Celebration and Rest

This has been a week of excitement. Vacation Bible School. Mom's retirement party. Hosting a12-year-old birthday sleepover luau for our first-born. Time at the lake with the grandparents.

I am thankful for each opportunity to make a memory and spend time together, but I am also thankful for evenings with nowhere to go and nothing to do. All the celebrating can be tiring. I love reading a book with my kids or holding my husband in my arms as we collapse after a full day of life.

We celebrated our life in Christ with a CSI theme. Kids jumped, danced, sang, snacked, investigated science projects, and made crafts all in the name of Jesus. It felt good to teach again, even if only for a short time. It felt even better to be a part of a great team that handled all the responsibilities together.

I was thrilled to learn from three Facebook friends that Taryn was one of the names of the day at Sweet, a yummy cupcake company. I love being chosen, so, even if it was of absolutely no merit of my own, I loved being the lucky winner of the day. Mmmm! Salted caramel goodness, followed by 5 miles on the treadmill.

 

We were happy to see my mom happy. She was honored by her company at her retirement dinner. People came into town to give hugs and well-wishes, and we were very proud of the impact she has made there.

My man and I have been enjoying watching episodes of Fringe on the iPad all snuggled up at night. We can't commit time to following any series real time, but we like to pick something and watch the episodes consecutively, without any commercial breaks, and without any delays, so that's it's not difficult to follow the storyline.

Number of episodes watched so far: 12

 

Number of children in our house for the sleepover: 12

Number of junk food items consumed at the sleepover: too many to count

 

Number of rolls of duct tape that the party girl received as gifts: 36

Number of glass items shattered: 3

Number of glasses of spilled milk: only 1

Number of party guests who threw up in the pool after eating pizza: only 1

Number of Davis girls in our house reading The Tail of Emily Windsnap : 4

Thanks Barnes and Noble for the summer reading program. We've enjoyed the free books!

 

Number of fish caught at the lake with Granddaddy: 7

Number of fish kept: 0

Number of piano lessons: 2

Number of glowsticks decorating our play set: 45

Number of sparklers lit to celebrate the 4th of July: 30

 

 

Gotcha Day - Celebrating Summer

It's customary for many adoptive families to celebrate the day they first come together with their adoptive children. It just so happens that our Gotcha Day is June 21 which falls on the first day of summer. Summer solstice also is the biggest festival of the Latvian calendar, and we were in Riga last year celebrating with our newest children. To commemorate that day we made Pankukas (pancakes) and flower and oak wreathes, and strolled down memory lane by thumbing through our photobook. Thankfully, our Latvian daughter already knew how to make them and we had an ample supply of daisies in our garden.

 

We did summery things such as eating watermelon and making a chalk mural of superheroes using our extra giant morning shadows.

A day in Hilton Head for a friend's wedding

Thanks, Mom, for giving us a day without responsibilities

My sweet 20-something friends

A Father's Words

The words a father speaks to his children in the privacy of the home are not overheard at the time, but, as in whispering galleries, they will be clearly heard at the end and by posterity. -Jean Paul Richter, writer (1763-1825)

We embellished the Lazurus come forth Sunday School lesson with some rolls of toilet paper and masking tape. I don't know if we'll be asked to substitute teach B's class again anytime soon, but the very active boys got into the active learning.

Since it was Father's Day, my man was ok with "delegating" most of the actual teaching to me. He chimed in with words of authority like "If I see you do that again, I'll eat the candy bar you are supposed to give your Dad." His mere presence helped. (Smile)

Happy Father's Day

 

Summertime

June has it's own pace. I love it, but it takes some getting used to after the go-go-go of the sprint to the end of the school year May, followed by first week at the beach.

Today was the first day of reality. Monday. The first day of being at home with my kids, and it was good!

I taught my pilates and Zumba classes at the gym, and had my heart warmed by their "welcome backs". One friend even gave me a card and a package! Even though I had arranged for subs in my absence, it seemed to be a week of snafus with one sub running out of gas on the highway, one getting lost, and another having dental emergencies that prevented her from filing in for me. It felt good to be loved and missed, even in the event of some crazy happenings.

