I heart Tuesdays

If you remember, Tuesday is our Friday. When Dale gets off work today, we will be in weekend mode. I especially love today because we don't have ballet, this is the last week of karate, temporarily, and my house is (relatively) clean! I worked out this morning, the kids are at school, Leila and I did her lesson, now after lunch I'm a free agent. I can do whatever I want because I have worked really hard every day this week. As much as I loathe housework when it's piling up, I really don't mind doing it a little at a time. Of course there are plenty of things that could use some extra attention, but as far as being on top of things, I am king of the mountain!

I'll tell you what does trip me up on our "weekends" though. I get in that mode, you know? And I want to just order pizza for dinner. Have Dale grab some hamburgers after running errands tomorrow. Go out for dinner and a movie to celebrate a well-deserved break from the rat-race. It's a snowball effect that leaves me feeling anxious and full of regret. Having my menu posted and the meat thawed for it helps because if I don't suggest pizza for dinner, everyone else will assume that I want to make dinner and that it would hurt my feelings to suggest otherwise. It's a trickery of the mind, I realize, but it's-- necessary to prevent the avalanche.

We usually go out for one fun day of our weekend. Maybe I've mentioned before that it usually starts with lunch out, a run through Target, a few random errands and occasionally a farmer's market. It predictable, but we love it; I mean I love it. Last week we changed it up and went to the pier, remember the dolphins? But that kind of detour from the plan is something I tend to balk at when it's mentioned. I am a creature of habit- I'm trying to be better about not shooting down suggestions like this, which I was careful not to do last week and boy was I glad! Honestly, I would be fine with eating the same food at the same restaurant every week because that's just the way I am. Dale brings the spice to my life, and I love him for it.

So adios, friends. I tend to get a little swept away during the celebration of rest, so if I disappear, don't fret. I'll be back soon. xoxo

O bla dee o bla da life goes on oh...

I woke up this morning with this little bundle of joy and as much as I wanted to put my tennis shoes and and get going on my workout, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I sat down on the couch next to her and slipped in and out of consciousness.

I am just going to have to start going to bed earlier. I think if I would just go straight to bed when I get up to go, I'd get an extra half hour of sleep. But you know how it is when you're the mom. You get up and say, "I'm going to bed." Then you carry all the dishes into the living room. You move the laundry from the washer to the dryer and turn it on. You pick up the pieces of dog food that were scattered all over the floor earlier in the day. You go into the bathroom to brush your teeth and pick up laundry around the hamper, wipe down the sink and edge of the tub with the towel that was left on the floor. On the way to the bedroom, you pick up socks and toys and pieces of trash off the floor, then deliver them to the rightful place and owner. You pick up the books that were pulled off the bookshelf and replace them for the fourteenth time today. Once in the bedroom, you straighten the shoes, hang up jackets and dress pants, and fold the shirts that were hung to air dry, and put away the clean laundry that you delievered earlier. Finally tucked into bed, you run through the list for tomorrow: appointments, todos, and deadlines; then you thank God for a life that is busy enough to knock you out for the night in the next five minutes. zzz... At least that's what I do.

...la la la la life goes on.

Saturday's Recital

Every couple of days, there is some sort of instruction happening in my yard or at the park or in the forts. For a while they had Bible study, then they were teaching hula dancing, as in with hula hoops, also French classes, math this summer... and so on and so on.

The latest frenzy is ballet for the girls, and karate, or any sort of fighting, for the boys. Along with the instructional classes, Kennedy has organized a girls' club that meets once a week, or more if they have pressing issues to deal with, and random fund raisers.To share the fruit of their labor, they girls arrange recitals at various intervals and invite anyone that will sit in a lawn chair and watch, as well as clap and cheer at the end. Sometimes there are snacks, sometimes there aren't.This week we had the pleasure of a mixed martial arts display in the yard next to the dancers. It was riveting!Leila was not allowed to participate in the recital because she did not commit to ALL the practices and she refused to take seriously the dress rehearsal, so at the end, we got up and did our own show. (It was totally unrehearsed, if you can believe that!)She mostly just needs a little spotlight time. It's understandable being fifth of six. I mean the kid doesn't get any attention. Ever. She needs extra love and affection. It's DUE her! (I can hear her boohooing outside the front door. I'm sure it's from a lack of necessary attention and the need to have her own way.) Kennedy takes these performances very seriously. Because she takes them seriously, everyone else takes them seriously. Especially the littlest girl's mother. She actually brought snacks for the pre-show rehearsal. Gotta love it.I finally told the boys to let Zack get off the bottom of the dog pile. He is the gentle giant of the neighborhood. After months and months of hard work, and a few weeks of consistently showing up to karate, he earned his yellow belt. Yay Zack!Lovely, girls. Just lovely. I can't get over how long Kennedy looks in these pictures.I gotta tell you, it took some prodding to get myself to post this picture. I realize it's not the most flattering photograph of me, but Leila walked in and squealed with glee when she saw it, confirming to me that I did the right thing. She said, "Remember how much fun we had when you were swinging me, awound and wound..." This comprised a good portion of our performance.I thought it was so sweet that the girls gave the matching dresses to the little ones and wore the closest thing to it themselves. It seemed very selfless, and made for a lovely show.

