Special Blanket

For a special boy!
I never did find moose fabric in Nevada so I was very excited when I found this woodland print here, and I had to throw in some extra color with the red bear fabric on the back. It is almost finished, I ran out of red thread so we will be going on a quest today! But I just have to finish about a foot of the border!
Yay!

We have a yearly membership with the Zoo, so there will be a few sets from our trips there!

See how he's poised for flight?

Ziva made a friend, she chirruped and petted him until I finally tore her away!





I will open my own cookie, thank you very much!




I handed cookies out all around and when I got back to Ziva to help her open her cookie she already had! The girl knows her chocolate!

Mike is gone, he is CQing again. Same boat as last time, seven years ago! So we are living through our trial run of being without our Head Honcho. (SIGH!) What's stinky is he will only be gone about eight days this time, which is SO. YUCKY.
But he will be gone for three, four and even seven weeks this upcoming year even before the seven to eight month cruise. I DO NOT LOVE sea tour.

But we are doing pretty good.
The boys are loving their new play room, although I did have to remind them to keep all the toys out of their bedroom this morning, and I will have to get on my hands and knees to organize everything again. But I am enjoying having a separate toy room that I can shut the door on!

We are gearing up to go see King Tut's exhibit! Max has been intrigued with Egyptian history since he read of the Exodus, so we are going to be using a vast array of Biblical history as well as documentaries of Egyptian artifacts to learn more! Very exciting!

Ziva is walking a bit more elegantly today, she has been tottering around with her arms crooked and held out for balance but she is learning her strides! I love this age!

Max has really enjoyed his scooter, he zips around between his boundaries quite adeptly, the second day he had it he disobeyed my rules and was subsequently grounded from the scooter for a day, which turned into two days when he rode the neighbors scooter that night! (TESTING TESTING 1-2-3!)

Tavis did not want a scooter with three wheels, he wanted one like Max's, so he is still working on balance, he can go about three feet before falling over now!

we found a church, it's full of kids the same ages as the savages, with all sorts of things in common. It's very nice. I have not sat in on adult Sunday School or a sermon yet, but the children's Sunday School is great! They are working through the smaller Catechism with the younger group and the Plagues with the older group that can read on their own.

Ziva and Max charge full throttle into a new social group but Tavis hangs back and like to watch and figure out the structure before joining in, but after that he is the life of the party!

I am supposed to be doing lunch...

~When the Tears Fall~ by Newsboys

I've had questions, without answers
I've known sorrow, I have known pain
but there's one thing, that I'll cling to
You are faithful, Jesus You're true

when hope is lost, I'll call You saviour
when pain surrounds, I'll call You healer
when silence falls, You'll be the song within my heart

in the lone hour of my sorrow
through the darkest night of my soul
You surround me and sustain me
my defender, forevermore

when hope is lost, I'll call You saviour
when pain surrounds, I'll call You healer
when silence falls, You'll be the song within my heart

and I will praise You, I will praise You
when the tears fall, still I will sing to You
and I will praise You, Jesus praise You
through the suffering still I will sing

when hope is lost, I'll call You saviour
when pain surrounds, I'll call You healer
when silence falls, You'll be the song within my heart

oh yes, You are good to me
You've always been good to me
so trustworthy

when hope is lost, I'll call You saviour
when pain surrounds, I'll call You healer
when silence falls, You'll be the song within my heart

and I will praise You, and I will praise You
when the tears fall, still I will sing to You [I will sing to You]
I will praise You, Jesus praise You
through the suffering still I will sing

How faithful and true
sustain me through and through -
You're my spring of living water
you're my spring of living water

in the lone hour of my sorrow
be faithful and true
like a spring it never fails
You're my spring that never fails

whose springs never fail

This last Saturday day we had a lovely time in and around Cayucos, a lovely and somewhat unknown little beach town.

Max and Tavis shrieked and gasped their adventures into and out of the waves.
They are finally the age that we can almost trust them not to drown themselves! Before this, both of them would stoically walk straight into the oncoming waves without regard to their own precious lives! They had a gleeful, wonderfully savage time!

Ziva took matters a little more seriously, you would have thought she was born a mermaid so enthralled with the ocean was she! From the first sight of it she stretched her arms out to greet it and chirrupped and kicked to get Mike to go closer. I was sure the chilly water and loud crash of the water would deter her a little, but she loved it!
She would lift her feet until the wave had settled to the sand and then she would dip her legs in and watch her toes as the current swirled around them.
When Mike put her down she did walk straight to the waters edge but she seemed content to stand there watching and listening and curling her feet in the sand.


Tavis is surfing.


Max ran around like a crazy man but once in while he knelt down to welcome the sea onto his lap!


A contemplation of toes and sand and chaffing; therein lies the rub!

Ziva had so much fun with Daddy!


She LOVES the ocean!!

She was not thrilled with the sand between her toes.


But when you dig your foot in the sand on purpose; THAT is funny!

I LOVE THE OCEAN!


The boys.
BOYS COME BACK!

The princess is heeded by all in her kingdom.

I am sure I am not the only mother who has an adenaline rush making dinner.
Yeah, I'm talking the almost-rear-ended-by-a-tractor-trailer-only-alive-by-the-grace-of-God kind of adrenaline rush!
Whew! Whatanight!

