Beautiful month full of soccer, choir, school, soccer, choir, and school. And also soccer, choir, and school.
The month started with some alone time for me. It was a sweet time away for me to breathe, read, hike, and think. WarriorsWhile I was gone, Bill watched some sweet kiddos in addition to oursAnd got to drive their grandparents’ Tesla…I can’t tell who had more fun: my kids, or my friends’ kidsAnd this was the response to Bill’s extrasSoccer game with my parents who faithfully attend every one they can.Celebrating one of my favorite redhead’s birthdaysHe looks so calm and cool. But right before this, the baby was forced into his hands and he flipped out, worried he’d drop him. Leaving pics on our friends’ phonesAnd kids leaving pics on oursFamily walk. This little man is still the cuddler. Trampolines are for more than jumpingOur dear friends had their sweet little nugget this month! She’s perfect, and the baby hog thinks so, too. The baby’s dad and our long-time friend tried to teach Liam how to do a backwards somersault. Victoria left her earrings on her sink for weeks, so finally a child decided to make soap art with it.Such a cool drawing of a Viking ship!Sporting some spirit wear for our favorite soccer team.When you tell the child most like you that her hair looks pretty, she’s going to do something to make her hair gross.Chilling one day in a big chair after busy weekOur soccer crewGangsta coachesWhen your church eats together each week, sometimes you need dessert for dinner.My silly little boysWe’re pretty serious. Emphasis on the pretty.One of our friends pointed out that our choir nametags make him think of a CVS receipt. Now I can’t unsee it. And Aiden had his turn with the teeny baby…Clashing mask problemsBill’s boys. This group makes my heart swell. Never ever ever will I tire of hearing little ones read. Getting ready for Liam to have two teeth pulledI get to teach five sight singing classes online each Wednesday. No matter my mood, I’m always smiling after hanging with these people. Cute new Trailblazer spirit wearI love getting videos from one of my gorgeous nieces who lives in California. Dang, I want to hug her neck. Oldest boy Bell and youngest boy BellPlaying with our little friends againHey, Cap!Headed out for a weekly dateThese two. Cheesy and hard working. They worked over the course of several weeks for one of our lovely neighbors to fill this whole area in with stone. I see this couple almost every day I walk this trail. I’d put them close to eighty. Always holding hands, always chatting with each other with joyful smiles. I tear up every single time. Obviously I don’t know their story, but what a beautiful glimpse of a marriage to Jesus I get to see fully one day. None of these girls share my last name, but does that really mean they aren’t mine? No. No, it doesn’t. More baby snugglesWhen you tell snarky child she can’t bring her food into the living room…Taking this motley crew in the car with me to soccerHe can’t whistle in the normal way. But he watched a YouTube video to try to learn to whistle this way. It didn’t work. Finally a pic with my mamaI’m so proud of this pic because I’m talking to another friend and soccer mom AND I’m watching the field. It’s a rare picture to capture.Face paint on the armAccidentally twinning. Firstborn and baby.When you go to a dairy farm, you gotta wear pigtails.The crew learning about pigs, cows, and poopPiglets are pretty much the cutest thing everA newborn cow!Time with my girls jamming to PentatonixI don’t think I’m going to say anything hereObligatory weird picBeing manly in their pink and purpleAgain, she doesn’t share his last name, but does that mean she isn’t his? Nope!My girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them with all my heart. Can’t attest to the “like Mom” part, but she truly is beautiful.
Maybe I should have just titled this to be our spring update. We’re maybe possibly in the middle of transition right now, and we maybe possibly have little regularity in our lives, including family updates. We sold our house, are living in a rental home for four months, and building a home that should be complete at the end of the summer! Though transition has been real for sure, we’re actually in a pretty sweet restful season while we wait, and we didn’t realize how much we needed it.
