Evacuated

due to the fires in wildwood canyon we have been evacuated. The girls and i left at 830pm and are safe at friends. In true firefighter fashion dan is manning the home front. he said they are setting back fires and it looks like so far our house is safe. Please pray the winds dont shift tonight. Will keep you posted.

Why I Don't Twitter.........

7:00 am- Just woke up. Moving slow. joints swollen from eating half a tub of soy ice cream last night while watching biggest looser.

7:30 am- Almost made it to the bathroom, have to pee really bad.

8:00 am- Fed kids breakfast and broke up two fights over remote control. Dan lost! ;)

8:30 am- started load of laundry, made the beds and took a shower.

8:35 am- Brushed teeth, rubbed some organic deodorant under my pits and slapped on some face lotion that is supposed to make me look "refreshed!"

8:50 am- Yelled at Morgan for yelling at her sister.

8:55 am- started school. explained math for the day to kids.

9:00 am- explained math to kids AGAIN.

9:05 am- answered the question,"BUT WHHHYYYYY DO WE NEED TO KNOW THIS STUFF?" for the 12th time. (you probably won't use half of it, duuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh...)

9:15 am- Had my breakfast; rice cake with almond butter. Don't be fooled this can be a very satisfying start to your day..................if your FREAKIN' BUGS BUNNY!!!!

9:30 am- Taught Spanish to the girls and answered the question,"WHY DO WE HAVE TO LEARN THIS STUFF?" (because you live in CA dduuuhhhhhhhhhhh........)

10:00 am- Answered emails, read a few blogs and returned text message while girls worked on school work.

10:15 am- explained math for the third time today. :)

You see my dear blogging friends, this is why I don't twitter and half of the free world should not as well cause guess what Ashton? I don't care if your walking your dog or filming a new movie! OK? I know I have issues but me and my therapist are working them out. Be blessed if by nothing else the fact that I DON'T Twitter. ;)

Day 1 of our home school year

Well today was the day. Our first day of school. It was the first time I would have BOTH girls home for school. I would love to tell you all ran smooth, we started at 9am sharp with no bumps in the road and the girls were perfect angels but that would mean you weren't reading MY blog. ;) Nope, instead my curriculum didn't come in time so I had to peace meal subjects together. The service light on my air bags on my car came on and they could only get us in at the dealer TODAY. Ryanne threw a royal fit complete with screaming and throwing herself on the ground when I told her it was time to start school. See evidence below.I REFUSE TO LEARN!!!!! I will say once I started going over the rules and rewards end of completing a good day with mom and sister she perked right up and finished strong.
This is what 3d grade looks like when you home school with Calvert. We L-O-V-E this curriculum and though it takes up lots of our school funding cause its expensive it is very organized and down to the day on where my kiddos should be in each subject. Now I have lots of friends who don't use structured day to day curriculum like we do but I am kinda paranoid about jacking my kids up or not teaching them the right thing at the right time so this works best for me. :) Oh where are the days when all I had to do was teach them to hold a spoon or drink from a sipper cup. *sigh*

This is what Kindergarten looks like at our house.

Daddy (aka principal daddy) came in with some yum-o popcorn and waters and got mauled in the process. Unruly children, someone should do a better job teaching them some manners. ;)

Did I mention I lost control at the end? Oh well it was only day 1. More stories to tell of in the weeks and months to come I am sure. :)

Our final week of freedom before school starts.............

This is a horrible picture but I couldn't get my camera to work in this gym where the awards ceremony was so it's all I came away with. :( I still love the look on Morgan's face as she receives her 100 point trophy and is looking up at all the big kids. She was so proud. She really wanted that trophy last year. Way to swim Morgan! We went to San Diego and spent the entire day with Dan's sister and the babes. They are getting so big and FAST! I was exhausted when we got home. :) Hats off to my sister in law for chasing twins all day. We got to be part of their first carousel ride, ahhh so fun. :)

We had to chase Nate down, grab him and hold him while Dan quick snapped a picture. :)They are so fun and cute and animated.

