Raising Arrows

Here we are just one short week from starting back to school. We have a 1st grader and preschooler this year! I just can't believe it. Summer flew by. We had big plans and I feel like we barely made a dent in it, but we sure did have some fun and some of it wasn't even in the plans! Those were the best days.It was busy but delightful. Warm days and melted ice cream faces with lots of time with friends.  Summer to us means water days, popsicles, family time, frog catching, picnics, and lots of dirt & mud! So much happens in a summer, it's hard to keep caught up. So here's our summer in photos ... enjoy!  we love evenings with the Bishop family! One of the campouts with Papa Daddy's little girl. Loves walking by his side Family Frog Hunt Date! Celebrating Dad! Prepping for FIRST GRADE and PreSchool! This momma's heart is full and bursting with JOY! smouthered in love! this was a daily event... MUD BATHS! Miss...

being silly @ Milham Park this spring I thought I'd share a few of our favorite family times since moving to Portage. We've had to make some small adjustments to some of our favorites but it's worked out well and we still enjoy each moment of each hour spent together. TUBA! So Saturdays are our family days. They follow our family movie and pizza nights still. That's a tradition I don't think we will ever change!!! We love pizza and movies. ha! As the weather got nicer we found a few local parks that have become a favorite for all you kids. Milham Park, so we can see the geese and play on the big slides and wander around free and Celery Flats. The Flats have ponds, and lots and lots of FROGS!! We've bought nets and brought buckets and go frog hunting! (and always release them once we've watched, examined, picked up, and played with each one.) It started out as a field trip for school during our Frog unit, but has turned into a wonderful adventure we...

I can't keep blogging on and on about life without sharing and blogging the ugly, tough days too. I don't want to paint this beautiful picture of life that seems to always run smoothly. First off, I'm a mess half the time. A new mom all four of you, I now understand what oasis is ... a 15 minute shower, where I answer to no one, I just stand in pure silence, letting hot, burning water run down my body. I try to spend that time wisely, like in prayer for our family and missionary friends, but honestly I'm not the greatest at it yet... most the time I'm just fighting to keep my eyes open without falling asleep standing up or trying to get that one Disney song out of my brain for 10 seconds!! I love my life. Each of you, my children. And I absolutely LOVE being a wife. This life is seriously all I ever really wanted to do. Teach, train, snuggle, repeat. But life is life and as most lives go, it's thrown some curve balls our way. One major one that effects mos...

It's been two weeks. Two beautiful, yet tough weeks. It seems cliche to say, but it does seem like yesterday. At this time two weeks ago, I was just put on my strong meds for GBS and let it run it's course before the midwife came back to break the rest of my water. (My water ruptured the night before, and I had been slowing leaking fluid thru the night and day, with contractions on/off) I was terrified, yet excited. I knew there wasn't much more that stood between holding you close to my chest ... except labor. I mean like real labor. Like take a deep breathe, this really hurts, how could I choose to do this again, labor. And that's the thing. Labor is unpredictable. I hate it but I LOVE it. It's such a stresser for me. I'm a planner. I have to know the 411 on each detail of my day. But labor, well that's just not how it works. Some are long, some are short, some take weeks to recover from, while others I could hop out of bed and do a dance a...

So every year we keep a "memories" jar... and through out the year we fill it with our favorite events, happenings, words, or moments. We then open it up and read through them on Jan. 1st with sparkling juice and breakfast. It's a fun and simple tradition that we look forward to sharing with our kids through the years. So I have had 2014 and 2015 "memories" on my laptop, saved, and ready to blog but just never have done it. (thank you, no internet) So i thought now would be a prime time to finally spill the beans and get them saved on the blog! Along with some fun photos from those years. {disclaimer :: they are in no real order or sequence. sorry!} 2014 Oct. 9 th – Eye appts for Milo & Norma : Norma good, no problems. Milo, we're told, will have surgery soon... praying and a bit scared August 5 th – Reenie starts back to work with momma :) a very cute distraction As of June, Theo “says” :: tractor, light, dog, bubbles, bath, mom,...