Back and Forth

Today was a busy, crazy day! Everyone got off to school okay, but I got a call from Camilla part way through the morning asking to be picked up. She said she was feeling sick and needed to come home. I had just gotten Sawyer down for his morning nap and had to wake him to head into the school. I am a firm believer in letting sleeping babies sleep, so this was a hard thing for me to do! As we drove home she told me about how she volunteered to take someone's place in the relay at track and field that afternoon. They practiced in the morning and then she ended up feeling bad about how well she did and I think she also had low blood sugar and just didn't end up feeling well. She spent the rest of the morning napping and after a big lunch she asked to be driven back in to school. When I dropped her off she quickly ran off to find her relay team, worried she had missed it and let them down. I was so proud that she found her courage and went through with her commitment. 

When I got home I hung out in the greenhouse with Dad for a little while chatting and checking out the plants. This sweet little butterfly hung out in their for quite a while and it was so neat watching it! It's awesome to see pollinators hanging around. I even saw the straw mouth it has. Nature is so cool!

Once Ollie had gone for his nap, Fin requested a "mom date" and asked to make cookies. The afternoons always fly by after nap time! There were so many wet outfits and one too many pairs of shoes thrown in the kiddie pool. I also will pretend that I didn't hear about two of the boys peeing in the pool! Gross. 

Camilla was excited about her ribbons from track today and came home happy! I was pretty much at my whits end as I left for soccer. We were missing socks and shin guards and barely made it out the door in time. 

Most of the practices this year have been bitterly cold and windy, but I'm glad to watch the boys give it their all on the field! Afterwards they changed in the van and then we headed over to the piano recital for the older three. I ended up chasing two little boys down the halls and peeking in only when one of my kiddos was playing. We snuck home after Camilla's performance leaving Daddy and Gramma to bring home the big kids. After a very late dinner I enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of rain dripping off the eaves and the wind blowing through the trees.

Birds Nest

 We are already getting into Summer mode over here! Our morning routine leaves much to be desired, and the kids even missed the bus once because we weren't paying attention to the time. Morning cartoons are already beginning and home reading has become more of a last minute thing before school. While therre is much to love about the month of June, I can sense that we are all eagerly looking toward the slower paced Summer days running barefoot around the acreage and eating fresh garden berries and juicy water melons.

For now I am enjoying watching Oliver discover new things around the acreage. He couldn't wait to show me the little birds nest that he discovered while mowing the lawn with Grampa. My guess is that it blew out of a tree during one of the recent storms. When Ollie isn't exploring you can find him in the kiddie pool fully clothed (ugh!) or playing with the hose. Grampa went out to investigate after hearing "cold! cold! COLD!" to find Oliver laying down in the cool water in his overalls. Half his wardrobe is hung over the deck railings and will hopefully be dry by tomorrow.

Hyrum's teacher sent me the sweetest message today to let me know that he was one of only three students to complete his work today and she was very pleased with him. It made my mamma heart happy to hear that he is respectful and kind at school. Sometimes it can be hard to send our little birds out into the world. I spend a lot of time worrying and wondering, so it was nice of her to write home and let me know!

Ollie Finds Scissors

It seems that neither Ollie nor I learned our lesson the last time I left the hair cutting kit out after giving the boys a trim. On Sunday morning as we were eating breakfast, Camilla ran her fingers through Ollie's hair and was shocked to discover a handful of hair come right out! We were heading to a friends church for a baby blessing and had to leave earlier than usual, so there was no time for fixing. My heart broke as I looked at the long, whispy locks of hair in my hand. In the same breath I let out a gentle laugh (it was either that or cry). It was such an Ollie thing to do! This is his third time giving himself a haircut. I decided a comb over and some gel would fix it up nicely and off we went to church. Every time I look at him I think why oh why did you cut those gorgeous blonde locks!?  Just as we were leaving I opened the hair cutting kit to grab a comb to braid Camilla's hair and discovered another bunch of hair that fell inside. His hair is sooo short at the back near his crown and it's pretty hilarious. Oh, Ollie! 

The Early Evening

Evening walks have become a nightly tradition over the last little while. After tucking everyone into bed Mr. Stannix and I wandered up to the orchard to soak in the last of the suns rays for the day. We took our adorable little side kick with us to get some fresh air before bed. The apple blossoms were still out and it was gorgeous! They don't last very long, so I try to enjoy them as much as I can while they are in bloom.

