June Snapshots

Some of our June.

We've been out of school almost exactly two weeks and I think we've

discovered our 'new normal.'

Though normal every day is a bit different.

Grace started Summer school this week and is enjoying it very much,

she's taking an arts and crafts class and a reading/writing class.

Will gets to be a man of leisure with me in the mornings for now.

We've been swimming in the afternoon and they start VBS next week in the evenings.

 

1. They are now officially 5th and 2nd graders and I cannot believe

how much they've grown and how fast this school year has flown by.

2. Selfie 3. Yummy strawberries, we are loving all the seasonal fruit right now.

4. Grace and Will were baptized on Father's Day. They each thought of and wrote

a statement of faith, and spoke in front of our congregation. Grace read the 23th Psalm

and told everyone it is her favorite because she knows 'God is always with her' when she reads it.

Will summarized Christianity in 9 sentences and elaborated on several.

The congregation enjoyed it very much and we were struck by how moved

everyone was.

Dan and I are extremely proud!

5. Clark Kent made an appearance in our backyard.

6. Red poppies (taken with my dslr).

(Sunday Snapshot) Summer

 

 

"The earth laughs in flowers."

 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 

 Our peonies bloomed late this year, it was last week and they surely
didn't last long.
That's why I decided to take some photos of them.
I frequently say I don't have a favorite flower,
I love all of them.
But really peonies are my favorite...

 I've been a terrible blogger lately, school is out for the Summer,
then I got sick with some viral thing for a week.
I will try and play catch up very soon.

 

May Instagram Love

The month of May has flown by for us.

That's probably due to school winding down and the recital.

Grace and Will have only 5 and a half days left of school until they're out for the Summer!

 

I use my iphone for most of the photos I post on Instagram,

and the above are some of my favorites from May.

1. My little 'cool dude' Will. 2. Grace with her best friends. 3. Grace and her friend Tess

waiting to get their photos taken at the dance school.

4. Will at hip hop dress rehearsal. 5. Grace before we left for the recital. 6. Backstage.

7. My 'happy place' as of late, my favorite garden center which I've visited a few times.

8. Our white lilacs in full bloom. 9. A serious Ironman.

(Sunday Snapshot) - Spring Recital

"To touch, to move, to inspire.

This is the true gift of dance."

 

~ Aubrey Lynch

 

8 months of hard work, practice, practice and more practice to be ready for their Spring Recital.

Every year is different but to me it's always magical
and full of joy and pageantry.
I love every single thing about this little dance community
and school.

At each Spring recital I'm taken back to when I first met
my two youngest children, and can't help but think of how many obstacles they've overcome.
What never changes is how proud and honored I am to be their Mom.

{Older ballerinas waiting to go on stage}

Grace plans to dance next year, Will is not so sure,
maybe try karate? (that's what he tells me). ;)




 

Spring in all it's glory

I love flowers and I love to photograph flowers.

The great thing about that is they don't run away or make a face when you attempt a photo.

Our Spring is late but I'm not complaining one little bit.

Enjoying it all...

(Sunday Snapshot) - my greatest gifts

There is no way to be a perfect mother... but a million ways to be a good one.

~ unknown

 

 

 

God could not be everywhere, so He created mothers. ~ Jewish Proverb

 

 

 

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.
~ Oprah Winfrey

 

 

My greatest gifts have been the days I became a mother.

I still have moments where it's hard to believe that I got be a mom

 a second and third time after many years.

Personally I've never felt a love so profound

and it doesn't matter if your child comes from your body or through adoption.

I know of no stronger bond than between a mother and her child.

 

My Mother's Days have never been about expensive gifts

or big meals. I usually receive the most perfect handmade

cards and drawings or pictures and we all spend time together as a family.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms and Grandmas, and the mothers who wait for their

children.

We remember the mothers who are now in heaven.

And as always on Mother's Day I honor and say a prayer for the two birth mothers in China who

gave me my two youngest, and say thank you.
However motherhood comes, it's always a miracle!

 

 

 

 

 

Captured of Grace in her ballet costume this week,

her Spring dance recital is coming up soon.

It's our little tradition to photograph her.
(In past years indoors and this time outside with some beautiful light).

 

 

(Sunday Snapshot) - Are We There Yet?

 

 

Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men.

 

~ Chinese Proverb

I feel like I'm one of my children in the car as we travel to a destination,
and instead of asking "Are we there yet?" I
keep asking to myself, "Is Spring here yet?"

It seems to take one step forward and 3 steps back.
Many days we've had cold rain, a few days of snow, and not much sun.
Since we've had a month of April showers, we should have
a plethora of flowers in May.

We decided to embrace our (slow to arrive) Spring
and have fun in the puddles and rain.
Spring will come, it always does...

 



My Little Buddy

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Playing with rocks and sticks has been entertainment for little boys since...well, forever.



Opie and Andy Griffith would skip rocks on a lake to start their TV show.

My husband still enjoys it. 



 

I got a chance to get some time alone with my little man

and he gravitated to throwing rocks into the lake. 

 Not much success with skipping stones yet but he has the throwing part down all right.



Spending time with a happy boy just having fun...our Spring is trying to make an appearance.