Miscellaneous Meanderings of an Abbot's Wife

I won free stuff!

2012-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

This morning I ran a local 5k. It was actually my first time competing in a 5k & to be honest, I kinda hated it. I hated all 3.1 measly miles of it! Ironically, it was the shortest distance race I've ever competed in, but I was just not "feeling it" this morning. Don't know why...maybe because I was sick this week & I'm not fully recovered? Maybe because I haven't been training as hard lately (haven't done much speed work the last 2 weeks)? Maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night? I dunno. Whatever the reason...it was one of my worst racing experiences. By that, I mostly mean I just worked harder than I anticipated to finish near my goal time. My goal for the race was to finish in 23 mins or less (which I didn't quite make). My official time was 23:10.

So, that was the downside of the race this morning (enough of my whiney review). On the upside... I won a free pair of Mizuno running shoes from Fleet Feet because I was the 2nd female finisher (1st in my age group). I've never run in Mizuno's but I just read a bunch of reviews & it'll be fun to kick off my Asics & Sauconys to try something different (though I do love my Asics!) I might even go for something a little more bold & crazy like these- just because I can!

Okay...these got great performance reviews. I'm much too practical to own shoes "just because"....even if they were free!

Reaching

2012-01-24T11:39:00.008-08:00

It seems trendy these days to say that you don't make New Year's resolutions. Call them what you want...goals, resolutions, aims, plans...I make them! I've recently become more aware of the fact that I'm a competitive person (often just competing with my own expectations for myself or the expectations I perceive others have of me). Psychologically, I think I need clear & defined goals and expectations to aim for. I'm constantly setting goals (whether I say them out load our not).

The list of goals I have floating around my mind right now is rather long, but here are a few:

(1) Be more resourceful & minimize waste-

Plain & simple...I'm trying to get better at creatively using the resources we have at our disposal. Small things like cooking up the dry beans we stocked up in the cabinets instead of buying canned beans. Using leftovers instead of letting them waste or throwing them out. And I'm trying to get back to baking more of our breads again. Lucy & I made homemade french bread on Friday to go with the Navy Bean soup we made for dinner that night. She LOVES to help with baking, washing dishes, cleaning, etc... and she's actually got an amazing attention span for a 4 yr old!

*fresh herbs (rosemary from our garden)

for our navy bean soup*

(2) Intentionally try things that force me to grow/stretch-

I generally avoid conflict like it's the plague. As a people-pleaser, I'm easily made uncomfortable if I can tell I've done or said something that makes someone else uncomfortable or unhappy. But, I'm realizing that I'd rather have more honest & genuine relationships (even if it means confrontation from time to time). Not going out of my way to create conflict, but I am trying to be more open and honest in all of my relationships.

(3) Get better at planning ahead-

I'm focusing on things like planning better for meals and grocery shopping (boring!)

So yeah...nothing mind-altering here (although, come to think of it...in the week or so that I've really made an effort to do this, it has actually altered my state of mind significantly!)

A bit of back story...I'd gotten in a pretty bad habit of basically going to the grocery store at least once a day (usually Safeway right after taking the older kids to school in the morning or in the afternoon with all 4 kids after school). This "system" was not great for our budget nor helpful for my sanity. Since moving to Paradise, I've done less grocery shopping in Chico but the grocery store options up here are pretty limited (Holiday- while it's 100 yards away and super convenient, not great for the budget. Safeway- if I buy only what's on sale, not horrible for our budget, but still not ideal. Grocery Outlet-great prices but scary for dairy, meats, etc...must check expiration dates and still can't find everything you need there. SaveMart-neither convenient nor all the helpful for our budget).

I decided to start making weekly menu plans and grocery lists again and then shopping in Chico. I shopped at WinCo the last 2 weeks...left in a horrible mood the 1st time because the store was a "zoo", the produce looked "questionable" and the savings (in my opinion) were "hit or miss". I do like the bulk/bin area at WinCo, but I've realized that if I don't get to the store before 10am, I might as well shop somewhere else (I hate fighting a crowd!)

*I know...not rocket science!*

(4) Prioritize & Refocus-

Again, nothing real exciting...just trying to minimize the ADD/scatter-brained way I normally approach tasks around the house (and life in general). Also trying to be more intentional about my time management ("work" vs family time). Making more of an effort to stick to designated "work time" (during naps or after the kids are all in bed at night) for graphic design jobs & photo editing. Sounds silly, but I'm trying to get more disciplined about finishing a task/project before moving on to something else. I'm HORRIBLE about this! (Not sure if it's because I'm constantly getting interrupted by 1 of my 4 children, or if I'm just easily overwhelmed/distracted by my seemingly endless "to-do" list?). I'm just now really starting to get my photography business off the ground (www.organicshoots.com) so I feel I'm gonna need to be better at prioritizing if I'm going to juggle kids, home, photography, graphic design, etc.. and keep my sanity.

Also trying to be more intentional about my time with the kids and hoping to have more "dates" with each of them individually. The weather's been colder & rainy more often these days so the kids & I have spent more time at the library. They love that! I still prefer a park or playing outdoors if it's nice weather :)

(5) Just Keep Running!-

This one's simple: When I run, I'm a happier person! Good or bad, I've become a bit of a "running junkie" and I really depend on the endorphins & stress-relief I get from running. One of these days I'll do a blog post just on running and why I love it so much! (Priorities right?) I signed up for the local race series for 2012 which should be fun! Just thought it would give me another reason to keep with the running!

Joshua started running again too, which I'm super excited about!!! I've been both anxious and slightly terrified to have him out running again since he got diagnosed with Diabetes this Summer. He doesn't enjoy running like I do (okay, that's an understatement! He pretty much abhors running!), but when we get the chance to run together, he says it's at least tolerable and it definitely seems to makes a big impact on his blood sugar levels for 48 hrs following a good run. We managed to run twice together in the past week!

*My personal running goals for this year:

(a) Right now I'm working on my pace (the fastest mile I've done so far was 6:56-not breaking any records but maybe occasionally setting a new PR if I'm lucky!) My half marathon PR is 1:48 and I'd like to break 1:45 on my next half which will be the Bidwell Classic in March.

(b) Last year I signed up for 3 races (2 half marathons & a 10k). This year I'm hoping to do at least 5 or 6. The first race I'm doing that will count towards the race series is a 5k next month (haven't solidified a goal time for this race yet, but probably looking at a 23-24 minute finish time). I was reminded yesterday while I was running that I'm definitely not a sprinter! I always prefer the longer distance runs.

(c) Stick with my strength training workout once a week. This is the hardest part for me, but it makes a huge difference in my running performance! The plyometrics workout I do for leg strength is pretty brutal! LOTS of squats & repeats! I made the mistake of taking a break from these workouts for a couple weeks and when I did plyo again this past week, I was sore for the next 4 days!

(6) Prepare & eat healthier meals-

We've started trying to eat more high protein/low fat breakfasts (Joshua's idea) and it's been good so far. I'm trying to keep a better variety of chicken, red meat, fish, soups & salads on our dinner menu for each week (we were eating significantly more red meat and heavier meals).

(7) Think globally (& be open to change & taking risks)-

This one's sort of random, er...undefined I guess. It's a "mishmash" of things floating around in my mind lately. But, I'd really like to make an effort to be more mindful of global issues and find ways to help educate/expose the kids to these issues. I think it's good for all of us to be more aware of the "larger picture" and less focussed on ourselves. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to accomplish this for myself or for our kids, but I'm processing, planning &

setting goals :)

That's all for now. Gonna go enjoy some sunshine with the family!

Have a wonderful day and if you have thoughts or suggestions on any of these topics or want to share some of your current goals, resolutions or dreams, I'd love to hear them!

Christmas, Simplicity & Countering Consumerism

2011-12-22T10:37:00.001-08:00

About 2 weeks ago, some older friends of ours gave us a Nativity set they'd had for many years and were getting rid of. They thought perhaps our kids would like to set it up in one of their rooms or play with it at Christmastime. As soon as Joshua brought it home, 4 yr old Lucy excitedly whisked it away to her room to set it up. A few hours later, I rescued the various pieces of the Nativity set which were now strewn about on Lucy's bed. Without too much thought, I set the Nativity up in the middle of our dining room table and no doubt, hurried on about my day.

I'm curious....when you hear the word "Christmas", what are the thoughts & images that immediately come to mind? If you can honestly say that Jesus, Bethlehem, HOPE, Peace, LOVE & Joy are the first things popping in your head, well...you're a better person than I. If I'm honest, when I think of Christmas, a flurry of red & green images clutter my thoughts (things like wrapping paper, bows, shopping, cookies, Santa, reindeer, snow, egg nog, hustle & bustle, mistletoe, stress, stockings and ornaments immediately come to mind).

About 4 years ago I saw "The Nativity Story" for the first time. If you haven't yet seen this beautiful movie, I really hope that you will! I'm generally not a very emotional person who cries easily at movies (with the exception of Toy Story 3- that movie gets me every time!). The Hallmark/Kay Jewelers commercials don't work on me. I've heard & read the story of Jesus' birth more times than I can count, but watching this movie changed something in me. I sat stunned....as though I'd just received HUGE news and I didn't know what to do with it! As I began processing this all in the days, weeks, years that have followed....it's become very clear to me that I have a real problem. (I'm calling it my "Christmas conundrum"). My issue is this: I simply cannot reconcile the beautiful & humble birth of Jesus that I read in Matthew 1:18-25 with the chaos, excess, road rage, consumerism & self-interest that I observe all around me this time of year.

Last year, in the midst of the wrapping & unwrapping of presents and the hustle & bustle (and stress) of the Christmas season, I realized that something absolutely needed to change! It seems to me that each year it gets worse. Listen to the conversations people are having in the checkout line at Safeway. What are they talking about? The long list of things they still have to do and how crazy the traffic & stores are with all the Christmas shoppers. They're talking about how stressed they are and how happy they'll be when Christmas is over. People are stealing parking spots and shouting angrily out their car windows at strangers. Heck, some people are even getting trampled in Wal Mart on Black Friday (which has now trickled into Thanksgiving night. Don't get me started on what I think about that!) So, I sat there under all the Christmas chaos & I looked at the excess that had hit my living room once again last Christmas morning and I felt disgusted. I thought about how terribly far we've wandered from the quaint scene in the Bethlehem stable and I felt completely ashamed! And, I felt compelled to actually DO something to change this. I don't want to be the person who gripes about how hectic the holidays are but never actually DOES anything to affect change.