We began the crack-down on electronic overloads and had the kids log in their minutes on all media devices. When their allotted time was up, kids played board games and card games, practiced the piano, rode bicycles and ripsticks, planned events, read books, built forts, chopped vegetables for salads, wrote in their journals, did chores, found frogs,and monitored nutrition. It was almost unreal. The kind of moments when you want to jump up and down and yell "We're being a good family!" What surprised me the most was the general spirit of compliance to the new routine. As if even they recognized that some sort of discipline is a good thing in the vast expanse of a unscheduled day. When all you've got to work with is some cardboard and a roll of duct tape, creativity springs to life.

 

Afternoon squabbles broke out over a game of Candyland (seriously) as thunderous as a summer rainstorm, but blew over just as quickly. One sister whacked another sister and was assigned writing "I shall not" sentences for penance until a repentant spirit replaced the defiant one.

One boy made it to baseball camp, while another was running a fever and took the first voluntary nap I have ever seen him take since his entrance into our family. A dose of ibuprofen later and he was out whooping and hollering with the rest of them. That stuff is magic.

Dinner made it to the table. Laundry was done. And my older girls and I were able to attend a dessert for a friend teaching English to Chinese elementary students.

I loved having my girls sample gummy candy that looked and tasted like corn. They passed on the seaweed snacks, but liked the green tea Pocky. I loved hearing older members of our church pray for our friend, and having my girls consider where God might lead them to make a difference in the world one day.

I loved (and coveted) watching fireflies from the hostess's front porch. For some reason, we have never had a firefly visit our yards in the northeast, which is only 20 minutes away. I guess they don't like our bushes, or perhaps our area sprays for bugs?

I loved hearing my youngest snore softly when we arrived home, and that I could say "yes" if the older girls wanted to sleep on the couches for the sheer novelty of "It's not a school night, so ok."

Summer. Gotta love it.

 

Fit and Fabulous

On vacation our kids are allowed to O.D. on Disney shows. We cut cable back home, so they do episode catch-up after coming in from a big day in the sun and water. They O.D. on electronics and we buy (one serving) of things we don't buy at home like pop-tarts and toaster streusels. Ice cream sandwiches and popsicles are a big part of our daily vacation regimen.

So to combat our ice cream habit, we developed a list of ways we could get moving at the beach. If we didn't come with beach bodies, we are not going to get them here, but it keeps the vacation damage at bay. Even though I drink water and eat grilled fish and tons of fruit, my poor middle-aged metabolism holds onto every gram of cream in my coffee. So to move, we (may or may not):

Climb down (and up) twenty flights of stairs to our condo

Climb to the top of the Ponce Inlet lighthouse

 

Do a wall squat against the wall of the elevator. Hold that position for 20 stories and hope no one else gets on. Do a big jump on the 19th floor.

Swim laps in the pool, or goof off in the pool by playing games like Marco Polo and doing flips

Do pool-ates (Pilates or ballet barre exercises) in the water using a pool noodle for resistance

Do workouts saved on Pinterest if the stars are aligning and wi-fi works

 

Boogie board or try to surf in the ocean

Shovel 100 pounds of sand to make a castle. Carry buckets of water to finish the castle.

Lug groceries and suitcases up from the parking deck.

Throw a football or frisbee.

Fly a kite.

Walk knee deep in the water against the current

Walk to the pier and back (3.2 miles)

Walk at dawn and see the sunrise

 

Walk at night with flashlights and headlamps and glow-sticks. See the ghost crabs and herons night-fishing.

Check out the sky view apps and view the constellations while stretching backwards

Play tennis in the courts across the street

Do the par course exercises while you are there

Run laps around the track while your kids play in the park

Use the condo workout room and walk on the treadmill, use the elliptical, and cycle.

Rent bikes and cycle on the beach

Do yoga on the balcony (to avoid the sand in your eyes). Use the railing for balance or stretching.

Sit in a tide pool and do Pilates seated floor exercises. No one can tell what you are doing, so you don't look weird.

Walk over the bridge to the river... With coffee milkshake in hand!

 

Daytona Beach

The family car now includes a car-top carrier.

A moment of family harmony on the long drive to Florida

Fun in the Sun

Kids entertaining themselves without electronics while waiting for dinner

Ocean braid awaiting some serious conditioner

Pasty red-heads applying 70...becoming even pastier

Girl on Fire

Girl on Fire

Milkshakes from the Dairy Bar at Sunset at the top of Dunlawton Bridge....seeing dolphins

Beach Brothers

Sisterly Bonding at Church? Knowing it is one thing. Living it is another.