Whatever is Lovely

July 8, 2011

hanging with the kiddos

How has your summer been? We’ve been baking in the heat. 118 degrees last week, people. 118 degrees.

Our summer is a lot like a winter in the places that have a real winter, like Siberia. If we don’t have bathing suits and a whole can of sunscreen sprayed on us, we spend our days inside. It’s just safer this way. I’ve been spending my days making vats and vats of lemonade and iced tea, spraying kids with sunscreen, and washing bathing suits. That’s pretty much it. So, what do you do with kids that can’t play outside?

Photobooth.

It all started when this little cutie, who happens to be my niece, wanted to look at pictures of her favorite baby cousin. It was fun until the billionth time. Then, Aunt Kristy needed to change things up for the sake of her sanity. So I appealed to her vanity and pulled up Photobooth.

It worked. When all else fails, appeal to their little sin natures.;) Isn’t she the cutest thing ever?

Then the big girls wanted in on the fun!

And, then they took over. They look like cousins, don’t they?! haha.

What kind of fun things do you do on summer days?

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Filed under The everyday life, Uncategorized

Tagged as family, kiddos, summer

June 28, 2011

Once in a lifetime event

Okay, that’s what my son was calling it. Maybe where you live this happens all the time, but for us cityfolk it was quite exciting.

When we got to the cabin, we saw a teeny, tiny nest resting on the dinner bell that hangs from the porch. I mean, tiny! It was about 1 1/2 inches across, at the most. We were wondering what could live in a nest that small. Then a hummingbird flew through the trees nearby and seemed to be checking us out. We got very excited. I had never seen a hummingbird sitting still. It seemed momentous.

At first, she didn’t want to get close to the humans. Can you blame her? We also had our 70 pound black lab running around. It was all very intimidating, I’m sure. I warned the kids that she might stay away since we had invaded her space, but they were not deterred. They were on hummingbird alert.

Then, this happened:

And she didn’t leave. For days. Well, it seemed that way. She would fly away to get small things, every once and a while. Jon and the kids took a peek in her nest and found 2 pink jellybean sized eggs inside. So exciting! I tried to sneak a peek and almost got divebombed. She came out of nowhere. She did NOT want me anywhere near her nest, so I backed away with my hands up. Isn’t that the universal I’m safe sign? Or is it, I don’t have any weapons? Again, we are cityfolk.

It might not have been a once in a lifetime event, but we were so glad to have witnessed it. We went up to the cabin for few days of rest and refreshment, and there was something so lovely about looking up and seeing a hummingbird sitting in a nest. They are the ones that never stop and always have somewhere to be, but this particular hummingbird’s job was to sit still. I took my cues from her.

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Filed under Travel, Uncategorized

Tagged as animals, hummingbird

June 21, 2011

when there is too much fun

Blogging three times a week? Ha! You know when you think you are cooler than you actually are, and you think you can do more than you actually can? That pretty much sums up my life.:) I always, without fail, bite off more than I can chew. Not really because I think I’m cool, but because I don’t think I have to do the normal things, like sleep and eat.

Well, guess what? I do have to sleep and eat. I know, that was a surprise to me too. For the last couple weeks, Jon and I have been working on a VBS program for the kids at an amazing church here in the valley. We had so much fun, but every night and every morning, I had aches and pains in places I didn’t realize existed. That never happened when I was a kiddo in my twenties! My body is getting older. You should have seen the amount of vitamins I started taking every night. I’ve turned into my father! For the record, they totally worked. If your body is changing on you, I recommend hitting the vitamin aisle.

Our kids were troopers, but we wore them out too. Here’s a pic of my 5yr. old after a day of VBS:

Poor, overstimulated, balloon wearing, drive thru fed children. My daughter ate 4 donuts on Saturday. My son ate 4 sno cones. It will take us weeks to detox from this.;) We are “trying” to take it easy this week. I’m not quite sure we’re succeeding, but I’ve slept in ’til 7:00 for three days in a row. I’ll celebrate the small successes.

