Quick 5

Good morning, Starshine!  The Earth says hello!

1.  Last week Alaina made a sign that says "Alaina's Prayer Spot" in Sunday School.  It's the size of a piece of construction paper, and has a loop of yarn strung through it so she can hang it up.  She likes to hang it on the doorknob of the bathroom when she goes in to take care of business.  My little multi-tasker.

2.  I'm in a bit of a conundrum about what to do about Alaina and her thumb.  She's been a thumb-sucker since she was three months old, and I've always loved that it has spared us the midnight paci hunts that I find myself on with Joya.  However, she IS four years old now.  We've told her she can have her thumb at rest time and night time, but she still pops the thing in her mouth at all times of the day, especially in the car.  So yesterday I put a band-aid on her thumb to remind her that she isn't suppose to be sucking it during the day and she flipped out.  Am I choosing the wrong battle?  I know she won't be sucking her thumb in college or anything, but do I even need to crack down on it, or let it run it's course? 

3.  The A/C works like a dream.  Although the greatest thing lately is that while it's still mid-90s during the day, it's starting to drop down to the lower 60s at night.  With our windows open and fans sucking in the air during the night, if I shut everything up by 8:00, the A/C doesn't even need to kick on until about 4:00 in the afternoon.  I can live this way for awhile, I think.

4.  This weekend is going to be lovely.  My sister Jamie has arranged a Mommy-free overnighter for my birthday, and a couple of my all-time favorite people are going to join us.  My dear friend Becky from college is actually flying in, and our college friend Kristy (who lives probably 13 miles from me, but I only see every 18 months or so) is going to come too.  Jamie set everything up, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Yes, my birthday was last month, but it takes time to get everyone's schedules together.  It was worth the wait.  I expect the days to be filled with eating without wiping up faces, watching uninterrupted chick-flicks (Return to Me?  You've Got Mail?  So many choices!) and a blissful night of sleep where I don't have to set my alarm for 6:10 on Saturday morning.  A big thanks to my accommodating husband for agreeing to watch the girls for 24 hours or so.  :)

5.  I'm at a standstill with the house.  (Okay, in all honesty I'm at a million different standstills when it comes to my house, but let's focus on one.)  I need curtains for the front window.  It had broken, dark blinds on it when we moved in, which we of course threw away.  It's a nice, big window.  But it's open all the time.  People have to walk directly past it to get to the front door, which gives them the nice opportunity to gawk in at us before we even have a chance to decide whether or not we want to answer the door.  And it faces east, so in the morning we get a good hours shot of morning sun.  That might be nice in the winter, but not when I'm trying to keep the house cool as long as I can.  The problem is, I'm a little paralyzed when it comes to getting curtains.  I feel like it's a big deal; it's a big investment and a large main part of the decor, and I stink at decor.  Looking a pictures online doesn't help me.  But I'm ready for a little privacy.  See what I mean?  Standstill.

Have a great weekend, folks, and a lovely week.  My little sis turns the big 2-8 on Monday, so if you think about it, send a big ol' Many Happy Returns toward Canada on that day.  Happy Birthday, Carolyn!

Quick 5

1.  Today is the day our a/c will be fixed.  But the Lord has taken care of us this week by sending clouds and rain almost every afternoon.  It has made the afternoons downright pleasant.  I know weather is pretty impersonal and all that, but I always take it as an "I love you" from Jesus.  I hope the rest of the summer is like this (although the forecast says differently.)

2.  We had our air ducts cleaned on Tuesday by a delightful man named Pat.  And I cannot believe the difference it's made already.  And we haven't even turned on the a/c yet.  Our house has not smelled like our house yet, and that's always been kind of a bummer.  There has been a faint but unmistakable smell of old cigarette smoke in this house since we moved in, and it's made it hard for me to settle in.  But he cleaned and sanitized the ducts, and we may be able to see the end of this smoke smell.  If you live in the Denver area and need an air duct man, let me know.

3.  Our poor little Joya has another ear infection.  It's her third one this year, which means we've won a trip to see an ENT in a few weeks for her to be evaluated for tubes.  I don't even want to think about what all that entails right now, but it would be nice to not have to worry about her spiking fevers every other month. 

