daphne's dance recital...

yesterday was a wild a crazy day for us. our normally scheduled programming was not available but will return today.

daphne's second dance recital was last night and so that meant a crazy morning for dress rehearsal. now i don't know if you remember but last year was a bit of a challenge for me when it came to putting her hair in a bun. i am pretty sure i use the word "shellac" many times in that post. this year was not as daunting but still an adventure. you see, she needed to be fully dressed, with costume and makeup and hair at noon for dress rehearsal and the actual recital was not even to begin until 7pm. that's right- somehow i needed to do her hair and then try to get her not to mess it up before 7 so that i would not have to do it again. we succeeded and she looked beautiful!!not sure why she wanted to pose like this but she still looked so cute i just had to include it!

our resident goofball!! such a movie star!

at the bottom of this post is the video of daphne's recital. she is the third from the left and she's on the back row.

daphne has enjoyed her year at dance but i do think she really missed her little friend ellie. as we dressed yesterday she said, "mom, i wish ellie was here with me. we did our recital together last year."

during daph's recital henry actually had a swim meet. i don't know anything official for his 3 races but i heard from more than one source that he came in 2nd on his backstroke!! he is really doing well. i am going to try to get some better pics of him swimming but for now here is one from the other day while the girls were doing their lessons.

snap circuits are the coolest...

i must tell you that snap circuits are the neatest thing i have seen in a long time!! today is our science project day and my friend abby let us borrow this cool toy. basically there is a booklet with over 300 circuit projects that the kids can build. henry and daphne are on project number 6 and they have already built a switch circuit, a direct current motor & swith, a sound activator switch , used resistance and saw how it can lower sound, a lamp & fan series and a lamp & fan in parallel. this is fun for me too!! this is definitely going on the birthday/christmas list...theirs not mine though i will play too.

it's only been five days...

look at me go... it's only been five days since my last post and i am at it again!!!

this weekend ross and i took on a little project. in our house there is this strange 48" empty space in the kitchen where i would assume a built in desk would go but that must have been an upgrade that the original owners did not go for. for the last year i have had our wine cabinet there but never really liked it in that spot.

i've wanted a desk there but i wanted something kinda old that i could fix up. i have been looking on craigs list and last week i found an old desk for $20. i figured some sanding and paint would really bring this thing to life...i was right. i love my new red desk in the kitchen!



on the subject of summer break...the first few days were rough to say the least but yesterday i sat down and typed up a schedule, or maybe i should call it, an outline for our days. you know:

6am up, dress, feed
7am swim team practice/lessons
10am chores
11am free play
etc., etc., etc.

i even included special things for each day of the week. monday we cook something together, tuesdays we do an art project, wednesdays are science days, thursdays are our ministry day- meaning we do something for someone outside of our family- like bake cookies, write letters to soldiers and missionaries and then friday is "anything goes" day.

well yesterday we cooked...sort of. we dipped pretzels in white chocolate and then poured sprinkles on top. they had a blast! i actually enjoyed it too. when i am intentional then i am not as quick to get aggravated at the mess.
today was art day...if you know me at all then you know that i am not really an artist. i am a doodler. that being said we pulled up some examples of pointillism and talked about. we stood close to the picture and then far away and talked about what the differences were. it was really need to hear their observations. we then got out paper and markers and tried doing our own pointillism pictures. henry and daphne both seemed to enjoy trying something new which was worth it to me.
after we had been working on our pictures for a bit anna wandered off to our room only to curl up on the floor and fall asleep. daphne grew tired of pointillism and so began to draw instead. this led to our first ever picture of non other than a porta potty. yes that's right people...my daughter drew a purple porta potty (try saying that ten times fast).
so there you have it- our week. we have had a great day. an intentional day. a fun day! i am thankful for each of my little knuckleheads and for the time we have together.

Lord, i thank You for every moment of today. for the way Your mercies are new every morning for each of us. thank you for hearing my cry and shining light in the dark places of my heart so that truth can land there, take root and bear fruit. this is the day You have made and i will rejoice and be glad in it!!

may musings...

henry: "mom you aren't funny anymore. stop trying to make me laugh."



we have had a busy month...i can't believe a whole month has gone by and i have not posted anything on here. henry finished up his baseball season, started his swim season, daphne finished up preschool, we finished awanas, henry finished first grade, we got a puppy, anna is potty training (so is the dog), ramey is almost done with formula and bottles...and this is only the beginning of summer!

in many ways i am so glad it is summer break. i always look forward to having the kids home and not having a crazy busy schedule and then on the other hand it is a bit overwhelming to have them all home. they are struggling this week to play well with one another and i am constantly praying that i would be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

so far some of the activities we are going to tackle are: building and activating a volcano, playing in a pool of cooked spaghetti noodles, watercolor painting, reading, reading, and more reading, playing games and swimming till our hair is green (no not really but lots of swimming). okay, as i type out this list i get excited to play with the kids!! i must get off this thing and go enjoy just being with them.

just in case anyone still reads this thing...

i know, i know. it has been so long since i have updated this thing! i really do miss blogging but to be real honest...i am so stinking exhausted by day's end i just can't seem to get on here and update it.

i also have decided that on many levels facebook is so much easier to keep connected to people. however, there are still many of my family and friends who are not facebookers and/or would like to hear the stories behind the pictures. that is precisely why i love to blog and to read blogs... i love to read the stories and the details of people's lives. so, just in case any of you still read this thing- my apologies for the hibernating.

much has been going on around here. we are enjoying the spring in the desert and all the fun that can be had during these months. here is what we've been up to this month-


it's baseball season!! this is henry's first year of coach pitch baseball and he is doing pretty well. in fact, today our boy hit his first home run and got the play at second for the third out!! i was so excited for him i cried.


