A + + +!!!

Ever find yourself on the freeway, just beboppin' down the road, and realize that there is a highway patrol car behind you? You have no idea how long he's been there and panic sets in! But as your eyes dart to the speedometer your pulse returns to normal and a smile crosses your face. You just passed an on-road test, you weren't speeding and therefore pass the pop quiz by the policeman that's been tailing you.

That's how I felt the other day when my babysitter showed up.

Ryan had been gone on business for a week and the kids and I were trying our best to not kill each other. We'd survived the loooong lonely weekend and it was now Monday evening and time for me to leave for my ladies bible study group. The kids had been running around the house off and on all day, and consequently I'd been telling them to 'stop running in the house!' off and on all day. So as I was in the bathroom getting ready to leave, I heard them running, AGAIN! Inside I felt like yelling and screaming at them, but instead I walked out of my room and calmly told them to go to their rooms. Not two seconds later the doorbell rang. It was the babysitter. She had rang the doorbell once already and I didn't hear it. The kids had been trying to quickly find a place to hide (hence the running) after they heard it the first time.

As this bit of news hit me, I realized that if I had chosen to lash out at the kids with pent up anger of day-long frustration then my babysitter would have heard me. No doubt. And so I feel like a passed a parenting pop quiz! By the grace of God, I did not yell or scream at my kids. I chose to speak calmly to them. Therefore I was rewarded with the satisfaction that I was not embarrassed when I opened the door to my babysitter!

Praise God, I passed!!!!

Late Night Potty Training

When your five year old runs out of night time pull-ups, you may decide that it's time to be done with them completely and begin waking up the child in the night so she can go potty in the bathroom instead of her bed.

If you wake up your five year old in the night so she can go potty, a few strange thing may happen.

For instance, she may be harder to wake up than you thought.

When she does wake up enough to walk, it'll be kinda funny, a bit on the drunk side of walking.

Once she stumbles from bed to the bathroom, you may just stand outside the door to give her some privacy.

This may not be a good idea since she's not all that aware having just been awoken from a deep sleep (if not sleep walking/peeing).

You may have to remind her to flush the toilet.

In doing so, you may then see her walk out of the bathroom without flushing.

But she won't be wearing any bottoms. At all!

You'll ask her to stop, as you go into the bathroom to retrieve the necessary pj bottoms and underwear.

Once inside you might see the missing articles inside the toilet.

