Here And There.......

Thanks to my dad who let us use his time share at the beach and to my mom who took on our kids and their crazy schedule of dance and circus we were able to sneak away and stay here for two days........

We ate grape leaves at our favorite Greek restaurant...

Stood on the beach and watched the sun set.......

Ate some yummy spinach pizza.......

Took some cat naps.......it must stink to be so tall sometimes. HA!

Watched the surfers help put the sun down for the night......

And ate some AMAZING Vegan food....what we like to eat!

Look at this! All organic and fresh EEEEKKKK! I'm in love.

This place down at the beach grows all their own herbs and veggies right there on the outdoor patio.

If your in Carlsbad stop in and try them out. You won't be sorry. :)

Thanks to my husband knowing when to walk away from work and "just be" with his two little girls we were able to sneak away to this fun cabin for three nights........

We were there literally 4 minutes when my sweet Ryanne went face first down these steps.....

This picture does NOT do it justice. She was bleeding from her eye, her nose, her lips and her gums. I didn't even know where to start when she came running in the house. I just started checking and counting teeth all the while her little eye swelled bigger and bigger.

Not three hours later and she was launching off of the rocking chair onto the deck. Sigh........

Macy got to go with us cause it was a dog friendly rental. The girls told their daddy that out of all the vacations we have ever taken them on this was the best one because Macy was there. Ahhhhhhh.......

I'm not sure if Dan is trying to slow Ryanne down or if he's cuddling with her.

Yup' he was trying to slow her down. She met the boys next door and talked them into letting her ride their little quad. Sigh....

We snuggled and watched movies until our eyes bugged out, played board games till' we could play no more. We soaked in the jacuzzi until we were raisins and took power naps before heading to the village for coffee and treats. This is one of those trips I will always remember. Thanks for a fun three days guys!  Love You!

 

ZUMBA

Hello. I am posting today as apposed to earlier in the week because I can just now lift my arms to key board and flop them down on top to type. I started taking ZUMBA classes. My calves hurt. My thighs hurt. My butt hurts. My arms hurt. It just hurts. I've convinced myself that it's worth it. It still hurts though. I've convinced myself if I keep at it I will have abs and a butt like the instructor. Minus the fact that she's like 20......ooooohhhhhh it hurts.
So because I love you all and want the very best for you, I have taken some notes at ZUMBA and am passing along my tips to help you be a successful ZUMBA-ER. Ya' ZUMBA-ER. It's a word, look it up.

Tip #1: take a towel for sweat. I'm not talking a little dainty hand towel you throw in the bathroom for your guests. But a LARGE, HUGE, GINORMOUS towel because you will sweat like a sinner in church. (quick name that movie)

Tip #2: Find the air condition vent in the room and push whoever is under it out of the way. Stand directly under the vent and don't leave your spot. Oh the instructor will have you dancing all over the room but after each routine race back to the vent and suck all that cold air into your burning lungs.

Tip #3: Apologize to the over zealous ZUMBA-ER lady in the ZUMBA tank and ZUMBA pants who you pushed out from under the vent. Tell her your sorry but she will thank you later when the air keeps the sweat from running off your face and onto the floor which in turn will cause her to slip and slide and crash. See, ZUMBA hurts.

Tip #4: If you use an inhaler, ever have used an inhaler, have ever thought about using an inhaler or knows someone who has one; use it before class. Your lungs that are trying to jump from your chest will thank you.

Tip #5: When they tell you the first 7 minutes of class is just the "warm up" they are big fat liars. You will cry and weep and wondering if bolting for the door is to obvious.

Tip #6: I advise you to take your first class out of the town you live in because no matter how much rhythm you thought you had you (and let me say this slowly for you) YOU WILL LOOK STUPID.
There I said it.

Tip: #7: Smile. Laugh. make faces at yourself in the mirror. Shake your groove thing even if you don't know the steps.

Tip: #8: Don't plan on going anywhere but straight home and into the shower. You will look and smell horrible.

Tip: #9: Have fun! It hurts. But it's a good kind of hurt. I hope these tips help you and you are a rock star in your first ZUMBA class. I would say you could thank me with a hug next time you see me but........it hurts. :)

P.S. my mom wanted credit for making me go take a class. Thanks mom! *sniff* It hurts so much! I hope your so proud of yourself. LOL!

P.P.S
I forgot to mention that after all the research I did on RA and fitness most web sites recommended Tia-chi. So I decided to do Zumba. The disclaimer here if this has scared you off, is that this is totally self inflicted.

Friends........

