A Trip of a Lifetime!

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On Wednesday, April 6th, Blake, myself, and our four youngest children hopped on a plane and headed to Naples, Florida!

To say this is a dream come true for me is an understatement!

It only would have been PERFECT if our WHOLE crew would have been able to join us!!

We are not vactioners, as you know if you have been around here for any time at all, so this truly was the trip of a lifetime!

I have somewhere close to a gazillion photos – so I decided to “scrapbook” our memories in three different posts – each covering three days at a time.

SO…here we go!!

It was freezing cold and snowing when we left that Wednesday, which made flying to somewhere so warm and summer like even sweeter.

The kiddos were great travelers!

We drove three hours to the Minneapolis airport and caught a direct flight to Fort Myers from there.

We had a rent-a-car reserved for when we arrived.

The line was LONG.

Do you see my hubby (in between Eliza and Lane’s head) who is the last one in line here?

Here he is again one hour later.

Do you see him there??

Not quite to the front yet!

That’s ok though, because THIS is what was outside that airport door!!

When we finally got to pick a car out of the lot we chose the biggest one we could find – but still had to ride to the hotel like this, ha, ha!!

We headed out for grocery, made a quick dinner, and then got unpacked and settled into our little home away from home.

My wonderful hubby thought to bring the lap top and a cord so that we could run our discovery plus through the T.V.

That meant they could watch their favorite show on Animal Planet with no commercials – which is the way we watch shows for obvious reasons!

Thursday morning I was welcomed by this early bird during my Bible time – who, by the way, was thrilled that his mama had lost her mind and bought cinnamon roll cereal at the grocery store the night before.

Something I love very much about being a mom of many is how different they all are!!

Here is Eliza – who slept late – and went straight from her bed to the couch.

Tate promptly went to make his bed, now that everyone was FINALLY awake and all!

It wasn’t very warm on Thursday and it was also partly cloudy.

We went to check out the pool anyway and decided it was perfect for us Wisconsinites!

We swam and played there most of the day!

In the late afternoon we got everyone cleaned up and headed out and about.

We took the kiddos to get smoothies at our favorite smoothie place and also stopped and picked up Chipotle for everyone (but me!) for dinner.

I ate once everyone else was done, don’t worry! My dinner was fantastic too.

Blake and I had bought a new card game on date night the week before we left on our trip to surprise the kids with!

They really enjoyed playing five crowns and I highly recommend it as a fun game!

Friday morning after breakfast we headed to the beach.

It was the first time the three youngest have seen the ocean!!

Chad had been at the ocean when he was nine months old, which he obviously does not remember.

It was the BEST to watch them experience all these new things!!!

We played there for awhile, but it was cold!!

Back to the pool we went, and ate lunch pool side that day.

Blake and I had other surprises that the kiddos did not know about!

He had bought them each a kite, so Friday late afternoon we went and flew them at a park.

It was SUPER DUPER windy and a great day for kite flying!

There was also a disc golf course at the park.

We tried to play a round, but the super duper windy part was not a good fit for playing disc golf!!

Eliza and I enjoyed the swings for awhile too!

Friday night we headed back and made dinner in our home away from home.

The kitchen was challenging, to say the least!

It only had two burners and a microwave…but they had a grill outside we could use.

We managed to pull off this delicious meal!

Saturday was another chillier windy day – can’t wait to share what we decided to do!!

That post will be next!!!

Just reliving these memories through the photos and my words is filling me with JOY!!

It was SO wonderful to be somewhere warm, away from the our day to day stuff!!

Stay tuned for more Florida photos!!

Happy Birthday Lane Stevan and Kayla Lauren!!!

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On Sunday we celebrated two very special people!!

Lane’s birthday is April 2nd and Kayla’s birthday is April 8th.

Kayla reminded me how when she was Lane’s age she was praying and praying for another sibling – and just look – God answered and gave her Lane….and then Eliza….and then Tate!!!

We opened gifts first this time because we had just had lunch at church and it wasn’t time to eat again.

I LOVE TO GIVE GIFTS!!

Planning someone’s birthday is wwaaayyy better than having your own!

Lane chose our evening meal for the celebration.

Usually it takes them awhile to decide what to have, but Lane answered within one second of me asking him what he would like!

Chili soup! Rolls! And fruit salad!

You got it, Lane!!

I also made a chili soup that was nightshade free for those of us who needed that!

Of course there were desserts!

Not one, but two!!

Lane wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting – that’s my boy!!

When I asked Kayla what she would like, she said cheesecake – that’s my girl!!

It was delicious and fun to sing to them!!

We got to spend the whole afternoon and evening together, which made it seem like it was MY birthday!!

I love Sunday family day. LOVE, love it!

Can I just say I am so glad Kayla was so faithful in her prayers to pray for more siblings??

Cue all the tears.

