Justin and Amber

We have been so busy lately!  Mostly just enjoying each other and the sun!

Memorial Day weekend was extra long for me.  Thursday I woke up to a spinning world, so I ended up staying home and sleeping hoping it went away.  I’m not sure if it was vertigo or something else, but it was awful.  I woke up on Friday to a planned vacation day back to normal.

We spent a lot of time outside.  Justin, my dad and his dad stripped and stained the deck, which was a great accomplishment!  I did a lot of weeding and tree trimming.  My fruit/herb/veggie garden was planted along with a few plants.  We chopped down a tree and cut down an incredibly overgrown rose bush.  I did many loads of clothes and diaper laundry, which is still not all put away.  Justin and I ended Monday night by moving his office from a bedroom on the top level to a bedroom in the basement.

Eloise is nine months now.  She is crawling like crazy and almost walking.  She can kind of say “mama” and now says “dadada”.  She is a happy little girl at almost every moment, and is doing fairly well sleeping.  We will go in for her checkup next week, and I’m looking forward to seeing how long she is now.  She seems quite tall.  If you’ve seen any photo of her, you know that she has crazy hair.  My mom gave her a nice short pixie cut so that her hair looks a bit more under control.

Lincoln is such a little boy now.  He is enjoying playing outside with his sand and water tables, and loves to help in the garden.  He gets very excited when we find worms, which rarely turns out well for the worm.  He plays with them a bit too long and they dry out.  At least he isn’t ripping them apart anymore!  He currently has two girlfriends at school, so we are preparing ourselves for his teenage years.  We will be starting swim lessons with him soon, and I am very excited about that.  I want to make sure he is and feels safe in the pool.

We try to get outside every night, and I hope to continue that throughout the summer.  Link gets a lot of outside time during the day, but I don’t.  I never used to like the outdoors much, but now I feel like I need them!

My new craft closet:

Eloise:

One of our beautiful blooming trees:

There are moments when I feel God’s blessings in my life.  Sometimes, it is a bit overwhelming.  This weekend included many of those moments.

Mother’s Day weekend was everything I needed it to be – minus extra sleep.

I was able to spend quality time with my favorite sister-in-law, and watch our cousin pick out her beautiful wedding dress.  I am so excited to celebrate Ali’s wedding planning journey with her as a bridesmaid, and watch her begin a marriage to a wonderful man.

I watched my children, who have been very “new-people-anxious” lately, embrace Amy and Collin, who in turn just loved on Link and Ellie.

I was able to spend time with my family, enjoying our last week all in the same suburb, but looking forward to Ashley and Peter being so much closer than before!

This was a beautiful, happy weekend filled with love and Jesus.  For me, being a mom is the greatest gift in the world, and this weekend made that so much more special.

Playing with Aunty Amy and Uncle Collin

Sweet moments

Sibling love

Cheese!

Sweet girl

Splashing!

Giving up Facebook for Lent was a blessing.  I felt like I spent more time with God, myself, and my family.  I was more present, and noticed the details.  Going forward, my goal is to continue to restrict my time on my smart phone in general.  I want to see my children, and devote my time with them, with them.

While I was away from Facebook, life happened.

Eloise Grey:

Ellie has grown up so much!  She has two teeth and lots of lighter hair.  She is an expert crawler – much different than Link was.  He finally crawled after weeks of army crawling, and then jumped to walking.  Ellie is climbing not only stairs, but chairs!  (So just a small, cushy chair, but still).  She loves to stand and can pull herself up on anything.  She loves to play with tiny fuzzies on the floor, Link’s hair, and any small toy she can find of her brother’s to choke on.  Ellie is a big fan of eating and BLW is going great!

Lincoln Xavier:

I have fewer photos of Link, because he doesn’t sit still.  He still loves dinosaurs and really any animal.  As I mentioned before, he had his first true injury, and is healing very nicely.  He loves to be outside, once he gets out there.  He often would choose to stay inside, especially if it is windy, but I push him a bit.  He loves his sister, and is learning to be gentler with her (and everyone else).  He is still talking like crazy, and the words he knows continually astounds me.  His imagination has really taken off, and he is now telling us stories he has made up.

Etcetera:

Justin and I went to California for my work conference.  I did much better than I thought, being away from the kids.  It was great to spend time with just him!

Easter was lovely also, and we were able to spend time with some great friends and family – and welcomed baby Ethan to our “family” on Good Friday!

We are so blessed, and I am grateful for the past 40 days that I had to reflect on the importance of how I use my time, and who I use it for.