"MOM" Tattoo

Easter

I started my last post with Christmas pictures, so naturally, this one is starting with Easter. 

Many happy gatherings with family to celebrate the risen Savior!

I'm getting to the point where I have too many kids to get pictures of them all during the egg hunt, so we agreed to one good picture after instead. "Good" is relative. 

Macklin turns ONE

The past year has robbed us of all sense of time, but the calendar insisted that Macklin was turning one not matter how much we argued with it. 

We celebrate every birthday in this house, but for some reason, that first birthday is something special. It's the sweetest and the most precious and I can't help but make it big. 

And, as always, assume that every cake you see pictured is done by the one and only Ashton Rose. 

He didn't know what to think about everyone singing. 

He was fairly timid about the cake, but did enjoy smushing the frosting in his fingers 

In true cake smash form, frosting gets smeared in the hair. 

Happy birthday, Macklin. You are one of our dearest treasures.

Trevin turns NINE

This kid continues to age me in more ways than one, but after getting his party cancelled last year due to Covid, we went all out for a very entertaining nine-year-old.

Trevin stole his brother's "1" candle and added it to his cake. 

<Insert typical 9-year-old boy jokes about turning 91>

We had a small cake and some presents for Trevin at Macklin's party with family. (With birthdays only 8 days apart, a shared party was bound to happen...) 

Trevin didn't mind sharing a party because he knew what was coming for him... 

This very quiet table of gentle and polite boys. I'm just kidding. There were so many noises and smells and nerf darts and giggles. 

This was Trevin's first friend birthday party (since his was cancelled last year) and when we were planning the party, all he wanted to do was have a couple friends over and go bullfrog hunting. At that time we thought there was a season for bullfrogs and it wasn't in April. (We've since found out that we are in an area of Nebraska that allows year-round bullfrog hunting. Now we know.) Trevin was devastated when we told him it wasn't possible to do it for his birthday, so James generously offered to let him invite a bunch of friends that could stay the night and that they could camp outside in the tent. Trev's excitement quickly returned and he counted down the hours until his party for weeks. 

It was supposed to be a camping party, but it started raining a couple hours before the party and didn't want to let up. 

So basement camping it was. A few opted to sleep on the couch instead of cramming in the tent with a bunch of stinky feet. Wise. 

We roasted hotdogs and smores over the fireplace. We played a couple games and James read campfire stories. But mostly, all one million seven hundred thousand boys ran around with nerf guns and opened fire on any innocent warm body they came across. I continue to find nerf darts in all the nooks and crannies of this house for all of eternity.

We wrapped up the celebration with birthday pancakes and a bunch of happy, tired boys. What a special birthday it was for Trevin Huenefeld thanks to some of the best buddies in the world. 

School:

We worked our tails off to wrap up school by April 30th. I still can't get my mind around the fact that we not only started homeschooling, but that we completed an entire year and everyone is better off now than when we started. A true miracle. We've learned so much this year, and not just our multiplication tables (we all learned/relearned those!) but more importantly, we've learned how to make schooling at home work for us. 

Some of my favorite school days were the ones spent on the deck. Everything seems so much more cheerful and exciting when we're in the sun, listening to the birds chirp, watching the trees wave in the wind, and kicking the cats underneath the table. That's when everything feels right in the world. 

This year has been such a journey, but honestly it was a lot harder than I realized and at the same time WAY easier than I ever imagined. Next year will be a new challenge when Myla starts Kindergarten and her curriculum amps up a little more. Teaching two children simultaneously and keeping the Mack-Monster out of their hair will be my greatest hurdle yet. 

Oh, maybe now's the time to say, we've decided to homeschool again next year. {Shockwaves} Print it in the papers, whisper about it at the coffee shop (just not the Maker's because I've got ears there) shout it from the rooftops, or just shrug and move on. Don't you worry, there's one person that thinks we're COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY INSANE. And that person is me. So you're in good company. 

To celebrate our last day of school we went out for lunch and made the rounds at the park. I've really started to love this flexible, spontaneous, togetherness life. 

This buddy is loving the park lately. He didn't graduate from 3rd grade or preschool like his brother and sister.. but he did graduate from babyhood and is now in full toddler mode. 

