Retreat

Anna, by nature, is a high maintenance little girl.  Not that she is difficult (anymore!), but her personality just somehow seems to take over.  Once she gets going, she seems to run the show. I love that about her.  However, my heart lately had been longing for some uninterrupted time with my more laid back little lady who somehow seems to get less of me than her sister.  When an opportunity came up for Abigail and I to go on a mother/daughter retreat, I didn't blink twice.  We signed up and anxiously waited for Nov. 14th to arrive!  

After the initial disappointment of not getting to ride down to Grapeland, TX with some friends, she and I both got very excited about riding with just each other.  We mostly listened to Caddie Woodlawn, a must read by the way, and chatted here and there about how excited we were to be spending this time together.  

As we drove, I remembered that just a few weeks before, David had been out of town for several nights.  In an attempt to be more fun, I copied my friend Ami and let each girl stay up late and sleep with me one night.  The night before Abigail's turn, I asked her what was her favorite day ever and her answer was, "Tomorrow, because I get to hang out with only you all night."  Wow.  I had had no idea how much it meant to her.  As I thought about that, I also thought about how much a weekend like this would mean to any little girl.  To know that her mom set aside that time, just for her.  I think it was something Abigail (and I!) will always remember.

We played by the lake...

We sat by the campfire...

We shot a 22...

(We even hit our targets!)

We climbed a rock wall (Abigail made it all the way to the top!)

We went horseback riding...

We did a little archery...

We made yummy candied apples...well I did, anyway.  

Abigail was afraid they would be "too sweet".

We stayed up late with friends.

We went on the infamous "giant swing" which I talked Abigail into letting them swing us as high as it would go.  Oops.  Once they let us go I heard, "I do not like this.  I think I am going to throw up!"  I, of course, felt terrible.  The lady in charge happened to stop by to take pictures and felt so bad for Abigail that she said she could have a free light up necklace from the General Store.  The tears quickly dried up.  Very quickly, actually!

We had sessions in the chapel where we learned songs, saw funny puppets, and learned Bible lessons.

We loved spending time with some sweet friends, and making a couple new ones as well.  It was especially fun, for me, to see everyone (moms included!) all giddy & giggly as we stayed up late chatting that first night.

All too soon, it was time to head home.  As we drove and finished listening to Caddie Woodlawn, we decided that something was missing.  As much fun as we had (and we had A LOT!) we decided that next year, we'll invite Anna!

What you do when you're 5 and you snag your mom's camera:

1.  You wake your dad up from his nap.

2.  You find your big sister, always happy to smile for the camera, drawing under the school table.

3.  Finally, you take a few self-portraits.

Happy Birthday to My Man

I love that you love to travel and take us fun places

I love your corny jokes

I love that you seriously believe you started the following trends when you were in junior high...roller blading, Tommy Hilfiger, (and others I can't remember)

I love your bald head

I love that you can cheer me up and make me laugh even when I seem determined to stay a grouch (Though I may not know I love this at the time!)

I love that I know things about you that no one else does

I love your soft heart not only towards the girls and I, but especially toward the Lord

I love that you work hard to provide for us so that I can stay home with the girls

I love your weird eating habits (Okay, so maybe not, but I still love you!)

I love watching you and the girls get silly

I love having you as the leader of our family and knowing that you pray for us every day

I love that we have been married for 10 years!

I love that you are 33

I love you

Happy Birthday.  Mmmuuuahh!

Now that I have two readers...

...lunch has gotten a lot quieter around here!

(And even the dolls are enjoying some good books!)

Summer Update

Per a friend's request (Thanks, Michelle, I needed that!) I am doing a little blogging today.  Nothing exciting, just thought I'd share a small sample of what we've been up to:

Feeding the birds at the zoo with B-Pa (and enjoying

his Christmas gift of Zoo passes!)

Cookouts with friends (and this one was even complete with horseback rides!  Anna's first!)

The girls' dance recital.  Anna was a butterfly and Abigail was a flamingo.  

Sadly, this is the best picture I got.

Abigail's piano recital.  She had a stellar first year of lessons and finished out with 4 blue ribbons (for playing in front of judges at Arlington music festivals), a medal (for getting a 99 on her theory test, which she took in a college classroom!) and a trophy!  Next year, Anna will jump on the piano bandwagon.

Plus lots of swimming, Vacation Bible School, tending to our first garden (which has been quite a learning experience!), and just having fun!

Confirmation

This morning as I woke up to mounds of laundry, dishes I hadn't finished last night, unfinished projects, and lots of clutter, I found myself wondering what in the world possessed me to homeschool.  I started mourning the 7 hours a day that I'd have totally to myself to clean, craft, organize, etc.  I knew that deep down (very deep this morning!) I loved what I did, but I just didn't feel it.  

After we had done most of our desk work, we snuggled up on the couch for our reading.  I had been reading Toliver's Secret to Abigail because it correlated with where we were in history right now, and yesterday, Anna decided she wanted to sit in on the reading.  She quickly got sucked into the story and and wanted to join us again today.  We got to the climax of the story and I knew I had to put the book down so that we could have lunch, and sadly, get dressed(!) before the girls had sewing class.  I tried to put the book down, but I had BOTH girls begging for "one more chapter"!  This is not uncommon from Abigail, but to have both girls desperately wanting me to read just a little more completely melted my heart and was such a confirmation that, messes and all, homeschooling is totally worth it.  

