All Together Now

I have a sentimental heart. To be sentimental as described by Websters means; "To be marked or governed by feeling, sensibility, or emotional idealism.  My mom used to say when I was a child that I "Wora my harwt on my sleeve."(East coast accent there for Momma Ellen). It's really true. She knew her kid. I am a big sap. There are some events that us sentimental types get more mushy and choked up over than others and Graduations is one of them. I have these thoughts like, "We are all together now, but...." And to finish that sentence I say "but in a few years this one will go here, that one will go there and then... life will be over!" Did I mention that I am also dramatic?

Graduation season is upon us and I just can't help but get a bit Va-klempt (talk amongst yourselves) about all my peeps that are on that list of graduates. I never used to understand why My momma would cry every time the graduation song Pomp and Circumstance would begin to play. Momma Ellen... I so get it now. Sorry for laughing before at you. I love you. Sorry for everything that I just didn't understand because I was too young to understand. I love you.

 The list of graduates for this family is long this year. Not only are my daughters both graduating from Jr. High and Elementary, but a very close sister friend's daughter is graduating from High School. And then there are the graduates from Reno, NV that are near and dear to our hearts. Girls we have known since they were my daughters ages now. And chugga chugga Choo Choo... that train of Life just keeps on going doesn't it? This picture is of the moment in time when all my kids were at the same school. It was the first day of school here in WA. and they were in 6th,4th,2nd and Kindergarten. Sigh...

It really does make me want to bust out in that John Mayer song, Stop This Train. Have you heard that song? If not I have a live version posted below for ya, and your welcome!  The line that gets me in that song every time is this, "One generations length away from finding life out on my own." Not only does it make me choke up  because well, it talks of losing our parents but then it also makes me think of these up and coming graduates, and how they will now be finding life out on their own.
As they cross over that finish line of Elementary, Jr.High, High School and College... it opens up a whole new world. A world where I can't go with them and hold their hand. I can't protect them. I can pray for their safety and success but I can't go with them. These are the times when my faith in Christ really helps put my mind at ease.

I'm not good at letting go.
I want to get better at letting go.
Instead of letting go I distract myself, but it's so important to LET GO!
I'm not gonna say the cliche saying "Let Go and Let God" because I'm not really even sure what that means, but I will say this;  Letting go is hard.
My faith in Christ helps, but still it's hard.
Is it supposed to be easy?
Put a pin in that question that might be a topic for another day.
Who among you can let go easily? Will you help a sister out.
What are your tricks? Give me all your life coping mechanisms.
Are there any "easy to let go persons" out there? Anyone? Anyone? (crickets)





And now that I have even made myself weepy, I'm gonna go blow my nose!

TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES!!

Be it ever so Humble...

There truly is no place like home.

I have been living out of bags for a month, with 4 kids, 2 dogs, and 1 hubby(who for the most part took care of his own bag, THANK GOD!!).
Needless to say, I am happy SO HAPPY to be home.

We hit the ground running on June 1st with our big trip to NV. We arrived June 2nd wiped out from driving all night and then June 3rd it all began. The first celebration and order of business/pleasure... to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary.
It was great to be in Carson City for this day. 16 years later there we sat, me and my Giant across from one another at The Cracker Box(a lil breakfast joint in CC that holds so many memories and really great omelets) and I thought to my self, "Self... you are one fortunate girl" Still thanking God for the beautiful man that sat across the table from me, and still so very much in love.

Then June 4th lil brother Jeremy's graduation celebration. Hard to believe that my lil bro is not only graduated, 19 years old, a hard working responsible adult, and planning to move in a year to my neck of the woods. Yippee!! I am so proud of him. He is an amazing person, truly. It was also the graduation day for some very close friends of ours only son, Ashton who is another amazing person. Come to think of it 2011 graduated 3 amazing graduates and the world is fortunate to get to have them all in our class now... Jeremy, Ashton, Maria congratulations!!

The next day we did some more after celebrating with friends and family and on June 6th Mo had to fly back to WA for two more weeks of work.

Meanwhile, the kids and myself stayed behind for a whole lotta busy.

