Restart

This blog has been on my heart for awhile now.  It has never been forgotten, I just haven't taken the time to look it up.  Lately I've been wondering if I could pick it up again.  I was almost afraid to type in the address for fear it had been deleted somehow because of lack of use.  Nothing is safe in this digital age.

It's still here. Unchanged and undelted.  Memories are safe.  Now to try to figure out where to start catching up on life.  This is why I struggle with journaling.  Some big thing happens and I don't have time to journal about it.  Then something else happens, but I can't record that because I haven't recorded the last big event.

There is no way to record all that has happened in the last 2 years.  Where would I start?  The birth of our 5th child, Simeon Creed on March 4th, 2016?  The story of moving  in May 2016 from the home where we brought all 5 babies home?  The love our new home?  The amazing provision of our mighty God through so much?  Would I share the low times like two more surgeries for Jeremy in April 2015 and August 2016?  Maybe I should skip the low times and focus on the good.  However without sharing the lows how could I explain how God so graciously carried us through those times?  Through all of it one thing has become very clear to me in the good and the bad GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD.  In the past years He has become sweeter to me then I can express.

So where do I start?  I have no idea.  I'm just hoping I can jump back in right here, today, and hopefully start again.  My track record isn't great on restarts, but I'm going to attempt it.

So here's to new starts.

Zachary

These pictures are now old, but still so sweet I'll still post them. 

First swing ride

Brothers:  Isaiah loves to see Zachary doing new things and is often the one calling for us to come look at what Zach is trying to do.  He is currently on a quest to get Zachary to sit by himself.

Brothers: Nathan and Zachary also have a special bond.  Nate is the one that will spend long periods of time with Zachary, talking to him, singing to him and making baby sounds that only Zachary can understand  and that often sound like Zachary's jabber.  The picture above was taken after these two had been "talking" for awhile in Zach's crib. 

Teeth, at 7 1/2 months (he's younger on this picture -I think it was taking in July) Zachary as 2 teeth and 2 just about to pop through.  

Jeremy's Family Vacation Weekend 2013

Another highlight from our summer was a weekend with Jeremy family (missing Alex and Boky :( ) My pictures were rather scarce from the weekend, but here are a few to record that it did happen. 

Zachary (4 months), Joshua (3 months)

 The kids LOVED the tea party Grandma Flo made for them.  This may become a tradition! 

Family Life

More pictures from our spring/summer

My strawberry jam helper princess

Nate's sign.  I can't remember what it was for.  Let's just pretend he's sitting in our neighbors flower bed...

Brothers.  Notice the missing teeth.  Nate lost one soon after this pictures was taken.  I think they lost 3 teeth between the two of them in 48 hours.

Because I don't want to forget


Family night at the local state park

May 2013 -Mom and Dad's Visit

We enjoyed a visit from my mom and dad in May.  Dad and my brother Matt flew to OR to surprise Brandon and attended the service at he and Cindy's church when Brandon was licensed as an associate pastor.  Heather and I and our children (we missed Cindy and Anna, Adam and Ashton! :( )took the opportunity to surprise mom with a 60th birthday party.  By the time Dad and Matt got to OR and Mom's party was over I was so tired of keeping surprises!  You know that feeling where you don't even want to answer the phone for fear you'll tell someone something and ruin a surprise?  That was me for about 2 weeks.  It was well worth it. 

We moved to this house almost 8 years ago.  I've often dreamed of serving friends a breakfast on our back porch.  Mom's party was the chance I was looking for.  We invited a few of her close friends & family (from this area) and we enjoyed brunch and fellowship on the porch. 

Did I mention we missed Cindy, Anna, Adam and Ashton? :(

  While Mom was here she helped the kids and I make donuts.  Wow, were they good. Sorry about the weird color on these pictures.  Some day I'll learn how to use this camera! 

When Dad got back from OR he took the boys fishing.  They loved it.  Nate was very interested in cleaning the fish.  He did NOT get his interest from his mom.

This visit was the first time Dad got to meet Zachary (4 months) They liked each other just fine. :)

Saying goodbye. :(

Four generations 

7 Minutes

I told the kids they had to get ready for bed at 7:30.  That gives me 7 minutes to blog.