On another note I forgot to mention after 2 and half years Morgan has decided to take a break from swimming (much to her daddy's sadness) and has joined the circus. We have a ONE thing at a time rule in our house and a once you start you have to complete rule so pretty much all season Morgan has been asking to join the trapeze program up here. I told her to pray about it and she could do a trial class and if she had peace about dropping club swimming she could. Well, needless to say the girl knows what she wants because she LOVES it! She is SUPER strong and just grins from ear to ear the entire class. I on the other hand get to sit indoors where it is warm and dry and stress about her falling from the ceiling. ;) I'll keep you posted and let you know when she runs away with the circus.

We snuck in a beach trip last week with some friends as well. The weather was AMAZING and fun was had by all. The little girl to the right is my friends daughter and Ryanne L-O-V-E-S her. She follows her everywhere. These kids are part of our home school group as well. So fun!

We are off to one last fun day up at Forrest Falls for a lake day with our church. Then home to get ready for school tomorrow. I am excited to get started and although by books have not come in yet I think it will be a good day. Wish me luck! :) Be blessed.

Kid Woot

You know I am always talking about the DEALS I find at www.woot.com? Well, they just started www.kids.woot.com and its the same kind of deal but for kids stuff. Every night at 10pm they post a new item and it's there till' they sell out. Oh and just FYI if you get this in time today's kid woot is a great deal. Its the hand held gaming toy called Didj. We bought one for Morgan for Christmas last year and paid $90 for it without games and now it is $40! The nice thing about this and why we bought it for her is it plays games but they are learning games so she plays but learns and is not just mindlessly plugging away at a video game oh, say like she is right now with the Wii. :) Anyways, hope you find some fun deals for Christmas on that web site. :)

Our Friday

Friday morning my friend Jess and I decided to take the kids to the park before the heat set in. It was really nice outside, almost felt like fall. I love this picture of the kids. Ryanne is saying,"don't' worry Ethan you can trust me." And Ethan is saying,"NO WAY! I read your mama's blog!" Morgan is saying,"Welcome to my life buddy." :) In other Ryanne news; Ryanne just completed her second year on the star fish swim team. They swim from May 1st through to the end of August. She did wonderful and was so proud of herself when she swam all the way across the deep end in 12' of water.
Since I am on a "Ryanne kick" today let me tell you how she took another 2 years off my life. At this rate I should be dead by next Tuesday. *sigh*
Yesterday she woke up not feeling well so with Dan working we decided to hunker down in our PJ's all day and just veg out. I had told Ryanne like 3 times to just lay down and watch the movie and to leave the kitten sleep under the recliner. I was loading laundry when I hear the cat cry out for help. I turn the corner to see the chair in the recline position and Ryanne's little body sticking out from the waste down. I yell,"Ryanne! What the heck are you doing under there?" What does a 5 year old do when they realize they are under a chair in trouble? They try to back out. Well, Ryanne starts to back out when she realizes she is stuck. She starts to scream bloody murder and I don't know what the heck is happening under the chair. At first I think the cat is clawing her face or something so I grab the chair lifting it thinking I am going to free her little body. Nope, she starts to scream as I move the chair and that's when I realize her head is stuck between two bars along with her arm. She's screaming, Morgan starts screaming, I'm screaming for everyone to STOP screaming. *sigh* I then do what any good mother does and realize I am still in my jammies with no teeth brushed, no bra no nothing so we are not calling 911 to have them saw my chair in half. So with one swift yank (I know, I know, thank God I didn't break her neck or arm and yes I can babysit for you anytime.) I yank her free and leave only minor cuts, bar rash and scrapes on her face and arms. I was so mad when I found out she was OK. Seriously? I mean seriously God? Who does these kinds of things? *sigh*

Soak City

Monday we braved the 111 degree heat and went to soak city with our friends the Holmes. We just took the big kids so we could run and play and go on all the water slides with them.Joanna, Sarah & Abby (Sarah's friend) were crazy enough to go on the drop out water slide. The rest of us passed on the "wedgie maker." ;) This is true commitment from Joanna though, I mean look at that form!
Sarah, not so much this spread eagle dismount and open mouth scream will leave a mark on the buttocks the next day! He,heee! So funny! Although I will say she's braver than me.

Here we are before we got sweaty, soaked and *blah* sick from the greasy food. :) Also before Joann said I would be sick of her, hmmmmmmm....wonder what she meant. That night Dan was asking Morgan about the day and she was telling him about Joanna going on the drop out and she said, "ya' know dad, she is a crazy red head!" Too funny. :)

The kiddos pausing long enough to indulge me.

