Catching Up

Well, bummer, I didn't mean to disappear like that again! I have so much I want to share from the last 5 months and ideas for the future.

Baby Jocelyn is 6 months old now! She is sweet and precious and I'm just so thrilled she's part of our family! I will catch you up on her weekly photos and some thoughts about her birth and the "4th trimester" (always the hardest for me) soon.

Our oldest, Jonathan, recently finished the school year! So proud of this kid! He's very much looking forward to next school year and being with his friends again, but he's so glad to get a break from homework. Funny thing is, I'm sneaking phonics and reading and math into our daily schedule. :)

All three boys celebrated birthdays in May. Jared is 7.

Jonathan is 9.

And Josiah is 5! I just... Wow!

Spring this year has been rainy and cooler, other than a week of really high temps. It's very green outside and there are lots of wildflowers. It's absolutely beautiful.

I'm trying to get back into walking every day. I did great for a few days after school was out, then our schedule was interrupted. The miles are adding up, but the consistency isn't there and I want it to be.

We're still renting, at least for now. We've been stalking our real estate apps and our agent alerts us to new homes on the market. We are excited to buy and be able to DIY again!

I'm keeping this short so I can actually publish it. Thanks for reading!

Project #walk365 {April}

I'm way behind in blogging about my walks, but I'm happy to report that I'm still walking! Even when life gets crazy, the weather is bad, I'm super tired or don't feel well, I still walk. That's an accomplishment I'm proud of!

I'm not going to take the time and recount my impression of or mileage for each walk here. If you'd like to follow along, you can join me on Instagram at gibsongirl365. I do want to point out the beautiful spring we had this year! It seemed prettier than last year, but maybe it was because I was out in it more, looking for it!

My goal for 2015 is to walk an average of 1 mile a day, hence #walk365. So far I'm keeping well ahead of my goal. In April I walked 42 miles, my best month yet!

I even managed to walk every day while our family flew to another state for business with my husband! Yes, I logged mileage in the airports, but Gary was keeping track on his Vivo Fit and airport days were over two miles!

My second goal is to walk every day, and I kept that this month. Yay me! In fact I've gone something like 14 weeks without skipping a single day!

As the weather warmed up during April, I found myself taking kids to the park more often. Hey, it's a mile and a half round trip, they get to burn some energy and have fun, and I get my walk in!

Project #walk365 {March}

What a difference a day makes! Sunny, 40 degrees, no wind or snow. Missing two layers that I needed to stay warm yesterday. 1.5 miles.

Just out doing my thing. 1.6 miles today.

My walk tonight was cold and windy! 25* with 15 mph wind. 1.06 miles. 

1.12 miles today. 28 degrees and sunny but that breeze is cold! 

I didn't even notice my walk yesterday brought me to the 80 mile mark! Tonight I walked 1.22 miles in 25 degrees. Looking forward to warmer weather! #walk365

Walked with my sweeties today! 1.21 miles, warm and sunny. 83+ total miles this year. Today completes an 8-week streak! 

My boys, MIL and two dogs were my walking buddies in the Ozarks today. 1.4 miles in 60 degrees and mud!

My MIL and I walked a mile down the road today. Our motto was to just get it done!

Can you see the path? I walked 1.19 miles in the woods following a path my FIL made. Kinda cool now that he's gone.

The Ozarks are ready for spring. 1.25 miles today.

I only went .68 miles today, but it included raking off the path in the woods. That's hard work!

My walk yesterday was a quick jaunt up and down Main St. in Salem, MO. My .6 miles brought my total to 90 this year!

I followed my middle boy and our dog along Grandpa's path in the woods. 1 more mile of #walk365. Today also marks 9 weeks without missing a day!

We're having a heatwave! It's 80 in March. Our 1-mile walk was hot and sweaty!

I didn't get to my walk until 8 pm and it was only mostly dark! One more mile toward #walk365

Wednesday's walk involved sunshine and a good chat with my friend! 2 more miles of #walk365.

One in the stroller, one walking, three on bikes. Sometimes walks with the kids (mine + daycare) kill two birds with one stone! 1 mile of #walk365.

Just me and 5 kids on my #walk365. 2 miles on a beautiful spring day!

