Week 25

Monday, June 15th

The cold, hard truth about sleepovers with cousins...if you and your BFF cousin start playing that tired game of love/hate siblingness, your mom will immediately tell you to go lay down while she drives your friend home.

 A sweet surprise when I went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Tuesday, June 16th

Love hearing them get along and giggle.  Not that it's rare, but of course there's plenty of bickering mixed in, too.  So this sweet circle of kindness and sharing secrets filled my heart this day.

Wednesday, June 17th
Lunch date with this dude.  It was a hot afternoon, but no surprise whatsoever that Chick-Fil-A had it figured out.  They always have it figured out!  Fans and misting machines as well as water stations for they employees.  Can Chick-Fil-A just be in charge of everything??

Thursday, June 18th

No picture.

Friday, June 19th

Meg and Amy M. went to the beach and invited Rocco and Renna along.  A nice treat for them, and a nice treat for me as it afforded me an afternoon without a million questions to get all packed and loaded.

A very exciting, long-anticipated, and hard-fought for day---our exit for The Outerbanks!  Our 4th time doing the trip, our 1st time with Colombo's extended side.  I'm going to put the whole week into one post.  We caravanned with Jon and Andrea (left at 10p and drove through the night) and the whole group (six families) used the Marco Polo app (new to me!) all the way down.  So much fun!

Week 24

Monday, June 8th

C4 got a new mask for grocery stores and church.

Renna took my phone for a while and apparently.....started a podcast!  It's pure gold!  Meg, wittingly titled it "'Rona with with Renna."  Enjoy!

Renna's Podcast:  Click here to hear the entire thing (8 minutes--you won't be disappointed!)

Tuesday, June 9th
How sweet is this?!  No recital this year.

Wednesday, June 10th
The boys went golfing, so Renna, Jules, and I "relaxed" on the back deck.

Thursday, June 11th
Colombo and I ran a little errand up in New Hampshire.  Our dinner spot was actually in Vermont on the Connecticut River.  Such a fun afternoon / evening.

This lady was a trip!  Straight outta Sangerville or Pittsfield, Maine.  But she was an expert on fireworks!

Came home to this:  #backtoreality

...and got this text from Isaac.  He said it made his day.

Dear Isaac,

We are going to do a one-day try at this.  We are going to stretch and tricks on the trampoline.  

You can text my mom what time you want to start.  And we start next week.   On Sunday if that is fine with you.  I hope you have fun.  It takes 20 min. and it is free.  Plus workout.  Love, Renna

Friday, June 12th

Saturday, June 13th

Last push to finish the basement before the dumpster gets picked up.  Last time we did a major cleanup with a dumpster, I cried when our old patio table went in.  Of course it was old and worn and small and of no further use to us, but the memories we had around it for 10 years were amazingly special.

This time around I cried throwing out the nursery glider I bought when I was 8 months pregnant with C4.  We haven't used it in years, except in the basement occasionally as extra seating.  It's broken.  But as soon as Colombo said, "What about this?" I couldn't even talk.  I told him, "I'm not ready.  Let me process and say my goodbyes, then you can take it."  [as I'm typing I'm crying again.  Sheesh!]  

It sat off in the corner for a half hour while I finished vacuuming, on and off crying the whole time,  just thanking God for my amazing babies and the joy of spending hours upon hours rocking them, nursing them.  I finally brought myself to sit in it one last time.  I prayed, just so grateful for the gifts He's given me.  I thanked it, I kissed it, I took my picture, and then I walked away.

Hours later that night, C4 and I were talking.  I started telling him that "We finally threw away the rocker that was yours as a baby."  I could not even get through the sentence.  More tears.  [and still more now as I type]

Sunday, June 14th
The church usually hosts a 6th grade Sleepover on a Friday night- the official move for the 6th graders from Kids Church to Youth Group.  Because of COVID, they changed things up and held an outdoor, socially distant carnival.  That's C4 handing Cole the ball and that's our beloved, faithful children's pastor being dunked.

Dad hosted the boys' club at his house for an overnight in tents and fishing.  I dropped Rocco off and returned to only the bookends, so we hit the Main Pub for dinner.

From all accounts, the boys had the best time.

Lisa took the group of girls for the night, and Trevor got to join in the fun for a couple hours of the afternoon.

Week 23

It's been a challenge the last couple of weeks to see the good.  So much hurt all around us right now on every scale.  Death, despair, isolation, confusion, loneliness, hate, anger, division, illness.  The list goes on and on.  It's been helpful to walk through it all as a family.  Many important conversations.  Many opportunities to walk the walk and show love to those around us.  Always remembering that Jesus is our Help and our only Hope.  We will continue to make His name known.  We will be a light.

Monday, June 1st
Maddy has worked for a couple months researching and taking courses on all the how-to's of Podcasting.  She and her hired assistant have worked tirelessly creating her umbrella company, branding all of it, and creating excitement around it.  This day, MADsoul Podcast launched it's first episode.

Tuesday, June 2nd 
Monopoly's been the favorite for the last couple weeks.

Wednesday, June 3rd

So proud of Nathanael!  Induction will be in the fall when (if) they return to school.

We went for a walk together so she could try out the binoculars she found in the basement.  She's my sunshine on a cloudy day.

Trevor had his first church event since March.  Teen Bible Quiz!  They've been holding it over Zoom the last 3 months.

Thursday, June 4th

Memories from Andrea.

Slowly but surely we are allowing the kids to do some more small group types of things.  (For the record, he broke my 6-ft ask for this picture.  Sigh.

Home Chef is still kinda fun.  It is definitely convenient and a quick solution for dinner!

We were invited to join a group of about 100 to test-market safe church-going with all the new procedures in place.  It was HIGHLY emotional to be back.  Everyone so excited to see people!  I cried as service kicked off and we praised Him for His faithfulness.

There we are.  If you'll look closely, Nathanael's on the camera in the upper right corner.

A note left on my pillow.

Friday, June 5th
I spent some more time cleaning/purging.  I don't struggle getting rid of "stuff", but I struggle very much to get rid of sentimental stuff!  And with six kids, there's a lot of it.  I'm beyond silly what I hold onto and count as 'special'.  One of my newish techniques to "letting go" is to take a picture of the item before I throw away or give to someone else.  I feel like if I have a picture, then I get to keep it forever.

This little suitcase has literally been all over the country and used by all 6 kids throughout the years.  It's been on countless trips and sleepovers.  The first trip it took was when my mom took 3-year-old C4 to Colorado to visit Tim.  I kissed it, thanked it (Marie Kondo), and threw it in the dumpster.

Been with us since 2000.

Workin' away.  Her fake phone calls are hilarious!

Saturday, June 6th

My brother is a hero!  His "office" on Saturday.

Eight years ago.

A for-real date.  First one since October, but it was a good one!

Sunday, June 7th
The 3 oldest kids took part in the graduation parades for youth group's graduating seniors.  It was an all-day affair as they hit many homes, trying their best to make it a special surprise for the graduates. It just so happened to fall on Jay's graduation party day as well.  Lisa captured the fun.

The family party was a success, too!  Lisa did a beautiful job and it was weird but good to be around people.  Cautious, distant, but actually interacting with people, even meeting some new ones.  I didn't take a single picture at the party.  Will have to steal some of Lisa's once she posts!

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