Friends

I love getting to visit with friends. One of my very best friends from the Air Force Academy, Laura, was in town camping with her family and I was able to go visit her and let all of our kids play at the playground. It was wonderful to get to see her again and catch up on our lives. We talked about the different personalities of our kids and how life is going now, how did we get to be as old as we are now, reminisced about the old days and enjoyed each other's company. Of course, the visit was too short, but sweet and hopefully it won't be 4 or more years before we get to catch up again! She did say she'll try to make it to England - woohoo! Thanks for the visit and memories, Laura!

Montana Trip

I drove the kids up to Montana for a visit - I took 2 days as it's around 14 hours from our house to theirs. The trip up went pretty well - actually only stopped for lunch and one snack break, then made it to Sheridan, WY for the night. The next day we made it to Ulm, MT & were very excited to see Grandpa T & Grandma Rosemary! There were minor things on the road trip, like Jonah almost getting stuck in his seat belt like Jack did on the drive out to CO, and LOTS of talking from Catherine, getting a little lost in construction zones, but not bad at all. We had wonderful weather while in Montana & were able to do many outdoor activities.

We were able to meet the ladies that work with Rosemary - here's a shout out to her office that reads the blog - thanks again for your hospitality & the flashlights & pink "hair crown" as Catherine calls it!

Tom was able to fly up from OK for 2 days to join us for a camping trip to the Dearborn River. Tom's plane landed at 12:30am Friday morning and we left around 9:45am to drive out there. Here are some pictures from the camping trip - First, Catherine loved to throw rocks into the water just like her brothers - here she is with Grandma Rosemary as they watch the rock splash in:

Jack's favorite camping activity was tending the fire. This is where you could find him when he wasn't throwing rocks in the water. He fell in the creek while throwing rocks and got pretty wet!
Here's the gang relaxing by the fire:

Here's everyone gathered around the table while Grandpa T made pancakes & bacon for everyone - a very yummy breakfast - "These are the best pancakes I've ever had!" Adam said and he ate at least half of the bacon that was cooked!

Here's Catherine taking five while we packed everything up the second day. She stayed up pretty late in the tent with the boys - they were asleep or wanted to be asleep, but she was the one who kept talking!

The night that we returned, it was the 4th of July - we all went to eat pizza and met Tom's sister Pam & Uncle Jim there - we ordered way too much food, but had fun visiting!
Tom left early the next morning and the kids threw more rocks in the river. Also, the boys LOVED riding on the 4-wheeler with Grandpa!

The kids also were able to do some craft projects that Grandma Rosemary had bought, we watched Wall-E one night, and went on a terrific boat ride the day before we left. It was a fun trip! The ride back was not as easy as the ride to MT - there was car sickness, many bathroom stops, more arguing from the kids, and even MORE talking from Catherine. I was very thankful to arrive back at our "yellow house" in CO once again! Now the big push to get everything ready for our move! Thanks to Grandpa T & Grandma Rosemary for the great visit and all of the hard work that was involved in housing our large, energetic family!

Kids Playing

I've been trying to enjoy the summer with the boys and play some during all of the craziness. In a rare mood one day, I decided that they could all play with playdough & they had a ball - it's been a LONG time since I've gotten the playdough out - it always seems so messy and not worth the hassle for me. But, I decided to relax and let them play and they had a lot of fun - see:

Here's a couple of candids from Catherine, who loves the camera. I don't think we have to worry about not having many pictures of our fourth child!

Sleepover

We had 4 of our kid-friends come spend the night on Saturday. The four Geertsema children came over and all 8 kids played, ate pizza, watched a movie, played some more, slept in beds and sleeping bags (eventually), ate bagels and cereal together and then we all headed to church for an encore presentation to the congregation of some VBS songs. Here are all 8 of the kids dressed in VBS shirts for church:

Here's the theme song from VBS and notice that Catherine once again joined in with some moves at the end:

Now, you are all finally caught up on the Torkelson family happenings! For the rest of this month, we hope to do more house organization/prep for our upcoming move and the kids and I will be driving up to Montana for the 4th of July to meet Tom's Dad, Rosemary, Pam, and other family to celebrate the 4th together, then Tom will return to OK for another 2 weeks before returning to CO for the pack-out. Crazy busy times!

Catch Up Post

I feel like the last month since I've posted has been a time warp! Anyway, here's the last month in a nutshell:

My parents came out to visit for two weeks and helped tremendously during a very busy time. There were many functions, a garage sale, parties, etc. and they helped us so much. Apparently we were so busy during the entire 2 weeks that none of us thought to take even a single picture - unbelievable! Anyway, we'll have to take more pictures when we travel to Maine to visit them and go to my 20-year reunion this summer before we fly to England!

School ended for the boys - many parties, activities & a continuation ceremony for Jack to celebrate the end of elementary school and the start of middle school next year - so weird to think that our oldest will be in 6th grade next year - wow! My parents and sister were able to join us for this occasion & he received a Presidential award for Academic Excellence. As an added bonus, the Air Force Academy graduation was the same day as Jack's celebration, so we had an excellent Thunderbirds show to watch when we were eating after the ceremony - very cool! Here he is after receiving his award:

My parents left on the 3rd of June, Tom & I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary on the 4th - he's in OK & I'm still in CO so we celebrated over the phone and by exchanging cards/goodies through the mail. On Friday, 5 June, I went out to eat with a bunch of wonderful ladies from our church family and my dear neighbor, Tresa Flanegin. We all had a wonderful time and several ladies came back to my house after to hang out. They all chipped in money to buy a beautiful bracelet & necklace for me - I will deeply miss each of these ladies when I leave, but we all agreed not to talk about the leaving part of our upcoming move so there were no tears shed yet as we all continue to live in a certain state of denial! Here's a few photos from that night:

Monday, 8 June, we started VBS week at our church - Crocodile Dock. I volunteered there and all of the kids went and had a blast! Anna Fish, our Children's Ministry Director, does an OUTSTANDING job putting on VBS and it was excellent from start to finish - games, crafts, snacks, stories, music. Even Catherine had a blast and learned some songs and movements! Here's a video of Catherine doing some of the moves to the songs (she loved to be with Jack during song time!):

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!