Wallaces 2021

The Wallace Family came to visit us a few weeks ago and today I'm feeling a little reminiscent so I took a minute to find a few old photos.  When we left California almost 8 years ago this was our small group.  For all intents and purposes they were our family!  They were our neighbors and our friends.  They waited at the hospital for our babies to be born, they walked through my dads journey with cancer with us, they babysat our kids so we could go out or so that I could substitute teach, we went to church together, we did many holidays together, we celebrated first homes and babies and marriages and it really was a season of friendship unlike any other in my life.  I guess that is why it still feels impossible to replace and why it was so hard to leave and move to Oregon even when we knew for certain it was what was next for our family.

It feels like a lifetime ago that we hosted this.  It was one of the last events we hosted back in Glendora celebrating Paul and Glynn's engagement.  6 couples and 9 kids plus 1 on the way which felt like A LOT!

One of these days I would really love to get this whole group together again and if we did we'd have to take this picture again to show how much we've grown.  Each family has at least double the kids they had in this photo.  There are still 6 couples but now there are 26 kids between us and we are about to be located in 3 different states.

That said, the Wallace Family is about the only family we know brave enough to join our chaos for an extended length of time.  These friends have been like family to us for years, since long before we had literally a dozen kids to manage, and we always love having them and are so thankful for our time and memories together.

Trip #1 - April of 2014

We were living at the dairy the first time they came up to visit.

They were so little!!!

Cooper, Titus, Georgia, Sadie, and Wyatt

Trip #2 - May of 2015

Georgia and Wyatt

Titus and Georgia

Trip #3 - August 2017

Our crew is growing...

Titus, Cooper, Sadie and Wyatt

Joshua, Hazel, and Evie

Evie and Joshua

Trip #4  - June 2018
Somehow I missed posting pictures of this trip so I guess I'll post them now.  Same goats, same swings, same sweet friendships another year older.

Evie and Joshua

Hazel and Titus

Georgia and Sadie

Trip #5 - March 2019

I didn't post pictures of this trip either but this time I had an excuse as it was a quicker trip and the twins were due it felt like any day.  Life got truly crazy after this trip and I actually don't even remember a lot of it other than being big and pregnant, Joshua being at an age where dumping toys was super fun, and so many yummy macaroons.  Dave and Andrea ordered them mailed to our house as a fun pre-twins treat and they were suppose to arrive in time for us to all enjoy them together, but they ended up being just for our family.

Wyatt, Cooper, Titus, Hazel, Joshua, Evie, Sadie, Charlotte, and Georgia

Trip #6 - June 2021

It's been a couple of year since we've seen the Wallaces.  Between COVID and twins and life in general the days have just ticked by.   So we were really excited when they told us they were planning a trip to Oregon this summer.  12 kids in our house was bound to be an adventure but we embrace the challenge and were really excited to catch up, to introduce them to our girls, and to meet Elijah, their youngest and Cooper's birthday buddy.

 

We don't have a ton of sleeping space but we made it work.

The boys' room plus the couch worked for Dave, Andrea, Titus, Joshua, Charlotte, and Elijah

Sadie, the boys, and Georgia crashed Sadie's room.

Can't say enough how much I love watching these little friendships grow.

Aubrey, Charlotte, and Maddie

While the Wallaces were here we enjoyed lots of meals together.

We spent a morning picking blackberries and raspberries.

We also spent a morning walking across the street and exploring the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge.  It was warm but still a fun little outing.

We also went over to the dairy and swam a couple of times to beat the afternoon heat.

Sadie

Wyatt

Wyatt

Cooper

Cooper

Titus

A heat wave hit our area about the time the the Wallaces headed to Sun River and as we were waiting on our A.C. to be fixed it was pretty warm in the house.  So on our last night together we let the kids stay up late playing in the sprinklers while we waited for it to cool down and then when they left, right before it got REALLY hot the following day, we moved over to the dairy to escape our house for a few days.

Well another fun trip in the books.  More memories, lots of laughter, and lots of gratitude for these friends of ours.  As we left there were tears from one sweet boy in particular which was sad and also so very sweet.  I'm so glad they all have such a great time together.

Wrapping up the School Year

We made it!!!  Another school year in the books.  Only one short 4 day quarantine for a positive COVID case in Sadie's class but otherwise besides masks, and lots of extra rules the kids were all able to be in school all year and we are really thankful.  In fact, after spring break the kids were even able to mingle with the other kids in their own grade level a little more which was a huge blessing and we're hoping next year school will be back to normal.  I really did miss getting to be on campus, though I'm not sure with the twins how much I would have actually been able to do, and the kids definitely missed getting to see their friends in the other classes, but we made it and we're thankful!  

On the last day of school Grammy and I, along with Hazel, Evie, and the Twins made a quick trip to IKEA in Portland to get some cubbies for the boys' room, but while we drove I was able to join a ZOOM meeting for Wyatt's class and watch him get his award and Mrs. Lute sent me some video's of Sadie getting her awards which was really sweet of her.

Sadie

Math Award

Leadership Award

Blow Pop Award

Wyatt received the Patience Award for always being willing to give an idea to solve a problem and not being frustrated if people don't go along with his idea.  If they don't go along with his idea right away he just comes up with another. :)

Cooper received the Puzzle Award for always wanting to step up to any challenge.  One example of this was when his teacher accidentally gave him a spelling list that was WAY to hard.  He was the only one in the group who chose to keep the list anyway.   Also he was one of only about 4 students who mastered all of his multiplication facts as a 2nd grader.

I really love the way the kids' teachers get to know them and find the good in each of their unique personalities.  Such a blessing and encouragement to them and to me!

Yes it's buckled into it's own seat in the car...and no I cannot tell you how many times I've heard this song in the last 18 hours.

We stopped at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on the way to IKEA and apparently it was national doughnut day so we got A LOT of doughnuts.

We left the Twins with Grammy and took the kids to Red Robins for a celebratory dinner.  Thanks to COVID they tried to make us sit at 2 tables as apparently parties of more than 6 are not allowed but we were really thankful to the manager for looking the other way on this so that we could celebrate together.

And we ended the evening setting up the boys' cubes, getting all their toys off the floor, and watching a movie in their FINALLY clean room!!!!!