a good day

today was a good day... i mean i lost it a few times with the kids, had to apologize and make peace. but for the most part it was a productive day. we are still in limbo with our housing and homeschooling. we have been in the navy lodge almost 2 weeks now and will be finally moving in to our new digs on tuesday (that is NEXT week!) i am so eager to get us moved in and SETTLED. i am in the process of ordering our sonlight homeschooling curriculum. i realized that i needed a clear program, that was easy to follow and directive. being new at all of this, i am seeing that having this aid will greatly ease the stress. i am just so excited to implement a literature based curriculum into our daily lives. the kids love love love to read and are like sponges. its so much fun. our most prized possessions our the books we have accumulated, so i think this will naturally fit our family's personality and focus.

in the meantime, we are using every day events and curiosities to learn and educate the kids. we made beds today and folded clothes. we went to a wonderful breakfast joint (i love breakfast joints!) called The Old Monterey Cafe on alvarado st. and we had some lessons in manners at the table and proper behavior. we walked down the main street to the monterey state park (a beautiful square that flows in to fishermen's wharf. (*i want to take the kids to the museums in the square but maybe not with the boys!) kyrie really enjoyed the painted tile pictures that illustrated the wild flowers, sea shells, animals, historic events and indians :: all part of historic and present day monterey. the kids climbed in a ship that is for kids to play in. it was a warm, sunny morning and we had a blast!

we came home and put blaise down for a nap and i got to catch up with my good friend jill, back in newport, while the kids played in the playset near our hotel rooms. after the baby woke up, i threw the kids in the van and headed back to old town to go to trader joe's (my absolute favorite market!) we stocked up for lunch, breakfast, snacks and dinner items. i am deteremined to get us all on a good schedule and part of that is to have healthy dinners prepared when daddy gets home from work. we took a lovely walk after some quiet time and met some new friends at the playset. then it was back to the hotel rooms to make supper. i got to go to my yoga class at the community center and got a nice challenging workout - its a vinyasa class, rather advanced. yep that is me in there, the only one falling over and unable to do the crazy poses. its a good time. then after i got back i took a nice hot bath. i really treated myself. right now all the littles are asleep and graham is studying.

i hope i can keep up with my blogging from now on. its so good for me to write my feelings. i know that my posts will get better and better as i flex my writer's muscles. i am learning more about the capabilities of this computer, so maybe you'll get some more pictures of our road trip across the country and some daily pics of our adventures as we make our transition to the west coast, laid back lifestyle.

aloha for tonight.

the trivium

note to self: i just found a great resource for our homeschooling fact-finding: from preschoolers and peace, an article on ten things to do before you child turns ten.

http://triviumpursuit.com/articles/ten_to_do_before_ten.php

this might be my overall guide to this year at horseshoe homeschool (kyrie's name for our home school!)

america, america day #2

so far we are still in ohio. we said goodbye to the beautiful tatko family. then for lunch we met up with brooke and doug waller (old friends from USNA '02 days). the kids played at the chic-fil-a playset & we adults got to catch up and visit. doug and brooke were in navigators with us at the academy and have been special friends ever since. i am going to put her blog up on my blog roll.

i am determined to have this travel thing with kids down to a science by the end of our journey. i will be making suggestions for smooth sailing, when we get to california. i am learning how to be a better mama every mile we drive. the lord is teaching me so much. i am asking for him to create in me a clean heart every morning. slow to anger, tender, warm & kind. patient, compassionate, firm, faithful.

more to come after we get to st. louis.

