Finding Joy

How do you find Joy on the hard days?  What small things rekindle it in your heart?  I feel like this is something many of my friends and myself have been dealing with this winter.  So I thought I would write out small ways I have been doing this, to remind myself now and sometime in the future when I have yet again forgotten.

First I fill my diffuser with happy oils

I research ideas for my preschool class and try them out with the kiddos or I have quiet time with God and ask him to show me the Joy in my life

 Which I then journal about, or list things to be grateful for or even instagram a picture (little things like hummingbirds at my feeder, sunshine through the window, dreams of my summer garden....)

If that doesn't work its time to join the kids in play.

Phone calls with JoJo

New stretching poses and exercise with O

Building planes from trash with Ferd

And everyone's favorite, ridiculous snap chat faces!

 And last but not least, photo shots with these adorable faces!

What are your go to Joy seekers? Exercise, stretching, chatting with friends a good book? 

well Hello again

After our move to CO I pretty much stopped blogging, life got hectic, the computer was in an strange place and I just let it go, pretending like Facebook was enough. But now that we have been in WA for almost a year, the baby is almost two and the computer is accessible, I though it was time to start keeping track of life again.  I can sit in my bedroom, next to the window, watch the wind blow the trees in our backyard and spill life onto the page, what could be better then that?

Life with four little people is so much fun (crazy, challenging, hard, nutty, but fun).  They are at the age of wonder and joy in life, in the world, in God. Its amazing to watch and hard to answer all the questions.  It seems we are constantly on the go, mostly forget to snap pictures and trying hard to please and help so many little people all the time.  Things (and sometimes people) slip through the cracks but out kids have become good at reminding us that they aren't happy in said cracks, lol.

Christmas this year was magical and holy.  The kids believe with all their might, they love the stories of baby Jesus and St Nick and they love keeping and sharing surprises.  I could not have asked for a better Christmas and I think Matt would say the same.

As we adjust to life here in the Pacific Northwest, the mountains and beach call us constantly.  Orson loves to visit the city and every one of us love having Grandparents and family near by.  Matt and I even got away for an overnight on our 10th anniversary.

Our new house is big enough for me to craft and bake in and I am loving exploring sourdough and gluten free baking, creating blends with essential oils and making Christmas/Advent crafts and Catholic Saint peg dolls.

Matt is with a new company and spends quiet a lot of time commuting all the way out to Nike headquarters most days but he loves the job and enjoys all the new challenges it is bringing him.

Orson is in 2nd grade and the middles are in pre-k together at an awesome outdoor school.  Jo Jo wants to go so bad but she has another year till she is old enough.  We have settled into routines and adventures.

Its been so long that I decided to upload random pictures from the last year and not even try to make them fit into the narrative.  Its so amazing to watch these little people grow and flourish.

Christmas 2014

Christmas has come and gone and as usual I am way behind on my posts!  So just a quick one.  Pat and Pat came for Christmas and it was so much fun sharing it with Grandma and Grandpa.  The boys really enjoyed the holidays, we managed to find a place for a tree in our little house and over all it went very well.

Orson is completely into Legos and becoming a master builder, so For advent he and I built a lego nativity scene together from designs I found on the internet and bits I made up myself.  We had lots of fun.

I actually got the all to smile at the same time!  Merry Christmas to me.

 STockings were so much fun, especially with Grandma and Grandpa

 Dad got a car they all wanted...that way sharing was maditory

 Ferdinand loved his fireman hat!

 Orson and Mr. T loved their gifts from Uncle Matt!

One of our gifts this year was a family set of snowshoes.  We haven't made it out a ton but Orson sure loved it when we did!

In fact all the boys have enjoyed the snow!

 It was a lovely Christmas and I thank God for all the special people I get to share it with now.

