2nd Bell Song from Jack

I was unable to upload 2 videos to my last post but wanted to also share the second song Jack played with the bell choir - Mallet Madness:

Thankful Thursday on Friday

My cup overflows with thankfulness:

• Thankful that we have such wonderful neighbors, the Flanegins, who volunteered to watch Catherine all day and Jonah half a day while I volunteered to help with International Tour Day at the boys' school - it's an amazing event put on by volunteers showcasing many different cultures. It was my privilege to be a part of it and that would not have been possible without Tresa watching my little ones.
• Thankful that my husband drove 8 hours from OK to be able to spend time with us for Mother's Day weekend - woohoo!
• Thankful that my sister offered to have all 4 children go sleep at her apartments so that Tom & I could have a fantastic date night for Mother's Day weekend - awesome dinner, great movie and quality alone time - fabulous!
• Thankful that Tom sold his CRV - one car family until we get to OK!
• Thankful for The Posse - awesome group of women and sweet prayer time Monday afternoon - love those gals!
• Thankful for Jack and the 5th grade bell ringers at AIES - what a talented group of kids and fabulous instruction from Mrs. Van Wie & Mrs. McReynolds - here's a little bit of their music:

• Thankful again for Tresa Flanegin and the Baby Shower she hosts every year for the Life Network Pregnancy Center downtown - it was a great success with MANY items donated to the center!
• Thankful for a sweet lady that I have only met twice in my life at the Life Network showers, but she is full of the Holy Spirit and a blessing to those who meet her - I loved visiting with her both times and learning of distant connections that we have we one another!
• Thankful for the little ways in which we can "catch" our children doing great things - need to keep reminding myself to catch them in the good moments and praise them rather than getting caught in a cycle of negativity and focusing on what they're doing wrong when my patience is running low!
• So many blessings from the Lord - I am thankful for His goodness!

Thankful Thursday/Visit with Old Friend

I have been very delinquent in articulating my thankfulness the last few weeks during sickness, Easter, visits from family & Tom leaving for OK. However, there have been so many things to be thankful for during this time. Here are a few:

• I am so very thankful that Christ died for my sins and yours - that He paid the price for all of us - He died & rose again so that we may live - I am thankful to live a Resurrection Life in a Good Friday world - Thank you, Lord for Your sacrifice and example


• I am thankful for family near and far & for getting to catch up with The Jochums for the first time in 4 years


• I am thankful for wonderful neighbors, The Flanegins, who hosted our family and Doc Sue and a couple of other families for Easter Dinner and an Easter Egg hunt


• I am thankful for the visit with Grandpa T & Grandma Rosemary

I am thankful for getting a brief visit with one of my best friends from High School, Andrea Condit who was flying through Colorado to visit her sister and was able to spare a little time to meet me at a park - here we are: I am thankful for such a fantastic husband who I adore. I love every minute we spend together whether laughing or crying, agreeing or disagreeing, quiet or loud. I am thankful for the phone calls now that we are apart while he is going through training for our upcoming assignment to Mildenhall, England.

I am thankful that while Tom is away, when there is more chaos than normal in the house, I can choose joy and choose to laugh when the hot water runs out because kids took too long showers and there's no hot water for Catherine's bath & the microwave fan turns on and doesn't shut off, and Catherine cries because she wants a bath & the water's too cold - in the midst of chaos, I can laugh & nevermind about the little things!

I am thankful for my precious children. They are beautiful and wonderful and even when they're causing chaos, I still love them! Here's a couple of pictures of Catherine & Jonah being silly and cute:

I am thankful that my sister is feeling better and brought dinner from KFC tonight so that while selling my double stroller and preparing for the week ahead, I had one less thing to worry about tonight!

So many things to be thankful for! God is good, all the time!

Grandma Rosemary and Grandpa T Visit

The Torkelsons were driving down to visit from Montana but had to delay their trip 4 days because of the snowstorms. They finally arrived on Sunday, the 19th of April. We had beautiful weather while they were here - completely opposite of the snowstorm days, the weather warmed up to the 70s and was sunny - all of the snow melted! The boys had 2 days off from school for testing, so we were able to go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo & enjoy some parks. Here is the fun we had - at the zoo, the kids got to feed giraffes. Jack fed one; Jonah said he wanted to, but then decided he didn't want to; Adam said he definitely didn't want to; Catherine though it was great and would have fed the giraffes all day!

We ate lunch at the zoo - apparently they weren't ready for a big crowd as the eating place options went as follows:

"Can I have a sandwich?" "We are out!"

"Can I have a salad?" "We are out!"

"Can I have chicken & fries" "We are out!"

"Can I have cheesy bread?" "We are out!"

"Can I have pizza?" "We're out! Hold on, let me check...We have 10 left!"

"We'll have 2 pizzas, nachos, a hot dog, and a hamburger." At least they had those! After eating, the kids played at the little play area outside where we ate:

Another day we enjoyed the beautiful weather at a park:

We had a very fun visit with them and look forward to trying to see them in Montana in June!

April Snow Day

April 17 was a snow day for us here in CO. By the afternoon, the sun came out for a couple of hours so we took advantage by going out and playing in the snow before the blizzard started again. It was nice since Tom was leaving in 10 days, that we were able to have some fun family time. Here's the fun we had:

Gotta love springtime in CO!

Jochum Visit/Easter

Right before Easter we were finally able to connect with some dear family - Tom's aunt & cousins, The Jochums. Though the visit was brief, we had a wonderful time reconnecting with them and just hanging out playing games together. Catherine was sick, so she really wasn't herself during the visit, but at least they were able to meet her and see our boys. All of our kids have grown and changed so much since we were last together! Here's a few photos:

Here we all are - all of our family and the Jochums minus Jim as he had to work and couldn't make the trip with the rest of them:

It's amazing how much their kids have grown - Jenny's now a senior in high school! Here's a Jenny comparison from when she was the flower girl in our wedding until now:

Hopefully it will not be too long before we can see them again! They left on Saturday and Easter Sunday was the next day - Catherine was still getting over being sick and wasn't quite herself that day. We went to church and the boys sang. Then we went next door with Doc Sue to the Flanegins for a big meal and Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. We didn't get any pictures of the family in our Easter Clothes, but have this short video of the singing:

Thankful Thursday

Though I have been a bit behind in my thankful Thursday posts, I am still very thankful for so many things and will combine many of the last few weeks in this post:

• Thankful for the wonderful visit with the Thomas family
• Thankful for our church family and celebrating during a surprise baby shower for one of our church family friends expecting baby #3 - it was a true surprise and very fun!
• Thankful that Tom arrived home safely after driving to and from NM for training last week - he left when it was snowing and returned right before it started snowing again!
• Thankful that my sister came to watch the kids while Tom was gone so that I could hang out with Melanie and the Prayer Posse - an AWESOME group of women pictured here:
• Thankful for Easter coming up on Sunday - the incredible gift that God gave us through Jesus dying on the cross for you & me & the whole world - the example of sacrificial love that He gave all of us through the cross: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8. He loves us in spite of our failures & flaws - the gift is free, not "I'll love you if..." I am so very thankful for My Savior!