Bright red, freshly picked strawberries!
Eating outside in the sun...
Jadon loved the idea of playing on a team, but after about 15 minutes of it he was back at Bryce's side, wanting to play on Daddy's team:o), SO CUTE! He did this every day. And every day he was SO EXCITED to see his "team guys" again, and to play "basket ball"
My garden is growing!! Very slowly, but each day we find new sprouts.
There are a few bald spots, but that's okay:o)!
Mainly, I'm just so excited that a garden I planted is growing! So fun.
Our vegetable garden is doing really well too, with a few moles to deal with. Really, though, that has been Bryce's pet project. I've don't nothing with it. However, I'll be weeding later today:o)!
Today was cookie making day! We tried a new recipe, called Double Treat Cookies. Wow! They were yummy!
The fun part was that we had to make the dough into balls and then squish them with a sugar dipped cup. Elie rolled the dough, Jadon squished... who else:o).
I think my children are incredibly amazing and totally special. A few reasons why...
*Waking up to Jadon stroking my hair and cheeks while telling me I'm beautiful and he wants to snuggle me forever.
*Hearing, "Oh wow, Sis, you're beautiful in your dress!"
*Watching Elie tenderly comfort Jadon after a fall and scrape on his knee. Listening to her telling him that everything will be alright and that she won't leave his side. His response, "Thanks, Sissy."
*Listening to the two of them laugh together while I walk/run and push them in the stroller, watching them whisper, heads bent together.
*Hearing each of them respectively, adamantly defend the other when one of them is in trouble.
*Elie crying when Jadon looses a toy car as a consequence.
*Jadon crying when Elie gets in trouble and sent to her room.
*Witnessing Elie standing up for her little brother in a group of their friends.
*Hearing, "Don't worry Sis! I'll get that bug! You don't have to be scared... no, you don't," followed by growling roars and Jadon "scares" the bug away from his sister.
*Being told, "Mommy, I love you so much. You are my favoritest mommy. B-cubby you are my Mommy. Thanks mom."
Yay! My first flower pot!
I am so excited about this little addition to our front porch. I have had terrible luck with plants, but after encouragement from my wonderful neighbor I thought I'd give this a shot.
Such pretty flowers!!
And, it turns out, there are TONS of plants that I want in a garden. I really enjoy walking through the nursery reading the labels on each flower or plant and deciding if it would one day fit into our garden at home.
My wild flower garden is slow to grow... though there are green buds, no flowers have appeared and we've had such harsh rain storms that I'm afraid a lot of the seeds were washed away. Oh well... one step at a time!
Our neighborhood held the annual garage sale this last weekend, so three of us decided to do one combined. We held in at my neighbor's garage & had a blast in the sunshine!
I'm not a big fan of putting on garage sales - at all. But doing it with friends makes it a lot of fun. We sold an incredible amount of stuff, and combined we made over $600!!!
The kids all played together and had fun "helping":o). They did so well. We couldn't have picked better kids!!
Anna and Kaylie sold cookies and lemonade to raise money for a missions trip. When they weren't selling, they played marbles. :o)
Elie loved being with the big girls as often as she could. I adore these two Jr. High girls, who are so patient, kind and caring with a tag-a-long 5-year-old who happens to be my daughter.
Jadon and Grace figured out that they could climb the smaller tree in our front yard. They spent a great deal of time in it:o)! All the kids took turns, but these two had a hard time waiting in line...
Over all it was a great weekend! Bonding, selling, eating yummy food, gabbing, selling, playing, selling, cleaning up, getting rid of "stuff"...
I don't think I will ever initiate a garage sale on my own, but after this weekend, I am much more likely to get involved in a combined effort:o)!
It's new swimsuit season! Well, for my daughter, anyway.
She has grown up so much over the winter months that her old one looks painful! This one fits, however, her skinny little body barely holds up the skirt... where we got these tall skinny kids, I'll never know! :o) (Though I do believe she takes after her Grammy 'Ancy in build)
We met a sweet little Amish girl in Indiana, and Elie asked her how old she was. Elie, of course, towered over her in height - she was 6! My cute little 5 1/2 year-old looks about 7 when standing next to a 6 year-old. (The Amish girl's parents were both taller than Bryce and I... go figure:o)
But anyway, here's the new suit and a proud little swimmer! Depending on the travel schedule this summer we plan on getting her into lessons.
In the meantime, she will settle for swimming in the neighbor's pool, that is, until we get ours set up:o)!
In a moment of exasperation with Jadon I made a face... in the back of my mind I think I thought it would get him to do what I was aiming for.
Instead, it made him full out belly laugh - not the response I expected at all. "I love those eyes, Mommy," he said, "do them again!"
Have I mentioned that I love being a mom?
