September 2023

 

Like a wimpy blogging pirate, I just hijacked Susannah's phone to steal pictures, so any picture that looks halfway decent is one she took on her phone and not one of mine.  Big skies, clouds, and any funny pictures of children sleeping are also probably from Susannah's phone. 

The big van was running again for the spring and summer of 2023, but the older girls were gone for such long stretches that we didn't use it for much apart from church. Then September arrived, and John's gift of Last Hurrahs with Annika began.  That's your explanation for why the pictures from September through her wedding are family adventure-heavy. Also, let this serve as your explanation for why I'm posting every last crummy phone photo I can find. After a long summer of absent girls off working and traveling, the last of our time together as a family was pure gold. 

There were a lot of lasts at the end of 2023, and lasts that involve people are something I've never liked to blog. If you can bite the bullet and hang on until I reach the December snapshots, though, I'll reward you with some firsts-- pictures of a wee Mallory Mirth freshly born.

                    

ICELAND!

 

Just a few weeks after Susannah, Annika, and Mildred arrived home from their Alaskan adventure, Millie and Annika flew off again to Iceland with a Poiema International group. Vicarious traveling is the next best thing to going oneself, and I was so excited they had this opportunity. I chose not to travel on a once-in-a-lifetime overseas adventure when I was about their age, following the "practical" advice of my dad, so I gave them the strongest motherly advice I could to YES! YES! YES! YOU SHOULD ABSOLUTELY SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY TO GO TO ICELAND!!! 😂

Then I stole asked them to share pictures from their phones so I could leave a placecard on ye olde blogge. Here are some snapshots all in a jumble.

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