No sleep=No productivity

I am a sleeper.  Let me be clear...I LOVE SLEEP!  I am that person that hits the pillow and is out in 1 minute.  I really never have trouble sleeping, so when I wake up in the night and cannot go back to sleep, it really messes me up!

I think that I fell asleep last night around 10:30 p.m.  Benjamin came and crawled into bed with us at 11:30 p.m. and during his moment of "crawling all over mom," I woke up.  (It sometimes does not bother me at all when he crawls all over me.  I am a heavy sleeper.)  Well, after that, I could not go back to sleep.  I tried everything, and just could not fall back to sleep until around 3:30 this morning.  Ugh!

So, Ben woke up in the night, I woke up in the night, and Grace said she woke up around 3:00 a.m. and couldn't fall back to sleep until around 4:00 a.m.  WEIRD!  Since living in Southern California, I always wonder when this happens to all of us, if there was an earthquake or something that woke us up.  Am I crazy?  (Don't actually answer that!)

Here is the strangest part of all...Micah is not a great sleeper, but he slept like a baby last night!  What?!

Anyway, no sleep for mom = lack of productivity all day long!  Got to hate that!  (We did have school, and the kids had more fun than usual because I was pretty relaxed, or out of it, the whole time.)

***Disclaimer:  I feel as though I should throw out this disclaimer for all of my mom friends who still have babies.  You guys never get a good night's sleep.  I remember.  Here is the interesting thing...once your children finally get to the point where they sleep through the night every night, you just cannot function when you have a sleepless night.  It's crazy!  You are sleepless for years on end, then your children begin to sleep and your body forgets how to wake up in the night and still function in the morning.  So, here's to all of you moms who are out there having sleepless nights every night!  You rock!

Here's hoping that I actually fix my hair and put on some make-up tomorrow!

Scripture for the Week

The kids and I are learning a scripture each week during our school time.  I am really loving this part of our day, and have been really surprised at how well the kids remember the scriptures from previous weeks.  

This week, our scripture was one that I really needed to memorize!  

For God did not give us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of POWER, LOVE and SELF-DISCIPLINE.

2 Timothy 1:7 (emphasis added by me)

I love this verse, and really need to hide it in my heart!  God does not want us to be fearful and I love that he gives us a spirit of power, love and self-discipline.  The self-discipline part is what I really needed to focus on, since I tend to lack that in many areas of life!  

Are you hiding God's word in your heart?  I hope so, but if not you can join us on our journey.  I would love to share the scriptures we are learning.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Snowy Day

Have you ever read that book, Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats?  You should if you have not!

We are enjoying our snowy days here on the mountain.  Check it out!

(WARNING:  You may want to turn down your volume because the videographer did not realize that everything she was saying or laughing would be REALLY LOUD on the video!  LOL!)

This is Thomas and Ashley (from TEXAS!) making a train with our kids.  Ben thought it was super fun to just hang on and sled on his belly!  

Ashley works in the dining hall, and had gotten a huge metal bowl and cookie sheet to use as sleds!  AWESOME.  Here is Grace in the bowl.

Here is Ashley helping Ben "snowboard" on the cookie sheet.

Oh and here is the train going head first!

We have been working on these really cool winter scene pictures during our art time at school for the past two days.  Didn't they turn out super cool?!  Thanks www.iheartcraftythings.com!

This is Grace's picture.  She did an amazing job, completely on her own!

This is Ben's picture!  

And this is mine.  I love doing art!

Love my kiddos!

It's interesting how you can think that everyone is doing really well with a transition, and then something happens to remind you that the process of change is still very much real!  Grace and Ben cried last night because they miss their friends from school.  This is to be expected, and to be honest, we will miss them all for a very long time.  Please pray with me that the Lord continues to protect their hearts and that he continues to bring super special friends (like the ones here on the mountain) into our lives!

Random

Sometimes (okay a lot of times) I have completely random thoughts floating through my brain.  I am certain that they are all connected in some strange way, because everything is ultimately related, right?! Enjoy!

1.  What would you do if you walked into your living room and saw this at 9:30 p.m.?

Yes, this is a rat and it seems as though he has been eating Pringles on the ottoman!  This made me laugh out loud, literally because I knew that Ben had eaten the Pringles and was holding his stuffed rat. I had been downstairs working on school stuff, and when he heard me coming up the stairs, he ran to his room.  This is exactly as I found it!  HILARIOUS!!!!!!!  