• We just go home from Family Camp at Covey Valley.  We had a great weekend.
• Todd Wilson (FamilyMan) was the speaker.  He was hilarious and very encouraging. 
• We stayed at Jeremy's parents house instead of staying at the camp.  We were too lazy to camp in a tent.  It we nice to be in a familiar place to sleep.
• The kids are EXHAUSTED but had so much fun.  
• I am sitting on the couch.  Behind me, on top of the couch, are clean and folded clothes I didn't get a chance to put away before we rushed out the door on Friday.  Beside me is a bike helmet with dirty underwear in it?!?
• I should note here that because we didn't stay at the camp we didn't have a room so the kids changed for swimming in the van.  What a mess!
• I haven't even opened the suitcase yet. There's always tomorrow
• Tomorrow night our church starts a week of VBS
• Neither Angela or Kate had their babies over the weekend. :(  (Angela, I'm much more excited about your baby than Kate's, but I only have 2 minutes left so I didn't want to use up to bullet points:))
• Zachary is sleeping and can't wake up.  He did great at camp, but didn't get very many long naps. Now he's catching up. 
• I pulled out our Sonlight instructors guide for this year (instead of unpacking!) I'm excited about this coming school year. 
• It's now 7:31.  Time for bed.
• One more, my cousin and her husband just loaned us their treadmill.  Now I have no excuse!
• Maybe tomorrow. 

Blogging, facebook style

I love facebook.  I strongly dislike facebook.  I'll keep my reasons to myself.  I often think of posting something, but then I figure it would only be interesting to my mom and 3 friends so I decide not to bother the rest of my "friends" with it.  However, this is my blog and I can do what I want.  So, here is a running list of things I could post on facebook, but decided not to.

-Should children be allowed to say hate?  Or should they say "strongly dislike"?

-Isaiah and Nate started swimming lessons yesterday.  Isaiah had a hard time yesterday, but today was much better.  God's does answer prayers!

-Me: "Callie, where did you learn that?" C: From my friend online.  Isaiah: Probably on pinterest.  Me: dumbfounded

-Callie loves watching "baking movies" (full episodes of cooking shows) on foodnetwork.com Proof that she probably watches to many:  While eating a lollipop, "This lollipop gives me texture in my mouth", while choosing which show to watch, "Not the man man one"  I finally figured out that she meant not GUY Fieri.  Guy, man, get it?  The Pioneer Woman is one of her favorites.  Callie calls her "The Pineapple Woman".

-Zachary had his 4 month check up on Friday.  He weighs 17.6 lbs.  We call him chubs. :)

-Why do kids decide they want to learn AFTER school is finished for the year?

-We are finished with school for the year! We were a few days short of the 180 we'll have to have when we start recording days, but we finished the goals I had so I am pleased.  We did a lot of reading.  I figured we read somewhere over 2800 pages and that didn't include any extra books we read that were not related to school.

-My house needs cleaned.  I might go on strike until summer is over.

-I found $20 in a pair of pants that I hadn't worn for awhile.  I of course was very delighted.  Jeremy just shook his head.  I figure we're up $20.  He doesn't understand how I didn't realize we were down $20.  Now to decide if it was grocery money or "my" piano money.

-Quote from somewhere "Organized people are too lazy to look for things"

-Jeremy does not have a lazy wife. See previous post.

-Is it possible to organize and back up digital pictures and still have a sound mind?

-twentytwowords.com is a very interesting web site. They have all kinds of useless information that I find very interesting.  I'm not sure what that says about me.

-I'm very sad to not have a bigger garden this year.  A walnut tree on our neighbors property (bad for tomatoes I'm told) and ground hogs are the reason.

-We just found out that one of our neighbors is FEEDING the groundhogs. :(

-Isaiah is missing his two front teeth.  Someone mentioned that he looks older.  I think he looks younger and I secretly love it.  Sometimes he is way too serious for a 7 year old.  Seeing him with no front teeth helps me to remember that he is just a kid.

-Zachary is one of the most kissed on and loved babies in the world I'm sure.  He brings us so much joy.  He "talks" so much.

I love using " "'s

-Nathan: "Being a lifeguard would be boring.  Not many people drown.  It would be really sweaty".  ?

-And since this is facebook style blogging I end with "What a day!  I'm off to bed".