What now? Joshua & I committed to try our best to simplify and to change the way we celebrate Christmas as a family. As a parent, I recognize that my attitude very much affects the way my children perceive & experience things. Change has to begin with me. I wish I could say that we've got it all figured out, but we don't. Not by a long shot. This Christmas season still included at least one trip to Wal Mart to buy Legos & Play doh sets. Admittedly...we're still working on ways to combat consumerism. We did make several dozen bees wax candles & goodies to give as gifts instead of buying all our presents this year and I'm determined to keep our Christmas stress-free. The Christmas season has been (mostly) lovely so far.

I've come to really appreciate the second-hand Nativity set our friends gave us. It's old. It's scuffed up & slightly dusty. It's missing a couple of fairly key figures. It's not modern. It's not chic. It's not hipster or cool. It's unassuming. Unpretentious. It's humble and I love it! It's sitting there in the middle of our table, passively reminding me that I committed to celebrate Christmas with simplicity. It reminds me that Christ did not come to earth with flashing lights or fanfare. He didn't force himself upon the planet in a way that was obtrusive or harsh. He chose to come in the form of a tiny, newborn baby on a quiet night in a small town full of commoners and unimportant people. My hope is that the magic of Bethlehem moves us in ways that affect not only how we choose to celebrate Christmas, but that we might live our ordinary days in an extraordinary manner!

~May we all find meaningful simplicity in our Christmas celebrations!~

Catching Up

2011-01-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Obviously, blogging hasn't been top on my list of priorities lately. I think it goes without saying that 2010 was a very busy year and the past few months have not allowed much time for "luxuries" like blogging. :)

The last months of 2010 were a flurry of shuttling kids to & from school every day. Ethan's doing good in 2nd grade and especially enjoys socializing & playing sports at recess. He's made new friends this year in class and still has some of his good buddies from Kindergarten & 1st grade too. He got a great report card at our first trimester parent conference. Very proud of him!

I've missed being able to help in Ethan's class every week like I've done the past 2 years. I was able to help for some "special events" like their jog-a-thon, class Halloween party and the Mexican fiesta they had before Christmas.

(Ethan ran 18 laps-approx 2.5 miles)

(all red in the face after the jog-a-thon)

Karis is flying through kindergarten, soaking up every minute of it and learning soo much so fast! She has actually surprised me a bit by what a "social butterfly" she's become. She was picked as "student of the week" for her school in the beginning of December (chosen for her enthusiasm) which included getting her picture in the Paradise Post newspaper. She was very excited about this! She also lost her first 2 teeth recently. Can't believe how much she's grown & changed since this summer!

(Karis on Scarecrow day w/ friend Kristopher)

(Karis the evening she lost her 1st tooth)

Lucy turns 4 this weekend and has more spunk & personality than her tiny body can contain. She doesn't just walk to get somewhere, but bounces pretty much everywhere she goes! She says some of the most hilarious things with awesome facial expressions to boot. Her most recent obsession is watching "Eloise" on Netflix (rawther amusing since she reminds me of Eloise). She also still really enjoys teacher Lori's tiny-tots class on Tues & Thurs mornings. Aside from all that, Lucy loves to "mommy" her baby sister. Elah seems pretty amused by this (most of the time) but I'm less impressed when it involves Lucy trying to pick Elah up.

(Lucy and her "loved-to-pieces" little Hippo)

(sister love)

And that brings me to Elah, who just turned 9 months. What can I say about this little one? She's full of smiles and plenty of trouble too. Definitely the most social of our kids at 9 mos. She's not quite crawling yet but scoots and rolls where she wants to go when she's on the floor. She has 2 bottom teeth and still eats mostly mashed or pureed foods. Last month she went through a phase of what seemed to be separation anxiety when I couldn't even leave the room without her freaking out. Not saying words yet, but when she's wanting mom she calls for "Hmm" (kinda cute). She normally goes to bed around 8-8:30pm and wakes up around 3-3:3ish and then again maybe 5:30ish. Normally, she'll wake up around 7:30 am or I wake her up around 7:45 when I take Ethan and Karis to school.

As usual, I have a list of other things I really need to catch up on before tomorrow (Lucy's birthday) so I'll have to finish the rest of this post another time. No guarantees...it may be June by the time I get back to blogging :)

***funny detail...I just realized the date on this post is January 10 (the date I actually started working on this) and today is actually February 18th!***

Just For Fun...

2010-09-30T16:19:00.001-07:00

A few recent photos of the kids:

(Karis & Ethan at their school ice cream social)

Our First Stitches

2010-09-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday evening Lucy pulled the girls' armoire over on top of herself. I was in the kitchen finishing dinner when I heard a loud crash in the back of the house followed by Lucy's muffled cry. I looked down the hallway to see the armoire flat on the floor! I quickly ran to their room and pulled the armoire off of her at which point (I freely admit) I freaked out as I looked down to see her forehead covered in blood. There was a big gash above her right eye but I couldn't tell if that was the only place she was bleeding from. I told Joshua I thought he needed to call 911 which he did. The fire department got here within a few minutes and by that time the bleeding from her head was mostly stopped. They looked her over, asked us a few questions and decided that she'd probably need stitches but we were ok to drive her to the ER ourselves.

I stayed home with the other 3 kids while Joshua took Lucy. She ended up getting 5 stitches and was very brave about the whole thing. She was able to get the stitches removed on Monday and it looks like it's healing up just fine. I guess we were pretty fortunate to have dodged that bullet for so long and I'm pretty sure those won't be the last stitches in our house.

(in the ER with Dad waiting for her stitches)

Back To School

2010-08-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

This morning Ethan and Karis started a new school year. Ethan is in 2nd grade and Karis in kindergarten. Yes, kindergarten! I'm really excited about the class Karis got in. She has several of her tiny tots friends in there and I can already tell that Mrs. Levin knows how to make kindergaten tons of fun!

Ethan has several friends from first grade in his class and a couple from kindergarten also. He has 2 teachers who will co-teach the class. I hear they're excellent too!

As I type, Karis is sitting next to me already working on her first set of "flash cards" (talk about self motivation-I have a feeling homework won't be an issue for her).

(Karis sitting next to friend Brycen from tiny tots class)

(Ethan at his desk next to friend Dominic from kindergarten)

Watermelon Limeade

2010-08-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

*This flavor packed limeade is a real thirst quencher & can also be used as a wonderful margarita mixer when paired with premium white tequila. *

-8 cups cubed watermelon (seeds removed)
-1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
-1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste)
-lime slices for garnish
-mint sprigs for garnish

1) place half of the watermelon cubes in a blender and process until smooth.
Strain through a mesh sieve; discard the solids. Repeat until you end up with about 1 quart of watermelon juice.

2) Add the lime juice and sugar to the watermelon juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Taste, and add more sugar if necessary. Transfer the limeade to a pitcher and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

3) Serve over ice with lime slices & mint.

Getting to know Elah

2010-08-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

The first few days with our little Elah:

(one day old)

(first evening home)

(Lucy's a proud big sister)

Welcoming Elah

2010-08-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Elah Naomi Price

arrived exactly 3 weeks early on May 15th @ 11:03 am.

She weighed in at a healthy 6 lbs, 15 oz & 18 inches.

Absolutely perfect!

ELAH-Origin - (Hebrew).
The teil tree (oak,linden or lime-tree) is a tall evergreen tree commonly growing in Palestine. Teil trees were used as landmarks and in designating places.
In winter when the teil and the oak trees shed their leaves and appear dead, their life-giving substance is still within them, and they shall bud and bloom in time. In the same way, the holy seed is the substance of the children of Israel (Isa 6:13).

NAOMI is also hebrew meaning "joy or pleasant"

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Stop!

2010-05-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

(35.5 weeks)

The weeks seemed to be just speeding by until about 4 weeks ago when it suddenly all came to a screeching halt (or at least that's how it's felt to me). I'm a little over 36 week through this pregnancy and the last few weeks have physically been the most difficult weeks I think I've ever experienced. Having been through pregnancy 3 times already, I know that the end gets increasingly uncomfortable. That much I was expecting. I wasn't expecting to be completely "side-lined" because of additional health issues however. I'm not gonna go into detail about all of it at this point and I really didn't want this post to be a complete "whine-fest", but I think it's too late for that.

The end is in sight & I know in my head that this won't last forever. One thing these last few weeks have taught me is to never take my health for granted. So many little things I never thought twice about before that I just can't do/eat/drink/enjoy right now. I do believe things will get better. I have to believe this or the disappointment & discomforts of the moment get the better of me.

Honestly, I feel totally unprepared for this baby right now. I spent several hours at the hospital on Friday night and fortunately, it wasn't quite time yet. But, I don't have any bags packed for the hospital, we don't have a car seat (sold ours after Lucy outgrew it), we don't have a swing (we lent it to friends and never got it back), heck....we STILL don't have a name for this baby!

All those details will work themselves out I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm just taking things a day at a time and trying to stay positive.

M.I.A in Monterey

2010-04-23T20:24:00.001-07:00

So it looks as though I haven't blogged since the middle of March. I knew it had been a while, just hadn't realized it had been that long of a while!

Not sure where to pick up again here but I thought I'd do a post with some pictures from our trip to Monterey over Spring break (which was actually about a month ago now).

As you'll see from the pictures, the weather was absolutely perfect! Such gorgeous coastline and I couldn't put the camera down!

We spent a lot of time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the kids had a blast!

After the aquarium, we stopped at the beach for some tide-pooling before heading back to the hotel. Lots of fun!

I will probably add a few more photos later (I have tons to choose from)

Homestead Security

2010-03-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

We finally got our chickens yesterday! I admit, I can't tell which of the black ones is Chica & which is Thomas (I'll have to ask Heidi about this. I think the chicken in the picture above is Chica?). So far, so good though. They made it through the first night just fine at least (I'm really paranoid about raccoons or other creatures getting them at night even though we have them in a secured coop).

The kids were anxious to go outside and see the chickens first thing this morning and the girls couldn't wait to help feed them. Karis was determined to pet or hold one and most of the morning (after we let them out of the coop to wander) she attempted to do this. She did finally pet Pickles when the poor hen wasn't paying attention. They're actually really mellow, non-agressive chickens and the 3 of them explored the backyard together, pecking & scratching all day while Joshua worked on finishing up the last details of the coop. He did a really nice job with it and I'll have to take some pictures & post those tomorrow.