america, america! day #1

we are on the road across the country, to our next tour destination -- monterey, california! we moved out of our home in newport, rhode island (saying goodbye to our wonderful friends from church and salve) last week and drove down to maryland for my sister-in-law's wedding. we have the kids and all of our stuff (for the road trip) packed up in our green van! each kid has a dvd player. we have a splitter so that the three oldest kids can listen to their music and we can have some peace. i have collected all sorts of diversions for the kids (colorforms, crayons, stickers, books, cds, dvds, trinkets, jump ropes, surprise dolls, unopened birthday presents for ransom etc.) so far the kids have been amazing. we started at 7am from annapolis (on wed) and made it all the way to columbus, ohio (with stops & traffic about 11 hours). last night we stayed in the home of friends, dave & amanda. dave grew up with graham and tammy his mother was there as well (with gift bags for our kids). she has remained a very close friend of my mother-in-law's from their days in akron. our kids had a blast. it was a lovely evening - wine, yummy food, children, babies (their kids are darling!), & fellowship. their property is nestled in beautiful farm fields. graham and i enjoyed watching the sunrise over the fields and hearing the rooster crow his early wake-up! fall in ohio is gorgeous and like coming home.

some highlights of day #1:

- traveled through maryland, pennsylvania, west virginia and ohio.
- crossed the appalachian trail
- counted barns + ransom noticed all the water towers
- drove thru the alleghany mountain tunnel

aquidneck island grower's market

yesterday was a fabulous day in newport! we went to the beach (the kids had more fun climbing up a "tall" sand dune), made cards for kyrie (who is staying at marmie's and pop's house this week down in maryland), walked to the farmer's market, got aweful-awefuls at newport creamery, went to the park and played, and generally spent as much time outdoors as possible!! for mama it was glorious. i also got a killer, bomb haircut (plug for bethany craft at ki-ra salon!)

we walked to the market and bought: fresh arugula (it is so nutty, or is it a peppery flavor? - phenomenol! - this is the way lettuce is supposed to taste!), romaine, basil (yes amazing!!), fresh hamburger buns, whole wheat sandwich loaf, and this amazing chocolate cupcake for the boys to snack on (all baked goods from olga's cup + saucer!) i also bought a iced cold-pressed coffee from custom house coffee roasters (which was again, awesome!) the weather was in the high seventies and lovely. a hint of humidity. gorgeous. we then walked to the creamery and rhys, anna and rachel all got ice cream or aweful-awefuls. this is a newport tradition. i refrained - having had my fill of cookies the night before, following a visit with friends to one of our fav eateries: pronto, on thames. we took the kids to aquidneck park by the newport library and played for a bit. then we went back home via bellevue ave.

at the park we had a potty accident - the #2 we had been waiting for since monday finally arrived. let's just say he is VERY strong-willed. but i will tell you - i am tired of cleaning up those and the time is NOW. carpe diam.

* at the farmer's market i picked up a copy of edibleRhody. (in lynchburg i had also gotten a copy of edibleBlueridge). its a great publication for those who want to know about the local, sustainable, organic food scene. i am excited about these new finds:

http://www.nefarmways.org/ - just found out about the free concerts at sweet berry farms + the washington county fair (maybe a good birthday idea for blaise's first birthday!)
http://www.kidoinfo.com/
http://www.getfreshbuylocal.org/
http://www.farmfreshri.org/

blaise updates

crawling (army crawl): june 12
regular crawling: this week
pulling up to standing at crib railing: last night
playing games with mama: last night (while he is in the crib i throw his soft green star and he fetches it for me and slides it through his crib while cracking himself up and squealing with delight - its hysterical!!)
teething - yep the last few days have been rough
weaning to a cup - now just nursing before bedtimes and in the morning, hates the bottle, likes vanilla soy milk and whole milk, likes the cup better!

summer time news

dear friends + family!

