Funny Farm

Who knows what you'll find when you pull up in front of this home of ours. Perhaps you'll see a lonely sock in the bushes, three newspapers in the driveway (and it's not because we've been out of town), bikes and scooters strewn in the yard (belonging to...who knows?! neighbor kids, my own kids...), a naked little person streaking out the front door, a sneaky dog trying to stealthily escape through the front gate, a jump rope dangling from the outdoor balcony for who knows what reason (it used to have a loop tied at the end of it. I had enough sense to unassemble that part...looked too much like a noose.). Where is the mother of this home?! Sheesh!

Oh, she's probably inside calling to her three daughters to finish up their homework, or telling another naked person for the umpteenth time that day, "Not in the house!" (because of a squirting water gun or an out of control ball), or folding the never-ending mountain of laundry on the dining room table, or holding a sick baby, or trying to teach her almost 2 yr. old how to expand his vocabulary (since of course the two words he can enunciate quite clearly are "sorry" and "cookie) or looking through the refrigerator to see what's on the dinner menu for that night. There simply are not enough hours in the day to accomplish it all! However, I came upon this quote and loved it:

The time to be happy is now,
The place to be happy is here,
The way to be happy is to make others so.
-Robert Green Ingersoll

Must be the key.

The picture of Adam and Joseph was taken right before Adam took Joseph to the church early one morning this week to test out the pinewood derby track with his race cars. The daffodil table was from our Enrichment Meeting at church last night...pleased the way it turned out (here it is, Mom. The daffodils were fresh, cheery, and out-of-sight!). And...
Once again, thank you for your thoughts and prayers in Erika's behalf. She is recovering...slowly, but surely. Prayer works!

Just. Breathe.

Round 2...except this time no hospitals and no pneaumonia. I don't know what else to say, but please just keep Erika in your prayers. Thank you.

Earlier on this week, we had our friends, the Price's, visiting us. One of the days, we skipped town and headed north to the beach. So relaxing and wonderful. Later that night, the girls (I don't know if you can tell from the picture) had an American Girl fashion show. It was so cute to watch them and hear their commentary, "As you can see, this hat is very lovely with Samantha's dress..." Precious girls. As always, April is just what I needed. And, notice the strawberries...I told you!

One more thing, I came upon this and loved it. Thought maybe you would too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM3mlgLAlMs&feature=channel

Kisses.

My Slice of Heaven

Do you ever have one of those "moments" where you look around and think, "How in the world did I get so lucky?" (or blessed). I was reading through my e-mails, your blogs, little comments, and I had just that thought...how did I get to have so many incredible, inspiring, funny, good people in my life?! Honestly. Not to get too mushy-gushy on you, but it made me truly grateful. I imagine Heaven to be a place where you are surrounded by all the people you love and care about. A happy thought. But, in the meantime, I'll just take a slice of Heaven...

And, speaking of heaven...Adam's parents and nephew, Tanner, came in town for the weekend. We had such a blast flying kites, going to the park, telling stories, eating (here I am again, talking about food), and laughing. They are always so wonderful...helping me get a handle on my laundry situation and to complete projects around the house. They are also so encouraging of Adam and I going on a date while they are here to babysit...we are very grateful recipients. We just love these people.

It's these happy times that break up the sick episodes going on around here. I have had enough airborne, albuterol, xopenex, lemon & honey, fluids, silver bowls by the beds, fluids, mucinex, anti-bacterial soap, ricola, fluids, oranges...yada yada to last me a lifetime. Let's hope this sunny weather we're having keeps the gunk away. I'm majorly crossing my fingers...

So, since Adam stayed home sick from work last week for a day (after my pleadings), he ended up helping Kate with her homework at the kitchen table. I was listening to their dialogue: "Wow Kate! You are just like Vincent Van Gogh! Your artwork is so...abstract." Adam continues, "But, if you ever get the urge to cut off your ear and send it to your boyfriend...DON'T!" Kate looks up at him with a blank stare, "Okay, Dad."

On Sunday, they were giving out full-sized Hershey bars as part of the Primary lesson at church. The teacher looked at Joseph and said, "Joseph, what is your favorite candy bar?" He replied, "A brown one." I smiled and thought, "Yea, me too buddy." We were playing with the firemen hats today (and there I am in all my unshowered glory); however, Joseph insisted that they were "cowboy hats." Well...I am from Texas. It works.

