Photo Every Hour: July 21st

7:00 Another contributing factor to the busyness of our summer was being a revolving door of babysitting nieces and nephews. Don't get me wrong, I love them dearly, and it truly isn't that much work adding a few more to our brood, but the physical and mental logistics can be exhausting

8:00 I spy three of the sweetest little nephews

9:00 Dropped Harrison off at the bus (he was at day camp this session) and of course had to let the rest play for a little bit

10:00 Survived a trip to the grocery store with this crew (fortunately William and Garrett were in North Carolina this week so I could accommodate three of my sister's boys plus my youngest two in the van)

11:00 Snacks to stave off hangry boys since lunch will be late

12:00 Picking up Harrison from camp

1:00 Lunch times five!

2:00 The three who are three and under are successfully napping, which means time to let the older two watch a little show while I enjoy some downtime and my lunch

3:00 Oh, by the way, did I mention we're heading to the lake this weekend? Time to get packed for that!

4:00 And just like that, the van is ready to go for our crew and we're off to the lake (and excited to be picking up William and Garrett--and Grandmom--at the airport tomorrow!)

5:00 Recovering from a bee sting requires cuddles on the couch and a story

6:00 Helping with the dishes

7:00 Cousin crew scoping out some wildlife on the lake

8:00 Time to get ready for bed is usually code for Grandpa to rile the boys up. Super helpful

9:00 Catching up on some productivity after two days of not getting anything done 

10:00 Still plugging away

Not bad for bedtime, especially at the lake!

Photo Every Hour: June 21st

 Let's just ignore the fact that it's September, mmkay?!? Summer was a wicked blur. Most of it was good, most of it was intentional busyness (these boys drive me--and each other--crazy if we stay cooped up in the house too long), but man it went by fast.

No rest for the busy, especially not when it's day camp week for the boys!

7:00 The older two amassed quite a collection of lester lace creations by the end of their camp session

8:00 Ready and waiting for the bus!

9:00 Picking strawberries with my only little who is too young for camp (but next year he gets to go!)

10:00 I'd like to say we spent our mornings doing fun Mommy Matthew activities, but in reality, he spent most of the two weeks being Mommy's little helper (and a good helper he is!)

11:00 Busted sunglasses means Matthew gets to come help me pick out new ones (I think he made a pretty good pick!)

12:00 Finally a little bit of fun at the playground waiting for Connor to get dropped off

1:00 Lunch with my sister and her boys. Our grandpa's health was beginning to deteriorate so she made a quick trip to town to see him

2:00 Catching up on some emails during naptime 

3:00 Playing some soccer with my favorite Connor

4:00 Waiting for the bus to drop off the full-day campers

5:00 We added one more to our crew for a few hours each afternoon, but after a hot day at camp it was pretty easy to keep them all occupied with a snack and a little bit of screen time

6:00 Easiest birthday dinner ever letting the Shrine do the cooking for us!

7:00 Grabbing a quick snack at the house before heading off to...

8:00 Church for a campfire worship! (And s'mores, of course)

9:00 Obligatory birthday drinks

10:00 Trying to get caught up on organizing my 2023 pictures (spoiler--I'm still no where close to being caught up)

11:00 I feel like I say every month that I want to get bedtime earlier but nothing ever changes

Lights out!

Photo Every Hour: May 21st

This is the day that the Lord has made... But I'm just not ready for it to begin yet

Time to stop putting off the inevitable and drag myself out of bed to get this (super busy) morning started!

7:00 Step One--shower and get ready

8:00 Step Two--start grabbing stuff for church

9:00 Step Three--time for church, and time for the chaos of adult chimes (a group I play in) and youth chimes (a group I direct) playing multiple songs during the same service


10:00 (which I swear I took a picture of, but apparently not) Step Four: Celebrate the end of the youth chimes season with donuts for my kiddos

11:00 Step Five: Oh, did I forget to mention this was also a Sunday where my baking group provided the treats for coffee hour?!? Yeah, that was a thing. Time to clean up from that mess

12:00 and 1:00 End of Sunday School bowling party, where I looked at my phone precisely zero times and took precisely zero pictures. Whoops

2:00 Completely ignoring the pile of laundry on the chair and taking a few minutes to put my feet up after a busy but successful morning

3:00 Enjoying some downtime at the house (and making a dent in the laundry pile!)

4:00 Doing some cleaning ahead of a busy last week of school followed by Memorial Day weekend at the lake

5:00 Our happy little helper in the kitchen

6:00 Cajun chicken pasta really hit the spot after that chaotic start to our day

7:00 Yes, that is a wiffle ball heading toward the window. Yes, Darrell threw that ball. No, I am not impressed with his antics

8:00 So close to finishing book four! Hoping to wrap it up and get the movie finished before we leave for North Carolina in early June

9:00 Taking the time to do a little something for me...

10:00 Because the work isn't over yet. It's time to move on to PTO stuff and figuring out which students will have the opportunity to slingshot a water balloon at their teachers later this week

11:00 Finally time to get ready for bed

Thank you, I will sleep well after the day I had!