This sweet girl is 15 months old today. I can’t believe how quickly that time has flown! It seems just yesterday we were meeting for the first time.

Yet today, she walked — no, ran — around the yard like the kid she is becoming. I see in her more and more a small little person, not a baby… but they’re always your baby, aren’t they? Thank goodness for that.

When Carl comes home from kayaking he’ll often lay the kayaks out to dry, and the kids have a blast climbing all over them. They pretend they’re on the river or maybe that they’re flying in an airplane, it’s amazing, really, what they can turn a kayak into.

Today Adele discovered the joy of playing in (and on) a beached boat. She climbed on it, sat in it, and bounced away on the front. I think she spent nearly an hour enjoying herself!

It is so fun to watch little ones having fun, especially when they are discovering new delights.

I know Carl sees them in the kayaks and hopes for a few new river buddies someday, way in the future, but someday nonetheless.

And when I see how much they love pretending to ride the rapids, I think it may someday become a reality.

Adele’s casual Small Style for this week includes:

Shirt: Old Navy // Pants: Patagonia // Baltic Amber Necklace: Etsy

This weekend, as we drove to Boise, we talked. My husband and I, we rarely have a quiet moment to ourselves. It has been months (since DECEMBER) since we’ve had a date just the two of us, and we are just so busy, busy, busy that it’s rare to have a decent chunk of time to just chat. But Friday, we had nothing but the open road, two hours of driving time, and kids that were preoccupied with iPods. It was one of the best drives ever, and a much needed time of reconnecting for us.

One thing we talked about was this video. Being Christians who send our kids to public school has been an issue at times. We had seriously considered homeschooling the kids last summer, but we decided it wasn’t for us. And while I am completely at peace with our decision, there are times where I do question it. I hope I’m not doing the wrong thing, exposing them to junk I don’t want them exposed to yet, etc. But then we watched Francis Chan’s little clip and it just clicked. That is exactly why our kids are in public school. It’s like he put into words exactly what we felt but didn’t know how to explain. I love it, and I love that it gave me such peace all over again.

When we were first married, we would occasionally discuss how we were going to to educate the twins and any subsequent children. I went to a private school most of my life and my husband went to public school most of his life. Each and every discussion would end up with both of us offended and me in tears, never feeling like we would ever reach a compromise, let alone a solution we both felt good about. So the fact that we decided on public school mutually is nothing short of a miracle, and something I am continually thankful for.

By the time we reached Boise, we realized the kids had been quiet nearly the entire time, Adele had slept continuously and we were laughing and really enjoying the beginning of our trip. It felt to nice to just talk and laugh and not worry. It was the perfect start to our weekend. I am so thankful for my little family.