Lastly, Happy St. Patrick's Day! We gave a toast tonight at dinnertime with our green milk, "To St. Patrick...whoever that is!"

Love you each one. Thinking of you all...and heaven.

(Hi Karen! Love you and your pink hair!)

Dig It!

I'm still laughing. Jack Black was on Sesame Street this morning--need I say more?! His eyebrows alone make me have a belly laugh. But, when he's acting alongside Elmo, acting out the word disguise...he's at his peak! hilarious!

Anyways, we abandoned our rather lengthy To-Do list Saturday and escaped up to Santa Barbara for the day. We visited the farmer's market, which brought up fond memories for me and Adam (when we lived in SB, pre-children, we spent most Sat. mornings there). The flowers, juicy oranges, huge, beautiful cauliflouer, freshly baked sourdough (mmm...my mouth is watering) would've blown you away! We stopped in the SB Natural History museum's planetarium and then ate lunch at one of Santa Barbara's many beautiful parks. Happy memories!

Annie was up until 10 p.m. last night, fretting about track team tryouts today. She gets just so intense. If she's like this for elementary school track team tryouts, it'll be interesting to see her taking college entry exams. Savannah internalizes much more. We'll see how it all shakes down this afternoon.

Joseph is as rambunctious as ever...and it's rubbing off on Austin. argh! I've become a hovering parent when we visit anywhere with other children--afraid that he'll start wielding some toy or fist or sand at the other child. I'm hoping this is a phase. Is it? Oh the drama!

Hope you have a great week...in all of your daily dramas! To quote a friend, "Life's a Garden...dig it."

(I joined my church choir...a nod to culture...I'm excited!).

To Sing

We do not ask for what useful purpose
the birds do sing,
for song is their pleasure-
since they were created for singing.

-Johannes Kepler

May we each sing our song...with pleasure.

Strawberry Fields Forever

I know, I know...I live a charmed life. I mean, look at what we got to indulge in this week! My family has a thang for delicious, beautiful produce...and the strawberries in Oxnard, California are never a disappointment. These strawberries tasted like they had been rolled around in powdered sugar--they were that sweet...in February! I wish I could FedEx each of you a full flat of these beauties (you'll need just about that many to quench your tastebuds), but I don't know how to package them properly. So, I guess you'll just have to come visit us and try them out for yourselves! And, exhibit B above shows what I see when I drive out of our neighborhood at the end of our street...yes, that's right...fields and fields of strawberries. Come and visit.

This week has been eventful. Adam has had around the clock meetings at work and church (still in a suit). My kids are still trying to convince him that working at an ice cream parlor has much better perks than just "an old hospital."

We finally celebrated Annie's 10th b-day with a "sleep-under" (all the characteristics of a sleep-over, but without the sleeping over! It ended at 9 p.m.). Anyways, I think the 15 lively, energetic, vocal girls enjoyed themselves making personal pizzas, friendship bracelets, and designer fingernails and toenails. Whew!

Savannah has made a couple of new friends at school that she really likes. Any chance she gets, she is making some new craft to take to them at school. She is my tender-heart girl. I can always count on her for a compliment. I love girls.

Kate is as busy as ever--forever the dancing queen. She could dance to Hannah Montana and the Kit Kittrege soundtrack all day and night...with splits, cartwheels, sommersaults and all! I heard her having a conversation with someone the other day. The other person was commenting on Erika babbling, telling Kate, "Wow, Erika sure is talking a lot." Without even a pause Kate responded, "Yeah, but we can't even understand her, she's speaking Spanish." She cracks me up!

Joseph and Austin are pure boy. They usually have a car or something with wheels in one hand and a food item in the other. Yesterday, Joseph and Kate filled up water balloons and used them as props (before throwing them, of course). The picture is of Kate trying to sell him "jelly beans" of which Joseph responded, "sure, sure." The next balloon she was a selling him was a "mushroom" of which he said, "no way."

Erika is keeping with our Thunell tradition and has become quite the round butterball baby...I love every inch of her chubbiness.

Hope your week is happy and blissful! Come and visit...the strawberries are calling.