Here's a quick video of the girls and their friends doing a choreographed dance for us. Ha!
These guys have been friends since they were 2 & 3 and they all play together so good. Rarely do they ever argue and they LOVE, LOVE ,LOVE to go to church and then play dress up and put on shows for us. Too funny. Some day we are going to miss this because they wont think it's "cool" anymore. That will be a sad day in our home.

1 Question Only...

Morgan: "Mom, if Jesus said you could ask him one question and one only, what would you ask him?"
Me: "One question? I  mean I would have a hard time committing to just one. Do you think he would give me two or three? Four would really be best."
Morgan: *Sigh* "No mom, only one. Anything you want but one question only."
Me: "Morgan, you know I have issues. Surely after all the years God has known me he would expect more than one."
Morgan: "Really? Can you not just answer the question?"
Me: "What would you ask him?"
Morgan: "I would ask him when he is coming back so I make sure I am sharing his love with everyone so more people can go to heaven."
Me: "Hmmm......that's a pretty good one. OK one? One question? I feel pressured. Do I feel warm to you? I feel like the walls are closing in."
Morgan: "Seriously? We're in the car! Question! One question! What would you ask?"
Me: "I would ask him if I am where he wants me. Literally. Am I physically where he wants me at this moment in my life?"

Flash forward 24 hours and we are listening to Brant on Air1. He is sharing about how sometimes people find it stressful that they are in transition and freaked out that they aren't doing what God wants or even where he wants them. Transition in relationships, jobs, work, homes, schools etc. Then he said,"Maybe God wants you to be in that "transition" for a reason. To learn something there.

Morgan looked at me and said,"Hey mom, that's just what we were talking about and kinda what we are going through right now!"

Yes sweet girl it is. Thank you for picking my brain with your thoughtful questions and to Brant on Air 1 for saying it like it is and obviously it was no coincidence that I got to be part of that conversation with my daughter and blessed enough to hear Brant. 
We often learn the most in life's trtransitions; even it's just learning how to NOT pull our hair out. Ha!

Happy First Day Of Fall!I

I am so excited that it is the first day of Fall. Not so excited that it is still blazing hot here; but alas I know the cool weather will come as will the color changing trees and pumpkins around the house. So we wait. ;) We are on week three of our Vegan adventure and it has been filled with lots of pain free days for me which is super exciting. It has also been filled with baked pumpkin oatmeal and blueberry pancakes for breakfasts. Vegan pizza with the most AMAZING pesto sauce. EEEKK! I get excited just talking about it. Also, some no bake coconut peanut butter balls. These recipes are courtesy of Chocolate covered Katie who is listed on my blog and the Forks Over Knives Cookbook that I downloaded on my ipad. YUM!

We had the privilege of having the cousins up from San Diego for the night before they borrowed our motor home and headed out for a week long vacation. It was sheer madness here with 4 adults, 4 kids, 3 dogs and 2 cats. But if you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know by now that I thrive on craziness. 

I figured out how you can totally make yourself feel old. You see, when Dan and I were first engaged and married we led the youth group at our church. We LOVED these kids that came every Wed. night. Flash forward almost 16 years later and I am dropping my daughter off to babysit for one of our old youth groupers own kids. I drove away thinking,"Oh please God stop this growing up thingy you are doing to my daughters." It's just to heard, and to great and to hard. *sigh* As I was driving to drop her off I was telling her all the things I always tell my girls; "leave a place better than you found it. Do the right thing. Call me if you need me. Be a light." Morgan came home so excited and so just proud of herself for earning money independent of her parents. She has been asking to work since she was like 9 ha! I love you sweet girl. You make daddy and I proud of the girl of God you are becoming.

Macy's 2nd birthday is coming on October 15th and yes there will be a photo tribute to her here on this very blog. Here is little teaser on what you will be missing if you don't keep tuning in. I mean come on! Look at that face.           

On a more serious note I would love to ask you to pray. My friend just found out her dad has cancer and if you could remember to pray for Ray L. we would be so grateful. This is a man who loves the Lord and has impacted our lives in a very sweet way. The girls used to go to a private school (before we decided to home school) and Ray is the principal there. He always made us feel welcomed and loved even when we decided to step out in faith and home school. He encouraged us and only had kind words when we left.

Since we are talking about people who have cancer, if you could pray for another man of God who we dearly love named Sid. He too has cancer and we pray for him daily. We would love it if others would join us in asking God to heal our two friends and to be praying for there families as well.

"Are You There God It's Me Christy"

Ha! Do you remember that book growing up? "Are you there God, it's me Margaret." If you don't remember that book I am seriously dating myself. Good times.

