Project Life: Weeks 30 - 33 (Instagram Edition)

Note: Our computer finally bit the dust last week, so all my photos are currently locked up on its hard drive.  While I wait to see if the photos can be retrieved, I'm thankful that I've so well documented most of our daily life on blogging, facebook, and Instagram.  The photos in this post are all from Instagram.  (You can find me there as Mom2VandA.)


July 22 - 28

This week started out with another WORS bike race...and ended with a funeral.  Not quite the week we were expecting.  Our Sweet Pea turned four on the 24th and we enjoyed a quiet dinner at home, but our hearts were aching for my great grandma.  We spent the evening of July 23rd at her bedside, saying goodbye, knowing the end was drawing near.  On the morning of July 25th, the world lost a beautiful woman who will be forever missed. The rest of the week was a blur of sorting through photos and memories and preparing for her funeral.  On Saturday, among many tears and bittersweet memories, we remembered our Grandma D, a woman who lived 96 beautiful years and left an amazing family legacy.  Our kids were blessed to have known their great great grandma - not many people can say that! 

***

July 29 - August 4

 

After an emotionally exhausting week, we started this week with a fun time spent with our Klein family at my uncle Mark and aunt Ellen's home.  My cousin, Jackson, and his fiance, Caye, were here for a visit from Ecuador and we were excited to see them again.   Family time is so precious and we are thankful to be surrounded by so many wonderful people to call family. 

The kids and I spent a quiet week at home doing a little bit of homeschooling.  I decided to start doing some early kindergarten lessons with miss V, because she is so excited about learning.  We're using Spectrum pre-K curriculum to teach her basic numbers, letters, and writing skills and then using various resources for bible and early science activities.  She loves it so much, she begs to do school the moment she wakes up!

Our week ended with a day spent helping my parents officially move from their home of 20 years to the home my grandpa built.  It's been a long and difficult process, but they finally found a buyer for their house.  Though it was bittersweet to say goodbye to my childhood home, I know they will fill my grandparents home with many new memories as our family continues to grow.  While Ted helped do a lot of the heavy lifting, the kids and I took part in a breastfeeding awareness walk before heading over to my grandparents home to help with lunch preparations.  At the end of the day, everyone was exhausted and there was still a lot of unpacking to be done, but my parents were relieved to finally be in their new home. 

***

August 5 - 11

This week began with Ted and I celebrating our six year anniversary.  We didn't really have much planned, because we were hoping to plan our anniversary date night for after vacation.  But, we ended up enjoying an impromptu date night of Jimmy John's and Cherry Berry while our kids enjoyed their first night of vacation bible school at our church.  It's always good to find time to spend just the two of us; it reminded me of our dating days as we soaked up the time together and even flirted a little bit!   Plus, it was fun to check out the new frozen yogurt place in town after discovering they had a dairy free option - it was SO good!

The rest of the week was a blur of trip planning and packing as we prepared for our week long vacation and another Ore to Shore mountain bike race weekend.  I more fully appreciate all the vacations my mom planned for us growing up, because I know how exhausted it is.  She always said, "Vacation is not a vacation when you're a mom" and I finally understand! 

The week ended with an exciting race day cheering on Ted and his brother, David, in the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic - see yesterday and tomorrow's blog posts for more about race day.

***

August 12 - 18

This week was spent enjoying a relaxing and refreshing vacation at our cabin by the lake and soaking up some time with Ted's family that we don't get to see often enough.  I'll blog more in detail about our vacation later.