A Love song for Val

 

My boy Val Oaks turns 5 years old today.

I call him my good luck charm, because he's been by my side bringing me so much love and sunshine through the last 5 years.

At first, he brought me joy just by the fact that he was a boy.  We hadn't had a baby boy in our family in ten years!  So his "manly" presence was so exciting to us all!  His big sisters especially fawned over him!

Then, he was just so handsome and smiley as a baby.  We had fun dressing him up in little boy clothes.

When he was 3 months old, we went on a 4 week road trip across the country.  I loved snuggling with him in the back of the car.  He was a magnificent traveler and a great comfort to me.

Right before our trip, we found out that we'd be moving and leaving the home that we knew and loved.  Val became my bright ray of hope that I was going to be ok.  He smiled so much and his smile filled up his whole face.  This always reminded me to be happy and encouraged me to find joy myself.

Another thing that I loved about Val was how blue his eyes were.  I crocheted him a blanket and when it was finished I realized that it matched his eyes.  He always sleeps with this blanket, even though his little brother likes to rip holes in it!

As a toddler and now preschooler, he is adventurous, but he is also so affectionate towards me, which I really have needed in the last year.  He often stops what he is doing to tell me that he loves me.  He usually hugs me or kisses my arm. :)

Another thing about Val that brings me joy is that he loves exploring nature and digging in the dirt.  And when his younger brother hits him, Val doesn't react or hit back.  I just admire that about him so much.  He is an awesome example to us all and a fantastic brother.  Very curious and very kind.

I am absolutely so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me a son like Val at this time in my life.  

And although he swears that he doesn't want to grow up and that he doesn't want to have any more birthdays, because he wants to stay a kid, I hope some day when he is grown up he will read this and know what joy he brought into my life.  Love you forever, Val!

Continue reading... »

My Favorite Things Right Now

 

The season is on the verge of changing.  Can you feel it?  Here in Pennsylvania, we have been in a month-long (or more) cycle of 3-4 inches of snow followed by a deep freeze about every few days, but this week it's warming up, finally, and energizing everyone.

My children (the older ones at least) have returned to in-person learning four days a week now.  And I feel this season of being T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R 24/7 slipping away as quickly and quietly as it arrived.  In some ways it is a relief.  My son definitely needed to go back to school.  In other ways, it feels a bit wistful. 

Who just comes in to your life, turns everything upside-down, sits on your couch day and night with the presence of an elephant and then just leaves without saying a word?

Oh, the Pandemic will be with us for a while yet, I'm sure, but still something tells me the winds are changing.  The children are leaving again and going back to their semi-normal routines.  They need to go, but I will miss them.

This was supposed to be a "my favorite things" post, but I guess my children are my favorite things.  And my favorite things about the quarantine time we've had together are that time stopped for a while.  We had endless hours to play games together, do puzzles, listen to music together, watch movies, tickle each other, snuggle the little ones, eat all the food with no accountability whatsoever, go for walks together, laugh about life together, give talks and take the sacrament together.  Of all of the things we supposedly missed during the last year, very little of what matters was missed.

And for that I am grateful.

It's funny how I could have written a very different post about the year that has passed, but while my heart filled up while looking at the good, my mind had no space left to dwell on the bad.  What interesting lessons we learn...and God is the perfect teacher.

Continue reading... »

The Happiest Time of the Year: Coy's Birthday

 

As I catch up on more of the happy moments of 2020, I am reminded about what a perfect day we had on Coy's 3rd birthday!  What made it sweet, besides that fact that he is just the sweetest thing was that the big kids all joined in on the birthday party and made it fun.

On a normal year, this would be a normal thing, but this was not a normal year for our family (as it is always touch and go with our oldest son and to be honest it was that day as well). So a smooth and happy celebration of our boy was appreciated by us, the parents!

We decided to make Coy's birthday like a friend-party, with party hats and musical chairs.  My older kids got into it, and before long there was even a conga line going...lead by Guy!  The little kids were thrilled, and it more than made up for not being able to have any friends over.

Coy got his traditional Cookie Monster cake, which all of the kids have had....and breakfast in bed, which is a highlight...and lots of love and snuggles and attention from us, which can be the best gift in such a busy/big family.

I am so grateful that God gifted us with Coy.  He brings us joy and helps us to feel light, even as life is heavy, and I'm so grateful for that.

Continue reading... »

Fall Flower Show at Phipps

One of the best decisions we made last year was to get a membership to more of the local museums.  

I ended up getting a membership to the Phipp's Conservatory in Pittsburgh mainly because we wanted to attend their winter lights display and a membership cost as much as one visit for our family, but boy has this membership brought me a lot of joy and a chance to feel peace as we've toured many flower and plant shows during the quarantine time of 2020.

Since I have quite the hankering for Spring lately, I thought I'd share photos from my favorite show, the Fall Mum Show.

What I love about going to Phipps is watching my children falling in love with the flowers and telling me everything that they like about each room and each bud.

I love this room, because it's always so romantically beautiful, no matter the season, but the fact that they did it up in these pastels was really interesting to see in the Fall. It was so refreshing.

And these specialty mums are so gigantic. In person, they are really stunning.

I just love exploring God's beautiful creations with my kids and to do so during a time when it was difficult to go anywhere due to COVID, was truly a blessing.  I hope these photos bring a smile to your face as it did to me looking at them again!  Have a good one!

Continue reading... »