Guess

Guess what we just bought...A NEW HOUSE!!!!  Excited to finally have some keys after 8 months of looking and offers/contracts on 4 other homes.  Thankful for this gift!  And the best part is we have some amazing neighbors...seriously blessed!

A great day

Sunday was one of those "full" days.  I've tried to think of another way to describe it but full seems to be the best way.  I've been grateful for days like that - not full of activity but having a chance to choose to have the right perspective/attitude - usually a day I observe, enjoy, soak up each minute with my family doing the simple.  After worship at church in the morning with my family and my three hour nap (we all have a little bit of a cold and the big kids listened to books on CD while the adults napped)  I spent time with the kiddos.

A chunk of time twirling and dancing in the living room to Seeds of Courage CD, a 1 hour and 15 minute chess match that I gave up on but the big kids fought it out for the last 15 minutes by themselves and reached a draw with two kings and several pawns left, ramen noodles and green beans for dinner and then playing in the rain before books and bed.  We laughed, talked, slowly, deliberately and seemed to make those minutes stretch.  The day ended with prayers...thankfulness...always a good way to begin and end a day.

 twirling is always better with soccer shin guards

 I'm gonna get them Mama - one step at a time.

 Leaf races in the river of water rushing down the hill at the road

 Splashing in the puddles, cheering on their boats...Lydia crawled all the way there and joined the fun.  I got wet too and ran and soaked it all up

I guess the Lord knew I would need that reminder and the comfort of "FULLNESS" as we entered this week...that we start our week out in abundance and the slow easy rest of HIS goodness.  I'm grateful for that reminder - even now that its Thursday.  Or maybe especially because its Thursday and between now and then was an AWFUL Monday where I thought about moving to Australia, and moments that weren't particularly crazy but were made bearable knowing that Sunday comes again each week and His mercies are new every morning.

She walks

She just hit the 19 pound mark last week and is 16 months old today.  She took a first few steps a couple of weeks ago but is still trying it out - prefering to crawl and climb.  She is starting to get braver in her steps...Oh the places she will go!

An Old Favorite introduced - Old MacDonald

This was a glimpse into the first time Lydia watched the Baby Einstein Old MacDonald video...needless to say - she enjoyed it but I think I enjoyed watching her watch it just as much!  This DVD has been played numerous times in our home since Samuel watched it for the first time when he was a little younger than Lydia - oldie but a goodie. 

When was the last time you did something that made you clap and jump and sway and giggle with glee?

fact checker

Is there any one from Australia who can confirm that there really "are bad days - even in Australia"? 

just wanting to fact check Alexander - today was one of those - thngvb - days here

Lovely Lucy

While Daddy and brother played a game of basketball the girls played with chalk.  Lydia loved coloring and the whole time Lucy was pretending to be a princess who used to live in the castle but life was too boring there and she thought "living in the village was more interesting" even though it took hard work.  She loves to imagine life and live in stories...especially when they have to do with food.  This kid loves food.  Seriously (Lucy says seriously often).  She pretended to make whatever she wanted whenever she wanted since she no longer had a cook to cook for her like in the palace.

And then when it was time to come inside and out of imaginary land she packed her own lunch for school - olives, a piece of muenster cheese, cheetos, mango, vanilla wafers and water.  (I let her since she argued - persuasively- that olives were her vegetable for the day) The next day she said it was the best lunch ever.

Look at those curls

Sweet Lydia climbed up and down the stairs, drew with chalk, got bit by some 'skitters, and enjoyed the story she was a part of in the fading light of day - with Mama nearby, sister playing kindly and the boys laughing and playing ball in the background.  Those blue eyes and curls are just cute.

Big helper

At the beginning of the summer after dinner one night Samuel said "Mama, will you pay me $10 if I do the dishes for 10 weeks"  I immediately replied "sure!"  I think he was a little surprised.  We agreed on a month and he gladly did the dishes - more often than not.  He's still helping me with the dishes some and I'm enjoying the help from my big guy...he's saving up for a big LEGO set.

Eating with a spoon is an art

She's learning to eat with a spoon...she's my most independent child at this stage.  She wants to do it herself and is opinionated!

The artist formerly known as Lucy

Lucy wrote a song today - here it is - performed by the one and only Lucy!  She sang it exactly as she wrote it.

OK - for come reason the video won't load but you can read the lyrics in the pio above. It was a modern piece that included the singing of letters and every word she knows how to spell in no particular order - abcdefg, Lucy, box fox, rox, home. Noonan fish, Pop called pond ran. Not bad for an almost kindergartener.

I like

To eat blueberries and strawberries

I love to eat yogurt with my hands while holding a spoon in the other

I like to make music on the piano

Reading with brother

Too sweet!

First Day of School 2012

 I just dropped off 1/2 of my heart off at elementary school.

 This 1/4 of my heart starts kindergarten.

 This 1/4 of my heart starts second grade.

The big 1/4 starts his first day back with 175 students.

