2013 iPhone DUMPITY dump dump...part 2

Lani decided to join swim team this year.

It is a big commitment.

But she has done awesome.

And we are so proud of her....

 And Ayla turned 6!

Woot!

Yay for the donut cake!

 I love love love them.

 Sunday morning worship.

 Me: "Ayla, stay out of the mud! You probably ruined your boots!"

Ayla: "Nah...but I might have ruined my hands."

 More inspiration for our chalkboard at home.

Lani said this is her favorite one yet.

I agree.  It ranks right up there...

 FINALLY got to meet the fabulous Becky Straw!

While raising money for The Adventure Project.

So fun!

 Basketball started for Brigg.

He's pretty sure he'll be able to slam dunk by the end of the season.

Who am I to discourage him from trying?

 Willow love.

 Lani's first swim meet!!!

 Willow takes what she can get...

 Brigg getting in touch with his feminine side.

While cooking bacon in a pink apron.

I love it.

 See?

Another sky pic...

 And more inspiration for you.

And me.

 My morning hair scares her

I don't blame her.

 We got a Christmas tree.

It took everyone to get it down.

 and they were proud of their accomplishment!

 See?

Whatever she can get...

 Is that Justin Timberlake?

No...it's Lani.

Eye exams.

 Chillin' by the tree...

 TaDa!!

Nana's birthday!

 Be still my heart.

She's so incredibly sweet in pictures.

In a red velvet dress.

In front of a christmas tree.

Perfection.

 Winter break.

We did a lot of this...

 christmas eve.

Apple pie in a cup.

Yum.

 the girls...

 They all got coal in their stockings.

We love The Adventure Project!!

 Matching shirts.

Brigg was so happy. :)

 The one and only picture I have documenting me. In the hospital.

Waiting to repair my herniated disc.

There was immediate relief and I should have done it 3 months earlier.

It hijacked my life for much too long!

 I asked the kids to clean off the camera on the back of my car.

Then I put it in reverse so I could se them do it.

It was hysterical.

 My parents.

Just loved this picture.

 I can totally see her snowboarding in the near future.

She's good.

 I had a birthday.

We won't discuss my age.

It doesn't matter.

 Ayla was supposed to be sleeping.

I was just popping in her room to check on her before heading to bed.

Handstand push ups anyone?

 I didn't make any New Years Resolutions.

But instead I'm going to live this...

 I love him.

I think I mentioned that.

 This is what I get to see everyday at 3:25.

It's my favorite.

 More swimming...

 She discovered there is a city named Lani.

She wants to live there.

I'm not arguing.

 I seriously cannot even get ready in peace and quiet.

Or alone.

I am never every alone.

 Do you see what I'm saying??

Always attached to my hip.

 What?

You don't read about Hierarchy Models in your free time?

Well than you have no idea what you are missing.

Good stuff.

There you have it.

My life in pictures.

Lots and lots of pictures.

If you made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS.

you are a true friend.

And I appreciate you!

Hopefully back soon...

Fall 2013 phone DUMPITY DUMP DUMP...part 1

goodness. 

i had 1346 pictures on my phone.

and i didn't want to delete them because i knew i wanted to blog.

but life got away from me.

so we are going to try to do this in 2 posts.

we'll start with fall 2013.

you ready for this?

are you even out there anymore?

here we go.

(BTW... there are in reverse order. which i find totally annoying, but don't have time to fix!)

This is Sepp.

Our neighbor.

Whom we love with every single ounce of our hearts.

The Fortenbachers are amazing and dear to us.

He had a big birthday and we all went out on the river to celebrate!

SO FUN!!

 More from the party.

They are ALL amazing...

 The girls and I started reading Little House in the Big Woods.

Classic.

Timeless.

We LOVE it.

 The girls went through a "face mask" stage.

They got along.

I was happy.

 Lani and I went on a date night.

We saw Sandra Bullock in Gravity.

It was so awesome.

 We love our neighborhood.

We especially love it in the fall.

We oftentimes take weekend hikes.

This particular day was nearly perfect.

We decided to to church on the trails.

My heart nearly burst that day...

 Halloween 2013 pumpkin carving/guts throwing fight...

 Without a formal vote we decided Lani's pumpkin was the winner.

Seriously...it was GOOD...

 Um...we got a new furnace this fall. :)

But it didn't slow Brigg down...

 Macy and Lani turned 10 this year!

We got together for a night in a hotel.

The got matching sweatshirts and headbands.

And KendKist necklaces. 

They are so awesome...

 And Lisa.

Love her.

(I look a little rough. I was struggling. More on that later...)

 Her real birthday.

She is loved.

 More postings of quotes and examples of my plans to shock the education world! :)

 Look who showed up to celebrate Lani!

(And another hike while she was here!)

 Ayla.

She want a real bow and arrow.

I got her a Brave one.

She would hurt someone.

For real.

 In the throws of Grad School.

So crazy excited about what I'm learning and how my philosophy is changing.

 As always, halloween costumes thrown together the day before.

I think they are adorable.

But Brigg needs to eat a mayonnaise sandwich or something.

I swear I feed him...

 I can't remember what I told Ayla.

But she fell over and "died" with excitement.

She is hilarious.

 She never wears shoes.

Ever.

And she wore headbands for like 2 months.

Solid.

To bed and everything.

I'm not supposed to say why.

But it may have had something to do with scissors.

That's all I'm saying.

And if you tell her I mentioned that, I'll deny it.

I will lie.through.my.teeth.

Because she values loyalty.

Always.

And I love her for that...

 A fun night with good friends.

Hard to beat...

 GO HAWKS!

 And this...

It is DETERMINATION

She has a lot of it.

It makes me totally insane.

And incredibly proud.

All at once.

It will be to her benefit someday...

But my WORD she may kill me before I get to see how it plays out in her life for good.

 Remember when I said I was feeling rough?

Yeah.

I wasn't kidding.

It was a ROUGH 3 months.

Like really really bad.

September 7th I hurt my back.

I did everything I could to try to fix it without surgery.

I'll give you a hint how this story ends.

The corn didn't fix things....

 As I looked through my 1346 photos, I think about 1000 of them were of the sky and nature.

I have a thing with nature.

 My siblings.

I love them.

(and i was in pain here, too. crazy how i can see it in my face.)

 My poor poor son.

But you guys...he is such a COOL kid.

We GET each other.

And I may be biased, but I don't think he's your average 12 year old boy.

Everybody needs a Brigg.

I had to get my school picture taken and they gave me this huge package of pictures.

WHY?

So I was trying to decide what to do with them.

My 7th hour class helped me "decorate" Brigg's locker with them.

And then we hid and watched his face as he came around the corner and realized.

It was priceless.

Totally worth the price of therapy down the road.

 He has been tested for color blindness.

I swear they are wrong with his prognosis.

One more post coming to finish out the year....