Hey, October

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It’s a cozy, cold, rainy fall morning here in our neck of the woods, how about you all?

October has actually been very unseasonably warm for us this year!

This was what the thermometer in my van said on October 1st!

Eighty-seven degrees hardly happens even in the summer here!

We have not even worn our winter coats yet, which is crazy unusual!

It looks like things are changing today and into the weekend.

The furnace is on and we are ready!

October literally snuck up on me – as the days are all running together here.

After a reminder yesterday to “live more in the moment,” I am going to be working on that again!

We have had a great three weeks of October so far.

We have had a few free Saturdays lately, so Blake (and some helpers here and there!) got after the HUGE job of cleaning the garage!

It took the better part of two full days, but it turned out great.

A lot of stuff was gotten rid of!

We most often spend Sundays with Kay’s crew and I hardly ever take photos of it!

But I have some from the beginning of October – there was just too much cuteness and I had to capture it!!

We had the youngest ones take a “rest” time and then Addie Mae had a craft planned for them.

School continues on, even on those nice warm days!

We are enjoying our school year SO much already!

When we showed up at the library one afternoon we learned that Eliza read the most books out of everyone who participated in the summer reading program!!

Good job, Eliza Claire!!

We did not even know they were keeping track!

The library was raising money for the local police canine unit with their summer reading program.

Eliza gets to present the check to the police officer who owns the police dog!

The dog’s name is Dax, and we CAN’T WAIT to do this next Friday!

The librarian gave Eliza a prize as well – a stuffed dog that looks a bit like Dax.

Blake and I spent a day traveling the first week of October to see a group of doctors in the Twin Cities for my health.

It was a big day, but went well, and we are ever so thankful for the Lord’s burdens and direction as we continue my health journey.

We spent a very warm day on a Saturday emptying the garden with our little helpers.

Lane was not feeling good, but Tate and Eliza worked the whole time with me, and Blake brought his truck around to help us finish it all up!

I stayed home from church the next day with Lane while the rest of the family attended.

We have a live stream we can watch and Lane and I did just that!

The sermons that the Lord is prompting our pastor to share right now are so, so good.

I am re-listening to them during the week!!

I have been enjoying our pups a lot lately.

I think it has to do with how the seasons have changed, and life seems slowed a bit because we are home more.

Ruby Jane lays behind our end table every single day with her face in between a basket there and the leg of the table.

Silly girl!!

Our meals have taken a turn toward more comfort fall/winter foods.

I have a renewed spirit about cooking and baking – I am sure it is because there is more time now!

We were blessed to get a new rug for our main room a couple of weeks ago.

Many, many feet made a white rug not the best idea!

I love this new gray one, and I know it will hold up a lot better.

This is the season for harvest all around us!

We LOVE watching the combines, tractors, semis, and the corn coming down.

We are still finding plenty to do if we are home in the afternoons!

It is a wonderful season here!!!

Should I finish each post with some sky photos?

Like it’s my signature?

HOW I LOVE THE SKY.

Talk about living in the moment – stop and just LOOK at the sky.

God is so kind!

To create such beautiful things for us!

I think the rain today is beautiful too!

I hope the beginning of October was wonderful for you all too!!

Excited for the days ahead!

To watch what the Lord brings for us, and to grow as we trust Him for it ALL!!

May the glory be His and His alone!!

Happy October, everyone!!

Memories from September

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Well, hello there!

This post has been awhile in the making!

I would spend five or ten minutes editing photos and then get pulled away into other things…

then I would spend another five minutes here and there on photos.

I have had conversations with my hubby about this little ole blog of ours –

Do we keep it?

When blogging really isn’t much of a thing anymore?

He always encourages me to keep the blog and keep our memories here!

This actually IS our family scrapbook, after all!

I hope to print the blog into scrapbooks (you can do that!) someday when it fits in the budget so that we can have those books for the kiddos to enjoy.

That all to say – I think I am going to change the format here, take a great idea from a sweet friend of mine, and do a weekly recap post every week.

It will be more manageable!

And it will get our memories recorded.

First, let’s recap September!!

September was LOVELY.

With all our new normal things.

