Fly Through Our Window
  • Life
  • February17th

    50 Comments

     

    Hello folks! I’ve been waiting for the shop to be completely restocked before offering this 30% off coupon… and we are well-stocked and ready to go! With the 30% off code you can get super cute tees for less than $10 a piece! This would be a great time to stock up for Easter baskets or birthday parties. And as soon as some of the inventory is cleared out we’ll have room for summer designs!

    I’m not sure where January went and in a matter of days I’ll probably wonder where February went too. It’s been unseasonably mild here, much like the rest of the country, which has freed us to spend a decent amount of time outside enjoying the sunshine. I believe the car was already dusted in yellow pollen by  mid-January! I’ve snapped a few pictures here and there, not nearly as many as I wish I had. The kids are growing so fast, changing every single day. The little Raiger has learned to read like a champ at the tender age of five, and her voice, as she goes from word to word, is the sweetest sound to her mother’s ears. I want to freeze the moments. Morgan loves to read too and teach. “School” commences in the family room every afternoon when they get home from school.

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    Her classroom is a well-stocked, and somewhat-organized, fun place to play and learn. She’s very thorough and we’re working with her on tenderness and patience with her pupils who are sometimes berated when they lose interest in her game.

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    The little man is an aspiring race car driver, matchbox car collector, and patience-tester extraordinaire. We also call him Murray as needed. He verbally protests to his new name, which is only used when necessary, because he knows all about Murray. You see Murray is The Boy Who Cried Over Everything. If you have a three-year-old son {or daughter} who may be in a stage where they cry over things like: having to get dressed, you opening their yogurt {instead of them}, picking out the wrong spoon, having to wear shoes, not getting a treat at the store, having to take a nap, not having hot dogs for every meal, shall I go on… then I recommend you introduce your child to Murray. You see Murray seems to cry over everything. Rover knows that Murray’s behavior is not becoming of a young man… that crying over things that aren’t cry-worthy is not good. Little did I know that the book would have such an impact on him. Today at the library when he started in it only took a simple and gentle reminder of who he was acting like to dry him up. In the end, Murray figures out when it’s ok to cry over things and when it’s not. Now, if Betsy Childs and Dan Olson would take Murray to church and help him figure out how sit quietly, and be respectful during “Children’s Moment” at the front of the church, I’d be delighted. If they need any ideas of things that  Murray might do to interrupt the congregation I’d be happy to fill them in with a few of Rover’s secrets.

    Here are few pictures from a Friday afternoon about a month ago at our community pier near the end of our street.

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    And a couple weekends ago we ran over to spend a weekend with Erika, Chance, & Sloane in Rosemary Beach… it was an awesome weekend but I only snapped a handful of pictures!

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    This is “Murray” trying to figure out how to share with Sloane.

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    I believe she walked away empty-handed and he was the torpedo victor so we have progress yet to make!

    In other news, Justin did WAY better this year for Valentine’s Day! If you weren’t around last year, I received a cheese & sausage basket all in the honor of LOVE from my husband. He has heard a small amount of grief over this for the past 12 months. This Valentine’s Day I was thankful to receive dark chocolate, Twizzlers and a card! His dad, probably in fear that cheese and sausage would be on the agenda again, sent the girls and me the most gorgeous arrangement! It has made me smile ear to ear for days.

    We are still without cable television {almost a whole year!} and Justin and I have been helping boost the Redbox & Blockbuster Express earnings. We fear before long we will run out of options. Last weekend we rented Jane Eyre and both loved it, if you haven’t seen it you should. Finding a decent movie, that is entertaining without trash is becoming increasingly difficult. We’ve also enjoyed Contagion and Courageous, although Contagion may have been a little intense at times.

    We transitioned straight out of Valentine’s Day into Mardi Gras. This is our first Mardi Gras experience and I’m certainly an amateur when it comes to all things Mardi Gras. Paige & JM both had to make floats for their class parades. Without my usual arsenal of crafting supplies we resorted to the toy box for Paige’s float… I introduce to you The Mystic Order of Majestic Mares, they’re obviously a wild bunch!

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    Alright… time to pack up for 4 days at the brown house! Our first trip “home” in over a month!