For now, I'm sitting on the couch relaxing & propping my feet up because they're swollen :(

We did have a few moments of frustration this evening earlier when trying to get the hens back in their coop for the night. Joshua & I were getting ready to go out for dinner & I was hoping to have them back safely in their coop before we left. But, after about 20 mins or so of unsuccessful chasing & coaxing around the yard, we finally gave up on catching the hens before leaving. When we got home, the 3 hens were perched in a row on the railing by the back door steps (sleeping I guess). From there Joshua easily managed to get them back in the coop for the night.

Alright...probably more than enough chit-chat about chickens for now.

(first thing yesterday morning the girls wanted to go check on the chickens)

(Lucy told me this morning, "I love the chickens so, so much!")

(the kids looking for eggs? We've gotten 3 eggs so far)

7 Years

2010-03-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ethan turned 7 yesterday. That's right....7. I still sorta feel caught off guard every time I hear myself say he's 7. It's just sounds so...well...not little anymore! I'm not going to get sappy and nostalgic about this, but birthdays are one of those milestones that often make me reflect on years past.

It's just bizarre to look back at where we were 7 years ago, when we started our family. Joshua & I were living in Westmont (suburb of Chicago) and he was working as a youth pastor. At that point we had no expectation that we'd be moving out to California anytime soon (Europe? Maybe. Latin America? Perhaps. But California? Most likely not).

We hadn't been married quite a year yet and Joshua's mom was alive still, though really battling with cancer at that point.

I was thinking about all this yesterday afternoon while raking pine needles in the back yard & listening to the kids play with Ethan's new super-soakers. Sometimes the un-fairness (is that a word?) of the situation just gets to me. Maybe it's not unfair, but it feels very sad & tragic to me in moments when I stop & think about it. It's sad that Joshua's mom didn't have the chance to celebrate Ethan's first birthday with us or to enjoy watching him grow up. It doesn't seem fair that she never got to experience an afternoon tea party or play dress up with her granddaughters (or even have the chance to meet them). And, it's sadly tragic that our kids won't likely ever fully understand who their Nana Kathy was and how her "larger-than-life" personality could fill up any room!

(so, I lied. It seems I've ventured into sappy/nostalgic territory, but this is my blog afterall, so who cares?)

7 years ago yesterday Ethan joined our family and it's true as everyone says..."they grow up SO fast!". In celebration of his birthday this year he wanted a Bengals theme party which we had for him on Saturday. He invited his entire 1st grade class & we ended up with about 13 kids (perfect amount!). The party was at the sports club just up the road from us and the kids kept busy with several different activites like dodgeball, the climbing wall, bounce house & a pinata. There were no serious injuries and the kids all seemed to have a great time!

It's kinda crazy to even try to imagine where we'll be when 7 more years pass. I'm not in a hurry...life is good right now (not perfect, but satisfying) and I'm trying to soak up every minute of it.

(on the climbing wall @ his party)

(Bengals helmet cake)

(playing dodgeball)

(kids dog-piling on the activities director @ the party)

(we let him skip school in the morning & we had a birthday breakfast

@ home)

3 Chickens & A Bunny

2010-03-14T20:30:00.001-07:00

We're actually getting chickens. This week in fact! My friend Heidi is moving and they offered to give us their 3 hens named Pickles, Chica & Thomas (named by her little boy who loved Thomas the Train- cute!). Since we'd been talking for months about doing this, we decided to take her up on the offer and just go for it. We don't have a coop yet, so Joshua did a little research a few nights ago and found a coop design he liked. Yesterday, he bought the lumber and the building began.

I'm pretty excited about finally getting chickens, but I'm also a little nervous. I hope they do well here. I know a couple people who've had chickens that were eaten by raccoons. I'd feel horrible if that happened!

Oh, the bunny... so, when Joshua was at the feed store a couple days ago checking on some things for the chickens, he noticed they had a very small, furry critter that was awfully cute (he didn't exactly use the word "cute", or wait...maybe he did. He hates that word, but every now & then it does slip into his vocabulary). Anyway, as I was starting to say...he called me from the store and when he started to suggest that perhaps they had a very small animal that we might consider getting as a pet, I guessed right away that it was a bunny. Ironically, I'd been thinking (to myself-hadn't yet mentioned to Joshua) that maybe we should surprise the kids with a pet bunny for Easter this year since they're getting a little older and keep asking for a pet. My parents gave us 2 bunnies on Easter one year when I was a little older than Ethan is now & they were really great pets! All that to say, we agreed...we're getting a bunny!

I always wanted to live on a farm & we're not there yet, but chickens & a bunny will be a step in that direction :)

(Ethan helping dad)

(Ethan, either trying to look cool or maybe he was just annoyed that I had the camera again)

(Joshua, not trying to look cool but looking good anyway)

(the initial frame for the coop)

(this picture has nothing to do with this blog post really, but Ethan stenciled a dragon

on his shirt today & was very proud of it)

More Birthdays...

2010-02-25T15:30:00.001-08:00

My sweet little niece, Bella, turned one yesterday.

My sister in law asked if I'd come over and take some photos of her on her birthday. Her party will be on Saturday, so I'll add a few of those photos to the post when I have them.

Happy Birthday Bella! We love you!!!

Joshua's 30th birthday is Sunday and I've got surprise stuff planned for the weekend.

I don't know how much of it (if any) will actually end up surprising him, but hopefully he hasn't uncovered all the details just yet. He keeps "digging" for details since he knows that I'm planning something. Either way, I'm looking forward to the weekend & I hope he enjoys it!

Lucy's 3rd Birthday

2010-02-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

Lucy is officially a 3 yr old now (although she's still closer to the size of most 24 month olds). We celebrated her birthday on Thursday night with a low-key family party. Party guests included: Mom & Dad, Ethan, Karis, Nonnie & Papa, Uncle Jordan, Auntie Sarah & cousin Bella, Jason, Julissa, Santiago & Isaac (Julissa's father) Heather & Aunt Sandi. Lucy wanted a Tinkerbell birthday (again) so we went with that!

I mentioned in my last post that I was making her cake from scratch instead of going with a box cake mix like I normally do. The texture & flavor of the cake turned out pretty good (in fact, I'm now wishing I'd bookmarked the website where I found the recipe). To decorate, I used a marshmallow fondant. The tutorial I used can be found at Cake Journal. This fondant was much easier to work with than the non-marshmallow fondant recipe I used this summer for Karis' cake. I ran out of time with the Tinkerbell cake (would've loved to add a few more little accents/embellishments) but Lucy loved it, so it was a success!

Joshua got video footage of most of the evening so I didn't actually take very many still shots, but I'll post a few more below from the the party and a couple photos I took the next day (her actual birthday).

*Birthday tiara from Dodo & Pam,

outfit from Nonnie & Papa*

Glad you had a Happy Birthday, Lucy-Boo! You're such a sweet little ray of light in our family...can't imagine what we ever did without you!

*I found the cake recipe & I'm posting it here now so I can find it next time:

Delicious, homemade Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Cake mix ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening

To make the cake:

1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Instructions:

1. Make the cake mix by combining the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

2. Using an electric mixer or a food processor, blend in the shortening until no lumps remain. (Using the mixer on this makes a dusty cocoa mess, so I prefer the food processor!) This is the dry cake mix part, and you can store it in an air-tight container for several months.

3. Finish making the cake by adding the water, oil, and eggs to the cake mix in a large bowl. Mix on low speed until moistened, and then beat on medium for about 2 minutes.

4. Pour batter into greased and floured pans (one 9x13-inch pan, two 9-inch round cake pans, or cupcakes) and bake at 350 degrees.

9x13-inch pan: 35-38 minutes
9-inch cake pans: 30-33 minutes
cupcakes: 19-22 minutes

Sunshine, Snow & Sick Again

2010-02-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

Monday was a holiday so we decided to take the kids up to the snow in the afternoon to follow up a nice, relaxing morning. I did some baking earlier in the day (cinnamon swirl bread & homemade apple butter- rather delicious!). After lunch, we drove up to Inskip where we found about 4 feet of snow. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the kids had a great time playing in the snow! I'll probably add a few more pictures of our little "outing" eventually, but I haven't yet finished editing most of them.

The weather this week is absolutely beautiful! It's as if Spring woke up overnight! Yesterday evening we went down to Chico to have dinner & evening prayers @ Jason & Julissa's. When I stepped out of the car I could smell the blossoms in the air. I love this time of year...especially after a winter like this one where we had day after day of rain & clouds! Another reason I get excited about this time of year is because the daylight hours start getting noticeably longer. This makes me very happy :)

Something I don't enjoy about this time of year is the fact that inevitably (it seems) our family always ends up getting sick in February. Joshua has a sinus infection right now & Lucy was sick last week with a cold that she seemed to bounce back from quickly. Today Karis started complaining of a headache which seemed odd to me until this afternoon when she said she was cold. I took her temp @ that point and she had a fever of 101. She's sleeping on the couch next to me right now- poor kiddo!

Lucy turns 3 on Friday and we're all set to celebrate her birthday with a Tinkerbell themed party tomorrow night. However, in light of the recent fever we've acquired, I may either have to quarantine Karis to her room or postpone the party (neither of which sound even remotely appealing to me). Anyone who knows me very well probably knows that I tend to go kinda nuts when it comes to planning birthday parties. It's one of the things I absolutely love to do! I'm trying to restrain myself a little and keep this low-key & low-budget. We're just doing a small family party with my parents, my aunt Sandi, my brother & his family, and the Wintons (their little guy is one of Lucy's best "buddies" who she recently announced she intends to marry).

I decided to make Lucy's birthday cake from scratch this time instead of using a box mix. Lucy helped me make the chocolate cake this afternoon & I plan to decorate it using fondant (I've only tried this once & was rather frustrated with how difficult the fondant was to work with). I'm trying a new fondant recipe this time so we'll see if I end up with better results.

I'm being "paged" by a little one, so I better wrap this up for now. Stay tuned for post-birthday-party photos soon.

*Ok, here are a few more pictures from our afternoon in the snow:

Valentine's Week In Review

2010-02-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Another busy week behind us and I didn't even get to my Friday evaluation yesterday. I didn't forget, I just decided there were other things I'd rather do instead. I feel like overall it was a more productive week than last week was at least.

It was definitely a week full of Valentine's festivities! On Tuesday afternoon, I decided to stop into the thrift store right near our house to see if I could find some good deals on long-sleeve shirts for the girls. I left about 40 minutes later with a bag stuffed full of clothes for the kids. The childrens' clothes were all just .25 cents each and some of them were brand new w/ the tags still. I did find a couple of solid color long-sleeved shirts for the girls that I decided to embellish with some really cute Valentine's fabric I'd purchased the day before @ Joann's (50% off). The shirts turned out pretty cute- they're not quite what I going for, but the girls really love them & call them their "love bug" shirts.

