Another month is history, and wow, so much happened! Here is your peek at random life. The joys and the funnies and the real deal.
Love,
Sarah
Mary working on a sewing project before her trip.
Christopher and Anna Marie invited us over for a “thank-you-for-helping-after-Elizabeth-was-born” special dinner. Here Anna, Jesse, and Mary are enjoying watching the kids ride their trikes around the deck, and of course, the kids enjoyed an audience.
Anna took the girls out shopping. Love this selfie!
Dad working
Dinner with John and Chelsy
The children like to pile up and come down the slide together, and then kicking the ball off the slide makes it even more exciting.
Volleyball on a warm spring evening with siblings and friends
This is the kind of delicious dinner Anna sometimes makes for us.
Update: Several have asked about the recipe for the above dish. I have good news! I found the information. It’s called Chicken Potpie Galette from the Taste of Home April / May 2018 issue. You could likely find it on their website.
Mom is faithful to do a special yearly picnic with the kiddos having to do with a book she began reading to them when Abby was little.
The girls picked up sticks in Grandpa’s yard!
Shopping day for my sisters in preparation for their trip, and of course, what’s a shopping trip without coffee? I wasn’t able to make it due to my book project.
New pink polos.
Decorating the birthday cake.
Abby turned 10 and had a special breakfast with her daddy.
Making yogurt.
Since I don’t have a way to post Live photos (taken with an iPhone), I took a clip of this. We were smiling for the photo, and Arnold decided to jump for the streamer Mom held in the middle of our picture.
Planting flowers.
Repairing GiGi’s fence.
Special Aunt + Niece time out.
We four spent great times together before the girls left (above pictured before a game of Spikeball). Jesse and I miss them!
Calia and Anna are quite the buddies, and here they are peeking on baby birds.
Arnold and Ellie.
Celebrating GiGi’s birthday. Those cupcakes Mary made were amazing!
Miss Calia was really into helping GiGi with her gifts and cards.
Bible time on the porch.
Some of the kids watching a driveway get put in. What is it about big machinery and little kiddos?
This is seriously Arnold’s favorite spot right now.
Kyle is growing up!
Working outside, and this particular Saturday was TOASTY!
A great game of Dutch Blitz with Chelsy, who loves it. I love it too, but somehow I’m not very good on my own team.
A playtime with Aunt Mary the day before she left.
At Memorial Day, we expanded to a second table, as we can no longer seat everyone around our big one. It worked!
Making her brother a birthday card!
This was an EARLY morning smoothie.
Helping Dad change out the washer.
Jesse setting up his hammock to sleep outside one night.
Ellie and I one beautiful evening recently.
There you have it. Random life at the Maxwells.
“I will bless the LORD at all times:
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
Psalm 34:1
Hi! Love these pictures! I have enjoyed reading this while having my coffee this morning : ) you are all such a blessing and encouragement to me. May I ask where the ladies bought their polos? They are lovely!
Have a wonderful day in the Lord!
Sharon
Thank you, Sharon! That sounds cozy to read the blog while you have coffee!
I’m thinking the girls might have bought their polos at Ann Taylor. We are near outlet stores (The Legends), and so my best guess is that store! 🙂
Im happy you all are having fun 🙂
Thanks. May flew by!
Lovely pictures! We love Dutch Blitz! We just bought the extension pack this past Friday so we can all play!
That’s great! What we’ve done (takes a little time at first) is marked another set of cards with little sharpie marks. So that’s our cludged together way of an extension pack!
Thank you, Sarah! These are my favorite posts. Prayers for safe travels for Anna and Mary. What is it about cats in boxes? Mine do it too ! God bless you and your family.
So glad you enjoyed it! Arnold finds himself the craziest “toys”! But he’s not a fan of coffee. If he sniffs Jesse’s coffee, he turns away :).
Arnold!! He cracks me up! Thanks for the smiles! 🙂
Arnold cracks us up too!
Thanks for posting this. I just took a break from a huge basement cleaning project since our basement took on some water after heavy rains. It was encouraging to see everyone’s smiling faces! That is an amazing action shot of Arnold and the streamer!
Good job on the basement cleaning. That sounds right up Mom and Anna’s alley but not my favorite thing to do! 🙂
Thank you for the refreshing daily life post, Sarah!
Did you do something special for Abby’s birthday? 10 years old… time really flies by: I remember starting to follow your blog right before she was born!
Also, it would be super lovely for you to consider a future blog post on how Anna Marie implements homeschooling with her littles: I spotted the number on the chair and got curious! I know she is very busy with a newborn and all, but I thought I would ask anyways 🙂
Many blessings,
Alice
Nathan and Melanie’s family celebrated with Abby! Nathan always takes the birthday child out for breakfast and then they have a family party later in the day. That’s so neat you’ve been following for 10 years! 🙂
Sure, I’ll see about a post on Anna Marie homeschooling. She does have a lot of littles. Five under 6!
What kind of pizza was it that Anna made? I usually make my go-to white pizza with arugula but I’m always wanting to try something new.
I’m not sure! It was from a cooking magazine, and it used some interesting veggies, but it was delicious!
I did a little looking and found it! It’s called Chicken Potpie Galette from the Taste of Home April / May 2018 issue. You could likely find it on their website.
