Some laughs...

Here are couple of funny conversations w/ Claire this week:

As I am filling in the ovals of my voting ballot Claire keeps asking me why I'm coloring the eggs. I keep telling her that I have to. Finally after turning in the ballot she asks,
"Are you going to vote now that you're finished coloring?"

(We were talking about how powerful God is. How He knows everything. How He created everything.)
Claire: When I was still destroyed God made me.
Me: When you were what?
Claire: When I was still destroyed - you know, before I was in your tummy.

Logical language in action - the opposite of created = destroyed.

Happy Birthday Elaine!!!!

We had a fun celebrating Elaine & her 3 years of life on Wed. She's growing up so fast!

We'll have some Halloween pics as soon as I get them from our friend who took them for us (because we forgot our camera :)!

The Leaves Have Fallen

Just a Swingin'

Maggie's New 'Do

This is Molly, and she is the coolest. She's our church's part-time children's director, and she cuts hair (wonderfully) - at your house!!!!! We LOVE LOVE her!

Dakota Fanning or what?

Fun, Fun, Fun

On Friday, Claire, Elaine and I joined some sweet friends at the zoo (it's free during October & November!). Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, and we were quickly very wet and cold and only saw a bit of Australia. Thankfully there's a nice and toasty Discovery Barn that had some animals and activities. We defrosted there. The weather cleared up just in time for us to see a Sea Lion show. By then we were all exhausted and decided we'd have to try again.




Here's Claire w/ our neighbor Raquel who lives with us part-time :) (she doesn't have any sisters and her brother is 11).




On Saturday we went to a fundraiser for an urban high school and enjoyed lots of fun activities. Highlights below. We had SO much fun!







The girls' carved their first pumpkins. You may not can see that the small one is a Jack-O-Pup (or a pupkin)

Blogs That Crack Me Up!

Most of the blogs I read are friends' blogs. I have some really great spiritual blogs that feed into my Google reader too, but there are usually way too many posts for me to read, so I usually ignore them like the clutter on my closet floor. (Exceptions: Girl Talk, 22 Words)

Then there are the blogs that just make me laugh. I thought I would share them with you in hopes that you could share your fav's with me.

1. McSweeney's Interenet Tendency- not the easiest site to naviagate and I don't think there's a feed, but there is some hysterical stuff there. I'm a big fan of Lists, Open Letters, & Short Imagined Monologues. My all time favorite may be this.
2. Before they got their book deal, Stuff White People Like was a daily highlight of mine.
3. And just today (hence the post), I was pointed to another great one (HT: MP) Cake Wrecks! Oh my goodness, my side still aches from all the laughter. I probably most appreciate this site because Wes & I have chuckled for years at the misuse of apostrophes and quotation marks (just being a stereotype - SWPL).
4. And, I almost forgot : Engrish. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it!

Top 10 Things I Miss From Mexico

10. Not needing a prescription for most medicines

9. The relaxed view of time

8. Spanish- though I am in no way fluent, it was amazing to communicate, worship, and interact in another lanuage (though there were challenges too)

7. Cheap medical & dental care

6. How having lunch with someone could turn into an all day affair

5. How their culture loves and cherishes children (especially more than things) instead of being annoyed or irritated by them (even if they are being noisy, impolite, or acting like, well - children)

4. Seeing simplicity, resourcefulness & contentment-with-little lived out daily

3. Rosie!!!! She cleaned the house for us once a week. So affordable & very missed :)

2. The tostadas & beef broth soup & pico de gallo from down the street!!!!!!! We haven't found any AMAZING mex. food here in KC yet.

1. Of course the #1 thing I miss are the people! There are so many dear people there that I think about all the time! Besitos y abrazos a Uds.

