V-day take 2!

Show Time!

Me with the poster of Rafiki

The amazing steak! What a hunk o meat!

The view from the Lobby

So last weekend in spite of the girls being sick Jonathan and I had our V-day/new Amazon hire night out. We started off with seeing the Lion King which was so much fun, I can't wait to take the girls to something like that! Then we checked into our hotel which was literally on the water then headed for an extremely late dinner at El Gaucho which is an old famous steak restaurant where J had the best steak in his life! Here are a few pics from our night out including views from the hotel and the hotel restaurant where we had breakfast. Next time anyone visits me it's where we are heading!

the Jesus Storybook Bible...Every story whispers his name

I LOVE this kids Bible. It portrays God, Jesus, and God's "Secret Rescue Plan" for the world in the exact way I want our girls to grow up viewing God. I highly recommend it for the family. We are trying to get in the habit (at about 4 out of 7 times a week) of reading it to the girls when we have breakfast together as sort of a family devotional. I'm not exaggerating when I say that both J and I cry almost every time we read it! It is so beautifully simple and loving and the truth of the way it portrays God moves me every time. Here is an excerpt we read today its basis is from Luke 8 when Jesus went to pray for Jairus' daughter.

...."Just then, Jairus' servant rushed up to Jairus. "It's too late," he said breathlessly. "Your daughter is dead" Jesus turned to Jairus "It's not too late," Jesus said. "Trust me." At Jairus' house, everyone was crying. But Jesus said, "I'm going to wake her up." Everyone laughed at him because they knew she was dead. Jesus walked into the little girl's bedroom. And there, lying in the corner, in the shadows, was the still little figure. Jesus sat on the bed and took her pale hand. "Honey," he said, "it's time to get up." And he reached down into death and gently brought the little girl back to life. The little girl woke up, rubbed her eyes as if she'd just had a good night's sleep, and leapt out of bed. Jesus threw open the shutters and sunlight flooded the dark room. "Hungry?" Jesus asked. She nodded. Jesus called to her family, "Bring this little girl some breakfast!"

JESUS HELPED AND HEALED MANY PEOPLE, LIKE THIS. HE MADE BLIND PEOPLE SEE. HE MADE DEAF PEOPLE HEAR. HE MADE LAME PEOPLE WALK. JESUS WAS MAKING THE SAD THINGS COME UNTRUE. HE WAS MENDING GOD'S BROKEN WORLD.

The simplicity of how this shows Jesus healing the little girl had tears rolling down at a rapid pace! J and I are struggling through our understanding of healing when our family is the one in need and the truth of this really moved me. This is just a few paragraphs from this story. But all of them Old Testament and New point to Jesus as the Rescuer. Makes me think a bit of the Kingdom books from YWAM!

Pneumonia and Curious George

So Kaelyn did a fast downhill with her health last Friday and with J and I headed for an evening out and an overnight away I didn't feel comfortable leaving her with my parents without first taking her in to the Dr. to see what was going on. We took her to Urgent Care as that was the fastest route and after 2 1/2 hours, two rounds on the nebulizer, an x-ray, and the first lollipop ever, we left with prescriptions and a pneumonia diagnosis. Once we knew what was going on I felt alright leaving her with my Parents though I know I couldn't have done it with anyone else! So J and I had our long planned V-day/New Amazon hire night out and my Mom and Dad were up all night with sick kiddos! I know I know I know how incredibly lucky I am to have them. Anyway since Friday we have been a house full of Curious George episodes cause when the kiddos are sick the t.v comes out!

Family V-day!

Our breakfast table! We started the morning with some love gifts and Strawberry Waffles!

Elyse with her new sunglasses

Stopped by Baba's to say Happy V-day

I could live in this store, gain 500 pounds and be happy! A must next Alki visit Rach!

We bundled up and played at the beach, the girls love throwing rocks and would happily do so for hours.

A perfect family V-day
(stay tuned for the Mama Dada V-day this weekend!!!)

Moan!

I hate being sick.....I am a tired aching pile of mess! The only reason I'm typing this is the girls really want me to sit with them while they are eating their snack. So I thought I would take a moment and moan and also say how impressed I am with my husband who tried to make today be as easy as possible for me by doing the following last night

Once I fell into bed at 7:20 (I'm so so so sorry for any and all of you out there who are single Moms forever or for even part of the time!!!!)

