Come Rain, Or Come Shine...

...Happy together, unhappy together, and won't it be fine?
Days may be cloudy or sunny...


There was alittle of ALL of that this past week. That's the nature of vacations with little ones and the month of June.

My side of the family heads eastward every other summer for a week at the beach. We had never gone so early in the season, but we all were feeling the need to stretch our dollars more than usual this year, and going before the price hike was one way to do that.

Despite a few really windy days and cooler temperatures, we did have some good beach time. The kids weren't too phased by the weather, except when it rained. Then there was definately evidence of cabin fever. BUT, we had a great time together and made some good memories.

Since I didn't remember my camera for the first half of the week, I mostly have pictures of the kids, and not the adults in our group. Maybe once we all share our files I'll post more.

Some highlights:

*Having EVERYBODY there!

*The fact that Natalia actually SLEPT in our closet and wasn't up at all hours like last time. (No naps for 8 days straight did take a serious toll though...that's what the week after vacation is for, right?)

*Avery was sitting out on the balcony with his daddy, and a remark was made about the bikers riding past wearing helmets. After that, ANYBODY who went by the house (by car, on foot, or on a bike) was assessed as, "No elmet!"

*Having a Ladies' Night Out and Men's Night Out. Granted, it was an abbreviated version consisting of dinner only before we swapped places. Still, not having to cut up food or wipe anyone's mouth except for our own was GREAT!

*Watching the kids play in the sand and surf.

*Eating home-cooked meals most nights--some people like to eat out and often, but our family doesn't. Besides, everyone pitched in with the cleanup.

*Getting pooped on by a seagull while eating a funnelcake on the boardwalk...oh, wait. That belongs on another list.

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What's wrong with this picture?

Morgan's love/hate relationship with seagulls on display.

Adam, just chillin' in his cabana.

My dad and Pete, waiting for the next good wave.

56, and can still boogie board with the best of them!

We tried everything to get those kiddos to nap. Ya think it worked?

Thick as thieves.

Giggles.

Adam and Grandpa.

Avery's swimming (er, jumping) hole.

Bubbles.

Adam, contemplating his escape and how to get a fistful of sand in his mouth without Mom noticing.

Elvis Impersonator?

We're still in unpacking mode so you'll have to wait a bit longer for pictures from our week at the beach.



To hold you over until then, here is my son sharing his Father's Day sentiments.




Ordinarily I would have deleted this photo but I thought his expression fit the message on his shirt perfectly. "My dad TOTALLY rocks!"

If You Say So!

Natalia's imagination, endless questions, and pure and simple nixyness (sp?) keeps us in stitches. I thank God for these moments of laughter in the midst of an intense season of discipline and instruction. It truly is medicine for this momma's soul.

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Natalia: "Dad, we need to get a niftyvan like Kaleb. We don't have enough room for the beach." (Can you tell we've been anticipating our upcoming beach vacation? And what child WOULDN'T think a minivan was nifty?!)

Natalia, holding up an old watch she's wearing on her arm: "Dad, my tick is clocking."


Natalia: "Mom, I wanna' wear my gobbles." (goggles)


After I finished painting her toenails the other morning, I was fanning her feet with a book and she said, "Mom, it's like air conditioning!"


Further proof that nothing is free, she asked me the other day whether I wanted "Cash or Debit". To which I replied, "cash". Then she said, "That's fifty dollars, please."


I'm still trying to figure out what song she's singing when she belts out, "He shed His wife!" Guess I'll have to ask her Sunday school teachers WHAT they're singing!


She loves to sing, especially in the car. Last night as we were driving somewhere, she had Pete and I in stitches as she was bellowing, "Oh no, you leck-ah-leck go! Through the air and through the storm!" (The real lyrics are, "Oh no, You never let go. Through the calm and through the storm.) When I tried to get her to sing "calm" instead of "air" she'd say, "yup, yup, okay" and then proceed with interjecting some other random word like "woods", "farm", etc.


As soon as we are back from our June travels we are potty training. Though, Natalia has insisted that, "Only pee pee goes in the potty. Poopie goes in bappers!" (She calls diapers, bappers.)


And, even though she is still in diapers, when she and her cousin Morgan had a trial run at sleeping over at Grandpa and Grandma's house last weekend (in preparation for our beach vacation), her last ditch effort to avoid going to sleep was to tell Grandma that she needed to use the potty.


And finally, she'll frequently say to Pete, "Daddy, I want to do tippy toes." (This means she wants to stand on his feet and walk around the house.) The other day an Alison Krauss song was on and she asked to do "tippy toes" to the "farm music". I guess that IS a pretty good description of country music.

Recent Reviews

It's been awhile since I've been able to read a book with more than...oh, say 10 pages. Don't get me wrong--I think Thomas the Tank Engine and Brown Bear, Brown Bear are great! I just miss the intellectual stimulation a good length novel provides! :o)

Since Adam has been born my time for reading (and watching an entire movie uninterrupted) has been rare, BUT I have managed to finish a few. So here are my reviews.

