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Lemonade Stand

Summer.  Kids.  Lemonade.  Stand.  FREE!!!!

Sofia caught the summer entrepreneurial bug and decided she wanted to have a lemonade stand.  I enjoyed observing how she went about it.

It was Tuesday and Sofia came to me about having a lemonade stand.  I let her know that Saturday would be the best day because our neighbours would be home and not at work.  She figured that mom was right so she went about making flyers.  Yep.  Sofia made about 6 flyers stating she was having a lemonade stand on Saturday and it was free.  She then proceeded to hand them out to our neighbours.

Saturday around noon we made the lemonade and Sofia and her friend Valerie (of course, Selah was there every step of the way) went about setting up shop at the end of our driveway.

The girls endured the heat and finally after about two hours they had managed to give away 14 cups of lemonade.  They were so proud of themselves.

And I was proud of Sofia's heart.  She didn't want to charge anybody money.  She wanted it to be free so everyone could enjoy it.

I spy.

Ever since Sofia was two years old she has loved the I Spy books.  

The other day I came upstairs to the loft to find all these toys on the ledge. 

"What is this?"

"I made an I Spy decoration, mom!"

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/

<->

My cheesehead friend stops by.

Okay, note that I didn't write cheesy friend because Darla is anything but.:)  Darla is an amazing woman who has a huge heart for internationals due to her huge heart for the Lord.

Darla and I first met when we were both living and working in Turkey.  I believe she was one of the first people I had ever met who was from Wisconsin (thus cheesehead). I used to tease her about being from a small town in the midwest and putting up with winters. Who knew that I would one day live 15 miles from Wisconsin, in a small suburb putting up with winters?

Anyway, Darla returned to the States the same year as I in 2001.  Our friendship was able to deepen because she came to So Cal to attend Biola for her master's in TESOL (I was working at CBU).  The next summer we became roommates and the only reason why we only did so for a year was because I got married.

Thankfully my friendship with Darla has continued over the years.  Because I do live so near to Wisconsin I was able to attend her wedding a few years ago and I've been able to see her at least once a year as she passes through town on her way to her parents.

Last week was one of those such visits.  My house is a good stopover point for her sweet 2 year old son Noah.  It works out for him to play with my kids, for us all to enjoy a meal and basically just catch up.

We tried our best to get a picture of the kiddos but, well, you know how that goes.

Here is a cute picture of Darla (carrying second child due in January) and Noah.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Hearing God's Voice

The other night Sofia shared with me that she wanted to hear God's voice.  And she wanted to HEAR it, not through His Word. :)


She decided to lay on the couch in the loft area so she could be still.


A couple of minutes later we had this conversation:

S:  Mommy, I hear God.

M:  You do?  And what is he saying?

S:  God is telling me to obey him.

S:  Now he is telling me to read his word.

(A couple of minutes of silence)

S:  God is really talking to me.

S:  He is saying.....S.....P.....A

M:  Sofia, you aren't hearing God's voice, you are hearing your Sparks cd that is playing in your room!

We both had a good laugh about that.

Asking for God's help.

I have the privilege of praying with and listening to the prayers of my girls each day and evening.  The prayers of children are pure, simple, amazing and humbling.  


Here was Selah's prayer:


"Dear God, thank you for my owies on my legs because I know you will heal them.  You are our healer.  And thank you for spankings.  They hurt but I need them because I disobey.  So God please help me to obey with my heart so I don't get a spanking."


And a part of Sofia's prayer:


"And dear Jesus PLEASE help my heart.  My heart can be tangled and twisted and topsy-turvy.  I need you everyday to help me."

Uncle Bruce

This past Saturday, Uncle Bruce (one of Kevin's older brothers) came for a day visit.  It was so fun to have him on our side of the water.  We see Uncle Bruce quite often when we visit Michigan but it had been almost six years since he came our way.

The morning was spent just playing and playing and playing.  Sofia and Selah were so excited to show Uncle Bruce EVERY single toy they own.:)

Being that it was a very hot and humid day, some time at the lake was a must.  For about an hour there was a lot of splishing and splashing.