4.  We (and by we, I mean Lee and me.  The girls don't care) have been enjoying the Olympics around here.  I think swimming might be my favorite event, although we both really get into beach volleyball.  I used to like gymnastics, but some of the joy is gone now that I cannot figure out their scoring system.  The little green, yellow and red symbols help some, but it's just too hard to know what is good and what is not.  I've seen more water polo than I've ever wanted to, but other than that it's been fun. 

5.  My tiny little baby bro leaves for college next week.  He's a good kid; we'll miss him a lot.  I'm excited for him, though.  I had such a good college experience, and I hope he does too.  I don't really envy the four years (or so) of school work he has ahead of him, but I do find myself longing for dorm life.  Not all of dorm life (like sharing bathrooms and all that) but having a cafeteria to see to all your meal needs.  I did NOT appreciate it like I should have when I was in school.  To not only have your meals provided, but to have at least a few options at every meal was practically heaven, and I didn't even know it.  I hope that college students don't take that for granted.  One of my few regrets in life.

Happy August, everyone.

Quick 5

The countdown is on.  Maybe I'll make one of those fancy countdown chain things you see all over Pinterest.  It doesn't matter...all that matters is one week from today our a/c will be completely fixed and fully functioning.  It's worth celebrating.

1.  I love watching the progression of a child's artwork.  It's fun to watch things take recognizable shape over time.  Here is a particularly good one that Alaina did the other day:

"Miss Christina"

Notice the slightly smudged eye in this one...I barely caught Joya the Destroya before she wreaked her havoc.

2.  Thanks to Alaina, Joya has begun to ask "Why?" whenever I tell her to do or not to do something.  The thing is, I'm not sure that Joya understands what the question means, yet I find myself explaining like I do to Alaina.  I thought I had at least six months before she started in on the whys.

3.  The biggest thing that has taken our time and energy these past couple of weeks has been Alaina's swimming lessons.  She's done great, although we'll find out today if she passed the class or not.  I'm not worried about that, though.  There are only four (five?) levels, so if she needs to spend another year on Level I, it's no big deal.  The point is she has had a blast, and has learned a thing or two.

Doing "bobs" (aka putting her face in the water)

High fiving her teacher (I don't know her name)

 4.  What do Joya and I do during the lesson?  The same thing every day.  First I give her the crayons and coloring book, and she tries to get Hayley and Macy to color with her until it's time for them to go to class.  Then she begs for snacks, so I give her a little baggie of whatever I brought.  Then she sits and has a bite, then wanders around with the baggie.  Then she smashes a few crackers or whatever on the cement.  Then she digs in the bag of toys and drags out whatever I brought.  She does not play with any of them; just drags it out.  Then she has another bite of snack.  Then she smashes a few more.  Then she either says hello or fusses at the little girl who sits near us with her mommy.  More munching, more smashing, then the 30 minute lesson is over.

5.  Not only is the a/c being fixed next week, but we're also have the ducts cleaned.  I'm very much looking forward to using the a/c without having to breathe in the remnant second hand smoke that the previous owners left behind.  It'll be a good week.  (But we're still praying that the Lord sends clouds and rain every afternoon to keep things cool.)

Peace out.

Quick 5

I know that my not-so-patient public has been waiting semi-patiently for the return of the Quick 5.  Well, here it is.  Let's see if I can catch you up on our July.

1.  We had a great day camping with the Gilletts on the Fourth, even though most of the Gilletts weren't there (due to a medical emergency.)  We did our best impressions of squatters and took over their campsite for the day anyway.  The girls had a blast, and Joya even got a really good nap in the tent.  (I mostly credit all the other kids for that...they were fantastic is staying away from the tent and quiet when they were near the tent.)  Joya and Alaina both got as dirty as they could, and I could see that Joya was truly in her element.

 2.  The A/C saga continues.  The guy came out.  What he did didn't work, so the owner came out and determined we need a new motor.  Which is slightly pricey, but not as pricey as an entire new unit would be.  We knew it would be awhile before we could pull that together, so we resigned ourselves to a summer without artificial coolness.  Then things opened up and now we're having a new motor put in on August 3rd.  These next two weeks promise to be hot, but it's nice to know we don't have to try and survive August and early September.  Thank You Lord.

