Happy Father’s Day!

We are grateful today for this wonderful guy! Aaron is a very involved father. He provides, presides, protects, listens, leads, and loves. He has his priorities in order. He loves and honors God and teaches our children by example to serve with everything he has. He is humble and compassionate and good to the core. Aaron plays with the children and listens to them tell about their day. He teaches them how to work and he lets them stay up way past bedtime to watch star wars for the 100th time.  He is mindful of and careful with teenage emotions. He is easy to love. He is a builder. He is fun. He is generous. He is strong, obedient, and not self aggrandizing in any way. He is steady and not complicated or drama seeking. He takes his role as father very seriously, especially to our two newest children, who are still learning about family and fathers.  He is good and seeks good for our children. We love him and are thankful for him. 

Crafty Time: hot dog roasting sticks

Quincy had Cadence C over to play while her fanily packed their van for their summer road trip.  They joined Reese and painted the ends of our weenie roasting sticks. No more asking, “who’s hot dogs are these?”  Now, we have a woods, eggs and bacon, firebugs, a flowery meadow, and a campfire with marshmallows! They gave the sticks to Aaron for an early Father’s Day gift. 

Reese Goes Boating With the Beehives (and Quincy Does Not)

The Sugar Creek Beehives held a class boating party.  Reese was unfortunate to inherit my intense fear/dislike of boats and protested loudly about going. I lied to her face and told her how much fun I think boating is and encouraged her to go, and just ride in the boat. The girls promised not to pressure her into tubing. Quincy was very supportive and helped calm Reese’s fears as we drive her over to a sister Wright’s house. It was so wonderful to see Quincy listen to Reese’s fears and then hear her telling Reese not to worry, and confidently reassure her, and help her get excited about it. “Take lots of pictures. I’m so happy for you! If I could, I would come along and help you be brave.” 

 Her words of encouragement quickly turned into INTENSE jealousy when we pulled up to the house and Quincy found out two other 11 year olds were going boating. Being almost-twelve has been really rough this summer. There were not any girls who turned 12 the year between Reese and Quincy. The YW even skipped new beginnings last year. There are three who turn 12 this year, and Q is one of them. But her December birthday lands her in 5th grade and the other two in 6th, so the other two were allowed to go to Girls Camp as 11 year olds and Quincy go next year. She decided she would tolerate waiting until next year, until she found out she was the only one. The other girls have late summer birthdays, and hers is significantly later, in December, so she’ll just have to be ok with being odd one out for some things. She is in the same Sunday school class with two girls 2nd hour, but still in primary the 3rd hour and for weekly activities while they join the Young Women.   I think this challenge has been a good opportunity for Quincy to do some thought work and decide how she feels about things she cannot control. Right now, she chooses to feel like life is very unfair to her. She did enjoy staying up late and watching a movie with Aaron. 

This situation is also giving Reese opportunities to show kindness and empathy to her sister.  She also has a  December birthday and knows a bit about how Quincy feels.  I noticed she left a few notes for her when she went to camp. 

Reese felt brave and got on the tube with Finley, and then again with Cadence C. and Hannah H. I’m so glad she chose to have a good time. It was an evening of high emotions for these daughters of mine.  








When Q does turn 12 and gets to join the big girls, I think she and Reese will make many sweet memories together. 

Willardsons are Family Strong: Food Drive

As part of the upcoming Family Strong event, out fanily signed up to work a shift and help out with a food drive. The children stood near the entrance to Walmart neighborhood market and handed out small lists to patrons, encouraging them to donate items for snack packs. The snack pack program sends food home with children on the free lunch program every friday, so they have food to eat over the weekend. A typical snack pack might include 2 breakfast, 2 lunch, and two dinner items. The requirements are that the must be non-perishable, shelf stable, and that children must be able to do the preparation for the meals themselves, so instant oatmeal, easy mac, peanut butter crackers, fruit cups, and granola bars are great options. 

The people of Northwest Arkansas are so generous! There are two days scheduled for the food drive, and today’s donations collected enough to fill 500 snack packs! These will be assembled at the Family Strong event in August. 


We were the last shift, but donations kept coming in, so we stayed out there an extra 45 minutes,  and then loaded up the vans and helped sort and total up donations with the Binghams. I’m really grateful my children got to be part of this project, and witness how several small acts of generosity can total a huge charitable contribution. 3 hours of their time on a Saturday will help keep 500 kids from being hungry.  They also were reminded of how good it feels to give. Everything be who donated came out of the store with huge smiles on their faces. They were so happy to participate and thanked the kids for asking them to contribute. We are our best selves when we are helping others. 

Look at this room full of food. Each item represents one child of God loving another. 

 What a beautiful sight. 

Lake Day at Prairie Creek

We joined several families at prairie creek for “beach day” on the shore of Beaver Lake. I strapped the twins into life jackets and spent most of the time keeping them from drowning, but it was truly an enjoyable day.  Robin took all of the little ones out for rides with her on the kayak. My parents played honorary grandparents and passed out chips and waters and chased unleaded dogs away from the babies. Reese and Quincy played with the other teens, Corbin swam and kayaked all over with buddies, and Soren floated on a log and dug a big hole in the dirt sand. Sloane got very brave and decided she’s ready for swimming lessons.  Everyone enjoyed each other’s company and played with each other’s children, either in the water, on the sand, or up in the shade.  

Quincy and Corbin in the Pool: Swim Team

We spent the first 3 weeks of summer at swim team practice with the Bella Vista Stingrays. 

Crafty Time: paracord bracelets

Reese had Finley S over today and they made these cute bracelets. Love these girls and their creative creations.