Nature

Visiting Gibbs Gardens has been a joy for our family during this unique season. We had no idea it'd be a spot that would remain open and have loved checking out the change in blossoms, walking together, and enjoying so much beauty. One of the times I took along a scavenger hunt for the little girls to complete and they enjoyed having that to focus on (and the reward of fruit snacks at the end!). I've found it so calming to walk and sit in the stillness of nature and the outing together as a family has been wonderful. A few of these walks, I had some real time to process internally and just listen. God's comforting voices was woven into so many moments - the steps, the quiet benches, the blossoms, the pathways. Beautiful.

 This one isn't in Gibbs, but in a random spot of a parking lot where we had a picnic with burgers and fries. It was new and different from eating at a restaurant, but gosh, we had fun!

This was our next trip there (looking forward to going again soon!)

 I fell in LOVE with this plant! I've always loved hydrangeas, but had never seen a variety that blooms like this (and so early!). We came home and figured out that we have THREE of them planted at our house! SO EXCITED!

Snow!

Our Saturday morning in January started pretty much like any other. Max had an early bball game, so Mike headed out with him. The girls and I were getting typical jobs done when I heard "Mom! Snow!!" It had been flurrying the day before (and their teachers had been so awesome at pausing school and letting them get outside to enjoy the flurries), and I didn't expect too much else. The girls popped out with my phone for a few photos.

 Then the flurries turned into actual snow! At this point, we were all excited and I was so grateful we'd picked up snow clothes for the kids (we let go of all snow clothing when we moved to Florida and then gave them all snow clothes for Christmas in preparation for our trip to Utah). We pulled them out of storage and had a BLAST. Thankfully, by this point Max's game had ended and they were on their way back home. The roads were getting crazy, and it was good to get off of them sooner rather than later!

The day was a bit magical. The kids beamed with all of the snowman building, snow angels and snowballs. We were told this was the most snow Atlanta has had in about five years, so it was fun to enjoy it for the day (by Sunday it had completely melted!). So grateful it fell on a Saturday when things could be canceled, everyone wasn't commuting to work (or home from work). Grateful to spend time nature, connecting with God's creations!

January Little Things

The little things - the moments within the moments bring so much joy to in this journey motherhood. A reminder when I'm driving the same routes over and over again, or scrambling to keep food in the house, that it all matters. It all works to create life, and through the labor of our 'daily bread,' we are handed ordinary moments to truly soak in the extraordinary gratitude available to us through God’s love as we walk this road of parenting.

Right after we came home from Utah, Alexis felt sick. And after a day of waiting it out, it was time to take her into the doc. The office visit went a bit like this. Me: "I think she has either strep or the flu, so I brought her in for testing." The doc: "Good guesses, but it's definitely not the flu. She might have strep, but we'll test her for both just to see." :20 minutes later. Doc enters the room. "I stand corrected. She has the strep AND the flu. Good call." The combo of the two wiped her out for a few days, and took a full week from school to recover. So grateful for medicine.

I started teaching yoga again!

Took down the last of Christmas. The cards are always the last to go. I love seeing these amazing people on our oantry door remembering how they’ve influenced our lives for the better.

We put Christmas lights in each of the kids rooms and this year some cute littles decided Mike and I needed some too. These made me smile every time I walked in - they never actually reached an outlet which made the whole display even cuter.

This one I love. The light through the fog. And a whole lotta life and love wrapped in this photo. It’s the day Max was ordained a teacher and the first day of Young Women’s for Alexis.

Warm day and the scorpions were out on the driveway! Haven’t found any in the house for awhile (and I’m thrilled about that!).

Nails.

Decades day at school. Man, these poodle skirts I made with my mom have gotten SO much use over the years!!!

The morning skies have been incredible!

We’ve spent oodles of time in the peak of b-ball season. Max is actually on three teams right now - feeder for the high school, his middle school team and church b-ball. They only all overlap for a couple weeks, and it’s been so fun to see him embrace it all.



Warm winter days mean lots of time outside exploring! These two had a game of delivering “gifts” one afternoon.

Alexis is playing church b-ball as well and has had fun practicing something new!

Keeping our day of service going with MLKJ Day!

This cutie broke her glasses (in truth they’ve lasted so well and completely wore out). She was LONG overdue for an eye appt and some new ones!


These two dreamed of life with glasses...




Creative art at home!

One of my favorite views! Two littles taking the cans in and it’s so fun to watch the cans go without seeing the girls pulling them!

A workout buddy

Love finding these pics on my phone.

She loves this game after school and I love soaking her in as much as I can!

Mike surprised meeting us at the library and Abby couldn’t wait to pull out her books to show him what she’d chosen.

At the library Tayler and Alexis both had artwork from school on display for the month of January! They were beaming at being selected and it was so fun to see their creativity at work!



100th day of school. She was so excited to dress like an old lady until...she wasn’t. And almost didn’t get to school. When she asked if she could bring a book to help calm down in the car (after tears for :10 minutes worried that no one else would be dressed up), I love that she chose this book.

Her creative art for the 100th day! Can you see the 100 colored marshmallows?!

Life. Love catching them.

Met these two for a lunch date! Been catching each kiddo for lunch once a month - can’t seem to walk in pics with the older ones as easily as these two!


And for the moments we loved that didn’t capture a photo:

*We love the ongoing dinner out /movie / ice cream on Saturday nights. 

*We’ve loved our weekly outings to see Vern!

*Mike and I had a couple of fun lunch dates 

*Family scripture time in the evening has grown into one of my most favorite parts of the day. It short, it’s small, it’s sometimes crazy, but little by little we can hear, see and feel seeds growing. It’s beautiful.