A Litte of This and That

Tuba just went to his special dance that his school puts on each year for the kids in Special Education.  He had to get all new clothes because he has grown so much. He was thrilled...he's a real clothes horse. He especially loves shoes! The bow tie was my idea...isn't he cute?! He danced his heart out and was a very tired boy the next day. Happy and tired.

Sis was playing "Vet" with our sweet dog Kali. She put the dog up on a table and then was dipping a stick into a glass of water and running it up and down the dog's body. Kali stood still and let Sis play. 

Spring is here. The weather has been been off an on with sun and rain...and you know what that makes?! The kids all ran to the window and yelled, "Rainbow!!".

Time for me to revisit Kairos moments. It's nice to write them down as it helps remind me to look for them.

Kairos moments this week:

Holding a newborn baby and petting his soft downy hair.

On my date with George he was smiling and his eyes were all lit up with excitement as we played Eye Spy in the coffee shop. 

While scolding Moses I caught sight of his big brown beautiful eyes. A Kairos moment that softened my response to him. 

After book club I crawled into bed quietly to keep from waking Cam. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I could see his face peacefully sleeping. 

Two brown capped chickadees were chasing each other all around my front yard. 

What is your favorite Kairos moment this week? Leave it in the comments.

Guess what I'm doing?!

Nothing!!

The sun is out and I'm sitting on the deck soaking up the last bit of the day's sun. The kitchen is a wreck....dinner is done and I haven't cleaned a thing. The laundry needs folding and the kids should start showering. But no. I sit. And soak up the sun. The kids are playing in the grass and the mom is putting her feet up. Bliss.

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain.

Friday Date Day

Today the sun is shining! Whaaaahooooo! The kids have no school! Yahoooooo! We all slept in and now we are lounging around.

The plan is to go to the library for new books and then hit the park to soak up some sunshine. It will be a whopping 50 degrees but we will get out and enjoy it!

Friday is my usual day to have my weekly date with my baby George. He doesn't have preschool on Fridays so while the other kids are at school he and I go out for special time. We usually go to our favorite coffee shop and have treats.

I love to sit and visit with him and soak up some snuggles. After he finishes his treat I get him to sit in my lap and then we take turns drawing letters on the arm of the chair with our finger. He knows them all...upper and lower case, and all the sounds. He is growing and learning so fast. I'm going to enjoy this special time with him. My baby.

Moses is 8!!

St. Patrick's Day AND Moses turned 8!! We got the celebration started early with dinner out on Sunday night. We donned our green and our best smiles. This picture cracks me up. I told Cam that pretty soon I'll have to stand in the front row with the "littles" because the boys are almost as big as I am. Soon they will swamp me! Cam just laughs and says, "once again you don't know you are a small person". What?! I am not small!

We haven't had many dinners out since so we were all very excited. We went to our favorite waterfront restaurant. It's always a nice time to snuggle kids and play tic tac toe. Except I'm never playing tic tac toe again! Hmf....Mr. P beat me every game. Did you know there is a strategy to tic tac toe? Please just say no. 

Everyone was also excited for soda!! This time they ordered Shirley Temples or Roy Rogers. Yummy!

The next morning we celebrated with green pancakes.....and shamrock sprinkles...although they didn't get put on until after the photo.

For birthday dinner Moses requested burgers...with buns. Yummy! In the midst of Lent and eating a vegan diet we were all very excited!!

Birthday dessert was our traditional chocolate chip mint ice cream pie! Wow....it is really good!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet, smart, funny 8 year old! You are ALWAYS the only one ready for school, on time, without forgetting anything! Thank you!! I can count on you to do the right thing....find lost items...and help me with anything. You have awesome rhythm and I love to secretly watch you dance and sing while playing the piano. You are a delight and I'm so thrilled you are my son.

Weekend Adventure

Cam and I have two new nieces. Cam's sister AND my sister each recently gave birth. Of course I love babies and I love my family and I really need to hold and snuggle these new girls. But, Cam's sister lives REALLY far away....in Antarctica! Okay, it's not really Antarctica but there is just as much snow and it's nearly as far away. Phooey!! My sister lives closer but there is a mountain pass in between us....again the blasted snow!

Finally, this last weekend the snow had cleared from the mountain roads and we could go meet our newest wee one...plus visit grandparents, cousins and the family dogs. Yipeeeeee!

I worked all day Friday getting the groceries bought, bags packed and the van ready to go. The kids....and I were super excited. 

Just before bedtime George started throwing up. Oh no!!!! And continued to get sick all-night-long. Poor baby! After conferring with my family Cam and I agreed that Cam would stay home with George and I would take the other kids over the mountains. My prayer was, "please heal George...and keep the rest of us from getting sick, Amen". It was hard to leave my sweet little guy home but he was in good hands. 

The rest of us arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house in time for lunch. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and I had the time of my life hogging the baby!! Everyone really indulged me and let me hold her A LOT! I loved every second of it! She is precious, precious, precious!!! Adorable and sweet and....I want to hold her again!