3.  Our biggest adventure was our quick trip to Alaska for Joe's wedding.  It was such a great experience being in such a different part of our country.  We had three goals going up there: eat some fish, see a bald eagle and see a moose.  We were able to eat some fresh halibut, and we saw a couple of bald eagles at the wedding reception.  Alas, we did not see a moose, even though we were told many stories of how prevalent they are up there.  We were also unable to see the enormous Mt. McKinley because of low hanging clouds, and we were pretty bummed about that.  I knew that Mt. McKinley would probably put Pike's Peak to shame, and I really wanted to see it.  But, thus is the hazard of only spending three days in such a place.  I've decided that Alaska is Colorado on steroids.  Their mountains are HUGE.  Not taller than Colorado's, but the fact that they start at sea level and rise to 6000+ feet is pretty impressive.  (Most of Colorado's start at 5800 feet or so and rise up to 10,000...only 5,000 feet, if you think about it.)  Anyway, the weather was so beautiful to us: cool and rainy with the highest temp around 60 degrees.  I tried to savor every goose-bump and shiver I got up there.

I'll post more pics on Facebook, but here are a few:

Everything was lush and green; a stark contrast to the crusty brown of Colorado this time of year

Our cabin in Talkeetna, Alaska

The happy couple

Lee's long-lost Missouri friends, Joel and Natalie

and Clint

That white void behind our heads is Mt. McKinley.  At least that's what they tell us.  I never saw it.

This pic was taken at 10:30 at night, when we got to the airport.  It didn't really get dark until about 1:30 in the morning.

  4.  The girls did great with Grammy and Grandad.  And Apple Ben.   Our trip usurped our family tradition of attending Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a, but I sent the stuff and Grammy dressed them up and took them.  Alaina was happy to be home with us for about three hours; then she declared that she didn't want to be at her home and wanted to go back to Grammy's.  That's pretty typical.

5.  This brings us to this week, which is the first week of swimming lessons for Alaina.  She gets to be in a class with her bestie Avery.  She LOVES it, as I knew she would.  She's learning to put her face in the water, to float, and to swim like an alligator.  She has one more week of lessons, and I'll try to take some pics.

Stay cool, my friends.

Quick 5

Notice the 93.2 degrees.  That is the temperature inside, not outside, our house on Monday.

I suppose summer is here to stay, so we might as well suck it up and get used to it.  Here are the things I do to keep my family cool:

1.  I give myself a huge pep talk: my sister's house doesn't even have air conditioning, so why I am so cranky that mine is broken?  Her family survives just fine.  And this is Colorado, not the midwest.  It WILL get below 70 degrees each night and the air is dry, so I can rest assured that once the sun goes down it WILL get cooler.  I need to learn to harness the power of the night coolness.

*Side note: there is someone coming to fix the A/C on Monday.  We're now trying to decide how much to use it, though, since we are functioning okay without it.  Do we turn it on only on days the temp goes over 95?  Do we turn it on only at 4:00pm when I'm getting ready to cook dinner in our hot, West-facing kitchen?  Do we set it to come on only if the temp inside reaches 85 degrees?  This luxury is a huge responsibility.

2.  Each night I give the girls a cool bath.  They love playing in the water, and I stick my feet in and let them wash my legs.  For some reason that is great fun for them. 

3.  I think about our trip to Alaska that we're taking in a few weeks.  Lee's best buddy, and the best man from our wedding, Joe is getting married.  He moved up there a few years ago and his bride was born and raised there.  And we get to go to the wedding.  Just me and Lee, sans kids.  I've been doing a little research and the average temperature in Alaska in the middle of July is 65 degrees.  It will be a wonderful respite from this heat.

4.  Each night before I go to bed, I wash my feet in cold water.  I remember my mom telling us to do this during the summers when I was younger and our house didn't have A/C.  It was probably to wash all the summer dirt off our feet so we didn't get our sheets so dirty, but I love the way it cools me down before I go to sleep.

5.  I'm thumbing my nose at all the anti-sugar articles that abound today and giving my girls popsicles for snack every day.  And Joya seems to think this is a nice way to cool down:

Can you also see the peanut butter Hitler moustache?