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This first one is probably pretty familiar to all of you. I'm very likely THE LAST person to read it. :oP

THE SHACK by William P. Young has been getting a lot of hype. I tend to be skeptical of hype. It also was generating pretty strong feelings for and against it--and I decided I wouldn't say things about it until I had read it for myself.

I enjoyed many aspects of it...but it wasn't one I couldn't put down. I liked the beginning and the end (though it was a heartbreaking story)...and I agree with the majority of what Young says about God and His nature. The middle just felt full of philosophical tangents--some I agreed with, some I'm still not sure. Regardless of the finer points where my theology differed from the author's, the message that God loves us and is able to use A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G that comes our way for our good and His glory was very evident.


Ever since PBS broadcast Jane Austen's PERSUASION last spring, this book has been on my reading list. I've read Pride & Prejudice multiple times due to teaching it, and worked my way through Sense & Sensibility and Emma in recent years, but have never read PERSUASION.

Last year for my birthday, my brother-in-law got me a boxed set of Austen films, among them PBS's PERSUASION and I've lost track of how many times I've watched it since. Knowing that I typically love the book as much or more than the film, I finally picked this little book up at my local library and read it.

LOVED IT! I'm beginning to think that Anne Elliot may just be my favorite Austen heroine.


This past Monday I started another Jodi Picoult novel, CHANGE OF HEART. I finished it at 11:30pm Thursday night. (Adam woke up at 12:30 and 5:30 so I'm suddenly remembering why I don't stay up late anymore--if I can help it.)

Anyway, it's a typical Picoult read, though that is entirely a complement. Shay Bourne is a man who has been handed the death penalty for a double murder: a cop and his young stepdaughter. While the widow is left to grieve, she also gives birth to a baby girl within a month of losing her family. This little girl grows up to have a failing heart and the odds of finding a viable donor are bleak...until the man convicted of murdering the father and older sister she never knew decides that HE wants to give her his heart after he is put to death.

I won't give any more of the story away other than to say that it is a tale of love, of redemption, and faith. Rather than tell you what to believe, Picoult challenges you to do the thinking. And boy...does she know how to craft a twist! :o)


The last review is of a movie that Pete and I got through netflix recently. SEVEN POUNDS is a tale of a young man (played by Will Smith) who is on a mission. What that mission is isn't apparent right away, but it's not hard to sense his determination and inner turmoil. He is portrayed one minute as a man in control, and suicidal the next.

Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson and Barry Pepper round out the rest of the main characters and were well suited for their roles. I can't really say what those roles were because that would totally ruin it for the rest of you.

Next on my reading list:

CANDLE IN THE DARKNESS by Lynn Austin (just picked it off the shelf)

A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham
MY SISTER'S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult

Oh, and if you haven't seen THE QUEEN...you should!

Silly Faces

I thought I'd post these outtakes from my attempts to get a good picture of the kids this weekend.






Even when it's just my little man, he produces some funny shots. What a little personality he's developing. A real stinker I have a feeling! :o)








Then Daddy walked in the room and it was no contest...

My Quest For Green Things...

Now, I am not the green thumb in our family--I usually forget to water things. :oP


My husband on the other hand keeps the green things we DO have in our house nicely watered. When he was a little boy growing up in Poland, one of his jobs was to water all of the plants in their house, and apparently there were many.


So, needless to say, I choose plants and shrubs that are as maintenance free as possible and my dear hubby and daughter water them each evening during dry spells. :o)


I wanted to add some things to my front flowerbeds this spring and so when my parent's church had their annual plant sale this past Saturday, I was excited. They had some 1,400 plants and shrubs--all transplants from the church members own collections, one women in particular contributed the majority though. (What a job! But it's obviously something she really enjoys.)


I love bluebells, so I was thrilled to get two of those for the front of my flowerbed. (They're past their bloom for this year, but they should be nice next year.) A nice hosta, weeping jenny, coreopsis, geranium, four vinca vines, and twenty dollars later I was a happy girl! Not only was the price right (for 10 plants!!!), but all the proceeds were going to one of the missions organizations the church supports so it was a good cause too.



Here's the new planter pot (all plants from the sale) I put on my front porch...



...and the two larger vinca vines I bought for the back deck.



I bought these geraniums the other weekend at a local greenhouse. They're called "Global Sangria" and I LOVE their deep magenta color.



Now I'm just waiting for our association to send the guys out to dig up the montrous yucca plant that is taking over my other front flowerbed. It'll have huge white flowers on those towering shoots soon, but it's a beast of a plant--you have to get every little bit of root out or it'll come back in full force the next year.



I already have a flowering shrub in mind that won't get too big: a "Minuet" Weigela. Here's what it looks like.




And, so I remember what is where, I've decided to do what my friend Danielle suggested recently on her blog. Check out her Garden Journal & Notebook idea here.

Sad Sight

Thank goodness strawberry season is here because I just finished my last jar of peaches...and there are only 2 jars of pears left!



I think I'm going to have to can 2 bushel of each this summer. I wonder if prices will be as high as they were last year.