We settled into fall after getting home from family camp, into full days of school, and having Chad start his senior year.

I just realized I did not get an official photo of Chad on his first day of school.

Oops!!

I do have this one though – Chad working on his on-line math.

School has been so enjoyable!!

We still start our day with Bible time, worship, Bible memory and a devotional.

Art class is definitely the highlight of our week.

We have been having so much fun learning how to paint!!

For one of our art classes I did not have the right supplies.

I decided to make it a “free” art day, where we could just paint whatever we want.

I honestly thought it was a recipe for disaster and would frustrate some of my students!

I was thankful to be proved wrong.

They LOVED doing free art day!

And I think their paintings were amazing!!

I plan to frame them!

School days are my favorite.

Can you tell?!

Eliza’s cursive pages crack me up.

I did actually save her with chocolate that day!

She was struggling…so I made it fun and laid some chocolate chips by her and told her they were her brain food!

We are still enjoying piano very much too.

Tate and Eliza took their first assessment test at the end of September and moved up to Level 2!

Good job, kiddos!

Reading aloud to the children is something that I have been doing for 28 years now!

It is a HUGE part of our lives.

We have read some really good books lately!

We all LOVE, love, love having Chad home more these days!

Especially his pup, Sadie Jo.

She doesn’t leave his side when he is here!

We get to be Sadie’s favorite people on the days when Chad is not home.

Eliza calls Sadie her foot warmer!

Everyone’s schedule has slowed down for fall and winter.

Seasonal jobs will do that to you!

That means the kitchen is busier than ever.

I was just thanking the Lord this morning during my prayer time that He still gives me so much joy in the kitchen!

I hope He always will!

It makes it way more fun when I have such a great trio of helpers.

We have still been enjoying Joanna Gaines’s cooking show, and Kayla bought me one of her cookbooks!

It is beautiful and we enjoy it too!

Tate and I made her pickles one day and THEY ARE SO GOOD!

We just keep refilling that jar every time it gets low!

I still enjoy the cookbooks I have too.

You will usually find me flipping through them while my kiddos work on Math.

This photo means SO much to me.

I seriously want to frame it!

This child is tiny, but you would NEVER know.

He finds a way to do everything he wants to do!

His love for cooking make me SO happy!

I seriously have tears in my eyes just typing these words.

Just look at him.

We are not worthy.

This is what Saturdays can look like around here.

Our kitchen gets a beating every day, ha, ha!!

I drank that kombucha and then cleaned up that mess!

And then I cleaned the fridge too!!

Just in case you think I have it all together, I am feeding my children things like frozen pizza lately.

When I posted that photo on Instagram saying “I do not even know who I am anymore,” my very wise friend told me I am just simply old.

Crack me up!

Love that friend of mine!

That trio of helpers sometimes helps with grocery shopping too.

I love doing grocery with them!

It takes a dreaded job and makes it a fun filled outing!

They enjoy it too.

Especially when the guy paying for the grocery buys them a treat for after we get home and get everything put away.

As they ate that ice cream that evening, much after their normal bed time, I remembered that I had fed them cereal for dinner.

Clearly winning here.

Our afternoons have been full of my favorite fall things!

Getting outside always comes first (its mandatory here!), but we like to play games too.

The kiddos are very good at finding things to do after school if we are home!

I like to read in the afternoons if I can find the time.

I have been re-reading this book – SO GOOD.

It is definitely a favorite book of mine!

I would encourage everyone to read it – not just mamas – but MAMAS….YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

Here is another good thing I should tell you all about.

Young Living’s new cleaner.

This stuff is amazing!

It has NO chemicals!

I can let the kids use it with no worries.

Now, that is the mark of a great cleaning tool.

Another great Young Living thing I added in September was not from Young Living but from the dollar spot at Target.

This little wooden tray was the perfect fix to hold all of our most used essential oil rollers!

The kiddos can find what they need easily now and we tend to use them a lot more when they are easily accessible.

Tate is still doing his therapy.

It is really helping him!

He does a lot of stretching at home, and once a week we are at pool therapy.

September brought our monthly hymn sing…such a favorite!

We also were blessed to attend a concert of some of our favorites and the venue was beautiful!