Aside from the little bit of sewing I did on the girls' shirts, I also spent some time trying to finish up Ethan's quilt. I have 2 of the 4 sides finished. I'm having a little "issue" with the machine not liking the thickness of the quilt (I'm trying to machine stitch around the edges instead of hand stitching like I've done in the past). I think maybe I need to switch to a bigger size of needle on the machine?

Joshua & I celebrated Valentine's Day early this year. I arranged to have a babysitter come watch the kids on Wednesday evening so I could take Joshua out for dinner (thanks again Rachel!). I made reservations for an early dinner at the Steakhouse on the 6th floor of the Gold Country Casino. The Casino is kinda "hokey", but when you step out of the elevator on the 6th floor, you suddenly walk into a very different & significantly more elegant atmosphere! I intentionally set up our reservation so that we'd be eating dinner while the sun set because the restaurant has an incredible westward view!

We had a couple drinks while waiting to be seated (I ordered a virgin pina colada). For appetizers we had the jumbo coconut prawns (which are served with pina colada sauce) & a bowl of their amazing lobster bisque with cognac. For the main course, we decided to split their 20 oz Porterhouse steak with garlic-mashed potatoes & chose the house made Cabernet sauce (let me just say...the sauce alone was worth the trip!).

Joshua gave me a really beautiful live orchid (pictured at the top of this post), a "grow your own lavender" kit (because I keep saying I'd like to try growing lavender sometime) and a gorgeous box of hand-made & hand-selected chocolates that he got from Coco Amatrice (the local chocolate shop down the street where we've become regular customers & more than just casual aquaintances with the owners). The chocolates are so intricately made that I almost feel bad eating them! I say almost because I definitely end up eating them! Their chocolates are exquisite & taste at least as good as they look.

On Thursday, both Ethan & Karis had Valentine's parties in their classes. Ethan's class had also prepared a little show that all of us parents were invited to. I made heart shaped cupcakes for Karis' class (they turned out cute, but I missed the photo op in all the busyness of the day).

(Ethan reciting his poem)

(Ethan's the one on the left-they've been studying Emperor penguins & the poem is called "Regurgitate")

If you've read some of my previous blog posts, you probably know that one of my "goals" for the year was to introduce our family to more organic & wholesome foods. I've still been growing my sprouts and enjoying those, but have been a bit frustrated with the process (I've been experimenting w/ growing them in glass jars which works fine except that I have to be really careful to rinse them often or they develop mold). I was reading up a little bit more about other ways to grow sprouts and I think I'm going to try another method for sprouting where you use just a towel (or several paper towels). I also read that you can sprout lentils, which I did not know before, and the girl who was writing about it said they tasted like fresh peas to her (sounds pretty good to me, so I may give that a try soon too).

This week I've been making fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. It's not very time consuming and tastes sooo much better than the store-bought OJ (in my opinion).

We also decided we'd like to try making more of our own bread. A friend tipped me off to a blog called The Frugal Girl, which I've enjoyed reading. She does a lot of her own baking and posts recipes that are easy to follow. Yesterday I tried making her sandwich bread recipe. It's a simple recipe and makes enough dough for 2 loaves. I decided to make one loaf of bread & use the other half to make cinnamon rolls. It all turned out pretty good- was a bit more time consuming than I anticipated (mostly just waiting for dough to rise), but I figure on Mondays, Wednesdays & Friday mornings I might have time to do this.

I also did just a little more work on my photography website/blog. It's not all set yet, but here's what I have so far for Summer Jenee Photography (I need to come up with a better name, but just haven't put in the effort to do this). Joshua & I have been talking more about pursuing stock photography. It's not necessarily something I'm wild about (from a creative stand point), but there are definitely several sites out there you can upload photos to & potentially make money. We haven't yet had much luck at all with istock photo, but I'm willing to give some other sites a shot and perhaps try again with istock as well.

Today was a lovely, sunny Saturday. I spent about an hour in the backyard this morning while the kids played & got some fresh air. I planted some bulbs (mixed irises) and raked up some pine needles & leaves. We're getting ready to seed part of the lawn in the backyard soon. We haven't quite decided if we're going to till it all up and start from scratch or just try to seed in addition to the patchy grass that's already there.

As I write this, we're making some candles (waiting right now for some wax to dry). Still trying to work out some kinks with the wicks & wax and decide what burns best. It's fun but can also be a frustrating process for someone (like myself) who tends to have little to no patience.

Okay then... I feel like I've written more than enough for one night. I have a few other things that have been on my mind the last several days, but will probably put some more of that into "writing" in the next day or so.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Self-Evaluation Friday (episode 3)

2010-02-05T21:10:00.000-08:00

*hang on, this photo has relevance but it's probably not what you're thinking*

It's Friday night again and honestly, I cannot account for how quickly this week seems to have flown by! I know it's "Self-Evaluation Friday", but I don't feel like self-evaluating (I don't really feel like blogging right now for that matter). However, I did make a commitment to myself that I'd stick with this, so here goes...

I haven't made much progress on my projects/goals this week:

I haven't started any painting projects around the house yet. I didn't spend any time sewing this week. I DID get out to run a couple times (which was nice) but I didn't put in as many miles as I'd have liked. Did not plant a garden or blackberries yet. Still growing sprouts & wheatgrass in my kitchen window. Have NOT yet gotten a wheatgrass juicer. No chickens or cob playhouse in the backyard yet either. Oh, and I haven't made much progress (if any) on my photography website this week.

Since I basically just listed a bunch of things that I haven't done this week, what have I been doing the last few days? I've been busy, but busy doing what? February is a month full of birthdays for our family. Lucy's birthday is the 19th, my mom's is the 20th, my sister-in-law's was yesterday, my niece's is the 24th & Joshua's is the 28th. I've kinda been shifting into birthday planning mode the last few days. Joshua turns 30 this year, so I'm trying to make sure this birthday doesn't slip by without him noticing. I can't really say much more about that (just in case he ever decided to read my blog). But, I will say that I spent the better part of today running errands in Chico that mostly related to his birthday.

Yesterday we enjoyed some really delicious food @ the Indian restaurant in Chico (Priya). Joshua, the girls & I met some friends for lunch and I think we all ate way too much, but it was very worth it! They have a lunch buffet that we all took advantage of. Normally, I don't trust buffets because the food generally ends up being sub-par, but this place is the real thing!

We decided to try to meet with Jason & Julissa on a weekly basis (or at least a fairly regular basis) to talk about intentional community issues (shared experiences, questions about community, hesitations, fears, to brainstorm ideas, etc...)

It's still been raining a lot this week, though we did get a bit of sunshine on Wednesday. It's raining outside right now & the thunder rumbling off in the distance is a soothing sound on a sleepy Friday evening.

Wednesday evening Ethan offered to help me set the table for dinner. I thought that act in itself was nice, but then he insisted that we set a place for Jesus at the table also. He got out an extra plate, fork & napkin but told me we'd not need to worry about giving Him food because Jesus would probably bring his own (made sense to me). As part of our bedtime routine with the kids, we read a Bible story every night. That night we got to the part where Jesus is betrayed. Ethan was really emotional about this and was sobbing on the couch. Joshua reminded him that the story has a happy ending and Jesus doesn't stay dead!

The very next day, Ethan came home from school really excited to show us what "his girlfriend" (Jenna) had given him that day. I was a bit surprised when he held out his hand to proudly display a 4-inch, wooden crucifix with a small, gold-plated inscription on the top ("INRI"). It seemed like a strange coincidence to me, or perhaps he's been talking about Jesus at school with his friends??

This afternoon I was a couple minutes late getting to the school to collect Ethan (remember all the errands I mentioned earlier? I left Chico a few minutes later than I should've) so he was the only student left in his classroom. I had a few minutes to chat with his teacher & she lightheartedly mentioned that they'd had to have a "little talk" today. She assured me with a smile on her face that it was no sort of real problem. Then went on to explain that Ethan's been wanting to change the words in the songs they're practicing for their Valentine's show next week. Apparently, he's been wanting to add "Jesus" into one particular song which says something like, "may there always be families, may there always be love..." She said the only reason it's any sort of issue at all is just that she's trying to get 20 first graders to all follow along together with the words and every now and then she hears his little voice singing "Jesus" instead of "families".

There are plenty of things we do or say as parents that I often wonder about...wonder if our kids at all understand yet why we choose to spend time doing the things we do (or don't do).

I frequently have doubts about whether or not we've exposed our kids to enough Scripture or if they're developing the skills to think critically for themselves, to have a faith of their own. Then (seemingly out of the blue) something like what I just described above happens and I get a glimpse of what must be going on in our little six-yr-old son's mind & heart. I still wonder about plenty of things, but I sit here smiling in the meantime.

The New Addition

2010-02-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

The last time I put up a post we were in the middle of our hunt for a new (used, but new to us) car for the family. It was a rather stressful process by the time it was all said and done. But, I'm happy to say that the search is over...we found our car & it was nothing short of a small miracle I think.

Saturday morning Joshua & I had been looking through craigslist ads in the Sacramento & Bay Areas. We'd noticed that there were quite a few Volvo wagons listed in the Bay Area and there also happened to be a Volvo dealer/mechanic in Santa Rosa who had several cars in the right model & years we were looking for. So, at 11:15 am Saturday we decided to pack our "overnight bags" & load the family up for a little last-minute road trip. I'm always one for traveling, but we don't normally make overnight trips with the entire family on such short notice. Surprisingly, only an hour later (12:15 pm) we were all 5 buckled into The Abbey's van and beginning our journey to Santa Rosa.

The weather Saturday turned out really beautiful...bright, blue sky contrasted with clumps of white, puffy clouds. Once we got to the Sonoma/Napa area we were distracted by the beautiful vineyards and countryside all around (a very unexpected treat as the day had started off looking very dreary & damp back on the ridge in little Paradise). At this point I was slightly regretting that I hadn't brought my camera along (I'd intentionally left it behind, attempting to pack light & be as low maintenance as possible). Speaking of low maintenance, the kids were really super sports on the road, (the DVD player in the van really helps) and by about 3:45 pm we were pulling into the Volvo dealer's lot.

