Grandma's gonna love this...

I was just taking this video for fun, she didn't know I was taking it because I had the camera sitting on the table.

She was reading for her school work, and yes, this IS how she reads...there is a commentary after every. single. sentence.

The new pad

The door closest to the right of the picture is theirs.

Here are the first pictures from Ashley's place. It needs a lot of work, but her and Colin knew that going in and are being compensated for their work with low rent payments for the first six months.

 I'm taking the picture from the front door...welcome to the living room and kitchen. Yes, the brown box on the right side of the picture is the refrigerator. They will not be shopping at Costco just yet :)

Kevin has been nice enough to help a lot too!

 Just down the hall, you'll find the bathroom on your left. She's holding a candle because the breaker was flipped and it's located in the neighbors apartment (situation remedied before I left). She bought the shower curtain and towels today. Doesn't she look positively giddy?

                        
Then straight back is the bedroom.

A little closer view of the kitchen corner. It will be fun to watch their progress...unfortunately I think I passed that "lets get a project to live in and fix it up, it'll be FUN" gene to her. Oops :)

Ashley's first night away...

Does it make it official when she spends the first night in her apartment? Does that make her a grown-up? As I told someone on facebook it seems like yesterday I was putting her on the school bus for the first time.

What happens, as parents? We go through the tumultuous teen years, counting down years, months, weeks, until they are grown and on their own, and then we get there and those years just fall away and it seems like we go from about 6 yrs old to 18. Or maybe that's just me.

At any rate, I'm happy for her. A little worried (it's a big world after all). A little relieved (we made it this far!). A little reminiscent of myself at that age, how I thought I could handle whatever life threw at me not realizing life has a wicked fast curve ball.

If you are a praying person, please join me in praying for her safety, ask God to give her the tools she needs to cope with life on her own and the wisdom to use them, and that she would be blessed beyond measure in her new adventure.

This actually happened back on the 11th but I keep forgetting to upload it. Rebekah solo peeled her first orange. Now, I realize there is no prize for peeling an orange at age 6, but since patience isn't a strong suit for Rebekah, we celebrate ALL accomplishments that require her attention for longer than 30 seconds :)

Do not view while eating dinner!

I know...gross but fascinating at the same time. Had to go look at the beached whale. It was absolutely pouring so I didn't get out to capture a closer look but that's okay, I think we all get the idea. Look at how big it is next to our seagulls, and our seagulls are larger than average!

 Little miss pink has her own BB gun now. The neighborhood will never be the same. I kid, I kid :)

Actually, her safety awareness is very high. She was indignant when she saw two kids at a birthday party pointing toy guns at each other. She said to me later, "Mom, I don't care if they were toys, you're supposed to treat EVERY gun like it's loaded and never point it at ANYONE".

 Grant got her a red dot scope, which she really likes. Unfortunately, as with everything in Rebekah's life, she gets frustrated with her limitations. The second day after a few rounds she started getting shaky from her muscles being worn out and Grant told her she'd need to take a break. She started sobbing "but I JUST starteeeeeeeeed". It will be interesting to watch this progress.

 I know...it's an all time low when one blogs about their toilet :) But LOOK at this thing, this is what it looks like when it's clean. We've lived here two years, and it looked like this when we bought the house, I've scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and it never goes away.

Let me introduce you to my little friend....the pumice stone on a handle!!!!!

 

Where oh where was this knowledge two years ago. In about 3 minutes my toilet looked liked this with NO harsh chemicals! I'm a happy camper! :)

Just documenting...

Tonight Rebekah asked Jesus into her heart. I love that kid.

By the way, Soul Surfer was awesome!

Easter Baskets

Easter morning started out with the usual, Easter Baskets!

As you can see, Ashley's was a bit unconventional as it was all packed in a laundry basket and included a plethora of stuff she'll need for her new place in May.

After baskets we sat around and had coffee/tea  and then got ready for church, which was awesome as usual. Rebekah was happy to finally wear her Easter dress (she also wore her Pegasus unicorn necklace from Grandma and Grandpa).

Colin's Baptism

Ashley's friend, Colin, was baptized at our church this morning, what a wonderful Easter celebration!

Getting in!

Pastor Jim asking if he has accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior.

Going under!

Born again!

Congratulations Colin!

All dried off and receiving his baptism certificate.

Something cool and awesome happened!

People are probably sick of my saying how amazing God is, but I don't care because seriously, HE IS!

So I've been working on getting prepared for our trip to Minnesota. We decided this time we will take 2 nights to get there instead of the usual one, so that it's a little easier on Rebekah. Hoping we can pull into a hotel at a decent time of night that she still might stretch her legs in the pool before bed and enjoy breakfast before heading out.

