Bravo, Ella!

On Friday night Ella participated in her second annual piano recital.  We're thankful for all the passion for music her wonderful teacher invests in her each week.  Though staying on top of the daily practice definitely takes work, we're also thankful that Ella continues to love to play and desires to keep improving.  Here are some videos of the two songs she played.  The first is a solo called "Shadows" and the second is a duet with her teacher called "Yankee Doodle Dazzle."

We went back and watched Ella's recital videos from last year.  It was fun to see not only how she's improved musically, but also how the several inches she's grown this year have brought her dangling feet to the floor! :)

This was a fun night to celebrate Ella and all the hard work she puts into learning the piano.  We had fun visiting with the other families Miss Sara teaches and we went out as a family for ice cream afterward.

Pictures from the Patch

With a day off school today, we recharged with some special activities.  First we met good friend Amy and her two younger kids for lunch and then we made our annual visit to the pumpkin farm.  Zero the Hero tells Delia's first grade class that we've survived our new routine for just over 40 days now.  We are all loving school, but were looking forward to this day off and it was a good one!

Jumping

 Flying!

 Buried in corn kernels

 Hunting for the perfect pumpkins in the U-Pick field

 This one...

 Not this one.

Making friends with a sweet baby foal

And the annual shot.  For fun, check out the first time we ever took the girls to pick pumpkins!

Funnies

Thought I'd take a second to throw a few funny lines on the blog.

The first is something I already posted on Facebook, but wanted to record here as well since the blog has become a place to preserve thoughts, images and memories for when I lose my mind! :)

Delia: Mom, it's Friday.  Today I had show-and-tell.
Me: Oh no!  We forgot to put something in your bag didn't we?  I'm sorry.
Delia:  Don't worry, it's okay.  I just stood up front and told jokes instead.

The second may require a bit of explanation.  In preschool we always try to focus on the positive over the negative.  For example, if my students are running around the classroom, I will say, "Please use your walking feet!" instead of, "Stop it!  Don't run!"  Since kids are so quick to catch on and label a classmate as "the naughty one", we also try to avoid calling out bad behavior with a student's name in public.  Instead I'll point out all the students who are doing the right thing.  So that explains why a Carpet Time music instrument lesson had me uttering possibly the strangest line I've ever spoken:

"Thank you and good job to all the boys and girls who are NOT putting the castanets down their pants."

The International Doll Collection

Thanks to our generous family members, the girls are growing quite the doll collection from around the world!  This week a package arrived from Auntie Karen giving the girls a doll from another new continent: Asia!

So, here's where the special dolls are from and who we can thank for sending them into our home:
From China: Auntie Karen
From Germany: Auntie Heather
From Guatemala: Daddy
From Uganda: Grandpa
From the USA: Grandma and Grandpa
From Mexico: Auntie Karen

If anyone is planning to travel to Australia or Antarctica, the only two continents we don't have dolls from, please pick one up for us! :)

Bring It On, 36!

So, though I am now officially closer to 40 than I am to 30, I am not feeling down about this birthday.  This year has been so full of great blessings.  I'm in awe of my gifted husband more than ever.  My kids some how get more fun to hang out with each day.  I love everything about the career path I started up again this year.  Our ministry is thriving.  Our cups continue to overflow.  On top of just celebrating a good year, for the actual day of my birthday, all you dear loved ones totally spoiled me!  Your phone calls, messages, gifts and well wishes made me feel extra blessed and brought me smiles all day.  A day (and year!) full of good gifts reminds me once again of something Beth Moore taught us while studying James 1:17 ("Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights...") last year: "Indeed, every good and perfect thing that has ever come into our lives has come as a gift to us from God himself...And it was not random.  It was intentional.  It was personal."         

A Rainy Day Story

It hasn't rained by us since, I don't know, February?  Just this week as we drove to school past several almond orchards finishing their shaking and harvest, we could literally see the dust hanging in the air.  And each night when we turn on the window fans we get to enjoy not just cool nighttime breezes, but also enough junk in the air to make all our eyes and throats itchy.  That first cleansing rain of the season is always an extremely welcome sight.

