I got the ball rolling

Remember my post whining about the boredom with my house? (Aren't I awful for not simply being happy with what I got???) Well, I decided that I would do the cheapest thing I could do, and I got a 5 dollar bottle of glossy black paint and painted all my existing picture frames. They were all miss matched and different colors, stlyes, sizes and textures. Well now they are all those things, but all glossy black. I love it already even though they are drying, and thus not hung up. Project number 2, Brian's trophy shelf. I will be painting that too, can you guess what color? That's right glossy black.

But what I really would like to have are more shelves, maybe a bookcase, and as soon as we get our tax return, a dining room table.

We had a dining room table at our old apartment, but we also had a dining room. Here the kitchen and livingroom simply hit each other with no real dining space. So when we moved in we got rid of the table, and happily ate on tv trays for a few months. Then I started to miss the table (not that it would have fit anyway). BUT I have found some cute tables at IKea that fold down to really small when not in use, so that I could easily push them up against the wall during the day and open it up for dinner at night. I am fondly looking forard to buying it...very fondly.

I already feel the daydream coming on....

Follow Up

So I did my lesson on watching what you say today, and well, it went OK, but not what I expected. I started with the kids writing nice words and mean words on hearts and taping them onto butcher paper...which turned into a few kids saying mean words to each other...not what I intended. But I pushed on.

I did the vinegar and baking soda experiment and the kids complained about the smell of vinegar more than anything. One kid said "That was it?" Yeah, so baking soda volcanoes are apparently so 20th century, and I never got that memo.

Sigh, not what I was expecting for my morning, I envisioned them CAPTIVATED by this point. I blame it on end of summer squirminess....or maybe bad execution on my part.

Then we got to the toothpaste example, and my Serena had been the most behaved all morning (unusual having me as her teacher usually leads to her being upset that she isn't the first picked for everything ever) so she came up and I told her squeeze out as much toothpaste as she wanted. She proceeded to squeeze out the entire tube, not joking!! So I look at her and say "OK. Put It back in now." Her look was priceless. Anyone who knows my Serena knows she is dramatic and expressive with her face, it was great. I can see the wheel turning in her head, mom said do it, so now what?? In fact, now all the kids are paying close attention. They say they have an idea of how to do it, so I try and it won't go back in. It was PERFECT. So I tell her she can sit down and that she did exactly what I was hoping she'd do. The kids got it, we can't take back what we say. We can ask for forgiveness and we receive it, but that word can't be erased.

So even though my first two ideas flopped with a gigantic WA WA WAAAAAA, the last one was a home run and I really think they got it! Praise Jesus that my below par ideas didn't fail to get His word into their hearts!

Eat my words

I am teaching my wonderful Dolphins this month, and the lesson I am teaching tomorrow is just as much for me as my kiddos. The key verse is:

"By your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned." Matt 12:37

Ouch. Serious ouch.

The lesson is about watching what you say. I really want the kids to get this, so here is what I am doing to drive the point home.

Opening: The kids will write nice words and mean words on hearts and tape them to butcher paper on the correct column (nice words, mean words). I want the wheels in their heads to start churning over what it feels like to be at the tail end of a mean remark. And they are writing them on hearts because, well, as Jesus said :

"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:33-37

Next to drive the point home of flowing out the heart I am busting out an old school science experiment, baking soda and vinegar. They are going to write their names on hearts and then tape them to Dixie cups, then well, you get it, foam a plenty flowing out of the heart cups. I am hoping this visual helps drive the point home once we get to the Bible portion.

Then comes the good ol toothpaste object lesson. 1 lucky kid will squeeze toothpaste out of a tube, and then I will tell them to try to put it back in. When they start worrying that they can't, I'll drive home that neither can we take back the words that come out of our mouths, while we can apologize, and ask forgiveness, it will never be erased, what's said is said. That will lead into, well how do we have a good heart in which good things comes out? Jesus, only he can wash away our sins, and clean out the junk too!

Next we'll go over Jesus words in Matthew, and I plan to give each of them a tube of toothpaste to take home, so they can remember the lesson.

Then they will make heart puppets and act out a skit they write about using nice words and the consequences of bad word, and mean words.

That's the easy part. Now how am I going to drive this point home in my own heart????

Boredom

I am bored, not with my life, but with my decor. I am certainly not good at decorating...AT ALL. And well, it shows. I have basically all hand me down furniture, so not much matches, not much really fits my space the way it should, not much is well, exciting or inviting. I watch way too many shows on HGTV and the bug has bit me and I have an itch to decorate. Great, why am I blogging instead of working then? Cash. I don't have any money to spend.

So today I reaarranged my furniture, and painted an old spice rack (that was being used to hold Serena's shells until she got a better idea for them) and hugn it in my kitchen. Now what? I have an apt so painting is most likely not an option, though I do intend on checking with the landlord on it. On all the design on a budget shows they go into peoples garages and pull out stuff to revamp, but really all I have is being used. I don't have extra furniture and decor lying around my house.

SO I need ideas!!!!

Any ideas

How do I warm up my living room?

How do I make my room more cozy???

