The Oregon Corrigans storm Dallas, TX

Well, the wait is finally over! Our family has been looking forward to celebrating the marriage of Uncle Brian to his beloved Alyssa for a whole six months :) We were all SO excited that the wait felt like forever. Kyle and I were a little freaked out at how exactly it would be traveling with our family of six, with four carseats, several suitcases, stroller, kids, bags, snacks, etc etc etc... Okay the snack part was not hard, it was the snacks that kept us going.

 

Anyway, traveling was awesome going there, and tricky heading home (there were tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma that messed up the airports). However weather aside, it was an AMAZING week in Texas. I feel like I can't adequately write down all the amazing memories and "take-aways" from this trip. I will try to hit the highlights:

 

- A thousand gifts: I started to write down a list of blessings along the trip, because by the time we first sat down in our airplane seats, I already had a list of 15+ things in my head where I very clearly saw things to be thankful for. Unfortunately, the list got recycled by accident before we deboarded, and despite my intention to get it going again, I never was able to get it back down on paper (this is my one regret from the trip). But God knows my heart, and heard each time I whispered things like "thanks for that full can of Diet Pepsi from the flight atttendant" and "thanks for placing that stray luggage cart right there next to the rental car drop off" and "thanks for allowing the battery life on the kids tablets to last hours longer than they should have" and "thanks for helping my hair to cooperate when I was frazzled on wedding day"... I mean seriously, you should have heard some of my thankful prayers. I was all about the big AND little moments on this trip. It made my experience personally, so much more tender and special.

 

 

- We rescued a kitten: okay so while in Texas we did experience tornado sirens, and a power outage in our rental house, travel delays getting home, BUT generally speaking we had no personal problems with the weather. The morning after the storm, however, on our walk to the Farmers Market, we heard a tiny "mew, mew" in a storm drain. There all alone was a tiny kitten, separated from his mother during the storm. So we rescued it :) The kids got an enormous kick out of us carrying this baby cat around the city all day, giving him milk from the local coffee cart (or was it non-dairy creamer???!!! ack, no wonder he didn't want it), and eventually found a shelter that took him. We assured the kids he would be adopted out... Or maybe he was sent straight to cat heaven... (eeeek)... anyway, a fun adventure :)

 

 

 

 

 

- Our rental house was amazing. My mom found it online, and wheeled and dealed until we got the place for half price. My parents were able to come on this trip with us, to celebrate Brian's wedding and also to help out withe kids. So awesome. It was almost 3000 square feet of beautiful space, and we even had access to a couple swimming pools! I was too busy keeping my kids afloat to take many pictures, but here is one of Maxy with his cute face at the pool.

 

- Our visit with Scott & Brooke: we were so excited to have some time with Kyle's best friend from childhood, and his awesome wife and kids. We strolled around the children's museum, and then sat outside and enjoyed pizza together while the guys chatted and got caught up on life. Brooke saved me (!!!) by providing us a pak & play, and high chair for our week there. What a blessing to NOT have to lug those things on the plane :) So thankful to have time with this precious family.

 

 

 

 

 

- Guy time: I am obviously writing second-hand about this part... Kyle, being that we were there for his brother's wedding, got lots of time to hang out with the guys. There were several gatherings with tons of activities & opportunities to affirm and share what Brian means to them. Kyle came home very impacted by his time with Brian and all the fellas. He was just very impressed at the quality of friendships, and the character that these men had. It was a tremendous blessing to Kyle to be around these guys, see their lives, see how they affirm one another, see their commitment to God, just see them be MEN. It is Texas, after all :) Awesome. Here is one picture during their massive shooting expedition (like I said... TEXAS)...

 

- Family dinners (meet & greet the Texas fam, rehearsal dinner, outing to Rainforest Cafe): we had so much FUN gathering for meals with our own family, and Alyssa's awesome family. We just really have fun together :) So much love and warmth in this group of people. Can't say enough about how much we enjoyed them...

 

 

 

- Sisters: at the rehearsal dinner of John & Stephanie's wedding, someone snapped a photo of all the sisters (Mara, Paulette, me and Steph)... this picture has been hanging in a frame in Nana's house ever since (13 years!)... people always laugh because there are two red-heads and two brunettes, two sisters and two sisters-in-law... the bio sisters are one of each hair color, so it always makes people think "who is related and who isn't???"... not that it matters, we are all sisters :) so the brunette team is pretty ecstatic to have gained another member... we tried to recreate the photo, so there can be a new "sisters" picture in Nana's frame! We try to be serious, but it's hard... :)

 

 

- Wedding day: such a beautiful ceremony, amazing acoustic music, two beautiful people that are meant to be together, seriously SO AMAZING!! The best dance party ever at the reception, matching cousins, so many pretty people (inside and out), the best family trip EVER!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well that's a wrap... An amazing trip, wonderful people, special town... LOVE!!!!

Baby dedication for Marcus

Our last baby dedication. A special day celebrated with many friends and family, as we dedicated our fourth, last born, our precious Marcus Kyle Corrigan to the Lord. It is more about the people who are there with you, than the actual ceremony or words spoken. It is an opportunity to stand up before people you love, as a family, and say YES to raising our son to love God and people. Saying YES to accountability from these loved ones, as we live out our lives with Him. An awesome experience... I even love all the wild faces my kids made in all the pictures (don't worry I didn't clog this up with all of them). They are not used to being on a stage, I guess :) Marcus, however was happy as a clam to have all those faces looking at him! Happy Mothers Day to me!! Love my wonderful family.

