Monday Blues

Today was slow and difficult. The day began with demands for breakfast. Some of us stayed in our jammies quite late into the morning. I have been trying to get Hyrum to clean his room for weeks now and as I stormed out I tripped over all kinds of junk which didn't help my mood. The children wouldn't stop fighting and I was at my whits end. I drowned my frustration in cleaning and rearranged two upstairs bedrooms, vacuuming and wiping the dust as I went.

I looked outside at the grey sky and decided it was a good day to bake. The children were on each other all morning long and needed something to do. My helpful Camilla asked me what she could do next so I put her to work sifting through the wheat for small stones before I put it through the wheat grinder (a trick I learned from my mamma). She was excited and soon joined by two curious brothers. I let them work away at it while I cleared the counter tops of dirty dishes.

I then put on an old apron of my Gramma's and went to work mixing and kneading the dough for bread. I was lucky enough to inherit a few of her aprons and mixing dishes and I will treasure them always. I worked all of my worries into that dough and felt much better by the time I had finished. Camilla watched eagerly, elbows resting on the other side of the counter. "When I'm a mom, I'm going to make bread too." I smiled as she shared more of her hopes and dreams. She is such a sweet girl and I am grateful for her.

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Spray Park Lovin'

 We haven't had nearly enough of these slow, Summer days. This morning we took a spontaneous trip to the spray park. I had visions of relaxing on a picnic blanket while the children played, but as it turns out, Ollie is quite the mover! I spent most of the morning supervising him on the slide, but his smiles and giggles were worth ever minute. Before long we will be back to routines and early school mornings. But for now, we are holding onto Summer!

Ollie: Eleven Months

 Our crazy Ollie is 11 months old today! He is such a wiggler and these monthly pictures are getting harder and harder to take. I totally bribed him with a cookie, but even that hardly worked. This boy is absolutely darling with his dimpled fingers and dimpled cheeks. The other day when I looked at him I saw more little boy than baby and my heart ached for those newborn snuggles.

He is walking around furniture a lot more now and has even let go and balanced on his own for a few seconds. His older siblings are his biggest fans and they are constantly telling me how much they adore him and his chins. His personality has exploded and he points and communicates all of the time now! It's super fun.

His hair is getting longer and thicker and his little rooster tail that I loved has grown out. His face is filling out and his feet are longer now.

He still has some awesome leg rolls and chubby little toes. He makes us laugh every single day! He has such a bright face and a personality to match. We all adore him!

It's so hard to believe that we will be celebrating his first birthday in just a short month! Happy 11 months Ollie-lollie.

In the Neighborhood

 Today I was filled with an overwhelming love for our neighborhood! At one point today we had eleven kids in our backyard. There was much fun and much laughter! We had friends from all over the neighborhood. They are all such great kids and I am so glad that my children can associate with good people. I watched the whole water fight from the window and I couldn't help but smile. It was pretty "epic" as the boys would say! 

August Art Work

It feels so good to be home again! We had a home cooked meal and freshly baked cookies before bed last night. The littles are rediscovering their bikes, the park, their friends. We had a super fun July, but I think we are all excited to chill at home for a little while.

After spending the morning on his trike, Fin napped for a good three hours this afternoon. He looked so comfortable stretched out on Joe's bed. 

While the younger two napped, the older three crafted at the kitchen table. We used Bingo markers and red felt and created apple trees to add some color to my kitchen walls. 

Camilla added people to hers and was pleased with the final result.

Each of them turned out differently. I especially love how Joe's apple tree looks like it's being blown by the wind. 

With artwork on the walls and cookies in my cookie jar, all is right with the world again. 

Reese is happy to be home with her humans again. She's been playing and napping all day long. There's no place like home!

Welcome August

August has arrived! The nights are slowly getting colder, the air is getting crisp, the apple trees are full and my heart is fluttering with excitement in anticipation of Autumn.

We are home for a few days this week and then we will be taking off for a family reunion on the long weekend. I am trying to catch up on laundry and pack everything back up for another weekend of camping.

Everyone is pretty happy to be home to their own beds! Ollie is especially happy to be crawling all over the place again and not restricted by a carseat, baby carrier, or playpen.