The Blog ride and Poison berry punch

Brian had the day off yesterday, so he suprised us with a trip to Knott's for the day. We had such a fun time. Here are some of the highlights and one yucky low-light.
Brian exploring a cave with his girls


Daddy thrilled to have taken his Serena on what she called the "blog" ride for the first time. The "blog" ride. I love it, what a sign off the times. She really thought it was called the blog ride.
My girls posing as we went on the Calico mine ride...one of their favorites of the day.

Serena takes pretty good pictures, I'd have to say.

The low-light. We went to TGI Fridays for lunch. I ordered the Starwberry fields salad, and I got this. Wilted ice berg lettuce with nasty overly ripe strawberries. What restraunt would even serve this junk???

The carousel was our last family ride of the night.

Daddy happily taking both his girls on the Camp Bus in Camp Snoopy.

Brian REALLY EXCITED to be on the carousel. Don't let the face fool you, he did that on purpose!

Chloe SOAKED after going on the log ride (late in the day we realized we could all go.) Serena being, well, Serena and hamming it up for the camera. Chloe loved the ride, I mean L-O-V-E-D it. The bounce house made her cry, but the log ride she loves. Go figure.

We had such a good time. There were hardly any lines so we went on everything we wanted, and then more. We saw an ice show, and had funnel cake. At dinner we got the girls what Serena heard as poion berry punch. She in dramatic Serena fashion said " POISON! YOU GAVE ME POISON BERRY!" Completely serious, I might add. I replied "BOY....b-o-y....boysenberry punch." She replies, sounding relieved, "Oh...ok I thought you gave me poison."

Goat Hill Junction

Brian, being a sweet, sweet man, suprised us today with a trip to the Goat Hill Junction railroad. It's this cute (free by the way) train ride in Costa Mesa at Fairview park every 3rd Saturday of the month. It's run by a bunch of Grandpa's with a love of trains. It was fabulous, and definately something we will go to again. I am looking forward to spring bringing green feilds to Fairview Park...that will be a gorgeous ride for sure, but even with the Summer brush it was peaceful and worth the 30 minutes or so we had to wait!

Absolutely worth checking out!

Only restrictions...kids have to be able to walk on thier own (not that they walk on the ride, but there is no holding them on the train ride) and if you weigh more than 225 you need special permission from the train master to ride.

Check it out! http://www.daytrippen.com/goathilljunction.html

1 week + No facebook = we'll see

So as I was reading our Bible studies book "The Life You've Alway's Wanted" today I felt the tug of the Spirit. I have been so tired lately. I feel like I am being pulled in all different directions, and there is so much going on, and not very much do I feel like I can cut out. It's the begining of anxiety city. I feel like I'm "missing the forest for the trees". I think that's how the saying goes...anyway...I started to think, okay, what can I cut out?

I'm working on writing the curriculum for our church sunday school, and that entails a lot of research online, emails, meetings, writing, writing, writing. I can't cut that out, it's something God has given me to do. And honestly, I definately do not want to cut it out. I am so excited about what God will do through this to reach our kids that all the work is more than worth it. And I have a feeling that this will be the kind of venture in which the journey is just as important at the end product (Thank you "The Alchemist").

I'm part of the leadership for my Mom's group, and writing the curriculum for it, and again this is something I am not only doing for the kids, and for the Moms, but it is an offering to God. So again, no way am I cutting it.

Time with kids, obvious.

Time with my husband, obvious.

Bible Study, I can't go without it. I NEED the accountability with a Capital N. So that too will stay

Playdates, are great for me AND my kids, so those will stay (though maybe not so many)

Computer time (outside of my curriculum writing)...it's disposable. It's unimportant. It's sucking up my time. Is facebook evil? No, I love it. But it's like cheesecake, I need to indulge in moderation. (Is saying too much cheesecake blasphemy? Nope, ask my mom about the pumpkin cheesecake we ate one thanksgiving...you CAN have too much cheesecake). So I am going to try to go one week without facebook. I'll still look at blogs, and check my email...because those things don't suck me into wasting hours on end. But Facebook...soo long for now!

Now, let's see where this new endevour takes me!

I wanna go you house!

Oh my poor Chloe!

She was having an Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by about 5pm tonight. She was spent and still had a few hours before bed. Needless to say a few meltdowns ensued. She, when upset, always calls for the person who she is not angry with, for example, when I punish her she calls for Daddy, and when he punishes her she calls for me.

Today she was mad at the world and the only person who could make it better was Pappa. She calls both my parents Pappa. They are apparently 1 entity. She was crying and calling for Pappa, so big sis asked her if she wanted to call Pappa. Chloe agreed. And by time we got the phone and dialed she had stopped crying.

Then Grandma answered, and the chin started to quiver. She said something I couldn't make out, followed by "I wanna go to you house!" I burst into laughter. Even at 2 1/2 she gets that grandma's house means lots of love and few "No's". When Chloe was finished I pick up the phone and my mom was laughing and finding it just as funny and endearing as I did.

In Alexander And The No Good, Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day he wants to go to Australia, but maybe Chloe has an even better idea; just go to Pappa's house!