bsmiles and sunny days

If you remember, Tuesday is our Friday. When Dale gets off work today, we will be in weekend mode. I especially love today because we don't have ballet, this is the last week of karate, temporarily, and my house is (relatively) clean! I worked out this morning, the kids are at school, Leila and I did her lesson, now after lunch I'm a free agent. I can do whatever I want because I have worked really hard every day this week. As much as I loathe housework when it's piling up, I really don't mind doing it a little at a time. Of course there are plenty of things that could use some extra attention, but as far as being on top of things, I am king of the mountain! I'll tell you what does trip me up on our "weekends" though. I get in that mode, you know? And I want to just order pizza for dinner. Have Dale grab some hamburgers after running errands tomorrow. Go out for dinner and a movie to celebrate a well-deserved break from the rat-race. It's a snowball ef...

I woke up this morning with this little bundle of joy and as much as I wanted to put my tennis shoes and and get going on my workout, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I sat down on the couch next to her and slipped in and out of consciousness. I am just going to have to start going to bed earlier. I think if I would just go straight to bed when I get up to go, I'd get an extra half hour of sleep. But you know how it is when you're the mom. You get up and say, "I'm going to bed." Then you carry all the dishes into the living room. You move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and turn it on. You pick up the pieces of dog food that were scattered all over the floor earlier in the day. You go into the bathroom to brush your teeth and pick up laundry around the hamper, wipe down the sink and edge of the tub with the towel that was left on the floor. On the way to the bedroom, you pick up socks and toys and pieces of trash off the floor, then deliver them...

Every couple of days, there is some sort of instruction happening in my yard or at the park or in the forts. For a while they had Bible study, then they were teaching hula dancing, as in with hula hoops, also French classes, math this summer... and so on and so on. The latest frenzy is ballet for the girls, and karate, or any sort of fighting, for the boys. Along with the instructional classes, Kennedy has organized a girls' club that meets once a week, or more if they have pressing issues to deal with, and random fund raisers. To share the fruit of their labor, they girls arrange recitals at various intervals and invite anyone that will sit in a lawn chair and watch, as well as clap and cheer at the end. Sometimes there are snacks, sometimes there aren't. This week we had the pleasure of a mixed martial arts display in the yard next to the dancers. It was riveting! Leila was not allowed to participate in the recital because she did not commit to ALL the practices and she r...

I don't always take the photos that I post on this blog. Usually they are my originals, but these two dolphins came off the Internet. I'm not trying to steal anybody's thunder by doing this; I am just aware that it's more fun to read when you have an image to connect to the experience. So celebrate with me and know that I'd MUCH rather be looking at an armadillo dead on the side of the road than a frolicking dolphin in the crystal blue ocean, because it would mean that I'm home. In other news, there is a position opening up this winter that we are very, VERY interested in. Currently there are a few roadblocks that could make it difficult and even impossible to get the transfer. If you know Jesus, we need your prayers. Honestly, in the deepest recesses of our hearts we only want what God wants for us. With that said, we believe He has put that desire in our hearts as well as plans for the ranch, etc. So ask Him on our behalf. Just add it to the end of your praye...

Yesterday we took a trip up the coast to go to Avila Barn and to the fish markets on the pier. As we were pulling into the parking lot, Micah said, "Hey what's that! It looks like a shark or a whale or something!" We all balked at him knowing that sometimes the sea lions can look like fish in the way they slip in and out of the water. You can imagine our exuberance when we saw this right out in the middle of the fishing boats off the pier! Apparently there's some sort of migration this time of year and they are hanging out at Avila Beach for a while. We backtracked a little down to the beach where we spotted a school of six all diving in and out of the water together. It was a breath-taking sight! God continues to deliver these sweet, sweet blessings to us out here on the other side of the world.

I've never had a solid daytime routine. Every morning/evening is different from the next and does not resemble the day before. We eat three meals a day, but they sit in about a two-hour window. The chores get done (almost) every week, but not on the same days, and not usually by the same person. I get up early with Deisha, but usually I sleep on the couch for an hour while she stares at the magic box in the living room sipping her milky. Bedtime may be midnight, it may be 11:30, it may be 1:30am. My life is a wild card; it's something that has always troubled me. I explain it away by the number of times we've moved, the constant shifting of my husband's work schedule, and the fact that we home school. What I really would love is some regularity, a little predictability, some kind of routine in my universe. (It's funny how my friends that live routine lives crave a little chaos in their worlds...) There have been a couple of little things in my day that have ...

I love it when they entertain themselves with fort building. Unfortunately for me there's no place to sit when the forts are up which means I'm usually sitting here in this chair while all kinds of insanity swirls around the next room. As long as they are busy and working together instead of fighting, I encourage them. When the fighting starts about who got the best cushion, I start to lose my mind. I mean really, what could "the good cushion" be? Deisha also loves this game because it means someone is running around inside with her. Lol is a creative builder. If the need ever arises to live in a squatter's village, she'll be the first one I call. She uses everything she can find in her house. I'm wondering if my spatula disappeared into one of these creations. It's been gone for some time now. Micah has the mind of an engineer. He is constantly asking me how things work. The other day he asked me who invented electricity and how it works. I hope I w...