November's Pebble Beach Horse Back Ride

Finally, getting this posted from November: Gabriel and Mommy had a great time the Sunday after Thanksgiving going to the Pebble Beach Equestrian Club. We got to take a horse back ride through the Del Monte Forest and up on the sand dunes over looking the ocean and the Pebble Beach Gold Course! Gabriel got to ride a horse named "Trooper" which he LOVED that name!! Trooper was introduced to him as acting like a 3 year old which Gabriel would be well aware what that is like since he has a 3 year old brother! Trooper seemed to sense he had a novice on his back and caused trouble but I think it added all the more to the adventure!! Gabriel would love to go back and ride "Trooper" again. We had a fun time and we'd like to go again next year.

Conversation with Philosophical Annalina

This happened a few weeks ago but I am finially getting it blogged. One morning at breakfast Annalina asked me "When can I drive?" We discussed that and then she said "Why do people have to go to college?" I said it was because it opened up more opportunities, usually better paying jobs, and that sometimes jobs were closed to people simply for the fact they didn't have a college degree. Annalina's response was "What about what Jesus wants you to do?" Good point! I said that we should study something that would help what Jesus wants us to do! After she and I talked she turned to Ross and said "Ross, God opens doors for you. He doesn't really come to the door! . . . . . . That would be a surprise!" Wow, where did she get that illustration and understand it!! Pretty funny!

After that conversation she started talking about the night before when (Babe was at school writing a paper) and I heard a banging on the house, etc. and I called Babe to let him know I did now know what I was hearing and it was scary and I put the kids in the bathroom and told them to lock the door. The first few minutes I was in there with them and Gabriel started quoting out loud Joshua 1:9 "Have not I commanded you be strong and of a good courage . . ." I could tell he was encouraging himself in the Lord. Annalina started praying and Ross saw her doing that so he prayed too. Gabriel told me later "Bible verses are always useful for a time in need." Very true.

Anyway, back to breakfast and what Annalina told me. She said "Mommy, last night when we were locked in the bathroom (when Babe came home he and I were out in the house with the kids still in the bathroom to make sure all was well) I told Ross how to go to heaven. I want him to get saved. I hoped in my head that he would talk to a Cubbies leader, I said "He could talk to Mommy and Daddy to which she replied "I know but if he wasn't with you." I was very touched she didn't know what was going to happen to Mommy and Daddy out in the house or to them and she saw the need to share the good news of the Gospel with her little brother. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speeketh."

I talked to the kids later and told them that I was pleased with how they handled the situation and said that the only thing I want for them and that I pray for is that they will "love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind." Gabriel said "Duet 6:5" I said "what is that?" because I don't remember references to verses. Then he started quoting the verse I had just said to him. He was just adding the reference to what I had said. I am very glad to see that they are hiding God's Word in their hearts. Ross told me "I think I need to grow up to be a soldier for God" and I hope he does that. It would thrill this mommy's heart.

The Nutcracker

Daddy and Annalina had a date for the Nutcracker Ballet up in San Francisco. Annalina LOVED the evening with her Daddy!! Babe told me on the way back to the car which was parked about 2 blocks from the performance she twirled about every other step!! When she got back to the hotel she had to show me her twirls. It was obviously one of those great childhood memories. I was so touched to watch little Annalina in her special outfit she and I picked out twirling around holding Daddy's hand like a ballerina and thinking that someday she wouldn't be that little twirling ballerina anymore. How fun it is to watch this stage. I am so thankful for my one little girl. I am thankful for all of my kidlets but it is nice to have one twirling ballerina!

When she and I went to look for an outfit she was telling everyone that she was going to the ballet!! She was soo excited and the evening obviously did not disappoint!!