Then you'll wonder how effective this 'training' is as you walk the sleepy five year old to her room to clothe her bottom half and put her back in bed.

~~~this has been the musings of a nighttime potty training mother.

Note To Self

When making an orange julius from freshly squeezed oranges, always taste the juice before taking the next julius step.

I am watching a friends house while they are on vacation. My duties include feeding their kitties and playing with them (this is the bummer part of my job! *wink wink*) as well as watering the garden. I was told that I could glean any fruit or vegetable that is ripe. While I was there yesterday I couldn't help but notice that the orange tree was heavy laden with very ripe oranges. After texting for permission (I still felt I should ask before cleaning out the tree) I put a dozen or so oranges in a bag and headed home. My mission was to make orange julius for the kids and I as we bummed around on the couch watching The Next Food Network Star and Design Star (one of my tv highlights of the week, next to So You Think You Can Dance, of course).

So, after using my handy dandy juicer machine on all the oranges, I went to work on adding the necessary ingredients to complete the julius. Once the drink was all put together, I filled the cups for the kids and handed them off with a 'come-n-get'em!'. As if I really needed to holler to get their julius attention. They promptly took their first swig and reported that it 'its good but it's kinda sour'.

What??!?!

Well, I had to do my own taste test. And when I did, I, too, concluded that the julius was sour. I poured it all back into the blender and added more sugar.

Still sour.

Hmm! I added a little more sugar. Then grabbed some frozen blueberries and peaches. And some frozen whipped cream for good measure. The julius wasn't so much a julius anymore, but it was going to taste ohsoyummy with all the goodies inside. No doubt.

Again, sourness still there. *sigh*

I added more sugar, fruit and whipped cream.

Again, still sour.

I gave up. There was no more that I could add. The orange juice was too overpowering. So I threw it all out. Then I tasted just a bit of the orange juice, just to be sure. Ugh!!! Ever taste bile, as a drink? That was the orange juice in its natural, unvarnished state. Ter-ir-ble! To say the least.

And so I've learned a great lesson. Don't be too excited or overly confident about your julius making skilz that you fail to test the oj.

We had popcorn with our shows, instead of a lovely beverage. *sigh*

Today Was The Day

Two years ago Mae sat in the chair at Claire's and waited to get her ears pierced. But the store got suddenly busy and the store girls who were about to do the deed had to leave to attend the other customers. This gave Mae time to sit and think too much about the impending pain. So Mae changed her mind and we left the store. She said she'd get them done when she was 10. Or 12.

The other day, somewhat out of the blue, Mae told me that she was ready to get her ears pierced. I cleared it with Ryan and made plans to take her back to Claire's. But just when we were about to go yesterday, she changed her mind. So we planned to go this morning. Again, she backed out. *sigh*

However, after an inducement of a Jamba Juice afterwards, she finally agreed to go. So I jumped on it and soon found ourselves looking at the earring selections and waiting for the store girl to get her stuff together. And Mae was a trooper this time. She sat there as the girl made perfect little dots with her ink pen on Mae's ear lobes, making sure the holes would be perfectly placed. Then Mae endured the two 'shots' as the earrings made their home on each side of her head.

And wah-lah, Mae has beautifully pierced ears!

No tears were shed. But there was a wee bit of nausea after the fear and stress of the moment had passed. I think the Jamba Juice helped, it always makes my day!

What Do You Think Of Them Peaches?

Look what we've had with our dinner the past few nights!

Mmmm.....peaches, freshly picked from our tree. Washed and sliced, just sitting on my plate. It's almost like having desert with my dinner!

My only wish? Is that I had a fabulous cobbler recipe.

Camping 2010

We were able to go on a small camping trip this past weekend. It was great to get away, even if it was only a couple nights. With the heat wave we had last week the timing couldn't have been more perfect (especially since our a/c wasn't working!).

Here are a few pictures;

Mae, coloring and passing the time before our friends arrived at the camp site.

Caleb, happy.....and dirty (maybe that's why he's happy?)

We celebrated Isabel's 5th birthday the first night. I had made cupcakes, but they melted in the heat and got ruined before we even left the house. So we picked up a pie on the way to the campground. It's a birthday pie!

Caleb and me - why can't we just have a normal picture??

You know it's been a camping success when the kids are totally out! They didn't even stir when the flash went off. Sweet silence at night.....niiiiice!

Five

Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl! She's five today and I'm having a hard time thinking that she was ever this little....



But she's gone and done it. She grew up.



The next thing I know she'll probably be starting kindergarten or something equally as crazy.

Journey Down The Isle

(play the music as you read along)

When the movie Dances with Wolves came out I fell in love with one particular song, Journey to Fort Sedgewick. It's just the kind of music that moves me, moves my heart. I sit back, close my eyes and let the strings and wind instruments sway across my soul. I had the soundtrack and I would listen to the song over and over and became familiar with every part of it. Long before I had a wedding to plan, and maybe even before I had a guy to think about marrying, I had this song selected as my wedding march. It was perfect. I was so familiar with it that I knew the timing of how my bridesmaids would walk down the isle during the first part of the song, then I'd use the small break in the middle to pause the procession and just as the music swelled and burst again, then my dad and I made our entrance. It worked out just the way I wanted, just the way I pictured it during my many listenings of the song.