Christmas, Mickey and Family

This Christmas we were  given the use of my Dad's timeshare in Orlando and the chance to visit Mickey Mouse's House (as O calls it).  Since we are on our way to Denver, we decided to take the chance and go for it.  We took our time driving both there and back and got to enjoy some southern hospitality in Savannah, Amelia Island and St. Augustine.  Its funny, I guess its been a long while since I have been in the south, I so enjoyed the good manners, beautiful trees and weather and realized how much I miss some aspects of the slower, yummier life down there.  On the way south we stopped over in Savannah and my Uncle Kenny and his beautiful girls Keeley and Kara agreed to meet us there.  The town is so lovely and my cousins and Uncle were a real treat to hang out with.  It has been way too long since I have gotten to see family and I have always thought K&K would be a ton of fun....I was right!  The boys loved hanging out with Grandpa Jones' baby brother....you would have thought that they had known him all there life, there just something about those Jones men :)

Then we made it to Orlando and Auntie Anne!  As always the boys were in heaven hanging out with Anne (Orson "Mom, Auntie Anne is my favorite toy").  We decorated the condo for Christmas and then woke up the next morning to go see Mickey Mouse!  Orson was big enough to ride all the rollercoasters this year and loved almost everyone. ("Can we ride this 18,000 more times, Auntie Anne?").  Ferdinand got to ride a few of them (he loved the tea cups, dumbo, the race cars and The Country Bears, he did not enjoy the Haunted House!) and Theodore and I even got to go on a few.  Ferdinand had a small meltdown during lunch that resulted in him banging his head into a table and biting through his lip but as it resulted in a perscription of a popsicle, he wasn't as upset by it as his Dad.  We made it all the way to the electric light parade...what a great day. (On the way in to the park Orson said "Ferdinand, this is going to be the best day ever."

On Tuesday we went to downtown Disney to see Santa Claus.  It went well but unfortunately Matt ended up feeling sick the entire day, so the rest of our plans didn't materialize.  He sat in the car while we visited the shops, Orson and Ferdinand enjoyed the huge lego shop and all the Mickey Mouse stuff!  That night the boys wrote a note to St Nick, giggled until quite late in bed and then finally fell asleep.

On Wednesday, we woke up pretty early and St. Nick had found us at the condo.  The boys were super excited by their Santa gifts and the presents from Aunt Anne.

 Orson was very upset that he got in trouble for trying to open Ferdinand's stocking....

 Do you think Orson was excited to receive a remote control monster truck?

After presents we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  It was a much more low key day, Orson got to train to be a Jedi, Ferdinand and he loved seeing a puppet version of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (I didn't know that they both could sing a-long to the songs!), we colored with the Disney artists, met a lot of characters and then got to see the amazing Christmas lights.  It was a magical way to spend Christmas Day and we are so thankful for the time.

On the way home from Florida we stopped at St. Augustine to see the fort, eat some gluten free (and in Matt's case gluten full) cajun food, and explore the town.  It was sooooo cold!!!! In fact we experienced unusually warm weather at the beginning of the trip and then unseasonably cold weather at the end (over 80 to close to freezing!).  We also made a stop on Amelia Island, someday I want to go back there, the beaches were so nice but the temperature was just too cold to enjoy them.

St Augustine

 Amelia Island

Unscheduled stop at a State Park!  Yeah, being out of the car!

Also around the season

We tried hard to focus on Advent this year, I made a Jesse Tree and Orson and I put up ornaments and read the bible story for them everyday, we opened an Advent Calendar and lite the Advent wreath.  I also made a large on out of contact paper that I put up in the playroom.  Every Week we "lite" one of the candles and talked about what they stood for.  The boys are still young but I can see little lights going off in Orson's head this year.  We also decorated our Christmas tree before we left, Ferdinand redecorated it quite often.

Orson's school put on a little Christmas sing.  Orson has grown so much this year and is suddenly participating and enjoying putting on shows.

The weather has been very cold and we have enjoyed a few snow days!

We opened the rest of our presents (just a few from us and some from the Grandparents) on the Feast of the Holy Family.  The boys loved having a second Christmas!