Lane Stevan, how I love your visionary spirit, your thoughtful, quiet self (until you are not!), your love for the Lord and your knowledge of His Word.

How you look at everything as an opportunity to make it better, and also for what a GREAT big brother you are for Tate and Eliza!!

You are one in a million, Lane.

And WE LOVE YOU!!

Kayla Lauren, how I love your compassionate heart, your willingness to pour into others, how you do not know the words “that will be too hard”, how you and David are raising your arrows for His Kingdom, and how you still consider your Mama a friend.

You inspire, encourage, and challenge me daily and I am SO thankful for you, sweetheart!

You fill your roll as the oldest sibling of this bunch so perfectly.

You, too, are one in a million, Kay!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Happy, happy birthday to our Lane Stevan and Kayla Lauren!!

Does it Feel Like April to You?

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Happy Monday morning!!

My Dad and I always started our conversations with a weather report – do you all do that with someone too?

I miss him.

Well, anyway – it is a warmer 37 degrees this morning, but raining and foggy here too.

We have had an interesting week weather wise – you will see in the photos that follow!

Monday evening was our Women to Women gathering at our church.

I am on the planning committee for this monthly gathering, and enjoy it very much!

I am thankful for my crew here who helped decorate and set up all the tables and chairs on Sunday after church – it was nice to have it done ahead of time – and a great opportunity for the kiddos to be involved!

Monday we got after our school rhythm, and then in the afternoon the kiddos helped me bake the potatoes for the baked potato bar we were serving the gals Monday night.

They are FUN helpers!!

I have had a harder week this week autoimmune health wise, Monday included.

I even drank some caffeine hoping it would help, but I had to rest quite a bit.

I managed to make it through the day and evening, praise the Lord!

Tuesday had us back in our school rhythm, but Wednesday we just did Math and then headed to Aspen’s place to play and have lunch!

We had a blast, of course!

And I had the CUTEST little barista making me espresso’s by the dozens, ha, ha!!

Thursday morning we woke up to this, and I might have groaned.

It was Sadie’s sixth birthday that day!

She is the sweetest pup, but don’t open a door without knowing where she is or she will BE GONE.

Stickin’ cute pup.

I think she is just ready for spring too!!

School on Thursday was full of fun things – like watching videos about the first man on the moon, science experiments, and doing art class!

I found Tate tracing his art project in the closet!

If you have been here only a second, you know what Friday means!!

Grocery, cleaning, playing with the kiddos, and DATE NIGHT!

I left for grocery bright and early and was at my first stop by 6:30 a.m., which is 50 minutes away from home.

Grocery is just such a big job but is way easier when you are the only one at the store, am I right??

Friday was a GORGEOUS day – so warm, blue and sunny!!!

Friday afternoon Kayla picked up Eliza for a date!

Kayla had given Eliza a future date coupon for her birthday, and Friday was the day!

Eliza was SO excited and watched the clock all day!

They went and had gelato and then went shopping.

There were some cute tag alongs in that car there – which made it double the fun!!

Blake and I did some shopping for date night, and then we found a neighborhood and took a very long walk!

The weather was BEAUTIFUL!!

Saturday morning we woke up to this!

Again!

But this snow fall looked like a movie set – it was so beautiful and covered everything, even the trees!

The snow always brings the cardinals back to us though!

Do you see them there?

While we were making a big breakfast Saturday morning, my hubby loaded the trash to take it to the dump.

He came back in the house and said, “How does one family generate so much trash?” to which Tate answered, “We are a lot of souls, Dad.”

He is so cute.

Since I had made a big breakfast for everyone on Saturday morning, and it was Lane’s FOURTEENTH birthday (I know!!), we put a candle in Lane’s breakfast and sang to him!

Saturday was a BIG kitchen day as we got ready for meal day at church yesterday and also a birthday bash after church to celebrate not only Lane, but Kayla too!

Right before I took this photo I said something like “hold still for one sec!”

Do you spy what I spy with my little eye??

Grant?

Who ducked down when I said that so he wouldn’t be in the photo?

Ha, ha!!

We laughed so hard!!

I hollered at him too, don’t worry, and then I took this one instead!

Saturday also brought a piano assessment test for Eliza with her piano instructor!

She PASSED and moved up to Level 5!!

Piano assessments are not the best for my crew, because they are only on Saturdays.

We have to be on a live chat for 45 minutes, which means everyone else has to be QUIET – because this house is tiny!!

They managed!

And Eliza did GREAT!!

By Saturday afternoon, all of that snow was gone, and it looked like this!!

With a beautiful sunset in the evening!!

Tate, Eliza and I made the fruit salad for the birthday party yesterday morning before church.

I also made two batches of rolls then too – this is one of them!

It ended up being a busy morning in the kitchen as well!

It was another good week in the kitchen though!!

