if it still buttons, you should wear it

Pregnancy styling tip alert! (pretending like am qualified to give styling tips) If you have a purple striped Ralph Lauren button up and it is your favorite... you should keep wearing it. Even if you are two weeks away from your third trimester of your fourth pregnancy. Do it. And do it with white linen shorts and silver glitter Toms. Happy buttoning!

spring is happy time

Hope your Sunday was cool and breezy and springy fresh. On the agenda this week: EASTER EGGS, orange sorbet, painting, journaling, hugging, laughing, reading, and fish tacos. That's all!

not your average thursday

Math at Wake Up Coffee.

Thirty minute walk on the beach. Swimming. And special thanks to Dean for poking all the dead jellyfish with his boogie board.

Library.

We usually don't spend much of our school days away from the house. However, earlier this week I may or may not have had a meltdown of pregnant proportions because of a few long cloudy days that had us all stuck inside. I decided a field trip day would be a perfect cure for my overly-dramatic case of cabin fever. And it was. Get out and enjoy the weather!

sunday morning in black and white

Sundays are fun days. Today was especially scrumptious because we broke out the spring clothes! I know it's still a few days before "real spring," but it's so hot and it needed to be done. Have you been wearing spring clothes? Well you should be. Bright colors make the heart happy!

art on the walls

Dean moved in with the girls. That calls for new paintings! I will show you the finished room very soon. Promise.

Since I never buy canvases at the store, I find junk from around our house, and/or garage, and/or neighbor's trash, and/or charlie's wood burning pile from the backyard. These paintings are done on scrap plywood. I think they are lovely.

belly

Yogurt, almonds, gluten-free raisin bread, bananas, Luna protein bars, milk shakes, lemonade. These are the things that I love these days. Serious love. I'm trying to make the most of this large amount of energy in my body. Almost positive I haven't had this much energy since 2004. It's so much fun to see all the things I can accomplish in one day. I know the tired days are coming soon, so I'll try and get all my projects finished before then. Loving baby Quattro so, so much!

first day back in the lake

The kids have been begging me for a few weeks to go swimming in the lake in our back yard. I finally gave them the go ahead today. It was a little cold, but still provided a few hours of giggling and splashing and happy.

P.S. No lizard is safe with Dean around these days. He's moved on from catching lizard families to catching one lizard and stabbing it to death with a light saber. Just the teeniest bit disturbing... and even a teenier bit hilarious. It's almost spring!

church

I don't blog about church very much. I'm not sure why. I guess I don't want this to become a "devotional blog" or a place where I feel like I am offering any of my inadequate opinions about scripture and Christian life. However, my heart is full today so I will share two thoughts. First thought... Being a Christian is my favorite thing about myself. Often times, it's the only thing I like about myself. Every time I open the Bible to feed my famished soul, I am amazed... refreshed. Reading Psalm 64 at church tonight, I sat in my chair and read every sentence two times because it was so very rich. Like a delicious meal.

 Second thought... I like our church. Charlie and I often say that a little over a year ago we left "church work" for... church work. A different kind of church work. The kind of church that meets in an old house downtown. It's chairs are filled with people longing for deep teaching. At anytime you can hear a violin or a guitar or a piano or a clarinet humming old hymns. The kind of work that doesn't come in the form of a generous paycheck or office hours. It's work that requires being salt and light in a flavorless and dark community. It requires Charlie to work at a golf course, sell snow cones, stock shelves, cut grass, etc. to make ends meet. This work is fulfilling and healing... and somehow restful.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

HOW GREAT THOU ART

HOW GREAT THOU ART.

bits and pieces of our week

The kids have been painting and I have been washing and folding and not loving laundry. My goal was to get rid of HALF of all the laundry in this house by the end of this week. That's right, I said HALF. My question to my family was this, "If we have piles of laundry bigger than Mount Everest, shouldn't our closets be empty?" I mean really, people. Large amounts of ridiculous. So as each load of clean laundry came out of the dryer, I sifted through the stained, torn, over worn items and sent them on their way to a better place. I was happy. Hope you had a productive week.

whoa we're half way there

Hello Baby Quattro! I've resorted to wearing dresses and/or leggings every day. Maternity clothes are still a little big, but regular clothes are starting to bring me physical pain... glorious stage of pregnancy. Other than picking out clothes, I am feeling wonderful. Rearranging furniture, painting artwork for Quattro, and eating spoonfulls of almond butter. Four months to go!