It has been that kind of week. Ups, downs. Some more downs.

I am caught between supporting my WAY overstressed husband who is trying to do the right thing at work amongst scandal and people causing dissension. And wanting to just go down and slap people upside the head. Ya' the later would feel really good but alas I couldn't find that answer anywhere in scripture this week.

I was sitting at the computer this week getting ready to Google something and a thought popped into my head; wouldn't it be so cool if we could Google God? Like type in a question and *POOF* up pops 1 answer on what we should do in any given situation. Or an answer to prayer that we have been seeking and seeking. I'm not down playing Gods ability to answer us or open doors it's just sometimes the journey there seems so long and daunting.

I want to be content where I am, in this very place but frankly I'm over CA. I'm over the drama of the city my husband works for. I'm over the rat race. I'm kinda just over it.

My husband just enrolled to go back to finish his bachelor's. He's over this place too. To be totally transparent we are praying him finishing school will open a door for us that allows us to exit CA.

I have been struggling with being a stay at home mom. Wait, let me rephrase that; I have been struggling with the attitudes of others who feel being a stay at home mom and home schooling is not as important as working outside the home. There that's better. My mind and heart battle because I know in my heart these girls are our ministry. Dan and I made the commitment even before we were married that we would live inside of our means so I could quit working when our first was born. For me to be present when he often cannot be. My head on the other hand tells me that the world does not place value in eternal things only material things. That I should be doing more! More! More! Then my heart jumps in and says,"More? More than raising and teaching and loving two human beings that are AMAZING little people?" Then my head says,"Yes more. More clout in career, more money, newer cars. Feeling and looking important to those around you." Then my heart says,"NO!"

 I'm pretty sure this post might be a downer without meaning to so here's me switching gears. I mean I want you to come back after all. ;)

Here are the pictures of Ryanne in her circus classes. She takes swinging ladder and trampoline.

"LOOK MOM!"

Rachel had her up on the silk ribbon. Talk about requiring upper body strength. Whew!

"Hello, God it's me Christy again. Please don't let Ryanne run off and join the circus when she grows up. Ha!"

See this smiley face? She just had two eye teeth pulled. :( She was so good. They almost couldn't get them out and were going to send her to an oral surgeon. The dentist got them though. Thank you God! She was braver than brave. She has to go back next week to have tow more eye teeth pulled. It only slowed her down for a day. She got to lay on the couch and watch cartoons. The lengths my kids will go to just to get a day off school. HA! Good job RY! I knew you could do it baby. So proud of the way you handled yourself even though it was super scary.

Day 8........

We are on day 8 of our no animal protein adventure. We are all feeling great and so I thought I would share some of the new recipes we have made over the last week.  Dan said this picture looks disgusting but I don't care cause it was deeeeelicous! It is from my friend's cookbook and it's called Black Bean And Tofu Enchilada Bake. Candace's website is over to the right if you want to check her blog out and try this yum dinner! We served Quinoa and salad with it and the girls loved it as well. Top off with salsa and quac and your set to go.

This photo has nothing to do with eating healthy but man it's still good for your heart. Dan had just gotten off a 96 and Macy was beside herself happy to see him. He laid down and she ran and flung herself up next to him. Be still my heart. ;)

A little afternoon boost? Want to get your fruit and veggies down? Don't love kale and spinach? Juice 4-6 carrots, 2 apples, three large handfuls of spinach, 2-3 handfuls of kale and a pinch of ginger. It's like dessert. I swear! Ryanne and I fight over it.

I can't remember if I posted about Morgan and dance yet. And yet this is not about food either. I talk and clean house this random as well. Any-whoo, Morgan got accepted in pre-pointe and ballet II this fall. She is now not only tapping through tap class and leaping through Jazz class but tip toeing through two ballet classes as well. It's funny how you can spend so much time somewhere you start to feel like you live there. Ha! Ryanne also started back to circus but I will post pictures later this week. I didn't get any good ones this last week.

Little pre dinner snack? You have to try these peanut butter balls. I am in love with chocolate covered Katie's blog and recipes. Her link is to the right as well if you want some fast, easy things your kids will love. I have my eyes on the mini healthy carrot cakes this week so I will let you know how they turn out.

My mom gave me this concoction; Blend some frozen mango, a banana, rice milk (or milk of your choice) and a shot of coconut oil flavoring and you have a tropical smoothie in your hand in minutes. So that's about all I've got this weekend, I hope your having a safe and blessed Labor Day weekend. :)