2.  It snowed MORE than I have ever seen last night.  I mean, I have been to Colorado but that somehow does not count in my mind.  I did not LIVE in Colorado, and I was at a ski resort so I expected lots of snow.  Anyway, I went out and rode with Micah while he did one round of snow plowing.  People the snow was coming down so hard that I could not see anything.  It was crazy!  The even crazier thing is that the sun came out today and even though we had lots of snow, it was completely enjoyable!

I took this picture from my kitchen window this evening.  The sunset was so amazing, but I just could not capture it!  Ugh!

From my front driveway.

I figured I would post a picture of me so that you all knew I was actually still around!

Can you see that big snowball?  He made this all by himself. He worked so hard at rolling the snow to make this thing!

I love this tree and take a picture of it everytime it snows.

Sweet snow girl with her sled.  

From my back driveway.

This is the hill directly behind our house.  I love that we have this perfect hill for the kids to sled on.  SO FUN!!!!!

3.  I really like to bake so I made two batches of cookies this afternoon.  I think that I should probably take them down to camp tomorrow so that we are not eating all of them.

4.  I just made my first visit to Trader Joe's last week.  LOVE IT!!!!  If you have one close, you must try their Orange Chicken and Chicken Fried Rice.  It is awesome!

Happy Random Wednesday!

How have you been?

It's been a while since I posted.  No reason, really, except that I have let other things take up my time.

We have really been enjoying having friends over at our house almost every evening.  It is fun to grow relationships with people.  Don't you think so?  I love people and I love getting to know our new camp family.  I am so thankful that I do not work outside the home these days, and I get the chance to open our home to people on a daily basis.  It really does warm my heart that our house can be used for a place to come and relax and just build friendships.  I think this might be what I was created for!

Micah's parents, brother and our niece Lauren and nephew Elathan came to spend the long weekend with us.  I cannot tell you how nice it is that we get to see Matthew and Elathan more frequently now, and how nice it was that Micah's parents drove the LONG 19 hour drive (our niece, Lauren, helped) to see us.  It was fun to just be able to hang out and show them around our new home.  They should be arriving back in Texas as I type this.  That is one CRAZY LONG drive, and I am so glad they made it safely!

Here are some pictures to catch you up on what has been going on:

Ben getting ready to hand out Valentine's.

Grace doing her Valentine's.  She asked me if we were going to have a Valentine's party, and I realized that I had better make that happen.  We had a fun day making and handing out Valentine's and goodies to the camp staff.

I am a bit cheesy when it comes to Valentine's day.  (You can thank my mom for this!  She always does this too!)

Micah got his own sack of goodies!  (When you live on a mountain and forget to grab a basket to put your husband's Valentine stuff in, you improvise!  Thanks Trader Joe's for having great, sturdy paper bags!)

One of our art projects last week was marble painting.  I LOVE marble painting, and now that I only have two students, we can marble paint as much as we want!  LOL!

We have our very own, resident cosmetologist on our staff, so she gave Grace and Ben Valentine haircuts!  (Doesn't she look so grown up?!)

And here is Ben with his cool new cut!

The weekend was GORGEOUS, so we were able to take our family up to Boucher Lookout which is the highest point on the mountain with an old lookout tower.  Here is a link to the history of the

 lookout:  http://palomarsp.org/lookout/intro.htm

I did not touch up this sky at all!

Looking through the binoculars.

Matthew getting some really great photos.

Our beautiful niece Lauren!

So those pictures were taken on Monday, and this is what it looks like today...Tuesday!  CRAZY!!!!!  We are expecting anywhere from 12-20 inches of snow in the next three days.  So, here is my man in his new Palomar jacket getting ready to get the ice off of our satellite so that I don't have to miss American Idol.  (Priorities people!)  Oh, and he gets to go "snow plow" the night away too!  Mountain living...never a dull moment!

So that is how we have been.  I hope that you have been great as well! 

Who ate the chocolate chips?

I once told my mom that I thought I was going crazy.  She told me that if I was really going crazy, I would not know it, but those around me would!  Well, we may all need to get a little worried.  Here is how this story goes:

Last week, some staff came over and we made Muddy Buddies (otherwise known as Puppy Chow).  Katie brought some Chex, butter and chocolate chips.  I also had gotten my chocolate chips out.  Well, we ended up using her already opened bag of chocolate chips, so I set my bag over on another counter. I vividly remember putting the bag in my cabinet as I was cleaning up.  VIVIDLY!  I could even remember right where I put them!

