Bakersfield

Ben is in Bakersfield for safety training...He left Sunday night, and will be back Wednesday night. The kids are really missing Daddy, but only one more day (after today) to go!!
P.S. This is his night shift week, so they probably wouldn't have seen him a whole lot anyway...We are just thankful that this training is not in addition to his normal work week!! =)

The "Dora" Game

Kids love Dora. The other morning, Emma was wanting to watch Dora. I asked her why she liked watching it so much, and she said, "It's just fun!" I asked her, "What is fun about sitting and staring at a box?" She thought that was funny, but anyway, I decided that instead of watching Dora, we would play the Dora game. They were intrigued. We do have a Dora matching game, and a Dora version of Candyland. But no, this was going to be even better.
So, I took a toy and hid it.
Then, I drew a map!
Then, we repeated the three places that we needed to go to find the treasure.
Then, they went to the three places and ended up finding the hidden toy. Needless to say, I think they like this game even better than watching the little box. However, I think I will have to get more creative and better at drawing maps in order to make it more interesting. And of course, I never really watched "Diego", but I think Caleb is a little tired of being "Boots" for Emma, so I think we will have to make up an animal rescue game too. I'm open for suggestions!

Lots of Catching Up To Do....

THE HIKE

We took the kids on their first hike...well, first walking hike. They have been on various hikes in other ways, like in the backpack, front pack, and oh yes, my belly. Anyway, with Noah in the hiking pack, we took Emma and Caleb to Pratt trail. They rocked it! We hiked about an hour, and they had wanted to go longer, but we thought it best to limit it. They had an incredibly pleasant discussion about how Jesus is God (it was so amazing for Ben and I to listen as they expounded on their 3 and 4 year old theology...it is so neat how kids just take things at face value. No complicating it, like we so often do).
The next morning, Ben and I both mentioned being a little sore. At lunch, Caleb said his mouth was hurting. Inside, he had a tiny little canker sore. I told him it just needed some time to heal. Emma said, "Oh, Caleb, it must be from the hike." I said, "Huh?" And Emma replied, "Well, you said he had a sore." So, yeah, then I had to explain the difference. =)

BUTTERFLIES
That same evening, we had heard about the big, huge beached whale out at Rincon Parkway. We went to go see it, but they had already cut it into pieces and burried it. It is still pretty smelly for sure! Anyway, we drove back down toward Emma Wood, and had some beach fun:

Emma's Butterfly

Ben's Butterfly

CHILDHOOD SENILITY

Caleb came in crying this afternoon, "Mommy! I lost my underwear!"

I tried to console him, and told him I would help him look for them. As we were walking to the bathroom, and I am thinking, "Where in the world could they be???" I pulled up his shirt and there they were! He just looked and said, "Oh."

P.S.

Oh yeah, we are in escrow on a house here in Ojai, over behind Vons. We are excited, and it is totally a God thing...but I don't have the words to describe or explain it all. More to come on that later. But yes, we are moving again...this makes number eight.

A psychotic moment....

I don't know if any of you got those coupons...but I did. They seem harmless enough. I get coupons all the time, and I just throw them away. But for some reason, I kept these. It must have been the larger-than-life pictures of Oreo Sundaes everywhere...beckoning all to come to Baskin Robbins. Now, let me first say that I don't even really like ice cream. And I definitely don't like paying exhorbitant amounts of money for ice cream!! I don't know if it was hormones, the heat, or just a lapse in my normal disciplined judgement, but I just felt in the mood for ice cream all of a sudden. So, we went. The first coupon was buy one sundae get one free, so for two two-scoop sundaes (one for my mom and I to share, and one for Emma and Caleb to share), it cost about $3.59. Not bad, I was thinking. So then, the other night, after Ben's long week of day shifts, we all decided to go for ice cream. AGAIN. Now, on the way I begin thinking, "AAH! Ice cream twice, in one week? What will become of the kids? Did they eat enough of their dinner tonight? Have they had enough nutrition this week to warrant two trips for ice cream?" As if my psychosis was not enough, then images from those commercials about childhood obesity come flying through my brain, until I am completely overwhelmed by the thought that I must be utterly ruining my children. I take a deep breath, we go into the ice cream store, and we get our ice cream. Ben and I share two scoops, and the kids share one scoop. I watch their tongues turn a darker and darker shade of blue, and I hear them delightfully giddy in between bites. You know, I think we are going to be okay. =)

Heat Wave, and Other Fun

So, what do you do without air conditioning of any kind when it is 110 degrees??? Well, this is what we did to help everyone get some sleep:

We pitched two tents in the backyard...one for the kids, and one for Ben and I. (Noah has a window air conditioner in his room, so we let him stay in his crib.) Anyway, it helped us to get some sleep and it was very exciting too.

So, we've been talking to the kids about how we will probably be moving again soon (more to come on this subject). So, as we put the kids to bed the other night in their tent, Caleb asked, "Mommy, is this our new house?"

Emma was coloring a page, paying close attention to staying in the lines, etc. She looks at me and says, "Genius!" (speaking of herself). Now, I am sure she's heard my mom and I say that of her, but I asked her if she knew what that word meant. She replied, "It means I can color GOOD!"