This is My life

Wasn't my brightest idea...

So, yesterday I was in the middle of something (don't remember what) and I was almost done.  Katelynn was fussing and so I put her in her high chair to wait a few minutes before I fed her.  That made her even more mad and so I decided to give her a quick snack.  I saw Caleb's little snack bears on the counter and in my impatience and desire to finish the task at hand, threw a few on her tray. Big mistake.

Now, these little bears are Caleb's FAVORITE.  They are chocolate chip flavored.  The little bears are tan and then with the chocolate chips they are spotted.  Since we first got them, he has called them "dirty bears." The name has stuck and has even been passed on to other families whose children now ask their parents for "dirty bears."

Well, my mistake yesterday created my very own LIVE dirty bear. 

And just so you can see all those teeth that she loves to bite me with...

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I have been trying to post for days, but the never-ending internet situation has prevented me from doing so.  I do have someone working on the situation so I am HOPING that brighter days are ahead.

In any case, I wanted to post some pictures from a field trip with Alaina's class last week.  We drove up to a nearby mountain town and went strawberry picking and horseback riding (I use that term very loosely). 

The caretakers home...

Filling up...

And weighing in...

Afterwards, we went to a children's home that is run by one of the parents of Alaina's classmate. The home is for unmarried pregnant woman and for kids.  There are about 25 people living there (though when we went most of the kids were at school).  I was very happy for Alaina to be exposed to more of the "real" Indonesia instead of the not-so-Indonesia-like suburb that we live in.  The babies were oh so sweet and I was once again reminded that no matter what hardships I am facing, I am blessed beyond measure.

Didn't do much...or was it a lot?

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting on the floor, playing with Katie, and waiting for Jason to get home.  I was very ready to tell Jason how LITTLE I got done.  On my entire list of to-do's, I got one thing done. I was a little frustrated and was ready to unload a little bit.  And then as I waited, I started thinking..."So, if I didn't DO ANYTHING where did all my time go."  My answer to myself was, "Well, your whole day was filled with other things like reading books, kissing boo-boos, cooking lunch, changing diapers, listing to Caleb pray, reminding Alaina that I love her sooooo much, nursing, kissing Katie's chubby neck, talking with my helper, making homemade dinner rolls from scratch, helping out two other moms with transportation and child care, talking with a friend, ending conflicts between two year olds, and so on...

And then I realized that maybe, just maybe I have done a lot.  I might not be able to check anything off a to-do list, but what I do here in my home matters.  It is important.  It will have lasting effects -- for better or for worse. Raising kids is a slow process, one in which we don't usually see the immediate effects.  But one day, we will wake up and see the effect that all our "doing nothing" has taken. I hope I will be happy with the results.

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Here are some fallish pictures for you that I tried to post yesterday. We not get fall in Indonesia but it doesn't mean I can't have it in my house.

The nice thing about "fall" in Indonesia is that the weather is still warm enough to get to witness things like this...

And here are a few pictures of the kids from events at school.  No, Levi doesn't go to school but he doesn't let that stop him from acting like he does.  He takes a backpack (with a snack inside!) to school everyday when we go to drop off the other kids. He also apparently dresses up for anything the other kids do.

This one was for pajama day!

And this one was for storybook day -- all the kids had to dress up like an animal.  Alaina wanted to be Minnie Mouse which was easy because we already had the outfit.  I was convinced that Caleb would NOT want to dress up so when he announced to me the day before that he was going to be a cat I went into panic mode.  Thankfully, he isn't too picky and he didn't care that his costume was less than stellar. Levi, as we were walking out the door, demanded that he have whiskers of his own, so we drew some on and threw a hat on him and called it good.

And one of my sweet Katie enjoying her new crib. When we unpacked it we got some confused looks from Levi who has faint memories that the last time he saw that crib he was sleeping in it.

Happy Halloween, Digital Scrapbooking Day, and a whole lot more!

HA!

Yea, life has been a bit busy here. Two big events -- Halloween and Digital Scrapbooking Day (yes, that is a real day!) just flew by without much notice from our end.  We have been filling our time with things like I LOVE TO READ MONTH, pajama day, and Storybook Day.  Other time has been spent playing playdough, getting settled with all our (seems like new) things, and driving around in our new car!

We are still trying to work out our internet situation. We have someone from the school working on it and we are hoping that something comes to fruition.  Otherwise, I am not sure what we will do. The thought of moving makes me want to choke and I am not even sure we would be allowed to. But this situation we have going on here -- not going to work!

Anyway....

The November Grab Bags are up in the store, just in time for Digital Scrapbooking Day.  It had been a LONG time since I scrapped so it was nice to take some time and play with these!  Here are some pages I did.