Sunday's Treasure Chest

The Kids have been saying the funniest things as usual around here.
So here it goes...

A few nights ago at dinner I Josiah volunteered to pray. He's a longwinded pray-er, and he tends to go on and on about the things that he is grateful for. On this particular night He was looking around the living room as he prayed and he said ever so seriously,

"Thank you Lord for the picture above the couch that it no fall off on me's head and me's head no crack open, and me's no be dead, and thank you for me's food."
(I told him not to long ago to not play on that particular couch because there is a very heavy picture hanging right above it. I believe my exact words were, "Please stay away from that picture. I don't want it to fall on you and crack your head open. Then there would be no more Josiah and Mommy would be very sad..." At least I know that he hears me when I talk to him, right? :)

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Today at lunch we each made different things. I made myself a bean burrito.
Then Josiah asked me, "Mama, what's in your "ritto," dog food?" The funny thing is that it really did look like dog food. But it was a whole lot tastier than dog food.

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Then the kids started going back and forth saying silly stuff. They think that by adding the word "wax" onto another word they are making a joke. So they'll say things to each other like,
"Elephant wax." Then they'll start laughing.
Then the other one will pipe in with, "dog wax." Then they both laugh again. You get the idea...

Well today they were going back and forth with all these silly sweet little words and then our tender innocent Halee rebuttals with, "Butt wax!"
And of course because Joey and I are such mature parents, we totally avoid correcting her because we are to wrapped up in laughing ourselves. ( The truth is that that is totally something Joey would have said! And although is it very un-lady-like and not very becoming at all, I will confess that I found the whole thing to be quite humorous.)

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SO there you have it... My treasure chest of memories for today. :)

Blessing upon Blessing...

99 Pennies Worth Of Fun

We picked these up at the 99 cents store not to long ago so that we could grow our own bugs in some bowls in our kitchen...



Josiah was super stoked... He kept asking, "Where the bugs? There no bugs in this water! Where the bugs Mama?"


I love to use these kinds of things to give the kids a fun opportunity to practice their patience...


We tell the kids that "practicing their patience" means to "wait joyfully."


So they sat at that table... and stared into those bowls... and stared some more...


And some more...


And after much "joyful waiting," we got ourselves a handful of "bugs."

A Great Trip... Well... Except For The Eggs :0

For the past three years we have gone on an annual camping trip with our friends...

THE BARONS :)

This year we headed out to Herkey Creek in Riverside County, a few hours north from where we live. It really was refreshing to get away, to spend some time just soaking up our kids and soaking up each other. And there was absolutely NO cell service so I had my Joey all to myself without his iphone for a full 48 hours! And I loved every minute of it... well except for the eggs...



We ate so much junk food... For breakfast on our first morning there I fed the kids cheese danishes, golden grahams and strawberry yogurt! PURE SUGAR!

It was delicious... I think Siah agrees... :)



Reesie made herself at home in the RV that our friends, THe Mclaughlins let us borrow... She standing everywhere by the way, :) how fun is that?



There were huge grass fields and the kids played soccer (or at least attempted to :)... Someone would kick it and then they would all run and try to pick it up with their hands. They would usually all end up in a dog pile and someone would inevitably be crying because they were not the first one to the ball. After several explanations and trial runs, they started to get the idea...

Reesie just hung out in grass while the older kids played soccer... she tried to eat some sticks, rocks, and grass for a mid morning snack, but fortunately her Mama was there to scoop those poor snack choices right out of her mouth....

Reesie and I spent a lot of time together on the trip... She is getting closer to walking (I think), so we did a lot of practicing... Having a little one on a camping trip that doesn't walk forces me to come up with creative ways to entertain...





My absolute favorite memory on the entire trip was running as fast as I could through the sprinklers with Siah and Hal! One of the things that I love about having kids are the times that they allow me and remind me to enjoy the innocence and freedom that comes with simple pleasures like running through the sprinklers... Sometimes I get tempted to sit out and thus miss out... I think to myself, "It's gonna be to cold. I don't like getting wet. I am comfortable sitting right where I am. I don't feel like getting up. I'm to old to run through the sprinklers."... You know, all the things us adults start think as we get older.

I don't mean to over spiritualize things but as I was running and holding my kid's hands, I could have imagined that that is what it is going to be like when I go to be with the Lord. I can imagine running with complete abandonment and joy, into His arms that are wide open and full of grace, ready to receive me with all my imperfections... Completely free, with all my baggage gone, covered by Jesus himself! And if that's what I felt running through the sprinklers with my two treasures then I can only imagine that the real thing is going to be like a zillion times better!!!!! It really was a sweet, sweet, memory made...