  • January25th

    40 Comments

    Croaker Fest

    Posted in: Life

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    The beach tends to lose a few of it’s redeeming qualities in the winter, but so far we’ve been pleasantly surprised by January… with mild temperatures, sunshine, and still no shortage of things to do! One of which has been watching the croakers. Monday night they were out in rare form. The weather was perfect, so we had a family pow-wow on the dock and entertained ourselves with their presence.

    It looked a little something like this…

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    We’ve been watching the croakers for about a week now. They swim against the tide, and have been most prominent when the tide is at its peak, either coming in or going out. Monday night the tide was coming in and they were facing/swimming south. The tides are fascinating. The croakers are fascinating. All of nature truly is fascinating to me. We had a great time soaking in the wonders of the multitude of fish swimming at the dock. And Justin, as you can see in the next couple pictures, is as swift with a net as he is with a gig. We were able to put a few croakers away in our deep freezer and we hope they come in handy when snapper season opens.

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    Paiger was all over the minnows and the minnows were all over her.

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    Of course, baths followed Croaker Fest.

  • January24th

    67 Comments

    Hi!

    Posted in: Life

    Hi friends! Where on earth have y’all been? :)

    Ahhh, it’s good to be here. I’ve been thinking a lot about coming to this place and posting, but life is full, and life is busy, and there may be a touch of chaos in the mix too. I can talk myself out of sitting down to post about 9 times out of 10, mainly because I feel my responsibilities elsewhere take precedence. These three little children seem to grow up overnight. As many of you know, they come with great responsibility and in the last few weeks I feel my position as wife & mother have left little room for much else, which is ok, because this is where I am now. One day I know I will be lonesome for my precious children, so while the responsibilities are great the rewards are far greater!

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    We are also making great efforts to wear out our suitcases. We are still living at the beach, with our main home 200+ miles away, and we find ourselves attempting to be here {the beach} which is where we live 90% of the time and still manage a home and business that are there back home. I’ve often felt like I’m either preparing to travel {packing} or recovering from travel {unpacking & laundry}. The kids are so resilient and never show signs of being affected by this going-back-and-forth life we live right now. They are eager to go and equally as eager to return, and for that we are so grateful. They make it easier on us, and anything that makes this easier on us is appreciated! We are still loving living here at the beach and all it has to offer, but I would be amiss if I didn’t admit that I miss my friends, church, and Community Bible Study. I remind myself these are all things to look forward to when we return home. And while we are living in a somewhat unpredictable situation, still unsure of how long we will be here, I am thankful for the promises of God and His unchanging word, and how it becomes afresh again and again. Last week I read and prayed through Psalm 139 and it was such a sweet encouragement to me… he searches us, he knows us, he hems us in & he never leaves us.

    I took the kids to the park on Sunday afternoon to play and an added bonus of our park is that it’s also waterfront. Despite a dense fog, we had a blast, I sat in the sand with a book and they enjoyed a frisky little kitty that wasn’t afraid of the water and literally followed us everywhere.

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    I’m also reading two books right now, the one pictured above, Last Child in the Woods and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Spy at my mother-in-law’s high recommendation.  Both non-fiction, both thought-provoking, both encouraging… but in different ways. I’ll report back when I’m finished reading.

    Backing up to December… we packed up and headed to the brown house the week before Christmas, and then we packed up again a few days later and made the journey to Illinois to spend Christmas with Mom & Daddy Boy and my extended family. Its a hike to get there, especially loaded down with Christmas loot. It had been over a year since we had traveled there, and when you have growing children that great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins hadn’t seen in over a year its worth any heartache to get there. Erika {my twin sister, if you happen to be new} already posted on Christmas here. Her pictures for the most part tell the story and she has many more than I do, but I will add a few of my favorite things from Christmas…

    :: Christmas Highlights ::

    A night with friends celebrating Christmas with a fire, carols, & Christmas stories before journeying north–family {love, love, love ‘em}–Bingo–Dirty Santa & soup on Christmas Eve–the schoolhouse–Cousin & George’s “Christmas sweaters” from JCPenney–Christmas morning chaos–snow–tractor rides– Daddy Boy’s never-ending projects–children bundled in down jackets–the man shed & its wood burning stove– food–the triplets–sunsets–fires

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    That’s all for now and I’m going to try not to be a stranger!!