Week in the Life: Weekend Photos

It is finished!! What a full week – I haven’t taken this many pictures, or finished this many blog posts in a long, long time! Glad I did it, and glad it’s done! I feel like this photo challenge motivated me to capture a great collection of photos depicting what our life looks like right now. But I think it will be fun to just go through the day today without having to run for my camera all the time!!

A Week in the Life – Saturday’s Photos

Hello, Friends!

I have one last day of “A Week in the Life” to share with you all:

Remember the epic production of The Last Battle? That took place first thing Saturday morning.

I loved everything about this little project. I’m always a big fan of anything that will use all of Anika’s imagination and creativity, and will entertain both girls for hours and hours!

Things did get a little frustrating, though, because the audience kept falling over…

Soon it was time for Ben to leave for work. He never works on Saturdays, but this has been an unusually crazy week for him, so he had to get some work done on this Saturday.

Since I had hardly any pictures of him all week, I took some while he was saying goodbye to the girls, which he thought was kind of ridiculous!

Anika returned the favor, and of course Ben had many hilarious comments to make about this whole process:

After all the goodbyes, it was time to make waffles.

And then it was time for our new ministry to move in. The Baby Blessings team arrived with all of the donations that will be stored in our basement until they can be delivered to women who need them.

Since I couldn’t be of much help to them, I cleaned bathrooms instead…

…and kept an eye on my friend’s girls while she was busy moving stuff into the basement.

Everything got moved in fairly quickly. Everyone left, we ate lunch, and then I started working on my photo book design for this last week’s worth of pictures.

Anika and Kaylia played together really well, which was awesome, because I wasn’t feeling very well, and needed to just sit.

Ben came home from work, and we were all very happy to see him.

We had a rehearsal dinner to go to that evening, so the girls watched a little video while we were getting ready to go.

We fed them a quick supper, took them to our friends’ house, and then drove to Ben’s parents’ house for the rehearsal dinner.

After the dinner, we went back to Joel and Sarah’s house for some Once Upon a Time. We stayed far too late, ate far too much junk food, and enjoyed ourselves very much.

When it was time to head home, we scooped up our girls in their sleeping bags, and brought them home to their own beds.

And that is the end of A Week in the Life 2013.

Thanks so much for joining me, and for all of the sweet, encouraging comments about this project! It’s been fun, but I’m looking forward to getting back to regular blogging now!:)

Have a happy week!

What I Learned This Weekend

How was your weekend, everybody?

Mine was pretty fantastic. I learned some new stuff.

1. I learned that husbands are not the only source for flowers.

You can also go speak at the Ridgewood ladies’ retreat, and they’ll send you home with orchids, which is pretty awesome. I still really like the husband option, but those Ridgewood ladies took a bit of my heart home with them. If I didn’t already have a great home church, I think I’d be showing up there next Sunday….

2. I learned that I totally and completely love speaking to groups of people.

During my last hectic moments of trying to get four sessions finalized for the weekend, I had my doubts, but once I got out there,  I remembered why I could do it forever.

3. I learned (again) that God is so good and faithful and amazing.

I knew it before, but He kind of keeps surprising me, again and again. When we step out in faith and obedience, it always overwhelms me to see how God provides. It blesses and encourages me to see how He’s good to so many different people, He’s faithful and amazing in their lives, too. I love hearing people’s stories. Best part of the weekend.

4. I learned that support from the people I love is strongly felt.

I felt so much peace this weekend. There were so many people praying for me, and if you were one of them, thank you, thank you! It carried me through.

Some people have been asking for an overview of what I spoke about, which I will do once I decide whether to do it in writing or video form. In the meantime, I wish you a lovely start to your week!

Looking for Magic and Adventure

We were going to go the playground yesterday afternoon.

We were trying to decide which park to walk to, when suddenly, Ben and I had a “Genius Parent Moment”, and told the girls we were going to the river.

Anika was not impressed.

Deep down, I was pretty sure she’d be fine. I have seen, over and over again, what happens to our girls when they get out into nature. Playgrounds are fun and all, but there is something completely different and wonderful about wandering around in the trees and crunching through the leaves.

So instead of the playground, we set off on a little adventure.

 

 

 

It didn’t take very long for Anika’s attitude to change.

You can’t be in a place like that without starting to feel the wonder and magic of it.

We explored and crunched and climbed trees and gathered sticks for a special little project this week.

 

On the way home, Anika said, “I had a lot more fun than I thought I would.”

We will go to the playground some other time.

But I always, always want to remember to get away on adventures. When we moved away from camp, I thought afternoons like this would be over. I was worried about our family losing the delight of wandering through the trees.

 

I’m not worried anymore.

 

 

Fall is My Favorite

Fall is just beautiful.

When it’s fall, I think it’s my favorite season.

But then, I feel the same in spring and summer, too. (Not winter. There is no confusion for me about winter. It is beautiful, and I love some parts of it very much, but it’s not my favorite.)

So we’ll say for right now that fall is my favorite.

And my favorite place to be in fall is the Whiteshell. There is nothing like it.

That’s where we were this weekend.

We stayed at Ben’s parents’ cabin with friends, and on the drive home, Ben and I decided to make this particular weekend of September in the Whiteshell a fall tradition – kind of like people who spend Labor Day weekend at the lake. Always, each and every year.

The first weekend of fall will be our Whiteshell weekend.