I had planned calzones, I usually try to do calzones a couple nights after we have spaghetti because the men in my family just adore calzones and I have extra sauce left over. The problem with calzones is they take thirty to forty-five minutes longer then they usual one hour dinner preparation. First I have to cook the meat and make the dough, then I have to roll the dough out and start assembling the whole thing; cheese, meat, sauce, cheese.
I was doing pretty good today until my dough went heavy and hard! It felt like a lump of wet laundry instead of light and fluffy dough!
I have had this problem here with cookies, we are so low in altitude I have to re-think all my recipes!
So I trashed the wad of unhelpful dough and made my biscuit dough, I had done it once before and knew they would be fluffy.
It worked! And Max said it tasted better then the usual calzones!

But making dinner is no calm, pearl wearing matter for me, unlike the sedate monotone hostess who tells you to "simply" do things to a chicken, I am tripping over kids who are helping, dumping flour in the wrong bowl, heaving a baby from hip to hip as I knead, whipping open the oven while warding off self-destructive children, stirring the meat in the frying pan with two fingers from an armlength away so the helpful baby will NOT help, grabbing the children intent on eating all the biscuit dough, fishing the mail keys out of the disposal unit, wiping water off the floor because someone was "measuring units" and last but not the very least; trying to get some sort of edible nutritious meal on the table before MY bedtime!
What, kick the kids out of the kitchen? Well, then I would be running around the house making sure they were not in trouble rather then confining it to one room!
Besides! What fun would that be??

We had a lovely sit down meal and now it is SO time to kick up my bare feet, drink my glass of pretty wine and watch My Life in Ruins. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh........

(Did I mention Mike has been bouncing at night? Yeah, that is why there is such a lunatic feel to my nights this week!)

We went to the zoo, we had so much fun! I am always reminded of when B&B would take us to the big zoo when we visited them. I always had so much fun! (And I still adore the souvenir shops!)

Hercule Poirot as a bird.


Max hardly stays still long enough for me to take pictures of him.

Tavis likes to see each animal for a couple minutes, so I always end up with more pictures of him then Max.

The boy's Jungle Room. Mike and I got this "easy to remove" wall paper to add some color to their new room, it was definitely something they looked forward to and helped make the transition a little more smooth!


Our new living room. I can't paint the walls. Bummer.

Ziva at their table in the morning room, she has her own chair now! She is quite proud of it!


We still need to work on our room and Ziva's room, we have to buy some strong curtain rods and arrange furniture. We're getting there!

I just found Ziva dipping into the trash can and digging the moldy strawberries out. Bleck!

Evidently we have a sort of cricket infestation here. And they aren't the cute little Chinese crickets, they are weird little creatures that don't quite hop and don't quite wiggle. They are rather creepy. Last night was one of the coldest in a while, so they all crowded into the cracks of the garage and around the sides of the house. The bug guys came out and sprayed, which is great, except now we have plethoras of dead crickets. Yuck.

I just spent four hours in the ER to get Tavis' ankle x-rayed. It really shouldn't take that long! ONE doctor was on call and everyone who thought they might have a chance of having the flu was there. Most of them should have been at home sleeping and drinking fluids. The doctor prescribed Tylenol and sent them home. DUH

Tavis' ankle is not broken, just sprained, though to hear him cry you might think it was broken. Poor guy does not handle pain well.

Oh yeah, his chin is fine, healing up well. The doc who glued it got glue all over the place though, he was a little glue happy.

whew. I could do with a lot less drama for awhile.
So. Tired.

Deuteronomy 13:
¹ “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him."

Hold fast to Him...
I like that, the world is so full of beautiful lies and cozy religions. But only the true God will save You, and as you are tested, if you cling to Him with all your might, a bit like Gus-Gus in Cinderella, you will be rewarded with an enveloping peace that surpasses all human understanding.

It is not an easy thing. Clinging to God in the middle of this quite secular world is a lot like clinging to rock in the midst of waves washing over you and thunder and lightening clapping and striking your fingers and head, but the beautiful thing about God, is that He is not afar off in heaven vaguely wondering if you will weather the storm out, He is not pacing the soft sands of the beach, wringing His hands and wailing for your fate.
He is there, on the rock with you, keeping your head above water, gripping your hands with His own, shouting thoughts of comfort and peace into your ears!
So stop panicking, and trust your God, He loved us enough to die for us, He loves YOU so much, He will not let you go through a storm alone.
Stop screaming for help and listen, I am sure He has been talking to you!
Turn to the One who can calm a storm on earth with just a hand and His voice. He has you! He's got this!
Know that I love you and I am praying.

I am not sure who I wrote this post for, I just felt the words flowing out. I was going to post a blog about moving and sanity, but this is what came. CB know I am praying for YOU. KW, know that I am praying for YOU! If someone else is reading this and needs a little candle of prayer during their own storm, let me know: skyflyinghorse@gmail.com and I will pray for you.

LORD, you know our hearts and minds better the we do, I pray that whomever needs you today will receive a sign of love from You. In Jesus' most holy Name, AMEN