Our backyard

I finally downloaded all of the pictures from my camera onto the computer. There are SO many blogworthy moments, so I have decided to post pictures from the last month or so over the next week or so. That way, everything is mentioned!

To begin the catch-up time, I will start with many different pictures of many fun times on our swing set.

All the way back on May 9th, I watched my friend Lisette's boys Aiden and Nicholas while she and her husband Cory went to their baby doctor appointment. This is my friend who is now on bed rest in the hospital. The boys were all playing in the backyard. Here is a picture of Aiden, Nicholas, and Caden...they are so precious!!

And here is a video of us singing "The Little Light of Mine." Check out Caden holding up his "light."


Then, on May 24th, my super fun uncle from Washington was here visiting. When he was here, I told Mike how my Uncle Joe (my dad's brother) always has held a special place in my heart even though he always lived so far from us. (Mike and I actually lived about 7 hours from him when we lived in Idaho and got to see him several times.) For one thing, he and Aunt Cherie ALWAYS sent us Christmas presents when I was a child. The package always arrived at the very beginning of December, and it was like torture having to wait all the way until Christmas Eve to open the gifts. Also, he has bees so he ALWAYS brought us honey. He and my cousins hunt and fish, so we often got to enjoy deer jerky and grilled salmon. After thinking about my Uncle Joe, I decided that I need to make a concentrated effort at being a better "Aunt Margo" to my nephews Bryce and Josiah. Anyway, I was glad that my boys got to hang out with him for the evening. Of course, Uncle Joe had the joy of pushing all the boys on the swings! (I love the sky in this picture!)



A few days later, my parents and our nephew Bryce came to see us. My parents were babysitting Bryce for a week and came here to spend some time with us. The time they were here happened to fall on the Friday of the homeschool convention that I attended in Wichita, so my parents babysit all 5 of the boys that day. What super grandparents they are!! Here is a picture of all 5 of the boys on the swingset. (I have more pictures of them all, so I will post those later.)

Well, that concludes the first of many catch-up blogs!

I do have to also write about my recent "blond moment". Last Friday, I had invited several friends over to go swimming at our neighborhood pool. Well, of course it poured down rain that morning, so I said, "How about Monday?" We changed it to Monday. Yesterday, I decided to invite our homeschool coop and was emailing them all when I realized, "Monday?...the pool isn't open on Monday, never has been." The pool is closed every Monday for cleaning...I guess it's good we didn't show up and that I remembered ahead of time. Wow! Seriously, I wonder where my brain is sometimes. So, we all went to the fun new splash park in town instead (pictures to follow someday!)

one month

Okay, so I know that it has been one whole month since I have written anything. What can I say? NOTHING has been going on in our family and lives...I am SO kidding. We purposely got rid of our television about 6 0r 7 weeks ago, so that has drastically changed our household for the better! However, that does mean that I don't have as much free time. I am sad to say that I must have been using that television as a baby sitter more than I realized! My life is now filled to the max with playing, building forts, reading TONS of books to the boys, being read to by two of the boys, pushing kids on the swings, going on bike rides, swimming at the neighborhood pool and YMCA, working out at the YMCA (free child watch...my only ME time!), going to the library, playing UNO, playing Sorry, putting together puzzle after puzzle after puzzle, tickling boys, and laughing a whole lot....this OF COURSE, is in addition to all the laundry, dishes, finding pee smells, laundry, dishes, and other household mommy-type chores. This week was actually very much marked my an abundance of well, ummmm, how can I say this nicely???....ummm, fecal matter...yes POOP! I had a poopy week...literally!!! I won't go into any details except to tell you that Mike and I now have new pillows, pillow cases, and sheets. We probably need all new bedding but that won't happen for a while. Maybe next years tax return. Oh, I feel like I must clarify that the poop that was all over our bed did come from a child and not from an adult... in case you were wondering at all!!

We actually have been very busy. The last weekend of May I went to a homeschool convention in Wichita, KS, that was AWESOME. One of the keynote speakers, Ginger Plowman, was incredible and spoke about reaching the heart of your child. Seriously, God really used this woman to teach me some very practical ways to bring the Bible into every day situations in our house. It was also just a fun weekend away with some great ladies from my church and homeschool group.

I also had my super fun Uncle Joe visit from Washington. I took TONS of pictures with every intention to post them on this blog, but it never happened!

We also hosted my grandmother's 80th birthday party at my house. It was a surprise and it was a GREAT time! My brother Bill and nephew Bryce were able to come up from Houston. I hadn't seen my brother since October, so it was really great to see him! My other brother Keith and his wife Bridgette were here also as well as some extended family...it was truly a blessed weekend!

On a low note, my closest friend here in Oklahoma was put in the hospital on bed rest for some pregnancy complications. She has been there for 3 weeks now and is just now 27 weeks along. She has a long road ahead of her. I have been blessed with the opportunity to help out her family, which really is awesome. God always blessed me so much in Maine with friends who were like family and I am excited that I now have the chance to be family to her. It's a long story and I don't even know if that made any sense...let's just say my friend Lisette is like a sister to me, just like a few of my friends in Maine were (and still are) like sisters to me.

Okay, that's enough for now. I am going to try to write more often, even if it's just a sentence or two. God has been SO good to us lately and I just give Him all glory, praise, and honor for all that He has done for us and in us. What a mighty, holy, awesome, faithful, and amazing God we serve!!