bsmiles and sunny days

These two spend quite a bit of time in the house while the other kids run the neighborhood. Because I do not entertain, they are forced to find ways to entertain themselves. Leila's favorite thing to do, besides drinking Kool-Aid, is walking the dogs. She loves to put Scooder on the leash and drag him around the house or the neighborhood if she can sneak him out. On this particular day, Scooder was tired of being dragged, so she disconnected his leash and hooked this one up to Deisha. Initially she was a good sport, but come on. Have you met Deisha? She's fiercely independent and fought tooth and nail to break free. Scooder looked on with envy. He just doesn't have the fight in him.

Due to an unexpected turn of events, Micah opted out of football, so we took the plunge into Karate. For almost two weeks, these boys fought and worked out and grappled in their gym shorts only dreaming of the day when they would have their own Gi to fight in. If you've met my sons you know that they don't like to exercise the full range of their wardrobe at any time. They would be content to own two pair of shorts and two shirts and rotate between the two outfits every few days. You can imagine my surprise when they asked if they could sleep in, play in, and run around in their new get-ups. I sternly impressed into their minds that these clothes are sacred, like most other things involved in karate. They could only wear them for karate-related events. They wear them with pride and fight hard and fight well. The first time I watched them during a class, I got goosebumps. This is something I cannot explain and do not fully understand about myself. I love fighting. I don't li

I just want to throw in a few more little tidbits that might help your first attempt a little bit. The temperature of the water needs to be just slightly warmer than you would make a baby's bottle. After you stir the sugar and salt into the water, sprinkle the yeast in a single layer on the surface of the water, set the timer for 10 minutes, and walk away. Don't stir it or shake it or blow on it. Just walk away. The yeast will double. This how you *proof* the yeast. AFTER THAT add the oil. This method takes a lot of flour. If you have less than a full bag a of flour, don't attempt it. You will end up using that bag of whole wheat flour that is sitting in the back of you cupboard and it is much more simple to do your first attempt with white flour. I'm not saying you can't, but you'll be happier during the kneading process if you stick with white. During the first rise, cover it with a kitchen towel and walk away. My first batch took a long, long time t

This kid... she's a wonder. I never took ballet. I also ruled it out for my own children because, well frankly, I have four girls and it's expensive. But I have taught them to pray for the desires of their hearts knowing that God cares about the small stuff. Kennedy has asked to take ballet a few times, but I always poopooed the idea in light of the cost. She started to pray that the Lord would give her jobs in the neighborhood so that she would be able to pay for the classes. She even delivered flyers to everyone we know offering dog-walking and babysitting services. Then heaven sent her an answer by way of her fairy grandmother; her dream has come true. Jasmine is taking classes too. They get so excited every week to get suited up in their tights and leotards. This month we started attending at a new studio that we all love. I wish we would've started there in the beginning. This is another answer to prayer, as I wasn't convinced that we were under the best guidance

It's a fight almost every day to get Leila to take a nap. She's at that age where she knows she could get away with not taking a nap, but her little body really needs it. She seems big enough to pass on it sometimes, but usually she's crashed out on the couch by five o'clock and I remind myself that she's only three. Three-year-old kids still need naps; it's just the way it is. It's hard to believe she'll be four next week. Tre was only four when we moved here. The days go so fast somehow! So the other day I sent her to bed at nap time. She was in there for about five minutes when I went back in to make sure she wasn't digging through my drawers, and this is how I found her. As a matter of fact, I looked under the beds and walked out of the room calling her before I realized that that tiny shape under the blanket was her little body! She's so funny...

SHE'S ENGAGED!!! I wish we had some better pictures of this ring, I haven't even caught a glimpse of it's sparkle and shine, just a tiny peek from a cell phone picture. My sweet Sista has found the love of her life and they are getting married. For reals. DEY ARRE IN LOOOOVVVVEEE!!!! And we are so happy for you!!!

Maybe you didn't notice that Nick looks like one of mine. He's basically part of our family. Every morning he's the first one to ring the doorbell, and the last one I kick out of the house at the end of the play day . On his birthday he invited Micah to Los Angeles with his family. They went to Universal Studios, an Angels game, and stayed in a hotel. So for his birthday I thought we needed to do something special for him. If you have never been my neighbor, you may not know that I show love this way. Since I didn't have candy or toys stashed away for birthday surprises, I whipped this lovely little delight and yelled for the kids to come in. One for the girls... ...and one for the boys. They gobbled them up. We used to get this at Cheddars when we lived in Springfield. It's called a Cookie Monster. My mother-in-law bought me these awesome little skillets so that we could make the real thing. It's a chocolate chip cookie baked in an iron skillet, t

This baby makes me laugh. On this particular day Tre was in the bathtub. She kept running back and forth from the bathroom to the living room. He would load her up with bubbles and we would load her up with laughs. We had a little trouble timing the flash with her smiling. She loves to torment Scooder. Here she is smacking him in the face with the bone he loves and can't resist. We were having a really good time. The kid is a proficient climber. I find her sitting on my dining room table a couple of times a week. Usually she is after a drink with a straw that someone put there hoping to keep it away from her. Unfortunately for us I don't have eyes on her all the time. I know. It's a small place. How could I lose sight of her? But I do. The other day while I was working in the kitchen, she was toddling around the living room and found something to entertain herself with. She spent a good thirty minutes pilfering through these movies looking for Elmo. Then af

