Project 52: Art Museum!

Did you know that there is such a thing as Museum Day? Did you know you can get FREE tickets to a museum on Museum Day?!? I didn't until this last Thursday. Thankfully, Museum Day was the following Saturday, so I had plenty of time to get my tickets!

It was my hope and plan to take the kids to the Seattle Art Museum as a school field trip this year. Thanks to Museum Day, we were able to do that this last weekend! We had fun wandering through the exhibits. David even set of an alarm being so David-like (he climbed INTO the Japanese Tea House). Yikes! I was SO embarrassed, even though I got him out and into the stroller before security came around the corner.

We had Joe, Nicole, Pierce, Joe C and Amanda with us as well, and it was a very fun afternoon!

This is my Project 52:Glimpse Into Motherhood picture. Liam, standing in front of a really cool war-dress that looked like it was made out of dog-tags:

David enjoyed himself until the tea house incident. Soon after being put in the stroller, he fell asleep...

This Japanese painting was too big for one picture....I collaged it together:  

The details in this painting were amazing....just look at the lace work on the older child's hem!

And here are a few of the other things we saw! 

Baylee's Wedding

I had a wonderful time on sunday at Baylee's wedding. Baylee is the oldest daughter of my mom's best friend Rhonda. I've known her since she was three, so it's almost like watching my little sister get married. Baylee was a beautiful bride and it was obvious how happy she was!
I've been playing around with some of the pictures I've taken....enjoy!

Project 52: First Day of School

We started "preschool" with David this week, so I took "first day of school" pictures with the kids, even though Liam technically started a couple weeks ago.

Unfortunately, they got too antsy to get a good picture of all three of them. Oh well, another time! 

Homeschooling two is going to be an interesting ride. I am doing the same sort of thing with both, only  gearing it to each one's level. Fun times!

Project 52: Glimpses Into Motherhood

ABC's in Nature

We took a little walk this morning with a purpose: to find letters in nature and snap pictures. Part of this was for the next badge in the Family Fun's "Badges of Fun" project and partly because I have always wanted to do it! We decided to make it simple and look mostly for the letters in the kids names and it was so much fun!

Thankfully, picnik has a collage option of four squares in a row, so I can show you Liam's. I want to print out the pictures and mount/frame them for each child....how cool would that be?!?

After doing Liam's name, I realized I had the letters to do the "Life" part of my blog title, so I quickly picniked myself a new header and I LOVE IT!

What do you think of our nature letters?!? It is seriously so much fun finding the letters---you should try it!

Project 52: Time "off"

This last weekend, my mom, Heidi and I took off for a Mother/Daughter weekend away. It was lovely. We had such a good time.
(Project 52 picture is this first one)

Aren't those carvings on the pillars incredible?!? Here's a close up:

Some other fun pictures of our doings:

We sewed, we played on the beach, we relaxed and talked and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Thanks, Mom. I needed that!

Project 52: Glimpses Into Motherhood

Project 52: Watering

We were at my parents house this past week and the weather was just lovely....just the kind of weather we expect here in the Pacific Northwest in September---sunny and warm! This is truly my favorite month here, followed closely by October (apples, my birthday, Heidi's birthday are all October's goodies!).

Anyway, what do lovely weather, watering and Project 52 have in common? Watching my little David playing with the hose of course! He did all sorts of things, like water the gravel pile (which I quickly told him NOT to do), fill buckets for Sissy to play in (dump out in 5 seconds is more accurate!), water the garden and water the new grass on the site of the old gravel pile.....

Here is a collage of a few of things, followed by the Project 52 shot of David putting his hand in the spray...

Project 52: Glimpses into Motherhood

The HARD thanksgiving

in the face of terminal sickness of family friends and family, in the face of watching others follow the path the Lord sets before them, which unfortunately leads them away from me, in the face of being faithful to what the Lord has asked of me even when it's not pleasant, in the face of financial discomfort and stress that is heavy......

I try to take a breath and still give thanks. Give thanks. For all......

....suddenly, today, I am blindsided by the announcement that my lead pastor is leaving our church in the next couple of months and all I can do is cry and wonder what that will mean for me....for my family. Do we stay at our church because it's where we go...or is God using this and other changes to lead us in a new direction, and if so: where, when?

.....what other unpleasant, hard, heavy things are waiting for me right around the corner? 

Will I have the strength----the weakness to cling to the Lord? To wait on Him? To continue to give thanks even when it's hard?

Project 52: gender roles?

I learned that at a very young age, without instruction, boys naturally know what guns are for and how to use them....it was hilarious watching my young first-born son turn just about anything into a "boom-boom" and when he got a toy laser gun for his 2nd birthday, well, he knew just what to do!

Now that I have a daughter, I am seeing the same thing happen...but with dolls.

Now, let's remember.....she's not even a year old yet. And yet her "mothering" skills are obvious to me. We've had this doll in the house for over 3 years....and it's got played with the most in just the last couple of months. Heidi holds it and carries it around and gives it lovings.....just the other day, I watched her pick "him" (Liam decided he was a boy) up and gently rub her hand on his head. It was a sweet moment and my heart melted. So cute.

Anyway, I'll stop blabbering away about how gender roles are so obvious here at my house (and so natural too, I do nothing to promote it, which makes it all the funnier to see it happen) and show you this weeks picture:

Okay, now for something completely different.....

David did this same thing about a day after we got the table. What is it about active, mobile almost one year olds that makes them HAVE to climb things?!? It is so scary! We have had to put up an elaborate gate system which we borrowed from my in-laws to keep her away from the table, because this is what she does EVERY SINGLE TIME she gets near enough to do it. She thinks being up on the table is the coolest thing in the world.

Project 52: Glimpses Into Motherhood