Uncle Bruce treated us all to ice cream at Oberweiss'.  Sofia had the mango/pomegranate, Uncle Bruce enjoyed the blueberry pie flavour, and Selah kept with the ever so good hot fudge sundae.  

Then we headed to the church to show Uncle Bruce where we spend quite a bit of our time as a family.:)  Of course, the brothers had to enjoy a competitive game or two of table tennis.

Soon after dinner we said our goodbyes to Uncle Bruce.  It was such a great day.  And no doubt the girls in particular loved spending the day with their uncle.  How do I know?  Because come bedtime it was quite the cry fest due to missing Uncle Bruce.

Man on the move.

He might have been a few months behind his sisters as to when he began walking (they were 11 mos, he 13 mos) but now that he is, he is a man on the move.  Isaiah turned 14 months old yesterday so we thought we would celebrate with an evening stroll. 

Gotta have the stick.

He tried and tried to climb up this rock.

How did she do that mommy?

Never mind.  Let's keep walking.

Busy toothfairy.

After making a Thursday night visit, the tooth fairy was back at our home last night.  Yesterday Sofia's second front tooth came out with a little help from our friend at church, Dr. Bloom.  No more jack-o-lantern smile. 

Did I mention....

that I've been donning this accessory for almost a year now.

Last year right before my 41st birthday I began having headaches almost everyday.  After giving up on the fact that it wasn't because I had a newborn and wasn't sleeping much, I sucked it up and headed to the Walmart Eye Center.

The first thing the doc had me test was the eye chart.  I passed it with flying colours.  My distance vision was excellent.  I thought to myself, "Oh no.  These headaches aren't due to my eyesight.  There's something really wrong with me."  But then the doc had me hold a menu in front of me.  I could read it fine.  But when he placed some lenses in front of me I REALLY COULD READ THE MENU FINE!!!!!  Wow!!!!  What a difference.

The doc welcomed me into the world of reading glasses.  For now I simply need a 1.0 prescription for when I read and being that I am cheap I bought these otc $10 glasses.  They get the job done.  Here's to being in my forties!!! 

*Thanks Selah for taking this picture.  It encouraged me to share my secret.  Ha!!!

Still smiling.

Needless to Sofia's mouth is going through some crazy changes.  Her top two front teeth have actually been loose for quite awhile.  Months. 

Her teeth began to shift and spaces began to form simply due to her mouth growing.  But those two front teeth just wouldn't come loose.  The two teeth moved and were almost on top of each other.

This past Thursday night the front right tooth finally came out leaving her with a tooth right in the middle of her gums.

No matter how it looks we love her SMILE.  Because as we say in our house....."What makes a person beautiful?  A person whose heart loves God and a smile!"

Hopeful

I've been hopeful since child #1.  Hopeful that one of my children would inherit my left-handedness.  Sofia teased me by using both hands until she was almost three years old.  She finally made a decision and went with the popular choice of being right-handed.  Ha!

Selah never gave me hope.  I knew she was right-handed from day one.  Everything she did whether it be eating, playing or grabbing, she did so with her right hand.

As for Isaiah, this picture shows you that I just may have a left-handed child.

Isaiah favours using his left hand to eat and even when he places his eating utensil in his right hand he simply does so so he can use his left hand to pick up his food. 

My mom told me that she knew my sister and I were left-handed from day one because we always slept facing our left arm.  This is true for Isaiah as well.  

Fuel for me to remain hopeful.   

Adam, Adam what do you see?

No different than any of your children, the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear , What do you see? is a favourite in our household.  And these days Isaiah is loving it.  So needless to say, this book is running through all of our heads.


Yesterday while in the van, I hear Sofia making up her own "brown bear" story.  This is how it went.

Adam, Adam what do you see?  I see Eve looking at me.

Eve, Eve what do you see?  I see Noah looking at me.

Noah, Noah what do you see?  I see animals looking at me.

Animals, animals what do you see?  I see people looking at us.