Today is our fourteenth wedding anniversary. Fourteen years ago today I walked down the isle to this beautiful song, to my wonderful man, both of whom I'm still in love with.

Shaking!

Living in California has its advantages. Good weather, beaches near by, and lots of sunshine. But I'm not sure where earthquakes fit in. I used to think they were fun (the kind where there's just some shaking but no loss of life or damages). When I was a kid we'd have earthquake drills in school. The bell would ring and all the kids and teachers would crawl under the desks. One time I was on the playground when an earthquake hit. My teacher freaked out and called us all back inside the building. Um, yeah, not the greatest course of action.

Yesterday we had another earthquake. It was the third one I've felt in as many months. But this one freaked me out. I heard it before it hit. It sounded like a semi truck was coming near the house, then I felt the ground begin to shake. I shot out of my chair and started for the doorway. I was thinking that the doorway was a safe place to be, but then there wouldn't be enough room for the kids and I. I also thought of instructing the kids to get under the dining room table. But then I had heard at one time that getting under things isn't the best solution either as they can collapse on a person, but that the better place is to be next to a large piece of furniture. However, I'm not sure how solid that advise is. All this went screaming through my mind in a matter of a half second, or so it felt. After those thoughts flew through my consciousness, I decided it was best to just get out of the house. So I yelled at the kids to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, NOW!!!! Poor Isabel, she was in the back part of the house so it took her longer to get out. By the time we were all outside, the quake was over. Our poor hearts were beating so fast!

I'm not sure what freaked my kids out more, the earthquake or my yelling at them to get outside. I think it was the quake, for they spent the following hour playing 'earthquake' and running drills to the outside. *sigh*

Camping Memories

Next week we are going camping. This naturally makes me think of past camping adventures we've had. Like the time we went with friends to the Lassen area in Northern California.....

It was the summer of 2002. Mae was 13 months old and Caleb was a new bun in the oven. At the time we had a small 4-man tent which held our family of 3.5 just fine. When little Mae needed a nap we put her on our air mattress with a few toys and zipped up the tent and sat near by. She could be heard playing for a little bit, and then it was quiet so we assumed she had gone to sleep. I peeked through the mesh air vents at the top of the tent to check on my sleeping babe, and I saw that before she succumbed to sleep she had found Ryan's wallet and had a good ol' time pulling everything out! I took this picture to capture the moment.

Why We Watch

Ryan and I have enjoyed watching So You Think You Can Dance since the very beginning of the series. We love watching the dancers being pushed to try new dance styles as well as simply watching some dance routines. Before watching the show I would have never thought I'd say things like "Hip Hop is my favorite dance to watch" or "Wow, that dancer has really grown in his dance" (like I am one to judge! ha!). But overall I just enjoy sitting on the couch with my husband and watching a show together.

However, Ryan recently told me that he's just not into the show like he used to be. He still watches with me, as he plays games on his iphone or catches up on work on his laptop while sitting in front of the tv. I was a bit baffled, but a part of my understands why he would say that. I'm not sure if it's because we are just used to watching it that it no longer feels special anymore or if the dancing truly isn't as amazing as it once was.

But......as we were watching the show last night (gotta love the dvr!!!) we saw an amazing performance! So amazing that we went back and watched it a second time. This is why we watch the show, to see people like this ballet dancer totally nail a hip hop routine (something that really shouldn't be possible). Because of routines like this, we tune in each week, and sit and watch in hopes of seeing brilliance on the dance floor.

This is why we watch......

to watch the video, click HERE.

The Powers That Be

As the kids and I were driving away from a friends house, Mae's friend could be seen wildly waving and saying goodbye. At that, Mae said "She's crazy, it's her superpower".

Ha! So, Mae, what is your superpower?

Mae: I'm the same as my friend, I'm crazy!

Caleb: My superpower is smartness!

Me: What is Daddy's superpower? And what about me, what am I?

Caleb: Daddy is nice and yours is cooking!

I'm so glad that my kids can look past my faults and see a strength in my weakness. Makes me think that maybe my superpower is really distortion. :)

Swim Lessons

Yesterday was the last day of swim lessons for Caleb and Isabel. For this summer anyway. I like getting them in there and ready for the swimming season right from the start. Anyway, Isabel did great. It was my hope that she would learn how to swim better and get stronger. I'd like her to be completely done with swim aids before the end of summer. And I think she will certainly get there!

Isabel was telling me about the things she learned in swim lessons. She said to me "I learned how to do the back scrub and the tummy scrub". Well, um, ok I guess. As long as she can swim and be safe I suppose that's all that matters. Right?

**update** she is now saying 'back scrope', she is no longer doing any 'scrubbing' in the pool. Just goes to show how quickly she changes!

The Dark Side of White

White kitchen cabinets, while nice, are rarely completely white.