It was such a treat to sit and soak up the sun and just enjoy!!!!


The Barons took some family photos for us...




And my happy Reesie was full of giggles and laughter almost the entire trip...




After naps we headed down to the creek... I was so proud of Josiah this year. He is our more timid child and this year he climbed all the rocks and walked up and down the creek all afternoon. He even climbed up on top of a bolder and stood up tall and proud! My heart was so stoked for him! The Lord is giving him courage and I love to see his face light up when he sees what he is capable of doing....

There was a stage in the middle of the campground and that evening the kids did a little show on their bikes for us... Reesie climbed on the log benches that faced the stage. She ended up falling and bonking her teeth... There was blood and she was sad... But then she got happy again really fast... as you can see below...

I just liked this picture...



At night we would put the babies to bed and sit around the campfire with the older ones...

On our last day Joey took the kids fishing... Siah had been before with Gramps at a little pond by our house but it was Hal's first time. Let's just say that they don't quite get fishing yet. Hal was afraid of the worms and refused to touch them. And after a whopping 37 seconds, Josiah started on his slew of questions trying to figure out what fishing really is. "Where is the fish?" "There's no fish." "What happened to the fish?" "I don't see them." "Me's all done fishing."

And that was that...

Reesie is starting to stand all by herself! I love it!!!!

And I love these girls...

So are you wondering about the eggs yet?

... Well as most of you know Joey and I don't fight, but we do have intense fellowship... And the last morning of our camping trip was one such moment of intense fellowship... We all slept in till 8am ( which was a nice treat), so we decided that I would get the kids dressed while Joey made breakfast. I am realizing more and more that I really am a picky eater. I like to think that I am not, but the truth is, I like foods the way I like them and not really any other way.

Alrighty, getting on with the story... As Joey was cooking I walked past the pan and saw the eggs... He hadn't put the milk in the way that I like ( I could tell because they didn't look light and fluffy)... He hadn't taken the little white stringy things out (which totally grosses me out for some reason. (Yes, I take them out of each egg that I open, even when I am baking, and Joey makes fun of me every time.)

Then out it came...

I opened my mouth and asked in a complaining voice, "What are you doing to the eggs?" And thus began the intense fellowship... No need for details here, but the funny part about the whole thing is that Joey knows me oh so well... Before I could even get out another word HE started imitating all the things I was thinking even though I had said none of them out loud.

"Why didn't you take out the stringy white things?" "Don't put mayonnaise on your bread, you're gonna have a heart attack." (I say that to him all the time. He's a man who likes a lot of sauces and dips on all his foods. And I seem to have in my head that to much sauce causes heart attacks... and I guess that I make my thoughts known more often than I'm aware of because he knew exactly what I was thinking as he spread that mayo on his breakfast sandwich.)

Anyways, I felt terrible for complaining when I should have been thankful that he was even making breakfast...
Sorry Babe! I sure am grateful for everything about you! Even when we find ourselves in intense fellowship. :)


And that's why it was a great trip...
except for the eggs of course...

Look What I Can Do...

The older kids are in a phase right now... It's actually been going on for quite some time... They are both constantly asking me,

"MOM! Look at me!! Look what I can do!!!

I will confess that there are moments at the end of each day when I find myself kind of tired of "looking." But I am putting forth all effort to soak up this season because I know that there just might come a day when they will not be nearly as interested in including me in EVERYTHING that they are doing or discovering.

Yesterday Josiah started the chant... "Mom, look at me..." Then he proceeded to lick his lips... That was it. That's all he wanted me to see...

Sometimes they want me to look at them and when I do, I honestly cannot figure out what they are even trying to show me. Not long after Siah licked his lips, he said again, "Hey, Mom, watch this..." and he held up his pointer finger and his middle finger. I must have looked at him with a confused face because he followed it up with, "See Mom? SEE? My fingers!" He was seriously doing absolutely NOTHING with his fingers. And in my mind, I thought, "ya, those are your fingers alright. What am I looking at again?" I still have no idea what he was trying to show me.

But there are equally as many times that I know exactly what they are trying to show me...

Like yesterday...

Look at me Mama!!!
I can blow up two empty juice boxes at the same time...


I can stand on one foot....


I can put my big toe in my mouth...


I ride this rocking horse reaaaaaalllly fast....


I can laugh and laugh and laugh...


I can sport a Mohawk....


And even though I am sweet... I can get into trouble just as well as the rest of them... :)