People, people what do you see?  We see God looking at us.

God, God what do you see?  I see people who need me.

Les Mis

When Selah wears this hat she reminds me of the 
"Les Miserables" logo.

I like bananas.

Okay, maybe I LOVE them.  I eat one every morning as part of my breakfast.

Summer Family Reading

This summer we are reading this book as a family each evening before bed.  As the back of the book cover states, "Helen L. Taylor has simplified the vocabulary and concepts from John Bunyon's classic for younger readers, while keeping the story line intact."

Sofia has really enjoyed this book.  Most nights she has asked that we read more than one of the three-page chapters.  Selah listens but we're not too sure how much she is grasping.  In the evenings Kevin or I do the reading.  In the daytime I have Sofia read it out loud to me.

We highly recommend this for your family reading.

Neighbourhood Play

We so appreciate summer.  After months of being holed up inside during the winter, the majority of our summer days are spent outside. 

This year the girls are old enough to go outside and play with the neighbourhood kids without me being there at all times.  We have some check-in rules and the girls have been really good about making sure I know where they are playing.    I've also enjoyed the fact that our garage has become a magnate for playing make believe house.  Beach chairs become a "car" and the tables become "school desk".  It's fun to listen to the interaction with their friends.

The other activity the kids have enjoyed quite a bit this summer is riding their bikes.  Here is a picture of the girls with their friends Oliver (8), Vincent (3 1/2) and Christopher (6). 

A couple days ago they were having bike races.  Sofia gave me a scare when she fell then cried out, "My arm!"  Thankfully it wasn't broken just bruised and she was back on her back hoping to win the race.

The girls love playing with their friends. And we LOVE summer!!!

Old World HOME!

Who knew that just a couple days after visiting Old World Wisconsin that we would be experiencing an aspect of living in the Old World?

Monday morning we woke around 7:30 a.m. to what we thought would be a normal day and week even though we were getting a late start.   After opening up the east side shades and curtains to a bright morning sun, Kevin decided to run on the treadmill because of the humidity.  I went about getting the girls breakfast. 

About 7:55 a.m. the sky became dark and the wind began to blow.  All of a sudden Kevin saw out our bedroom window a patio chair go flying by.  He had me turn on the t.v. to see if we were under a tornado warning.  The t.v. was on for about 30 seconds, just enough time for me to see that it simply said we were under a thunderstorm warning, when the power went off.  For the next 10 minutes the wind blew like none other.  The trees were sideways, out front of our house branches were falling into the street, and then the sky opened and a sheet of rain came down.  It looked like you were in a car wash.  And again, this was for just about 10 minutes.  That is it.

At 8:20 a.m. the air was calm.  Sofia commented how the trees in the backyard looked tired.  No doubt they were.  They had just survived 70 mph plus winds.

Unfortunately many trees did not survive.  They landed on cars, homes, and power lines.  850,00 people in the Chicagoland lost power due to a Derecho.

For the next 79 hours (Monday 8 a.m. to Thursday 3 p.m.) we learned to appreciate life without electricity.  Monday was hot and humid and the night was a little rough but Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were pretty nice days and the nights were cool.  Some friends who didn't lose power stored our freezer food and ice chests became our refrigerator.  Days were spent outside and evenings were spent reading in the candlelight.  Bedtime came early for all of us.  Thankfully our church's power came back on Tuesday so Kevin was able to work and we were able to charge our phones.  We also took advantage of the church laundry room and did a load.:)

So yes.  We survived 79 hours without electricity.  But we had indoor plumbing, a gas stove to cook and boil water, and a grill .  Our water heater is electric so we did have short showers but really that was probably the most inconvenienced we were. 

And what's the first thing I did when the power came back on?  VACUUM!!!!!!

Summer Outings

Believe it or not, we have done some other things this summer other than go to the beach.  Not that that is a bad thing because we love our beach.