Bullet Points-

Jeremy's 19th b-day
Visit with the fabulous Gardners
Maria's graduation
Jessica's Baby shower
Jenny's wedding shower
Wedding errands
Savanah's b-day
Savanah's b-day party
Visit to Brother Greg at Fire academy
Wedding errands
Izzy's b-day
Father's day
Natalie's b-day party
Wedding errands :)
Week at Wallies
Mo comes home(celebrate Father's Day again)
Mo and boys go camping-pack for boys
Sleep over with Marie
Jenny's Bachelorette Party
More Wedding errands
Boys come home from camping, clean boys and pack them for the big event
Wedding Rehearsal
WEDDING OF THE CENTURY :)))))))
Visits with the fabulous Munnerlyn family
Visit with the Harder/Johnson family
Sleep over with Vanhoose's
Visit with the Gore family

Sigh...... Post traumatic stress from an overload of busy!!

Kidding of course, but I am truly glad to be home.
Clean house.
Laundry going.
Kids relaxing.
And most importantly sleeping in my OWN bed tonight!

The saying is never more true for me than today;

"Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home!"

P.S. to any NV peeps that I didn't get to squeeze this time around please read the above note and know that I love you and that is was just NOT physically possible for a squeeze THIS TIME.

A Few BIG Things in Pictures

Emma's 6th Grade Graduation. I now have a Jr. Higher, IN THE HOUSE!


A much needed visit with family.




Let the good times roll.



Moses is back in the business of drawing on people.

A New Thing

This time of year brings a lot of busy to our household. We have two birthday girls and then our anniversary to follow both of those. I remember when I was preggers with Emma and her original due date was for June 4th the day right after our anniversary. I prayed so hard that she would come a little early. Most women want baby to come early just because by the third trimester life becomes quite uncomfortable. I prayed, so that I wouldn't have to share this special date with anyone else beside my giant, and God listened.

Our anniversary tradition for many years now has been to go to a VW show called Bug O Rama in Sacramento. I think we have had this tradition for at least the past 9 years. When the kids were little we brought them with us, until we realized we could camp out and have more than just a family fun day, we could get some "alone time", very hard to come by that with 4 children.
This year we didn't make it to Bug O Rama because well.... we live too far away. When I realized that we wouldn't be going this year it actually brought tears to my eyes. These are the kind of things that when you move away you don't realize you are giving up.

Little traditions here and there have been passing us by now that we live here.

To be quite honest, most of them come and go and it doesn't bother me, but there are a handful of traditions that I have made memories with people over the years that I really have been sad to miss out on this year. And, Bug O Rama is without a doubt on that list.

This event Bug O Rama, I realize now wasn't about the vast amount of VW's that we got to see, or the parts that we could buy for dirt cheap, and it wasn't about the camping either.

It was about the people.

In the end it always comes back to the people.

So this year, instead of going to Bug O Rama my cousins the Farina's offered to take all 4 of our children overnight so that Moses and I could get some "alone time". I can't begin to even express how much we have needed this time together.
We have been in process this whole long 9 months since we moved here. Anyone who knows what that word "process" means knows that being "in process" is not easy. Your feelings and thoughts change from day to day and about the only thing that remains the same(except of course our Creator) is that you are still in process. I feel we are about to birth another baby. A moving baby. What it will be named has yet to be determined. But, that's a story for another day.

We hit Georgetown yesterday to make new memories and maybe even a new tradition. I have to say, that of all the places so far that I have experienced living in the Seattle area, Georgetown is quickly becoming a favorite. We went to a Farmers Market, checked out shops, walked on some old train tracks, talked, talked, and talked some more. We of course brought Vicky, Victoria(our bus) along for the ride. She felt right at home in Georgetown, unlike how she feels here in Redmond.