We made this decision, and then sat back feeling brilliant – the way you do when you make a solid decision you’re totally proud of.

Another fall tradition for our family is a hike to Look-Out. We’ve done it every fall for the last five years, and it’s just one of those things that needs to be done.

It’s also mandatory to take a family picture with that view in the background. I love seeing how our family has changed from year to year, but that view stays the same – always amazing. (Last year’s family picture never worked out, though – click here to read about last year’s trip to Look-Out. And here’s the post from the year before, when everything went “right”!)

And even though we had enough coughing and runny noses to fill us up for the whole winter, we still had a wonderful time with our friends who joined us.

So, what about you? Where were you this weekend? And what are your mandatory requirements for fall activities? I hope you’re enjoying everything that’s bright and beautiful out there!

 

 

Weekend Favorites

It was the best kind of weekend – cleaning the house and getting projects done on Saturday, and lots of fun family time on Sunday.

To celebrate Father’s Day, we met up with Ben’s family at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in Steinbach. I hadn’t been there since I was a little girl, and the only thing I remembered from last time was running into a very old house, and desperately wanting to eat the buns that were on the table as part of the display. It made me extremely upset to have my parents tell me repeatedly that the buns were not for eating.

Well, the buns are still there on the table, but this time around, they didn’t look nearly as appealing to me.

The rest of the museum did, though! The girls loved it, and it was such a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

And now I will go get myself a pot of geraniums to put in my kitchen window, because they are just plain cheerful. Every house in the village had them. I will join the crowd.

Here’s hoping that your weekend was just as bright and wonderful!

Weekend Favorites

We were blessed with a very relaxing version of the stomach flu  this weekend.

Anika was not very sick, but just sick enough on Sunday to keep us home for the day, which turned out to be very nice.

There were snacks on the deck, reading Anne of Green Gables, watching Brady Bunch,  and listening to the thunder, the ice cream truck, and the birds, while the breeze blew.

We are now all rested up and refreshed, ready for the week to come! Hope your weekend left you feeling the same!

Hello Weekend

When we first announced we were leaving camp, someone made a comment that has stayed with me over these last few months. She said, “Good-byes are hard, but it sounds like there will be many wonderful ‘hellos’ in your future.”

It’s been hard to focus on the ‘hellos’ while we’ve been out here. I went down to the lake one night last week, and had a good cry as the sun was setting. So far, we’ve mostly been in the ‘good-bye’ part of this transition.

This weekend, however, I felt like I started to say ‘hello’ to some things.

1) Hello, House!

We spent a little time getting acquainted! Ben was painting trim boards this weekend, so we dropped him off at the new house before heading on to my parents’ for a couple of days.

The girls loved being there! They love their room.

And they loved running around all over the place, starting to make it familiar.

Whenever we go there, I just want to stay! But always too soon, Ben says it’s time to get going, and I have to tear myself away. Can’t wait until we just get to stay!

2) Hello, Family!

For five years, we’ve been far away from everything. Two hours is a very drivable distance, but we haven’t been able to just be there for stuff. This weekend, I felt like I was getting a taste of what it will be like to be there for the fun family stuff.

My sweet, very ambitious niece is putting on a fundraising bake sale next weekend, and we got to help in the cupcake assembly line.

We also got to do some relaxing at my parents’ house, and it was nice to have a break from boxes and packing.

3) Hello, Friends!

We spent some time with both new and old friends this weekend, and it was very good. I tend to be on the task-oriented side of things, so I find it a little hard to pull myself away from my to-do list and to-pack piles. But I’m always glad when I do!

I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed by all of the amazing people who are offering to help us move, or cook food for us, or take care of our girls, or whatever. We are surrounded by such wonderful people, and I am so thankful for them!

I’m feeling very blessed as we head into our last week at camp – ready to pack like mad, and ready to soak in the last beautiful moments here and there.

 

Easter Weekend Favorites

I love being at my parents’ house. It’s been awhile, because they’ve been gone for the winter, but this weekend, it was fun to come back.

I am such a prairie girl at heart. Living in the Whiteshell has been great, and I have loved the lakes and trees, but there is this part of me that breathes a big sigh of relief when I get out to the wide open spaces where I grew up.

Everything is just different here. It smells different, the trees are different, and even the birds sound different. It’s been a nice change.

And then there was Easter.

Lots of treats, and time with family, and the much-anticipated wearing of the Easter dresses.

Our visit to my parents’ house is not quite over. Ben has been painting for days at our new house, so we’re trying to enjoy this time, even though I think all four of us are ready for him to stay home. Forever.

The end is in sight, thank goodness.

In the meantime, it’s good to be here.

Weekend Favorites

We spent the weekend in the city.

Whenever we come into Winnipeg, Ben’s parents welcome us into their home to feed us, babysit for us, and borrow an extra vehicle to us so that Ben and I can run off in opposite directions and get twice as many errands done as we divide and conquer.

We are so, so thankful for all that they do to help out. I keep waiting for the day they get tired of us, but it doesn’t seem to happen.

So we move in and make ourselves at home.

During this time of preparing to move, and dealing with transition, it’s been very helpful to have this place to retreat to.

Our weekend was a mixture of relaxing, and running around like crazy, crossing off a long list of errands.

We even got in a last-minute date night! Can’t remember the last time that happened.

It’s hard to tell which was more enjoyable – the 3-D movie, or the glasses….

Hope you had a great weekend, too!