Sunday, January 23, 2011

What we’ve been up to

It’s been kind of an interesting week or so. After Baby Ada was born, I had a scrapbooking day with some friends (which was actually a scrapbooking day -  no surprises – but at which I was very uninspired) and then on that Saturday Elise went to a birthday party in the afternoon and Ed & I had a little date night out to the Flatiron Building for the Woods Coffee shop opening and big-wig open house. It was PACKED, but the music was good, the company was good, and the food and drinks were FREE (and also great)!! Then we completed our oh-so-original date night with a trip to Lowe’s. On the way home we got to talking about how we really needed a get away, and we should look at going to Hawaii sooner than 2014, which was our current plan. It didn’t help that it had been pouring down rain for about 72 hours and it was cold and flooding and even I, who loves the rain, was ready for some sunshine. My California-boy-husband was definitely sick of the gray & wet drudgery that has been our weather. That night we got excited as we started looking at flights and they turned out to be very reasonable! We thought maybe we could really do it this spring!

Well, after more investigating into lodging and what there is to do on Oahu, which is the island to which the flights were cheap, and after looking at what will need to be spent for the big family vacation we have planned for this summer, we decided our money was better spent on that or should just stay put in the bank. I was bummed, but we agreed to look for a short weekend get-away closer to home so that we could reconnect. We don’t like the way life is flying past us and we feel like we’re missing out on each other’s lives by focusing so much on the kids, school, and church! So, we’ve got a getaway all planned for a few weeks from now and are VERY MUCH looking forward to 24 hours away to do nothing together.

Then this past Monday the kids were off from school because of MLK Jr. day, so we goofed around at home together and slept in and all that. I had a GEMS Counselor meeting, which was kind of a bummer since I found out that at least 2 of my counselors are not returning. Definitely am making that recruitment problem a matter of prayer already. That’s the most difficult part of my “job” as Club Coordinator – recruiting counselors. But never has God failed to provide, and even in the years that are more “difficult”, the women He brings bless the girls and I am thankful.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty average and on Thursday I got to serve hot lunch in Bethany’s classroom. I love fifth graders. As they walked in from recess, I overheard a girl say to Bethany, “Is that your Mom, Bethany? She’s pretty!” So sweet! Sarah had exams all week since Thursday was the end of the semester – her first exams! She seems to have done well, scoring a 100% on her science exam. Hopefully we’ll get more grades this week. On Friday the girls were off again for a teacher work day (to grade exams and write report cards) and so after I got an oil change in the van in the morning, we headed to Bellingham for a few errands – both necessary ones and fun ones. We spent the evening just tooling around the house and getting a few things done so that on Saturday we could PLAY!

Saturday we slept in, did a few odd jobs here and there, and then headed off to Lynden to pick up our friends, the Hiemstra’s, and cross the border into Canada for an afternoon of fun at one of their awesome community center pools! (Oh, wait, they spell it centre up there in Canuck-land). Less than $10 Canadian gets my family into an awesome pool for the entire day! There’s a great waterslide, fountains, two hot tubs, diving boards, a kiddie slide & kiddie pool, and all sorts of fun floating apparatus’. Once we headed out of the pool in the late afternoon we couldn’t decide where to go for dinner. We decided to let the Hiemstra’s decide, and since I know they think a lot like me, I was confident they would choose wisely. Which they did. We didn’t stop until we had just crossed the border into the states, where a local dairy which serves their homemade amazing ice cream for really cheap. What a wonderful appetizer!! A pizza dinner followed at the Hiemstra’s house, along with a few games, before we headed home for a good night’s sleep before Sunday. It’s amazing how a few hours of swimming can wear a person out!

Today’s been your standard Sunday, with a bit of extra pleasure tucked in. The girls got to play outside with the neighbors (because it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t cold!) and when they had a snack together they prayed together before they ate it and it was just an incredibly sweet story to hear. Tomorrow begins a FULL week of school and activities and hustle and bustle. Perhaps I’ll take a few pictures. I did take a few pictures this past Monday, of a project I started, but it’s not quite done yet, so I don’t have the “after” pictures. Maybe sometime this week…

How have you been?

No comments: