fishmas 2017

First up in our fishing season was Mentor fishing day - which falls the weekend before the First day of Trout that is set up to encourage and promote kids to learn to fish.  Our two biggest kids filled out their youth fishing licenses and packed their backpacks for a fishing camp sleepover with their cousins the night before.

The two little ones and I stayed home, so I woke up to this little face in our bed. 

I got text pics all morning of everyone having a great time on the creek and lots of updates about how much fun the cousins were all having together.  We had plenty of mentors to go around for all the kids, including my Dad (Chum) who drove out for the day.  It's nice to have lots of adults around to help with all the different aspects of fishing and to keep an eye on kids who are baiting hooks, chopping wood (!), cooking over the fire, and hanging out near rushing water.

We got a visit at our house with cousins Lisa and Rowan and then we all packed up and headed out to fishing camp to reunite with our crews!  Despite the chilly evening, it turned into a beautiful day and we all got to cheer on all the kids reeling in fish and kissing them before releasing them back into the stream.  I was happy to finally give my brand new seven year old boy a birthday hug (!) and he was proud to show off his fishing skills to his baby sister and brother. 

 

The following weekend, it was real Fishmas - which means the first day of trout! Keeping in tradition with the past four years, Grey, Brandon, and Pappy all headed out to fishing camp on Fishmas Eve to sleepover.  And we got our early morning texts of them on the creek fishing as soon as the clock struck 8am.

...um, real quick.  I just had to go back and search my blog to figure out if Grey has been sleeping over at fishing camp since he was three or four years old and found this pic and then obviously had to do a side by side comparison...and excuse me...when did this transformation happen to my little baby boy Booboo?! Time, why you do this momma's heart so wrong?....but, that beard though, b! xxoxo! .....okay, carrying on...

While the boys spent their day on the creek (Grey even getting a chance to learn how to filet and cook a fish he caught that morning!)...

The girls, Rusty, Gigi, and I headed out to our annual Fishmas tradition.  We all had lunch together and then got pampered and beautified by getting pedicures.  The Saturday before Easter meant it was even more busy out then normal, but the kids were really patient and sweet through the whole process.  They even earned themselves a quick stroll in the Pet Store to say hello to all the animals afterwards (hah). 

After our little girls' afternoon, we head over to fishing camp to meet up with the crew and spend the evening with them.  Grey had a great day and even a scary fishing story that he was eager to tell us.  Earlier that day, he felt a tug on his line and started reeling it in and could see the closer it got the bigger it looked.  By the time it was really close, it looked like it was almost two feet long!  He started getting really worried this fish was going to just swallow him up if he reeled it in! So with tears of fear in his eyes, he handed his rod over to his Pappy and asked him for help.  After a quick look, even Pap thought it might have been a snapping turtle, but as they pulled it up.....it was only a huge log!  hahhaha, i love that memory!

Another awesome Fishmas holiday that will live on in the kids' memories (and ours!)
Remember when Grey was just barely one and I wrote this letter to him about Fishmas.
Okay, bye, I'm too sentimental today, hahhhaha!

the gifts.

While planning for Christmas this year and taking into account Brandon's new job that offer so many incredible perks to our life, it did also come with a significant decrease in pay.  It has been an adjustment in everyday life, but we knew it was going to be important to really make plans to make the holidays work within a budget.

So, we sat down and did some planning.  

I ordered our Christmas cards earlier than ever and with as many coupons as I could scrap together, we pared down our kids' gift list to a financially reasonable (and a they-don't-need-more-crap) amount, we budgeted our lists, shopped online with coupons and early, and tracked each spending closely to make sure we were on target.  But it was clear right from the start that we'd be forgoing presents for ourselves.  

Truthfully, we don't mind all that much because neither of our main love languages is gifts, but it did feel a little funny every time we checked in with each other like, "wait, really don't buy anything for me.  I'm not buying anything for you!" and "but seriously, nothing.  put the money in the white envelope fund!" 

In the end though, we did decide together that Santa would bring one gift for us.  

A letter left under the tree, addressed to Mum & Dad.

The thing is, 

we have so many gifts, 

so many blessings.  

Four healthy, kind kids.  