Instead of going into all the details of what happened at the dealership in Santa Rosa, let me just say that this guy was asking literally twice the price that most of the other cars of that model & year were going for. When he told me the price they were asking, I honestly nearly fell over! Neither Joshua nor myself had a very good impression of this guy (he seemed to fit the stereotypical "greasy car salesman" mold very well). So, at about 5:15 pm on Saturday, after test driving a couple cars and making an offer on one, we drove away in the van feeling rather discouraged. At this point I started wondering if we hadn't made a pretty huge mistake by selling our Outback as quickly as we had.

Joshua suggested that he could still look up a couple other cars on craigslist that we'd seen earlier in the day, since there were several others in the area. I told him to go for it...what could it hurt? We'd driven the 3 1/2 hours already....might as well give it our best shot. He ended up either e-mailing or phoning 4 private sellers about their Volvos. The last lady he'd left a voicemail for called back within 2-3 minutes (she was in Napa she said & she'd be willing to show us the car that evening if we were up for the hour-long drive from Santa Rosa). I was cautiously optimistic at this point...pretty hesitant to get my hopes up too high.

An hour later, when we saw the car pull into the Foster's Freeze parking lot where we met the nice lady in Napa, it was love at first sight (between us & the car I mean...not between the lady and either of us. Just making sure there's no confusion here). We weren't under the impression that this car was one that had the 3rd row seat, but when Joshua mentioned it, she assured us that it DID in fact already have the extra seat! At this point, I was 95% sure that we were driving this car home!

I told Joshua to go ahead and take the car for a test drive and I'd stay back w/ the kids who were all sleepily watching a DVD in the van & still waiting for dinner (poor kiddos!). He took the car for a quick spin and immediately after, told the owner we'd take it! What a relief!!! The car hunt was over! We settled up the paper work & payment and then headed out to find something to eat. We ended up eating at Buckhorn Grill (by this time it was 8pm-the time the kids normally go to bed). During dinner Joshua used his handy-dandy notebook (I mean iphone) to line up a room at a Comfort Inn in Fairfield and we groggily pulled into the hotel parking lot around 9:30 pm.

The hotel ended up being a great deal (only $37) which included a fairly plentiful breakfast for all of us the following morning. We hit the road just after 8:30 am Sunday & arrived back in sleepy little Paradise by 11 am. It was a quick road trip, but a weekend well spent! We had found our new car.

So this is all probably much too dramatic sounding for a story about finding a used car, but there you have it...the scoop on our "newest addition" to the family- our '99 Volvo Cross Country (turbo) Wagon. So far, we're really pleased!

Self-Evaluation Friday (episode 2)

2010-01-29T15:49:00.000-08:00

It's Friday again already-Yikes! This has been a busy week & felt like it really sped away from me! I went into the week pretty worn out and the events of the past few days just didn't allow for much time to recoup.

So, this post will probably end up being more of a recap on my week than anything else.

Joshua normally takes Mondays off and this week he decided to take our Outback over to the Subaru specialist across town to have a few things looked at. Knowing that we'd be getting our tax refund in a few days and that the car was needing a new clutch, we figured it was good timing.

We love that car and even though we'll have officially outgrown it once the baby arrives, we were planning to buy the additional 3rd row seat and have that installed so that we could keep the car.

When Joshua walked in the door late Monday morning (after getting the car looked at) he explained that the Subaru guy didn't recommend the 3rd row seat due to safety issues.

Bottom line, we decided we'd need to sell our Outback and buy something bigger :(

Joshua didn't waste any time...he immediately started researching our options for cars w/ enough seating for a family of 6. After considering all factors (reliability, safety, consumer reviews, etc...) we essentially narrowed it down to the Volvo V70 cross country wagon w/ 3rd row seat. Simple enough (so we thought).... we even found a Volvo V70 on craigslist in Chico. We went down Monday afternoon to take it for a spin. We both agreed that it handled very differently than our Outback & not in a good way. I personally didn't like the black leather interior either (though that's not necessarily a "deal breaker" for me). We told the nice lady that we were interested, but needed to talk it over and since it was the first car we'd looked at, we were a little hesitant to "pull the trigger" so quickly.

We drove up to Redding on Tuesday afternoon to see another Volvo wagon. Much better! It handled great, we both loved driving it and it even had the tan leather interior that I prefer. The price was pretty good too, but we were hoping to have the volvo specialist in Redding check it out in a couple days to make sure the engine looked ok. Joshua went ahead & put an ad on craigslist for our Outback and we got e-mails right away from people who were interested.

Wednesday morning I took Ethan to school @ 7:45 and then came home to spend the next hour thoroughly cleaning, vacuuming & shining up the Outback. It looked great (if I do say so myself). By 10 am the first "customer" had already arrived, test driven the car & made an offer (which Joshua accepted)! Later that afternoon when the fella came back to pay for and pick up the car, Karis had a major meltdown! As he was driving away, I had to literally drag her back into the house crying & screaming!

Thursday afternoon we found out that someone else had already bought the Volvo in Redding. Bummer! So, we've been watching craigslist like hawks and calling around, but these specific cars w/ the 3rd row seat are not very easy to find! My brain feels like mush this evening & I'm basically sick of searching for, calling about & talking about Volvo wagons (now, after this much-too-long story, you also will be sick of hearing about Volvo wagons!)

Ok...slowly moving along & onto the self-evaluation portion of my Friday post:

*It's been a funky week & I admit that I definitely did not get as much accomplished as I'd have liked.*

My wheatgrass is growing like crazy & now the only issue is, we don't have a wheatgrass juicer yet (oops!) The sprouts have been doing well also & I'm enjoying them w/ my lunches most days.

*Ethan decided he wanted to try a little bit of wheatgrass*

*Lucy saw me with the camera out & insisted that I take her picture w/ the ladybug that Karis made*

Honestly, I didn't even get my sewing machine out in the last few days so I've made no progress whatsoever on the quilt.

I did get out for a run this morning and it was fantastic! There's nothing like that brisk morning air brushing against my face & rushing deep into my lungs to make me feel so alive while running wild & free! (It's referred to as a "runner's high" & I'm convinced that it is in fact addicting) *I realize that sounds lame, but it's true for me*

Something so therapeutic about running...as if I can feel the layers of tension & stress peeling off as I run. Though my life really isn't all that stressful these days, the running still does wonders for me! I spent the first 1/2 mile of the run today settling into a comfortable pace, but after that it was lovely :)

In my last post, I wrote about our candle-making venture with The Abbey. Nothing further to report really on that at this point.

I've been working (rather slowly) on my photography website and have had a couple graphic design jobs this week for previous clients.

Haven't started any of the painting projects I'm hoping to finish up, but I do think I'll probably target the bathroom first. We're planning to probably use a little bit of our refund money to FINALLY tile the bathroom floor.

Ok, I'm literally falling asleep at the computer here, so I'm going to put myself to bed & will post a couple pictures tomorrow.

Good night!

Candle-Making Marathon

2010-01-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

What a busy weekend! I feel like we were probably home for a total of approximately, oh....3 hours all weekend (that's not including sleeping hours of course). We had a rather productive & fun time trying out our new candle-making skills with The Abbey. Overall, we were fairly pleased with the results (considering it was our first test-run). We definitely still have some "kinks" to work out, but hopefully over time and with added experience, we will become more efficient at what we're doing. I personally am loving the candle-making so far...plenty of room for creativity & I fear it could become addicting!

Several people have asked me what this candle-making stuff is all about. I'm pretty exhausted right now, so I'm gonna just give a brief run down of what we're doing & will post some photographs that I took of the weekend.

In a nutshell, we're experimenting with the candles to see if it might be a tenable means to sustainability for The Abbey. We already have 2 local business owners who've said they would be interested in using us as suppliers for their shops. So...we're giving it a go!

*Rachel melting wax for votives*

*Rachel's green votives in the mold*

*Rachel's 2-tone green votives (nice job!)*

We had a new friend join us at The Abbey this weekend. Kristoff is a young surfer from Tofino, Vancouver who's traveling along the West Coast. He's currently driving a Landcruiser which runs mostly on vegetable oil. He is also in the process of filming a documentary about Intentional Communities and he stopped in to spend a couple days with us.

*Kristoff getting in on the fun*

*Heather & Lucy*

*Heather*

*hand-dipped tapers made by Joshua (pretty impressive!)*

*sugar cookie latte votive, short espresso votive & snickerdoodle tealight- designed by me*

*my little snickerdoodle tealight*

*pinkish candle designed by Karis, blue & gold candle designed by Ethan & the others designed by me*

*bees wax votives by Rachel*

Self-Evaluation Friday (episode 1)

2010-01-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

I decided that every Friday I'm going to do a little self evaluation to take inventory of the progress (or lack of progress) that I'm making with the various projects I've decided to work on. I'm hoping that doing this will help to keep me on track.

So, how am I coming along with my projects this fine Friday?

Ok, let's start with my organic window garden:

I "harvested" my first crop of sprouts yesterday and even incorporated some into my lunch! My mid-day meal yesterday included roasted red pepper hummus & sprouts on a whole wheat pita bun, organic white tortilla chips & a handful of red ripe strawberries. Very wholesome & surprisingly tasty!

*I know it looks a little iffy, but tasted very good!*

Since the kids were sick this week, I've been a little preoccupied and didn't plant my wheatgrass as soon as I'd hoped. On Monday, I finally tracked down the wheatgrass berries and stopped into Chico Natural Foods to pick some up. However, I didn't actually plant my first batch of wheatgrass until this morning. I started by planting just 2 small containers this time since I'm in the experimentation phase and don't know yet exactly how this will go. I also started my 2nd batch of sprouts yesterday.

Next, candle making with The Abbey:

Joshua poured the first batch of votives this week. You can see them in the photograph at the top of this post- hot fudge brownie scented & they smell sooo good... I admit, I've been tempted to try a bite! Tomorrow (after our cohort breakfast @ Jason & Julissa's) we're planning to come back up here and have a candle-making fiesta! I'm really looking forward to experimenting with some different combinations of colors & scents. I think a layered mocha or latte candle would be fun!

Moving on to my sewing:

Today, I spent about an hour & 1/2 sewing. I'm still working on finishing up the quilt for Ethan's bed. I now have the entire top of the quilt finished, so I just need to decide for sure which fabric(s) I'm going to use for the backing and then put that together. I figure I should be able to finish it with a couple more evenings of sewing.

As for my photography website:

I did finally start developing my website a couple of nights ago. With any luck, I'll have it finished & "launched" in another week or 2.

