New Schedule Mingled with Cuteness and Perspective

First of all, I'd like to say that I finally figured out how to get a subscribe by email thingamajig on this here blog. Look over to your right and feel free to subscribe if you'd like to be notified of my infrequent postings. I'm planning on not posting these on facebook anymore, so if you really want to read it, you'll either need to check the site here or subscribe.

We're settling into our new daily schedule after the first week of the new year being messed up by snow days. We have awesome neighbors here and one of them owns a snowblower that he loves to use. So when we get any substantial snow, he goes out and clears the sidewalks up and down the block. Keilah was frightened by the noise, but thankfully she has a big sister to run to for protection when she gets scared.

This is what my mornings often look like 

Abby and I decided to make cookies together one day. She wanted to make a huge flower, so I let her design, cut, and decorate her own huge cookie. She was thrilled. 

I love those beautiful eyes and freckles. 

This is what Keilah's hair looks like most every morning. We call them her "frizzles" and she is always happy to run and get the brush when we tell her it's time to comb out her frizzles.  

Keilah is a big fan of helping her older siblings do their school work. 

Sometimes Ana has short little videos she gets to watch which is always a highlight for Keilah. 

Keilah also enjoys helping David in school. She still enjoys helping David do his "cow-kiss" homework and we finally figured out that she was talking about functions and not pumpkins everytime she sits on David's lap while he does his calculus homework. 

Most of the time her "help" with David is more distracting than helpful as they usually end up gleefully yelling each other's name repeatedly or having a tickle fest. 

I'm not sure what got into me one day, but I decided to let Keilah paint one day while Ana was doing an art project. She loved it. 

In all seriousness, I'm in a much better place these days than I used to be. In the past when the other kids were younger, I had a hard time looking past the mess, the extra work, the potential for disaster to want to do extra things with the kids beyond basic survival. I'm learning to slow down in life, take time for the extra things, and realize that messes (of any type) can always be cleaned up. It's for sure a process and I hope to write down more of my thoughts on this someday as I'm growing a lot in this area recnetly. 

The second miracle after painting came when I voluntarily let Keilah play with some homemade playdough. I have a very strong dislike for play dough. However, I'm learning to let go of that too and put on my big girl pants and deal with it. 

Bob is still alive and well. He might disagree with the "well" part. He had his manhood taken away from him this past week. But some time chilling out in the sink seemed to make him happy. 

Since David and Ana are homeschooled and Abby is not, Abby and I started a tradition of a weekly date together to get some special time with just the two of us. We do various things like go out for breakfast, or I've taken just her on my weekly shopping trip, a trip to the coffee shop, or other fun little special things for just us. Her major love language is quality time, so these weekly dates are really special to her (and to me!). One morning, I made us a cave in the office with a table, sheets, a space heater, and a little lantern. I got some Casey's donuts and made hot chocolate and then woke her up early and we had an hour long breakfast in our cave before school. It was dark when we started our breakfast, but light by the time we ended. We both enjoyed the fun start to our day. 

Keilah's favorite accessories. "Adorable" and her sunglasses. She wears them for surprisingly long periods of time before taking them off. 

She likes to hide in our corner kitchen cupboard and yell out, "Where did Keilah go?" 

"Peek-a-boo!" 

Keilah and her BFF Gloria playing with letters. 

It's so fun to watch these two play together. They are only one week apart in age. 

We're getting ready for another great week of school. I know sometimes it may seem like my life is always rosy and full of awesomeness based on what I share here. Be assured that I am human. I have good days and bad days just like everyone else (see previous post). It is inevitable that hard things happen in life and I don't always respond to things the way I wish I could. However, I have continually made a choice in my life to look for the things that are positive and to celebrate those things. I love to learn from my mistakes and hard times and grow in being a better person, but I don't like to wallow in the negative. So I guess my hope in sharing this with you is that you don't see me as someone who has it all together, but as someone who has learned to seek out the delights in life, no matter how small and rejoice in the greatness of God's love for me and for those he's put in my life.