February

I know I complained about this last month but I hate blogging once a month because I forget everything that happened during the month. Hopefully pictures will refresh my memory.

we ended up spending a family Valentines Day. It was a Sunday and I had worship duty so I left all the Valentines on the counter and then when we got home, Trinity had singing Valentines all afternoon, and then we had dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, one of Jeremy's favorites. It was a little crazy because we messed up our original pick-up plan with Trin so I thought we were going to miss our reservation but it turned it it wasn't anything I (thanks mom for the amazing driving skilz) couldn't handle. We had this MASSIVE round table with throne-like chairs. It was loud, busy, and perfect for the kids. I got a lovely strawberry drop and put my feet up on the chair beside me. Pretty sweet and I always love spending Valentines as a family. 

            

            

This was a park day in early February that was insanely warm. So we took advantage of it to be outside. =) For some reason the kids always do so well together at the park. They just enjoy having each other to play with.

                           

Blake had a fun basketball season and I'm looking forward to him doing one more season to really work on skills. I feel like he was just starting to play well and it was over. 

                  

     

at the end of the month Isaac got to go on the first flight since he was a tiny baby. We went to see my friend Laura, her husband Eric, and their kiddo Alex. We had a great time and Isaac is an easy travel companion. Thankful it was a short flight though. =) 

                

playtime for boys. . .(thanks Eric and Rod for watching the kids for us)

Playtime for girls.. .yummy elk meatloaf at a local restaurant and three rounds of bowling. Yes!

It was so nice to visit with Laura and spend one on one time with Isaac. We took him to a kiddie pool at the gym and I just loved having that undivided time with him. I taught him a card game too, It involved counting by tens and fives and he nailed it. Such a smart boy. Also, he got more time outs than ever because no one was needing my attention or demanding this or that. Not that Isaac is poorly behaved but he's been getting away with some sass and it was time to put the kibosh on that. I'm trying to keep it up now that I am home, lol. I love my friend Laura, we have been friends since kindergarten.

now for some random catch-up. Isaac is almost ready weight/height wise for a booster but I think I want him to stay in five point because it is not okay that my baby is in a booster and almost five. stop. now. He is working on blended letter sounds with his therapist. I found them these really cute phonics books at the library. The other day I had mom on speaker phone and I said "say hi to Nee Nee" and he siad "Hi MOm!" and laughed. I realized he had read her name which appears on my screen as "mom" when she calls. I told Jeremy about it so he had to quiz him. He asked him to spell it and carefully making the letter sound before saying it Isaac said, "mmmm, m. . .ah,o. . .mmmm, m"  Jeremy was like "okay then, I guess he read it". = ) Being a homeschool mom I strongly defend his option to play but I won't deny that he is smart and he really enjoys concrete learning, workbooks, etc. so I try to find a balance between teaching him what he is able (which is a lot!) and letting him be a four year old without the pre-k freakout or expectations so many parents succumb to.  It's a little mind blowing to realize how far he has come from the one year old that really didn't seem to be interested in social interaction of any kind. 

Trin found a dress for prom, ha ha.

Daddy reading Isaac's books with him. It is my greatest desire right now that Jeremy dive into this homeschool thing with me. I could really use the input on the routine and the support in meeting mutual goals we set together. I won't deny that doing this on my own is not ideal. 

Isaac was invited to a party at Kidz Bounce (thanks Caleb) and I had to laugh at  this twenty-something dude walking around in circles holding up a bubble machine. Total pied piper moment with this bunch of kids following him around and dancing and laughing. 

more fun with Trios. Blake lost a tooth this month. He's going to lose the matching one on the other side in March for sure (hint: It's March 7 today and he lost it yesterday)

Blake got his game systems packed up because of his disobedient attitude. It made a point for sure. 

Honestly I am doing the things for him I use for Isaac. "your direction is to put this laundry away and you are at three. . . .etc" and time-outs that have to be quiet and respectful. Funny that I have to backtrack to what I use with the four year old but I swear sometimes that's where Blake is at as far as emotional regulation is concerned. 

At night we read bible stories and the kids complain about it until I start then they want me to read extra stories. So funny. I joined the board of the girls choir as secretary. It's been fun so far and I love having some input into the choir since I have so many years of experience and a passion for choral music. I would really love to see it grow in numbers and skill. I finished a short instrumental piece that I began last year. We are hoping to use it in the Good Friday service at church. I am really pleased that the Lord blessed me with progress on it. Jeremy let four employees go at Bill4time and is looking for some more. Not necessarily to replace the same positions but to round out his coding teams. It was good to see him take initiative and make the hard choices necessary to improve the company morale and work ethic. I'm always super proud of what he has accomplished but of course he is never content. The nature of man. I would say the most exciting thing for him this month was buying the limited edition primaries collection of the garbage pail kids. (It's a long story but he and Garbage Pail kids go way back) I bet his mother will laugh when she hears about this. Okay well I'm sure I could write more but I'm off to have some ice cream and watch the VOICE. CC tomorrow then DALLAS on Wednesday. Woot!!! Oh and last but not least I will never buy a guinea pig but if WERE going to buy a guinea pig it would be THIS one. 