The weather has been really wet and cold this week, so I've done virtually nothing in the yard the last few days and it hasn't been a great week of running either. No chickens or cob playhouse yet! And...I'm waiting till the weather warms up a little more to start painting in Ethan's room (I want to be able to open the windows for plenty of airflow whenever I do bust out the paintbrushes).

So, that brings us to the conclusion of my first episode of "self-evaluation Friday".

Thanks for tuning in! :)

Seasons, Storms & Stinky Food

2010-01-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for storms and sick germs! Last week, Ethan was out with a stomach "bug", and this week our girls seem to have it. For one reason or another, we seem to be stuck inside quite a bit lately. We're getting buckets of rain along with fairly strong gusts of wind. It's the kind of weather that makes you just want to curl up on the couch with a blanket, good book & a cup of hot tea. Actually, I have been drinking tea more frequently these days (my favorite cup consists of english breakfast tea, a generous dash of sugar & a splash of vanilla soy milk). I normally love my coffee, but have been opting instead for tea the last 3+ months because of several reasons: (A) coffee seems to irritate my stomach lately (B) I try to limit my caffeine intake while I'm pregnant (C) I'm quite convinced that tea is a healthier choice either way

(D) tea can be *almost* as tasty as a cup of joe when you make it right & (E) if I'm honest...I feel ever so slightly sophisticated when I drink tea.

Last night I stayed home with the girls instead of going to Garth & Barb's for evening prayers with The Abbey. On Tuesday & Thursday evenings, we meet with The Abbey for a meal (potluck style) which is followed by prayers on Tuesday and Scripture reading & Eucharist on Thursday.

Ok, confession time again...I admit that I sometimes cringe at the thought of what might be laid on the table in front of me at the communal meals (I'm talking food now). Most of the Abbey members are sensible enough to know that certain foods just DO NOT belong together in the same dish. However, there is one individual (who shall remain nameless) who seems to be under the impression that the goal of the communal/potluck meal is to see who can come up with the nastiest/strangest/foulest smelling combination of ingredients that one could possibly imagine combining in one pot! (I could expand on this, but I think I'll stop there).

There are plenty of things about living in an intentional community that are great. One example quickly comes to mind... This afternoon, I asked Rachel (who also lives here "on-site") if she'd be willing to pop over to sit with the girls for 15-20 minutes while I went to pick Ethan up from school. She was kind enough to do that so I didn't have to drag our girls out in the rain & wind while they're not feeling well. *Thanks again Rachel!!*

A few other things I enjoy about living communally in The Abbey are things like being able to collaborate & creatively explore different ideas (such as gardening together or making candles together *which I'm anxious to jump into*), extending hospitality to individuals in our "outside community" who come to us in need (for example: providing a temporarily homeless person or family with a place to stay & food). I like that our kids are growing up in a place where they're often given the opportunity to meet (and sometimes become friends) with people from all different "walks of life". Of course, there's a downside to this as well...there have been a few situations where someone who we've tried to help has later ended up becoming angry with us or even threatened us (these have almost all involved people with mental health "issues").

All that being said, I still believe we're doing the right thing. It may not always be the easy way, sometimes it definitely doesn't feel like the safest path & it often involves stinky foods, but I'm thankful for this season in our lives when we get to be part of something bigger than ourselves as we stumble together trying to learn what it means to live like Jesus.

***A quick clarification so I don't leave you with the wrong impression...we've also had some really delicious foods @ Abbey meals!***

Contemplating Cob

2010-01-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

Confession time... if you haven't already figured out by now, I'm kinda crazy! Excessively ambitious and generally far-fetched ideas often find me in the wee hours of the morning as I'm lingering lazily somewhere between asleep & awake. This morning, my "awakening" involved cob. If you're not familiar with cob or haven't seen pictures of any cob structures, you really should take a few minutes to check it out!

In September, Joshua, the kids & I (along with some other good friends) got to take part in a unique & excitingly messy experience when we joined a remarkable family living "off the grid". We were able to get our hands in the mud while helping them (just for a day) build part of their cob house. Their situation is pretty inspiring (at least it was for me). I really enjoyed my time out there and honestly think I might like to live in a cob house some day.

*more on that in a minute*

Alright...so what does this have to do with my Sunday morning "epiphany"? Well, a couple days ago, as I was out raking in our backyard, I was pondering the notion of building the kids a treehouse or some type of playhouse (what I'm really saying is that I was wondering how I might go about convincing Joshua that HE should build them a treehouse). This morning, it came to me...I should build a cob cottage in our yard for the kids to use as a playhouse! Okay, okay....admittedly, I have a few other projects on my to-do list already (like I said...I'm crazy & sometimes get very far-fetched ideas- But it could happen!) Somewhere in the middle of planting this year's garden & blackberries, painting Ethan's room, making new clothes for Hippo, growing wheatgrass & maybe getting chickens (Oh, and growing a baby)...I'd love to build a cob cottage! I have a mental blue-print in my head already of what I'd like to do. I'll keep you posted on whether or not I actually break ground on this project.

What I'd REALLY love would be to some day buy a small piece of land and build our own cob home! There are some amazing homes made out of cob- it's very versatile, PLUS it's extremely energy efficient! It would be great to have enough land to put in a decent sized garden (and maybe have some animals too). I think it would be so incredible to build a cozy home with your own 2 hands, hard work, sweat & tears! So, there you have it...that's a long-term dream of mine! For now, I may try the cob cottage in the backyard-just to get my hands dirty & to get a feel for what could someday be more than simply an early morning "awakening".

***I'm posting a few sample pictures taken of cob homes so you can get a better idea of I'm talking about***

Estrogen Overload?

2010-01-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

It's a GIRl!!!

(at least that's what the ultrasound today indicated-we won't know 100% till the baby arrives)

Ethan was a little disappointed at first, but recovered quickly when he saw the ultrasound pictures and videos of the baby.

I think Lucy might actually be more frustrated with the ultrasound results than Ethan is (she really wanted it to be a baby boy).

So, now it's back to the drawing board in hopes that we can reach an agreement on a girl's name. Hmm...no idea where to go with that one yet.

Peek-A-Boo

2010-01-14T14:59:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow I have my 20 week ultrasound and we'll (most likely) get to find out who's in there! I have a feeling it's a girl, but according to the Chinese pregnancy calendar, it's a boy.

I don't have a strong preference either way:

On the one hand...Ethan would really love a brother, so it would great if it's a boy!

On the other hand...girls are so much easier than boys in many ways (they entertain themselves easily with quiet things like coloring & playing with dolls, while boys tend towards more physical & loud activities).

On the other hand...having 3 teenage daughters at the same time could be seriously scary!

On the other hand...if it's a girl, we're already set with all the baby girl clothes we'd need because I never got rid of Lucy's things.

On the other hand...Joshua & I have a boy's name picked out that we both agree on!

On the other hand...that would just be too easy, so it must be a girl (because that's how life goes, right?)

Either way, I guess we'll find out tomorrow :)

Mundane Mishappenings

2010-01-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

Ethan's home from school again today for the third day in a row. Since the weather isn't that great and we're essentially homebound, I figured I'd take advantage of the time at home and get caught up on laundry and other cleaning around the house. I also thought that (just for the heck of it) I'd blog throughout the day...just the everyday little things that happen around here that I don't normally think twice about.

I got my first batch of sprouts all set up in my sprouting jar. I'm using an organic mix of alfalfa, radish & broccoli. We'll see how this goes. I was frustrated yesterday to find that all of the shops I checked in Paradise (ACE, 2 garden shops & 2 health food stores) either didn't carry or were out of wheatgrass berries. I think I got some a few years ago at S & S in Chico, so I may just do that again.

Sometime late morning while I was in the kitchen finishing up a few dishes, Lucy climbed up on the stool and got into the drawer with the office supplies. I glanced over to see her applying the white-out as if it were lip gloss! Fortunately, I was only about 10 feet away from her when this happened and got to her quickly to wipe it off her lips before she ingested any. Needless to say, I found a new home for the white-out.

I love to eavesdrop on the kids' conversations. Today, Ethan & Karis were discussing upcoming birthdays. Karis (whose birthday isn't until July) had decided that she might want to consider having her birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese's. Their conversation when like this...

Karis: "I might have my party at Chuck-E-Cheese's"

Ethan: "Yeah, you can if you want to Karis!"

Karis: "Actually, I'm afraid of Chuck-E-Cheese."

Ethan: "Karis, He's a MOUSE! He has a purple hat!"

***at this point I'm trying very hard not to laugh out loud***

Karis: "Yeah, I know...but I'm afraid of people that don't talk."

-I don't remember exactly how the rest of their little discussion went, but it was very entertaining for a bit!-

About lunchtime, Ethan wanted to check his temperature and was in the middle of that when he decided he also needed to pee (it's an under-arm thermometer...just so you don't get the wrong picture). Not a great idea though...the thermometer ended up in the toilet which was now full of pee. (Ewww!!!)

Bizarre little "mishaps" like this aren't rare around here, I just don't normally think about it much I suppose. Another little blip in my everyday routine.

I decided I think I'm going to sew some little clothes for Hippo. Lucy insists that Hippo's a boy, but lately she keeps dressing him up in her various doll dresses. Hmm...I think he needs some nice little masculine shorts. (that's not to say that I wouldn't still love Hippo dearly should he decide to take an "alternative" path with his life).

Today I discovered that if you spritz a little bit of lemon juice into your glass of gingerale, it's actually very tasty. In my opinion, you can never go overboard with lemon!

Around 1:00 I sat down to read for a few minutes. I'd already washed, folded & put away approximately 7 loads of laundry, the kids were all playing quietly in their rooms and the enchiladas were assembled and ready to pop into the oven at dinnertime (I'm trying to get better about planning ahead for dinner instead of waiting till 4pm everyday). Anyway...I grabbed the "lady with the beard book" (that's what the kids call it because of the picture on the front cover).

Patrick lent Joshua The Great Emergence (by Phyllis Tickle). I remember listening to part of a pod-cast with Phyllis Tickle a few months back and I got the impression she's pretty intelligent & worth listening to. I read the introduction and the first chapter this afternoon. It's interesting to me that so far the only people she's quoted were females (not that there's any problem with that, but I'm wondering if she's trying to prove a point? Maybe not).

I'm looking forward to the next cohort gathering we're having at Jason & Julissa's this month. A new couple at church who we've become friends with the past few months is planning to join us this time. I hope they find it worth their while.

The kids are busy painting right now. It's proving to be quite messy, but I love watching their creative little minds as they paint each masterpiece!