One Year Starts from Today

Couple momentous things from today. Gabriel and I started reading through the Bible together. Our goal is to finish in a year. We read our own Bible and just sat next to each other and set the timer for 13 minutes. I had heard recently that 11 minutes a day will do it and I'm a slow reader so 13 might be better! It was fun and Gabriel and I talked about the Tree of Life after we were done and how that Adam and Eve would have had to live forever in their sin if they had eaten it and how in Revelation that tree will be open to eat from with 12 fruits. What will it taste like? Anyway, I am excited to have this journey with Gabriel. It was funny to me that in just the first day we thought some of the same things about the same verses and he brought it up!

Carson started getting up on his hands and knees more consistently today! Yah, crawling is on its way!

Ross was so funny today I was reading him Christmas books he was pulling out of the Christmas book box and he grabbed one book and didn't open it up to look inside it until he got to me and to his dismay it was not a picture book but a book filled with WORDS!! He said "THIS BOOK SCARES ME IT HAS WORDS!" Again and Again, so cute.

Just something I read and liked:

"Just think, you're here not by chance,

but by God's choosing.

His hand formed you

and made you

the person you are.

He compares you to no one else--

you are one of a kind.

You lack nothing

that His grace can't give you.

He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose

for this generation."--Roy Lessin

I smell something sweet . . .

We were walking out of Costco last night and I was holding Ross and I smelled something very sweet in the air like someone was baking something and I said "I smell something very sweet" to which Ross replied "it must be me." I got a good laugh, what a kid.

Constant Mommy Equals Much JOY.

I was telling my parents stories about the kids today as I was talking to the them on the phone and my dad said you need to put those on your blog.

Annalina was drawing a picture to go along with a thank you note she had written to Grandma and Grandpa for some fun things they had sent to her. They were really meant for crafting but she thought they looked like Smudgies which is a strange creature that comes off one of her favorite shows "The Upside Down Show". She had drawn a picture of she and Ross playing with the Smudgies and came to show it to me and I thought it was cute then she said she still had to "draw Mommy to make the picture real." She meant that the picture wouldn't be a true picture if Mommy wasn't there, basically Mommy is always there. Boy, talk about grabbing my heart. Sometimes I get discouraged that I haven't lost my baby weight because I am so busy or I look tired but it is statements like that make it all worth while. I love being a part of the pictures of their lives. It is a great joy and as it says in a quote the mother that stays home is paid one of the highest salaries LOVE." So true!

The other story was from about a week and a half ago. Gabriel had been saving money to buy a remote control dinosaur and finially had enough money to purchase it. We were getting ready to leave the house and Gabriel said "Mommy, are we really going to go buy the dinosaur?" I heard Annalina say to Gabriel "Mommy, wouldn't say it if she wasn't going to do it."

I love my job. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the responsibility and even the amount of work which thanks to a fantastic husband is easier and sometimes I feel like pulling out my hair but I LOVE my work of love. God has blessed me with an amazing husband and amazing kids. When I type that it sounds so over said but God really is so good, so good to me.

School Thanksgiving Party

The kids and I had a great day full of Thanksgiving FUN!! We read Thanksgiving books, worked on our own Thanksgiving fun activity books, and did Thanksgiving crafts! I need to take a picture of them with their crafts. Their favorite Thanksgiving book remains Squanto about the amazing circumstances of Squanto's life the prepared him for the job God had for him. That book they had looked forward to hearing! It was such a fun day doing the out of the ordinary . . . well, except for Gabriel and Annalina did do their cursive. We even had a super fun snack a Thanksgiving Turkey cupcake cake!

Even Ross got in on the Thanksgiving worksheets! He really put himself into it and made such funny comments as he was working! On the bottom of one worksheet it had small font words and he pointed at them and said "the word says Grandma {aka Grandpa} told us about succulents [plants all over this area of CA] and trees that's what the word says!" Then on another page where he was suppossed to fill in the blanks with correct words [actually Gabriel and Annalina were!] he just scribbled all over the page with yellow crayon and said that the page said "to write words that were bumps" and then he said "This page is going really fast for me!" Histerical. He did another blank page where he "drew" a picture of "a big flower sat by the house with a but on it" and said "Mommy, this (one part of his picture) one is a very hard one for me!" Gabriel and Annalina enjoyed the humor of his comments too!