just some things

i am self-conscious about my asymmetrical eyes. there, i said it. 

i think it's getting worse. 

i'd rather just show you this picture of me and the kids from mothers day.

but, really, i just need to get over myself and my wack-o eyes, so i guess i'll show you this one too.

the kids are cute, so that's good.  

on mother's day, nancy took erin and i out to p.f. changs and ed, don and dave took the kids home and well, i'm not really sure what they did.  it was wonderful.

avery had her last soccer game on saturday and had quite the fan club. 

the kids got dave a teenage mutant ninjah turtle kite for his birthday.  he used to get up at  6 am on saturday mornings so he could watch that show. 


the cousins have had a blast flying that thing on the golf course behind grandma's house.

i really, really love this shot.

dave was messing around with the panoramic feature on my phone while we were all around the fire.  that's kinda fun. 

we sure are having fun with these people.  

two and a fourth

this happened yesterday:

and i'm not quite sure how because i just took this picture last week. 

they measure them on the first and last day of school and avery has grown 2 and 1/4 inches since august.

that's just crazy.

i'm sure it's normal, but it truly blows my mind.  2 and 1/4 inches taller in less than a year.  wow. 

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avery had her awana award ceremony on wednesday night.

 waiting to get her book 1 ribbon

sweet, sweet girl. 

look at that sea of sparkies! 

proud of her ribbon!

she had a cousin fan club, plus sweet little julia kunstle.  

way to go avery girl, it's kinda freakin' me out how fast you're growing, but i'm so proud of you. 

from ghana to colorado

We knew they'd be here at some point,  but didn't know that it would be this soon!  We are having such a good time and it is so very special to watch our kids running around together. Erin and I spent the first two days talking non stop and I need to start writing down the bazillion questions I want to ask her before they head back. What an honor to get to hear about all that God has done and the great potential for impact that they are slowly uncovering.  We couldn't love them more.

ashton's awana awards

ashton had her awana award ceremony on wednesday night.

 when she woke up from her nap and i told her it was time to get ready for her award ceremony.  she kept saying "i'm so novous about my amony."  "i want to stay with you mommy."

here she is singing the awana cubbie song with her little classmates. 

when we got there she gave me two big hugs and two big kisses and then sat down with her teachers and friends.

i was so proud of her. 

getting their tiny cubbie bear to put on their vests. 

she was front and center during their little worship performances. 

and she kept smiling and giving me thumbs up's.

i couldn't keep from tearing up because i knew a big part of her wanted to run down to me! 

cubbie came in at the end! 

we love her so. 

"it is easier to give the child the habit of perfect obedience, by never allowing him anything else..."

how much do i believe this?

oh, but it is hard.

hard and a daily battle.  a battle for their little disobedient hearts.  

i am loving charlotte mason these days as i'm preparing our homeschool framework for next year.....these are her words:

"The mother's great stronghold is in the habit of obedience. If she begin by requiring that her children always obey her, why, they will always do so as a matter of course; but let them once get the thin end of the wedge in, let them discover that they can do otherwise than obey, and a woeful struggle begins, which commonly ends in the children doing that which is right in their own eyes.

This is the sort of thing which is fatal: The children are in the drawing room, and a caller is announced. 'You must go upstairs now.' 'Oh, mother dear, do let us stay in the window-corner; we will be as quiet as mice!' The mother is rather proud of her children's pretty manners, and they stay. They are not quiet, of course; but that is the least of the evils; they have succeeded in doing as they chose and not as they were bid, and they will not put their necks under the yoke again without a struggle. It is in little matters that the mother is worsted. 'Bedtime, Willie!' 'Oh, mamma, just let me finish this'; and the mother yields, forgetting that the case in point is of no consequence; the thing that matters is that the child should be daily confirming a habit of obedience by the unbroken repetition of acts of obedience. It is astonishing how clever the child is in finding ways of evading the spirit while he observes the letter. 'Mary, come in.' 'Yes, mother'; but her mother calls four times before Mary comes. 'Put away your bricks'; and the bricks are put away with slow reluctant fingers. 'You must always wash your hands when you hear the first bell.' The child obeys for that once, and no more.