I love that I get to be here with them when they have those moments where things suddenly "click".  I love that I get to see their proud little faces as they tell their daddy about what they learned in school that day.  I love that they are exposed to well-written literature and that I can use what we read to foster Godly character in them.  I love that the Lord has put homeschooling on my heart.  I love that He gave me such a clear reminder that I am in His will and that despite the fact that I sometimes doubt my ability homeschool, He gives me encouragement like this to keep me going.  God is good!

And Now, the Pictures!

Our traditional family picture in front of the National Park sign.  (A tradition started long ago by my mom - there are countless pictures of my brothers and sisters and I that look just like this!)

Disneyland!

First ride - Dumbo!

Teacups

Abigail and Tinkerbell (Anna declined to have her picture taken as well.)

The girls and Aerial (I thought it was funny how Abigail has been telling me for months now that she's "just not that into princesses anymore" but as soon as we started seeing the princesses, she quickly forgot and enjoyed them all!)

Beach near Hearst Castle

Stinson Beach

Aunt Amanda's convertible

Lunch with Claire

Grand Canyon

Told you I was a sucker for these shots!

The End!

Attempt to Return

***** Edited to add - I cannot, for the life of me, get blogger to post my pictures at the end of my post.  Because I am a bit obsessive compulsive, I cannot bring myself to post this with the pictures at the beginning.  They will follow in a later post.  :)  *****  

Well, I am making another attempt to rejoin the blogging world.  I, clearly, have been out for a while.  I have had many moments that I have wanted to post about, but before I am able to, something else happens and I don't want to write about it yet because I still haven't written about the first thing, and so on and so on until months have passed and I find myself here with a much out-dated blog!  So instead of trying to recap all that I've missed, I'm starting with a clean slate - only with what is currently on my mind.

We recently took a trip with the girls.  They knew we were going to go see my sister and grandparents in Napa, California.  But what they didn't know was that we were taking them to Disneyland for 3 days first.  In fact, they did not know that we were going there until about 10 minutes before the shuttle picked us up from the hotel.  To say they were excited would be a complete understatement!  

After three action-packed days in Disneyland, we headed north up to Napa where we got to see my sister and grandparents.  David and I got to do a little wine tasting, which was fun, and my sister treated the girls and I to a delicious lunch at the Neiman Marcus Cafe in San Fransisco (or An Frascisco, as Anna calls it!)  The girls got to see their "California friend" as well.  

After Napa, we completed our little tour of the west with a trip to the Grand Canyon.  I've grown up going there for family vacations and I have to admit - I had totally taken it for granted.  It is amazing.  We truly have a creative God.  In fact, Abigail told me that she was glad God was God and not her, because she would not have thought of making something so beautiful.  The girls were quite the little troopers - we hiked about a fourth of the way down, and of course, back up.  They made it all the way on their own, except for Abigail, who was carried only the last 10 steps.  She had had her limit!

After each trip, David has started making a simple bullet point list of our favorite memories from the trip to help us remember things we might otherwise forget.  We asked the girls to help out with the list this year, and while many of these won't make sense to you all, they are all special to us, so for that reason, I'm including it here:

Day 1

-Cinnamon Peanut Butter

-El Taco Tote

-messy back seat burritos

Tucson

-bad sushi

-Man Vs. Wild

On the way to L.A.

-Joshua Tree National Park

-Anna & Mommy beat Abigail & Daddy

-saw no Joshua trees

Disneyland & California Adventure

-"Errands" become Disneyland

-First ride was Dumbo

-Anna's faves:  "Winnie and the Pooh" and Dumbo

-Abigail's faves:  Thunder Mountain and the Rapids ride at California Adventure

-Churros!!

-Lunch at the Pirates of the Caribbean restaurant (not at all scary, or like the movie!)

-Princess dinner

-Interactive Toy Story rides

-Pouring down rain (on Thunder Mountain!)

-Daddy never got to see Tom Sawyer's Island 

-Mommy didn't get to ride the Matterhorn (dad gum that rain!)

-One of everyone's faves was Peter Pan

Drive to Napa

-Stopped at Hearst Castle

-Fascinating!

-Playing in the ocean at sunset (Brrrr!)

-Pasos Robles

-Slow laundry night (bad drier!)

-"Pizza Magetcha"

Napa

-Saw Aunt Amanda

-Saw Grandma & Grandpa Whitney

-Went to Stenson Beach

-Winding roads & car sick girls

-Sand castles

-Anna asking the surfer if he was sky diving

-Anna said of the surfer's (long haired, male) friend, "Look, mom.  That girl went surfing too!"

-Anna speaks "whinese"

-Wine tasting

-Hanging out with John and Claire

-Nieman Marcus Cafe - girls had bad cheeseburgers, but yummy chocolate fondu

-Sea Lions at Pier 39

-Our bare bones room at the Napa Valley Veteran's home hotel, where the heater was about 2 feet from one of the beds

-Abigail's dream about being in a room where all the walls were heaters

-Riding in Amanda's convertible

Long drive to Flagstaff

-Almost running out of gas in the Mojave Desert

Flagstaff

-Cold Stone Creamery, Thai food

-"tubey" scarf

-Grand Canyon hiking

-Popcorn and apples

-David got a little competitive the last 5 minutes (not wanting the people behind us to catch up and pass us) so pushed the girls a little more than they could handle!

General

-Out of the way Trader Joe's

-"Shcottie Dawgs"

-mouth pointing

-16 hours in the car

-Ami's faves CD

-Shuggie Otis on the dash

If there is anyone still reading (and I don't blame anyone who is not, that list was really for us, so therefore, boring to anyone who was not there!) here are some pictures: