Pinkberry

The kids have been asking me to take them to this very, very cute little frozen yogurt place that we pass every time we head to school and back home.  It is called Pinkberry.  

You can see the allure, can't you? 

There are several choices from original to chocolate to mango to lychee.  You can get one flavor, or mix them up.

I was completely surprised by Eliana's choice:  chocolate.

Just kidding.  (That I was surprised, not that that was her choice.)

Let me tell you, this girl can rock the chocolate goatee. 

Christian also chose the chocolate.  You can get toppings, and you pay one price for as many toppings as will fit in your cup.  So...it only makes sense to get as many as will fit in your cup, right?  Right.  He chose chocolate pieces, brownie bits, and Oreo cookie crumbles.  I told him that he better behave later.  That is a lot of chocolate.

Michaela had the mango.  She added brownie bits and one other thing that I cannot remember for anything.  She ate every bite.

This was a special treat, and they had fun.  Who wouldn't have fun in a place called Pinkberry, though?!

Pinkberry, Christian!  Not Pickberry!  Management may or may not have asked us not to come back...

Culinary Masterpiece or Act of Desperation?

You be the judge.

(But don't judge me.  I needed some chocolate.  The donut had none.  I think of it as being resourceful.)

Slice of Life

Just for kicks I'm entering this picture in the I Heart Faces challenge this week.  They are asking for photojournalistic style pictures...a slice of life.  This is a picture I took while we were in Florida for Christmas, and I loved it.  It is Christian and his cousin at the edge of the lake where their grandma Diana lives.  It's very beautiful, especially when the sun is setting. 

We are always looking forward to the next time we get to see family, since they are all far away (Virginia and Florida).  Looking at this picture makes me want a visit!  Summer is just around the corner, and we'll get to see everyone then (my parents, and then Mike's family a little later).  That makes me smile.

Speaking of smiling, if you want to smile yourself, head over to I Heart Faces and check out the entries.  There are already a gazillion (okay, over 600, but that's sooo many!), and they represent all kinds of little slices of life, from weddings to kids playing outside to laundry piles.  Capturing life as it is is a wonderful thing.

Some Stuff From This Year Part V - Michaela Edition

Michaela.  She is my steady girl.  She is emotional, but not like her siblings.  She is along for the ride, but loves to make the plans.  She loves to read, be outside, and do artsy things.  She has spent a lot of time painting the last couple of years.  Most of the time she makes up pictures on paper, a scene or an image that she loves. Recently, though, Mike bought her this heart for her to paint and put on her door.  Hopefully little things like that will help her feel more like this is home.  She took great care to create a color that would match the quilt I am making her (Yes, I am making it!  Don't doubt it!  She'll have it before she's married, for sure.)

Mike also painted her room white (it was baby blue) and we added some pretty daisies around the top of the wall.  I did my best to paint a sort of vine in between the daisies, but after a few (I really should have stopped at zero) it was clear that free-handing vines across a wall is much harder than on a sheet of paper (that I'm really good at).  (I'm hoping Mike doesn't have to paint the wall again.)  Michaela had fun helping put the daisies on.  And she was very sweet and told me my vines were great.  I don't know if I should be concerned because she doesn't tell the truth, or be grateful for her eyes that can see beauty even in ugly things.  (insert a big smile here...I think she is precious)

Michaela is my quiet sidekick.  She's almost always with me, whether I'm running to the store, going to pick up the other kids from school, or getting dinner ready.  

She spends a lot of time shadowing Eliana, or entertaining her.  She is an amazing big sister, so patient and sweet (most of the time...we all have our moments, no?).  When we went to the fire station she helped Eliana, who was very hesitant, through the fire engine.  She cheerfully encouraged her to climb the steps and check out the midsection of the engine.  

Eliana demands (and gets) a lot of attention around here, so I am glad for the opportunities that come along for Michaela to take center stage.  Or stage right.