Trevin and Myla both finished up their Quest (our Wednesday night church program) books. So thankful that we were able to add that into our curriculum this year and proud of them for their hard work. 

Myla finally got her big desk so that a certain someone can't reach her papers. She can already be found sitting at her desk most days "working on things" even though it is summer break. 

Speaking of summer break. LET'S GOOOOO. 

Ozarks

We'd been planning a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks with our friends for months. James spent some time getting the boat ready and we hit the road. 

We had bought the kids kayaks for their birthdays because they've loved using kayaks any chance they'd gotten. Plus James and I are big kayak fans, so of course we had to get a kayak rack for the Tahoe. We were all excited to take them with to the lake and share them with friends. 

Things were still wet at home so we decided to take off a day early. The plan was to stop in Kansas City and do something special for Myla's birthday. Her birthday fell on Sunday, the day we'd be driving back home, so we wanted to take the time to do something special for her while we had the chance. 

The first stop was the infamous Fritz's restaurant. You order your food by the phone in your booth and a train delivers your meal. It's darling and the kids were so entertained just watching the trains go around and trying to guess which booth it was going to drop at. 

The next stop was the Lego Discovery Center. The kids had fun and it was really cool to see the larger exhibits... but overall it was kind of a letdown. My advice- don't forget the free kids pass that comes in the Lego magazines and don't go during Covid... Both of those things made it kind of lame for us. 

Some of the exhibits weren't even in use because of Covid, and instead of getting to use the specialty pieces to create at each station, you were given a tote of hodgepodge legos for your entire experience. But overall, it was fine and a nice change of scenery from hours spent in the car that day.

After KC, we changed course and set out for Columbia, MO to visit a dear high school friend of mine. They were gracious enough to host us for supper and an evening of hilarious fun. I don't know two people that would work harder to entertain our kids than these two. The kids still talk about the 10 lbs of chocolate, corn hole, milk jug soccer, and lava rug. 

So thankful for their friendship.

The next morning we had Chick-Fil-A breakfast picnic in the boat since the dining room was closed, and then we trekked south to meet up with our group. 

I call these people friends, but they're actually all family to us. My sister and brother-in-law, three of my cousins (and their families), and James's cousin (and his family) all joined us for a long weekend at the lake. 

We stayed at this amazing house, with tons of space and an insanely massive dock. We brought three boats and there was plenty of room. Did we NEED three boats for 12 adults? No. But did we WANT three boats? Yes. It helps that three couples own boats, so no one had to worry about renting. 

Snagged some of these photos from other people, but it truly was such a beautiful place. 

It felt like the trip happened in increments. Some of the time it was hot and sunny. Other times it was cold and rainy. So the weekend was split up into chunks of different activities. 

The rainy time was spent inside playing Trevin's Nintendo Switch. It was entertaining for all ages. 

Everyone also enjoyed the pool table in the basement. The kids started chalking themselves on the forehead with the pool chalk. See Myla's face in the photo below. 

A lot of time was spent in the kayaks. 

And fishing.

It wasn't incredibly successful fishing, but they managed to bring in a few.

The lily pad was a hit. 

The water was cold, but the kids (and the kids at heart) didn't seem to mind!

There were lots of boat rides in and out. 

But some of the best memories were when everyone was gathered on the dock. 

Macklin did about as well as I could have hoped. He hated his lifejacket, which we made him wear every time we went outside. He did love the boat ride, though. He toddled around the house for much of the weekend, trying to get into the trash or escape out the door whenever anyone went out. 

There was, of course, loads of food consumed. We took turns for meals and it ended up working out really well. 

My mind is forever thinking of famous people's names that I could have used when we played the Betty Davis game. I'll be more prepared next time. 

We're really fun people.

We celebrated Taylor's 30th and Myla's 5th birthday while on our trip. Two really cool girls - they were easy to celebrate!

James took Myla out on a special birthday boat ride, just the two of them. She got to steer the boat and have Dad all to herself. She was beaming when they returned. She spent most of her weekend playing with all of her friends. She was always running through the house onto the next mission of play. A lot of giggles and a lot of chalk forehead. 

