Bella is 5!

A few scenes from her birthday.

A Few Fall Photos

We picked up Great Grandma Norma and took her to the park to play. The kids rode bikes and scooters and brightened GG's day.

Sadie's class made turkey tail hats during their Thanksgiving party. Mama got to help out!

Thanksgiving at the P-Pod. Shenanigans abound.

With all the wonderful things to do and see at the Safari Park, all the kids want to do is ride the carousel.

Grandma took Benji and Sadie to the Old Globe Theater to see The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. It's now an annual tradition for the 5-and-older crew. Of course they had to dress up.

I grew up in a home where we always had real trees, and the smell of a live/cut/dying evergreen tree is a hallmark of my Christmas experience. And by golly I wanted to have that for my kids. But, man oh man, getting this artificial tree a few years ago has been one of the keys on the chain of holiday sanity for us.

So for now, this is how we do it.

Every now and then this occurs: peaceful playing by the fireplace, the whole lot of them.

PRICE. LESS. This was taken after the kids' (Benji and Sadie) Christmas concert. Sadie's not tired or punchy or anything...

Sacajawea Obsession

Ever since seeing Night at the Museum, Sadie has had a certain obsession with Sacajawea. Pocahontas has NOTHING on her.

So Grandma sewed a couple of Native American dresses for the girls, and they are worn about three times a week for some adventure or another. I'm pretty sure I have to wash them as frequently as anything in the girls' real wardrobe.

Rainy Day Pickup

Sitting in the pickup line for Sadie and Benji. These are my views...

Blustery Beach Day

The kids had a couple of extra days off last week. They were dying to get to the beach, but another storm was supposed to roll in. Thanks to a little insight from a weather app, it looked like we could hit the beach in the morning, and the rain would not arrive until the evening.

It was perfect! 

A Scarecrow, a Ninja, a Rainbow, and an Astronaut Walked into a Yard

Happy Halloween from these yahoos! As usual, we raided the dress-up bin and the thrift store to create this bit of munchkin cuteness.

She busted out this scarecrow pose all on her own.

Of course we took about ten photos of all the fierce ninja poses. Because he knows so much about martial arts. (Insert laughing emoticon here.)

We had planned the rainbow facepaint and the hair, but this $3 thrift store leotard really made the whole thing!

This is the boy who wants to fly to the stars. Though this costume was a bit of a challenge when he needed to use the restroom.

Our tradition is to visit the neighbors we know before taking off to a Halloween party with friends...one of those gatherings where the adults get into dressing up and the kids run through the house at full speed. Yeah, all kinds of crazy fun. But we always check in on the neighbors first because they love these yahoos.

Ending on a shot with the kids who live across the street from us! Hope you had a fun night!

Looking back at Christmas 2015

I am finally getting around to sharing a slideshow of this past Christmas.

Here's what the slide show is NOT -- a complete picture of our Christmas. It does not show our attempts at advent readings and activities to still our pace and center our hearts, or how the kids picked out and sent gifts to impoverished families around the world through World Vision. It doesn't reflect our desire to make Christmas about Christ, though that was the focus.

It does show lots of presents which could appear to be all about consumerism. These were not ordinary presents, however; they were thoughtful gifts from so many family members near and far, biological and adoptive. Gifts from people who, in some cases, suffered a lot this past year, and they still made time to think of our kids. To send something from Ohio or New York or Florida to bless the kids.

This year there was much loss in our families -- our extended families, our kids' biological families -- deaths, financial struggles, cancer, dissolving marriages. The opening of these presents represents the giving hearts that continued despite all the grief.

I chose this somewhat odd song to accompany the slide show because there is always room for forgiveness, new starts, and ultimately the redemptive and transforming power found in Jesus -- God become man to connect with us, heal us, and change the trajectory of this fallen world and our broken lives.

The past two years (since Oli and Bella joined the family) have been so hard for us, but we are finally on the other side of the transition. This Christmas finally felt like that. Finally felt as if I had breath in my lungs again. (I am working on a couple of posts to let y'all into that part of the journey. Coming soon...) When the lyrics say, "So it's been a long year, every new day brings one more tear..." my heart sighs with the knowledge of that feeling. And yet the good news is what Christmas represents. God with us. Emmanuel.

The Clubhouse & Mud Kitchen

A couple of years ago The Papa and I had a conversation that went something like this:

Mama:  Let's build a fort for Benji for Christmas. We can use some of the wood we have lying around here. It'll be cheaper than buying a play structure and we can build it ourselves. It will be rustic and good for his imagination.

The Papa: OK.

As we got into the project, the conversation then went something like this.

Mama:  Wait. What are you doing? That's not what it said in the plans!

The Papa: I'm following your plan.

Mama: No you're not! That is supposed to be 54" total. See? LOOK at it!

The Papa: It wasn't clear.

Mama: How could it not be clear?!  That's what the line shows!  That's the number RIGHT THERE.

The Papa: These aren't good sketches.

Mama: They are perfectly clear! You just have a mental block when it comes to me trying to communicate with you about something you don't want to do.

The Papa: I think we should hire the Northrops to finish this for us.

Somehow The Papa and I managed to build the foundation together. And the Northrops did come complete the job. And it cost at least twice what I had hoped because we got real weatherproof siding and because I had no idea lumber was so expensive. Truly. Plus the whole paying someone else to do the labor thing.

And, P.S., they understood my blueprint just fine.

But then the little building sat. It had no curtains and no furniture in it. I thought that would make it the birthplace of imaginative ventures, but all it became was a ghost town. I thought it would transform into a castle, or a pioneer fort, or a spy hideout. It did no such thing.

So this past spring I decided to lure Sadie into it. I sewed curtains from fabric that was languishing in a pile in the loft. We rearranged the kids' playroom and brought the table and chairs out to the little building. The kids made art and taped it to the walls. We hung hooks for a handheld broom and dustpan for tidying up, and a few for hanging superheros capes, lanterns, and fake crystals. Because...fancy.

Now the house is in heavy rotation, and they all refer to it as "The Clubhouse." We are in the process of painting a sign to hang on the front, and I am pretty sure it needs a hanging pot of succulents at the entrance as well. (Then again, someone already tore down the windchime, so maybe I am a little too ambitious.)

 This brings us to The Mud Kitchen.

No matter what I do, they ALWAYS come back to digging in the planters.

So I got smart and gave them a patch all their own.

 The mud still ends up all over, but now they are not digging up newly planted vegetables.

Bee-la-la is in the busybody stage. She swiped these sunglasses from behind Benji's back.

And she decided to actually eat the mud pie. She gave it a thumbs-down.

And there ya have it!  Backyard times at our place - good dirty fun.