She and Christian were in a musical through the childrens' choirs at our church, and she played an angel (she is the closest angel in the picture) in a play about Jonah.  She had many lines, and it was really fun to see her in a role, rather than just a background singer.  She did a great job!  We were very proud of her.

Soccer season also started for our sweet girl.  She has come a long way from the very timid player she was almost four years ago.  In this first game (they didn't even have a practice beforehand, and the team is made up of girls from at least three schools, and she doesn't know anyone) she tried to score a goal!  It was also freezing (in the 40s) (so, technically not freezing, but dang, it was cold!) and she and the other girls were all running around trying to play like they were supposed to, but you could tell they were so cold.

She is such a unique person.  Sometimes I make a comment about what she has on, some crazy combination of clothes she has put on, or clothes and shoes...she'll say,"I'm me, and I wear what I like!"

Like, a leotard with a tutu, and some blue jeans.  

And if that isn't the perfect outfit for climbing trees, 

then I don't know what is.

What I know is that this girl is a wonder to me.  She brings joy wherever she goes, she delights me (you can be sure she exasperates, too) and makes me so proud.  I feel like I'm just waiting and watching to see what amazing thing(s) she is going to do or be a part of.  The truth is, though, that she has been watching me.  She has seen me at my worst in the last couple of years, and do you know what?  At the end of every day she would hug me tightly and say,"I love you."  I, as her parent, am supposed to be teaching her so much, but she is the one who is teaching me, and has been for ten years.  The lesson?  Unconditional love.

Some Stuff From This Year Part IV - Christian Edition

Christian is a builder.  He loves to create things.  Give him Legos, give him K'Nex, give him Lincoln Logs, or Tinker Toys, or bread...he's going to make something out of it.

After we arrived home from Florida, he was able to get into some of his Christmas presents that we asked him to wait on until we had them at our house.  One of those gifts was this creature made from K'Nex, his pet, he called it.

While my photography skills are indeed lacking, the blur in the photo is not because of me (entirely)...this funny little guy actually moves.  And he wobbledy clacked over to me and tried to go right up my leg.

I'll say this much:  that's the closest any pet of my kids will get to my leg.  Once, a real live dog did something similar and peed on my toes.  I had on open-toed shoes.  You can imagine how glad I was that happened.  Ha.

Christian also likes to dig.  That is what he does while Michaela has soccer practice, and he is very good and patient about teaching his sister this important skill.  (Aren't you impressed that I let my children dig in the dirt?  Right next to a tree at the park?  Where at least one dog is sure to have whizzed?!)

And don't forget the balls.  He throws, kicks, dribbles, and bounces.  Even two at a time! 

 

Last but not least, this year Christian has been working on growing his two front teeth.  He wanted them for Christmas, but it took a wee bit longer than that for his pearly whites to show up. 

I wrote about his birthday the other day...did I mention that he turned eight?  That sounds so crazy to me.  When we moved to Dallas he was just about to turn four!  That's like a baby!  When I think of him when we came here, I remember someone soooo small.  And now he's not too far from being in the double digits.

Christian is one funny dude.  He has a great sense of humor, and his laugh is one of the most contagious laughs I have ever heard.  He is sensitive, and extremely passionate.  His intensity can be...challenging.  But there is a deep well of emotion in this boy, and we have a very important job to help him learn to navigate the rough waters of life that he will face in relationships and circumstances.

(Sorry for mixing metaphors.)

His place is a tricky one.  He is the brother of two sisters, one older and one younger.  He has lamented the fact that he is often surrounded by girls, and has pleaded for a brother.  (Never mind that even if we did have another, we can't guarantee that his new sibling would be loaded with testosterone.)  I hope we can cultivate in him the instinct he has to watch over and protect Eliana (and one day, Michaela, when she doesn't seem like she's so much bigger than he is, to him) and to help her and teach her.  It's so wonderful to see those things when they do happen.  His name means "follower of Christ" and from the time we chose that name for him until now I have prayed that he will live into it.  May it be so.  There is no one else worth following.