AANNNNDDD courtesy. They added the little neighbor girl who looked on longingly through the whole show but also was not invited to participate because she had missed most of the practices. Kennedy generously allowed her to dance the (real) finale because she hung out all morning hoping for a skirt to join the show, and because she practiced the last dance with them, which was critical to the flow of the performance.

Bravo! Encore! Beautiful! (raahhh the crowd cheers and claps) The end.

Disclaimer

I don't always take the photos that I post on this blog. Usually they are my originals, but these two dolphins came off the Internet. I'm not trying to steal anybody's thunder by doing this; I am just aware that it's more fun to read when you have an image to connect to the experience. So celebrate with me and know that I'd MUCH rather be looking at an armadillo dead on the side of the road than a frolicking dolphin in the crystal blue ocean, because it would mean that I'm home.

In other news, there is a position opening up this winter that we are very, VERY interested in. Currently there are a few roadblocks that could make it difficult and even impossible to get the transfer. If you know Jesus, we need your prayers. Honestly, in the deepest recesses of our hearts we only want what God wants for us. With that said, we believe He has put that desire in our hearts as well as plans for the ranch, etc. So ask Him on our behalf. Just add it to the end of your prayers or every time you think of one of us, or every time you read this blog, "And please bring the Suttons home". In exchange for your faith and generosity on our behalf, when we are safely home to stay, I will gladly make grilled cheese sandwiches and kool-aid for your children when you come over to play, and deliver cookies to you on Valentine's day if I can reach you, and sometimes toilet paper your car when you least expect it because my kids are almost old enough to participate in this kind of revelry. Have a fantastic Saturday and I'll keep you posted as the story develops.

Dolphins!!!

Yesterday we took a trip up the coast to go to Avila Barn and to the fish markets on the pier. As we were pulling into the parking lot, Micah said, "Hey what's that! It looks like a shark or a whale or something!" We all balked at him knowing that sometimes the sea lions can look like fish in the way they slip in and out of the water.

You can imagine our exuberance when we saw this right out in the middle of the fishing boats off the pier! Apparently there's some sort of migration this time of year and they are hanging out at Avila Beach for a while. We backtracked a little down to the beach where we spotted a school of six all diving in and out of the water together. It was a breath-taking sight! God continues to deliver these sweet, sweet blessings to us out here on the other side of the world.

Routine

I've never had a solid daytime routine. Every morning/evening is different from the next and does not resemble the day before. We eat three meals a day, but they sit in about a two-hour window. The chores get done (almost) every week, but not on the same days, and not usually by the same person. I get up early with Deisha, but usually I sleep on the couch for an hour while she stares at the magic box in the living room sipping her milky. Bedtime may be midnight, it may be 11:30, it may be 1:30am. My life is a wild card; it's something that has always troubled me.

I explain it away by the number of times we've moved, the constant shifting of my husband's work schedule, and the fact that we home school. What I really would love is some regularity, a little predictability, some kind of routine in my universe. (It's funny how my friends that live routine lives crave a little chaos in their worlds...)

There have been a couple of little things in my day that have created a bit of this normalcy for me. A few months back, Dale and I started playing cards after he got off work. It happens every night. Every night that we do it builds anticipation for the next night. It's not that the games are exciting because I usually lose, it's that we do it. Together. Every night. The other thing is that Deisha gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning. This is not new, it's been happening for sixteen months now. What is new, is that I am waking up and working out before the kids get up.

The amazing thing about these new landmarks in my day is that I am sleeping like a baby- a good baby that really sleeps at night. When round four of our card game rolls around, I am watching the clock because my body is ready to go to bed. I used to dread bedtime because it would take so long for me to shut down. Most of the time, right before I'd drift off, Deisha would sound the alarm and send me into hysterics, knowing that it would take that much longer to get back to sleep. Because I am sleeping so well, even with the nighttime waking, I wake up ready to be awake. It's a cycle that seeps into every area of my life.

I just thought you ought to know.

Indoor Forts

I love it when they entertain themselves with fort building. Unfortunately for me there's no place to sit when the forts are up which means I'm usually sitting here in this chair while all kinds of insanity swirls around the next room.

