marriage
February 10th, 2012 | dialogues | Lisa | Raven
the girls are constantly playing with babies and talking about babies in their bellies. this has brought up many many many conversations about the order of which God instructs us to live. meet a boy who loves Jesus, get married, then have babies.
yesterday raven and i were looking at a photography blog and there were wedding pictures on it. raven said to me, “awwww…did she find a good prince who loves Jesus?”
i’m smiling knowing that she has been listening to us this whole time.
did i mention we have been watching a lot of disney movies lately?
Health kick!
January 25th, 2012 | Food | Lisa
In an effort to be healthier (and to sneak green veggies into the girls diet) I have been on a green smoothie kick!
I think someone suggested this on facebook, so I looked up some recipes and thought we would give it a try!
Fortunately Trader Joe’s makes a green juice that I use…I don’t even know what all they put in it, but it is wonderful in smoothies!
This smoothie is:
Trader Joes’ Green Juice
Frozen Peaches
Frozen Mango
Frozen Pineapple
Celery
Kale
Vanilla Yogurt
It might not sound good, but it really is delicious! …and the girls love it! Its a win – win!
Where?
January 23rd, 2012 | Hazel
Where oh where oh where is Hazel?
Where can Hazel be?
“I be 2!”
January 4th, 2012 | birthday | friends | Hazel
This is overdue. Our sweet Hazel did have a birthday party…a while ago :) She still talks about it. Anytime she hears the word party “I be 2!” (which has been often with Christmas parties “I be 2!” and a New Years eve party “I be 2!”), Hazel shouts “I be 2!” and she flashes her two fingers in the air. It’s pretty funny…I have yet to get that on film.
Here are some shots of her party!
It was really great having so many friends here! We all had a great time at the party (“I be 2!”)
slacker.
December 22nd, 2011 |
ok. most of you know that the last few months have been crazy for us. I’m planning on writing a post about that.
for now, I’m going to pretend like I’m not a total slacker and share some photos from the holiday season so far.
first up…Thanksgiving! we went to chicago this year for my dad’s 60th, which was also Thanksgiving weekend, which was also Hazel’s 2nd birthday :)
Raven is very excited to sit with the big girls at dinner! :)
It was a fun weekend seeing family, celebrating birthdays, riding ferris wheels, and lots and lots of water slides!
Hazel is the littlest of the birthday bunch!
There are a couple extra (non)birthday peeps in this one. Just want to point out that this is Dad’s 60th!!
Hazel’s Birthday (our tradition)
…and with cousins!
It was a fun trip…I think Hazel loved her birthday (besides throwing up the whole plane ride home…poor Hazel). “I be 2!!”
….I’ll be trying to keep up with this bloggy thingy. :)
Lately.
September 23rd, 2011 | Home | Matt | Raven
I know I am incredibly behind with pics and happenings…but for now, its just easier to tell you what we have been up to lately. …or rather, what Matt has been up to lately!
This is the crazy chaos that we like to call the basement. We have had plans for a long time to make this space more usable more organized more kid friendly. Let’s face it, I like the sound of “Go play in the basement, girls!” It just has a nice ring to it.
So, project #1…Matt builds a murphy bed.
Daddy and his #1 helper. She is really into helping lately.
With a lot of thought, a lot of trips to the hardware store, lots of work and time…I would like to present…the murphy bed.
CLOSED
OPEN
…and now for the rest of the basement (the hole in the wall above the bed)….there is also some re-arranging that will occur. The piano will come upstairs. The bookshelf will come downstairs. The desk will be moved. The walls will be painted. There may or may not be a new tv in our future. Its going to be a lot of work, but totally worth it in the end…we hope.
Also, we have our first visitor coming this weekend! Aunty Grace will be here tomorrow for a few nights.
Score!
September 14th, 2011 | Lisa
Ok, I’m turning into a bit of a craft geek…and loving every minute of it!
I drove past these free drawers sitting on the side of the road 3 times before I finally stopped to pick them up. I’m learning that its ok to stop on the side of the road and check things out that have a “FREE” sign on them! The girls were a bit confused. “Mommy, what are we doing?” “Girls, Mommy really needs to stop and just look at these things that are free. Don’t worry about it.”
I am SO glad I stopped! These are so cool, and I am so excited to transform them! I’m thinking about paint colors. I’m thinking about hanging them up on a wall and using them as shelves! I’m thinking about where we could hang them! I’m really excited! Did I say that already? Well, I am :)
wow.
September 8th, 2011 | Hazel | music | Raven | video
I am so very behind on updating this… my computer freaked out and it is taking some time to fix.
Here are a couple videos from one of my favorite summer nights this year.
I promise to update more soon :)
VBS and saying goodbye.
July 26th, 2011 | Lisa | music | Raven | reflections | VBS
It’s official. We have a big girl in our house. I honestly can not believe that Raven is old enough to have done this…but she went to her first vacation Bible school! I was hesitant because it was an evening VBS and evenings are so hard for us anyways, but it actually worked out really well! She absolutely loved it…and it probably helped that pretty much all of her friends were there too!
I’m really glad we ended up doing it! It was really a lot of fun for all of us!
On the sad note, though…after dropping Raven off one night…I came back to my car and saw this…
Shocked that this would happen across the street from the church while so many people were around dropping their kids off…I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought to myself, “ok, they took my purse. I’d better get on the phone and get this process started.” Then it hit me, my engagement ring was in my wallet. What ridiculous person leaves their engagement ring in their wallet…apparently I do. We had gone camping and I forgot to put it back on…and now I really miss it. I am very sad about it, stalking craigslist every day trying to find it. I think now, 2 weeks later, I have to say goodbye to it in order to keep my sanity.
