Frusterating Days

This picture was taken on a particularly frusterating day for me. I took it because it causes me to slow down and rest my mind in the peacefulness of others. Sisters at play. What does God call me to do, " Be still and know that I am God"- For He who called you is faithful.

Yee-Haw!

Last week the rodeo came to town. Now, I don't know much about a rodeo. I have never been to one in my life and honestly, I was never really into the whole horse/cowboy theme growing up. However, living in AZ I have decided to embrace all which is southwestern and so, we headed to the rodeo.

On Saturday, they had the family rodeo- I didnt' want to pay for the pro rodeo since I knew the kids would not be able to sit that long but for $5 parking we had a blast! The kids ground corn like the Hohokam Indians using a large stone that had been smoothed out down the middle as well as a harder, grinder stone to crush the corn into corn flour. Also, they made cloth dolls and shakers. After that, with sweet live, country music playing in the background and hay stacks for seats, we headed over to the pony rides. It was so cool. Moriah had just mentioned the previous day, after reading about Miniature horses, how she would love to ride one and " dey are cute" and there, God answered her prayer so fast! The rode in a circle for a few minutes and then we went off the farm petting zoo where there was so many animals for the kids to play with: bunnies, roosters, chicks, ducklings, ducks, piglet, a calf, goat, etc. The kids just kept petting and petting the animals, " the petting zoo is open"- haha, inside joke.

Then from there we watched something I had never heard of, mutton racing. There were these kids, with helmets on who rode a mutton- a young sheep I guess and tried to hang on as long as possible. I asked Jay if he wanted to but he was not into the idea until the end of our time and then the muttons were too overheated to ride anymore. Never fear, there was stick horse racing, lasso lessons and pig chasing for Austen. The pig chasing was crazy. I couldn't really see Austen as there was like 30 4 year olds packed into a corral chasing pigs and I just kept watching a see of pigs go one way and a slew of kids go the other.  We finished off our extremely fun afternoon with cotton candy and popcorn! This was such a fun experience and learning experience, for the kids and myself. I hope to be able to attend an event like this next year!

Alaska!

I have always wanted to visit Alaska. It looks so beautiful and breath taking, so dangerous and enchanting all at the same time. We visited Alaska, this past week, as apart of our Konos study. We read a lot about polar bears and their differences and similarities to brown and black bears. We located on a map where they live and how they hunt. THis week, we are planning on going to the pool to swim and pretend to be polar bears and seals. The boys, especially, are excited about this game!

Due to family coming into town and really needing to stay on schedule due our pending trip and considering that we have been on this one character trait ALL YEAR, we are making a couple of the states studies shorter than a week. We made an igloo out of ice cubes which was hillarious considering it was 100 degrees outside! The cubes melted faster than I could say "frozen". Jay also learned that the Inuits used seal intestines to create sunglasses for themselves so we cut out of an old cereal box and made slits to make our own Inuit sunglasses. I also gave Jayden a block of soap and we discussed out the Indians felt the ivory that they had "spoke" to them and they carved it creating faces of different things, etc. Jayden created a bear face on oneside of the soap....my goal is to do a sled race to the pool with Riah being the person and Jay and Austen the dogs....our next stop is Oregon and Washington! Phew, I'm getting tired!

Rocky Mountains!

Well, I haven't updated in awhile due to our large amount of family that came into town. WE were so busy enjoying eachother and hiking that I had no time to sit and blog. We had great visits but I am happy to be back into a routine, as well. The first two pictures are of a rare, rainy day in AZ. My son, loving rain and praying for rain went outside and created music on his own but placing different objects under our patio roof and sky so that when the rain drops hit them it created a very cool sounding rhythm!

 

We finished up the Rocky Mountain states. It was fun to set up the tents in our backyard and pretend to camp, eat hot dogs and smores, and read about beavers, grizzly bears and badgers. Due to our long "sergenti" grass back there, I did feel as if I were in a field at the base of the Rocky Mountains. We talked about how to keep a clean campsite, what types of equipment to bring along, etc. We also talked about Smokey the bear and hibernation. On to Alaska!

Batter Up!

Austen just finished his first season in T-ball. It was a lot of fun to go to his games, cheer him on like crazy and watch him go after the balls and hit it hard. His season was pretty laid back which was nice, no outs, no strikes and no clock- just one continuous running and hitting of four and five year olds.

The birds and the rats

Earlier this morning, driving home from LA Fitness Jayden, my almost 7 year old, asks, " Mama, what is s-e-x?" "..Umm, excuse me?"
" It looks like sex, s-e-x"
" Where did you see that?"
" In a book from the library."
" Can you read it to me?" - At this point I'm a little excited for Ben to come home so we, lead by the he, can have the talk.
" It says, when you buy rats that you need to keep the sexes in different cages, two of one sex in a cage in two of the other sex in a different cage."
"OHHHHH, that means gender, male and female."
" Oh so keep the girls in one cage and the boys in the other?"
" Yep"

End of story. At what age do you begin to discuss sex , the actual sex, with your child? I mean seriously, I have gone through 3 live pregancies and a total of 6 all together since Jayden has come around and he has yet to ask even how the baby got there...... oh little , not so little, precious Jayden . Sex is great, but even greater that your mind registers it as male and female right now......your youthful bliss has lasted yet one more day. How much longer will this last?

Ballet Whispers

Today I had the privilege of watching my daughter, Moriah, perform for 15 minutes her ballet and tap routines in her dance class. My heart was coming out my chest with pride and love for that girl. How are you big enough to follow directions and learn steps? How do you exude confidence? What a minute, how is your hair so long and your legs so long?

Why does it seem that her life, in particular, is flying faster than I can keep up? I don't know what to do with all my emotions that come from her, I love her more than I can express on this simplified version of "poetic nonsense" that I call my blog. She is growing up. Every night I pray, " God give her a gracious heart, a loving and kind heart  a gentle spirit. She is a fighter, independent, a leader, she is kind and loving and gracious. She is everything i could have asked for in a daughter and so much more.

I had a preview of what life with her and her stages through life would be like today. Seeing my beautiful 2.5 year old dressed in a beautiful, puffy dress with her hair pulled to the side, wisps hanging out and a beautiful bow clipped into her hair- how does life go so fast, and she is only two! I know I will blink and be helping her pick out a dress for a formal, talking to her about life, picking up her broken heart when life crashes it down. Sometimes I don't feel ready for this, this part of parenting. I can handle the sleepless nights and the nursing- I'm good at that.....I just pray God gives me grace on the next stage, I don't feel " good" at that. Please don't grow up too fast, my sweet Moriah- Momma is not ready yet, your life is blowing past me in soft whispers...I'm afraid if I"m not listening close enough, I will miss it. I love you!