(Lucy's painting)

At dinner tonight, the topic of dying came up. Recently, Karis is very concerned about dying so Ethan always tries to explain to her that when she dies, she gets to go to heaven. He told her that when you die, God comes down and scoops you up and puts you back to life in heaven!

At this point Lucy interjected that "Hippo wants to go to heaven!".

Then Karis asked if God is bigger than a pond. Ethan jumped right in to explain that God is bigger than the biggest pond! He told her that God's bigger than the whole world and He's holding the whole planet in one hand "AND he's probably eating with the other hand right now" (they decided he's most likely eating enchiladas or maybe fish).

On a day like today, when I'm a literal stay-at-home mom, I'm okay with the mundane happenings around my home and maybe even an occasional "mis"happening here or there.

Organic Starts

2010-01-10T18:24:00.001-08:00

Starting a new year is always a great time to evaluate the flow & direction of life...to ask questions like "where am I heading and what are the things I hope to achieve and learn in the year ahead?"

So here's my short list of personal hopes, goals, dreams, etc...for 2010:

-continue to simplify (this includes practical organization around the house, maintaining a simple & realistic family schedule as well as doing away with some of our consumerist tendencies/habits).

-pursue a more organic/wholesome lifestyle for our family

***my most recent project is starting an organic window garden. I asked Joshua to build me a little ledge in the kitchen window where I'm planning to grow wheatgrass & various sprouts. He was kind enough to build that for me yesterday and I'm hoping to have the first round of seeds planted & sprouting by the end of the week. I've been doing a lot of reading and research lately about the benefits of organic foods and I'm really hoping to have less processed foods around the house and more wholesome, organic foods available***

-finish re-decorating Ethan's room (This includes repainting his room and finishing the quilt I'm almost done making for his bed).

-sew more (I recently got my sewing machine out after a 5 year hibernation! I forgot how much I do enjoy creating w/ a sewing machine).

-finish my photography website & get that launched in the next 2-5 weeks.

-finish repainting the main bathroom (I started this over a year ago & got seriously sidetracked).

-candle making with The Abbey. (We just purchased lots of materials and candle-making kits).

-write/journal on a regular basis

-continue running

***I admittedly became an addict at some point in our marathon training last year. Joshua says he'll train with me again for another marathon after the baby's born. I'd really like to run the Napa Marathon next Spring (2011). The running has become significantly more challenging these days since I'm carrying around a "watermelon" in my belly, but I've been running approximately 3 days a week and average about 10 miles a week (sadly, it's much less than my usual running routine, but I'm just trying to "stay in the game" so I don't have to start over @ square one after this pregnancy)***

-plant another garden this Spring & I also hope to put in some boysenberry and/or blackberry plants in the very back of our yard.

-possibly get chickens (we've talked about this for a few months and I'm not completely sure it's realistic for us...but I'd like to at least consider further).

If I had to choose a word for the year, it would be

-ORGANIC-

I'm not planning on becoming a tree-hugging, hippie-vegan, but I don't think that would be the worst thing that ever happened to me either :)

Saying Goodbye To 2009

2010-01-09T15:08:00.001-08:00

We just said goodbye to 2009 and are looking upon a new year-2010. The birth of a new year prompts many of us to evaluate the previous year and to take inventory of all the things we did or did not accomplish over the past 12 months.

Some of my hopes & goals for 2009 were to travel more, to run a marathon & to pursue photography:

2009 proved to be a rather significant year!

In February, Joshua & I were able to take a 4 day trip back to Chicago which gave us the opportunity to revisit some of our very favorite Chicago places as well as catch up with a few good friends we hadn't seen in years.

(some of the Chicago skyline)

Shortly after our trip to Chicago, my brother & sister-in-law had their first baby & I became an auntie! Beautiful Bella Renee Mallory joined our family and we are so happy for Sarah & Jordan!

In March, we ran our first 1/2 marathon in Chico's lovely (& very FLAT) Bidwell Park. We both finished and I was happy to make my goal time of finishing under 2 hrs. Sadly, instead of feeling excited as I crossed the finish line, all I could think about was how difficult the Big Sur full marathon was going to be! Needless to say, the 1/2 marathon gave us the chance to re-evaluate our plans to run the full marathon in April. We knew the next 6 weeks of running would be intense and would require some serious hill training, but we both decided to go for it (since we'd already paid the $120 registration fee and had been training for 11 months at that point).

Sunday, April 26th finally rolled around and found us in Monterey California, ready (we hoped) to run the Big Sur International Marathon. We caught the bus to the starting line at 4am and began the intimidating, hour-long ride from Carmel to the starting line at the Big Sur Ranger Station. Let's just say that by the time we got to the starting line, every last ounce of confidence I'd once had about my ability to run that marathon was now gone! I quickly realized I'd need to re-adjust my personal goal for the race (instead of hoping to finish in under 4 hours, my new goal was just to FINISH!).

The course was absolutely beautiful! Running right along the coast was incredible and the temperature was perfect...a chilly 46 degrees (though I really could have done w/o the fierce headwinds). We finished the first 1/2 of the race very strong and even survived the legendary Hurricane Point (2 very steep miles uphill). We were on pace to finish in roughly 4 hours! However, by about mile 21, the hills started to feel like a very cruel & relentless joke! We survived it...26.2 miles of crazy hills & beautiful coastline. It really was an experience I'll never forget!

In May, all 5 of us flew to Kentucky for Joshua's dad's wedding. We're so happy for David & Pam! Though we haven't had the chance yet to get to know her well, they seem to be a great match & sound very happy together!

In the beginning of June we made a trip to Santa Cruz with the Abbey for a silent retreat. We had a great weekend & got to spend some quality time together with good friends.

Speaking of good friends, we had the pleasure of having our good friends Jason, Julissa & their baby (Santiago) live with us for the summer. It was a really good experience and I think we learned a lot from each other & came away from it feeling like family.

In the end of June, Joshua & I celebrated our 7th anniversary with an overnight trip to Sacramento. We stayed in a really neat bed & breakfast near Midtown and had a really great time strolling through Midtown, Capitol Park & Old Sacramento. The weather couldn't have been nicer & we had a yummy dinner at PF Chang's (complete with delicious dessert shots). After sleeping in the next morning, we leisurely enjoyed coffee & breakfast on the front porch before heading back home.

During the summer we also had lots of fun swimming & exploring different local swimming holes and even got to camp at Buck's Lake over 4th of July weekend! Ethan became a great swimmer and I realized that I think I'd be ok if summer vacation never ended!

(Lucy @ Buck's Lake)

The definite low point of the year was saying goodbye to Oma (my dad's mom) who passed away in August after her 16-year struggle with Alzheimer's. I could write an entire blog post about this alone, but even then, I doubt I could uncover the words to fully describe all that she meant to our family & how Oma's Alzheimer's and passing have affected me. Her passing was a bittersweet time for sure...I am relieved to know that she no longer suffers from that horrible disease and that she's truly at perfect peace! Almost every day I drive past the Paradise cemetery where a portion of her ashes are buried. As I pass the cemetery, my mind always runs away with imaginings of what her life must have been like when she was my age, raising their 5 children here in Paradise & living less than a mile away from where I now live.

I'm really thankful to be getting more memories back of "pre-Alzheimer's Oma". It really bothered me that I couldn't seem to remember much about her before she was so affected by the Alzheimer's. I hope the memories continue to come into focus.

In September, we took a family vacation to the coast and enjoyed a few days in the Bodega Bay area. It's always so nice to steal away over there and the kids love the ocean so much!

Less than a week after our return from the coast, we got some surprising and life changing news...we're pregnant & #4 is due to arrive on the scene in the beginning of June!

This autumn is a bit of a blur for me honestly...I mostly remember feeling super sick and exhausted and wondering what in the world I was ever thinking when I had the notion that I could survive pregnancy for a forth time! Fortunately, I've been feeling so much better the last few weeks and my energy level is even improving (not back to my pre-pregnacy state yet, but getting better!) The kids are all pretty excited about the new baby and Ethan of course is hoping for a brother (though I really suspect it's a girl). The baby's movements and kicks are getting much stronger and noticeable lately.

As a birthday present to me this year, my mom offered to keep the kids for 3 days so that Joshua & I could fly down to Southern California to stay with Brook & Niko the first weekend in December. We had a great visit and enjoyed seeing some of Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Pasadena & Laguna Beach!

Christmas was very nice...low-key and simple for the most part. We continued our family tradition of watching "The Nativity Story" with the kids. We also had the opportunity to get Christmas presents for a needy family (a single mother with 8 children) that recently moved into town. These experiences always remind me of how much I really have to be thankful for!

Looking back on everything that we were able to experience in 2009, I am overwhelmed by the reality of how blessed we are and how truly happy I am. I think back to how far we've come since moving here 3 years ago and I can honestly say (maybe for the first time in my life) that I'm content & couldn't ask for more!

I have a wonderful husband who (after 7 & 1/2 yrs of marriage) I still enjoy spending time with. He supports & encourages me in my dreams & ambitious goals, and he challenges me to keep learning and growing! We've been entrusted with 3 healthy & intelligent children who are so full of life, imagination & energy! Ethan is doing great in 1st grade and he has such a wonderful teacher who not only pushes the kids to excel, but makes learning fun! Karis loves going to her tiny-tots class 2 mornings a week and Lucy is an itty-bitty bundle of sweetness & smarts!

We have a house that's more than big enough for all of us & a huge backyard providing the kids with plenty of space to run and play & even gives me a place to experiment with my gardening dreams. We live right next to a beautiful park and are within close walking distance of Karis' preschool, a grocery store, a drug store & several restaurants (not to mention downtown) as well as the running/walking path which trails through the beautiful pine trees of Paradise.

We're able to be part of an innovative and growing ministry (The Abbey) and Joshua's job allows him plenty of flexibility and time to be involved with our family on a daily basis and to work together at making a life in the way of Jesus. We're really pleased with the recent launching of the Samaritan Free Clinic that The Abbey opened this fall (the clinic is staffed by volunteer doctors & nurses to provide free healthcare to everyone who needs it. Open every Sunday from 2-5pm).

I'm so fortunate to be a full time mom while also working from home. The graphic design business I started 2 years ago (summer jenee designs) is right where I want it to be for now, giving me enough work to keep my creative juices flowing but not so much that I feel overwhelmed. I've had a few photo shoots sprinkled throughout the year as well and plan to get my photography website launched in the next few weeks.

