Sunday.

It is always full of my VERY favorite things.

Blake is home.

The at-home children are home.

We get to go to church!

And then after church it is family day.

I really should look back through my calendar this year, because I know that we have only missed a hand full of everyone getting together on Sundays!

Blake and I say to each other ALL the time – how is it these kiddos of ours want to hang with us for a whole day each week???

I HOPE IT NEVER CHANGES!!

One thing about not keeping up with this scrapbook of mine this year is how fun it is to “catch-up!”

I get completely lost in my photo storage going through months of photos for these posts!!

I gathered photos from all of our family days from the beginning of March until now for this post.

See what I mean!!

You all will literally get to watch Goldie grow up through these photos, ha, ha!

First up was the end of March and two special birthdays to celebrate!

We celebrate A LOT of birthdays around these parts!

We have made this more simple this last year by just sticking a candle in whatever dessert is being served that day.

But there are gifts, of course!

And lots of best friends to help you open them!

Family day starts with lunch!

I provide the main gig and the big girls each bring something to help out.

(Around dinner time, I throw some snack like foods on the counter, and we pop popcorn and make smoothies.)

After lunch you can find us all doing all kinds of things!

The grand children play SO nicely at “NaiNai’s house” – as they so fondly call it and I so fondly receive it!!

Our children and our grandchildren are always gifting each other things.

It is just the sweetest thing to see their relationships – they truly are best friends.

Here is a look through April!

 

Addie and Scottie hosted Easter this year!

I WAS SO EXCITED to be at their place for a Sunday!!

Please notice the photobomber in our attempt at a family photo, ha, ha!

May, of course, brought Mother’s Day!!

Kayla hosted that Sunday and I WAS SO EXCITED about that too!!

My girls really know how to do things up – everything is so beautiful and special when they host!!

We took some photos at home with my trio that morning before church and the children gave me gifts.

Sweet gifts!!

But it was the homemade cards and words that I will cherish forever.

In May we started using our deck for family day!

It is such a blessing – minus the fact that it is in full sun the entire day.

Trust me, I am not complaining about the sun!!

But it is too bright and hot to sit in to eat a meal.

We were very grateful when my mother-in-law gifted us an umbrella to use out there.

We ended up buying a second one!!

We got to celebrate Miss Saigey Grace in May!!

She turned two.

She is SO fun!!

Others might not agree since she always only wants me on family day, ahem,  but I think she has chosen wisely!!!!

It was really fun to celebrate Saige!

June brought another birthday, imagine that!!

River Salem turned EIGHT years old.

What is happening.

Time is a thief!

River is PURE SMILES!

He literally lights up every room he enters!

And he was a joy to celebrate!

Father’s Day looked like this –

It was not ideal, or what we hoped for – but a distant memory that I would not have remembered without this photo!

There were still gifts, though!

Sweet gifts!

Look at the visor clip that Kay gave Blake for his truck.

I LOVE IT!

Next up in June was Scottie.

He is a fun one to celebrate too!!

His beautiful wife made him a cake!!

And it was our first family swim that day.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

Please notice above what family day looks like by the end of each Sunday!

That is the sign of THE BEST DAY EVER right there.

I only have a few photos of family day in July.

That means only one thing – I was enjoying everything very much and my phone was laying somewhere unnoticed!!

I want to include what I have here though.

August brought Tate’s birthday!!

We actually celebrated on a Saturday evening because we had a big day with our church that Sunday – his actual birthday!

We were in charge of our annual church picnic, and then our church’s baptisms were in our swimming pool.

This year was EXTRA special again, because Tate chose to be baptized – on his 14th birthday!!

What a great day that was!!

Not only having our immediate family here for family day – but our church family as well!!

Tate did a GREAT job sharing his testimony.

Of course I cried, you guys!

The rest of August was filled with lots of outside time on family day.

We would eat and then be outside!!

It just fills my cup to overflowing every week!

At the end of August – guess what??

Two more birthdays!

These two have always shared a birthday and their celebration – literally every single year of their lives!

I am glad we got to celebrate them together again!

We had guests that day too, so a ride in their jeep was in order.

And lots of outside time on such a beautiful day!

We are getting closer to the end of this post!!

September.

The first Sunday of September our big kiddos were out of town – how dare they!!!

This is what Sunday looks like when it’s just us at home – he, he!

Quiet and boring!!!

And here are the only photos I have of the next two Sundays.

Shame, shame, you know your name!!

Someone can be VERY distracting during church, just so you know!

Next up was……you guys are so smart!

Another birthday!

But I don’t get older, so I am not sure what all this fuss was about.

They are too good to me!

In October we had the BEST family day EVER!

I cannot wait to tell you all about it!

It lasted THREE DAYS!!

I have a million photos of that, of course.

But only two photos of the rest of October – well, we had no birthdays to celebrate, what in the world!

Don’t worry, we make up for it in November.

Kay did take our family photos in October on a Sunday quick – quick family photos have been my thing lately.

There just is so little time where everyone is together these days!

Clyde’s birthday kicked off family day in November.

He is TEN.

No I did not give him permission to be ten.

How is Clyde ten??

Someone make it make sense!!

We had fun celebrating him, of course!

And his NaiNai had this brilliant idea for a new tradition! (that’s me!)

Each grandchild gets a sleepover as one of their birthday presents!

GENIUS!

It has been SO much fun!!

I allow them to bring one sibling, if they choose!

We celebrated Clyde at the farm the first Sunday of November, and then the boys spent the night the next weekend, because Clyde chose River.

We celebrated more birthdays in November too!

Next up were Briar and David!

Tate and Eliza made cupcakes for their celebration!

They did a great job.

Bri Bri spent the night with us after thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day!

River joined her too.

I heard there was some bribing going on at the Kozelek house to entice Briar in who she should pick!

Crack me up!!

We had SO much fun with them!!

The beginning of December brought Ellie Joy’s birthday.

She is also TEN.

Seriously, my heart!

We had fun celebrating her and then she spent the night two weeks later all by herself, smart girl!!!

That was a super long family day recap!

I must tell Blake at least three times a week that “I want to do it all again!”

I say this about sooooo many things – but I say it about family day too.

It is not lost on Blake and I that our older children make time for this every single week.

Life is BUSY!

They could choose so many other things besides hanging out with all of us!

We are not worthy, and we are so grateful.

Family Day, we sure hope you stick around!

As our family grows, it just keeps getting better and better!!

I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL SUNDAY!!