Another Weekend in Sunnyvale

4 girls; 1 bed
Seals and a view in beautiful Santa Cruz


"Gamma Luci" and Maisy posing at church

My father in law is still stationed out in Sunnyvale while a church up there looks for a permanent pastor to fill their pulpit, so we decided to take another 3 day weekend excursion out to see him. This time "Gamma Luci" was there too! Despite the rain and cold, the girls were in hotel heaven with the "luxuries" of continental breakfasts and swimming pools, yep, that's right they went swimming despite the cold temperatures, and you can bet we had the pool to ourselves! We had a great time, eating, and playing, and eating, and eating... did I mention eating? We even happened to go to Marie Calendars on International "Pie" day and we all got free slices of pie! You can't imagine the kind of happiness free pie can bring in my life.

Of course no trip with 4 kids would be complete without a good old-fashioned "kids will be kids moment." And that moment occurred for us when the hotel called our room because the police had just called them. Why had they called? Because apparently that's what police do when a 911 call has been made from where? Oh, from our hotel room of course. Thank you Noelle, for providing me with classic blogging material, but next time I'd prefer to blog about you being the winner of the National Spelling Bee or at least that you no longer write your N's backwards, let's just try and avoid any future brushes with law enforcement, shall we?

Defeating the Purpose

This week I

a) ate my lean cuisine for lunch, but for extra flavor, I added mayonnaise, loads of salt, and parmesan cheese.

b) just washed a load of clothes with a blue ink pen.

c) scrubbed down the tile of my entry way on a rainy day.

Hmm, maybe I should re-think some of my efforts.

Happy Birthday Jen!

In these trying economic times, one must get creative with the birthday presents they buy/make. Basically, today is my BFF's birthday, Jen formerly Mantuano, now Oswald. I thought to myself, hey, I could buy her a bunch of stuff she'd love from Williams Sonoma or one of those ridiculously unique online Etsy stores.... or I could give her the ultimate gift, I could dedicate one of my (um, free) blog entries just to her. It's like those American Express cards say, some things in life are priceless, so here goes:

Birthday Ode to Jen

In 2nd grade, you were mean to me, because you thought you were so smart.

But eventually, I grew on you, and the two of us were rarely apart.

In 6th grade, we were drama stars; in Jr. High, it was ASB.

In High school, we were boy crazy, and you still were smarter than me.

I could count on you to be responsible, and afraid of talking to strange boys.

You were oh so popular among everyone, & you had quite a collection of stuffed toys.

Each year we went to summer camp, to hang out at Hume Lake.

It's embarrassing to look back at how many clothes we would take!

I couldn't believe we were both on Homecoming court, best friends still our senior year.

You and I both lost, but hey that's cool, we didn't shed a tear.

And then off we went to colleges, but our friendship did not fade.

It wasn't long, till you were walking down the aisle as my best bridesmaid.

And then in time you got married too, your flower girl, my daughter.

I was so happy to see her in your wedding, it was so sweet that you had sought her.

Later, then in 2005, both of us had babies due - both to be born in June!

Mine a girl, yours a boy, who knows? maybe they'll unite one day soon.

When all is said and done, I must say this; your friendship's been a gift!

I'm thankful for your humor, your kindness, your phone calls give me a lift.

I used to be jealous that you were 6 months older than me,

but now I can laugh, and call you old, and give you this blog for free!

Happy Birthday Jen!

Here are some pics to capture our journey together!

New Year, New Questions

In case you hadn't noticed, I tend to write things with a lighter tone. When my daily routines can feel monotonous, sometimes for me the best thing to do is to laugh & make fun of the ups & downs of having 4 little girls under the age of 6 and trying to juggle motherhood, being a wife, and the myriad of other roles I find I have somehow acquired. But there are of course sobering moments in life when I should be more thoughtful & reflective. Our friend emailed us this list of questions to think on for the new year. I chose a few them that I thought were especially worth sharing so we can be challenged & reflective together!

1. What's one thing you can do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about this year?

3. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, & how do you

plan to do that?

4. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

5. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in 10 years? In eternity?