Blake and I enjoy date night when we can!

Some date nights we have to get grocery, and other date nights include both grocery and a million errands…but we are together!

Here are Tate and Eliza on a Saturday morning after a date night shopping for fall clothes for them!

It took a new dress to get my “not a morning girl” up off that chair, ha, ha!

We get together with our favorites on Sundays after church, and I look forward to Sundays SO much!!

I hardly ever take a photo on a Sunday, but here are some of our ever growing littlest grand babe, Aspen Praise.

Addie Mae did a beautiful job on the front porch back in September!

The weather has been so nice that our porch is still looking that beautiful!

Out of the blue one day we received a box in the mail – which is not unusual when you have many people who order things – there always seems to be deliveries here.

But this box was from Morton, Illinois, which is where we lived before we moved to Wisconsin.

Our SWEETEST friends, who live in Florida, sent us a box of scones from our favorite coffee shop in Morton!

I KNOW!!

They just wanted to bless us, and bless us they did!

Those scones were gone so fast!

September found me like this at least once a day, or twice a day – resting in bed or on the couch.

Autoimmune disease acts this way – it waxes and wanes.

We are doing some things to try to get this llooonnnnggg flare-up under control, and just this last week I have been feeling a lot better. Hopeful!!

We are enjoying our new coffee shop that is right up the road.

It is especially a fun spot in the spring and summer because of their beautiful patio they have.

We stopped there after church one Sunday on a beautiful, blue, sunny day – my favorite!

Last, but certainly not least, let’s look at God’s handiwork during the month of September!

Just so you know it is really me typing this post, I mean.

Well, now you know why this post was awhile in the making!

And why I am stream lining things into one recap post a week!

It is all memories worth keeping!

I am thankful my hubby keeps encouraging me to keep them!

I can’t wait, Lord willing, to have real scrapbooks printed from all these years of memories someday!

We love to look at our scrapbooks that I used to make before I started this little ole blog – they are fun to look at.

Thanks for joining me here in our family scrapbook.

Especially if you made it all the way to the end, ha, ha!

FALL IS HERE!

I hope you all are enjoying it too!

We love a change of seasons around here, and are looking forward to all fall allows.

Don’t forget to look around and praise the Lord for it ALL!

God bless each one of you!!

Family Camp 2021

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On Tuesday, September 7th, we pulled out of Twin Oaks and headed to Family Camp in Lansing, Iowa.

We have been attending Family Camp since 2011, even though there were three years (2012, 2015, and 2018) that we did not attend the entire week but only visited for one evening.

We were SO excited about this year because EVERYONE was going with us, including Kayla’s crew!!

Blake rented us a camper, and it was the same one we have used the last two years.

Our little home on wheels for the week!

This will be the last year for this camper for us, as it had obvious wear and tear from lots of use.

Thankfully Blake was able to fix the stove, the oven and the heater before we left home!

The air conditioner, however, leaked the entire time we used it.

It was a nice shower right in the middle of our living space, ha, ha.

Next let’s talk about the weather.

We were watching the extended forecast very close the weeks before camp, as we do every year.

We do that for packing purposes – because at this time of year in our area you could need summer clothes or winter clothes depending on the weather.

We were also watching the forecast after our experience last year where it rained the ENTIRE time!

We were hopeful for better than that!

The extended forecast was looking better than that, but not the best, so the my trio and I began to pray about it.

God cares about details!!

I LOVE that I felt prompted to do this with my trio – because God answered YES and gave us the most beautiful week of beautiful weather!!

We were able to constantly praise Him for those answered prayers!!

Camp is a beautiful place!

Please notice the campers in this first photo – we are the one farthest to the left and Kayla’s crew is right next to us in that big beautiful RV.

Our week at camp was SO full, SO fabulous, SO encouraging, SO challenging – we always leave with our cups overflowing and already dreaming about next year!

The chapel sessions were powerful!

The worship and special music was incredible! (my favorite part!)

The families that run this camp for us speak truth into our ears and hearts the entire week and it is just SO GOOD.

I guess I don’t need to say how I felt about being next door to my grand loves all week??

I WANNA GO BACK!!