I am constantly aware of how fast my kiddos are growing up, and constantly reminded that they are "not babies!":-) It gets a little depressing at times... though I'm proud of all they are learning and how they are growing.
Last night Jadon crawled up into my lap and said, "Mommy, I'm so tired. I'm too tired to brush my teeth..." with a big sigh.
He snuggled into me the way he used to as a tiny guy and we rocked back and forth. He sat in my lap, totally still, long enough for Bryce to find us and snap a few pictures.
I fully lived in each second! My baby is growing up, but apparently he's not yet so grown up that he 
doesn't still need to be snuggled by his mama, and snuggled in the same way he used to love when he was a baby. Such priceless moments for me.
My evening of priceless moments didn't end there. Later last night as Bryce and I were crawling into bed, Elie came in and asked to be snuggled.
We don't usually do this, but it was so precious we couldn't resist plunking her in the middle of us and cuddling her until she squirmed. Just like she used to as a baby! We sang her all the songs we used to sing her before setting her in her crib for the night.
I have to say, being a mama is the most challenging job I've ever held, but by far is has been the most rewarding and my favorite!! Especially when these precious reminders come my way.
This last week I took the kids down to a town in what's called the heart of Amish country. Shipshewana is a very small, quiet town full of crafty shops and tons of buggies and horses. It has been a favorite retreat spot for Bryce and I over our almost 3 years of living here, as well as a fun place to take the kids for day trips (it's only 90 minutes South).
Well, I thought it was about time to take the kids there over night and really let them explore and have fun. So we packed up and headed down, just the three of us. Our first stop was the flea market (that is, after two stops at gas stations for Jadon to go potty on a toilet!!), where the kids got to spend their money on trinkets and treats. We explored a meat and cheese factory, and had fresh soft pretzels for lunch at our favorite place in town. After a bit we headed to the Bed and Breakfast where we stayed - our favorite place to stay, and the kids got to meet Mrs. Hoober, the owner and a friend to Bryce and I.
Jadon was exhausted, so after a light supper he went to bed. That left time for Elie and I to explore and have some girly time just the two of us! We found the neighboring horses, and did a lot of posing for pictures and spent time on the swing. My daughter is such a wonderfully dainty girl! I had so much fun with her:o).
The next day the 3 of us walked into town and took our time watching horses, cows and what we thought might have been "alligators" in a swamp (little beady eyes right at the waters surface). We had a strange experience, where most of the Amish people who passed us gave us huge grins of amusement - as if seeing a non-Amish group of people walking was hilarious. They were all very kind - and very amused. This is the second time I've experienced this response. The last time I stayed in Shipshewana and walked to town I also got that response:o). And, to their defense, I was the only one on the road walking, especially with 2 kids.
In town we played in the mercantile, the kids enjoyed the shops as much as I did - well, most of the shops anyway:o). We had some yummy food and walked back to the B&B.
Friday we spent the day at the B&B. All three of us napped and I got to have some one-on-one time with Jadon - who in grate contrast to his sister wanted to spend our time chasing frogs, finding bugs, "killing dinosaurs," and running on the trails. We sat on the porch and watched the rain, and the kids both spent time playing in the huge front yard. Bryce joined us after work on Friday too - much to all our delight:o). We had dinner in town at the Blue Gate
which was fabulous, and then Bryce and I relaxed together after the kids went to bed.
Saturday, after our final amazing breakfast by Mrs, Hoober, we all went to visit one of her Amish neighbors who had rescued a faun, probably just a week or so old. The kids were aloud to feed and pet it. The tiny thing was so friendly! They are rehabilitating it and turning it loose when it's able to fend for itself.
After that the four of us played in town together. We rode the carousel, did a bit of shopping, and took a buggy ride to an Amish farm. This was probably the highlight of our time. Elie and Jadon got to hold the reigns and drive the buggy, milk a cow and taste the milk, pet a colt, feed calves and chickens, and explore a barn among other fun activities!
We headed home after supper at the Essenhaus, another of our favorite places to eat. On the way home, however, we had to drive through severe thunder storms... it was crazy!! Several times we passed cars on the side of the road and spent much of the time driving 30 on the freeway, hardly able to see through the torrential rain and lightning flashes, which did little more than temporarily blind us. As Bryce met us in Shipshewana we were driving two cars home, so we just hung out together. Just outside of Byron Center the rain let up a bit. We came across a girl walking up the off ramp, and I picked her up and gave her a ride to the nearest gas station. Her car had hydroplaned and spun off into a ditch. Needless to say, we thanked God for getting us through the storm and home safely and all together, and spent time praying for all those who were not so lucky.
All in all, it was a GREAT trip though. One we'll repeat in the future. I'll leave you with these video clips of Jadon and his frog:o).
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