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Filed under The everyday life, Uncategorized

June 8, 2011

Summer Schedule

Oh, summer! At this very moment, I am sitting in a bedroom and the temperature is climbing above 80 degrees. I am propped up on my bed with laptop on lap, because my lovely desk, near the window, is bathed in beautiful sunshine that unfortunately brings an enormous amount of heat with it. Time to rearrange the furniture.

It’s also time to rearrange the schedule. Is summer a busy time for you as well? I always think ahead to summer as lazy days of sunshine and lemonade goodness, but whenever I get here I find lots of busyness. So, in order to enjoy, and do well with all of my summertime commitments, I will be moving to a summer schedule for blogging. I will only be here about three times a week, but if your summers are like my summers, you will be here less too. So, it should all work out.;)

But, I want to leave you with a little more goodness from last summer. This is a little video of the zipline the grown people made for the little people up at the family place in the woods. Notice who is riding it towards the end.;)

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Filed under The everyday life

Tagged as fun, life, summer

June 6, 2011

Swinging into Summer

This is what the kids did last summer, when we were up in the woods.

If his sister wasn’t on there, Roc would have been swinging up above the roof. That’s how he rolls.

This is how a mother’s heart grows strong.

Sometimes unwillingly.

And, because it takes pushes from Dad to get that high, this is also how a wife’s trust in her husband grows strong.

Also, sometimes unwillingly.

Cheers to summer! Cheers to pushing the limitations on fun!

Hope you all are swinging into summer beautifully!

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Tagged as family, fun, summer

May 27, 2011

the things no one else will tell you about having little people in your life

my littlest person, back when she was little

One day, you will take off your shoes and put them exactly where they live in your closet. Then later that day you will look there and the left one will be missing. You will search the entire house for it, only to find it under a dresser in the bedroom down the hall. Do not feel like you are going crazy. You DID put it away. You DID NOT put it under the dresser in the other bedroom.

One day, you will be going through a security check point and you will not have kids with you. The security guard will pull: a pair of underwear, a yo-yo, and a half eaten lollipop, out of your purse, for a whole line of people to see. Do not explain. Just smile.

One day, you will be cleaning out the backseat of your vehicle only to find an entire uneaten bag of french fries under the seat. Do not ask yourself how long it has been there. Do not lecture/question your kids about it. It will happen again. It is completely out of everyone’s control.

One day, your littlest person will walk down the hall to you in your very expensive, most favorite pair of high heel boots, wrecking the heels and making them wobbly for all time, and you will only laugh and take pictures.

One day, you will find a little girl in your bathroom smearing designer make up all over her knees and elbows. Do not yell. It is a rite of passage. It’s supposed to be expensive.

One day, you will make every bed in the house, turn around and find every bed in the house unmade. You are not going crazy. Do not remake them. Make the little people do it. Do NOT remake them. It is okay to have sheets on top of the blankets, for one day.

One day, you will be at your lowest low, and out of the blue, two little arms will hug your neck and tears will pour down your cheeks and a very little person will tell you, “Don’t cry. It will be alright.” Do NOT disregard their advice, because they are little. Do not tell them they don’t understand. They understand better than you do in that moment.

One day, you will find a stick of butter in a closet. It’s best to just pretend this never happened.

One day, a little person you are responsible for, will lift up her skirt while on a stage, say a cuss word to one of your pastors, or tell people you really love alcohol. Do not let this define you.

One day, you will sit and write about all the ways that your little people drive you crazy, and mess up your stuff, and you will realize what they have taught you: People matter most. Deadlines, stuff, looking like a good person are all irrelevant. Live well with your people. Give them all the love you have in you.

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Tagged as family, love, parenting

May 26, 2011

A Little Visual Peace

We are in the midst of a bunch of crazy weeks. Trust me, you really don’t want to hear about it. It’s a bunch of stuff that is important to us, but as soon as I say it all out loud, well, it seems silly to be stressed over it. Isn’t that the way? We all get so caught up in all our own stuff and it seems so important. Ha!

It’s hard to be creative when you are smack dab in the center of a whirlwind, so I’m just going to share a dreamy picture with you. Let’s take a little visual break and breath in the scent of this gorgeous wisteria!