Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

snippets of our last few weeks

Aliza and I got to hold a sweet baby girl a few weeks ago...goodness knows we don't see many of those :-)

 

 Breakfast buddies

A game of Sorry while cooking? Well why not!

this is the face he gives me first thing every day...not a morning kid...but he sure tries to be

little brother getting in on the game

I sure do love that squishy face

He has been 5 since last June...but he is still jazzed about it!

Sorry yesterday. Cherries today...and yes he is sitting on my windowsill. 

my knitting buddy

He can't read yet but insisted on taking Harry Potter to bed... 

 A happy return to our home school co-op day !!!!

Sorry another squishy baby boy picture...I can't help myself!

little bits

 (sweet big sister sharing tea time )

 (kitchen nick knacks)

 (little bits from my dear Farmor (fathers-mother))

 (a needle felted bookmark my Judah made at age 3)

 (a hand sewn christmas star from one of the kids)

(a sweet bell another trinket from my Farmor and my all time favorite mug from a dear friend)

happy feet + happy faces = happy mama

 (working hard)

 (ok maybe they're not all happy faces)

 (happy feet)

 (a surprise for a friend)

(getting their sillies out)

a little joy to end the year...

I am so glad to have spent our Christmas Eve with some dear friends...we hope to make it our new yearly tradition

(wow all 10 of us in the same picture! this sure makes my mama heart happy)

(me and my 3 littlest boys)

Comfortable

  yes I realize it is November and we started our home school year back in September ... but I am finally (close to) comfortable with our "Drawing Room" as it has been called by the kids.

not great with words...(something of JOY)

so I have finally come to a realization (after many years) 

that I am not a blog writer. :( 

Oh well. Does the world really need another blogger anyway :)

I have decided not to totally give up on the blogging way, but instead will do my best to share a picture everyday of something Joyous . I am doing this for me as a mental motivation. I am doing it to keep me aware that there is more then me here in my everyday. I am doing this to give myself something of Joy to remind that she is with me always, even when I do not feel her.

A daily dose of thankful...

 

thankful for the nice weather in November that the kids can spend lots of time in the yard finding cool things like this beautiful birds nest...

 

Hanging around

Our 4th of July was quiet. How about yours?

 

I love how inventive my kids are. One of the older boys made a rope swing for everyone to enjoy. Dag is really great at swinging on it.

 

 

Aliza staying cool! ;)

 

 

And me knitting. Yes it's 90 degrees and I have a sweater on my lap. But hey what can I say other then I really want to wear it this fall, it's about time I finished it; I mean I've only been working on it for two years. 

Visiting...

 

(road trip knitting, it's the best kind)

 

 

(a sleeping baby :)  )

 

(time to put your feet up)

 

Just a few quiet moments from a road trip to see our family in Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago.

I will try to share some more pictures. I am just having trouble moving them from my phone to the computer. It was a really nice visit with Josh's sister and her family while they were out from Illinois. It has been 4 years and 2 kids for each of us since we last got to spend time face to face.  I feel so blessed with the family I married into. The time we spend together is great and meaningful and sadly to little. We hope to go out to see them in the next few years or so. We are dying to take a big road trip again. 



Just a little Joy

 

 Hi! I know it has been a whiiiillle... but we shall not dwell in the missed past. Today, is where we are and Today is where I want to be.

 

I have not been here for so long because I have been struggling with balance.

The balance in every day life and the balance of what bits of it I want to share here.

I think I finally found it.

I want to be real here in what I share with you and I do not want to gloss over the every day "junk" that can clutter up our lives. I have decided that I want to use this space as place for me to keep track of the Joys in my life. A place for me to look back when I am in a moment of "junk" and remind myself that it will pass and there will be Joy again.

 

(Trace on his 8th birthday)

(Dallas on his 10th birthday)

 

(Misty one of our furry kids)

 



(Judah at about 9months old sorry for the blur)

 



(sharing Trace's b-day cake)

 



(Trace and Aliza all ready for fancy day at school)

 



(Oh how they love that little brother)

 



(oh I have no words)

 



(Aslan standing in front of the paly kitchen I got to make him for his 3rd b-day)

 



(Dagnae enjoying national Doughnut day)

 



(new hair cut!)

 



(Cathrine (Cat for short) our other furry baby)

 



 (Aunt Doris Judah and I last week at a cousin's graduation party)

 

So there they are just a few joys from the last couple of  months. And that is how I want to start off.

Joy to you too!

 

9