As we walked my heart was filled with so much gratitude for this guy of mine. I'm so grateful we followed our hearts and took a leap of faith with this move. We've learned a lot and grown even closer together. He is my best friend and I love hanging out with him and raising this crazy crew of children with him. He makes my life easy and works so hard for us! I've been feeling incredibly blessed to have him!

It was such a beautiful evening!

Welcome June

It is so hard to believe that June is already here! I am so excited for school to let out at the end of the month and for Summer adventures to begin. We had to make a quick trip to our old house today to welcome our new renters and grab the last bit of our stuff that was along the side of the house all Winter. This move has taught me a lot about receiving inspiration and acting in faith. Every time we encounter a hurdle along the way, Heavenly Father always helps things work out for our good if we are patient. The experience we had finding new renters for our place over this last month was definitely an answer to prayers. We are so grateful to have found a wonderful family to take care of our home for us!

After we had finished up with the walk through and exchanging of house keys, we made our way to our favorite place to eat because a trip to the city wouldn't be complete without a stop at Costa Vida.

This salad tasted delicious after a long day of driving and loading. I am so grateful for my parents who are always willing to help and serve where they can. It was nice to leave most of our littles at home while we went to meet our new renters. 

After we tucked the kids in for the night we went up to the orchard for a walk. Dad had spent the day cleaning the top garden and mowing and everything looked so pretty! I had to take a peek at the apple blossoms before they were gone because they are one of my very favorite things.

We were also blessed to be able to drink in a beautiful tangerine sunset! I always love my nightly walks with Mr. Stannix. It's great to get some fresh air and unwind after a busy day.

Before long we will be picking raspberries, and saskatoons, and haskaps, and apples and all kinds of delicious things from this garden.

New Growth

When I was out in the greenhouse today, Dad pointed out some of the new growth. There are already loads of flowers on the tomato plants and one or two itty bitty tomatoes coming. The Black Hungarian peppers are already growing nicely! I also tried a few Tomatillo plants this year and they have some nice flowers coming. My pumpkin plants have greened right up and are enjoying their corner of the greenhouse with room to stretch and vine out. In a few months we will be eating the fruits of our labors and my mouth is already watering!

Thick

 The air was thick with smoke this morning when the boys and I went out for morning chores. We fed and watered the "kickens" and then sought refuge inside. The forest fires this year are terrible already and if we have this much smoke here, I can't imagine what they are experiencing up North! We layed low and spent a lot of time inside today. By the time the afternoon rolled around they ended up cancelling soccer because the air quality was too bad to play in. I didn't mind one less night running and cherished the quiet time that we had together.

Counting Down

Everyone is feeling the exhaustion that accompanies the end of the school year. I actually had to wake my children today or they would have missed the bus! We've had a lot of extra littles in and out of our bed during the night. Joe finally moved to the couch in the wee hours of the morning. In the middle of making breakfast I peeked in to check on him and he was drooling on the couch while the morning sun poured through the bay window and cast it's warm glow on his still body. I woke Camilla with fifteen minutes to spare. I may or may not have counted the number of school lunches I have left to pack!

Washing and putting away the cloth diapers after the kids hopped on the bus made me so happy! Every time I get lazy and use my disposable diapers I end up grumpy and wishing I had used a cloth so I didn't have to soak and scrub an outfit out. Also, how cute are those patterns?!

I used some left over chicken broth and whipped up a homemade veggie soup for lunch. The pizza knots came out of the oven just before Mr. Stannix got home, and it was delicious!

The afternoon brought us out to the coop for eggs. The boys love checking the nesting boxes and finding pretty brown eggs. With all of Hyrum's growing pains and constant hunger lately, I am grateful for these eggs! They make great breakfasts and baked goods!

With the longer days comes evening walks and extra outside time. It's so hard to call the kids in for bed when the weather is so beautiful! After dinner we went for a walk around the acreage. The kids picked all of the fluffy dandelions and blew the fluff off. My allergies were hating me by the end, but it was worth it! Since Ollie had a late nap and Fin ended up falling asleep on the couch at 4pm I wasn't in a hurry for bedtime. At days end my mom brought over some delicious pudding and I sat and ate it with a fork because there were no more clean spoons to be found.