I do keep the grapes in the fridge, so they are nice and cool.  I suppose in theory putting them directly on your body might be a way to cool down.  (This was completely unprompted, by the way.  I just looked over at her and there she was, grape on the forehead.)

It's going to be a long summer, folks.  Lord, send rain.

Quick 5

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America 

  

1.  All of our plumbing issues have been resolved.  Thanks to the awesome help from a friend at church, we were able to bypass the problem on our own, for just about $30 in materials.  That's about $5130 less than what the other guys said it would take to fix it.  We even got the blessing from a real live plumber, so we're pretty confident in how it all works.  AND Lee figured out our dishwasher problems, so we have full use of that too.  Hopefully it will be a long while before I take a fully functioning kitchen for granted again.

2.  There *might* be something wrong with our A/C.  Which always feels a little selfish to say, since there are millions of people without the luxury of A/C, but it's true.  We've been breaking down and turning it on during these many days of 90+ degree weather, but even with it running the temp inside our house climbs to at least 86 degrees.  We've made use of fans and that helps, but just the knowledge that the A/C isn't working properly causes me to struggle to find things to be thankful for in the midst of sweaty days.

3.  At least hot days are good for Popsicles.

 

4.  Every day, as soon as I clean Alaina up from lunch, I tell her to go use the bathroom.  So she troops on in there, and Joya falls in line right behind her.  Amazingly enough, Alaina invites Joya in while she takes care of things.  At all other times of the day, Alaina closes the door for "privacy" and Joya howls outside of it until Alaina comes out.  But after lunch, Joya is allowed in.  Alaina closes the door and then the girls spend a good five minutes shrieking and laughing.  It's one of my favorite sister moments.

5.  It's VBS week for us.  Our church makes it family style, which means it's held from 6:00 to 8:30 at night, and families participate together, including the parents.  Lee and I switched off taking Alaina, since Joya didn't need to stay out until 9:00 every night when she's usually in bed by 6:45.  But it's been fun.  Our church does an amazing job with everything, and it's so fun to witness.  I look forward to the day when our whole family truly can participate together, when there aren't very tiny children that need to go to bed.  It's been a late night for Alaina every night too, but she can handle it a bit better than Joya could.  Just a bit, though.  By the end of the week, the signs of little sleep were obvious.  It was worth it.

Quick 5...Or Catching Up

1. We moved.

2.  Settling in is going okay.  Aside from the kitchen pipe line being broken and us having to do dishes in the bathroom like hillbillies.  We got a heart-stopping, terrible quote from RotoRooter, and I call them out by name to say that we had another plumber from church come in and take a look and verify that RotoRooter will, in fact, WAY overcharge every time.  This plumber agreed that we could easily bypass the problem and for no good reason needed to pay RotoRooter what they quoted us.  This issue should be resolved soon.

3.  I'm sure every homeowner can attest to this, but we now have so many projects we want to do that it is hard to know where to begin.  We don't have the money or time to do everything at once, so it's a little overwhelming to know which one to pick first.  I suppose it doesn't matter; we should just pick the one that we do have the time and money for today. 

4.  Alaina turned 4 in a very low-key fashion.  It was never my dream to move on her birthday, but that is the way it worked out.  Thankfully she's only 4, and we could get away with it this time.  We celebrated with a family party the Sunday before we moved, and on her actual birthday Grammy whisked her and her sister away from the moving chaos for the day.  Grammy is her "best lady" so she loved it.  Our lovely friend Christina made her a birthday cake so that I wouldn't have to think about it during the move.  She did an amazing job, and I will probably be hitting her up for Joya's birthday in October.

Family party at Grammy and Grandad's

Lovely birthday cake by the fabulous Christina

 5.  I suppose other things have been going on too.  But they're not as big as the move and the birthday, so I'll have to let them slide into distant memories.  In their place, here are random pictures from recent weeks:

Naomi and Joya in Naomi's new sleeping mat

Our little Stephanie

This might be one of my all-time favorite pictures.  Joya is going to love this when she gets older.

Blowing bubbles in our new backyard

Sisters

 That's all folks.  Happy to be getting back to normal life things.