It's May!!

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been two weeks already since my last post, time sure is flying!! I'll try to keep it short!

The past two weeks have been fairly quiet, not a lot going on. We are thouroughly enjoying all of the nice, sunny, warm days we have been blessed with! The boys LOVE to be outside, and are beginning to be able to entertain themselves, without me having to be out there with them all the time.

The week of the 19th was a fairly quiet week (at least at the beginning) we spent it mostly at home, no big outings for us, and doing all of the normal activities involved in keeping a home with 2 busy boys and a busy husband. Mowing the lawn, laundry, baking, cooking, etc.

Tuesday the 20th, Russ' oldest sister Amy flew in from Vancouver, BC, Canada, as a surprise for Russ' mom's 60th birthday.

Wednesday morning we had a lunch at Ryan and Katie's house. It was nice to chat with my sisters in law for a while, and Austin had fun (as always) playing with cousins Emma, Tyler and Cody.

I was able to go to some more garage sales on that Friday at Bridlewood in Jamestown. It was not very busy, but they also didn't have much left, so we were finished quite quickly, much to Austin's relief! :-) We were able to visit Russ at work, and brought him and his co-workers some ice cream bars. That evening we had an impromtu get together at Keith and Holly's new house so the kids that weren't at lunch on Wednesday, could see Auntie Amy. It was nice to see the Feenstra's new house and to visit with everyone. The kids of course had fun playing with all their cousins again. So nice that there are so many to play with. For the most part, they all get along well, only a few spats to break up! :-)

Saturday, we got together with the Lotterman side of the family for our monthly KWOTK. We had a fondue dinner at Herman and Lindy's house to celebrate Mom Lotterman's 60th birthday. It was a fun time as always, and interesting for some who have never had fondue. It requires a lot of patience, especially if you're really hungry! :-) For dessert, all of Dad Lotterman's siblings and spouses came as a surprise for mom, and we all had some good laughs! Who knew that a bunch of "old" people could be the life of the party!! ;-)

Sunday we were blessed to be able to attend church twice again, and were able to hear two wonderful sermons.

Monday the 26th was a busy one for me. I brought a meal to Matthew and Chelsea and spent most of the day preparing it. I ended up waking Chelsea up from a much needed nap when I brought it over.....oops! It was so fun to see sweet Malaya again, she is just SOO CUTE!

Most of the rest of the week was spent doing normal household things, and of course mowing the lawn again. I am sad to say that my lawn mowing days are over. I had to quit half way through my job on Thursday, as it was just too bumpy, and hurt my stomach too much to continue. I never realized how bumpy our lawn is. O well, hopefully Russ can find time to do it after work. He has been putting in a lot of hours, for which we are so thankful, and works from 7am to 6:45 pm most days. This gets him home at 7pm and by the time we're finished with dinner, it's 7:30 already, not leaving much time to mow our huge lawn. I guess it's a good thing it is staying light longer, and that the mower has headlights.

Friday was a bit of a fun day for Bradyn at school. It was ABC day. Each child had to pick his/her favorite letter of the alphabet, and do a "presentation" on that letter. Bradyn picked the letter "B" because his name starts with it. We decided to make him Bradyn the Baseball boy with his Baseball cap, baseball bag, and his ball, bat and baseball glove in his bag. I found a pattern for a baseball jersey, and he helped decorate it with puff paint. He also painted his hat and bag. That evening, Russ and I left for the Family Life Marriage Conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan. My sister Kyndra stayed at our house with the boys.(Thanks Kyndra!!) We were able to have a very enjoyable weekend, and both were spiritually renewed in our callings as husband and wife and also father and mother. It was brought out many times that Christ NEEDS to be the center of our marriage, and of our household. We would highly recommend this conference to anyone who has thought about going. It will literally change your marriage. Even if you think you have a good marriage, there is always something that you both can do better.

We arrived back home Sunday afternoon, and were able to attend our own church again. We were blessed with a sermon, by Martyn McGeown, on the parable of the Pharisee and Publican. Again we can say, what a blessing it is to be able to worship with fellow saints freely.

That brings us to today. God has blessed us with another beautiful, sunshine filled day, with highs forecasted into the low 70's. I guess my thoughts for a short post were wrong, hopefully, you all were not too bored by it! :-) We hope this finds you all doing well, and may you all enjoy this week and the blessings that it brings!