the homestretch

The homestretch….. that's where we are, presently, in the hitchcrew home. I have to say this year has been different and hard for me. I'm thankful the school year is coming to a close because I am completely limping to the finish line. Summer can't come quick enough for this tired Mama.

I haven't gotten many pictures of the kids just doing school this year…. simply because I haven't had my camera out. Things have been looking up for me, I can tell… because it's out again, and I'm so thankful. I still can't get into a rhythm with this blog but at least I'm throwing some more recent and up-to-date images of life on it!!

Like me, the kids also all have their creative outlets, and I strive to let them create. With all the media competing though, sometimes it's hard to get those juices flowing…. but they eventually do when we keep the on-line "noise" quiet. Ellie of course is still drawing her heart out. It was teacher appreciation week a couple of weeks back and she decided she wanted to draw her P.E. teacher a super-bowl pic, per his request. It was pretty darn cool!!

Drew has been quite taken still with Legos. He has built an unlikely relationship with my first cousin's son, Houston, who lives back east …. they saw each other last month in Augusta when Drew went with his dad to the Master's golf tournament. Houston is constantly inspiring him in these lego efforts! Lately, Drew has been custom painting his own characters.

All of the kids are still madly making rainbow loom bracelets, though I don't think I included any of those images in these pictures. I woke up the other morning and when I looked in the girl's room, all three younger kids were listening to the audio book Trumpet of the Swan while working on bracelets! It melted my heart:) Also, the pearler beads have recently made a come-back, thanks to a recent gift from our friends from San Diego who came to visit.

Abby has been quite taken with audio books lately since we recently discovered an app called "Overdrive." It's a pretty wonderful thing to be able to get audio books directly from our library to our devices here at home. She listened to the first two Harry Potter books in less than a week! They are all waiting anxiously for the third one to be available from the library.

We've had our last days of co-op and CBS. Our last piano lesson is tomorrow and then we have a recital Friday night. Ellie will finish driver's ed this week. She actually drove me home from church last Sunday. I can't fathom that. Drew has been asked to play in an all-star lacrosse game this Saturday… so I guess we'll have one more Saturday of games. Ellie has a few more weeks of school.

Summer…. come quickly!!

mother's day

We headed to Lynden this year after church on Mother's day. The morning started off very special, worshiping with our church family and watching Toby take communion for the first time. He recently talked to the elders and confessed his faith …. a very big step for a shy, little 9 year old boy. It has been one of my prayers this past year and how happy my heart was to see him partake for the first time, and even more so, to hear his understanding of what Christ has done for him. How thankful I am!

We wanted to go be with the Pastor's Mama, as we have been here three years and have yet to have the opportunity to spend Mother's day with her. Having two pastors in the family, makes getting together on Sundays and holidays a bit challenging. We took the plunge though because I really wanted to be in the country, and it looked like it was going to be a lovely, warm day. And it was!!! Perfect for back yard golf and a camp fire. Papa and Num Num gave Toby a necklace as a momento for the special day.

The whole day was just wonderful.

capturing life

 

I've been using my DSLR camera once again….. can you tell? For my birthday, I took another class through The Define School called Auto to Manual. I've known for the most part how to shoot manual, but there were some holes in my understanding. This class was so helpful. It tied up loose strings in my mind and actually helped me to understand my camera's settings better than I ever have before. My confidence has been boosted and my desire to capture real life has been renewed. 

Soooo, here ya go. I want to document my family's life because I forget VERY easily. I want to stay connected with my family in San Diego, in Georgia, and in Lynden and I want them to feel connected. Taking pictures is my creative outlet and my gift to my dear family… and I guess to myself. One day, I'll look back on all of these posts and remember. The images will bring me back to this time and remind me of God's faithfulness throughout the years. 

This past week, my kids found their baby books. As they were looking through, Whitney picked up her's and guess what? It was for the most past blank. She mentioned to me that the other kids had some other albums as well, but her's was empty. When I told her that all of her pictures were on the computer, she actually had no idea. Talk about making a Mama's heart SAD!! We quickly went over to the computer and I began to show her all the pictures I had taken of her. We began choosing pictures to have printed out at Costco to fill her baby books. It's been so cute watching her decide which ones she wants as she looks back on her short life. I'm so very thankful to have these memories for her. 

We will have quite the summer project working on her albums!! 

abby's garden

Spring has arrived here in the Northwest. Whenever I'm in a new place (or at least this was true in San Diego) it takes me a number of years to really appreciate the different seasons…. even notice them! This fourth spring here in Washington, the flowering trees of the Northwest have completely won my affection. There are so many of them and they are all so BEAUTIFUL!! 

Because of the very cool springs, gardening has been a bit more of a challenge for me here. I'm never ready to get out and work in my wet, cold backyard when your suppose to. It doesn't get much sun in the winter, and because of that it in early spring it still always seems so dark. I guess you could say I'm not a true gardener at heart, willing rain or shine to get dirty with the ground. The past two springs, my kids have taken over, not willing to let the planting tradition which I started in San Diego die. Last year, Ellie and Abby worked and got a little garden planted for me on Mother's day!

This year… Abby took it upon herself to work the ground since Ellie is so consumed with her high school work load and driver's ed these days. Last week we had some incredible WARM days, I mean like almost up to 80!! (Pretty unheard of here in the spring!!) Abby got out back and proved that she was serious about planting by weeding and getting the garden bed ready. A few days later, the Pastor took her to get some plants, which she affectionately called her babies. How I loved watching her take ownership of this project, making her own decisions about what she wanted and where she wanted to plant the little beauties. 

She planted a number of pretty flowers, some bush peas, trailing beans and a bell pepper plant. I purchased the basil plant from Trader Jo's, and think I just need to purchase another one or two. There is nothing more rewarding to me than making a meal from scratch and running out to my back yard for fresh-grown herbs. Like I said…. I don't think I'm a garden at heart, but perhaps rather a"romantic gardener." The notion of growing my own food appeals to me more than the actual work. ha. 

Thank you Abby for YOUR hard work, for adding beauty to our back yard, and joy to your Mama's heart!!