 This one stays with me....forever!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow my Lucy starts kindergarten and Samuel starts second grade.  So many emotions swirl around.  This year the children will be attending a Dual language program at a local public school.  Half of their time will be in Spanish and half in English.  I can't believe the summer has slipped away - like a good book when you wish there was just one more chapter.  Pray for Samuel especially that he will catch up quickly and make friends - this will be a challenging year for him.  Pray for Lucy that she will be able to contain her excitement - she is super excited about school and getting to eat lunch in the cafeteria out of her Tinker Bell lunch box.  Lots of changes.  I'll let you know how the first day goes.

Olympics

Have you been cheering on team USA lately?  We have. I am a super fan of the Olympics...as in I've been excited about the Olympics since last summer.  There are many reasons why I love them - some deep, some not...but this year from our family meal of fish and a little tea party during the opening ceremony to watching events, I've enjoyed watching them with my kiddos. 

As you know my kids love the country of Djibouti and they are exploring more the geography of the world.  For the opening ceremony they got a penny for every country they found.  They started to nod off around the M's but Samuel earned .45 cents before bed.  Not bad.

One other fun thing is seeing the events through their eyes.  Have you heard a 7 year old laugh or a 5 year old giggle lately - well just watch the faces of the runners at the track and field events in slow motion with my kids and let the laughter roll.  Really why else do they show just their faces in slow motion for the last few seconds of the race - some camera man is letting his kids get a giggle.

AND shot putting - oh my - get some burly dude with a beard that screams when he "puts" a metal ball about 70 feet.  Listen for the deep yell that accompanies the throw and more laughter.  It was even better that the American that won bronze was from Augusta, Georgia.

AND to top off the reality of the long jump.  We got out the tape measure and the largest room in our house is right at 27 feet - the distance these guys long jump.  Samuel and Lucy tried their best jumping skills and landed somewhere between 3 and 4 feet.  They were amazed at how far these guys jump.  Me too.

Jeremy read this article to me the other night, How to Watch the Olympic Games, about the Olympics by John Piper.  Encouraging for me.  Hopefully for you too.

Happy Olympic watching! and please cheer for Djibouti when you see them :)

Kiddos

Our yard has been full of mosquitos, tall grass, water fights and laughter this summer.  One day we had three out of six kids from one family over and enjoyed the slip and slide with a little picnic lunch.  They all seemed to have a great time and we were glad they came.

Reading

This summer we've spent lots of long hot afternoons reading in bed.  We've been reading the Boxcar children, library books and we've made it through most of the Fellowship of the Ring (the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).  Samuel got the American History - Adventures in Odyssey audiobook for his birthday and has LOVED it.  We've also started rereading all of the board books over and over again to Lydia - her favorite is a Thomas the Train book that has a dog and a cow in it.  I caught the big kids curled up in my bed one afternoon reading their LEGO Nijago book with stickers while Lydia napped.  Hope you've had happy reading this summer...anything good?

Not yo' Mama's box fan

We have one of these super duty box fans that swivel up - fancy - it moves the 90 degree plus air in our sun room around and cools Samuel on the top bunk at night.  It's been a great fan.  Today the fan provided multiple minutes of entertainment.  1. turn on fan  2. add balloons from birthday party two weeks ago 3. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Quotes

We have our French friends over again today and they have been playing well together.  As I write they are again in their redneck hot tubs out back, I hear their plans and play through the open window.  Earlier, before I would let them out so as to spare the neighbors the early morning chatter in the yard, the kids played war with the little army soldiers.   The play got animated and I told them not to scream inside.  A few minutes later Lydia started screaming because she wanted in on the action

French boy #1 - "Stop screaming baby"
Samuel - "She can't help it, it's her nature"

Deep thought by a little guy.

Summer fun

We've had a full, fun summer.  In addition to family time Jeremy was able to get away with his best friends for a guy's weekend and I was able to spend time with my best friend, Sarah, for a girls weekend.  We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.  I can't even describe my gratefulness for these friendships.

We had kids over, Jeremy tutored, I worked, the kids played, we slept late, read long and ate ice cream sandwiches.  We played bubbles, slipped and slid, bounced balloons, changed diapers, chased fireflies, danced and watched the Olympics.  We house hunted, built legos, taught dishwashing skills, Jeremy taught the kids piano and Spanish, Samuel lost two teeth and we celebrated three birthdays.  Full days, good memories, sweet friends, precious family.

The secret hideout

There's a little space under the bathroom counter for a girl's hangout.  These two love to play in there...I love to watch them.

Starting the day

As I prepare to jump in bed at 2am here are the sweet faces that started my day...could they be any more B-O-Y or G-I-R-L? They certainly couldn't be any more dear to me than they allready are

He's got his LEGO star wars shirt, the jeans with holes at the knees and about 4 inches of air around the ankles and they're wrinkled from being on the line outside.  Daddy took him to get his new "school shoes" and we found out that the last pair of shoes we bought him over a year ago were 3 sizes too small for him.  He's smiling with that sweet snaggletooth grin - my second grader lost his third tooth last week.

She oozes girlie pink with a little sass and almost always a skirt to twirl and play in.  My kindergartener is growing taller and sweeter.  She's super helper and likes to volunteer to help Mommy even on mornings like today.  She couldn't be any more girlie and I wonder what the years ahead hold.

Sweet kiddos - It's been an amazing summer to watch them enjoying one another and playing sweetly (more often than not)  What a blessed Mama I am!