Some Fall Fotos

I have several "top 10" posts in mind, but until then, here are some recent pics:

claire, elaine, i enjoyed a nice fall picnic.

maggie's 7th birthday!

some friends joined in the festivities

up close w/ elaine

Do I still blog? Yesh, and this is an update

Okay, so there's been a very long silence. That's a trend w/ most of the family blogs that I follow. They started off strong and have since tapered into the occasional posting. Well if you follow mine, it's never been strong. And now I can't remember the last time I posted... But I'll try to give a little update here with hopes that I'll be more consistent.

Here's some recent occurrences for us:

We finished our four year commitment w/ SERVE this summer, and as difficult as the decision was, we decided to return to the States b/c Wes was offered a Worship Pastor position for a new church plant : Redeemer Fellowship. He is enjoying working more with his natural gifts. So, we sold and gave away tons of our things, packed up what was left, and moved to Kansas City in mid-July.





We have mostly furnished the house we're living in now (thanks to estate/garage sales, generous friends and craigslist!). We are renting this house, and it is amazing!!! We went from zero yard to practically a farm! And the owner has it mowed :)


And the girls are in public school here. I was planning to homeschool, but after getting here we found out about a magnet school that is Spanish immersion (meaning that the majority of the class time is in pure Spanish). We decided to try it so the girls could continue their spanish. So far we are really pleased with the school, the teachers, the staff and the students. The method seems very effective. The girls really enjoy the school. I am still adjusting. I feel like I hardly see them and miss homeschooling. But it's been very nice to have more concentrated time w/ Claire and Elaine. It still feels weird.




Claire turned 4.


Anyway, we are adjusting in so many ways. But overall it's been a very good, and pretty fun transition. I hope that since I have a little more time these days to update more frequently. I also have about a million refinishing, painting & sewing projects that I'd love to do.

But for now I've been enjoying Jeffrey Overstreet's new book:

End of Homeschool Year 1

So this afternoon we finished up our first year of homeschooling! WOW! What a great feeling! I've just been thinking over the year, and praising God for so much grace, growing, and goodness! I know I have posted numerous times how much we have enjoyed it, but we really did. Sure, there were tons of challenges, sin, and difficult moments, but overall, it was such a sweet time. Once again, I LOVED the curriculum we used. It is a perfect style for me & my girls. We spent so many hours snuggled up on the couch reading great books. Oftentimes the girls have chosen books from our curriculum (including history & science) for their bedtime stories! But it's going to be nice to have a little more time to play with the little ones & attend to the house!

boy sister

On Sunday Claire came up to me and said, "Maria is looking for her boy sister." "Huh? What is this kid trying to say? Oh... a boy sister would be a brother!" That's what happens when you have 3 sisters and no brothers!

Pet List

A couple of years ago I told the big girls that when both Claire and Elaine were potty-trained we would start thinking about getting a pet. Well, to my amazement that day has arrived (for the most part... there's still lots of accidents around here)! In anticipation of this glorious day I asked the girls to create their "pet wish list."

Unanimously their top choice was a dog. But the alternate list is awesome:

Maggie:
-turtle
-fish
-snake
-iguana
-chameleon

Anna:
-rabbit
-mouse or rat
-hamster or guinea pig
-frog
-duck
-lizard
-chameleon
-horse

Claire:
-kitty
-penguin
-frog
-duck
-dolphin
-horse

Elaine:
-turtle


I LOVE how this list is so stinking funny, was also so telling of my precious & unique daughters!

Lots of Outings

What have we been up to lately? Well, aside from the normal routine, we have:

attended Priscilla y Alberto's Boda Civil.
We went to Queretaro for the religious wedding, Wes preached & the some of IBUC's jovenes led the worship time at a church there, and we had some hang time with the Lamberts & Grosses. (sorry no pics)


We went on an expedition to Grutas de Garcia - a nearby cave. VERY impressive - We had a great "field trip!

Anna got a haircut. And wore it straight for a few days. She wished it would stay that way.

We went with Tio Jaime to Saltillo.

a day in the park

Well, I guess Spring is officially here. But March was in the 90's half the month, and it got over 100 at least 2 days! Nonetheless, we love spring!