I really barely saw Trevin the entire weekend because he's entered that next phase of independency. He went out and fished when he wanted to fish, he came in and ate when he wanted to eat, he ran off and played when he wanted to play, and he got ready and went to bed when it was time for him to go to bed. I remember getting in the car to come home and I turned around and looked at him and said, "How was your weekend at the lake, T?" We laughed and I was rocketed back to when he was Macklin's age and required SO much attention and it hit me - he's grown up. We did manage to sneak in a game of Clue, and slept in the same bunk one night because of last minute bed changes. Really special memories. 

We were so thankful to get back to the Ozarks. The last time we went, we found out we were pregnant with Auden. Everything looked a lot different and felt a lot different, but there was a familiarity being among that water. It felt comforting to be back at the place where we once experienced so much joy, joy for Auden, but those joyous moments hold a heavy cloud over them. "If we only knew... if we only knew..." Even so, my heart was quieted as I had flashback after flashback of the lake trip almost exactly two years ago. 

I know this is only the beginning of our love story with the Lake of the Ozarks. 

Myla turns FIVE

Myla spent her birthday in the car, coming home from the lake. I did surprise her with a couple special presents to open up on the drive which helped make it special.

A couple days after returning from Missouri, we threw a big kitty party for a very sweet 5-year-old!

We kept practicing our "k" sound because she usually replaces the "k" sound with "t" by habit. When she was inviting people to her "kitty" party... it gave off a very different vibe. 

I didn't do these cupcakes either, okay? Ashton does them allllllllll because she's amazing and impressive. 

Myla loved all of her gifts. (I think someone could have gotten her a rock from the driveway and she would have kept it forever and thought it was the most special thing ever.) But she was especially excited for a digital camera. 

Good thing Uncle Joey knows a lot about tiny pink cameras.

Myla took selfies with everyone from the party and it was the most Myla thing ever. 

It's the gift that keeps on giving when I find all of the incredible images she captures. 

We love you so, Myla girl. You are the brightest light and the definition of darling. Never stop taking selfies like these. 

Barbie House

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen the Barbie Dream house that we custom built for Myla's birthday. It was excessive, but incredibly fun. I made a post with the details because it needed its own space. You can see the process here, but for now, I'll give you a peek at the project.

Dad's Retirement

My dad retired in February and we threw a big bash to celebrate him on his birthday in May. 

There was never a question as to whether my parents have more friends than me or not... They for sure do. But if ever there was any doubt, this party of their closest friends and family sealed the deal. 200+ people came out to celebrate with us. 

James grabbed a couple of guys and they carried my dad's recliner over to the party. My dad is well known for his love affair with his recliner. My family even uses terms like "berdonability" when judging the reclining potential of chair. He's impacted the world.

Happy retirement, Dad. We love you.

Memorial Day

We continued our Memorial Day tradition of going to the peony garden in the morning before the service at the cemetery. This year we snagged Ashton and picked a bucket full of peonies.

It was one of the prettiest harvests I've seen yet.

Macklin mostly just carried around a dandelion the whole time.

Two of the things I love the most - my kids and peonies. 

See you next year, beauties.

The flowers.

Not the kids. They're with me all of the time. Every of the time. 

VBS

We had a great time at Mystery Island VBS last week! 

Myla's favorite part was the crafts and the obstacle course they did at games one day.

Trevin's favorite part was the skits.

Macklin wasn't sure of the nursery, but he warmed up and ended up having a really good time, as you can see.

Trevin was one of the lucky winners that got to spray water at the drama cast, director, and pastor since the kids surpassed their goal and raised enough money for 8,000 meals for Children's Hunger Fund. 

I was in charge of pictures again this year and enjoyed getting to bounce around and see all the fun that was happening at VBS. I will continue to stand by my statement that taking pictures is the best gig ever at VBS. 

Other Highlights

Our kittens are growing fast. We've actually lost one of our adult cats and two kittens. So that means we're down to three kittens and one mama cat.

I realize that constantly updating you on our cat population is ridiculous and you're not interested, but it's not for you. It's for ... well ... I don't really know who, but maybe it'll matter some day to know that we had 4 cats in June of 2021. Crucial.

