a genuine prayer

There are so many things going on in my life sometimes I forget to thank God for the plain and simple things.  Children seem to see the world a simpler way without any filters or judgements.  I love that about their hearts.    

Last week Olaf said his first prayer before dinner.  He has never volunteered to do this before, and I have never pressured him to, so I was thankful to see he was ready to pray out loud and share his heart.

Olaf's words:

Dear God, thank you for the food, and, and, and thank you for love, and, and, thank you for mommy's and daddy's. Amen.

My prayer today:

Dear God, I thank you for those same things, and for the big hearts in tiny bodies that I get to help shape and form daily.  What a responsibility...  Please give me the wisdom I need to do that!

Amen.

the thankfuls & the funnies.

The thankfuls.

For Thanksgiving we made the trek to visit our dear family in Montana.  They were awesome to host not only our little family, but the Sorensens, Grandparents, and the Spokane Saugens as well!  It was a BLAST.

We all stayed at Glacier Presbyterian Camp -- on Flathead Lake.  Um, hello gorgeous setting!  It was amazing.  

Our eight kiddos can sometimes be a handful when they are all together, but luckily the lodge was large and the kids ran wild and free within with no bones broken or friendships lost.  Actually speaking of friendships... it was so sweet to watch Olaf and Micah all week ATTACHED AT THE HIP.  Almost literally.  With no fighting.  I think they miss each other quite a bit...  It was really fun to see them playing so well together, imaging all sorts of things... of course every single imagined story had either superheros, cars, or superhero cars :)  They were certainly in their element, both into the same things, and just loved being together!  Forest on the other hand... well he went by the rules of "what's mine is mine, what's yours is mine, if I had it once it's mine, if you have it but I want it it's mine and if you try to get it back I will smash you in the face with it."  Ack... we are working on the whole sharing thing... Luckily the intended victims, Kyler and Soren, are both third children and go-with-the-flow and didn't seem to get too upset by it... I hope.  (Sorry!)

Highlights of the week included:

• Seeing this camp which is Dave and Christie's new home and being SO happy that it is a such a great place and such a great fit for them.
• A run with Christie and Jenny
• Our own "Family Turkey Trot" on Thanksgiving Day!  All the kids participated!
• Watching Dave take all the little kids on a gator (mini tractor) ride around camp after the fun run.
• Teaching Christie, Theresa, Lydia and Sherea how to play Settlers.
• All family games at night.
• Ladies dance parties.
• Haakon's cheese biscuits.  No seriously - they are THAT good they deserve a mention.
• A well organized family photo session (which I can't wait to see photos from!)
• &
• Being blessed by our extended family.

It was a great time had by all, and I am so glad my favorite holiday was celebrated in such fine fashion.


And now for the funnies.
These kids + older Saugen cousins + iPad apps = HILARIOUSNESS

grandpa

soren

ingrid

serenity

trygve

mr. olaf himself

christie

micah

The gaggle

ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! 

November days.

Apparently my last post was a little depressing. 
Sorry?
What can I say -- It was a rough few weeks and that's where I was at. 
Anyway, transitioning.

The best way I know how to transition to happy-er is to provide photos of my adorable and perfect (ha ha ha ha ha ha) children.  They are pretty darn cute when they decide to turn on the charm, and I am so happy I remember to whip out my iPhone camera every once in a while to snap some photos of them.  I have lots of video too these days because I am terrified of not remembering how they walk/talk/interact at these ages... because I love every age/stage.  Anyway, without further ado...

We love walking over to see progress on our neighbor's new house/garage.

And climbing all over the wood piles.

And preparing to jump off...   Forest looks a little nervous?  Nah that kid is definitely not afraid of falling!

 

Tomato-Spaghetti faces :)

Another walk in the mud to the construction site.

Happy Halloween!

Love, the Hulk and the Great Pumpkin.

Cheesing around before bedtimes.

Nearly falling asleep on the floor at a wedding :)

Soooo tired... it was only like 9pm!

A little break from the V-Reader books to make faces at me.

Helping Daddy make pampakes!

CHEESE!!!

Nom nom nom nom nom.  No that's not a flattened goose on the griddle (my guess).  It's a rocket ship :)

A small gift.

This morning I got a work text message at 6:55am  (when I should have been driving but was still putting the boy's shoes on) that told me I'd need to find a new concrete tester for my 10am footing pour today, because the other one had another project he had to be at.  Crap.  I had already told someone yesterday they weren't needed so they were off work, and no one else that's qualified for concrete would be in the office today.  That meant calling the other offices to see if I could borrow someone.

Just thinking about the coordination of this one tiny thing set me off and I just sat on the floor and cried for a few minutes, feeling sorry for myself that I was so overwhelmed by work.  The boys each brought me (one square of) toilet paper to wipe my eyes and and Olaf encouraged me -- telling me that I HAD to go to work and I couldn't stay home, but I can do it if I try!  Just take a deep breath and dry your eyes, mommy!  Funny role reversal.  Also funny because like any good man would do, instead of just giving me a hug, he analyzed my reason for crying, gave advice and wanted to solve the issue for me.  I love that kid.

