Becca & Her Boys, & Keystone Weekend

 This week we were the luckiest because we got to keep Becca and her boys here for four days! They are mid-move to Washington and spent some time here on their big trip out.

I sat next to Becca in Sunday School on our first Sunday in Indy, and we learned that we'd just moved in four doors down from each other in Manchester Village. For the next three years she was my lifeline in a time I didn't feel like I super fit in -- everyone around us was so nice, but I was working and all my friends were young moms at playgroups together during the week. But Becca and I connected so quickly and I feel like God just basically gave us each the biggest tender mercy in letting us find each other so we could do our long road together.

We have since had boys (and boys, and more boys), and helped each other all the way through school and residency and young mom life and boy mom life and just life. We sent each other pizza when our phones and cars got stolen during residency. And did Christmas Eve "together" alone once when both our husbands were at the hospital. And she has taught me so much about how to be a mom to these kiddos and so much else.

Anyways, all I really planned on writing about was our fun four days! We did Twin Silos Park, Spring Canyon Park, played at the school and in the backyard, the boys made a story together during a rainy day, lots of olympic watching, Becca's first Selena viewing (how???), went up the canyon, ate pizza and Cava downtown listening to music, made Vegan brownies for dairy-free Becca, fed our boys a lot and stayed up way too late talking, and then her last day here she decided to stay a day longer instead of leaving after breakfast just to spend all day doing my most dreaded project on my nesting to do list with me, while our boys played played played for one more day. I'll never look at my hemmed curtains and moved rug without feeling grateful for her :) If moving rugs and hemming curtains sounds easy, go get pregnant. I couldn't move that night after all our ironing and taking down and hanging up (ironing because we did this the non-sewing machine route because that's my life route), and I just couldn't believe I had planned on doing that all by myself one day while my boys didn't have four sweet Woolf friends to play with.

I just love that family and felt emotional at random times all week when I thought of them in their (yet another) cross-country move right now. Their extra fellowship year made our paths more different this year than ever before and still it felt like we're just tackling it all together. From four doors down to four boys each, I am just so grateful to have Becca! 

This weekend after Michael got off work we packed up and headed to Keystone to meet Katie and her family at their condo. We went to the river, hiked, learned how to forage for mushrooms safely from a sweet Czech family that grew up doing it, and paddle boarded at the lake. Both Bennett and Westin love to take paddle board rides and it's so much fun to be out there with them. 

Also Westin lost his TWO FRONT TEETH this week! He is the cutest toothless thing right now! I just smile inside every time he's talking to me lately. He lost one while the Woolfs were here, then the second was sooo loose at Keystone, but he wouldn't let us pull it out. Then I told them not to mess around or stay up talking when I put them to bed, but soon he came in our room because Bennett knocked his tooth out when they were, of course, messing around. If you saw the snaggle tooth situation beforehand you would know this would not take much from Bennett to do, so don't worry. So the tooth fairy had some home visits and vacation visits this week! This cute boy is so excited to head to First Grade with his toothless grin. I just love him.

Bennett has also come so far with water this summer. It was so fun to see him ask to go on another paddle board ride this weekend when a few weeks ago he was terrified to do that or play much in water at all. This week they start their new weekly swim lessons together.

Camden is crying every night and nap right now and we can't figure out how else to make that stop besides ride this wave, but he sure is cute when he's happy. He's talking so much now and lots of 3-word sentences which are so cute to me. His brothers make him laugh and laugh. And when someone cries he is so super concerned about them. He's actually a pretty good sharer even though he and Luke liked to just repeat "Mine!" to each other most of the week. But when it came time to say goodbye, he wouldn't hug anyone except Luke :) Frenemies on their way to being good friends, don't worry.

This week. We have such wonderful people in our life!!

They were running around howling like wolves when it started pouring, and they wanted to just keep playing -- but we headed home for a rainy, story writing day :)

"Westin said, 'Headless ghost back there... and fainted.'"
This story is quality and we printed four copies so they could each color and illustrated them and staple then together and take them home. Cute little book makers.

Brigs and his blue eyes!
I have my order in for a fourth baby boy just as chill and sweet as Brigs.

A sticker from his two-year well check that morning!
Michael and I took him together while the boys played, which was so nice of Becca.
And apparently Camden has shrunk.
Or else he's way too squirmy and screamy and uncooperative for measurements at the doctor.....
you decide :)

This picture kind of blows my mind.
Such a crew.

My version of sewing....
projects and babies, always a fun combo :)

Done!

Goodbyes are no fun.

This hug was the sweetest.
Camden would only high five everyone else then just went to Luke with big open arms.

After they left I made my smoothie for dinner and sat in this room and just felt so grateful for Becca and checked off projects and all our cute boys and this paused-time week. So so grateful.

I don't think that clock has a home anywhere here... Might be time to just accept that!

Final day of our fireplace in construction!

One tooth down!

.....and Two! Sweet toothless boy.

Wild raspberries on a hike with cousins is Westin's heaven.

They were so excited after a sweet family taught us a couple varieties of mushrooms that are safe to pick and cook. They found so many!

Pretty smokey from California's fires, but still so beautiful.

Michael downloaded a mushroom foraging app after our first taste of mushroom hunting...
it's quite a lot of trust to put in an app, but here we go.

Feels like our last week of summer, 
since we have a chill week at home planned for the next few days before school starts.
Sweetest boys.