Most Sunday nights Dale is at work so I make a simple meal for the kids like homemade macaroni, bean burritos, waffles, something I wouldn't typically make if Dale was at home. The kids usually spend Sundays outside because all the school kids are around. Those two components together usually mean we have extra little faces at our dinner table. Tonight Nick was only one around when I sent word to the troops that dinner was on the table. Since he's here more often than most of the neighborhood kids, he decided to help Micah clear the table. No, wait. I take that back. He helped Micah so they would be able to play faster. Yes. That makes more sense. I could hear them chattering in the kitchen but didn't pay much attention when Nick said, "My mom makes the best spaghetti." Micah said, "Yeah. Your mom does make good spaghetti." My heart sunk a little bit. I want to be that mom that makes the best everything. What can I say. I'm an overachi

A few years ago I ventured out by myself before daybreak to the Black Friday sale at WalMart. I've never gone before because I was always too exhausted from the day before. When I saw the ad for trampolines with full enclosures, I talked to Dale about it and we decided we'd buy one. I knew he would rather pay full price than get up that early, so I went. I was a few months pregnant with Deisha and in my rush to get out the door, I didn't eat anything. That was my first mistake. Walmart was buzzing with people and smelled like fresh coffee and sausage biscuits from the in-store McDonalds. I hurried to find the trampolines with no idea how I would get it from the display to the car. Once I found them, I waited for a nice man in the crowd to load it into my cart for me, and then I hurried to the check out line. I paid for it, loaded in the truck, and I went back in for more. That was my second mistake. I was lured in by the piles and piles of merchandise in every

I would consider myself a competent cook. If I walking into your kitchen right now, I could come up with something using only the ingredients in your cabinet without using a recipe. I think that is a good standard to measure myself against. I wouldn't say I'm the most creative cook, or the best cook, and I don't have a very wide variety of things that I make. I can make a few things very well I try to use a lot of fresh ingredients. There is one thing that I have struggled with for years and that's bread. I have gone through seasons when I tried different recipes, tried various methods and such, but I didn't master it.... until now. Jonjenek's mother is a down-home country gal from the sticks. One of the first things I learned about her was that she made her own bread, so I put it on my list to get her best recipe and take it home with me for my portfolio of things I've mastered. After I had the opportunity to try some of her rolls, I was even more anxious t

He rang the doorbell about fifteen minutes after we got home. The little ones opened the door and stood in shocked silence when this hairy dude said, "Surprise!" I came around the corner and joined the shocked silence. It was his voice and his blue eyes, but I've never seen my man like this. I loved it the shock. Loved it, loved it, LOVED IT! The hair lasted... oh, maybe three weeks. I don't think he was up for the maintenance so I didn't react when he said, "That's it. I'm shaving it." I love that shiny bald head just as much as those ruddy red locks. He just looks a little rougher, more like a biker this way. I think he looks like The Dean of Mean Keith Jardin with glasses. And I really like those glasses! The prospect of being away from Dale for four weeks was a little daunting and exciting at the same time. I like it when we are apart for a few days or a week here and there when he has business trips. However, the last time he was gone

Lompoc isn't an impressive city in a lot of ways. We have Wal-Mart and Little Caesars, but other than that there's not a lot to hoot about until you turn down the road toward our housing addition. It was like a homecoming gift. Hey, check out those mountains in the background. So majestic. These acres and acres of sprawling beauty. The colors are spectacular! It's like God painted stripes in brilliant shades of all the colors of the rainbow. This is literally just a few minutes for our driveway. It's not truly home to us, but there are definitely perks. Gotta love it!

I left out a critical element of our trip. Due to severe emotional trauma from staring at that long stretch of road for too many hours in a row, I didn't get my camera out for a single minute to chronicle our visit in New Mexico at Jon and Cara's house! Let me start by saying I love going to their house. Like us Jon and Cara are out in Timbuktu with no family less than a day's drive to speak of. Unlike us, they have a real house where they are able to keep lots of people, if need be. So when someone comes to town, they pull out all the stops. Cara plans the food from breakfast to the late night snacks she'll be whipping up. I'm pretty sure sleeping arrangements are a cooperative effort between the two of them. The first time we stayed, Jon set up a tent with cots in the backyard for all the kids to sleep in. It was a thrill for my whole crew. On the last morning at my moms, I got up early and started the laborious task of packing. My mom and dad live in a three stor

We were driving in California for a long time before we felt like we were in familiar territory. Some of yesterdays pictures were probably taken in California, but not our neck of the woods so they don't count. When we crossed the state line, I felt hopeful, I felt relieved, and I was beginning to believe that we would make it home. I told Sarah at one point, "I feel like a huge burden is off my shoulders just being in the state. If something happened now, I could call Dale and he could come and rescue us in a matter of hours." Speaking of that hunka-hunka-burnin-love, I could manage this thing on my own if I had to, but having him next to me makes me feel so much better. You can't appreciate how beautiful Santa Barbara county is until you drive through and smell the ocean air and see the flowers in living color. Sarah snapped this from her window on the highway. These are flourishing on their own in the median! It's just spectacular. Our little ray of sunshine t