For all of our birthdays this year, Mom and Dad gave each family a zoo membership.  Cool gift, huh?  Especially for those of us who love taking outings and are always looking for a great Saturday getaway!  We decided to finally venture out of the house for something other than church, school or errands and break in the new zoo membership today...the day we also got the first torrential downpour that we've had in about half a year!

We saw that it was going to rain in the forecast, but assumed it would be a drizzly sort of rain. Nope, this was the kind of rain you can't see anything in, even when the wipers are swishing back and forth on high speed.  When we pulled into the zoo, they warned us that that'd probably be closing it early, but we decided to just go for it.  We bought some awesome neon, animal-covered ponchos in the gift shop and huddled under our one big umbrella as we ran from enclosure to enclosure.  (And PS in California, every animal exhibit it outside.  Only the reptile house offered us shelter.)  Even with the ponchos and umbrella, we were totally soaked all the way through in about 2 minutes.  We made a choice to just keep going, though, and accept the fact that we were wet and going to get wetter.  The rain came down so fast, the hard ground couldn't absorb it and some parts of the zoo flooded, the paths became actual rivers.  We just tromped right through.

And you know what?  This ended up being one of the best zoo days ever!  We had so much fun laughing over the downpour and our insanity for being outside in it.  We, and maybe 10 others, had the zoo to ourselves!  The animals were fantastic to watch today too-- extra frisky and appearing to enjoy the first rain of the season just as much as we humans do.  We saw playful elephants splashing and spraying in their pool (probably adopting our same thought: "Hey, I'm already wet..."), we saw baboons playing a fierce and noisy game of tag.  We saw giant fruit bats stretching all the way out and doing the twist while hanging upside-down.

Back at home, we all pulled off our sopping shoes and socks to reveal pruney, wrinkled toes desperate for some warm, wool socks.  We quickly filled up the washing machine with clothes that look like they've already been through a cycle.  And I have not a single picture on my camera because I couldn't risk pulling it out in the heavy rain.  It was such a great and memorable day.  I wonder if the next trip to the zoo with our new membership will seem too dry and boring after this one! :)

So, thanks for super day today and others in the future, Mom and Dad!

Picture-An-Hour

For the past few weeks my camera has been paranoid that it did something to anger me.  It's been just sitting on the desk collecting dust and feeling neglected.  I've been trying to think of something interesting to blog about when our lives pretty much follow the exact same routine each day and then I read this cool "Photo Every Hour" post from my friend Monica.  So, this is straight-up blog post theft.  I'm not sure how interesting you'll find this hourly glimpse into our somewhat typical Friday, but it was kinda fun to document, so here you go.  (If you're reading this on Feedly, you may want to visit the actual blog so the images don't appear all jumbled up.)

6:30 am.  Good morning! 

7:30 am.  Add "morning bus driver" to my new job description.

8:30 am.  Flag Salute and God Bless America at morning Carpet Time.

9:30 am.  It's Pond Life week in preschool, so we made these cool green and speckled frogs today.

10:30 am.  Recess visitors.

11:30 am.  Always trying out fun, new ways my students can learn through play!

12:30 pm.  Lunch with the students who stay all day.

1:30 pm.  Off work and running a few quick errands.

2:30 pm.  A quiet hour at home to start working on my lesson plans for next week.

3:30ish pm.  Love seeing these happy faces hop off the bus!

4:30 pm.  Piano practice with Daddy.

5:30 pm.  Playing a little Wii Mario Kart.

6:30 pm.  Make your own pizza night!

7:30 pm.  Are you ready for some football?

8:30 pm.  Friends and Friday night lights (and jumbo glow sticks!).

9:30 pm.  We're waaay past bedtime at this point.  And we didn't see our team coming back to win this one.

10:30 pm.  I am famously a night owl, but hanging out with preschoolers all day now sends me to bed between 9:30 and 10:00.  This was a "late" night!

A Better Week

"But he said to me, 'My Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

Last week I confided that I've been battling some health issues that were making my day to day responsibilities extra challenging.  Thank you, family and friends, who were so quick to call and email!  Some of you I haven't even gotten back to yet because I'm finding there are somehow a lot less hours in each day than there used to be! :)  I appreciate your love and concern and am thrilled to report this week that it's been A GREAT WEEK!  I have felt almost normal each day and was able to give my job and family the 100% they deserve.  This is a God Thing for sure.  God heard prayers, he answered.  His power was made perfect in weakness.  I have to boast about and delight in overcoming this difficulty because it is only through him that it was possible.  I'm still having my heart monitored, but my health seems to have been restored and I'm certainly thankful...for feeling good, for caring friends and for a God who answers prayer!  