Oh, I love playing volleyball!!! I’ve enjoyed it for years. Dutch Blitz is fun too, but it makes me tired after a while. Nice to see your pictures.
Thanks for your comment, Rebecca! I enjoy them!
Lovely photos, Sarah!
Thank you so much for sharing.
It’s hard to believe that Abby is 10 now – what a lovely young lady she is becoming! The baby birds at our house just left the nest – I hope Calia enjoys hers while they are still “at home”.
I, too, am interested in the “pizza” that Anna made. It looks delicious and I’m always looking for ways to use up veggies and feed our family well.
Thanks again,
Lea
You’re welcome! Yes, it’s amazing that’s Abby is 10! Our baby birds just flew early this morning! 🙂
I’ll see if I can find where that recipe might be. Not sure, since Anna is gone, but I’ll try!
Sarah
I did a little looking and found it! It’s called Chicken Potpie Galette from the Taste of Home April / May 2018 issue. You could likely find it on their website.
Oh – thank you so much!
I popped back just to check if you’d had any luck finding a recipe (and to look at the lovely photos again)!
I’m looking forward to trying it.
Thanks again,
Lea
You’re welcome! I was happy to have found it because I wasn’t for sure I could! 🙂
Love when you do your random family life posts! Your blog is an encouragement to me. Thanks for sharing all the fun pictures.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Loved all your pictures! So enjoy seeing everyone including Arnold and Ellie!
Very happy you enjoyed them!
Love this! Random posts are so fun! Thanks for sharing! And I cannot believe Abby is 10 either! I have followed since before Nathan and Melanie were married! Ha! So fun to watch as your family evolves and grows!
I know–Abby, 10?! Whew! Thanks for following! 🙂
Always fun to see life and all of its adventures from your perspective! Thanks, Sarah!
Thanks, Laura!
I always find your random life posts so fun! Have you written a blog post on how you guys make yogurt? It is something I’ve always wanted to try but it seems a bit overwhelming.
Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, we did a post on Yogurt a number of years ago. I’ve thought about revisiting it again.
Thank you so much! Your method seems a bit easier than some of the ones I have read.
Oh good! It is fairly easy! Just make sure to watch the temperatures. That’s how I’ve ruined mine (not bringing it up to the exact temp or bringing it low enough before adding the gelatin and starter). 🙂
Love all these photos, Sarah! Dutch Blitz sounds fun- maybe we can all play it when we get together! Was your mom doing “The Twins Picnic” with the kiddos? So sweet. Calia is growing up so much, and love the pic with you and Tina. Such a sweet pic of Abby and her daddy. Wish we could do Bible time on the porch- looks so cozy! But it’s crazy hot/humid most of the year here it seems. It’s so funny how Arnold loves “the kitchen” 😉
Oh yes, we’ll have to play Dutch Blitz with y’all! 🙂 Our mornings are often nice even when the days heat up, although my siblings are more for porch Bible time than I am! 🙂
What book did your mom read to the little ones that lead to an annual picnic? Maybe you could do a post on some of your favorite children’s books. My children have loved the Moody series.
The book is called The Twins’ Picnic. See this post. Good suggestion on the fave children’s books!
I always love your random life photos! Can I just say Arnold is quite the hilarious fella. Glad he found a safe home with your family.
Arnold is pretty funny. He has a lot of energy, so we think he is young.
These pics are great! As always, love seeing the Maxwell Superstars, aka Arnold and Ellie! Arnold makes me laugh so much! We enjoy volley ball and it was fun to see you guys playing it! The children are growing up so fast and are all just precious. Hope you all have a wonderful summer!
Yes, Arnold and Ellie are something! I’m working on my volleyball skills :), but we do enjoy it.
Christopher and Anna’s covered deck is so nice. I’m positive I’d eat all of my summertime meals outside if that were mine! 🙂
I’m not sure how I got a question mark stuck at the end of my comment. Sorry!
I fixed it. It’s when a person tries a certain smiley face the software converts it to a ?.
Yes! That used to be our old house, and the deck is beautiful. They do eat quite a few meals outside when the weather is nice enough.
Love these posts. Love the pictures of Arnold too. How do you girls play volley ball in long skirts? Those cupcakes look pretty & fun to make. Happy late birthday to Abby! I bet her and I would have a lot of fun together, even being 4 1/2 years apart – we’d probably have a lot in common!
Happy summer!
Glad you enjoyed them. When playing volleyball, I just make sure to wear a full enough skirt, and it works beautifully!
Seeing what the kids like to do with the ball brought back a memory I had almost forgotten, when my sister and I were little we had to take turns with the swing we took to having one person toss a big green ball and the one on the swing would try to kick it as she came forwards, after three times we would switch places! Gonna go find out if she remembers!
That’s a sweet memory!
I always enjoy your random life posts/photos!
Not only did the month of May seem to fly by, but this year seems to be going quickly!
Thank you so much for sharing these glimpses of your family life with us—I especially enjoy the kiddo photos and Arnold and Ellie. 🙂 I giggled at Arnold in that box—typical cat! 😉
Love, Mrs. Patti
So glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I agree on the year flying by! I know you like cats, so you would esp notice those pictures!