Oh the Bliss!

I have no problem asking people for things. Even when I think the answer is no I still ask. And I'm ok hearing a no, just like I'm ok saying a no. But I just never know when that answer will be YES, so I ask, always. Tonight I busied myself with ordering Ben's school uniforms for the fall. I like uniforms because there's never a question of what to wear in the morning. It will eliminate probably 5-10 minutes of Ben's "getting dressed" woes. (The boy still wants to wear cozy pant all day, every day, everywhere). Uniforms are my friends. Their prices are not. His duds have to be from Lands' End, so when I found a great coupon for online ordering with a discount on the total AND free shipping HOT DOG I was excited! (That was for you, D). Minutes before I was about to press the Buy Now button I received a notice that my offer had expired - because it was based on CDT (Central Daylight Time, whatever that is) not Cali time. Oh I was so sad! But then I saw ...

I wanted to blog about something last week that God has been teaching me and I thought was really cool. I thought if it was a good message for me it HAD to be a good message for the WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD to read on my blog, right? Not so much. I talked a little bit with the Indy BFF and she shared some wisdom with me that I think I've shared with other people, but never actually did myself; PRAY before posting a blog. Novel idea, I know. But I usually just read, reread, laugh at myself and press publish. Even when I'm talking about "Godly things" I pass over that (in my opinion) major step. But it's a really, really, really, REALLY cool message, Lord! Nope. Sorry. I'm thankful for people who share wisdom with me. I'm thankful for serving a God that knows every teeny tiny detail about every single person and when I trust Him with my words (again, novel idea) He is able to use those words for His glory. And isn't that the whole reason why we're here, to...

3:00-8:00PM I had a crazy notion that taking a REAL train ride to Fullerton would be a fantastic adventure for my family. It was fun, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to say it was fantastic. There were many stops between here and Fullerton that I didn't think about, so that got a little old. And I felt a little bad because we were riding with a bunch of commuting workers who probably weren't prepared to share their peaceful train with four little super excited train lovers. But, it was a memory, and we'll probably do it again someday, just not anytime soon. The train dumped us off right at Spaghetti Factory, my old stopping grounds. Doubling fisting the apple sauce. Classic Addie. I didn't grab a pic of our special surprise guests - Nana and Papa Dan - who showed up after dinner to kill some time with us while we waited for our train home. Papa Dan scored the kids some treats, and scored this picture of all six of us! Troy was the biggest fan of the outing ...

12:00-3:00pm I picked up a fantastic little find the other day, a DVD with 50 easy-peasy crafts and whatnots for the kids to make. It's really neat. It came with two DVD's, which I thought was awesome, until I realized they're all the same crafts, except for 10, so first person who tells me they want it I'll happily give it to you. (Wait, is this like a "Blog Give-Away?" Am I big time now?) Anyway... Here are pics from of our super fun-for-all crafty time... Fizzie Treasure Rocks Mix baking soda and water together until you can form a stiff ball (we added food coloring for fun) Put a little "treasure" inside, any small toy, spare change... And form into a rock. Let them dry really well for a few hours... we put ours outside to "bake", about 3 hours... You can hide the rocks around the yard and send the kids on a hunt, make a map and everything. (Ben is really into making maps and hiding/finding stuff, so this part was really fun for him) On...

Tuesday was B U S Y busy. I thought about posting pics from the entire day in one entry, but why do that when I can drag it out in three? So, in chronological order... 9:00am - 12:00pm Ben has science camp every morning this week, so I seized the opportunity to snag my baby girls and treat us to a pancake breakfast with my sweet friend and her daughter. There was lots of pink going on and I loved my precious "girly time". Addison got to go on the train ride with her friend Avery... Something I NEVER let my kids do, because I'm mean like that. This one was an angel, as usual. And, is it just me, or has Addison turned a corner in the "smiling for the camera" area of life??? Loving it, loving it!

How have I not blogged about this yet!?????!!!! FLAVIA FLAVIA FLAVIA FLAVIA FLAVIA!!!!!! Our sweet "German girl" (as the kids referred to her the first week she was here) is AWESOME! Everyone needs a Flavia! She is like having a two extra (strong) arms and an extra (extremely brilliant) brain. We start to get ready to go somewhere and BAM! shoes, water cups, jackets, are all by the front door. Kids are buckled in their seats before I even find my purse. She's an angel. She reads to Addie and plays ball with Troy, walks around the house with Mia and indulges Ben in his insatiable desire for all things crafts. She is an answer to prayer. The first week she was here she was on the quiet side, taking us all in I think. Then, bless her heart, we moved. And she was a saint to have during that stressful time. She just does, and gives, and lives so thoughtfully and kindly. She is fun to talk to, and compare lives and cultures with. I love learning about Germany from her. Many, ma...

I knew this year would be big. You might remember saying, back around the first of the year, that 2010 would be a very BIG year for our family. I knew I'd be having a baby, we'd be moving, Mark's job definitions would be changing, Ben would start a new school in the fall, and so on. But I didn't see this coming... this is huge... In classic Mark fashion Ben said in his big adult MAN voice, "Well, I better get a paper route now that I can ride a bike." I'm just impressed that he even knows what a paper route is!

I've felt the pull for years. With the biscuits and gravy, fireflies, thunderstorms, Nilla Wafer banana puddin', big porches, sayings like "I'm full as a tic", and where the church choir is made up of anyone who wants to come out from behind the pews and stand on the stage for a few hymns, I've always felt a little more southern US than southern CA. But now I know for sure that's where I should be living. How do I know? Because "southern hospitality" ain't just a saying. It's the truth. People in the south know how to make a person feel welcome. And I think that might be one of my gifts - making people feel welcome. But it's awfully hard to do here in Orange County, where making people feel UNwelcome is normal, and even highly sought after (ahem - gated community - cough cough). What's so special about the south then? Why are they so hospitable? I'll tell you why; Carports. That's right, carports. No garage doors to clos...

You want to help bring a baby home? Now's your chance! Check out these two sites and see what you can do to support these precious families. Emmy's Blog - Enter a raffle and you may win some crazy awesome prizes. And even if you don't win the prizes you're still a winner because you helped bring a baby home to it's forever family. It doesn't get much better than that. Shannon's Blog - You can purchase a t-shirt or a super cute beenie to help this family bring their boy home. Then you will look cute. Like me... :-) I promise, I'm not going to turn this blog into a fundraising campaign for my soapbox issues. I take that back. I will try not to make this a blog for all my soapbox issues. Oh see, I need to take that back too. Because I feel it's really important to get information on how to help out there because sooooooooo many times we see a problem and think, "I'd love to help, but what can I do?" So if and when I see an easy way for u...