we have been back in newport for several weeks after a three week vacation down south! we had a week in amherst, with my folks. the farm was splendid! it was hot and humid (which was so SO welcome to our cold souls), green and lush (since i havn't been back to the farm for almost 4 years, it seems that the small trees are now very large!). we visited my brother's grave, a first since his burial. a small country plot overlooking the hills of the blue ridge mountains. we visited a wonderful little country store and had fresh peach shakes. we went to the lynchburg farmer's market + liberty university (my alma mater). i even got lost on the lynchburg bypass b/c its tricky to a new comer. we went swimming in the jacuzzi and admired the views. we walked up and down our gravel driveway and talked about the dogs (ransom enjoyed laying on the dogs, they were very patient). we fed and pet the goats, checked out the sheep, that are grazing on the land. rhys milked the goat. trudged around in rain boots and avoided the ticks to the best of our ability. we explored down by the bonfire at the bottom of the land and climbed up on the tree fort/house that my mama has made for the kids out of repurposed building supplies (it even has our old spiral staircase!) i took several of the kids to v.e.s. for a little walk about. its always good to reconnect with that special place. it even smelled like i remember it smelling during the summers.

then it was off to annapolis for a two week stay and a stop off in nyc (brooklyn) for the 4th of july. we had such a lovely, relaxing visit at marmie and pop's. we went swimming at their neighbor allison's pool nearly every day. we played in the plastic kiddie pool and threw rocks and pebbles in the west river. we played in mole's end and up in the attic, dressing up. we played with the kitchen in the mud room and ate marmie's delcious waffles. (this is a requested favorite for my kids). rebecca and i worked really hard to get the kids back on a good schedule. i instituted a rule that the children were not allowed to get out of their beds until 0700. it took a little getting used to but they were champs! how nice to get a full night's rest. i also starting allowing blaise to cry himself to sleep. this insured a full night with no wake ups for mama. i think sleep deprivation (among other things) has been the main source of my spring meltdowns. it is imperative that mama gets good sleep, otherwise i am not able to be a good mama to the kids. i don't want to be a snippy, cranky mama or wife. graham flew down for a long weekend, surprising me! we got to have a double date with some friends from hawaii and walk around our old stomping grounds in annapolis. it was a very special weekend for he and i.

i always come back from tenthouse (the name my in-laws gave to their home) feeling so refreshed. thank you re and mark! thank you mama and daddy for opening up the home down in virginia, it is such a special and beautiful place.

we had a nice family gathering at logan and laura's in brooklyn. we watched the lights of the city as the sun faded west over the skyline and the hudson. the view from their roof is spectacular! the next day i drove up to newport, while graham went sailing with his dad, brother, cousin and some friends, up to newport with the dawn treader. (the boat). they came in around midnight of monday night. what a wonderful homecoming!!

the week we came home we had eli, graham's cousin with us. it was a wonderful visit. he is such a big help with the kids. we went to gooseberry beach several times and got some good sunshine. upon kyrie's request, graham and eli built a lemonade stand and we set it up for business on a sunny and warm newport saturday morning. the kids had a blast. we even got a date night and walked down to the theatre to see "away we go". great flick. please go see it!

this week we have had anna and rachel magee (from our homegroup at coast vineyard) staying with us, helping me out with the kids. this is their 3rd summer coming out! we love them. they love our kids and are so good with them. i love having the girls with us. the kids had vacation bible school all week at our church - and loved it of course!! we also had emily here for a few days as we celebrated graham's 30th birthday on july 16th! the dawn treader had been docked at the war college marina for a week and so his parents and siblings all came up to celebrate and then to sale it back down to annapolis. we had a wonderful party for him on friday night - rebecca brought all the food. it was phenomenal. we had some old and new friends and it just was a special evening. we have much to celebrate - not only graham's birthday but that we also got FAO (foreign area officer) and are moving to monterey in a few months for language school. this was exactly the career move graham was hoping for. this means we'll be in a foreign country within a year to 18 months. we are so so excited!!! such a blessing for the lord. we have been so excited about this move and now its almost finally here!! the emotions we feel can be described as just getting engaged or having just had your first baby! its so BIG!

so that is our summer so far. we are enjoying the warm (well today its raining) and sunny summer weather, the park, the beach, and walking all over town. we'll be hopfully picking berries at sweet berry farm, going to outdoor concerts at the beach, seeing the beach boys on the naval base this weekend, celebrating kyrie's 6th & blaise's 1st, helping with a wedding shower for whitney and jondavid, and v.b.s. later in august. its crazy having four kids, but each day is new and a clean slate!

