Enjoy Them!

There are constantly things I wish I could do better as a Mom! I know I fall short so often! For example, this summer I had every intention of reading with my children more, especially helping out my oldest in her reading as she struggles with it. That has not happened as much as I would have liked. I often feel guilty about it. But, today I realized that instead of beating myself up for things that I fall short in I need to just really enjoy my kids. Laugh with them, observe them, care for them, ENJOY them! We put so many pressures on ourselves as moms. Our kids need to be potty trained by 2, socially adapt by 3, reading by 4, mastered a musical instrument by 5, and skilled in a sport by 6. Gets me tired just thinking about it! Especially when I have four kids! Maybe I'm the only one that puts these kinds of pressures on myself, and if so it has been a good lesson for ME! Loosen up and enjoy!

Comforter

 

Captured the moment after a fall. Sweet Asha comforts her little brother. His second "mother". =)

Pirates and Wish Rocks

Today we went to the beach with some of our friends. It was a gorgeous day with not a cloud in the sky! Pirates and Wish Rocks was the theme of our time! The boys were playing pirates and even had a little ship to play on. At one point I asked Luke, "Do you know what a pirate is?". He said, "No, but that is what we are!" At that age I guess it doesn't matter as long as you have a stick in your hand. The girls were finding wish rocks. This is new to me, but my friend Sarah has a collection of them. They are rocks that have a ring that goes completely around the rock. The picture below is of a wish rock that has two rings around it - double wish rock. =)

 

Lavender Festival

 

 

This weekend I went with my friend Sheila to the Lavender Festival in Sequim. It was beautiful! Just wanted to post some pictures of our time. Here we are picking lavender to bring home. By the way, my husband just helped me so now I can post pictures on my blog. How exciting!

Neighbors

This morning the kids were eager to go out in our backyard to play, and we had to remind them that they can't go back there until at least 8:30am. Last summer our neighbors right behind us asked us nicely if we would keep our kids inside a bit longer in the morning because their boys like to sleep in (our kids are early risers). We totally respect them for asking us to do that. It just reminds me that we live in the city. All of the houses are close together and there is not much that stays hidden from our neighbors. Asha said later, "I love that we have neighbors so close behind us and all around us." A true city girl - like her Ma Ma!

Did You Know?

Did you know that in Greece there have been 1,452 fires since the beginning of July until the 17th!? And yesterday there were 107!. (This interests me because a friend of mine is a missionary there). Pretty sad! I know there has been a lot of fires here too this summer. What is with all these fires!?

Did you know that in stores now you can buy school supplies, back packs and winter clothes? I thought summer just started!

Did you know that in our house we go through about a box of cereal in one day? Almost!

Did you know that in our house the toys that are used the most by everyone in the family are the Match Box Cars? Even the girls play house with the cars almost everyday.

Did you know that Matt and I are going to see Spider Man 3 this weekend in a local $3 theater. We can't wait. We like the Spider Man movies!

Out My Window

Sometimes I like to just sit on my couch and stare out of my big window that looks into my front yard. It is my way of relaxing or maybe tuning out things. Today as I look out the window I hear our neighbor boy playing his drums. It is loud yet he is getting pretty good and it doesn't bother me (today). Today as I look out my window the rain is coming softly down. How nice that I won't have to water the flowers tonight. Today as I look out my window everything looks so green and fresh, even the huge blackberry bush that is coming over our fence from our neighbors yard. Though blackberry bushes are such a pain... my kids love to pick them and eat them. Today as I look out my window I see a tiny wren come to eat out of our bird feeder that is near our window. She was there by herself for a while then she must have called her friends, because a bunch of other little birds came to join her. Today as I look out my window I can hear my son breathing deeply through the baby monitor as he takes his nap. I love that sound of him sleeping and can picture him snuggled in bed with his blanket.

Take time to listen and observe!