Thirty Seven

I love the house I live in. I love the family that lives in it with me. Down to the fish named Sammy who lives in the bathroom. The back patio is inviting and the little lawn of green grass is maintained by someone else. The other fish- Puff the Dragon, Peachy Cleany Meany, Scaredy Catty, Charlie & Lola live in the heart of the home, looking out on this outdoor living area complete with comfy patio furniture.

Green onions, parsley, and two types of tomatoes in 4 inch pots stand at attention ready to join the other horticulture in the happy scene.

A birdhouse sits keeping time in a plum tree that went from twigs while we looked to white blossoms  during the move and is now full of lucious leaves in glorious green. Twinkle lights now adorn the covering, and a shiny grill sits ready to make mouthwatering the marinated meats of the man. 

A subtle whistle sounds as the train rumbles through town just to the west of us. At just the right moment of the day you hear the mission bells ring just prior...

A large bluebird visits daily. He is curious about us and keeps his distance, but is boldly building a nest from twigs plucked out of the gated garden guarding the front door. Filled with purple daisies, magenta blossomed topiaries and mini allium- can't wait to see what color!

Children fill the neighborhood with shreiks and screams as they ride the thrill of "the hill" on their scooters and attempt to sell their spoils (rocks, bark, flowers & sticks) to the parents who frequently peek out their screened entrances. 

The towering trees to the east tell of the time that people have inhabited this historic area, the bells ring from a tower built in 1776, the year of our country's independence.

This is where I begin my 37th year. Happy Saturday.

27 Skills & Quick Update on Us

27-skills-your-child-needs-to-know-that-shes-not-getting-in-school

As I nurse the baby, I am trying to catch up with my online groups and blog buddies - here's something I got today, I just skimmed it for now, but it looks good to me!

We are all doing well, not sleeping much- and busy packing to move in a week. Yes, move with a newborn. Yes, I am crazy. Well actually I just don't have a choice...

Back to the OC for us! We'll be in Costa Mesa with Shawn's uncle for a few months then... who knows?

Advent Treasure Hunt

On December 1st G started an Advent Treasure Hunt, which I customized to our style from this site. It's been a lot of fun- a few moments of frivolity amongst the frenzy! (I also enjoyed reading another interesting blog about the Advent season)

I have been stressed by packing and the disarray my house is in as we prepare to move (still don't know where!) and my 2 little bits of control and organization during the day have become this Advent activity and my current obsession with setting up the Virtual Moms Club.

I keep stealing just a few moments when a box is packed or a chore is done to pop online and do something else virtual. I realized that it is partially because I can organize, sort, rearrange, express myself and decorate to my hearts content and there is no mess! No clutter accumulates when you are playing with little widgets, bits of code and themed templates. Everything has it's nice little bordered box or mini module. Even music and family photos easily integrate into my virtual world. Moving is easy in cyberspace, click here... drag there... an voila it's gorgeous and simple to search for anything you need.

Here's a few photos from the past few days... (oh and you MUST try today's recipe, sent to my by Mel- BBQ cups!)

The cover of Advent Treasure Hunt folder, where we keep the "scrolls" she finds each day (many are printouts from the above site).


below is the calendar countdown; we paste a black & white symbol of the days activity to mark our progress. Day One was the story of the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary (I also presented her the Christmas Treasury, a book we purchased a couple years ago, but never got to in the past couple of Christmases. This year we plan on reading a story or poem & singing a song from it nightly. It's really getting us in the Christmas spirit- who needs decorations?)


Last night she got the clue "Where Joy will close her eyes, and we will sing her lullabies." She went to Joy's crib and found her handbell set in it's *new* bag, complete with a custom cut felt for silencing the bells as she set them down and the music pages securely tucked in- it's an old picnic bag that I found while packing- you can sort of see it in the background.


Shawn converted the sheet music (which he downloaded from the internet) to a similar style of the colored dot music pages that came with the handbells. The song for the day (the Treasure Hunt daily printout) was Joy to the World. We had fun trying to sing it together while she played the handbells!


Finally, I just liked these - they represent a typical day in our world- Grace wearing only my moms sweater building a lego bridge to "candy world" under the arch of "fantasy fort" ...



...and her faithful, loyal and tolerant friend, Prince Tiger.