 

 

 

Nature's all around

The other day, I hopped in Kyle's car with Marcus to run an errand over the weekend. When I returned home, I was unloading the bags in the driveway when suddenly I stopped and stood very, very still. I was thinking "what is that weird sound"? It was like a loud HUMMMM, but did not sound like a car or machine. I started looking around, kind of tip-toeing around the car. Then I look UP above my head to see about 50 trillion bees swarming in a huge hurricane like pattern. I quickly slammed the car door and ran inside to tell Kyle. Then I realize the baby is still in the car, so I race back out there and snatch his buns out of the carseat and run inside.

 

Kyle goes out to investigate, only to find an enormous, frantic, loud nest being formed in our front yard tree, next to our car. We proceed to look up online what to do about this (because a can-o- RAID aint gonna cut it, people), and find that (living in Oregon, of course) there are many ecofriendly animal loving people who rescue bees in situations like this. I am not joking you... That same day, a very nice man came out and proceeded to remove the bees and hive for FREE, relocating them to a more friendly environment. WOW, what a sight!

 

 

 

Oh and then also discovered in our backyard nature, a little frog :) He was much MUCH cuter and friendlier than that gang of bees. I would have tried to get a picture of him out of the jar, but he was a skittish little fellow and I didn't want him jumping on my face.

 

 

Muffins with Moms and the FUN RUN

We had our annual "Muffins with Mom" event, on the same day as the school's jog-a-thon fundraiser... It was such an awesome, beautifully sunny day for special events such as these. I went with the girls before school, and we enjoyed having our breakfast together while we chatted with friends and listened to the live music playing. And then I came back with the boys later in the day, and watched while the girls ran their little hearts out, raising money for their school.

 

I remember last year, watching Marin run, and being really astonished at how HARD she ran, I mean most kids were walking at some point and she just ran so hard. Her face was beet red after running in the warm air for 20 straight minutes. I was so proud. Honestly, this year, I was curious to see how Maddy would do. She is not one to really exert herself, you could say she is more demure and collected :) Her big sis is more likely to go all out, and really go for it. But to my surprise, both girls just went nuts. They both really worked hard, and again HUGE red faces afterwards.A sign of hard work!! I love my hearty girls. They rock my world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One reason why I love Marin's teacher. For the run, he wore a superman shirt and the most awesome "caped" superman socks I have ever seen. Awesome.

Cinderella

Sommer and I took our little girls on a special mommy-daughter date: a youth theater production of Cinderella, and one of the stars of the show happened to be a young lady from our church. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was surprised at how flipping HILARIOUS this show was (t was a retelling of the classic story, so awesome). Sommer and I sat at opposite ends of the row, with our three girls in between. And we kept looking over at eachother and dying of laughter. Our girls did not get the humor, but we certainly did. Well done youth of America!! :) Much more talented than I :)

 

 

 

 

Evening swim classes

We tried something new this spring... Evening swimming lessons! I have avoided this in the past, because I know soon enough we will have sports teams, etc. taking up our evenings, and I fiercely protect that time still for family meals, and togetherness.

 

However I found a timeslot where all three of the older kids could be in a lesson, and it was after dinner / before bedtime... AND it was on days of the week where Kyle has a late work call, which he can take from home. SO, that meant he could be home with the sleeping baby, and I could take the older three and ALSO swim laps myself at the pool. WOO HOO!!! And it gave him a quiet house for his calls :) We just showered and jammied up after the lesson, and the kids were ready for bed as we rolled in the driveway. WIN WIN, I say... It was awesome... the kids loved it, and I loved it... Can't wait for August when we do it again!

 

 

Celebrating our last lesson... popsicles and popcorn!

 

Phone friends

So Madeline got her first phone call from a school friend. It is from a cute girl in her class, also named Madeleine, but they call her "Maddy K"... it's funny how if, in kindergarten, there are two kids with the same name, they are stuck with their last initial until the day they graduate high school. This is going to be the case for her friend. For some reason, my girl is just "Madeline". Anyway I digress, but my point is...

She and this little girl (unbeknowst to me) exchanged phone numbers on the bus, writing them on little scraps of paper. Well this little girl promptly calls our house, I answer the phone, and a tiny (but confident) voice says "hello, can i please speak to Madeline"... i say "who is calling?" and she says "Maddy", so I perplexedly (not a word) hand the phone over and the two of them chit-chat for about 2 minutes, then say goodbye. I am both impressed and freaked out that 5 year olds now make social phone calls.

Madeline then BEGS me to call her the next day. I say "okay you can, but you will probably have to speak to her mother who will answer the phone". Oh no, forget it then... Having to be poised enough to handle her mother first is another thing ENTIRELY. She has decided maybe she'll be ready when she's a 1st grader... PHEW!!! For a minute there, I thought my second born was going to fling me headfirst into a world of "friend calling"... :)

 

Marcus, 10 months old

Marcus is now 10 months old... woah baby, that's two digits!! pretty soon he'll be driving. Wait... he isn't crawling, walking or going on the potty yet, so I suppose I have a few good years left :) But he is finally SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Thank you Jesus.

And he is super hilarious. FULL OF JOKES, that one... Head shaking, hair flipping (what hair you ask? good question, but he can flip it with the best of them), head tilting, clapping, saying "more" in sign language (but never in a situation where you might want more), throwing himself backwards to see if someone will catch him (most of the time someone does... GEEZ!!), lots of laughing and babbling... I guess this all sounds like pretty normal baby behavior, but since he is our last baby, all five of us think it's just plain magical! Love.