a little everyday

When Joe and I came home from taking the kids to school, the yard was filling up with irrigation and it wasn't hot outside. We strolled around in the water for awhile but it was kinda cold so we moved to the porch.

Apparently he has been storing rocks in the hood of his car which was convenient, cause then he could throw rocks in the water!

Why do little boys love this SO MUCH?! A mystery of manhood I suppose.

Then he noticed the birds that were taking a bath, fluffing their feathers and flapping around.

Too bad they would fly away anytime he moved in their direction.

Sometimes I forget I have a gnarly scar across my calf (fence fell and cut it when I was little is the short story).

Then this boy found a bucket and got serious about getting wet. All this was happening while the glass guy was fixing the van window!

There are somethings inside the house that are calling to me; toilets that need cleaned, floors that need mopped, and cabinets that need organized. But they can wait. They will still be there waiting for me, but this boy keeps growing bigger by the day. He won't wait. And I am enjoying our little bit if time together, just him and me, while the big kids are in school.

it makes all the difference

I guess sometime in the night someone decided to break and shatter the back window of our minivan. That's it. There was nothing taken no, no other harm done just a broken window. Russ and I were both obviously upset but it became much easier to take when we found out we have full glass coverage. Whew.

I also woke up this morning with a raw throat and not feeling great (I HATE sore throats) so at first my thoughts started to take on the attitude that it was going to be a rough day. As I was sweeping up the glass the hymn - More Holiness Give Me - kept coming into my head. And I was getting it wrong (haha) I was mixing up the lines "more patients in suffering" and "more meekness in trial" and made up my own line that said, "more patients in trials". Well, no matter cause even though it was wrong it turned my attitude around. So now I am posting some pictures of things that make me very happy and going to write some things I am specifically grateful for today.

- that we have auto insurance, specifically glass

- that Russ always mows our lawn and cleans our pool even when it is so. dang. hot outside

- that as the day went on my throat got better

- that my kids love to read

- that I have a friend who calls to chat and then lets me invite myself over for dinner and Family Home Evening (I love you Anna)

- and that she made soup 

- that there was a cool breeze outside tonight

- that the kids lunches are made and ready to go 

- I am about to go crawl in bed with my honey

And I am really grateful for this song

 (I could probably write my feelings about each line, but I won't)

 More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suff’ring,

More sorrow for sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me,

More trust in the Lord,

More pride in his glory,

More hope in his word,

More tears for his sorrows,

More pain at his grief,

More meekness in trial,

More praise for relief.

 More purity give me,

More strength to o’ercome,

More freedom from earth-stains,

More longing for home.

More fit for the kingdom,

More used would I be,

More blessed and holy—

More, Savior, like thee.

Back to School

So I am looking at this post that was a draft I forgot to post almost three years later. But here they are on their way to Kimber Academy. They only ended up going there for a semester but it was a wonderful semester full of learning and growing and it was the stepping stone I needed to start homeschooling.

After we dropped them off Joe and I went to get his favorite, a cheesy cheese burger from Wendy's.

Back to school dinner 2012

Our summer has finally come to an end. Most everyone we know around here started school about a month ago and that was the plan for us too, but the day before school started Russ and I finally made the decision to put the kids in a new private school that is opening up here. It is pretty different than public schools in a lot of ways but the two main things that stuck out to me about this school are: 

1. it is self driven learning

2. the kids would have much more time at home (they only go to school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). I have thought about homeschooling before, but know that it is not the right answer for me and my kids, but I would like them home more. 

(there are a lot of other things that I think are cool and if you would like to hear more about it I can write a post about it, just leave me a comment). 

 Even though I had an extra month, it still snuck up on me. I was busy pretty much the whole day and didn't have a lot of time to put this all together, but it turned out nice and the kids liked it so: win. The real win will be if they take to heart this years motto: Work Hard and Grow.

We talked about growing our bodies, minds, spirits, and feeling (that means controlling our feelings).

The Russ gave the children their back-to-school priesthood blessings. Gracie called it a prayer on her head:)

Russ also had interviews with them where he wrote their answers and recorder it. They were pretty awesome.

We organized their school supplies and got them all ready to go and I don't know what this is so exciting for me, but IT WAS!

I love school supplies.

Then we surprised the kids with Joe Joe's (trader joe's oreo's) and goblets of milk.

They were pretty excited.

Gracie even started clapping spontaneously.

And it turns out Gracie only likes the cream filling. 

the beach

Joseph wasn't sure what to think of the ocean. In fact when the water went rushing back into the ocean and took the sand from under his feet he fell flat on his face. It was pretty sad. But Russ carried him out to the water washed off his face and he came back happy.

 William was his usual spazzy 7 year old self.

Russ' work and she loved it. Then Russ went to get William so we could show him.

 This was his reaction -

Of course he wanted it done too.

Russ showed Gracie how to make sand castles and she spent so much time doing that.

I relaxed and watched.

This girl should live on the beach with what it does to her skin and hair. I on the other hand am the opposite. I should never go to the beach when considering what it does to my skin and hair. But it does the soul good to get my feet in the sand and water and breath the salty air.

Sand crabs.

After this we found some showers, rinsed off, changed, and headed back home to AZ. It is nice to live driving distance from the beach. It made me realize we need to make the trip more often.