THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for kindness paid forward, the times we've been on the receiving end and opportunities to be on the giving end. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

MOTHER'S DAY - 2019

Tim took a quick Mother's Day picture before we all headed to church on Sunday morning. Half of them may be taller than me, but my kids will always be the little Ws. 

The day is meant to for kids to honor their mothers, but I spent several childless hours hauling wood with Tim. By choice, I might add. We were filthy and sweaty, but it was nice to spend time together and we got a lot accomplished.

I carried a bunch of wood, but Tim hauled countless giant rounds up a hill and across a lawn. Physical strength is no more impressive than other strengths, but I was sure thankful that day he has ridiculously more muscle than I do. The task would have been impossible, or taken several hours longer firing up a chainsaw to split wood on site, if he couldn't hoist those rounds.

Tim had offered in the morning to take us all out to dinner, but I knew it was going to be a long day and wasn't sure I'd be up for it by evening. We decided to play it by ear, but I knew on the way home with our second load of wood that I wanted to go out. And I knew where. Silas wasn't home, but the rest of us walked down to Hungry Lion at Metropolis and filled up on some awesome food.

Later we sat out on the lawn and ate dump cake. Devon had ridden his bike to the store for ingredients while Tim and I were out dealing with wood and baked it before we came back. The whole pan was for me, but, in a rare moment of maturity, I decided to share dessert.

As I crawled into bed that night, I looked at my nightstand and smiled at some treasures I'd accumulated from kids that day. A rose, two notes - one funny, the other serious, chocolate, and a feather. Plus there were unseen Mother's Day texts - greetings from a couple friends and a sweet note from Natie.

Motherhood has been exhausting, but Mother's Day was great. I'm thankful for that!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful this school year is winding down.

What's one thing that you're thankful for?

SONLIGHT GUEST BLOGGER - APRIL 2019

If you need to lighten the mood around your home one school day, my April post on the Sonlight blog has some ideas for you.

3 Outside-the-box Learning Activities When You Need a Day of Fun

If you try one of those three ideas, let me know how it goes!

Disclosure - I was invited to be a guest blogger with Sonlight for one year in exchange for some free curriculum. All post topics and opinions are my own. If you are a first time Sonlight customer, click this link and use referral code BW20197051 to get $5.00 off your purchase of $50.00 or more. That referral code is totally separate from my role as a guest blogger and will give me credit toward my own purchases. The referral code can also be found on the sidebar of my blog.

A NOT-SO MELLOW SUNDAY

We make a point to have one restful day each week, which works out to be Sundays for most of the family. Yesterday, however, was busy! 

We all attend the first service at our church on Sunday mornings, but Silas always stays to work for several hours. Devon stayed for extra services yesterday to help in the grade school class, Tyler headed to Isaac's home, and Naomi was out of town on a church trip with other junior high kids. So Tim and I headed home without any little Ws. He left a short time later to collect firewood and I worked on stuff around the house. 

Picked up Tyler a few hours later. He had a blast and Mindy sent me this picture of the two boys laughing together. I love it!

I had somewhere to be and Tyler obviously can't stay home alone, so I dropped him off at the church with Silas and Devon. Off I went to meet Sarah at Brown's Ferry Park. We hadn't hung out in way too long, so it was wonderful to spend a few hours walking to Starbucks for cold drinks, hitting the trails, and sitting on a bench overlooking the river while we chatted about life. Spending time with a friend and enjoying the beautiful weather was a perfect way to spend an afternoon. If only I'd thought to get a picture!

Meanwhile, the boys all went out to meet Tim to help with firewood. They worked all afternoon and were almost done unloading when I got home about 9:30 last night. They'd also collected some on Saturday, so this is the state of our driveway today.

I'm really thankful for all the hard work the Ws guys did with firewood over the weekend. Now to start chopping, stacking, and researching wood stoves!

My time with Sarah came to an end so that I could pick up Naomi, but I found out upon arrival at the church that their bus had broken down and they were going to be late. I didn't want to head all the way back home and it was past dinner time, so I accepted an offer to eat some of the mountains of pizza they already had waiting for the kids. I posted on Facebook that I was heading to Cold Stone, but no one was able to join me. That's fine, though. I had a gift card, my dairy-free kid wasn't around, and I don't mind eating alone. Ice cream was meant to be, whether people were with me or not!

Drove back to the church and spent half an hour walking laps around the hilly parking lot while I waited for the bus to arrive. Walking those laps is something I enjoy doing when I have time to kill, so it was nice to get an unexpected chance to get exercise while watching the sun set, seeing deer, and hearing the frogs and birds making all their noises.

Naomi (and her pretty arm) eventually made it back to the church, so I stuck around a bit while she and a friend we gave a ride to scarfed down some pizza before we took off.

All 6 Ws were home. Exhausted people went to bed. Hungry people ate. Filthy people showered. Tim left early for work this morning, but the rest of us slept 10-12 hours to recuperate from our not-so-mellow, but still really good Sunday.

HANGING OUT WITH THE BOYS

It was just the boys and I at home this morning, so we headed out to Champoeg for a couple hours of sunshine and trails. They all played in a giant field for quite a while. First they ran around with a soccer ball, football, and frisbee, just tossing and kicking them to each other. Can you spot all four of them?

Later, after hiking, they spent time playing hide and seek, trying to spot each other lying down in the long grass. In related news, I'm glad we always take Benadryl when we go out hiking because it turns out Devon's skin doesn't like that much grass and eventually broke out in welts. Good times.

We hit the trail for a while, enjoying the shade, throwing rocks and sticks in the river, and watching a boat pass by.

The big boys on the trail.

And the little boys on the trail.

We eventually came back to the fields, part of which were covered in daisies. So pretty!

Just enjoying the beautiful weather, watching happy kids, and sporting a daisy chain necklace I made earlier.

Silas and Devon used this huge stick to reach the lowest branch of the tree. Devon climbed up (he blends into the corner of the picture), then Silas used the stick as a lever to hoist the little boys up. It was like a teeter-totter in the tree. So fun!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful that I slept in until 10:00. What's one thing that you're thankful for?