Let it snow!

After a day of watching the wind & rain from the comfort of our cozy couch, me and the kids jumped in the van and made a spontaneous trip out to Red Rock.  This is what we found.

What I'm thankful for:

My relationship with God

My husband

My children

My whole family

My friends

My beautiful, peaceful home

My church

My health

God's peace

God's creation

God's grace

God's mercy

God's protection

God's provision

God's favor

God's forgiveness

God's love

By God's grace, I have a blessed life.  More and more God is nudging me to take the blessings He gives me, and give them away.  And I'm thankful for that too.

The Secret Garden

Today we took our first field trip of the school year and visited the Secret Garden, a dolphin & tiger habitat located on the grounds of a local casino.  Since we are studying creatures of the ocean, and most recently dolphins in particular, it was a good opportunity to see these amazing toothed whales in action. Did you know that dolphins are toothed whales? I did not know that! I love learning new things as I teach my kids.

Dolphins are so amazingly adorable.  And friendly.  And extremely intelligent.

We also saw some of these characters:

There were also several white tigers, but all of them were completely uncooperative when I asked them to sit up from their nap.  So I didn't get any good shots.  Spoiled tigers.

Davey is being funny here. He loves to get a good laugh. Once you laugh he will repeat his schtick over and over until he's wrung out every last little chuckle from you.

We had a good time. I had jokingly asked if locals got a break on the price of admission, and surprisingly the ticket lady said yes! I saved 33% off the normal price. That was a wonderful bonus. And so I didn't mind buying Davey an overpriced toy from the gift shop.

I'm so thankful I have the opportunity to homeschool these great kids!

Oh my...

I seem to be terrible at this whole blog maintenance stuff. It's been over a month since I've posted anything!

Well, in a nutshell, this is what we've been up to...

Shooting in the desert early Sunday mornings before church...

Homeschool Space Camp...

Hiking at Red Rock...

Celebrating Annette's 8th birthday by making bears at Build-a-Bear and having a pizza-cooking-ladybug-swimming party...

Adopting three new gerbils...

Playing "Bunny Monopoly" -- Annette's own version of the popular game -- complete with laminated cards and clay figures...

Having fun with cousin Janie at the water park during her visit from L.A...

Started our homeschool year...

Started our science homeschool co-op at the church (studying the 7 days of creation)...

And Davey started pre-school!

Whew! Didn't realize we've been up to so much lately. And I didn't include Lucas' birthday fun at Bounce U, Annette starting soccer, and the kids in piano lessons and scouts! I also just started a 30-week church counselor training class and Lucas is going to the youth group at church now. Lots of things to juggle. I'm not feeling overwhelmed yet, but we'll see how long that lasts...

Tomorrow I take pictures for my friend's daughter's birthday! And then later I get to sit down and have a visit over coffee with a good friend.  

Yep, life is getting busy again after a leisurely summer. So thankful for God's goodness and grace in my life, and the ebb and flow of a busy schedule and a clear one. It's good to have balance, moving from rest to work to play and back to rest. I'm looking forward to this school year and watching my children grow in knowledge, wisdom, character and love for God and His Word.

Life is good.

Annie's Nachos

I have a daughter who is very creative and always seems to be working on a new project. These projects can last anywhere from 5 minutes to a couple days, but once she starts something she is usually "unavailable" until she finishes. Oh she'll come out to eat and visit the little girl's room or ask for more scotch tape, but really, other than that, she is just occupied with nothing else other than completing her current creation.

She also likes to play pretend, and is often taping together makeshift costumes and masks, for herself and her little brother, a willing body who follows her every direction and cue. Honestly, I have to be a little sneaky when throwing something away because she will inevitably cry out "Mommy I need that!" And sure enough a couple days later I will discover a spaceship on the stairs, created from paper plates we'd used for lunch. 

A couple weeks ago she decided she wanted to pretend she had her own restaurant.