George was feeling better by Sat. night and was keeping down fluids. Yeah! He and Cam had a lovely time hanging out and watching movies together. Cam sent me texts and photos of George so I could see he was getting well.

Then this photo came!! Oh! I go away for ONE night and my baby loses his first tooth. Boo!

Sunday we arrived home around dinner time. I was making pancakes for dinner when George came in the kitchen to show me his Tooth Fairy money. I had sent Cam several texts to make sure he would handle the Tooth Fairy business. I was happy to see that George got the standard amount of $3.00. Then George drops a bomb by saying to me, "Daddy told me there isn't any Tooth Fairy and it's just the parents giving kids the money". WHATTTTTTTTTT?!?!?!?!?! I was floored but really what could I say? I gave him a kiss and whispered to him, "don't tell the other kids". He agreed and went off to play. 

From the living room I hear Mr. P ask, "Is that true Mom?". Oh no! Okay, yes he is ten but apparently he still believes! So Dad just killed the Tooth Fairy for two of our children. Truthfully, I can't decide if I'm glad or sad. I guess a little of both. 

In Cam's defense and the reason he spilled the beans to George: Cam told George to put his tooth on his window sill because George wanted to show me the tooth when I got home. They decided that the Tooth Fairy would wait one night. Without Cam knowing George brought the tooth into the kitchen and put it into a glass of water on the counter as he has seen his siblings do. Cam didn't know and he dumped it down the sink. Eeeeek! When George realized this he freaked out! Bad! Inconsolable! So, that is when Cam told him. George calmed down and was fine. The truth always rules.

He's so fine that he keeps walking around the house saying really loudly, "WOW, the Tooth Fairy is so nice, she gave me $3.00". Then he looks and me and winks. 

Side note: Do NOT start the tradition of putting your child's tooth in a cup of water!! I have dumped it down the sink numerous times....dug it out of garbage disposal, spotted it in the sink strainer or completely lost it. And perhaps do NOT ever tell them about the Tooth Fairy at all....especially if you have more than two children. It's lying...and lying never works out in the end!

Peace

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

It's Lent. Time for me to quiet my mind and grow closer to God. I would like to acquire more peace this Lent. 

Hmpf....how do I do that? 

I can't run away to a secluded island and let's be honest....my house is less than peaceful. 

There are things I can do. There are things that I know cause me to feel less than peaceful. For example my youngest two children are sitting on pillows and sledding down the stairs into our basement.....LOUDLY! Can you see my eye twitching? 

Okay, back to what I can do to feel more peace. 

1. I'm taking a hiatus from Facebook and most Internet time suckers. I need less less noise too. I don't watch TV so that's not an issue. I am going to drive more with the radio off or at least tuned to quiet soft music.

2. I am saying less. Listening more, talking less. This is REALLY hard. 

3. I am praying and reading scripture.....daily.

4. I am writing more. The process of writing and flinging out my thoughts onto this blog helps my mind feel peaceful.

5. Looking out. I spend so much of my day focused on a 2 ft. radius. It's amazing how good I feel when I look up and out. There is beauty in the world that I want to take notice of. 

6. My goal is to lay down for at least 10 minutes a day. No stimuli just close my eyes and rest. 

The photo above is our dog Kali and our cat Shiloh. Apparently even they are trying to be more peaceful. Normally the dog is petrified of the cat....For-Good-Reason! But look how happy they look. Peace is good. I'm going to get me a little peace too. 

Feeling Free

More about selling our rental house....and a few oldie but goody pictures that make me feel free!

The flip side of feeling a bit of sadness is that I'm also feeling FREE! We are free of worry over the house. No longer do I have to think about the gutters and roof. No longer do I worry if the floors are being ruined. No longer do I have to collect the rent and deposit the check or renew the lease. No more!! Party dance!!

Also, there is a feeling of peace that comes with paying off debt. Whoooosh! It's an amazing feeling. We were able to pay off our credit cards. Yipeeeeeee Yahoooooo! Wow, what a good feeling. We are committed to NOT using the credit cards at all anymore. Our new mantra, "If you can't pay cash, you can't buy it".

Here's a confession for you. Last summer we went on vacation to our beloved OR coast. Truthfully we couldn't afford the vacation. We put the vacation on a credit card. I have to tell you that it wasn't the most relaxing vacation. I had a feeling of unease the entire trip. When I got real with myself I had to admit that charging the vacation was the root of my feelings.

This has happened other times too. It's been clothes, or dinner out, or any number of things I didn't need.  I'm getting more in tune with myself and listening to that feeling. It's my conscious telling me no....and at 43 years old I think it's time to listen.

Other than less bills to pay what is to be gained? Peace....I gain peace when I listen to that nagging feeling. It's an amazing feeling to pay cash for things. To truly celebrate we just booked our summer vacation....of course at the OR coast and we paid cash. Woot!! What a feeling!

It's a great thing to get our finances in order. We are weighing our options on a couple of other things to pay off too, AND...putting money in savings. Wow! So responsible!

Feeling free and at peace. It's a good thing.