Look at some of the yumminess that we made!!

By the end of the week I was trying to figure out how to use up 20 some leftover baked potatoes!

We got creative and even put them under our Chinese orange bowl dinner one night.

We received the sweatshirts and t-shirts this week that we had ordered.

They were a fund raiser for a sweet family who is going through a life-changing event as their 17 year old son battles cancer.

We are so thankful to have these shirts to wear as we continue to pray for them!

I ordered a new kind of coffee to try.

I have been reacting to coffee for months now.

I have only used this one once – it is not that great.

I think I may have just lost my taste for coffee though!

Time will tell!

If you are looking for a clean decaf coffee, you might want to give this one a try!

You know what will be next, right?

That wonderful birthday celebration we had yesterday!!

Celebrating Lane and Kayla was AWESOME!!

There was good food, delicious desserts (thank you, Addie Mae!), and WE WERE ALL TOGETHER!!

The best day, for sure.

Stay tuned!

I hope you all had a wonderful week with more predictable weather than we had!

And There Goes March!

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Good sunny morning from us here at Twin Oaks!!

How thankful I am that the sun is shining – it has been missing around these parts lately!

It’s a very cold 16 degrees…so the sun matters, just saying.

We jumped back into full-time school work last Monday after our busy week the week before, and enjoyed a week of school!

Piano lessons started again too after our piano teacher’s spring break.

It was a GREAT week!!

Chad had some economics lectures to listen to this past week –

Art class was super fun on Thursday!

In the midst of all that fun school happening, we filled our free time with lots of other things.

Last Monday was 69 degrees, remember?

I washed and put away all the snow clothes and we were outside endlessly that day!!

There is always laundry – snow clothes or not – and we have folding parties to keep up with it all.

Tuesday brought pouring rain and cold.

I had to run to town for an appointment and lots of errands – it was not fun in all that rain!

Here is another reason I like to be a country girl – look at the traffic!

Tuesday’s weather carried through the rest of the week and even part of Saturday – it has been so, so cold and either raining or snowing.

We found lots to keep us busy here at home!

Of course there was lots of yummy food!

The cold weather gave us the urge to bake too.

Here’s the kid’s lunch one day –

And here is my lunch!

I made meatloaf for dinner one evening – the guys LOVE meatloaf!

Baking things fills bellies and makes your home smell fantastic all at the same time!

We had Asian chicken which is SO yummy!

The basting sauce is apricot jam, lime juice, fresh garlic and fresh ginger.

So much flavor!

Another favorite here is baked yam bar.

So filling!

We also played lots of games and even watched some shows one long afternoon.

Friday took me back to town super early to get our weekly grocery.

It was COLD.

I shop for the bulk of our grocery at a place called Woodman’s, which is an employee owned store with the best prices.

Then I stop at one more store for the things I cannot get there – the most important things that is – like this chocolate I love, ha, ha!!

I have an amazing crew once I get home with a van full of grocery.

We have a system and have all of it put away fast!!

Friday was so snowy and blustery – the house just shook with the wind!

Eliza and I played games in the afternoon while Tate begged me for things to do in the kitchen.

Please never grow up, sweet boy!

He told me, “Mom, it’s great being ten because you get to do things all by yourself with no help.”

Isn’t that so sweet?!

You go for it, Tater Tot!!

Saturday the guys went on an adventure – to a gun range in Rochester, Minnesota and to shop at Scheels.

It was our birthday present to Grant all the way back in August!

They had the BEST time and I’m so glad they got to do that together!!

They were just missing David, who had other plans.

Tate and Eliza and I pulled off a big kitchen day on Saturday morning and then we had the afternoon free.

Tate was reading a book to Eliza, who was downstairs, over the walkie talkies with their ear buds in.

I love the creative things they find to do!!

Saturday was super SWEET watching just the two of them have the day together!

Sometimes three is a crowd, if you know what I mean!

We also went for a walk when the sun came out Saturday afternoon, but only lasted about five minutes because good grief it was cold and so very windy!!

Yesterday was filled with church and our favorites…how CUTE is this??

I think Ellie Joy lined those up that way – she is our little organized one!!

Having Sundays with David, Kayla and the grands is the BEST!!!

Did I mention it was sunny today?

And it was sunny yesterday?

It’s SO pretty!!!

Last but not least, here is a favorite photo from the week of Tate wearing my sweater.

He made me feel like I must be a giant as he wore that around the house!

Can you imagine if he put on Chad’s sweatshirt??

Chad really is a giant!

It was a fantastic week.

Here’s hoping for another one – but it really is all about perspective anyway!

I promise there is good in everything!!!

We are counting down the days until our fantastic get-away – NINE SLEEPS!!!

The kids are SO excited and SO ARE BLAKE AND I!!!

Hope your week was great, friends, and that the sun is shining where you are today!!

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