This is a problem I have found since living in my white-cabineted kitchen for the past 8 months. Think of it this way.....the golden gate bridge gets painted once a year. They start at one end and work their way down to the other. By the time they reach the other side, it's time to repaint where they started.

The same can be said about keeping white kitchen cabinets clean.

For My Dad

Happy Father's Day, Dad. Thanks for your leadership in our family. For your encouragement along the way. And for your sense of humor.

I love you!

Summer - Day One

Yesterday was the kids last day of school. Which made me the proud parent of a 2nd and 4th grader (seriously?? are they really old enough to be in those grades?? I think I'll hold them back, just this once).

So today is the first day of summer vacation. The first day (for me) to not wake up to an alarm clock. Bliss.......until the sounds of rambunctious kids jolt me from my slumber.

On second thought.....maybe year around school is something I should look into. Or, maybe boarding school. Do they have summer boarding schools?

Words To Live By - part 2

Don't doubt your mother.......

I would not describe myself as being an outgoing or extroverted person. I had heard or read somewhere that an extrovert is someone who is energized from being with people. I am definitely not that kind of person, I value my solitude. This is not to say that I don't enjoy being around others, on the contrary. However, stepping outside my comfort zone to talk with people I do not know is not something that comes easily to me, and in most cases, I avoid. So when my mother suggested that I might make a new friend at an open house we hosted recently, which consisted of only Ryan's co-workers (ie. people I don't know!), I doubted her to the 'enth degree.

Who am I to disagree with my mother? And yet, I did. I prepared for the gathering of strangers in my home and steeled myself for an afternoon of awkward and or short conversations. However, when it was all done with and the last guest had said goodbye and driven away, I found myself with a possible new friend.

Strangely enough, I had a couple nice conversations with one of the wives at our gathering. I'm sure it helps that she is a more outgoing person than I. Turns out that her two kids are the same age as mine (well, Mae and Caleb) and they lives just minutes away.

It's been two weeks since our open house and I have followed up with an email containing hellos and a recipe (gotta start a friendship off on the right foot!), and we've also talked on the phone, set up a play date for next week and our girls are signed up for at least one summer activity together.

Yep. Mom was right. I think I have a new friend.

**Mom, I'm sorry I doubted you. I promise I'll never do that again! :)

Words To Live By - part 1

Never say 'never'. And, don't doubt your mother.

Both of these are things that I have done. And I think God laughed. Then things happened.

Never say never.......

I used to hear other moms talk about homeschooling their children and inevitably I'd say or think something like 'that's great for you, but I will never homeschool my kids'. I kind of like taking my kids to school and dropping them off. It's fun to help out in the classroom, and it's also fun to be at home and get things done with a little less distraction and whine. However, I said I'd 'never' homeschool my kids. I also said that it would take the Lord moving in my life to make it happen. Well, hear me now when I say the Lord has moved me! Beginning this fall I will be homeschooling Isabel.

Back in March when Caleb was in soccer, I met a mom who home schools her children through a local charter school. We talked a little about it and how the school works. This school is a bit different in that it offers part homeschool and part classroom time at the school. The next day I was thinking about Isabel and how she's just not quite at the same level that Mae and Caleb were upon entering kindergarten. Some of it I feel is my fault since she is the third child and has not gotten the attention with reading books and writing as Mae and Caleb received from me. As I was thinking about Isabel's development, I thought that maybe doing the partial homeschool thing would help her get more attention and help as she begins her elementary career. The thought of homeschool her in this way was not overwhelming to me and I actually thought that it would be possible for me to do it.

And so began the moving of the Lord in my heart on behalf of my little girl. As of this coming fall Isabel will begin kindergarten and I, in part, will be her teacher. Amazingly enough, I am excited about it. Now I know that there will be times and days that we will struggle or have a difficult time, and a part of me is still freaking out that I'm actually doing this. But this was not my plan, this came from the Lord, He has brought me to this point, so I know that Isabel and I are not alone as we begin this homeschooling journey together. Who knew that something as huge as this would happen in my life? I certainly didn't, for I thought it would never happen!

Changing Things Up

Our church offers a Saturday night service, and lately we have attended that service in lieu of Sunday morning. And I gotta say that I am loving it. It has taken me some getting used to, but so far it's pretty great.

I have always gone to church on Sunday morning. It's been a way of life since, well, since I was a wee babe (now I'm just a big, grown up babe) :) But now this Saturday night service has changed my life! I now get not one, but two weekend mornings to sleep in! No more rushing around on Sunday mornings to get all the people in our household ready for church and out the door in time. Instead, we have two leisurely mornings around the house. And it is soooo nice.

So, we went to church last night. Then I stayed up to watch a movie. And now we are talking about what to do with our day. I think we are going to the park and then get some ice cream.

Yep, this Saturday night church stuff is pretty great!

Snapshot of Daily Life

I took the kids to the library today to sign up for their summer reading program. While we were there, the kids picked up a few books to get started.

I sure hope Isabel can curb her enthusiasm. She's a little out of control!