100 freakin' degrees

When it's this hot out, what do we do? Make a make-shift pool for Mags (who played in it for 2 solid hours), I stay indoors with C, cleaning and organizing, and Aron does hard labor, building 4 rolling shelves for our garage. Pics to come!

sketchbook

Here is Maggie's sketchbook; I cannot wait to gain a collection of these over the years to both see her progress and to have an "heirloom" of sorts of what she experienced growing up in our family. Eventually, each of us will have one of these, so we can all draw together. I have made notes on many of her pages, asking her the name of her piece ("Another Jumping One" or "Bee in a Jar" or "Parrot in the Clouds"), and asking her to tell me details of what she's drawn.

inspiration!

The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule has been an inspirational read! I've LOVED her ideas for incorporating creative play into daily life, everthing from art projects to free play to varous crafts.

One idea I have loved is to incorporate family art time. This can be anything from a set-aside art night or taking just a few minutes a day to incorporate drawing/sketching/painting into every day life. Soule suggets everyone drawing the same object together and talking about their work afterwards. This got me thinking and I decided to purchase a sketchbook from Borders and have one place where all of Maggie's artwork can be stored and will grow with her overtime. No more stacks of artwork in file folders. Maggie has enjoyed her new book! I have also used the sketchbook this week after our morning walks or before dinnertime (when things can be a bit choatic). It's a simple way to say, "Draw a picture of something you observed on our walk," or "Draw your favorite memory of today."

bethany visits

My close friend, Bethany, arrived last weekend for a whirlwind visit, brought together by her husband and I for her birthday (as a surprise!). It was a BLAST as she and I were able to connect and she was able to just be "Bethany" and not "Mom" or "Wife" for the weekend. I look forward to a trip like this myself. :) We were able to pack in a ton to 2 1/2 days: shopping at Santa Monica Promenade, 2 vists to the beach, shopping at the Spectrum, 2 nights of do-it-yourself yogurt, Laguna Beach Arts Festival, long talks, and coffee out one night. Bethany has become such a good friend this past year when we lived on campus at DTS (literally, her family lived directly across the hall from us). We miss playing with her kiddos, Asher and Cademon, on a daily basis. We have connected over our journeys in motherhood, as wives of seminary husbands, creative endeavors, and our pursuits of God. Come back anytime, friend! And bring the family next time.

Outside the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach

Eating cupcakes at Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica...hands-down the best cupcakes I've ever had...yes, better than Sprinkles.

Curren eating my finger and wishing he could have a cupcake!

Love this shot!

And this one, too!

The steps down to Lost Winds beach in San Clemente

Maggie taking a break before the hike up the stairs

Sunset at Salt Creek beach

**All of these pics (minus the ones of both Bethany and I) were taken by Bethany! She is a talented photographer. And like I said in the post below, I LOVE the face shots of Curren.

happy boy!

Taken by my good friend, Bethany, when she was out to visit last weekend. Honestly, these are some of my favorite pics of Curren! Could he be any cuter?! :)

congrats!

Our good friends, Thad and Jocelyn, got engaged in early August. We are so excited and thrilled for them! We were able to be there and take pics of them, unbeknowst to her. The wedding is slotted for December 17. Love you guys!

congrats!

Our good friends, Thad and Jocelyn, got engaged in early August. We are so excited and thrilled for them! We were able to be in Dana Point Harbor and take pics of them, unbeknowst to her
(though this pic is a reinactment). The wedding is slotted for December 17. Love you guys!

the art of a spider terrarium

Maggie and I have been doing more outdoor exploration together. The other day I decided to create a terrarium with her, so we can catch various insects and observe them, talk about them, and draw our findings. It was SO simple and so fun. Here's what our science and art time looked like. EASY to replicate (we caught 2 bees on Saturday and did the same things).
Supplies: one happy, eager child, a Ragu jar, a hammer, and a nail

With careful help, let your child create several air holes

Put greenery and sticks into the jar

Capture your subject

Make observations and predictions together with your child

Draw your findings together

wordless wednesday

Fairy wings--50 cents at a garage sale last weekend!

The Ortons visit

In late July, my good friend Erin and her family came to visit us for a week. We had the BEST time. The kids did so well, and we totally enjoyed the fellowship and time to connect. We did a TON: several visits to the beach, the Spectrum, church, a beach bar-b-que, do-it-yourself yogurt, In-N-Out, San Diego, Scripps Aquarium, Seaport Village, Mission Mall, a walk around Mission Lake and several walks in our neighborhood. Here are some of my favorite shots of our time together. Our visit was amazing! Come back ANYTIME!
Finding crabs at Doheny State Beach

Hudson and Maggie--best friends!

Swinging at Dinosaur Park

Making homemade pizza

Playing in the fountains at the Spectrum

More water fun

Baby Beach and fun in the sand!

Curren and Parker enjoying the sand

happy 67th anniversary!

