Family Fun Night

Lots going on around here - no need to blog it all - just trust me that the pace is a bit crazier than we plan to maintain long term. ::snort::  It's also been an emotional week with parish events. 

In any event, we were ALL, looking forward to Friday Family Night. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner....and then went outside and chatted... these two invented this game.....suck water up the noodles and shoot it at each other....

...while these two chatted and practiced the Rubik...

...Then these two invented a game where one asks a question and if the answer is wrong you get doused...the yard is browning up and so we figured playing with the water wasn't much different than turning the sprinkler on - just in case any CA water Nazis are about to turn us in. 

She ASKED for this! 

Stacia jumped into the hot tub after this. We continued chatting. It was too windy to light the fire ring to make s'mores so Michael suggested I make "indoor s'mores" - I did and surprised the kids.  Yep - "this summer we are living life fully one s'more at a time."  I don't often have them but had 1/2.....

This girl has persistent asking down (Luke 18?)....but we've been trying to teach her to NOT ASK and let her parents just bless her sometimes too....she can trust her parents to bless her. It was great that she'd forgotten to ask today for s'mores - it's a daily request. She was thrilled. 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

So Barrio ::snort::

If you grew up in the south you had "rednecks."  If you grew up in the city you might speak of being "ghetto."  I grew up in Liberia, West Africa and a barrio in Mindanao, Philippine Islands.  While at school in Manila, if anyone did something which was "redneck or ghetto" we'd say, "That's so barrio." 

I displayed my inner barrio today when my dollar store flip flops irritated me.  THIS is the problem with shoes and socks that are size 5 - 9. I hate it. My socks are always bunchy and I kept tripping with these extra long shoes. 

I took a knife and fixed the problem. My family thought it was barrio and don't believe I'll wear them this way. I will. I'm not going to waste my dollar. 

The moment I remembered I'd taken all the seats out of the van to haul VBS stuff....slight delay. 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The Challenge Continues

Arielle seems to be the only one diligently working on Michael's new challenge to the kids. The challenge is to get all sides of the Rubik Cube matched in 2 minutes.

Stacia timed her earlier in the day and was sure she did it in 2 minutes. Arielle was sure it was more "like 3 minutes."  Michael suggested she do it and he'd time and see where she is....

Such concentration 

Arielle was right - she's got it in just under three minutes. Soon.....soon she'll win unless those others get hopping. LOL


Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

VBS Mania - Gardening Mania

Tis the season. We are one month away from VBS 2014. 

My big outing today was to meet these two lovelies at Lowes. I have a van large enough to haul big pieces of foam board - which will soon be big trees.

Since I was at Lowes, I bought some more dirt, plants and seeds for my new garden. Stacia and Zander helped me fix one of the beds up...Zander commented that he now understood why the first colonialists didn't want to work in the fields. LOL

Yuuki had rolled in Michael's watermelons and the dirt of one bed. I bought some plants...and we'll thin them out when these grow strong.

There is something so soothing about sitting and watching a garden - even a small one.

Choosing Joy!

©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

School - Nearing the End

Somehow the older two got a week ahead of the younger ones....so we are doubling up this week. Which means next week will be our "last week" of school.....but um....we school year round....We'll spend the summer on math and language arts....and I'll read some books we couldn't fit in earlier.....maybe field trips....

These two dissected a crawdad today. Turns out our specimens are old, VERY old...I need to order another kit - and quick. LOL  We couldn't find the kit while we were in Japan - and we couldn't get anyone to mail us another set. It was too overwhelming to try to explain to Japanese clerks that I wanted specimens......when we unpacked HERE we FOUND a kit...but things are far to petrified to dissect. 

I guess the younger ones and I will finish before these two after all. ::snort:: 
Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Christmas Tea

It just felt like the sort of day to enjoy a Christmas Tea - so we did. We put Christmas music on Pandora, we steeped some tea, we sat and enjoyed the moment.

I'm determinedly looking for ways to LIVE FULLY  IN THE PRESENT...and this was a good start.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Hummingbirds

Michael told me it could take a few weeks to attract hummingbirds...but look!  It was great fun to look outside during school and see this little guy. They continued to come all day. Isn't this a pretty feeder?

Unfortunately, they don't seem to like our nectar. They've not come back...they didn't really stay around long. We'll have to google and see if we can come with a homemade recipe that works better. They were so fun to watch. 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...