I am desperately trying to catch up on the blog before all of our amazing vacation leaves my memory. I've been sorting and uploading pictures and missing the ocean. We had a pretty awesome time on the coast, but I am looking forward to some quiet August days at home baking, blogging, and snuggling my littles before the craziness of September hits.

Welcome August! We're so glad you're here!

Farewell Tofino

After a rather rough night of consoling a sad Finley, we were up and at 'em nice and early! The littles woke one at a time and whispered in the early morning light. As each woke up, we sent them to the bathroom and then sat them in the van with breakfast while we stuffed sleeping bags and folded up the tent. The family across from us was shocked at how quickly and quietly we packed everything up! They asked Mike what we did with our kids to keep them so quiet. I was glad it went so smoothly. We were pulling out of camp by 7:00am, ready for a long, long drive.

We stopped at Long beach for one last family photo before taking off. We took our family pictures here in 2010 when we only had Camilla and thought it would be fun to have a comparison from then to now. I failed to take the fog into account and was kind of bummed that we could see the ocean as clearly as I had hoped. 

We waved our last good-bye's to the ocean and headed for the Ferry on the other side of the island. The road on the way back almost had two of us puking and we had to pull over a few times for some fresh air.

Our star traveler was pretty excited to get out of his seat when we finally reached the Ferry! We had an hour wait for the next ride and there was a good chance we would have to wait another four hours after that if we didn't make it on. 

We let the kids watch a movie for a bit while we waited and then stretched our legs with a bathroom break.

Fin didn't want to walk much with his sore knee, so he opted to sit inside with Daddy! I took the others exploring out on the deck as we left. 

The older two got cold and hung out with Daddy inside while Joe and I walked the deck. I enjoyed spending time with this freckle nosed boy so much! We took turns taking pictures of each other and laughing as the wind blew our hair. I asked him what his favorite part was and he responded, "All of it!"

I threw snacks into the backseat as we drove and drove. I reflected on all of the things we did and learned this vacation and couldn't help but feel blessed to have these awesome kids and an amazing hubby to share my life with. As with any vacation, it had it's trying moments, but the good far outweighs the bad. It was late in the afternoon before we stopped for lunch and everyone ate every last crumb of their meal.

We finally made it to our hotel around 7:00pm and the first thing we did was change into our swim suits and jump in the pool! We spent most of our evening canon-balling into the water and swimming lengths. I bathed all of the kids before bed and even after swimming there was still a handful of sand in the bottom of the bath water. Mr. Stannix and I took turns enjoying a nice, hot shower and felt good as new after! We tucked the littles into their beds and called it a night, exhausted from a day of traveling.

Early Morning Walk

Today was our last full day on the island and I wanted to soak up all of it's goodness before we left for home. Ollie was the first to wake this morning and we enjoyed a nice, long walk on the beach before the other kids woke up for the day. 

I am certain that if I had air and views like this back home, I would wake up at 5:00am for a walk every day! I enjoyed walking, breathing deeply, pondering and basking in all of the beauty. 

We took the kids into Ucluelet for lunch and then hit up the rainforest trails on the way back. It was such a neat experience for them!

The boardwalk was narrow, mossy, creeky and old. We were careful with every step and tried our best to avoid the weak boards along the way.

It was quite the adventure.

This boy refused any help up or down the steep steps. 

It was a lovely walk! 

Since it was our last day there we made sure to spend a good chunk of time down at the beach getting our fill of the ocean.

Camilla could swim in the ocean all day, and she did until she was too cold to swim any longer.

I got to follow Ollie around as he explored the warm tide pools.

Joe and Fin had a lot of fun with the little guy who was camping next to us. They dug a pretty epic hole in the sand and filled it with buckets of water. 

It was a great way to spend the afternoon! Everyone was sad to leave, but excited to go home.

Later that evening I snuck down to the beach for one last picture at sunset. I really am going to miss this place. 

We had a crazy fire and let the kids stay up late eating junk and drinking hot chocolate. The family next to us came and joined us for a while and we had fun getting to know them and chatting with them. Camilla made up an animal guessing game and everyone took turns thinking of an animal and giving hints to help others guess. Finley split his knee open when he fell on the gravel and we seriously debated stitches. He screamed while I cleaned it and put a bandaid on, and then fell asleep on a chair. When it was time, the littles went to bed without complaint and Mr. Stannix and I cleaned up camp with the light from the last of the fire.