To avoid these displays of willfulness (wilLESSnes), the mother will insist from the first on an obedience which is prompt, cheerful, and lasting--save for lapses of memory on the child's part. Tardy, unwilling, occasional obedience is hardly worth the having; and it is greatly easier to give the child the habit of perfect obedience by never allowing him in anything else, than it is to obtain this mere formal obedience by a constant exercise of authority.

By-and-by, when he is old enough, take the child into confidence; let him know what a noble thing it is to be able to make himself do, in a minute, and brightly, the very thing he would rather not do. To secure this habit of obedience, the mother must exercise great self-restraint; she must never give a command which she does not intend to see carried out to the full. And she must not lay upon her children burdens, grievous to be borne, of command heaped upon command."

turn your face to Me.

it's amazing to me the way i can experience 2 completely different emotions and outlooks on life within the span of about 10 minutes.

i mean, this morning, i'm texting pictures to dave and sending them to mom via facebook about how much i'm loving schooling at home and how much fun math is with aves.  exhibit a.

all three were working at the table.  ash with a melissa and doug felt pizza, avery graphing color tiles and ian baking wooden cookies and birthday cake.  and i'm sipping my coffee and feeling thankful for the slow pace of life that homeschooling allows for.

and, i am not kidding, moments after i sent those pics, i was sending kids to timeouts for hitting sisters and/or bad attitudes.  and biting my lip (does anyone else ever do this?) to keep from yelling.  

we finished our math lesson and i told them that mommy needed recess.  now i'm locked in my room praying for peace to win over the chaos that i sometimes feel in my heart.  

it's crazy, because i know and believe that my outlook and my thankfulness does not have to change based on the behavior of my kids.  

the peace.

the thankfulness.

they can be consistent no matter the circumstance.  whether they are sweetly playing with their educational manipulatives or if they are falling apart from their tiny sinful hearts, i know that if my eyes are where they should be, the peace and thankfulness will not falter.  

makes me think of peter and those darn waves. 

i hear Him say.

turn your face to Me. 

the day i turned 32

the girls were so excited to show me where daddy helped them stash my birthday flowers when they woke up this morning.

check out this bday artwork from avery.  she's got some intricate cutting skillz. 

and ashton drew a bunch of people for me. she is so darn cute. 

and then melissa harding made elaina and i brunch.  yum.  

and they gave me ethiopian coffee, chocolate and roses.

and we ran some errands :)  

and dave is taking us to steak and shake tonight.

we have lots of memories of going there when he'd come visit me at iwu.

steak and shake was the only place open 24 hours and we'd go there at midnight and eat fries.

they opened just last week and i'm so excited to take the kids. 

It's a beautiful day to play soccer

At ash's practice. Check out those gorgeous mountains. Such a pretty day!

School time

How great is mr. houle?  He surprised me saturday with the screw tape letters performance, bonefish grill with these people and a new phone. I am so behind the times, but now I have a smart, touch screen phone. Happy birthday to me. Just trying out my high tech blogger app this morn while the girls work on some school stuff. So fun.

when pooping is tramatic

i suppose it was bound to happen.

this is the book she's been working in all year.  she finished it!

i mean, you can't get through the whole potty training experience without some stressful poop moments, right?

 sweet mrs. pace.  

we have love, love, loved rmca and mrs. pace's kindergarten class.  such a blessing.

i can not believe that avery has two more thursdays as a kindergartner.  no way. 

i just wished it would have happened at home when i wasn't trying to talk to sweet laura and lindsay. 

we have a huge pile of coins that we've just kind of always had.

avery labeled some mason jars and spent FOREVER sorting them and putting them in their right jar.  

it's super great when they're educating themselves and enjoying it and you get to go put away laundry or something.  score. 

we spent the morning at lindsay's house. laura was there and brought little baby ethan and the kids played and played and played.  but ian was crying and saying that his "bottom hurt" every 5 minutes it seemed and he would go tiny amounts of poopy each time.  we made it through almost an hour of this and he eventually went a bunch in the toilet, but yikes, not fun. especially when every one was playing so well together outside in the sunny weather and i kept having to leave some great conversations to go sing Jesus Loves Me with a crying ian while he tried to poop.

the good news is:
it's sunny outside!
it's supposed to be sunny and warm for like 4 straight days!
dave is planning a birthday date for me and taking care of child care too!