a day at the fair

we had a wonderful day at the fair! atlee took a ride on the ferris wheel with her grandad- which was exciting, but not as exciting as riding the wacky shack, swings, or a roller coaster...we watched the bird show and the pig races. avalon had her first taste of cotton candy (a personal favorite of mine) and beckett spent much of the time trying to recover from the log jam ride that we thought was sooo fun- and he thought was sooo traumatic!!! we didn't try a fried coke, fried latte, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich or fried cookie dough, but we still managed to have a great time!

changing perspective.

for the past year i have been in love with a bed that is sold at urban outfitters...it's really just a headboard, but i simply adore it. i pull it up online every once in a while- and dream how i would change the look of my room (and, maybe even my life!!) if i owned it. i stare, and then i practically remind myself that i have a perfectly good bedroom set that is meeting my needs-i may not love it- but, it's material, so i'm not supposed to love it anyway, right? subtly, the way i felt about my own furniture drastically changed- i went from liking my set, to being indifferent about it, to really disliking it...it was the same, i was different.

a few days ago my wonderful, supportive, and stylish husband suggested that we list our current set on craig's list- "give it a shot, if it sells- great! use the money to buy what we want- if it doesn't sell, we'll keep what we have." so, we made the bed (which we do each morning)-but we took a little extra time-making it look just so, we fluffed the pillows bigger, took the books off our side tables and then we snapped the picture. as i looked at the picture displayed on the back of my camera, my perspective changed...i liked my furniture in the picture, it looked simple and nice..it was the same, i was different.

since then, i've been thinking some about perspective and how the accuracy of mine is within my power...that's really neat, and scary.

orphans

atlee and beckett love to play orphans...let me explain: they take all of the pillows off of the couch, they gather a few stuffed animals and then the couch turns into a boat (keep following me) atlee rides on the boat and beckett "swims" by and asks for "new parents", she then pulls him onto the boat and then they repeat this.

i've begun to wonder if i should be offended that they play this, not just sometimes, but all the time- even today i saw them outside collecting pecans- and they were referring to the nuts as "orphan food"...i think this fascination may be stemming from our recent viewing of "pollyanna"...but i am not sure!

consumer or producer?

the above picture is avalon tonight at dinner- consuming blueberries...what a mess!!anyway, we've been studying a bit about the food-chain around here...about how there are two basic parts: consumers and producers. it got me thinking, in my life what am i? do i produce or do i consume- or do i do both (which i do) and, if so, is it balanced as it should be? in my marriage, in my friendships, in my neighborhood and in my city, with the environment, with my kids? i hadn't even thought of it within my relationship to the Church- until sunday when our pastor shared this quote (from the stop consumer christianity movement): "the only customer of the Church should be God. the people who attend the Church should come with the expectation and excitement to serve God and others. we are the employees, not the customers."...wow and ouch. in life, is it apparent to all that i am working to produce fruit for the eternal kingdom? probably not.

this holiday life

we were lucky enough to have a few visitors this past weekend...jeff's brother bobby (far right in the above pic) as many of you know, is part of a great band called "this holiday life". the guys are on tour right now and had a show in dallas friday night. they are north bound with three upcoming shows in the kc area- one of which is at habitat shoes! we loved having them here with us...they held avalon (she was especially fond of mark and would cry when we took her from his arms), jumped on the trampoline, played swords with beckett, and much more! seems too lonely around here now...we miss you guys!

cherish and nurture

someone asked me the other day: "so, what did you do all day?" their question was posed with a sort of confused yet curious look in the eyes...i thought for a minute, really hoping that i could come up with something that could prove that i had, really in fact, been quite busy. after all, it was 6:45pm, dinner wasn't ready...the house was mostly straightened (but not at all "clean"), i hadn't showered and we hadn't gone anywhere (this was obvious since beckett wasn't wearing pants). "uh, well, we read some, really just mostly hung out i guess." that is what i came up with- that is all i came up with. the confusion left their face...but the curiosity remained- it was though i could hear their thoughts: "what are you doing all day in that house with those children by yourself?" as life is, as soon as they walked away, i thought of how i wish i had answered differently- not so much for my own esteem (although, that would have felt good), but i wondered why i felt insecure admitting that really i hadn't done anything all that important- but everything i did do had felt quite significant...changing diapers (and taking a few extra minutes to study avalon's growing toes), games of uno (and realizing that atlee is quite competitive), reading "just one more" book (and then asking beckett to explain the story back to me), jumping on the trampoline (and thanking the Father for the beautiful sky), a cat nap (so i'd have a little extra boost of energy for jeff). now, not everyday around here is this way...many days i need to accomplish a list of things in order to help our home run smoothly...and then, i hate to admit it, but there are days when i struggle to really "play" not because i have "necessary things"- but because, i simply don't feel like it.

today in the "home training lesson" that i picked up at BSF , i read this:

"These unique years are to be cherished, for
there will be no other time like this.

Later your child will be influenced by a myriad of others outside your home,

but for now his parents are his principal teachers and his family is his world.

You will never again have such unchallenged credibility or

control over what your child learns
You may never again have the

concentrated time with this little person that you do now."

so, next time i get that question, on one of "those kinds of days"...i know exactly what i am going to say:

"oh, today i just cherished and nurtured"

tempting a gorilla

we just finished reading james and the giant peach...and now, for atlee and beckett, a peach pit is so much more than just a seed (if you've read the book, you'll understand why). when we went to the zoo last week beckett was thrilled to find a discarded peach seed lying on the ground...jeff and i hadn't realized that he had picked it up and proceeded to carry it all over the zoo until we reached the gorillas and watched him do this:

"hey gorilla, lookatthis" (three words in one)

"lookatthis"

"lookatthis" (by the way, this is his manly gruff voice, if you couldn't tell)

"it's a peach seed!"

i think he was a bit disappointed that the gorilla didn't respond to him...but not nearly as disappointed as he was when jeff told the kids that all of the animals were real at the zoo, except for the gorilla- and it was just a man in a costume...unfortunatly, i don't have a picture of that. (don't worry, he fessed up shortly after)

bedhead

for the second time in a week i have had a sweet stranger look at my kids and say "wow...three girls- what fun!!" i guess i hadn't really noticed how long it had been since jeff took the scissors to beck's hair...i don't remember his last hair cut...maybe june or may? so, i know it's time to cut it again, although, the minister to children reminded me yesterday at church that the guys in the college class work hard to achieve the "foe-hawk" (sp?) that beckett can score merely by a good nights sleep (aka "bedhead").