Today's walk was with the whole family and in perfect 70* weather. It's also the century mark for me, and completes a 10-week streak! 100 miles of #walk365!

I so enjoyed my walk today! A good chat with my friend, warm sunshine on our faces, and signs of spring in the neighborhood! 2.5 miles.

It's a gray day out, but I took my boys on my walk with me to look for signs of spring. We found daffodils, crocuses, and this magnolia in our own backyard.

The benefit of putting off my walk until late was I didn't have to be out in the rain! One more mile of #walk365.

The grass is turning green! My 2+ mile walk was cold, but such is spring. #walk365

Two shorter walks brought my total to two miles today! Both times it was something I'd normally drive to. Yay! #walk365

There are plenty signs of spring, but these white specks aren't dandruff! #walk365 1.5 miles today, 111 miles this year.

Enjoyed the sunshine on my 2 mile walk today. This completes 12 weeks of walking every day without missing! 

Enjoying the heat of a jungle! Counting mileage at the zoo is totally legal. Runkeeper didn't keep up, but MapMyWalk figured it to be over 2 miles. I'll take it. 

I ended up taking a short walk yesterday because the kids got an invitation to play in a friend's backyard. That's important too! 1/2 mile of #walk365.

Last walk of the month! I'm somewhere around 43 miles in March for a total of over 120 miles this year. Runkeeper won't update. 

Life Lately {May}

The problem with using my cell phone pictures so frequently when blogging is that I don't have much new content left for InstaFridays. But maybe no one cares, and this is easier anyway, so here I go! What's left of May, for your viewing pleasure.

We're renting right now, but we got a garden planted anyway! There are some great raised beds as part of the landscaping around the house, and they were completely empty.

Jonathan really does a great job with a hoe, and was so excited about planting flowers! We gave him his own little plot. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, spinach, lettuce, garlic, cucumbers, beets, carrots, basil, parsley, cilantro and marigolds. I'll show you more when they grow in.

These little guys actually did a great job spreading mulch and hauling away rocks, but I happened to catch them taking a break and accused them of being our supervisors! Little cuties.

On one Sunday I was told very firmly that I was supposed to leave the house. Yeah, I got kicked out! I had no idea where to go for my free time, so I grabbed my latest Country Living and happened to find a Scooter's Coffee shop in a cute little neighbor hood. New magazine + yummy beverage + free time = bliss!

This cuteness? Said Scooter's from above. This is their drive-thru. Totally love it. Totally need a friend to go hang out with me there once a week or something. #mommytherapy

One day a couple of weeks ago, we were invited to join another family at Pioneers Park. The day was perfect; a little cool in the morning but sunny and enjoyable. We saw elk and baby geese, ok, fine, goslings, learned about the prairie and beavers and turtles and all sorts of stuff.

The boys liked this tee-pee and would have stayed much longer but it was lunch time.

We also got to see this turtle eat her lunch--a piece of banana!

One of my kids takes fingerpainting quite literally.

Another emulates his big brother.

And the third is three, what more do you expect?

Ok, there are moments when they take it seriously and have so much fun creating!

Then they go back to doing this...

... and this happens and they wonder why we don't paint more often. #rocketscience

I love love love this jar board! It's for sale at my Etsy store, if you love love love it too!

Nothing beats time at a lake throwing rocks!

I let a mess overwhelm me and procrastinated cleaning it up.

It took less than an hour. Next time I'm not putting it off so long. Duh.

This was the first time we broke out the sprinkler to beat the heat! The boys were in heaven!

But then they found mud and painted on some war paint while Gary was grilling and I was inside making the rest of supper. We've been eating outside on my new picnic table a lot! But this night, a certain trio got hosed off before enjoying their dinner al fresco!

We had our first camping trip of the season this weekend! We went to a little lake near Lincoln, and I think the boys had fun. I'll tell you more about it in an up-coming post. #spoileralert #wehatedit

So how did May treat you? I feel I had a better balance of babysitting and other Mom responsibilities. We got all the birthdays celebrated and I survived seeing all my babies turn a year older. #iwantanotherone #kidding #notkidding

I also want to state for the record that this was the shortest spring ever! The first of the month was still a little cold and rainy and by the end it was officially too hot/muggy/buggy to stay outside all day. I want spring back!