We decided on Missoula for the 1st night, so I found a great hotel at a great price and booked it. It's one of those deals where once you book it, your stuck with it (that's why you get the good price), so I couldn't change it but that was fine because we decided that was definitely the night we were going to be there.

Moved on to book the second night, which I wanted to be in Bismark so that the next morning we could stop at the buffalo place in Jamestown. Well, everything in Bismark and Jamestown was full. In the middle of the week. Really? So I did some digging around to see what was going on, I never did find anything BUT in digging, I found out Riverdance was going to be in Bismark a few days before that. Which led me to looking at the Riverdance schedule.



We went to Riverdance in Duluth, MN when Ashley was about 8 yrs old. It was AH-MAZ-ING! We've looked into going again but it never came close to us or worked out, and I hadn't checked in to it recently.

The night I booked in Missoula, the 17th (remember, I can't change it). Riverdance would be coming to Missoula....on the 18th. ONE DAY ONLY! My wonderful husband said book another night and get the tickets, do it now!!!!

So I did. I am giddy with excitement. 10 years I've waited to see this show again and the best part is going to be sharing it with Rebekah who LOVES watching Irish step dancing already!!!!

And the hotel I wanted to book in Bismark? Turns out waiting one day opens that room right up. God is good :) I no longer believe in coincidences. One other oddity about this whole experience is that Grant told me afterward how weird it was for him because just a few days ago he had a really strong recollection of our previous trip to see Riverdance and how awesome it was and then boom, here is our chance to do it again.

By the way, Rebekah is beside herself with excitement :)

Eggs!

Our friend Robin came over today, and we dyed a whole bunch of awesome eggs. Good times!

Santa

Why does this kid have to be so smart?

Tonight, Rebekah is thinking about the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes that we've been collecting stuff for all year. She has a concerned look on her face and says to me...

"So Mom? I thought Santa went all over the world delivering presents to all kids, except the ones who are naughty".

I said, "yeeesss" (how long can you draw out that word to buy you some thinking time, not very long).

"So, these poor kids aren't naughty, are they?"

"nooooooooo"

Heartbroken at the injustice her face is questioning me. "So, why doesn't Santa go to them?"

Damn. What do you say to that? The gig is pretty much up right there. So I took a deep breath and sat down to explain things. Her first reaction was teary eyes and throwing her arms around me to thank me for the pink candy cane and sticker book last year. Her second reaction was to mourn her lost innocence and to ask "why did you lie to me?".

So I explained that it wasn't really lying, that it's like her princesses, even though they aren't real we still enjoy the stories about them and we like thinking about what it would be like if they were real. But, yeah I guess it is kind of lying.

We also had to talk about not telling other kids because that's a parents job and we want their Mommy or Daddy to make that decision.

Of course the next question..."sooooo the Easter Bunny?". I didn't answer that one directly. Yet :)

Yes, she is outgrowing the tractor, but it's hanging in there for now. She was so please she figured out how to hook the wagon to the tractor so she could have a trailer :)

Happiness = Clothes on the line, and a washing machine big enough to handle a king size quilt. First time in forever all of the blankets and quilts on our bed are all fresh at the same time!

And yes, we do write on our fence with sidewalk chalk, as we lack a sidewalk :)

Plant questions

Is this called horsetail? It looks kind of cool, growing in the ditch down the block.

Why is my rosemary plant so ticked off?

Mom, this came from your house, what is it please?
Remember you can click on pictures to make them larger!

Mommy, look what I made all by myself. Can you take a picture?

Sure kid. :)

 Look who's busy bringing stuff to the birdhouse...

She looks impressed with his progress :)

 Next year as a homeschool project, I'd like to place a closed circuit camera inside of the birdhouse so we can study them!

From left to right Phlox, peas, liatris, more peas...gettin' springy!

Poor Rebekah

Tonight's writing assignment:

Trust: Ability to believe someone is saying the truth or doing the right thing. 

10 times.

Why?

"Rebekah, did you cut your hair?" as I hold a perfect curl that was laying on the bathroom counter.

Straight face "Oh no, I just combed my hair and that was a tangle that came out."

Practicing for the teen years, I'm assuming.

North Olympic Baptist Men's Retreat

 These are the pictures Grant took when they went on their Men's retreat. Looks so peaceful, can't wait for the women's retreat :)

Beautiful days

Beautiful days have been few and far between in Ocean Shores over the past...year? So yesterday when we got nice weather we spent ALL DAY outside, my nose has the sunburn to prove it.

I got some house plants transplanted...

I guess it was time, oops!

Then Rebekah and I dined al fresco :)

I sure hope that we get some more nice days this summer, we thoroughly enjoy them when they show up!