Addie shared all her photos with me too – so I have so many wonderful memories captured with our grand babies!

Snack time in “Nai Nai’s house” (I LOVE that they called our camper that!!) –

Don’t you love how Aspen is checking out Grant in this photo??!!

The afternoons at camp are always full – when the weather is nice like it was anyway!

We signed Tate and Eliza up for horse riding lessons – and they were THRILLED.

They went to class every day right after lunch.

These three took a trail ride one afternoon together!

There was also archery, trap shooting, clay targets, swimming at the lake, playing on the playground, and of course the famous game of Mighty Might Scoop Noodle challenge on the last afternoon!

In the evenings, right after dinner and before chapel, they offered things like hay rack rides and a ride on a firetruck – with the horns and sirens blaring!

After chapel each evening was one of my favorite times.

I would take Tate and Eliza back to the camper and we would have a special one-on-two time before they headed to bed.

They were up later than they are here at home, but not much, as we wanted to be sure they were getting enough rest to enjoy the week to the fullest!

I would make hot cocoa and we would play a game and have some read aloud time.

It was so sweet!

Not too long after Tate and Eliza were asleep, I would head to bed too.

I knew my limits!

Blake stayed out with the bigger kiddos, as most of the dads did, and enjoyed it very much too!

They take a photo of each family the first day at camp and post them on a board so we can try to get to know everyone.

I love a family photo, you know!!

Blake and I are beyond grateful that we had our entire family together for camp this year!!

Before we knew it, camp was over.

Did we ever have a hard time pulling ourselves away from there this year!

Thankfully we were able to stick around long enough to hug the necks of our sweetest friends who were coming to camp for week #2!!

We stood under a pavilion in the rain, everyone talking at once, and everyone talking really fast, ha, ha!!

SO grateful we got to see them all!!

OUR HEARTS WERE SO FULL as we drove away that Sunday afternoon!

I have pages upon pages of notes from the sessions.

We have already implemented several things that the Lord has laid on our hearts from listening to the speakers there.

I guess to sum up such a wonderful week…let me just say this.

Find your people.

The ones who spur you on.

The ones who point you in the right direction – right to Christ.

Be with those people.

Whenever you can.

And make sure to pray that you can be a light and huge blessing right back to them.

Pray for your people.

Daily.

And then tell them that you are.

Make sure your people STARTS with your family.

Be with them the most.

Pray for them the most.

And tell them too that you are.

To our sweet friends that make camp possible each year – THANK YOU.

Thank you and may the Lord bless you for your efforts!

We appreciate you more than words will ever say!

WE CAN’T WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR!!!

August Stuff

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Who else is in denial that it is already September?

Summer seemed fast, and slow, and fast!

Time is such a strange thing, isn’t it?

August was a wonderful month full of many wonderful things.

Topping the list of wonderful has been the healing and progress with my hand.

SO thankful for all the function the Lord has allowed back into my right hand!

Just last week I visited my hand therapist and was told “You don’t need me anymore!”

How great is that!!

All the work every day on my hand therapy exercises have paid off.

My hand is not 100%, but it is working, and I can write, and I can cut up food.

Praise the Lord!

Glad to say good riddance to the hospital!

I am glad we were able to swim quite a bit in August.

As I type this, our swimming days are probably over!

Our pool has been a constant blessing this summer.

Not only do we use our pool for swimming, but we were SO blessed to have some folks baptized in our pool again this year!

We had two Sundays with baptisms here at Twin Oaks!

Since we are talking about swimming, let me tell you what a rock star Tate has been with his swim therapy that started in August.

He had a therapy evaluation and swim therapy was recommended for him.

We go to the hospital once a week for it to hopefully strengthen him in all the right places and help him with some pain he is having.

He works SO hard for his therapist!!

And then he comes home and eats the rest of the day, ha, ha!

Good job, Tater Tot!

We are very thankful for all of the amazing people that make up Team Tate.

Tate also works hard on his at home therapy too.

Do I mention in every single post that I write that we eat?

Well, we eat, you eat, we all eat!

I just happen to take photos of what we eat – sometimes, anyway!

I still love to feed people – why does that bring me so much joy??!