In 1941, my Grandpa spotted on my Grandma and the local soda fountain in Waurika, Oklahoma. She was having a grand time with a friend, talking and laughing over ice-cream. He took an instant liking to her (and I believe even thought to himself, "I want to marry that girl!"), walked over to her, grabbed a spoon of his own, and ate right out of her ice-cream dish! They married on August 21, 1942 and not long after, Grandpa was shipped off to the Pacific to fight in WWII.

Sixty-seven years later, they are still married. We love the stories they tell of their life together (think of all that has changed in the world in the past almost-seven decades!). We love them and are thankful for their long-standing marriage.

Out to dinner to celebrate this week, the waitress brought them a dish of ice-cream to share!

wordless wednesday

still growing

Even as a 30 year old woman, I'm still learning so much about myself, my hangups, and my habits. Recently, I feel like God is stirring up some deep issues within my heart and for the first time in a long time, I think I'm really listening and ready to change. In no particular order:

1. I've always seen budgeting as "How much can I spend?" For some reason, it hit me the other week that this isn't the best mentality. Rather, I should be thinking, "How much can I save?" It's been a bit earth-shattering for me. And for once, I've actually been staying below our budget.

2. I've often turned to food in an unhealthy matter, being gluttonous, eating out of boredom, or using food as a reward for something I've done or a bad day I've had. I'm re-thinking how I eat and how often I eat. I'm trying to really enjoy the meals before me and not over-indulge. This past March, my good friend Molly (from DTS) and I attended a seminar on body image and how woman view themselves. Food was a key issue. I've been mulling several points, one being: Eat to hunger and fullness. Cynthia, the speaker, challenged us to think about when we ate and how much we ate. To not be in a constant state of eating, of revolving everything we do around when we will eat next or what we will eat. And you know what? For the first time in a very long time, I'm actually thinking about how much I'm eating, when I'm eating, and if I really want or need to eat. It's been freeing.

3. I'm a struggling mother. Motherhood, while full of joy and beauty and laughter, is challenging--and sometimes that's an understatement. I've only been a mother for 2 1/2 years and by far, this has been the most refining thing in my life. It's a continual process of dying to self, of choosing to play with and engage with my children, rather than doing something I want to do. I feel my mind and heart are constantly in need of realignment.

Thanks be to God for His continual love and pursuit of me, of His endless patience when I fall. I feel I'm being renewed.

bath time buddies

Really, is there anything greater than when your kiddos can start to enjoy bathtime together?! Curren now rolls around like a little fish and sits up in the tub. It's so much fun to watch them interact.

and of course, i really, really love my girl!

wordless thursday aka "where did the week go?!"

I really, really love my boy!

wordless thursday aka "where did the week go?"

beach days

These days we have been going to the beach at least 2x a week. Both kids absolutely LOVE it, yes even the baby. I took them each out individually into the crashing waves last week and they both laughed and splashed giddily. Our good friends, the Ortons, came to visit in July and stayed almost a whole week. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to have them here! I will post more pics later, but for now, here's a shot of all 4 kiddos enjoying the sand at Baby Beach in Dana Point. Isn't Curren's face the best?!?

Starbucks

I no longer drink Starbucks on a regular basis. After at least 7 years of having one a week (it's true, sometimes more!), I have decided to save it for special occasions. I started to drink McDonald's iced coffees more in the last few months, they are cheaper and they hit the spot for me. But, I've slowly been tapering off those as well. It's crazy to think of how much money I've spent over the years on coffee! Aron and I have recently been taking a closer look at how we spend our money and I think something in me just finally said, "Enough. Be wiser." This isn't to say I'll never buy coffee while I'm out, or I won't enjoy gift cards if they are given, but rather, that I want to make a more concerted effort about where my money is going. And of course, this post isn't to make anyone feel guilty if you drink Starbucks weekly. This is just for me.

Just wanted to share. :)

6 months old

Curren turned 6 months old on July 13 and I'm just a few weeks behind blogging about it. He's such a sweet baby, though this past week he has been teething *horribly* (coming to a head last Monday while we were in San Deigo with out-of-town guests). He now has his upper front teeth poking through, thank goodness, bringing his grand total number of teeth to 4--just like Maggie at this age! Two other big milestones this past week include pushing himself to sitting and crawling! It's amazing how different he's been from Maggie. She didn't push herself to sitting until at least 8 months old and never officially crawled. I think C might be a very early walker, we shall see. It's interesting to me, looking at their stats, they both seem to be following the same growth patterns (minus the head). :)

His stats--
Weight: 17 lbs., 1 oz.--50th percentile
Height: 27 3/4 in.--85th percentile
Head circumference: 17 1/4 in.--60th percentile

Maggie at 6 months:
Weight: 18 lbs., 12 oz.--90th percentile
Height: 26 1/4 in.--75th percentile
Head circumference: 18 1/4 in.--95th percentile