Family Strong 2018

The Church partnered with several other local churches and organizations for Family Strong, this year. The children packed snack packs and jumped in jump houses, pet live goats, had lunch, and ran around with friends playing games and doing activities at the booths. I listened to two of the classes offered by Dr Gary Oliver and Dr Aaron Shaw. Super informative and fun to see how this has really grown to be a community event.  Great work to everyone involved, past and present! Loved it for my family and what events like this can do to help children and families in NWA. 

It’s a Gas Mask, Mom.

Reese offered to change one of the twins’ diapers while I was curling my hair, one afternoon. Here is her clever solution for a very stinky problem 

Pediatric, Infant and Adult CPR/First Aid/AED Recertification

Our First Aid/CPR/AED certification is about to expire mid September, so Aaron and I registered for recertification and spent many hours doing the online simulations in preparation for the classroom training. I feel even more confident about the process and with using an AED than I did when we certified 2 years ago. Local friends, if you lose consciousness and stop breathing, I will try help you! You’re welcome. Haha

Really though, the online training is very good, and I feel genuinely capable of helping someone in an emergency situation.  And now we have almost everything done to renew our fostering license. We have most of our “continued training” hours complete, and after the Area Foster Parent Conference at the end of September, we will begin our third year as an open foster home.  

Georgia and the Girls

The Georgia O’Keefe Exhibit is about to leave Crystal Bridges and I still had not been! I had 4 tickets (because Kasey is the best wife ever) and invited some ladies to join little Sloanie and I on a date. 

It was difficult to resist the urge to touch these. They were like frosting or puffy paint! 



Haha who wore it best? Meg, or Ms O’Keefe’s canvas?  ⬆️⬇️


This was made out of  layers upon layers of tiny cutout pieces of paper. Really intricate, creative stuff.



The Beyond


The favorite piece was Light Atlas by Cynthia Daignault, who took a 9,000 mile road trip around the United States, stopping every 25 miles, to paint what she saw. SPECTACULAR. Really really really beautiful. 


Also spectacular: Jill S, Tia G, and Robyn S for joining Sloane and I for art abd Crepes Paulette, today, abd making a really good day really great!. 

First Day of School 2018

Reese: 8th Grade at Washington Junior High School

Quincy: 6th Grade at Ruth Hale Barker Middle School 




Corbin: 4th Grade and last year at Cooper Elementary School





Soren: Kindergarten at Cooper Elementary School 

Soren is so ready. He’s been waiting to join the big kids at school for a long time. He likes his teacher, Mrs Southworth (Corbin had her for 1st grade), and had enjoyed riding the bus home in the afternoon. He did not enjoy that school is every day. “What?! I have to go back again tomorrow? That’s like every day! I’m tired!”  Haha he’s already over it. He also did NOT like getting off the bus after school and then into the van for 2.5 hours today for pickup to get Reese and Quincy from school and transport them and from Piano lessons. (We had plans to get out and play at a park for 45 minutes during lessons, but got trapped in a total standstill of traffic from a trailer blocking hwy 72.)

Long time in the car aside, Soren has had the most smooth of all Willy Kindergarten transitions. I really missed having him home with me. I know he’s ready for learning and growing with peers.  We’ll figure out our transportation pickle and settle into a good afternoon routine, soon.  Until then, popsicles make good afternoon snacks for tired, sweaty children.

Per tradition, the 3 little ones and I headed out for a back to school donut date to feed our sorrows about the big kids being gone all day.  It’s not all terrible. We’ve been to the library twice, the Amazeum, the park, and spent several hours outside playing in dirt and rain puddles.  I’m not teaching preschool, this year, but I am putting all my teaching resources, supplies, and classroom to good use with 3 early learners at home. Year 1 of “mommy school” is offering these silly Irish triplets of mine a lot of fun together! 


Wish I could post a pic, but the twins started going to an early learning center for school, two mornings a week. It’s been a mostly positive experience. We’ve had many behavioral relapses at home the past two weeks, but that is expected as theynprocess their history and encounter triggers. I think we’re going to have another breakthrough, soon.  We also spend several hours a week in various therapy centers doing play therapy, trauma counseling, family/sibling therapy, occupational therapy, strengthening core muscles, speech, connection, relaxation, sensory input, and more. If I haven’t said it before, I will say it now: raising children with severe Trauma is not for the faint of heart.  It’s gut wrenching and driven by intense love. I’m studying and learning everything I can these days, and stretching my brain (and patience) as I become a trauma-informed mama. 

And I am so thankful for grace. 

Here’s to a year of growth in love, knowledge, long suffering, creativity, self care, accountability, time management, testimony, perseverance, and Light. 

Summer Bucket List: Tie Dye

Corbin reads 500 pages

I started reading the Harry Potter series out loud to Corbin. After a few chapters, he was sucked in and could be found curled up with his book anywhere and anywhere. 

Success. 

One day, Corbin (was snooping) found a LEGO set that I bought over a year ago at the Walmart Associates Store simply because it was so cheap. 

He pointed out that Soren gets a lego set when he finishes 50 reading lessons, the triplets have prizes and potty charts...what could HE do to earn a lego let...particularly, the one he’d spied in my closet (that I had forgotten to give him for his birthday. Twice.) 

Me: uhhhhh you can read 500 pages. Not of a graphic novel comic style book, but Harry Potter is soneging similar. 

He started that day and finished in 3 weeks! Go Corbin! He’s now well into HP Book 3 and his vocabulary now includes talk of Hogwarts and Voldemort and Quittich and all things magical. He claims Gryffindor, of course. Enjoy the lego’s buddy. You earned them. And yay for another Potter fan in the Willardson family.