A comfortable, warm home.  

Family and friends who love, support, and encourage us. 

A Daddy who has more time to be with us.

Who needs gifts under the tree when you have a life like this?

So as we spend our Christmas Day bustling to four different homes today;

homes that throw open their doors and welcome us in with arms outstretched with the smell of delicious food floating in the air, and smiles on everyone's faces...we resolve to keep looking around.

All of today.

and tomorrow.

and all in the new year.

Because, truly, all the gifts we could ever want are already right here in front of us.  

Merriest season to you.  

Look around, friends.

There is so much good.

and so much love.

xxoxo tab

Fourth of July

Summer contains a lot of fun in vacations and graduation parties, and bedtimes that delay until the sun finally decides to go down - but as for our holidays, she's really only got Independence Day.

The fourth of July has been my favorite holiday for most of my life. I can't sing the National Anthem without getting choked up during the line, 'and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there.'  As hard as it feels right now to watch America, as a people, I still am very thankful for America, the land.  (I think America, as a people, could use a heaping scoop of humility and lovingkindness...but that's not a tangent for this post).

We had an awesome two-day long celebration for America's birthday!  We started by stopping by Gigi and Pappy's house after church on Sunday and hoping to get to see our Gilmore cousins while they were in town for a little bit.

And that little visit quickly morphed into a pop-up pool party!  The kids were thrilled to get to spend time with their cousins whom they love so much but we just don't live close enough to see each other more than a few times.  We all shared a big pot luck lunch with Daddy and Pappy at the grill, Reid and Greyson shucked all the corn cobs, and finished up with Gigi manning the smore station.  I had my hands free for quite a bit of the afternoon with all the family loving up on Rustin.   

It was a really beautiful day that was perfect for swimming - the kids were little fish all afternoon, Grey even- emboldened by his older cousin- took his first leap off the diving board sans floaties!  

After the pop-up party, we tossed the kids in the car and ran home for a minute to take care of the dogs, before heading back out Sunday night to the Altoona Curve baseball game (minor league) with Abba, Chum, and Aunt Uch.  Grey took his mitt just in case and Gemma, just like her momma, loved all the music and shimmied her way through the stands.  We got to see some baseball, I introduced the kids to cracker jacks, and we even got a photo with the team mascot, Loco - Violet's obsessed with our signed souvenir photo, hhaha.

They had post-game fireworks that were awesome and Gemma could not believe how much she 'loves this holiday!' and thanked me with hugs about a million times.  Violet was less enthused and spent most of the fireworks with her head buried in one of our necks while Greyson, the ever protective brother followed her around to hold her ears.  Besides the standard fireworks, we also noticed at least three kinds of fireworks that we've never seen before - they were all beautiful!  Rusty made barely a peep the whole time while he slept with his ear muffs on (haha, so much for witnessing the main event of his first holiday ever!)

We didn't get home from the game until almost midnight and everyone was totally wiped out.  So we let the kids sleep in on Monday, the fourth, before we sang Happy Birthday to America over sparkler candles on our toaster strudel (hah).  No photos because it was pretty hectic and then Violet touched the burnt out sparkler, so it was a bit of chaos there for a minute.

By three o'clock, our family had arrived to celebrate the day with us and despite the rain, we all still had a great time eating delicious food, potluck style again - and laughing as the kids played together with sheer delight.  We set up the canopies and lit a fire and made the best of the rainy, chilly weather as we could.  The big boys took the rain and mud as an invitation to get totally filthy and then use the hose to spray each other down in the middle of the yard.  The girls floated in and out of the house playing babydolls, and holding baby Rustin, and putting on shows for Lisa and I. Violet eventually just totally passed out for the night on the couch amid all the noise and movement.

By the evening, we had pulled out the sparklers and poppers and bottle rockets and the kids were high on silliness and smores.  Reid and Greyson even got to light some bottle rockets which made them so happy I thought Grey's face might break from his huge smile.

And to close out the night - the big boys participated in their favorite activity of 'horsing around' while the big girls snuggled up together, sharing a blankie.

Such a great weekend of family - who are also our friends.  So thankful, as I always am - but reminded especially so during holidays, that we are surrounded in love by family and friends.