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I enjoy the views and sunshine off of our deck all winter long.

We are thankful for how many big windows we have here at Twin Oaks!

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Of course the children have their own interests too!

I do not think there is anything better than watching them pursue the things they are interested in!

I am in less of a hand holding season these days, and in more of cheerleading season!

It is FUN!

And they all are SO talented at so many things!

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Speaking of those kiddos…Tate got a new job in January and got glasses!

He took Lane’s spot at the library and currently works there two afternoons a week.

He loves it!

And now he can SEE!

That stinker – the eye doctor could not believe how bad his eyes were!

He had never said anything to us.

The eye doctor said to me, “Well, you think his teacher would have noticed!”

To which I said, “Yes, you would think SO!!”

SIGH.

Aren’t his glasses cute though??

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Addie and Scottie went to Florida in January.

When they dropped their dog off to us, I pretended I was packed and ready to go with them!

SO RUDE – they did not take me!!!!

Kayla sent me a photo later that day showing me that the kiddos were praying for me, because I had my tongue tie released that afternoon.

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I had my first early graduate in December!!

Lane Stevan has an amazing job currently, and we are enjoying watching the Lord work out his next steps!!

He is our giant – even taller than Chad now!

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Blake had the second of several more surgeries on his mouth in January.

This one really had him down for several days – it was ROUGH.

It wasn’t long until he was back doing all the things though.

He is our resident kombucha maker, and fixer of all things!

His wife gave him a new Keurig coffee machine for his 60th birthday that has a water line that runs to it!!!!!

I promise I was thinking of him when I bought it, ha, ha!

He had that coffee maker hooked up quick and efficiently and we ALL love it!

No more filling the Keurig with water all day long!

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We put up so much from our gardens last fall.

You can read about it all here.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how long the things we preserved in the refrigerator downstairs lasted!

We had leeks and cabbage just bagged up and stored in the fridge and they were fresh all winter long!!

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How’s that for keeping some memories from January?

My little scrapbook here is a joy for us to look back on!!

And I would like to say that I have a girlfriend who will be thrilled that I finally figured out how to collage my photos!

It’s a labor of love, friends!

Lots has changed around here this last month – so here is hoping I will be able to meet this goal I have about this lil’ ole blog of mine.

I miss keeping our memories here!

If you are out there and reading along – until next time!!

February memories coming up next!!

Our Most FAVORITE Trip to Illinois and Indy

October of last year brought a family trip to Illinois and Indianapolis!

And when I say family trip – I mean our ENTIRE family!!

It was the BEST family day ever that lasted three days!

There were twenty-one of us on this trip in five different vehicles.

Looking back at these photos to download for this post has me smiling SO big and wanting to do it ALL again!

The first photo was in our driveway as we got ready to head out.

It was fun to meet up with each other on our long drive – especially when your daughter gives you cookies to snack on that she made for you!!

Our first stop was in Morton, Illinois, to see Blake’s Mom.

Of course we started at our favorite coffee shop – Four30 Scones!!

Goodness, I just love this photo!!

 

After having our treats, we walked up the road to a little park so we could let the children run around and play.

The weather was SO nice for the middle of October!

We were thankful for that since we were such a big crowd!

Blake and I met in the summer of 1985 in this town, right near this park in the Dairy Queen parking lot, which is behind us in the photo below.

Isn’t that CRAZY??!!

Look what 40 years can do!!

We got a photo of everyone with Blake’s Mom, but we were just missing Chad and Kailey who were meeting up with us in Indy later that evening.

What a fun afternoon that was!

After our visit was over, we all got on the road to head to Indy to our hotel there.

We had about a three and a half hour drive that evening.

Our hotel was BEAUTIFUL and we all had rooms close to each other there.

Of course I started the morning Saturday in God’s Word with a hot cup of coffee!

We have a travel Keurig, well, because we are old and think we deserve it, ha, ha!

The best part of the morning was heading down to the breakfast area and being there when everyone came down for breakfast!

I WAS HAVING THE BEST DAY EVER!!

And I do not have one photo of that part, drats.

We headed to my Mom’s place as soon as we were all ready.

We were having  brunch there – I prepared half of it and my brother did the rest!

It was SO fun to be there all together enjoying my Mom and my brother.

My brother was HAVING THE BEST DAY EVER TOO!!

We took an opportunity to get some photos with my Mom.

She too, by the way, was having a great day!

She told my brother “it is SO nice having the house full!”

Yes, I cried!

These photos are precious to us all and I am so glad to have them.

Around one o’clock we all headed to Tuttle’s Apple Orchard for a fun afternoon in the beautiful weather!

We had been there before with my brother – but we usually visit the first week of November and the weather isn’t quite as warm sometimes.

Little did we know how absolutely CRAZY it would be there!

When we started getting close and saw two police cars directing traffic we were on the family chat wondering if we should even try it.

I am SO glad we did!

It was busy, but mostly by the food area, and we had already eaten.

I mean, look at this sky – and now you can see why so many people were there!

We got checked in and then made a buddy plan for all of the grand children.

They were NOT allowed to let go of their buddy’s hand when we were walking!

It worked well and Kayla and I both felt confident with this plan!

There was SO much to do and it was all SO fun!!!

After we played for awhile we decided to get some slushies.

This was the WHOLE reason I was there, just so you know!!

They have apple cider slushies and they are so so good.

My brother and Chad went to wait in line for them, while we all waited at a picnic table under a big tree in the shade.

Everyone gave these slushies a huge thumbs up, and they were very refreshing on such a warm day!

Even Miss Goldie Hayes loved it!!

I want another one!

We then decided to go on the hay ride and do the corn maze.

The hay ride was covered so we were in the shade for that too, which was nice!

Once we were wore out, hungry and hot, we headed back to the hotel.

We had reserved the conference room for the evening so there would be space for us all to eat together and hang out together.

We got Chipotle for dinner and also had snacks that everyone brought.

It was perfect!!

Next up was swimming!!

I am here to tell you – that pool was ffrreeeeezzzzinnnngggg.

Not one of those crazy kids cared!

Even the biggest kids of all – I will let you decide who they are, ha, ha!

Some of us were smart and stayed on dry land.

Well, kind of dry land!

I am so so glad someone took a photo of my brother and I!!

The only photo I have of him the whole trip, what in the world.

You know what Sunday brought.

We had to go back home.

We hung out in the hotel all morning, sitting outside by a fire and enjoying everyone SO much.

Then we all headed out – not all at the exact same time, but close.

We did manage to hook up with Scottie and Addie that evening, back in Morton, Illinois, in a parking lot for some snacks.

Home Sweet Home.

And honestly no place I would rather be!

Look how green and beautiful everything still was in mid October!!

So much in my heart I could say about the abundant blessing of family.

Having a large family is certainly not for the faint of heart – it is busy!!!

But Blake and I are literally living out our prayers all those years ago when we first got married – God has been SO KIND to say YES to our prayers.

Being able to see my Mom and my brother also fills my heart so full.

Being able to take this trip to see my Mom and brother with everyone literally made my heart burst.

Just reliving this through these few photos and typing these words has complete gratitude bubbling up inside of me!

I have dreams, as you know!!

Dreams turned into prayers.

Time will tell how the Lord chooses to answer, but it is my hope that we will take more trips like this together and make many more memories to last a lifetime!

Thank you, Jesus, for it all!!