Fun Days with Nana.....

For those of you that don't know, when we moved we asked my mother to come and live with us too.  She gracuously accepted our offer and it was been a truly wonderful experience for us all.

Having Mum here allows us to learn and grow in a new way as we learn from her wisdom and experience and kindness.  She is constantly "doing" which i am trying to get her to learnt o relax a bit and do some of nothing too.  But she feels happiest when serving and i cannot fault her for that as that is what we all should be doing.

Anyway one of the things that has been happening since "Nana" has been here is that our "outings" are much more fun.  The children LOVE having her around to talk to and ask, ask, ask questions of and quite frankly, so do i.  It's amazing how much your daily activities are enriched when you have another adult to talk to.  :-)

Parks, and the zoo, and walks with Mollie-Moo-Moo (as Jack calls my mother's Newfoundland dog) are just a few of the regular things we do.  Here's a few of the pics to show, and yes, Jack is in his underwear at the park.  He decided that it would be a good idea to copy Iman and Edy and go in the stream, except he didn't realize that it would be knee deep on him....sheesh!  ;-)

 At the Fountain City Park....

 Pick it!

 At the Zoo....

 The kids thought the bird show was awesome!  This little guy could talk and Sarah especially thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Family Home Evening: The Activity

Lately, anymore, with John's work schedule by the time we get started with Family Home Evening and then get towards the end of it, there's never a lot of time for "the activity" before it's time for bed for the younger two kids.  They always go to bed past their bedtime anyway on Monday nights when we have Family Home Evening (click here to learn more about this), and so we always come to this dilemna of whoever is assigned the activity, often has to put away their long and laborious idea of perhaps Monopoly (which let's face it could last a whole century) and come up with something that will be quick and easy.  I always feel bad about this, especially when it's one of the kids' turn to pick the actvity, but the only idea i have to help resolve this at all is to begin with the activity.....maybe we'll try that today.  Of course sometimes we do untraditional things and go out somewhere to the movies or whatnot, but this tends to be the typical situation when doing something at home.

Fortunately we have one or two quick games up our sleeves which the kids are usually satisfied with.  One of their favorites is UNO.  This time Jack was on Daddy's team and they won, which made Jack very pleased as you will see in the following pictures.

Another favorite is hangman, as we have a art aisle with a dry erase board, that is for some reason thrilling to the kids to be able to write on.  Any other ideas of quick and easy activities you may have tried with your families are welcome.  I think sometime in the near future we are due for an all activity FHE to make up for all the hangmans and UNOs, lol! 

 Even Nana is entertained by Jack-a-lope!  :-)

Moving.....

It’s always bittersweet in so many ways……

Bitter because I left behind a place I absolutely am in love with, the Cumberland Gap area has to be the most gorgeous place I have ever lived…..

Sweet because I know this is the Lord’s will, and nothing is more fulfilling that knowing I am doing what He wants me to do…..

Bitter because I know I won’t see my dear sweet friends as much as I am used to…..

Sweet because I know I am about to make more……

Bitter because I like living completely surrounded by cows and horses….

Sweet because my kids actually have a place to ride their bikes for once…..

Bitter because I will be paying more in rent ;-)…….

Sweet because my mother and her beloved Mollie are living with us……

Bitter because we left our awesome ward.....

Sweet because our new ward even when we were not technically in yet had already called and welcomed us and we had even had a play-date at the park with some of them…..

Bitter because there are ants at my new house, ugh!

Sweet because I found out that there are a whole bunch of home-schooling families in my new ward, yeah!!

Bitter because I had to pack and move my stuff again (10^th time in 10 years of marriage)……

Sweet because Immanuel will have more boys his age at church and cub scouts…..

Sweet because I have a yard to garden in this time…..

Sweet because I have neighbors who have children my kid’s age and they are already friends…..

Sweet because the one neighbor who is Eden’s age  told her that she was glad she moved here because she needed a best friend again……

Sweet because it is always an adventure and I love having new experiences that teach me great things…..

Sweet because I have blossom trees and irises in my yard and a front porch swing……

Sweet because I can have my cats at my house now....

Sweet because there’s so much to do in Knoxville and now we are much closer to those resources and as John would call it civilization……

Sweet because John’s work is only 18 miles away and that means more time we get to spend with him……

Sweet because we are about to save a ton in gas money…..

Yes, there are a lot of sweets…..more than I am listing…..and more I will find out soon I am sure of it. Looking forward is so much better, new opportunities, more growing, another chapter….more than anything I look forward to the new relationships I will form with new friends and wisdom and love of a mother and nana in the home. Life will certainly be interesting!

 Iman and Brady, one of our new neighbors.  These guys get a long fabulously!  Brady is a sweet kid.  :-)

 John and I one morning as we woke up still at this point sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags!  I was really happy when we finally got our bed moved in.  :-)

 Some pics of the house, not finished yet, but you get the idea.

 Mum and I at the Fountain City Park.

Blossoms are already gone, but the irises are here.  :-)