Dada brushed two sets of teeth, read books, gave kisses, and got two little ones into bed. Then cleaned the living room, cleaned the kitchen, unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded, started prepping quiches (so I wouldn't have to worry about breakfast) realized he didn't have all the ingredients so went to the store, came back finished the quiches, prepped meatloaf for dinner, cleaned up all the various pots pans and bowels from doing all of that then fell into bed, then responded to the various cries of the night "Dada" "Honey" What a man!

New Year Update!

Well, as you know I've been somewhat absent from the blog. With the new year and all the revamping I've done to my life it has been hard to get to the computer. However there are many pics on my camera for the purpose of the blog so I thought I'd do a catch up. Enjoy!

It is a little bit hard to get a good photo of AJ these days as he is constantly in motion! But I thought this was pretty cute.

Abigails new favorite thing to do is help fold the clothes! Not a problem!

Hot Stuff!!!

Abigail and I made a count down calendar for our visit to Oregon!

Valentine Cookies!

Abigail and AJ got a new kitchen! Also, Abigail got a new hair cut!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!

Chew on this

"Take your eyes off the negative and you will disempower it."

Graham Cooke

Knitting 101

Who knew figuring out how to continental knit could be so hard!!! Had my first knitting class today, and we are knitting in the round for our first project. That's right, my first hat! But for the life of me I could not figure out the continental stitch so I just did my plain old normal one. I am determined though and have pulled out my straight needles and bought some yarn so I'll be practicing. My goal is to knit one hour a day until class next week.....we'll see.

Could buy everything!

I love this store. Is there anything so fun as new art supplies?! And Bonus! all eco-friendly!


http://www.stubbypencilstudio.com/upgrade/index.htm

(not my pic by the way...just wish it was!)

Book of the Moment

I'm always reading at least three books at any given moment but when I picked up "The Creative Family" from the library all other books got put on hold. I love the feel, heart, and ideas in this book. I also love that it is pleasant and easy reading that is full of lots of ideas but not done in such a way that I feel overwhelmed and like I could never do it! In a nutshell the book is about encouraging and inspiring the artist in your children, and in yourself and through that making lasting family connections and memories. The author Amanda Blake Soule also has a blog SouleMama that I've come to enjoy as well. I think the book would be great for everyone. It definitely has a certain "style" of parent it aims at but any parenting style and family would be enriched by some of the ideas.

Chew on this

" A Christian does not make much progress in spiritual maturity until he [she] realizes that life is more chaotic than predictable"

Oswald Chambers

Daddy's coming!

Jonathan has been gone since Wednesday and we've had a rough couple of days even with Grandma and Papa's help! Being sick and overly tired makes for one cranky Mama and two cranky kids! There is nothing like your husband being gone to realize how much you need him!!!! The countdown has been on in my head all day and now we are in the final hour, YEAH!

Feed the Birds

(If I knew how to do it I'd have the Mary Poppins song Playing right now:)

The girls and I made pine cone bird feeders in our Parent Tot group. We have all been very pleased and excited that even on our little tucked away deck the birds have found us. Every day many times a day they fly in and get some food much to the girls' delight. The girls have finally learned that they have to keep that delight quiet so as not to scare the birds away!

Messy Ruby

cake batter, lotion, paint

Making Valentine's!

The girls and I have been working on our Valentine's in the mornings. I'm having so much fun with them as they are getting old enough to be able to do more and more creative projects.

Noise Free Zone!

I just realized yesterday that we are virtually a noise free house when it comes to toys. The only toys in our house that make sounds is our two Melissa and Doug puzzles. Everything else that was noisy that we've ever received has either found a home at Grandmas, been sold/given away or they grew out of. I look around at our toys and love that they are mostly wood, all have a place, we are not over run by them and they are quiet!!! Now the kids are another story :)

What not to say to your kids

I should write a book (from real life experience of course) on things that probably aren't that effective when you say them to kids. I could start with a really stupid thing I said to Noah the other day: "What your mouth, you little turd!"

Happy GroundHog Day!

Sadly Punxsutawney Phil (the official groundhog) saw his shadow so we still have 6 more weeks of winter!

I’m a little groundhog

Short and brown

I burrow here-

Under the ground.

When I poke my head up; look around,

See my shadow!

Run back down!

(kinda sing it to I'm a Little Teapot!)

Hearts Hearts Hearts!

It's February and in our house love is in the air! Pulled out all of my V-day decor and I'm excited to start making home made Valentine's for our family and friends with Kaelyn and Elyse. This weekend I made the melted crayon hearts like in this picture but instead of hanging them like this I scattered them around on the windows of the Toddler/Preschool room I work in at church and hung them from our big paper mache tree. I have to say that it all looked pretty adorable once done. I'm loving being crafty! :)