~girl time~

recently missT and i had the awesome blessing of girl time. we had to travel to vancouver for a medical appointment. when we were done, uncleG joined us and helped us navigate the transit system. it's been more than 10 years since i lived in the city and used transit on a regular basis. besides that, there's been some significant changes since the olympics rocked beautiful bc.

i love this picture. one of the things i noticed after we had arrived home was the symmetry. it's almost a perfectly balanced picture. okay, the tall building on the right doesn't help much.

i love it when an adult freely gives a child their undivided attention.

the following pictures were taken by missT. we had stopped at a 'green space' to wait for auntyN. of course, boredom is never far from reach for a child. missT took the camera around the little park and these are some of the results.

can you spot the monkey? uncleG is a pretty special guy.

great picture, eh?

this is one of my favorites

~the global exchange~

i am so interested in this! while checking the 'stats' option for this blog, i learned that people from so many places stopped by. i may never travel to new zealand, france, singapore, or germany, but this blog has touched down somehow. it maybe only for a second or two, but hey, that's more than i can say for me.

naturally, i'm curious about what made you drop in?

would love to hear from ya.

~~birthday in the raw~~

gotcha, didn't i?

so now you're wondering how that title has anything to do with this picture, eh? i'm venturing a guess that only BB has any idea. :) well, this little mrT4 has had reactions to dairy, eggs, wheat, and corn.

so WHAT to make for a birthday cake?

a raw one, of course. you have to check this out. the ingredients are:

~cashews, ground pretty much to a paste

~avocado (yes, you read that right)

~cocoa

~cream cheese (why he could handle this, i don't know)

~coconut oil (i melted it, thereby skewing the 'raw' part of this cake)

~peppermint

absolutely amazing (BB, if i forgot anything, could you zip me the correction?)

you should try it.

hot wheels!

aren't these great? t2 has been waiting a long time for this craft! they really do need to be bigger, but i couldn't find clothespins any larger than these... well, actually BigT did find some but they were too huge. these little hot wheels are quite easy to make: buttons, twist ties, straws, clothespins, and hot glue.

the straws serve as axles; the twist ties anchor the buttons together; and the hot glue adheres the rear axle to the clothespin.

while i had everything out for making the cars, i dressed up some of the other pins to use when displaying the children's artwork. my painter husband gets quite tired of the idea of filling holes in the wall from the pins/tacks/tape i've been using. he'll be so proud..... hahaha!

the not-so-last straw

i love the unbridled creativity children have! after we had finished the little clothes pin cars, each one had to have a straw to play with. it's just a plain old straw, one of those that stretch and bend and here's what my babes came up with:

t2: hey, mom, i can burp in my own ear!

 t3 had to have his picture taken because everyone else was. :)

 missT: mom, can i have a string and a pompom?

i want to make a microphone (headset) for when i sing.

these straws also became cannons attached to the cars and wings for planes when pinched in the clothes pin. when all the play was finished, the straws were used for their purpose... and the children guzzled 2-3 cups of water! good, healthy fun. my kind of life.

~nerf wars and counting the cost~

yes, i'm one of those mom's who allow their children to shoot at each other. no, they haven't become more violent in their play or talk because of it. we have rules. for example, if someone doesn't have a nerf gun, they are not fair game and if someone is smaller/shorter/slower than you, they are not prey! they need to be protected.


about a month ago, before the grass in a fenced play area had grown too deep, two cousins came for a sleepover. of course, the request was for the nerf stuff to be taken outside. very reluctantly, i agreed. i mean, would YOU want to search out about 50 nerf bullets in six inches of grass? after making sure the children understood that they, not me, would be finding each and every bullet, they counted out equal numbers of bullets.


out they went.


soon, in they came....


sans bullets.


not so good. the conversation went something like this: (me) did you find them all? (them) no. (me) out you go. (them) but..... (me--mercy is diminishing) go.


they went... then they came.... with a few bullets.


yes, i was exasperated.


after we found all but four, i had to preach a little. "...so, if you guys had known how hard it would be to find all the bullets, would you have asked if you could play nerf wars?"


i got a resounding "NO!"


to which i replied, "so, this makes me think of when the Bible talks about counting the cost of following Jesus. if you knew how hard it would be sometimes to make the right choices and obey Him, would you still have made that decision?"


i'm thankful to have received a decisive 'yes!' from those who had already made the commitment to follow Him. even though they're children, life isn't without its challenges.


i've thought a lot about it. finding nerf bullets was relatively easy compared to the fiery darts the enemy throws at us. i'm sure glad i have a Savior (who) is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). he's covered the cost.