This month was a busy one with church activities, Mother's Day, the end of school, etc. I've already written several posts about some of our monthly happenings, but this post includes some of the stuff I haven't written about yet!
I think I've posted photos from Lego Club in almost every monthly round-up I've written. I just love seeing the kids' creativity evolve!
Brianna
Brenson
Early on this month I had a doctor's appointment with my OBGYN. I took the girls with me, and we ended up having a fun little day.
All ready for our outing!
Me and Dr. N - he's been part of some of the biggest moments of our life, both happy and heartbreaking. This man will always have a special place in my heart.
After the appointment, I needed a little pick-me-up. I decided to introduce Brooke and Brecklyn to the world of cake pops! They were a hit!
Brooke
Brecklyn
I'm sure you've noticed by now that we spend a lot of time outdoors. This month, the weather was so nice that we even did homework and our daily reading outside in the afternoons.
Love our time together reading in the afternoons
Crazy kids :-)
💙
Brenson is an easy kid in many ways. He's a rule follower, so I typically don't have to worry about him doing things he shouldn't or finding mischief too easily. He does, however, keep me on my toes in other ways. I never know what I'll find him doing . . . he loves to build, construct, dig, tie things up, and create pulley systems. I certainly don't mind this, except when I go to run up the stairs in the dark and there's a rope tied across the steps :-).
One day, I looked up from reading on the back patio with Brianna and saw Brenson bug hunting. Of course, the helmet was a necessity . . . you never know what can happen while bug hunting!
Another day, we were trying to leave the house and the garage door wouldn't close. I went to investigate, and found a ratchet was jammed in the garage door runner. This kind of stuff has Brenson written all over it!
The first weekend of this month, our congregation hosted a Ladies Day. The Ladies Day was on Saturday, but several of us met at the building on Friday evening to help get things decorated and set up.
Avery, Chloe Jo, and Brianna helped with the favors.
Rebekah stuffed folders.
Lisa, Jody, and Michele tackled the giant bulletin board,
while Dicie and Antha worked on the smaller board.
Tia and I laminated and cut out bookmarks for all the ladies.
With several of us working together, it didn't take too long to get the building ready for our event. Everything looked so nice when we were finished!
That evening, I had invited a family to stay at our house with us. A guy I knew and went to church with in high school was in need of a place for he and his wife, son, and baby daughter to stay near Tulsa. They had come to Tulsa to visit his mom who was in the hospital, and they live about four hours from this area. When Brianna and I got home from working at the church building for our Ladies Day, the family was at our house getting settled for the night. We visited for just a bit, then left them to settle in (we gave them the upstairs). The next morning, our Ladies Day didn't begin until 1:00pm, so we had a bit more time to visit with the family.
Brianna really enjoyed loving on their baby
They left to return home not too long before Brianna and I left to attend our Ladies Day. All the younger girls of our congregation stationed themselves at the registration table to greet our guests.
Brianna, Chloe, Ryann, Raelyn, Jaden (Chloe's friend), and Avery
I love sharing days like this with my girl!
I hope the friendship between these girls just continues to grow!
Chloe, Avery, Ashlyn, Brianna
Lisa was our technology assistant.
We were very happy with our turn-out. The day was very encouraging, and I personally grew so much!
It had been a while since the girls and I had been to the park, but I made sure it happened this month. They were SO excited! They kept saying, "This is gonna be AMAZING!" Haha.
One thing I didn't really realize before having kids is how randomly and quickly they get sick. With my kids, it seems like everything is fine one minute, and the next minute they've spiked a fever or started puking or suddenly started coughing up a lung. When Brianna came home from school one day, laid down on the couch, and immediately fell asleep, I knew something was not right. Sure enough, she had a lowish fever (but no other symptoms). I texted Chris this photo and expressed my frustration. Sometimes I just feel like someone is sick all the time! However, after resting, she woke up just fine and never complained that she didn't feel well. I wonder if she was just exhausted?
Sometimes if I have a lot I need to get done, Chris will take all the kids and go run a few errands. This gives me a little quiet, uninterrupted time, and I can generally be super productive during times like this. While out picking up a few groceries with the kids, Chris sent me this pic. You never know what you'll find at Wal-mart!
Our cousin, Abby, has played softball for several years. We always want to go see her play, but it hasn't really worked out. We finally made it happen!
Brianna's favorite part was seeing Abby play and playing with Zeke. Brenson's favorite part was enjoying a snocone!
Zeke, Brianna, Brooke, Bren, and Brecklyn
Last month, we had unexpected snow and frigid weather. This month, I was looking forward to spring-like weather, but it seemed to just get hot overnight. The kids can't wait to bust out the water activities the minute it gets hot.
Slip-n-Slide!
Brianna and Brenson
Brecklyn and Brooke
Over Memorial Day weekend, Chris began our next big project. We are building a new play set for the kiddos! Our current swing set was given to us by a church member. It had been in her barn (where a family member had left it) for about a decade, and she wanted it to get some good use. We have definitely used and enjoyed it for the last eight years, but it's time for a larger set now that the kids are bigger.
Chris had lots of helpers, but he still made good progress on it. I'll do a whole post about our play set once it's finished!
For the last several years, we've kicked off summer vacation with a visit to the zoo. This year, Brianna's bible class teacher (Aunt Lisa) planned a zoo trip for her students. The timing was perfect as it was a few days after school let out for the year, so we let it double as our kick-off-the-summer zoo trip, too!
Brooke, Brianna, Hayden, Avery, Chloe Jo, Brecklyn, and Brenson
Uncle Jeremy challenged the kids with some tasks (running and bike riding), and upon completion he sent them each an "Uncle Medal". They were proud of those medals!
Brenson, Brianna, Brooke, and Brecklyn
The last day of May was the first anniversary of finding out our baby Bristol no longer had a beating heart. Anniversaries of loss can be very difficult, and that's especially true for first anniversaries. It was tough for me to decide what to do on this day because I certainly wanted to recognize it and give it the attention it needed, but I wasn't emotionally up for doing anything "big".
Chris was very sensitive to this and took the day off work to help me with the kids and spend the day together as a family. More than anything, I really just wanted to be with my husband and kids that day, so that's exactly what we did. We took the kids to the splash pad that morning,
and went to the first Food Truck Thursday of the season in our town that evening. I didn't know how I'd feel that day, but it turned out to be a good day. It was peaceful and calm, just like I wanted it to be. We enjoyed each other and our town. We spent some time talking about Bristol, but didn't dwell on it all day. We smiled. We laughed. We hugged. We had joy amidst the sorrow. It was just how I'd hoped it would be.
I'm thankful to be past that anniversary, and now we can focus on having an amazing June!