Ultimately, God is good. He has been taking care of my family. He gave me great friends to comfort me when I walked up to this horrible sight. He has given me a fantastic husband…and there is no amount of sin in this world that can take away my love for him and my girls. I am loving God more now than I ever have before.
And after realizing what I had lost I got to go back inside the church and sing praises with my little big 3 year old. This song has become a favorite in our house!
http://youtu.be/lumwSIhrVy8
He’s wild, He’s wild, God is wild about us.
He’s wild, He’s wild, God is wild about us.
Its so amazing to think about God’s love,
The God of creation is looking out for us,
He knows us…
He hears us…
God is right here with us.
He’s wild, He’s wild, God is wild about us.
He’s wild, He’s wild, God is wild about us
God is great, He is awesome.
God is great, He is awesome.
I know that God is WILD about me…and He is looking out for me…and I am learning to trust Him and His plan for me (and for my ring) …and more importantly, His plan for my family.
This weekend will be our 5 year anniversary, and we are heading to Portland for a little R & R…
Time
July 19th, 2011 | camping | Eliana | friends | Hazel | Lisa | Matt | playground | Raven
Wow, I can’t believe how fast things have been happening around here. I’m thinking I’ll try to just do a quick re-cap of the last month and a half…we’ll see how it goes!
Ok, back in the beginning of June some friends and I took all of our kids on the ferry to Bainbridge Island to have lunch and ice cream! It was really fun and so worth the messed up nap schedule!
Then we had swim lessons.
And we have had 2 camping trips, 2 weekends in a row…one was sunny and one was rainy.
But we did get to celebrate our great friend Asher. His awesome Mama put together a scavenger hunt! When the kids all returned there were dirt cups with worms in them! This was so fun!
More to come….Raven’s first time to VBS! She loved it…pics are coming.
And on a sad note…my engagement ring was stolen. I had put it in my wallet when we went camping the first time and forgot to put it back on when we got home. Then, when I was dropping off Raven at VBS someone broke the window on my car and stole my purse (which had my wallet and my ring in it). I am still praying it gets recovered from a pawn shop or that some other miracle happens….and I swear, if I ever get it back…it will never leave my finger ever again!
PURPLE
June 2nd, 2011 | Alma | birthday | Eliana | friends | Hazel | Lisa | Matt | Raven
There is a whole lot of purple around here. Raven’s current favorite color. …and since we are celebrating our big 3 year old this weekend, we are just going to roll with the purple thing!
She has really been loving her birthday this year! A lot of anticipation beforehand, and a lot of disappointment when the party was over.
(i just can’t get her to look at the camera)
On her actual birthday we did the traditional singing with cupcake in bed…only this year we had to tell her to go back in her bed so we could sing to her. (she was coloring downstairs at 6:20 am! ..and who knows what time she really came downstairs. 6:20 is the time that Matt thought he was sneaking down to get things ready. Our 3 year old does not like to sleep.)
Later that morning we had a visit from Grandma Virginia! They played and read Raven’s new book!
Then Raven’s friends came over! Pure excitement!
We played games and sang “Happy Birthday”
(she got a little close to the flames there…but she is fine, and she did blow them out)
My girls like cupcakes if you can’t tell by looking at their faces :)
The other kids like cupcakes too…see all the smiles?
Raven had so much fun! She was so excited to have her friends over…and the fact that they sang “happy birthday to raven” is something that has made her so happy, we have been talking about it all week! She has been growing up so fast! It is incredible to see her growing relationships with friends and with God (who apparently talks to her in a deep voice). She is so smart and loving and shy and sneaky and busy. She is a big girl now!
lost and found
May 29th, 2011 |
some days i feel like i have completely lost my ability to remember things. today is one of those days, but i did find some pictures from our visit from papa john and grandma jan. we had a great sunny sail float in the sound on ben and morgan and baby avila’s boat. it was a beautiful day and a very fun outing.
and this is what happens when we skip a nap to do a really fun outing…
i like finding things. i like remembering things.
…hoping i find more things that i lost and have forgotten about…
catch-up
May 27th, 2011 | Aunty Trish | Hazel | PapaJohn & GramJan | Raven | SPRING | Uncle J
Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do…and I have to try to remember everything that has happened…
Ok, first we had a visit from Papa John and Grandma Jan. I am just now realizing that we don’t have any pictures of their visit! How did this happen? I really have no idea, but we do have proof they were here. The yard looks amazing…now I just have to try to keep up with some things. Also, Matt built a sandbox while they were here, and Papa John filled it up with sand! This is a new favorite spot of Raven’s!
Raven in her giraffe costume loving the sandbox
Then we had a relaxing Mother’s day weekend…Matt sent me to the spa (my favorite place)…and I got a new toy, a fancy phone which sucks up quite a bit of my time. Not with calls, with the internet and picture/video taking!
Next we had a great visit from Uncle J and Auntie Trish!
We really didn’t do anything too out of the ordinary here…I made J come with me to costco, we went to the zoo, and out to eat, scrabble (where Trish and I got creamed by J), and went down to the beach we love…
Great times with Uncle J
Great times with Aunty Trish
Overall, it was a great visit, and we all agreed this needs to happen more regularly. Love you!
Now we are getting ready for a special girl’s birthday party! She has requested a purple party…we are looking forward to a purple bean bag toss, a purple tutu, purple balloons, and cupcakes with blueberry frosting! I’ll try to get picks up soon :)
dialogue
May 23rd, 2011 | dialogues | Raven
Raven was story telling on our hike down to the river yesterday…
“oooh, the girl was scared. She was walking and she looked back like this..
then she saw a dragon and she got scared, so she talked to God.
Yea, she had to talk to God about that.”
(will post pics soon)
thumbkin
slightly inappropriate…incredibly hilarious!
now that I have this on video…I promise to teach her the right way to say thumbkin.