As long as they are busy and working together instead of fighting, I encourage them. When the fighting starts about who got the best cushion, I start to lose my mind. I mean really, what could "the good cushion" be? Deisha also loves this game because it means someone is running around inside with her.

Lol is a creative builder. If the need ever arises to live in a squatter's village, she'll be the first one I call. She uses everything she can find in her house. I'm wondering if my spatula disappeared into one of these creations. It's been gone for some time now.

Micah has the mind of an engineer. He is constantly asking me how things work. The other day he asked me who invented electricity and how it works. I hope I was right- I know it involves friction and the transfer of electrons... Someday he'll read an article or a book about it and set me straight if I wasn't. Jasmine, is a lovely fort-guest and participates only when she has a nice place for her head to be displayed.

Trebo is perpetually grounded, which means he asks me at regular intervals if he can get out the cushions. By regular intervals, I mean that as soon as the kids go outside he starts asking every seven minutes until the answer is yes.

I love these kids, I LOVE these kids.

Reading

I have a constant list running in my head. It started when I was planning my wedding and hasn't stopped running since. One of thing recurring things on the list is "read to the kids". It stays because it rarely makes the cut in the day-to-day. I love to read to my kids. I especially love to read to them when they are attentive and begging for more. Usually that only happens when they are all tucked into bed but not quite ready to sleep. But this day, we somehow found ourselves with a quiet afternoon in a relatively clean living room. It started with Leila, and then Trebo joined the fun, only now he was taking turns doing the reading. Then Snow White climbed up on my lap and listened. These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive. It was pure bliss for me and a treasured moment of peace for these three, my little ones.

It's Friday, I'm in LOVE!!!

This morning I woke up to screaming. Not once, not twice, but three times I rolled out of bed to check the baby, remind her to sleep, and shut doors in an attempt to let everyone else get some rest. By the third time, Tre was yelling alongside the screaming baby because she kept waking him up. Poor dude sleeps right next to her crib and there's just nothing we can do about it. Micah doesn't wake up, Dale has to rest in order to be sharp for work, and frankly, there's just no room in the girls' room for another bed.

I cried a little today. For a year I've been telling myself that by this time it would be over with, but it's not over. There's no end in sight. Oh sure, she sleeps through the night sometimes. Even several nights in a row she'll zonk from 7:30pm-6:30am, but I never know when I go to bed whether she is going to wake us all up with that blood-curdling scream. It's draining.

On a happier note, Dale and I are reading a fantastic book that should be purchased immediately and opened as soon as possible. It's called "Faith-Driven Family" by Voddie Baucham. The first page cuts to the chase and it's a motivating and inspiring journey all the way through. You want to know where things started to unravel and how to bring your corner of the world back to order? READ THIS BOOK! This guy is awesome; he's totally down to earth. He loves Jesus, he's a student of the Word, and he's leading the willing onto the path of righteous living. I have needed a jump start like this for a long time.

The fruit of this labor is already changing things in our home. I am awe-struck. It has forced us to take a good hard look at our lives and start to clear away some of the weeds, in an effort to allow what is fruitful to thrive. What a blessing.

Baking Soda

Every time I use baking soda to clean something, I make a mental note to post this little miracle of science on my blog. Have you ever used baking soda as a household cleaner? Today I took my dish drainer apart. It's white. It's ten years old. We live in California. The mineral deposits here are orange. OK? Orange. So every couple of weeks, the resting tray on my dish drainer has an orange hue. It sounds like it could be nice, but it's not nice. It's not nice at all! It's nasty. I took it apart to clean it, right, and there was a box of baking soda just like the one you're looking at right now sitting on the window ledge in front of me. I dumped a bunch of this powerful powder all over the tray and scrubbed it with a green scratch pad. Within a few minutes every stain was gone.

It works to clean all kinds of things. I use it to clean grease spots off my cookie sheets, burn spots off my pots, baked-on spills on my stove top, grass stains off white leather tennis shoes, stains on the tub, and mineral build up around the edges of my sink where the caulk has worn away. Oh yes, and my kids brush their teeth with it every couple of months per their fathers request.

Supposedly it works alongside peroxide to deodorize dogs after a skunk attack, but I did not find this to be true; nor tomato juice, nor tomatoes, nor special skunkbegone shampoo, nor any other miracle cure of any kind. We had to sit that one out, and sit we did. For four weeks of the pungent odor. Stings the nostrils!

Oh yeah, it also works cooking as a leavening agent in baked goods, but you already knew that, huh? Yep. It's an amazing product. And it's $.42 a box. Can't beat it.