A week went by, and we were having friends over for dinner so I was going to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert.  Now, the reason I was going to make these is because I had a lovely bag of chocolate chips in my cabinet, remember?!  I went to the cabinet to get the bag of chocolate chips and it was not where I left it.  I looked everywhere...at least three times!  I got in my kids' faces and made them "tell me the truth" because I knew that they ate them.  I just knew it!  Well, when they had finally convinced me that they were not the culprits, I decided to text Katie.  Remember, she was there with me when we made the muddy buddies.  Anyway, I texted her with a very nice message (I did not want to come out and just say, "Hey, so I know you took my chocolate chips and I want them back NOW!).  "Hey Katie, did you by any chance take the chocolate chips home with you the other day?"  Katie's response..."I took my opened bag home.  Did you need some?  I am in town."  So, I nicely responded yes while still feeling as though someone had really played a nasty trick on me!

Later that evening, Katie and her husband brought me some lovely Ghiradelli chocolate chips!  I said, "I looked everywhere for the chocolate chips, and I can't find them.  I know someone in my house ate them."  Katie looked at me with a lovely smile and says, "Well, didn't you use them to  make that chocolate chip cake last week when everyone was at your house?"  WELL...YES I DID!!!!!!!!!!

So, does that constitute crazy?  And do you see why I love our new camp family!!!!

Have a crazy Saturday!

Doane Pond

It has been absolutely beautiful weather here for about two weeks now.  Sunny with a high around 70 degrees.  Lovely!  We have not been outside enjoying it nearly as much as we should have, so I told the kids we would go to Doane Pond and have a picnic lunch today.  (It is actually supposed to start raining tomorrow and snowing again!)

Picnic time.  The angry birds had to come along with us!

The pond.  You can see that there is nothing but brush around it, but just a few feet away are the gorgeous mountains.

The pond.  It is stocked at least two times a year with trout.  (There was an older man here fishing today, and he shared lots of info with us!)

This is a large, flat area.  If it were cleared, it would be perfect for running around and playing.

Yes, that is smoke.  They were doing a prescribed burn (or controlled burn) today.  There were about 10 fireman watching the fire.  They were going in 2 at a time to manage the fire.  It was actually pretty neat to watch.  I just always hope that the burn stays controlled!

One more view of the pond.

Grace found a deer antler on the ground.  Cool!

It's just so pretty here!

Who doesn't love a bridge?

They were throwing sticks and watching them go down the stream.

I love how I caught the sun just right here!

I love being able to go on picnics with my kiddos!

My boy

If you know Ben, then you know how he keeps us on our toes!  I love the excitement he adds to our lives everyday!  Really!  Boys are just happy-go-lucky and help you remember how to be a child and have fun.  I love that about boys!  No thought process before doing something...just go for it!  Whatever IT is!  Live life with GUSTO!!!!  You know what I mean, don't you?!

Here is my sweet, life-loving boy!

We went on a ride around camp, and ended up at Inspiration Point.  (I will post more on that soon)

And...here is my sweet boy after a run in with the dressers (yes, that is plural) in my bedroom on Saturday.

Yep, that's a black eye!  Very small compared to what could have happened!

Here is the story:

Ben decided to pull all of the drawers out on two dressers that sit side by side in our bedroom.  These dressers are as tall as him, and have a large TV sitting on top of them.  Well, when you pull out all of the drawers at the same time, the walls come a-tumblin' down!  I heard a loud crash and Ben yelling, and when I got to my bedroom, immediately panicked because he was under the dressers.  It was not a pretty sight.  Thank goodness, my friend Erin and her son were there to lift the dressers while I grabbed Ben and started checking for blood and such.  It could have been SO much worse.  He got out with a chunk missing from his finger and a small shiner!  So thankful!

Living life on the edge!  That's Ben!

On another note, we visited Rady Children's Hospital last week for the first time.  I am quite partial to Texas Children's because of how awesome they have been with us, but John at Rady is now top on my list!  Ben had to get blood work done to check his thyroid function, and I have never seen someone draw blood so quickly!  John, wherever you are, you are my HERO!!!!  I am so thankful for children's hospitals!

This was the best picture I could get through the blinds of our examining room.  LOL!

They had tons of cool bronzed statues all around the grounds of the hospital.  We thought the frog prince was cool!