And I still have the BEST trio of helpers.

The name of the game for this meal was to put zucchini in any and everything I could.

We had so much of it coming out of our garden!

Let’s talk about these donuts.

They are supposed to be donuts.

I made them.

Stop laughing.

I wanted to bless my hungry boys with a treat!

I need to leave the baking up to Addie Mae, obviously.

I soon found out it doesn’t matter what your donuts are like as long as they are FOOD.

Cracked me up so much!

My helpers not only help in the kitchen to earn those treats.

They are constantly helping with so many things!

Like floors.

Floors are my thing.

Do you have a thing like this?

A thing in your home that when it is clean it brings you the most peace?

It’s floors for me, windows for Blake.

Floors are a big job here at Twin Oaks because – so. many. feet.

I have used this swiffer for years and years now, but we just got this new mop and it has changed my life!

I put Young Living Thieves Household cleaner in it and it cleans the floor SO nicely with very little effort.

We were blessed to attend another wedding in August!

Our eighth wedding this spring and summer.

It has been fun!!!

We are still enjoying our monthly hymn sing with lots of other families.

It is a highlight of each month!

Eliza (and I!) love the pups at our friend’s place!

They are super cute.

We love our pups too!

I can’t decide which way I love Ruby Jane more…terribly in need of a haircut, or with a fresh haircut.

She is SO cute!!

And we love our favorites!!

I don’t have many photos of them for this post…but we LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!

I also love the cute things our littles say.

Eliza loves this new top she has, but it is too big.

She tried it on one morning and said, “Look, Mom, it’s getting smaller everyday!”

I said, “It’s not getting smaller, you are just getting bigger everyday!”

To which she said, “But I don’t like me getting bigger!”

I don’t like you getting bigger either, sweet baby!!

Isn’t she beautiful though?!!

Speaking of getting bigger, I saw Chad combing his hair as we were getting ready for church one morning because he hollered “Who hung these mirrors in this house anyway?!”

Ha, ha, ha.

Chad is almost 6 foot 4 inches!

August started with lots of rain and flooding….but then brought some gorgeous weather for things like playing outside, going for walks, haying all the fields around us, and many sunsets to remind us of our Creator.

The great weather also allowed these three kiddos and their Dad to sleep on the deck one night.

Even though they put on warm clothes and had lots of blankets, they only made it until 3 a.m. before it got too cold and they had to come back inside.

Memory made though!!

We had Eliza’s last appointment with UW Madison over telemed!

That means we did a video chat with her doctor.

Crazy, isn’t it? This technology, I mean?

Here we are sitting in “the waiting room.”

August brought some date nights for Blake and I.

And also a date on a Sunday morning for Blake and I with another sweet couple.

And also a date night with our trio, that ended in a fun game that Addie joined us for.

It was a lot of fun dates!

Speaking of that game night – Tate got the game Rummikub for his birthday at the beginning of August, and we LOVE it.

I think we need a Rummikub intervention here!

We play it almost every night!

It is super fun in that addictive kind of way, ha, ha.

We also have some days that we call “down days.”

Down days are much needed amidst all of this craziness!

Down days are days where we don’t go anywhere, and after our work is done we just hang out, read, watch a show, nap…see why I love down days?

It wasn’t quite a down day when we drove almost one hour one way to pick up some jeans we needed for Lane.

I could not find his size anywhere!

So when I finally found them we did a curb side pick up because he needed them.

It was a beautiful day for a drive though, Addie went with us, and there was coffee!!

This has been our determination to stay healthy this past month – and the months ahead too I am sure.

Do you all use essential oils and a diffuser?

You should!

I can help you with that if you would like to!!

Here’s to August!!

A great look back on a wonderful month!!

Did you all have a nice August too?

Summer might not be slipping away for all of you depending on where you are, but it is getting chilly here, the beans are turning golden in the fields, and the nights are coming quicker!

We always, always welcome a new season!

The change of the seasons is one of my favorite things about living up north here.

It just points to God and ALL that He allows for us!!

He did not have to make seasons!

But He did it for us to enjoy!!

I hope you see God as you watch fall roll in too.

He is showing Himself to you!!

Happy September, everyone!

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