Cascadia Worship and the Arts

       Nat and the family came over this weekend. We had a Friday evening/ Saturday conference on worship and the arts. Or should I say art as worship? Or maybe worship as life? It gave me a lot to think about and I think there was at least a small takeaway from every session I sat through. Some speakers will have me pondering through the spring. First of all, the real draw for Nat and I was when we saw that Sara Groves would be the worship leader for the event. She is a gifted songwriter that knows how to exhort in the gentlest most beautiful way. It was a VERY small group compared to most conferences I've attended and probably the most interesting thing about it was the complete open-endedness of it. For example the first evening the gentleman that spoke did a wonderful job of talking about how liturgy is formative to who you are as a person and how architecture, art, worship and other aspects of church affect how you can "close down" or "open" the style and flow of worship. But then he didn't tell you what to do with it. Most events I attend for worship have a pretty specific game plan and way to implement said plan. This was more like take whatever you wanted, be inspired or not, and act or not in whatever way seems appropriate to you. It was actually very nice to be challenged to do the actual thikning. "How do I want to apply this?" I kept asking myself.
       Something else unique about this event was the lack of the standard worship team. It was just Sara on the piano and a friend of hers singing with her. In a church designed for accoustics I was a little bit in heaven as we sang old hymns and quiet contemporary choruses in beautiful harmony. There was obviously many musicians in the room and there was no lack for parts. It reminded me of my youth at Grace Bible when there was no fear to stop playing, indeed the playing of instruments was always secondary to the voices. My how times have changed. Over all, much of the things shared were beyond the scope of my current church. Things like hosting Art Galleries, etc. I still came away with a lot of ideas and best of all I came away thinking about where I fit in the scheme of things. As I sat in the audience of contemplatives and listened to the academics use their big church words while still showing very sincere hearts I realized that I don't quite fit in their realm. Maybe someday but not yet. On the other hand even though I know that facilitating is a gift of mine I don't see myself being the "people person" at my church as far as standard organizing of ministries is concerned. It occurred to me that I could help Lucas and other people involved in anything that touches on art life at church. Maybe I could share ideas that are a little outside the box that bring the church together. An example that I thought was so great that was given was the idea of blowing up a local map of the greater Seattle area. Many small churches in the area do not feel they have much impact and most people have a disconnect about their place of work being somewhere they experience worship but isn't worship a way of life? So the idea is that everyone puts a pin in their homes and their places of work and the main roads it takes to get there. Then you step back and you suddenly realize what a huge impact your church is having as people go out on a weekly basis to jobs, schools, etc. and live lives of worship that have an impact on the community. Suddenly it's not just the one dot located at I-90 Community Church but an entire urban and suburban area.
      Something else I will be prayerfully considering is what we can accomplish in the new church build that is planned. Right now, BEFORE the walls are changed and the building is added on is the time to consider what the artisans in our congregation can bring to the table to enhance our worship space and bring glory to God through the visual arts. Things that bring life and unity to the body that meets within it's walls. I love the idea of a massive chalk-board wall that has different prompts each week like "this week God has done for me ___________" or "This week God wants me to _________" , or "I see God in ____________" and then see the testimonies and thoughts that come from the people I sit by but don't really know. I want to know and love my church more and more but there is precious little ways to do that outside of a small group which in and of itself only helps me know a few families at a time. I see so much potential but the scariest part is probably that it requires the people at my church to participate! I'm not particularly artsy, though I am musical, but I am an extrovert and I find myself game to try things that others might not be. Is that a good excuse though not to broaden our perspective of the possibilities available on a given Sunday morning? Simple things like serving someone communion could be a way to overcome what we call the "Seattle Chill" factor. I am looking forward to prayerfully putting forward some ideas like this in the future. One of the things that stood out to me that was shared at the conference was that we MUST get congregations to do more of the heavy lifting. Yes Lord! I so agree with this.
         Since we all had some free time Friday morning I decided we would take Benjo down to The Old Cannery before he was too old to enjoy the trains. I've posted on The Old Cannery before, it's one of my favorite places in the Seattle Area. A massive furniture store filled with trains and quirky history and taxidermied animals, what more could you want? A candy counter with homemade fudge you say? Well you're in luck they have that too. I wasn't sure how Daniel liked the idea but I think he liked the trains and he was totally checking out some of the pieces to see how they were made. The wheels were turning, maybe Nat has some new furniture in her future. Of course I fell in  love with some of the most expensive dining chairs they had. Thanks Old Cannery. . . . . .

 This was actually at a store called Lucky Home, Nat was trying to talk me into these bookshelves because she knows that I am dying for them to go on either side of my fireplace.

 the chairs I *wants. They look like darkwash denim.

 Isaac pulling the train whistle string

 Candy Counter!!!

 Happy Nephew

 I love how Natalie is smiling at me while Daniel is looking how it's made.

 talking moose

 piggies for grandma

 cuties

 Kissing the bear. ew.

 I love the retro view of the Puyallup fairgrounds

chasing the train down the tracks

 of course we viewed the falls like always

this is the only picture I took at the conference