pinkalicious!

hey you'll! my kids (yes even my son!) have really been enjoying the books pinkalicious and purplicious by elizabeth kann and victoria kann. we are just ecstatic that they have a new title out: goldilicious, about a unicorn. rhys asked if we could make cupcakes today after school. so we did (after i got the boys to go down for naps). this was the second attempt - the first time making them i added way way too much vegetable oil, having read the directions wrong. imagine that!! so here are our pinkalicious cupcakes. we used the cherries but as soon as they were captured on film, we threw them out. they are just so pretty - but not very yummy. and yes swimming in red dye #49 and high fructose corn syrup (then again so is the red food coloring i used for the pink frosting - oh well:)

what do i want to do when the kids grow up?

last night i met a few girl friends for a book club meeting - at a swanky little place down the street from my home. it was WONDERFUL. we are all moms and all military wives. we had decided that there was need for an excuse to escape for an evening (on a regular basis) and have mom-time-only! after discussing our book of choice and deciding on what we would be reading for our next, we got in to the topic of "what we will do after the kids grow up." we all went around the circle and shared. one friend, who is a woman truly walking in step with the spirit, shared that she wants to be like her mom. she said her mom volunteered her time but was always free to drop everything if any of her children needed her.

she said you'll never stop being a mother. that idea really resonated with my heart. this is something that i have desired from my own mother but because of real life reasons, has not been able to materialize - accept for one amazing time - when i gave birth to my first child, six weeks early, all the way in hawaii, my dear mom, dropped it all and flew from the east coast the same day, to be with me. she was amazing. that is motherhood. serving and in turn fulfilling a god-given calling that continues throughout a lifetime. i hope that i can do this for my own daughters and sons. thank you mama for giving up your life, once again, to serve me.

From 'CatalystofJoy.blogspot.com'

Paul's 'St. Crispin's Day' Speech

2 Timothy 3-4 (click on reference to read passage)

In this passage, Paul exhorts a weary band of brothers and sisters to fight the good fight and finish strong. I was thinking of this yesterday and remembered the images of the Iron Man race where runners pushed themselves so hard that they literally had to crawl across the finish line. As they cross they are greeted by their friends, family, doctors and media. There is at once the knowledge that 'it is finished' and also, I have done well. And that is what we desire, on the deepest level to know, that God sees us crawling across the finish line and grasps us under the arms saying, you are my son/daughter and I am deeply pleased with you. That is a wonderful vision and a destiny to pursue wholeheartedly, but an even better analogy might be these guys, Rick and Dick Hoyt. As it turns out, our role in the race of life is sometimes less about running and more about being carried along by the grace of God. Anyway, the dichotomy between these two images, where one represents us as the runner, and the other with God as the runner, really is dealt with in James. We must run with all of our might, and God will take care of the rest.

the national crayon recycling program

here is another great resource at blissfully domestic on what to do with old crayons. i love this!

what to do with your yoga mat?

after donating a perfectly good yoga mat to the goodwill the other day and wondering what else i could have done with it, i found this article at blissfully domestic. enjoy!

march 2009

lovies

the sleeping beauties

texting with emily

the ukelele man

kisses

updates ... making baby food from scratch (thank you to nurture-baby) ... blaise is 8 months + eating more solids (yeah!) and rolling over + teething ... easter at the plasters - we had friends from our time back in 2002 at surface warfare officer's school here in newport + lots of fun with the kids + celebrating our new life in christ, allelulia! ... spring was slow to come to newport but the crocuses and the daffoldils bloomed, the forsynthia came out and there were hints of the green foliage peeking from its winter cover!

february 2009

zonked rhysie

we love to read!

ransom outside with his sippie
we braved the wet on a "warmer" afternoon here

blaise eating more solids! 7 mo.

kyrie walking in my boots

a few days after the surgery

snuggling with brother - still not feeling so good

before the surgery - candyland at hasbro!