Thanks guys for a fun day, I could barely move this morning but well worth the care free fun day in the water with friends. :)

Tid Bits..................

Lord, I desire to have a heart so captivated by you that when I miss time alone with you I know that I am the one missing out.

Our view every morning at Hume.

Morgan had almost 11 inches cut off yesterday and donated it to Locks of Love

They straightened it before they cut it and she was in heaven running her fingers through her hair for the first time EVER! ;) That was until she jumped into her friends pool an hour later and all the curls came back. :)

I of course think she looks beautiful either way but my babies curls are so sweet and they are all I know since she sprouted them at 3 years old. :)

On another note, these are from our garden and boy are they G-O-O-D!!!! Love it!!

We're Back!!!!

We just got back from 8 glorious days up at Hume Lake. Beautiful, restful, sweet and so much more. My mom was the victim I mean babysitter this trip up. She was a huge help in getting the girls all ready for camp each day and then to bed at night so Dan and I could serve at the Romance conference. Thanks mom sorry about the Mountain lion, I'm sure he just wanted to play. (More on that later. :) wooooo..............ooppssss! :)

The girls had so much fun. They went to different camps all week but didn't seem to have a hard time making friends or trying new things. Morgan was a bit more shy this year (the age I think) and Ryanne really flourished on her own letting her personality shine through and winning everyone over as usual. ;)
This was a bitter sweet trip for Dan and myself and a bit emotional to say the least. 9 years ago Dan and I were at the very first romance conference Hume held and have been involved ever since. This is the last year as the people who started it have left the mountain and as we all know everyones vision isn't the same. Things change. People move on. New ministries begin and end. This is a very sweet place for us as we spent many hours praying for other marriages and being prayed over. We have seen healings take place in broken hearts and also God energize those who just needed a boost for the weekend. I will be bringing the romance home with me and continuing to love on other couples so that gets passed on.

The girls in a moment of togetherness. They were sitting just a few feet from this sweet girl;

OK a few explanations for you.

Traffic in CA=sitting on the 5 or 91 freeway for three hours to find you have gone only 3 miles.

Traffic at Hume Lake=sitting at the guard shack stop sign for 3 minutes to let 1,500 high school students walk by on their way to chapel or dinner.

Wild life in CA= A squirel, mouse, lizard or your neighbor fetching his morning paper in his boxer shorts.

Wild Life at Hume Lake= My mom walking around the corner at 10pm and coming face to face with a mountain lion. Poor thing. I dont know what scared my mom worse, being eaten or the fact that everyone at camp knew who she was by her scream! Kidding. :) So not funny. I need to work on my humor. I swear no animals or moms were hurt in this story. I was so bummed there was no photo for my blog. :)

More Hume Photos............

Being the little sister rocks!!!! :)This mama and her baby ducks loved my kids. I think it might have been the lucky charms they were sneaking out of the dining hall after every meal.

Being 8 has it's perks up at Hume Lake. When you are 8 you get to do the ropes course. Now mind you Morgan first saw this ropes course when she was 3 and has been bugging us to sign her up ever since. This year was the year though and she was so excited she couldn't even sleep the night before. I first did this course when I was 18 and I was scared to death; watching my baby do it was even worse.
The funny thing is she started out all smiles and then she started talking to herself giving herself pep talks. I was dying down below. When she got stuck on this part (see below) I almost scaled the trees and saved her. It was hard to listen to her get choked up and be 30+ in the air. She had to trust the instructor's and her own ability to finish. Once you start there is only one way down (OK two but we wont go there) and so you are pretty committed.

When she was done she said,"well I finished but I didn't like it and I learned something mom. I learned that getting your hopes up that high for that long may not be such a good idea cause you could end up hating it!" He,heee!

Also at 8 when the camp kids go across the lake to jump off the rock you get to paddle out on your own surf board. This was more up her alley for sure. :)

And Still More Yet......

As you can see Ryanne REALLY got into the face painting.

Ryanne making new friends at lunch.

What are you looking at lady?

My sweet spirited, emotional, complex, determined daughter.

It was Dan's birthdya while we were gone so the girls thought it would be funny to order and sneak a Sponge Bob cake up to Hume and surprise their dad. Yes thats a crabby patty cake you are looking at. :)