Update on Our Labors

Labor Day Weekend seems the appropriate time to finally log back into the blog and give you a little update on our labors.  Back to school for us brings a new reality-- one that is still exciting and enjoyable, but one that is different and exhausting as well.

Since I narrate this blog, I'll begin.  I continue to love, love, love my job.  Managing my little students for 5 hours every single day requires MAJOR energy and creativity, but I have already seen so much growth in them.  They are more independent than they were 3 weeks ago.  They are knowledgeable about class routine and expectations.  The content I go through with them each day is sticking and they can remember Spanish words and sign language letters and Bible stories and what to say to a friend who has the toy you want and silly songs and how to hold a scissors and what color you get when you mix red and yellow.  The ones who were sad to say goodbye to mom are now happy to come.  I can honestly say their hugs, enthusiasm, smiles, giggles and growth bring me great joy each day.

However, I've also been dealing with some health issues these past 3 weeks.  I won't get all into it, but doctors have been visited, tests have been done, blood work has been examined and I am still not sure exactly what's wrong with me.  For the next month I get to wear a constant heart monitor (which is really getting in the way of all the fun, new, back-to-work outfits I put together!).  My doctor thinks I may be feeling weak and faint all the time because of a heart arrhythmia.  Or perhaps it's just been a lot of change in a short time and I'm stressed.  With my family history, we're trying to be safe.  I take it one day at a time and give God all the credit each time he delivers the strength I need to make it through another one without passing out in front of my students.  This has certainly been frustrating and made things that are not absolutely essential (like blogging) slip to the wayside.

Dave has not been without quite a bit of adjustment himself.  Though my job is just part time, he's stepped up big time to help do things like make breakfasts and lunches in the morning while I get ready or take over some of the dinner making when I come home completely wiped out.  He's looking forward to all his groups starting up again next week.  He's had some great meetings with leaders and has a strong vision for what to teach this year.  With a lot of students graduating and not as many coming in, he's anticipating a smaller group this year, which in many logistical ways can be a good thing.

The girls are thriving.  Delia has seamlessly adjusted to first grade's all day schedule.  She shows no signs of being tired or not absolutely loving school.  Her teacher is silly and makes her laugh each day.  All the hard work of kindergarten seems to be paying off as she starts this year with a really solid math and reading foundation.  And Ella is doing great too!  Third grade is apparently the year where you learn how to be a student.  She's learning a lot about study skills and how to be independent and responsible.  She's enjoyed reuniting with old friends and already has a calendar full of play dates.  The time during the weekdays when everyone is home and piano, homework, chores, dinner, baths and sleeping are not consuming our time is very short (like 1 hour), but weekends are glorious!

Well, though I called this a "little update" in my first sentence, this post has turned into quite the novel!  Thanks for taking the time to read along and learn about what's happening in our lives!  My prayer is that September is a month of continuation of all the things that we are finding rewarding and answers and closure to the things that are making life difficult.

(And here's a parting shot of Delia-- the ONLY pic I've taken for the past 3 weeks, which I view as more evidence that something MUST be wrong with me! :)

First Day: A Good Day!

Well, the VMs are once again reporting a successful and "AWESOME!" (to use the girls' exact word), first day of school.  I'm having fun saying that we were off to 1st grade, 3rd grade AND preschool this year!  First impressions are all good ones.  My students are adorable and energetic enough that 5 hours with them just flies right by! :)  Both Ella and Delia got the teachers they wanted and the group of friends they wanted in their classes.  Though the day was long (especially for Delia who's never taken a lunch or the afternoon bus), the kids still seem perky and excited to be in this new fun routine.  

Check out those gleaming new shoes!  Ella said I should take a "last day of school" pic that shows their wear and tear!

(Ella and Mrs. A.)

(Delia and Mrs. P.)

After today, I'm counting our blessings once again: being a part of this wonderful community, kids who actually like going to school, and a perfectly timed job offer.