In our weekend, in this phase of our lives, Saturday is a full construction day. Thankfully, Sunday is Family Day. Sometimes much of it is spent catching up on other tasks (we hope to regain our full Sabbath in a year +), but we try, TRY, really hard to do something fun with the kids. A couple of weeks ago we went to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. This time was extra cool because Max was on a little treasure hunt to find certain exhibits, then draw a quick picture of it. The giant squid, the Chumash baby, etc. It was a nice day.

A whale of a skeleton

Cuddles with Mom

Love Lucy’s face in this one

Glad for Family Day

A real destination vacation! 🙂 We had our spring break with Yaya and Poppa in Valencia, mostly because Matt went to a conference in San Francisco. We had great times with them, and other friends and family that live out that way.

Bowling with fellow homeschooler Jessica and her sweet kids Justin and Julia.

The joys of Bumper Bowling

Lucy and Julia

The end of that bowling morning was pretty eventful – I locked my keys in the car! Then it began to rain, and I had only a t-shirt on. I had left the windows cracked, and I ran inside the bowling alley to see if they had any kind of tool I could use as a Slim Jim. They gave me a wire clothes hanger and I ran back outside. Jessica was hanging with the kids under the overhang of the building to stay out of the rain. Lucy is now crying, and I realize she’s probably starving. As now I am. I bend the hanger and stick it down in the window, but it just won’t catch the door lock. I’m feeling hunger shakes and a deep sense of dread that I will have to wait 45 minutes for AAA to come! And Lucy cries on. Max is next to me know, and I say, “Buddy, will you pray and ask God to help us get the car unlocked?” He clasps his hands together and bows his head, there in the parking lot and prays urgently for us. I have a revalation on how to bend the hanger a different way. I try the lock that way – and oh-my-stars – it worked! We got in our car, and Jessica in hers, and raced to McDonalds. The rain was now coming down positively sideways! And then, it began to hail! A freak hail storm in Valencia – crazy! What a day. 🙂

Hugs on a turtle in the mall-indoor-playground

Funny faces

Carousel time with Auntie Jan

Our great buds – Danny and Lizzy D’Elia

Tuckered out on the trampoline

Ok, it’s particularly sad that now I only blog once a quarter?! Moving on to the good pics and news! In January, Max played basketball for the first time, with the Carp Boys and Girls Club. It is safe to say he had great energy and enthusiasm, but as much skill as a…hmmmm….fish on a bicycle? He enjoyed doing great leaps down the gym floor like a gazelle, and watching his shadow on the shiny floor. But – it was fun!

Mr. Basketball and his biggest fan

Max and buddy Jack

Then we had some rain…

Lucy in a puddle

And some in-house adventures…

Pajama party

In early February, we went to Solvang for a weekend to celebrate Pop’s big 60. It was an amazingly fun weekend, with good weather and super times with the kids.

Happy group

A surrey bike for 10! Boy, we got some crazy looks.

Lucy and Pop are swingin in the park

Ah, the joys of a tire swing. I personally think I should win some award for this artsy pic.

Poppa’s special birthday dinner

Could Syl really be married to this old guy?

Pop’s big present – a hot air balloon ride

Very impressive!

The frightful and cartoon-like bump that poor Emily got in our last hour of the weekend. (she’s ok now :).

Then, Mr. Matt turned 34!

We give serious gifts around here, like yo-yos and flashlights

Could Toby really be married to this old guy? Oops – she’s older than he is.

Em and Lucy

Max and Nate

Some new snazzy shirts

‘Chocolate chips cookies’ ‘Let me check yo puhs’ (pulse) ‘Let me check yo haht’ (heart) (She’s into ‘Elmo Visits the Doctor’) ‘Where’s my red toes?!!!’ (I painted her toenails red, like mine, and she loves them. The only pickle is that the freak 80-degree weather is gone, and now we’re back in socks and sneaks or boots. So out of the blue during the day she’ll be very upset that she can’t see her red toes.) As much as we enjoy homeschooling Max, I’ve thought, “There’s just NO way I can do this with two kids!” I think God has given me an early answer to this issue. Bub decided to start saying The Lord’s Prayer to Lucy every night before bed. After about two weeks, and without breaking it down into parts for her, she was able to say the whole thing. So maybe this little ‘sponge’ girl will not be too hard to teach someday, alongside her brother. 😉

Because last night was so dreadful, and I’m still struggling with a cold, I decided there was no way we could go to our Tuesday Bible Study at Shoreline Church in Santa Barbara. They have a great program for the kids too, and Max especially loves going. So as I told him with my bleary eyes that we would have to miss it, he pouted away. About 10 minutes later he brought me a note: MOM I EM NOT GOIN BECUS YOO DIT LET ME GO TOO SHOLIN CH (Shoreline Church) This is sort of his ‘martyr stance’ – “I’m never going back because we can’t go today!” I just thought it was so precious – yesterday my first love note and today my first grumpy one. He bounced back pretty quick (by mid-breakfast) and was singing to his sister one of his favorite made-up tunes, “Lucy is so beautiful, she is soooo beau-ti-fullllll.” After several stanzas of this, Lucy yells, “I’m not beautiful now!! I’m pretty!”