These pictures are reminding me that we did have some nice days this spring!

Our tree bloomed so beautifully this year! I stood underneath it as much as I could to take it in while it lasted. We even had a fish funeral amidst the petals from the tree. It was actually beautiful. Way too beautiful for a fish funeral.

So much play time outside. The kids are at really fun ages right now and I think every sweet moment is my new favorite.

The strawberry patch is flexing this year.

We lost our trampoline again. <facepalm> We thought we had it safely tucked in the trees and that we'd never have to repair it again. Nope. 

Trevin did enjoy the trampoline slide that nature created for us. It is now tied to a pole and chained down with cinder blocks. We are those people now.

Cutie sibling friends.

One of the most exciting things:

James built a baby gate for our deck! I've probably used it every single day for the past two months. Life changing. Now I have a perfect, huge outdoor playpen for my little monkey boy.

We've had plenty of time inside, too.

The big kids love climbing into Macklin's crib with him after his nap. 

Have multiple kids so that the oldest child will read to the middle child and then the baby will also read to the middle child.

Baby friends are the most adorable friends.

Trevin invented a game that he and Myla spent hours playing. It was included ships, bases, dice, and masking tape on the floor. I played him a couple times and it was mostly logical. I commended him.

They also discovered that they could push the furniture together and create a sort of bed couch which they called the "soft play center". For many days, my living room was consumed by soft play center. 

I finally told James is was time to lose some hair. (Not in a balding sort of way, but in a way where I can actually breath when he kisses me. I got very "overwhelmed" by it all.) He trimmed the hair and the beard for me, but as everyone with eyes can tell, it grows back in one millisecond. 

Oh yeah, and we got to watch these tornadoes form. Reckless Nebraskans anyhow. 

Mother's Day was awesome this year for multiple reasons.

1. I've got amazing kids that I love dearly

2. They took me out for sushi

3. I got to see my sons sword fight with chopsticks

4. Trevin told me that he'll probably get a "mom" tattoo someday.

BEST PRESENT EVER.

Trevin

• Turned 9 and finished 3rd grade

• He has spent so many hours at the shop/on the farm working with James. He will probably make more money than me this summer.

• He has a new guitar teacher that is closer. (Yay for a shorter drive every week!) He's still trucking right along in his book and has made incredible improvements in just one year. I can't wait until all of my hard work pays off and I can have him play request hour any time I want. *Only mostly kidding*

• Favorite hobbies as of late include anything Nerf gun, laser tag, or Dude Perfect. All of that on repeat.

• We tracked his reading this year for school and he read 40 chapter books from August - May. One of them was The Hobbit. He read it in a week. ONE WEEK. He just kept picking it up every chance he got. Not all 40 books were near the length or depth of The Hobbit, that one was an exception. I'm so proud of him. He's worked really hard this year and has had to face some drastic changes, but he's persevered and it's been so fun to watch him grow.

Myla

• Turned 5 and finished preschool/pre-k

• She's the sweetest girly-girl, while simultaneously putting toads in her Uncle Joey's pocket.

• She is always trying to keep up with big brother and keep out her little brother (legos, Barbie accessories and baby brother don't mix). 

• Every summer I tell her that she "looks like summer" and that has been true again this year. The wispy curls, the giggle, the sun-kissed skin, the dirt on her face, legs, hands, etc.. She truly embodies summer.

• You may have noticed in the VBS pictures that she got a hair cut! I announced one day that it was time for cuts (mostly for Trevin), and she jumped up and said she wanted her shoulder-length. I went with it and it turned out really cute. Perfect for summer. I later found out that her friend from church was also cutting her hair shoulder-length that week, so they showed up to church as twins. 

Macklin

{12 Months}

• He started taking his first steps on March 30th, just a week before his birthday. By his birthday he was taking several steps and then he quickly took off after that. He still has that perfect baby toddle right now, and I don't want that to go away. 

• This boy has always had a love for his bottle, so it was a hard transition for him out of regular bottles during the day. He's been hot and cold in regards to food. He either loves it or hates it, and it changes from week to week what stays in and what comes out. He's still getting a bottle in the morning and right before bed at night. He whines for his "ba ba" in the most pathetic way. It's truly a dramatic love story, one that is coming to a sad close, and I am most certainly going to come out as the villain in the end. 