Anyway, I was just dreading going to work.  and I was hungry and wanted coffee but was so far behind timewise I couldn't have either just yet.  I rarely have time to eat during the day, I am terrible about prepping food ahead of time -- basically I am really bad at taking good care of myself, AND it was raining.  Bleh.

Halfway to work (which I was 35 minutes late to) I got a text message from my dear friend Charlotte telling me she left a little gift on my desk for me. My curiosity was peaked.

When I got to work (finally), on my desk I found an insulated mug of hot coffee with cream, no sugar, just how I like it.  A starbucks breakfast sandwich with a note that said "microwave me for 30 seconds! :)" And an insulated lunch sack containing a sandwich, snap peas and hummus, an apple, fruit leather, and chocolate.  And then I almost started crying again.  Charlotte just knew I wasn't taking good care of myself, so she put together a package with love to fill my belly.  Amazing.  I had to text her a thank you note because I knew if I went down to her cube I would start balling and it is not wise to cry at work in 90% male dominated environment. 

Anyway, all that to say, THANK YOU CHARLOTTE.  You might be one of the only people who understands what it is like out there on the grade, and I am SOOO thankful for all that food today.  It was the first day in weeks that I haven't felt shaky after 2:30 pm or lived off almond roca and chewing gum.   Seriously.  And my attitude and energy were up up up compared to normal!!  (note to self - do a better job of bringing food)   Thanks for the gift.  Love ya.

unscheduled.

The other night (while Steve was gone) my folks offered to pick up Forest and bring him to Leavenworth to meet Olaf and I for dinner, since we were coming from the opposite direction.  This is a special treat in many ways.  

1.  No cooking!  No dishes!  Yummy food!  Plus, Dad paid!  (THANKS DAD!)

2.  Usually I have to rush rush rush back to Plain to pick up Forest and not feel like I am leaving him there too long.

3.  It gave me time to kill. Unscheduled time to spend with Olaf, and I didn't have to feel guilty like I was ditching Forest.  That hardly ever happens!  I love when it does though, extra time with either of the boys :) 

So Olaf and I went to the Elementary School playground in town and tried every single toy they had there for 30 minutes.  Olaf is pretty excited to go to school there when he hits 3rd or 4th grade!

Climbing on the metal dome.

Watch this Mommy, I can do the monkey bars!

I'm not nervous at all.  Well, maybe a little bit.

This is so fun!  Followed shortly by MOMMMYYYY!  HELP ME DO THIS!  DON'T LET ME FALL!!!

Steve's Instagram Feed

Steve's instagram feed is sometimes better than mine :)  I keep saying it's because he has a 4s with a better camera... but really I think he just has a knack for fun photos sometimes!

Quite possibly the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to -- Matt and Ingrid

A little getaway for the mama and the papa to the previously mentioned wedding.

I hope these 4 are best buddies for a long time. 

Poaching the neighbor's trampoline... :)

Olaf loves the Johnson boys.

Not too big to snuggle with me.

last weekend

I ran a half marathon.
The Leavenworth Oktoberfest (half) Marathon to be exact.

I did this once before, back in my senior year of college and...
I hated it!  I mean, I loved some of it, but mostly it just was painful. 
I ran by myself.
No music, because I had overheard some "serious" runners talking about how people who run with music just aren't runners at all and have no idea how to run... I mean, clearly I wasn't going to run with an ipod after that!
And it was rainy.  It was Seattle after all.
With Seattle rain comes Seattle hills.  Enough said, right?

This time I ran with a group of friends who I had been training with for 7 weeks.
Most of them are moms just trying to squeeze in a workout when they can.  Like me.
Most of them just wanted to complete the dang thing, not "race" or go for a PR.  Like me.
And we had fun!

We also had a few other friends join us at the start and finish lines, which was nice.  I like seeing people at events.

And just in case you are wondering... I am an incredibly slow runner.  So even though I like to think of myself as an athlete, it doesn't compute into speed distance running.  Give me home plate to home plate any day. But gosh dang I had fun and I didn't get hurt!  (So much fun that I ran another 6 road and trail miles this morning, even though I didn't have to...)

Nerdy seesters, pre-race.  Well, maybe just I am the nerd, Kendra looks pretty normal.  Nah!

Red noses concur - it was dang cold out!

Stretch/prep.

Pebbles AKA Emelia looks way too happy about what we are about to do.  Erin too. 

At the start line with a whole gang of beautiful ladies...

I only snapped two photos while running down East Leavenworth Road, but isn't it gorgeous!  I want to run this race again next year!  And so many parts of the race that were on trail by the river... mmmmm mmm gorgeous.

The behind me shot of Julie and Angie.

Post race happiness and rosy cheeks and sweet baby O checking out my medal/bottle opener :)

Oh my gosh there's those nerds again :)

I got to know these gals pretty well during training and am so thankful that I did.  Can't wait to do it again with some or all of them!  (and hoping a few more ladies will join us.... Kirsten... Christie... Jenny.... Tara... you know who you are.)

2 years ago

Molly just gave me these sweet sweet photos of my babes from a few years ago, when they visited us right after Forest was born!  It made me so happy to scroll through them...  in no particular order here's a few of my faves :)