Strawberry Picking
A few moms and their kids that we know from our church all met up at a farm in Wisconsin.   I had never been before.  The girls really enjoyed eating picking the strawberries.  Isaiah enjoyed playing with the straw, forget the berries. And me?  Well, I was surprised that the berries were not HUGE like the ones from Sam's Club.  They were still very yummy.

We filled our four quart basket and used our pickings to make homemade strawberry shortcake for our small group.

Drive-in movie theater

This was an interesting outing.  We thought it might be fun to see Cars 2 at the drive-in.  Last summer we found one up in Kenosha.  Tuesday nights they charge only $12 for the entire car.  The website stated the movie began at 8:30 p.m.  So being a good mom, I had the kids take a late nap so they could stay up late.

We arrived at the drive-in around 8:15 p.m. with our popcorn and bag of treats.  We backed in to our space, put the middle van seats into the stow-away, put big pillows all around and waited for the movie to begin.  And wait we did.  Around 9:05 the previews began.  And finally at 9:30 (when it was dark) the feature came on.

This is the only pic I took.  They were patiently waiting at this time.

Needless to say, by this time mommy and daddy were wiped out.  We had stayed in the van because of the mosquitos.  Isaiah had crawled around and on top of everyone and everything and had worn himself out.  But of course he did not want to just sit in his car seat and go to sleep.  Around 10 Selah began to whine about wanting to go home and go to bed. We gave in at 10:15 and left.  Thankfully Sofia was a good sport about it.

Old World Wisconsin

This is a historic site in Eagle, WI that allows you to experience life as it was in the mid 1800s.  Sofia, Selah and I along with our neighbour Ami and her two girls Hope and Alexis, enjoyed experiencing and learning about life back then.  Costumed workers helped to make this a fun outing as they not only shared stories of how things were but were actually "living" like it was.

The girls told me the schoolhouse was their favourite part of the day.  They sat in desk with readers and a slate board for them to write.  I loved how the Welcome sign was actually made by a graduating 8th grader in 1914.

 We peeked into barns...

 And learned why that pot was under the bed.  HA!

We smelled the fresh baked berry pies in many of the homes we visited.  Here are some cookies and a berry pie that had just been baked on a real working stove.

 And met this young lady who was the cook for the town inn.  Gotta love her bustle.

We took a rest at Harmony Town Hall and played some games.  Sofia challenged me to a game of checkers and Selah must have played with that trick dog (put a penny in the mouth, push a button and watch it go into the barrel) for a good 10 minutes.

 We went shopping at the General Store.  Nellie wasn't there but this nice man made sure we knew what goods were available to us.

  Then ended our day at the town church.  Being that we were in the north, it was a catholic church.  The church organist was very gracious and after playing "Amazing Grace" for us, she allowed the girls to play showing them how it didn't work unless she was pumping the pedals.

I was so glad the girls enjoyed this place.  It will give them a visual when they begin reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series.   Actually, in a couple of weeks, Old World will be having a "Laura Ingalls Wilder" Festival.  Hmmmm....

But for now we will continue to enjoy our summer outings whether at the beach or .....in Wisconsin.  Okay, I need to look for things to do in Illinois.  HA!

Fireworks.

 I'll tell you what our neighbourhood came alive this weekend. It was just one big block party.  Neighbours lounging in lawn chairs replaced cars in the driveways, the smokey air was simply a sign that some good stuff was on the grill, and the only traffic to be found was on the lake.

This evening around 9 p.m. we met up with some of the families for fireworks and sparklers down at the beach. 

Shecklers, Wilburs and Miranda.  Can you see Isaiah in the back?

Here's a better picture of him with Sybella.

Miranda and her mommy Viola.  By the way, Viola made some delicious jerk chicken, Haitian dumplings and fried plantains for dinner.  So yummy!

Hope is such a sweet girl.  Selah thinks the world of her.

Alexis was showing the little girls how to dance while holding two sparklers.

This was the first time the girls enjoyed sparklers.  They LOVED it!

Pretty cool twirling two. 

Selah sure had fun.

Okay, I'm no photographer.  But check out all the firework action going on in the background.  We enjoyed a couple different shows being put on around the lake.