ross' mom, grandma and i took daphne to a tea room here in town for an afternoon tea. it was so girly and so sweet. daphne picked out a frilly dress. daphne had a strawberry and creme tea sandwich with hot cocoa and we had scones, tea sandwiches and wonderful teas. i am looking forward to taking her there again!
Easter morning was very sweet. we awoke to "He is risen!" the kids, a week later, are still exclaiming "He is Risen. He is Risen, Indeed!" i am so glad they know that Easter is not about the egg hunt.


we do love a good egg hunt too. on Easter eve the kids dyed eggs and did a really great job. we made our own dye this year so we were able to choose what colors we wanted. i don't think we will do purple again because it is more like a strange shade of grey.

all of ross' family came over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt. this is all the cousins (minus ramey who was taking a nap). i can remember as a kid going to my grandparent's house and hunting so many eggs that there was actually a map drawn up each year so that we could make sure all the eggs were found...back then we still hid hard boiled eggs.
anna's hair was getting crazy long and pretty scraggly. she hadn't had a haircut yet so yesterday that's just what we did. we cut her hair off! it is so short!! i'm still trying to recover a bit from the change but she sure looks adorable!! she looks just like daphne did at this age (but with both front teeth thus far).
finished product!!
here's our smiley 10 month old!! ramey is crawling, pulling up, trying to cruise and clapping. she is still the most precious little thing ever and i can't believe my baby girl is almost 1. oh what a year!!
though these two bicker quite a bit they still love with all of who they are. i know that it won't be long and these two girls will be best friends. anna adores her sister and i love to watch daphne love on anna.
we signed henry up for swim team and he started practice yesterday. so far he likes it. i will try to get pictures soon and post those too!

as for ross and i- we are trying to learn the intricate balancing act of time together (just us) and time as a family. someone said to him today that life is going to get really crazy over the next few years. though we know it is true we want to protect our family from the rat race as much as we can. tonight we are going on a date (we have FREE babysitting!!!). it is always nice to just be with my husband and to laugh together and not have to pause a conversation to correct behavior. dates (especially free ones) are few and far between so we will enjoy every minute tonight!

Lord, i praise for this season of life that we are in- no matter how crazy and hectic it is or will become. i pray that our lives would be a beautiful symphony written and directed by You.

a child's faith...

this morning anna and i were sitting on the floor playing with a shape toy. the plus sign we have always called a cross. when we got to the cross here is our conversation.

anna: "this a cross"
me: "that's right, anna. who died on the cross?"
anna: "God did"
me: "why did Jesus die on the cross, anna?"
anna: "i have a bobo."


it's that simple. He loves us so much even with all our "bobos" that He died for us.

thank you, Lord for revealing yourself even to my anna. thank you for giving her something she could understand about your love and sacrifice. give us the wisdom to grow her knowledge of you so that she can follow you in faith all her days.

a few of the stories at a time....

so i thought it might be fun to give some of the back stories on the things i admitted to doing on the previous post...don't worry i am not giving details on everything but i will for most.

#1 started my own blog- i started this blog back in december of 2006. as i said in the very first post my sister and i have have some crazy quota of words to say in a day and this is one avenue in which i can do that. this blog has also become a great way for me to capture many of my day to day joys and frustrations. writing and reading blogs is one of many little pleasures i enjoy.

#3 played ina band- i did not ever play in a band but i did play the vioin in elementary and middle school. i am not sure why i started in the 3rd grade but my first teacher had us hold macaroni and cheese boxes with paint sticks attached and i can't figure out why... she also had us lay on our backs on the floor to practice our posture. ms. drabowski was her name and she had a pitt bull. i remember the strangest things about people. in middle school i played in the orchestra so that i could go to a school that i was not zoned to attend. we played vivaldi's four seasons, memories and plenty of other pieces but i am pretty sure that i could not play that instrument now even if my life depended on it. i am not even sure how i did so well back then and if i had to do it all over again i think i would choose to play the cello...it seems so much more soulful and less whiny.

#7 been to disneyland/world- actually i have been to both. i did not go to disneyworld as a kid but rather at the age of 21. our family never did the "family vacation" thing and so as three married adults my sisters and i and our husbands plus our nephew, thompson, met at disneyworld for our first ever family vacation. we had a fabulous time and i think i was as in awe as any five year old there. **funny story** at epcot we were enjoying the different countries. while in mexico i had a margarita as we walked on to our next stop. i didn't really think about how dehydrated i was already and needless to say- i got pretty tipsy. once we got to germany i was sick as a dog and had the chance to visit a german bathroom. never again i tell you!!

#8 climbed a mountain- i have actually climbed a few. in high school on a younglife trip i climbed a mountain, we have climbed some here in tucson as well, i climbed one in colorado and another in northern california. henry loves to climb also. his leadership skills really come out when he on the mountain. he guides others and leads them with a gentle confidence. i am looking forward to climbing more soon but with four kids...we need a babysitter at least for the girls.

#10 sang a solo- i have sung two solos. my first was an absolute disaster. i was a freshman in college and i was singing a great song at church. i totally forgot the words and made an absolute fool out of myself. in the spring of that same year i did a solo for rez week in the mall area of our college. it was loud enough with all the students walking through that i am pretty sure no one paid any attention. i was not made to be a singer though i think i have this deep seeded desire to be one.

there are just a few stories. it has been fun to revisist some old times. in fact this week ross and i went through old pictures from ross' childhood and then our high school and middle school years. there was belly laughter going on over here! i can't wait to scan those pics in and let you all laugh till you cry.