After walking around it was time for some grub. There are so many places to choose from when it comes to the culinary choices in Seattle. It is almost overwhelming to think of especially without our buddy Johnny V. who knows just about everything there is to know about "Good Eats" in Seattle. In the end, we decided to take the money we would've spent on a nice dinner and we bought something we have been meaning to buy since we moved here, a new Weber BBQ. We couldn't afford a big one so we got a Baby mini Weber and it will work out just fine until we can afford the Daddy Weber. On the menu was without a shadow of a doubt THE BEST blue cheese burger I have ever had in my life. Courtesy of Master Chef Moses. With bbq, and groceries in hand we headed back to most beautiful campground ever 180th Ave NE.

This time of year feels like a graduation for the whole family. This year more than ever. WE have all weathered the storm of a HUGE move and have come out on the other side, still in love, still laughing, still enjoying where we have moved.



Do we have regrets about this move? Sure of course we do. But, anyone who knows me knows that I don't dwell on the negative for very long. I choose not to live or camp out there. I am reminded of the scripture that says, "See I am doing a new thing". It's hard not to look back on what we have lost, but in the end I would like to remember what we have gained.

Sidenote- this was our 15th honey moon and it was GOOD. 15th year is your crystal year, we looked all day yesterday in shops for a crystal unicorn. Yep, that's what we wanted to remember our 15th year. Crystal Unicorn is what we are now on the hunt for :)

If you read this whole blog and insight to my thoughts as of late you are AMAZING and should be given some kind of award!

The End of an Era, The beginning of a New Day !

Just thought I would share some of the funny quotes from my job;

" Do you know that everyone has hearts, even Chinese and Japanese people."

In reference to sitting at the circle with our chairs instead of carpets;

"Okay let's do this, yeah let's do this thing"

When reading the story of David and Goliath to the kids one boy said,

"Why was that big guy so mean?" to which I replied....."Well, he didn't know Jesus" and then I thought well, no one did yet. Good thing the kids don't know that.

When we got our new carpet that had Jonah and the whale on it, "I want to sit in the belly of the whale like Jonah because he got to go swimming in there" eww gross!!

When showing the kids the map and where Nevada is Isaiah says, " Where is the Dollar Store on there?"

 

Yesterday was our graduation. 16 kids will be going on to kindergarten including my youngest child Isaiah. When I was driving in to work I had a moment where I almost lost it. Looking back in the rear view mirror to check on your little one is something you do early on as a parent. From the time they are little babies you want to see what they are doing back there, and that's why the invention of those little mirrors and all kinds of things to see what they are up to were created. Well, yesterday I thought next year I won't have my little buddy with me. I won't have someone in the afternoon to check on or think about or play with. It is the end of an era for me. 11 years long I have had a buddy all day long and now they are all going to be at big kid school all day in the fall. I am excited for the future but also in a bit of mourning over the fact that I won't have preschooler, toddler, baby or little person to light up my days anymore. Sometimes I wonder if I had so many kids because I didn't want to be alone. 

One of the little girls came in yesterday morning all dressed up ready for the big day with a huge smile on her face and said, 

 "Ms Noel, did you hear? It's going to be my graduation day today!!"

I felt like saying, Yeah I have thinking and preparing for this day for a really long time and now that it's finally here I feel like crying.... but I didn't say that. I smiled and said, "Yes, yes I did hear that today is your graduation."

I am going to miss them all and especially my lil man. To all the parents of little ones still in diapers take in the moments all of them because before you know it you will be knocking at the door of adolescence thinking....

Where did the time go?

Andria's Graduated

I am so happy for my friend Andria who tonight graduated from Nursing School. She made her way through this education with a pregnancy and birth of a child, with many financial hardships, with an overwhelming amount of doubters from those closest to her. She is amazing. She is one of my heroes. Here's to you Andria. Way to go!!

Mississippi

We leave tomorrow for Mississippi to see our niece graduate from high school. I don't know how much access I will have to a computer so I probably won't be bloggin for a bit but upon my return I promise a few pics from the trip and also the highlights.
We are leaving the chillins here so could everyone please be praying for them as 7 days is a very long time for those that are under 10 years of age(well it is also a long time for those that are 32 years of age but that's another prayer request.) I know that they are in very good hands and I know that the time with my hubby is going to be fabulous but I just want to cover all the basis here at the homefront and it helps me to know that people are praying , so thank you in advance.
See ya when we get back.