• I caught him hiding in the pantry one day chomping on some graham crackers. (I legit thought he opened the package by himself and about died of shock, but turns out Trevin had opened the package the day before and thrown it back in the box.) 

• Mack also loves to prop his feet up while he eats. Lounge life. And around his birthday he started fake eating things, pretending to take a bite and then laughing. 

Pink and purple sippy cups when you have a big sis. He's always super proud of his cup towers.

• Macklin is up to 10 teeth, including two molars now. Another molar is working its way soon.

• One hilarious thing that Macklin has started doing is stashing snacks in his carseat cupholder every time he has a chance. Then, almost without fail, when we put him into his carseat the next time, he checks for snacks in the cupholder and has the most sweet smile of delight when he finds one. It might be one of my favorite things he does right now. 

• He loves playing with the kitties on the deck. Sometimes he does a high-pitched kitty voice when he sees them. He follows them around with his arms stretched out as his hands beckon the cats to let him hold them. It never works. He has recently started "petting" them, and is surprisingly fairly gentle so far. His favorite thing to do is to crawl under the deck furniture with them. He usually ends up stuck. 

• He loves time outside playing in the dirt, locked on the deck, or splashing in the water. He's notorious for hiding things in the grate on the deck. It took us a week to find one of Trevin's sandals which we discovered that Macklin had stashed through the grate. Hang onto your wallet and keys, folks. 

• My heart explodes every day. Look at him. 

• If he has a choice, he's outside. If he's outside, he finds the water. 

• This one is always finding mischief. Usually in the pantry, cupboards, trash, or toilet. Yikes. 

• He also started jumping last week and it's hilarious. He throws his arms up and his heels just barely leave the ground... his toes definitely do not. 

• He blows kisses now, which is adorable. He only gives real kisses to me when James is leaving for work. Usually he goes running to James before he gets out the door and is desperate to go with. James will always pick him up and then give me a kiss goodbye, which Macklin mimics because he thinks he gets to leave, too. It's actually terribly sad when I have to take him from James and Mack realizes he's stuck at home with me again. But James has been coming and picking up Mack at the end of the day for the "field checks" and it's Macklin's favorite time of the day. He loves 4-wheeler and tractor rides and I haven't pushed it yet for how long he can last, but we're going to test it out this summer. 

• He's sleeping 11 hours at night fairly regularly. He's still taking two naps a day, which I'm hoping we can hold onto for as long as possible. Morning naps are crucial for homeschooling. It'll be a challenging adjustment when he drops that nap.

• He has so many new words. Some stick and some phase in and out. He's also using the "more" sign and waving goodbye. New words he's used include, ba ba, dada, choo choo, ball, bird, bye bye, T, My, and papa. This week he started making the light saber sound effect when he picks it up. It's amazing. 

• Unfortunately, this guy had his first breath-holding spell last week. For anyone that doesn't know, Myla had severe spells that resulted in a couple seizures for her. It was really scary, but thankfully, so far, Macklin just passes out. Which is what is supposed to happen. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. So we're keeping a close eye on him when he gets worked up. I was really hoping that this kind of alarm would stay in our past, but apparently not. 

Auden

It's hard to believe that June 6th marked 2 years since my surgery to remove my tube and our tiny little Auden. I felt a lot of anxiety and emotion leading up to the day, but I felt calm when I woke up that morning, calm or numb, I suppose. I didn't let myself give in to the waves and just felt the urge to push through the day. I'm hoping future years are different, they say time heals, right? 

I've been processing different things this past year. The first year I spent so much time focusing on the loss of the baby, but this year the ectopic pregnancy and the danger and fear that went with that has taken up a lot more space in my mind. It's hard to explain and I'm still struggling to find words for it, but it's felt like a newly found weight. There's so many things I wish to say here, but the longer I sit and stare at the screen, the harder it gets for me. It's been a sacred space that's been hard to talk about recently.

Our precious Auden baby...

...made way for our healthy Macklin baby.

So much of their little lives are intertwined and we're so thankful that they are a part of us.

Two years closer to eternity, growing on the farm...