So, here we are, after just saying goodbye to 2009 (what I considered a truly fantastic year full of great things that I did not deserve!)

I'm looking forward to new projects, promising possibilities & exciting adventures on the horizon in 2010!

Hard To Let Go

2009-08-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today was our son's first day of 1st grade. As summers usually do, this one flew by and here I am again...reluctantly waving goodbye to our lazy days of summer when the most important thing on our "to-do" list was deciding which swimming hole to visit

that afternoon. Not today.

Today, I woke up at 6:15, got a quick bath, packed Ethan's lunch neatly in his Superman lunchbox, threw together a couple blueberry pancakes and quickly whisked my 6-yr old son out the door & off to his first day of 1st grade.

As we drove across town to school this morning, Ethan & I took turns listing off all the fun things we did over the summer. The summer of 2009:

There was swimming at Auntie Lori's pool several times, a trip to Santa Cruz in June, so many afternoons of swimming at Butte Creek by the covered bridge, a camping trip to Buck's Lake for the 4th of July, swimming in the Feather River at Dean Rd & floating the flume, several visits to the local chocolate shop for gelato, swimming in the Feather River up in Magalia off Jordan Hill Rd where we picked blackberries, and our trip to Whiskeytown Lake yesterday to celebrate the last official day of summer vacation. Somewhere in the mix of all that swimming this summer, Ethan really did finally learn to swim! (You should've seen that kid at the lake yesterday- he's a fearless little fish now and loves it!)

And somewhere in the busy summertime activities, a thought occurred to me....I realized that some day I'd inevitably look back at this time, the summer of 2009, as some of the best times in our lives!

This morning, as Ethan & I walked across his school campus to find his new classroom, I held his little hand in mine, knowing full well that someday (maybe a day very soon) he's gonna decide he doesn't want to hold my hand anymore on his way to class. As this thought entered my mind, I squeezed his little hand ever so lightly and said a quiet, little prayer of thanks...bookmarking that moment in my giant book of priceless memories that I fear are too quickly fading away.

I remember being a kid and literally counting down the days till summer vacation. It seemed that my entire world revolved around summertime! I still feel that subtle sadness now, even as a 33 yr old mom with 3 kids, as I watch another summer come to an end. The summer of 2009. It was a real good summer...probably my favorite summer yet since we've had kids. We

had lots of fun together!

So today at 1:50, I picked Ethan up from school after his first day of 1st grade. I loaded he and the girls into our car, and we drove back down to one of our favorite swimming holes where we swam away the afternoon!

I think in some small way, this was a subtle act of my stubbornness...my refusal to let go of our summertime.

Sometimes, in times like these, I admit...I have a hard time letting go.

One Moment

2009-07-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday was one of those days when I felt like my

"to-do" list would never end. In reality, there weren't all that many things I truly needed to do, but the morning felt rather hectic to me. Getting kids ready and trying to get Karis to tiny tots class in time (which we didn't do). Then off to the grocery store with the other 2 kids to grab a few things we'd need for dinner. By the time I left the store I was completely irritated by the lack of savings I'd actually been able to find at SAVEMART (calling it "Save"mart is false advertisement if you ask me!)

The afternoon seemed to go better than the morning and by 4:00 or so, I was looking forward to having dinner with a bunch of our friends in the backyard and hoping to just enjoy an unusually cool July evening.

Our friends got here for dinner and we all sat around talking in the yard while our "campfire chicken" was cooking in the new patio chiminea. The kids ran around in the yard having fun and stirring up small troubles here and there.

We were all enjoying our chicken and veggies when suddenly we hear Karis screaming over near the kids' table. I look over to see her (only a few yards away from where I was sitting) leaning over the citronella candle with her hair on fire!!! In that moment, a hundred different thoughts flooded my mind ("how long before her entire head is engulfed in flames?" "Why was I not paying closer attention to the kids?" "How did this happen?" "WATER???" "Will my daughter literally burn up in front of my eyes?" "SOMEBODY, DO SOMETHING, FAST!!!"...) I flew out of my chair as fast as I could but Joshua got to her first and swatted out the flames with his hand in one quick swoop! I gathered her up in my arms and ran inside the house to get her to the tub as fast as possible. In that moment, nothing else mattered... The garden could've been chewed up by wild dogs, the house could've been invaded by naked hippies, heck...California probably could've fallen off into the Pacific, but all I could think about was my little daughter and what I could do to make it all better!

I took Karis to the ER because she definitely had burned some of the skin on the right side of her forehead. A big chunk of her hair was burned down almost to her scalp and one eyelash was burned as well. When we got to the ER it was packed (not surprising). Being in the ER waiting room is always an interesting experience. Sitting there with my daughter curled up on my lap, I had nothing but time. Shortly after we got there, another mom came in with her 3 yr old daughter who had fallen while jumping around and split open her head. I watched this other woman sitting there across the room from me and I could see in her eyes a very familiar, maternal worry...a concern I understand and know well! In that moment I could almost hear the thoughts going through her head ("Why is it taking them so long to get her in to see a doctor?" "Does she have a concussion?" "What if it really does end up being worst-case-scenario?" "Why didn't I stop her from jumping around before she got hurt?" "I'm such a bad parent!" "Please, hurry, this is my daughter! Don't you know she means everything to me?")

2 & 1/2 hours later, I walked out of the ER with a freshly bandaged, sleepy, little Karis Sophia. It was close to 11 pm and the nearly full moon was shining bright as we walked across the parking lot (the very same parking lot Joshua & I had walked across almost 4 years ago with the full moon shining at 2 am, when I was in labor with our precious little Karis). In that moment, it hit me...an enormous sense of responsibility overtook me once again as I remembered leaving that very same hospital 4 years earlier with our little bundle of joy- fresh out of the womb, totally unblemished & seemingly perfect! Wow....parenting is such an adventure and it never stops!

On days like Thursday, I'm reminded again that the price of graham crackers at SAVEMART is not important. Getting Karis to her tiny tots class on time is not important. Checking off the items on my "to-do" list is not important, but making sure I truly appreciate every second we're given with our kids is important and I hope I can remember to cherish every moment.

***The photo of Karis was taken approximately an hour before the incident I described above took place***

Measuring Up

2009-06-29T15:42:00.001-07:00

Today's a Monday. Typically on Mondays, we relax a little and recover from our busy weekends. Joshua normally takes the day off so we sometimes do something as a family. I actually prefer Mondays to Fridays (as a general rule).

Today, after having a rather groggy morning, I went to the gym for a run and a swim. The weather has been really hot lately and even though I don't like running on the treadmill, it's just too dang hot to run outside unless you get out before 6am (which isn't gonna happen for me). So, I went to the gym and it was pretty busy. I only did 5 miles because I was honestly not feeling determined or dedicated enough to spend more time, energy & sweat on the treadmill. The swim was nice & a heck of a lot more enjoyable than the run. I also had a chance to catch up with a friend who happened to be out at the pool with her son.

Today, after lunch, I had to go to court to take care of a traffic violation (ok, I got caught speeding down Skyway- twice now in a year & 1/2. Yes, I finally learned my lesson). I had to pay $278 for the ticket and traffic school. Not fun & definitely not affordable! Will be watching my speed more carefully from now on and budgeting more time to get where I need to go.

Today I find myself feeling less than adequate, less than great, less than what I wish I was and who I want to be. There are times in life when I think I've felt like perhaps I was doing okay in certain areas, accomplishing goals, making progress, falling forward at the very least... but not today! A quick glance over the different compartments of my life and I see that I fail. I should be reading more, should be cleaning more, should be disciplining the kids more, should be better at keeping in touch with friends, better at getting thank-you notes in the mail, be a better wife, a better granddaughter, a better runner, better at finishing the projects I've started around the house, and get better at communicating and paying attention to the needs of those I care about most.

(the list could go on and on)

Today I'm reminded that I just don't measure up. It sucks. It feels lame and I don't like it one bit.

I'm stubborn, so I most likely won't stop trying to get better at the things that are on my "things to get better at list". But, it's not gonna happen today.

Homegrown Happiness

2009-06-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

I planted a garden in our backyard finally last week. I'm new to this gardening business....first time I've really tried it (well, I did have one tomato plant last year which grew okay for a while. I don't think it produced more than maybe 2 or 3 very small tomatoes last summer -I like to blame that on all the smoke-filled air from the horrible fires we had most of June and half of July '08). In any case, this year I was determined to try to grow something significant. I "plowed out" a big portion of our yard and had to relocate a giant pine needle mountain in order to free up the one section of the yard that actually gets decent sunlight. Then last Friday I loaded up our 3 kids in the mini van and we journeyed across town to the nursery/plant farm place to pick out our plants, seeds, compost, etc.. for the garden. They had fun with that...Ethan pulled the cart behind me and Karis helped me by grabbing miscellaneous plants and tossing them onto the cart while I tried to discretely put them back & replace them with the veggies we were really going for. When it was all said and done we headed home with a van full of goodies! We planted a couple different types of squash, watermelon, honeydew, zuchinni, lots of types of peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, corn, pumpkins, peas, basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, mint and probably something else I'm forgetting. Whew...it was a much bigger job than I imagined, but I'm not afraid of a little hard work now & then (especially if I get to be outside).

I found that I really like going out to check on my little garden every morning. It's therapeutic (I'm kinda like a kid on Christmas morning...first thing I do when I get up- after making the kids their hot cocoa & brewing a pot of coffee- is head out to the yard to see if anything new has sprouted). Today, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that my corn is actually sprouting!!! Now, let's be honest...you and I both know there's not much of a chance that the stuff will really produce any decent ears that we'll eat, but it's exciting nonetheless!

The garden is all part of this new season in life we've headed into. We're trying to be more intentional about how we're living and spending our time. Exciting things are happening, changes are taking place, life is good, intentions are becoming more than just 'good intentions', new things are starting to grow where weeds used to be and I'm happy about this! We have some friends living with us for the summer. They just moved in yesterday...we now have 8 people living in our home (4 adults and 4 kids). It feels a little bit like a dorm so far. It's good, different, community, full, messy, fun, busy, family, friends, new.

This season in life promises to bring along plenty of changes and I've found that I'm not nearly as afraid of change as I am of getting stuck in the mundane, meaningless monotony that I see around me too often. My life is full of homegrown happenings right now and I love it!

Peer Pressure

2009-06-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

So....I don't know that I have a lot of blogworthy things to write about, but since everyone else seems to be doing it, I figured ..."what the heck? Why not give it a try?"