"But mommy you have to pay real money."

"Is it real food?"

"No."

"Then there won't be any real money."

This little exchange, of course, prodded the little wheels inside her head to start turning and brought her to the conclusion that if she was ever going to save enough money for a hamster she was going to have to get serious about this money making business.  

So she looked through the pantry and made a (very) short list of what she could prepare and offer in her restaurant. She wrote out a menu -- with prices. She hired a busboy (you guessed it). She called her restaurant Annie's Nachos and opened her doors that evening.  

Wade & I were seated at a table by the window and found the atmosphere warm and inviting.  

She took our drink order first, and Wade was in the mood for a red wine.  

We perused the menu, and decided the nachos must be *especially* good so we ordered that as an appetizer. For the main dish we thought the sub sandwich would be a compatible followup. And finally we couldn't resist trying the banana split to close out the experience.

I must say the service was quick, the portions were large (we ended up leaving with a doggie bag) and everything was delicious.  

Do you ever feel a little rushed by the waiter when you're done because you're just taking up space in his station? Well, we certainly didn't feel like that. In fact, we were told we could stay and enjoy ourselves for as long as we wanted. And we did.

She brought us the tab and I paid with a check. Wade left a cash tip.

We plan on going back once a month.

It's for a good cause.

A Day of Reflection

This morning we went and had some fun at a water park with some great friends.  Now that we’re home with some lunch in our stomachs we’re having a little down time before we go over to the pool.  

This week is busier than usual.  VBS, Scout camping trip, sleepovers, IRS audit meeting (yes, you read that right), homeschool planning.

But I wanted to find a pocket of quietness in the day to just reflect on the past year.  You see, my dad passed away on this day last summer.  He has been gone for a whole year.  It seems a long time ago, and yet it doesn’t.  I knew my life would be different without his presence in it, and it has.  

I would have called him about getting a letter from the IRS.  He would have told me there’s nothing to worry about as long as we’ve been honest.  He would be the first person to call me to follow up and see what happened.

He would have called every other day when we were on our road trip.  He would have wanted to talk to the kids and hear about everything they did and saw.  In fact, he would have really wanted to go with us.

He would have taken me out to dinner on my birthday, like he did every year.

We would have spent Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Easter together.  And it would have involved food.  In a restaurant.

He would have come over for Christmas, with a huge pile of gifts.  He loved watching the kids open up gifts he got for them.  It made him so happy.

He would have asked if we wanted to go to a buffet for Thanksgiving so nobody had to do dishes, and I would have insisted on a homemade turkey dinner at our house.

He would have come to every birthday party for the kids, even if it meant sitting in Peter Piper Pizza for 2 hours listening to a bunch of screaming kids run around.

He really wanted to go on one last family trip before it was too late.  We talked about going on a cruise, going to Hawaii, and even taking an RV trip road trip.  He loved to travel, especially with his family.

We would have done that this last year.  But too late came too quickly and we never went on that last trip.

A lot of changes have happened in my life since I turned 40 last summer.  I have chosen some new paths along the journey, and God has shown grace and mercy and blessing to me and my family.  I’m thankful, thankful that even in the midst of great loss, God reveals a new birth, something new and wonderful and lovely.  

I miss my earthly father deeply, but I take great comfort in knowing my Heavenly Father is forever, eternal, never changing, always present.  I can always come to Him with my problems, I can always tell Him about my dreams, I know He loves my children more than I ever could, and He cares about every minute aspect of my life.

Besides, I know my dad is having the time of his life now.

Fix-It Friday

Here are my contributions to I Heart Face's Fix-It-Friday edit.

This time I tried a few different approaches.

When I saw the original (below) I immediately wanted to make it edgier, so I did that with the black and white.

Here's a "boost" version:

This is PW's Heartland action:

And here are a couple where I tried the technique from a few weeks back.  I added a fill layer with a canvas pattern.

Let me know what you think.  Which is your favorite?