-Here is a great recipe for bran muffins.  (because no one should ever go to bed without first checking pinterest)

Easter 2013

Pictures from our Easter celebrations this year.  

I love Zach's face on this one. :)  By the way, this was taking AFTER church.  Easter pictures before church didn't happen.

This might be my favorite picture from the whole weekend. 

 A highlight of our weekend was meeting our newest nephew Joshua, he's just 5 weeks younger than Zachary.   He's a sweetie!

We have high hopes of Zachary and Joshua being great friends someday.  Maybe next year. :) 

Isaiah at his great-grandma's yearly brunch and Easter egg hunt

Callie loved the hunt too. 

Nate posed for this picture.

My cousin's beautiful daughter 

Another cousin and her beautiful daughter. 

Zachary getting to know one of his great-uncles. 

The oldest holding the youngest.  Zachary with his Great-Grandma L. (Mom's mom)

So sweet

Life

Life just keeps rolling along.  I try to constantly remind myself to hold on to each day, but often I forget.  Pictures are one of the best ways to slap myself in the face and remember to enjoy each moment, craziness and all.  So in celebration of life being lived here in our little house here are some favorites from the last few weeks. Or maybe months, I've lost track

I wonder if there has ever been a baby loved more than this little guy.  I am constantly reminding the kids not to wake him up when he's sleeping.  When he is awake they try to give him toys and play with him and make him laugh.  He loves being held and having people talk to him.  As of Tuesday the 2nd he's two months old!

Painting Easter eggs.

We tried a new recipe this year.  Mix food coloring with 1 T. oil and 1 T. vinegar than fill the cup with enough water to cover the egg.  This gives a lovely marbled look to the egg. 

This month we're celebrating Jeremy's good health.  I'm so thankful to be laughing and enjoying life with him.  One year ago this week we met with the doctor that said "80% chance it's cancer".  Several weeks ago Jeremy spoke with the surgeon from Johns Hopkins about a follow up CT scan he had done.  All is completely clear.  

Isaiah hard at work.  Or something like that.  He's an excellent reader even though he doesn't enjoy phonics.  He loves math, history, geography and history.  

Always a princess.  I was folding laundry the other day and realized Callie's pile of folded laundry was very small.  It's because she lives in her dress up cloths.  She's always pretending something or other.  Often she's getting ready for a wedding, or taking care of "her kids" or talking about "her husband".  I love watching and listening to her.

These beads have provided Callie with hours of fun.  Here they are smoothies and strawberries I think.  She's also been playing a lot with dried beans.  They make a mess to clean up, but it's worth it for the entertainment it gives her.  She also LOVES to play at the sink washing dishes.  So far I've been fairly successful at keeping the beans and water separate.  Sprouting beans all over the house is just what I need! 

Just to prove that he has a mother. :)

Nate's fort.  This is the second fort built.  The first one had the pillows directly on top of Zach's face.  I didn't respond real well when I found it. :(  Nate was very proud of himself for finding a way to build a fort that kept Zach's face free to breath.  I felt a little sorry for Zachary, but I had to take a picture.  I wish I had a picture of all the ways this baby's siblings love on him.  The pretzel up the nose was another moments I didn't respond real well to. :(  On this picture Zachary looks so much like Isaiah did as a baby.

"Look Mom, he's sleeping in his fort!"

Love this face

He loves his daddy and he loves to snuggle. 

We fought through a week of sickness a few weeks ago.  I was about at my wits end by the end of the week.  The kids were feeling better, but weren't well enough to go anywhere and it was too cold to force them outside to play.  I did force them onto the porch for a few minutes though.  Believe me, those smiles were not in place when I sent them out.  For the record, Isaiah is wearing pj's and my crocs.  Nate is wearing his church loafers without socks (I find him at church like this sometimes.  I always feel like I should look to make sure his shirt is fully buttoned and he's not wearing a gold necklace.  sorry) 

Matt and Heather and their girls came to meet Zachary a few weeks ago.  Sadly, most of my pictures weren't very good. :(  However, this one did turn out.  Chloe knitted this hat for Zachary!  I was so impressed.  She does NOT  get her knitting skills from her aunt!  Thank you Chloe!

P.S. Mom, the Easter pictures will be posted soon. :)