welcome

I’ve written about Alexxa before, so if you want to know what tipster means (and it actually has nothing to do with alcohol), go read that post. She was actually one of the original gals to sit in the green chair! In that first post, I compared her to my sister Katie. She is about to remind me more of her because she is having a baby in August!!

In the same way that motherhood glows on Katie, I know it will on Alexxa. She prayed for this baby for a long time (a girl by the way!) and when she called to tell me she was pregnant, I just burst into tears. It was the perfect timing for Alexxa.

My Grandma Horning (my dad’s mother) is easily the most affectionate relative I have. Now, Mennonites aren’t necessarily known for their hugs and kisses, so I’m not sure where it came from, but you could always, 100% of the time count on Grandma to demand a kiss. I didn’t mind it—I actually thought it was very sweet. But ask all of my boy cousins … they might have some different opinions.

My favorite definition of whimsy is “excessively playful expression.” And that is totally Sherice, a little fairy of a mother. Her kids have some serious fun. Sherice will never disregard a request to play. I’ve seen her do mundane things over and over and over for her kids, simply because they thought it was fun. She delights so deeply in seeing them laugh and play—she’s a sucker for those little kid giggles.

I picked this photo because it tells you a lot about Katie’s life right now. She will probably be embarrassed that I used it because she will say it’s too messy. But she has two small children and her life is full of a lot of messes. She patiently picks up toys no less than two times each day to reveal a very clean kitchen, dining room, and living room. And then the kids wake up and make it look like that photo. 

Max is my adorable nephew back in the high chair who will only eat everything bagels (which make his breath smell terrible), berries, yogurt, granola bars, cookies and sometimes french fries and carrots. He is basically just a hungry trail hiker. 

Joyful may seem like a small word, one that is overused or thrown in to a list of adjectives to make a sentence sound a little fuller. But please don’t underestimate its presence (or power) in my friend Sara’s life.

I met Sara before I even moved to Colorado. She was one of my “inherited” friends. I have a whole group of these: people who knew Travis long before they knew me and who graciously adopted me into their crew when I moved here. Let me just say—I got so lucky with this group. I would have chosen them with or without Travis.

Samantha is my sister-in-law—the poor soul who married my brother, the man with four sisters. We like to think we prepped him for marriage. I mean, how can you grow up with five women and not pick up a thing or two? 

Samantha may have been the last gal to join the Horning crew, but she was the first of us kids to become a mother. The day Bella was born, everything changed. I wasn’t even there and I could feel the palpable shift in my family. We watched our brother become a father and there was this little piece of each of us that breathed and cried (and puked up absolutely everything she ate).