Simple Beauties

The days are flying by! We are loving the warm weather and all of the time we get to spend outside. The boys already have pretty awesome farmer tans and I love that they enjoy being outside more than inside.

This morning they all lined up on the couch eating peanut butter toast and watching ninja turtles before school. During the end of the year hustle, I like to make sure we still slow things down once and a while, especially for the big kids who spend such long days at school and on field trips. The morning sun combined with Ollie's bed head and all of their sweet faces made for quite the view!

I decided to ignore my messy kitchen and hang out in Grampa's Greenhouse for a little while this morning. Sawyer enjoyed swinging around while I pulled a few weeds.

Ollie, of course, had to be right in there helping! Two year olds are the best little helpers. 

When it came time to tuck the boys in for the night they couldn't sleep. Ollie had a late afternoon nap and Finley fell asleep on the couch at 4pm. They decided they would rather watch Daddy mow the lawn than go to bed.

After everyone was finally tucked in for the night, I slipped outside for some fresh air. I stumbled upon my favorite flower and picked a few to put in a tiny vase on my kitchen windowsill. As I stood outside the little boys' window I could hear them giggling and I smiled. Even though they were driving me crazy, I was happy to hear them getting along and enjoying their childhood. Watching my husband mow the yard and breathing in the smell of fresh cut grass grounded me after a tough mom day. The little blue flowers surrounding my bare feet reminded of a talk entitled "Forget me Not" and the part where we are reminded to be happy now. It got me thinking about all of the things that bring me happiness and reminded me of the beauty that can be found in the mundane tasks of the day. Later that night when my toddler got out of bed for the 124395th time and asked for a "hug and a smuch" (smooch), you better believe I gave him the best squeeze hug and biggest kiss before tucking him back into bed. I fell asleep feeling like the luckiest Mom in the world because the chubby arms that encircle my neck with hugs each day are far more valuable to me than a gold chain or a string of pearls. 

"Don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life."  

~Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Evenings at the Lake

 As I tiptoed out of the baby's room this morning after a 5:00am nursing session, I turned to see the pink glow of the morning sun through the closed blinds. I quietly crept out into the living room to get a better look while the rest of the house slept peacefully on. Camilla was up at 6:00am and we read together on the couch until everyone else woke up for the day. Despite only getting four hours of sleep last night I felt awake and energized thanks to the blue sky and song birds outside. 

 While Sawyer napped the boys ran around outside in their own little world. I helped mom weed a row in the garden as the heat of the sun started warming things up for the day.

 When Mom brought in a huge haul of rhubarb I made up my Gramma's rhubarb cake, topping it with extra brown sugar and cinnamon, for the after school snack.

 With the warmer weather comes boating season! Daddy got home early from work today and got the boat ready to go out. As soon as the kids got off the bus they put on their swim suits and we drove out to Cow Lake for the evening. 

 Camilla and Hyrum couldn't wait to get out on the tube and thoroughly enjoyed their ride! 

 Sawyer wasn't sure what to think of the noisy boat and all of the wind, but he's pretty easy going about most things and adjusted quickly.

 Joe had to watch the older two a few times before deciding that he wanted to jump on for a tube ride too.

 We also managed to coax Ollie into going for a little ride with Daddy.

 I enjoyed being out on the boat surrounded by beautiful views. I loved that in some areas the lake was like glass. I loved watching the children giggle on the tube. I loved listening to everyone spending time together. 

 It was so nice to have my Dad on the lake with us to help drive the boat so that I could snuggle Sawyer. Ollie was an awesome co-captain.

 The wind made the boys hair go wild and I loved it (along with their bare little toes sticking up)!

 We finished off the evening with some fishing. The kids are getting so good and love their new gear!

 Grampa helped those in the front of the boat while Daddy helped those in the back. We had four fishing rods going and they had to make sure no body tangled their lines or hooked anyone in the boat.

 When it started getting late we made our way back to the dock. By this time the big kids were getting braver on the tube and started standing up and balancing as Grampa pulled them in. He gave a quick tug hoping to knock them onto their butts and Camilla ended up flipping off the back of the tube. The water gave her a bit of a shock, but she laughed as she swam back to shore, "Not cool Grampa! Not cool!" I am looking forward to many more nights like these, just hanging out in the boat with my favorite people and relishing in the beauty all around.