Life's a Beach

This month we had a brilliant idea. We thought we would have a birthday party for both myself and Lorelei since my bday is on the 1st of June, and her bday is on the 5th. Of course all of our friends have a bunch of kids so we knew it would be a little tight at our small, 1300 sq. foot abode. But no worries, we live in sunny, southern California, so we thought, we'd bring our party to the beach! That way, I'd avoid the mess and disaster of dozens of little kids running through my pathetic little backyard, and everyone loves an excuse to enjoy a day at the beach, right?

So this is what the beach usually looks like. In fact it was so beautiful last

Monday (Memorial day) we could barely tear ourselves away from it.

But on Saturday, the beach suddenly felt like this......
Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating and maybe that's not an

actual photo of Ventura, but seriously, June gloom set in, and the

beach was FREEZING COLD. So after 40 minutes of teeth chattering,

wind- blowing over our tables/decorations, and my parents looking

utterly miserable, Dan said, Forget this let's all go back to our place....
So there are some of my friends who had just driven 30 minutes to the beach, and now look - they're packing up and driving another 30 minutes back to my 1300 sq. ft. home that was completely messy and unprepared for guests.....

You'll notice in the picture, I'm smiling, laughing actually at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. I guess, the weather is sort of like children, it cannot be controlled and it often acts up when you most want it's cooperation. Fortunately, I'm 35 now, and wise beyond my years.... okay maybe not so much wise, as resigned to the fact that my dreams of Martha Stewart events are not so much ever ganna come true. And actually, that's okay, because in the end my friends were troopers, my sister made amazing cupcakes, and my kids had a lot of fun. So you know, Happy Birthday to me.

Memorial Day Recap

This weekend was near perfect! Dan and I went on an actual date (babysitters and everything) on Friday night, Saturday I organized my closet, Sunday we went to church, and Monday we did what every good American does on Memorial Day, we participated in a big ole barbecue (and we even fit in a beach trip in between all that).

What is really funny is that in the midst of all of that, the absolute highlight for me was cleaning out my closet. I keep all of my paperwork for teaching in a file cabinet in my room, and by the end of the school year, the combination of photos, school stuff, and clothes creates the perfect storm of chaos in my room/closet. A bedroom can be closed off to the world and hidden from view. But now that school's almost out, and most of my classes are over, I finally had the time to purge through the piles, and I've gotta tell you, it's a weight off my shoulders! It may seem cliche but that kind of disorder is truly stressful and indeed a the state of your home can be a metaphor for the state of your life at times. But shhh, don't tell Dan that, I've been telling him all school year, that the clutter on my desk is fine, and that he shouldn't get so bothered by it!

Finale Finality

It's always a strange time of year for me as May disappears into June, and the responsibilities of teaching and taking the girls to school are almost over, but NOT QUITE. I start to get giddy and excited, and then when I see that there are still some key things to accomplish before I celebrate, my mood will plummet into an "I'm so overwhelmed" state. I also have noticed that things get a little more frantic this time of year because birthdays approach, kids get antsy to be done with school, and I begin to contemplate all the household duties and repairs that I've been putting off till summer.

So what does one do when things get crazy, and time is scarce? One watches season finales of television shows of course. I watched the Am. Idol finale and of course the 3 day Oprah worship that took place as she closed out her 25 years in the talk show business. This is what I have to say regarding all of these things. I do like Oprah. As a person, I think she's fairly down to earth at times, and likeable. However, she has a tendency to take herself too seriously, and that can be ANNOYING. On her final show, she practically preached a sermon. Her platform is basically humanism, what man can accomplish within himself if he just believes..... blah, blah, blah. Sprinkle in some new age type philosophies about energy and karma and what you put out, you take in, blah, blah, blah. Some Christians are puzzled as to why I would even bother watching. I basically watch the show because sometimes she has fun guests, I am riveted by human interest stories, and hey, everyone appreciates a good make-over episode from time to time. But as a Christian, I am always conscious of her underlying agenda. I think too that it actually is important to see what the world is currently embracing and excited about. So that's why I watched.

Regarding American Idol: I thought this was great entertainment, some funny parts, some weird parts, and a genuinely nice kid named Scotty who won the whole dang thing. He seemed sweet. Kind of weird that I'm probably about his mother's age, but whatever. Jennifer Lopez was beyond beautiful, and Jack Black's appearance made me excited about Kung Fu Panda II.

With that, the countdown till summer continues...

Kitten Update

Turns out Bella the cat had to be re-named. Nope, there wasn't a violent backlash against my recent Twilight reference, turns out Bella's a bit feminine of a name, since... oops, Bella's a boy. Who knew? Not us, but hey Dan always did want a few more male influences around the house. So yeah, we've re- christened the cat. His new name is Oliver called Ollie, yes after Oliver Twist.

In case you were wondering.

PS

It turns out animals are the best form of entertainment ever! My kids are seriously obsessed with these poor wittle kitties. They have dressed them up, played school with them, and cuddled them practically to death. But I'm not sure the hub is as excited as the rest of us are. When Dan came home and saw me trying to take pictures of the cat tonight, he said, "We are not going to become the kinds of people who take pictures of our cats!" For some reason, that was really funny to me, especially because he looked so exasperated in a tired way when he said it. I guess living with 5 females has finally gotten to him. But hey, now he has Oliver.

Here Kitty, Kitty....

For the past few years I have been the only one on the block without a pet. I've used the argument that I have 4 children, and plenty to do, so WHY would I ever add to those responsibilities, a fur-shedding, money-demanding, often questionable smelling creature who will most likely destroy something I own? But alas, my babies are all out diapers, they're a little more self-reliant, and my excuses have run out. After all, doesn't every kid need a pet at one time or another in their childhood?

Personally, I grew up with cats. My mom is bordering on one of those crazy cat ladies that feeds outdoor cats and has her own 3 indoor cats. She even used to have her kitties bred so that we could have kittens to play with. My sister owns two cats that probably cost more than it did for me to give birth. So the cat thing is in my blood. I LOVE kitty cats. I not so much likey stinky, drooly dogs. Cats are potty trained and they practically just become a part of the decor. They're pertty, and I like them. Yes, I know that the majority of people love dogs, but I'm way too selfish to walk them, train them, and put up with their neediness. I'll stick with cats any day.

And I have to say, my girls LOVE them. How do I know this? Because they fight over them EVERY day. The poor cats have been so overly handled, I can't believe they haven't tried to curl up in a fetal position and started rocking back and forth. Noelle was saying to one of them, "Are you trying to get away from Mommy?" as she clutched him in her grasp. In that moment, she reminded me a little bit of Kathy Bates in Misery.

Ahh, kids, ahhh cats, ahhh kids and cats, so cute.

And their names are Gatsby and Bella, after 2 literary masterpieces... you know The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Twilight by Stephanie Meyers.

What? Why is that funny?

Missionary to Watch

Our church currently supports 3 missionary families. One of them is the amazing surgeon who has devoted his skills to Mozambique, Africa. Check out this video at

http://hospitalafrica.org/

Spell Check

Every Monday afternoon Lorelei brings home a folder full of the previous week's classwork. I always glance through her papers to see how she's doing. This week as I perused through her assignments I saw that at the top of each page she had written "Lorelei Sarah."

"Um, Lorelei.... you wrote Lorelei Sarah on all of your papers?" She smiled and looked down.

"I know."

"Well, that's pretty cute, but you do know that Sarah's not your middle name, right? Your middle name is Elizabeth."

"Yeah, I know, but Elizabeth's too hard to spell."

I thought that was pretty funny.