I finished up the year teaching my preschoolers. I will seriously miss them more than I can say. What a sweet year with two littles who made me laugh hard every week and put me in awe of God and how he created little minds and hearts to delight in him! This was my absolute favorite pic from the year because it sums them up perfectly. Both being rascals during prayer and the best of friends. I love them deeply.Got a day out with my oldest. Ridiculous laughter and fun. Here we are racing at K1 Speed. Or was this when we robbed that casino?At Comedy Sports with our super candid reactions to the show…Visited some of our dearest friends during their church gathering.A yard sale we had to prep for moving.My mom’s choir concert.First step for our new home–digging the basement!Twin boy and girl born to our friends!!!Pizza out as a famPi Day!!!Girl/Boy Weekend–Girls mining for gemsGirls crawling through a “cave”Hot chocolate!Boys eatin’ it upGirls can make campfires, too!My sons are super serious.See, super serious.Girls on a train!Boys at a science museum.Love cooking helpers. And yes, that amount of butter.Retrieving a tennis ball stuck in the fence.Delivering cookies to neighbors to say goodbye. Sniff.Our temporary home! We call it our vacation home.Moving truck buddies.Lots of helpers. All sizes worked hard.The library by our “vacation home” is awesome!I love movie laughter!Great little cooking helper.Volunteering at the Gospel Coalition Conference with my love and one of my besties.Clapping gamesSpoon battles to knock off fruit prepares them for real life…Lots of bike rides at our vacay home!Tabletop Curling.Helping Victoria with her Bible study.Chicago vacation!!!The progression of losing to Mom.Riding the L!Willis (Sears) TowerLoved this sweet man I got to sit next to on the L. I could have talked to him all day. People have the greatest stories.AquariumShe wanted Daddy to buy these for me on vacation.The BeanWhat is this??? We just saw it out at a park. Seemed too big to be a mouse?Our friends told us we had to get Garrett’s popcorn in Chicago. Oh my goodness it did not disappoint!Rare all family pic someone volunteered to take of us!Frank Lloyd Wright’s HomeThese are our daughters’ absolutely favorite Christian artists, the Gray Havens. We got to see them in concert, and it was amazing!!!Ariana started crying when she met Licia. She was amazing with our girls, hugged them and let them talk to her as long as they wanted. It was so sweet!Get it? The Gray Havens hat? Cause it says “Havens” and it’s gray…Miriam’s tenth birthday! Um, I just realized Malcolm and Liam also had a birthday but I don’t have any photo evidence!Our friends were leads in Peter Pan!Egg hunt!Dad has no mercy when hiding eggs. It sometimes takes a group effort.Spring cinnamon roll bunnies.Dying eggsHave I ever mentioned I have the cutest mother?? She’s the best, and I dare you to argue, cause here she is learning a clapping rhyme. I love her!These three baked and decorated a cake 100% by themselves!!! They did amazing work!Another friend had a baby! My heart has had a happy spring.Zoo day!!!Homeschool convention time in Cincinnati. This beauty filled my heart. Talking on adoption and then letting me continue talking to her in her booth afterward. And her history curriculum is fantastic!!!Our friend turned five, so we got to celebrate with her in style.Sherlock BonesPreschool while getting to visit with one of our dear friends.Bill getting his baby time in, too.Why are my kids huge?This friend who is more dear to me than I can type here without ruining the laptop with tears has taken our family’s pic on our front porch every year since she’s lived directly across the street from me. The man who bought our house let us come back for one more pic. When we got our phone back, we found this gem she left for us! Lol!!!Officially said goodbye to this house that is full of sweet, hard, and fun memories. It was the hardest move I’ve had. Excited for the next chapter, but this place taught me to love in ways I never thought possible. I think I grew thirty years older here.Don’t snap, don’t snap, don’t snap!StyleWhen your fourteen year old knows you’re taking his picture.Never too young for coffeeThis pic makes my heart sing every time I see it! This young woman and her sister babysat our kids for two years, their mom is one of my closest friends, and their whole family is delightful in every way. We got to attend her graduation party, and the love between these two radiates here.Bill, Liam, and I got to see Frank Reich (head coach of the Colts) speak during an Indianapolis Theological Seminary symposium. He was fantastic!!! Faith-filled, solid believer who is a stinkin’ amazing coach. He used to be president Reformed Theological Seminary and a pastor!Creek stomping!Never too many on a slideThe bones at Hundred AcresTwinning with my oldest girlie.Hiking, hiking, hiking.When Liam and Miriam think there’s an opportunity for fun, they take it. This tractor was randomly in a field on a hike, and they climbed in it looking for keys… Don’t know what would have happened if they found them.The nineties pose never gets old.Snuggles with a sickie on Mother’s DayOur house is coming along!!!CreationsLiam volunteering at the Children’s Museum as a teen apprentice. Totally candid fighting…More creations. She’s so gorgeous.Last day of preschool with two of my favorite littles on the planet.Children’s Museum fun.An end of an era. Liam was the first Explorer (after school program) to walk through the Children’s Museum’s doors when the program was started 5 1/2 years ago. Because of our move, this is our final year to be part of this fantastic group with its amazing leaders and friends. We love them.When the baby girl shares a bathroom with only boys.Our sixteenth wedding anniversary!!! We celebrated with a trip to Colorado.Indiana farmland.Gorgeous and unique plants in a botanical garden in Denver. We were surrounded by mountains in our cabin!Our backyard.So many amazing animals!Well that was a close one.Truly the Rocky MountainsCataract FallsWhile we were away, this queen watched all ten kiddos for four whole days!!!Crafting with Nana.Synchronized swimming teddy grahams.The kids made us gifts and a scavenger hunt to find them and planned a party to welcome us home!Exercising with Bill. Work it, Esther!Dairy Queen with Bill while I spent the day with my mama!Mom and I spent the day at Garfield Park and Newfield. How sweet that my BFF is my mother!
The Bell Family 