kyrie's surgery to correct her urinary reflux was a success!! praise the lord for dr. caldamone and hasbro children's hospital over in providence. we knew she would be getting this surgery since she was 15 months old, but it didn't get on the books until our checkup in november. we scheduled it for feb. 19th and that was the day that kyrie talked about multiple times a day, for months. dear little thing, she agonized over it & had many nightmares and trouble sleeping. i wish that we had known not to share with her the details until a few days before. however, the Lord made himself near and close to us and he was present at every turn. we were at the hospital for 3 nights. he worked all the details out for us, right down to rebecca (graham's mom) coming up to help with staying over night in the hospital and caring for the children when i or graham were with kyrie. we also have wonderful babysitters from salve regina who volunteered help at all hours!!! our church was also amazing, sending meals over for a few days. thank you so much to all who gave in every way. mahalo!

updates ...

since i haven't been around the blog in a few weeks i thought i would just post a few pictures of our busy activities ... i have been trying to get in to shape for whitney's wedding (hubby's baby sister!) in september -- so early morning walks, portion control, calorie counting, trying to drink more water, and getting exercise whenever i can. now that summer is here (although it feels more like a wet spring) my goal is to take the kids to the park at least once a day and/or the beach (even on cooler, overcast days). we have been spending time with some new friends who go to church with us and happen to live just a few streets over in our 'hood!! these special families are really excited to have found eachother and we all consider it a blessing from the Lord! so the next few posts will be updates of our spring. enjoy

this morning i woke up extra early and walked to starbucks, got a coffee and then walked all over downtown. it was nice to 'have the time'. the flowers i came across were heavenly. i hope to get a few pictures next time i am out. truly the beauty that my Father made for me today was exquisite. i was so aware of the presence of his love for me. it was sometimes sublte and sometimes vibrant. he was romancing all of my senses.

Great Video for Design Inspiration

After coming home from a garden/graduation party, we found two worn wicker chairs sitting on the curb near our house. We've taken them in to refurbish and reuse. But the challenge ahead is, Hwat color should we paint them? We looked for inspiration at one of our favorite painted wicker websites, Maine Cottage - ok, so it was the only site I know of with painted wicker without googling it.

Found this - Here are some wonderful images, colors and words from a designer at Maine Cottage

ENJOY!

doll house

i found this article and pic on a new found site called ohdeedoh from apartment therapy. i did this in my room when i was a little girl. it was where i kept all of my sylvanian families. i can't wait to have a place like this one day for the girls!

my babies

before i turn in for the night i want to post about my kids. i love them. they rock. each one is awesome. each one exudes energy and spirit, different from their siblings. this afternoon out in the backyard, there was rhysie, on her own "stage," with a song on her lips; blaise bouncing on my lap, having found his voice, practicing his oratory; ransom, running around chasing a friend with a pool noodle, making loud, boisterous noises as only little boys do; and kyrie, my nature girl, building a home for her pet slug, "slimey."

these last few days, i have been trying to savor the hugs and kisses. be in the moments i am nursing blaise, my last babe. this season of life, when they are my chicks, in our nest, safe from the world, is full, sometimes to overflowing, but it is coming to an end. i linger with my snugglies and sit a little bit longer in the rocking chair with a satisfied baby. my favorite quiet space is the boys' room. when they are sleeping, and all is at rest. i love what soule mama wrote just recently about her fourth babe. so what i am trying to say here in this place is that i am enjoying this time. i am endeavoring to remember that they won't be little forever and i am content in my circumstance of being their mama, their comforter, their nurturer. thank you Lord for this great pleasure.

new babies

i just found out my friend alston is expecting a baby (her third)!! i feel like everyone i know is having a baby - well, not everyone but you get the point. please check out her company b.wise papers. she is so so creative and talented. and she is an amazing mama to two adorable boys (+ babe).

with the list of expectant mama-friends i need to get some gifts out to the mail! what fun - i get to play the stork!