Birthday Party Day...

You just can't beat all you can eat pizza, hot dogs, chicken, fries, tacos, spaghetti, and ice cream...

All you can drink frozen coke...

All you can play lazer tag, go karts, mini golf, mini bowling, and bumper cars...

Arcade games...

And lots of good friends...

For a 13th birthday party...

Well... unless somebody throws in a laptop, too...

 It's Been Fun...

 L.

I Was Hoping...

... to be more productive today.

As it turns out, the most exciting thing I did all day was to install this new toilet seat:

OK.  Go ahead and have a good laugh at my expense now...

L.

Random Thought...

It just occurred to me that I paint Miah's nails far more often than I painted Grace's nails at age 3.  I stopped to consider why.  Who does this?  At any rate, it finally hit me that when Grace was Miah's age, I was spending an awful lot of time putting her hair in pigtails, leaving less time for nail painting.  I sure love my Miah, but I'm always wishing she would grow more hair!  Oh well, at least she's color coordinated:

L.

What a Great Way...

... to kick off a new adventure!

Today was our first Michigan District quiz.  Not that we actually live in Michigan yet, but we're getting closer everyday!

We had an amazing time making new friends and seeing old friends, as well.  I think this is all going to work out just fine!

A few pics. from the day...

The Varsity Team, Gearing Up to Quiz:

2nd Place Finish:

Both Teams Together:

Grace and Kaitlyn Quizzing off for 1st/2nd Place - 

They really didn't want to quiz off...

Grace won the quiz off,

giving her a first place individual finish

both last week (NEI) and this week (MI):

Top 5 Varsity Individuals,

Grace, Kaitlyn, Amber, Seth, Cassie:

Great Quizzing Memories are Made on Long Rides - 

Looking Forward to a lot of These:

L.

Homeschool Science...

... is not my strongest point.

However, you cannot argue with how enjoyable it is to fly paper airplanes, outside, on a beautiful day like today:

 
And there were a couple of little siblings who were pretty excited to get some fresh air, too:

In the end, I think we've got the scientific method down... At least, I hope so:

L.

Look Who Finally Lost a Tooth...

Ian actually lost this first tooth of his yesterday, on Seth's b-day, but I thought I'd save the picture for today's post.  It was the bloodiest lost tooth I have ever seen.  His mouth literally filled up with blood.  I am not usually squeamish about this sort of thing, but it came just after dealing with blood spurting from Miah's mouth, on and off, for over an hour, because she bit her tongue and took a chunk out of it.  I seriously thought I was going to throw up!

In the end, everybody was just fine...

L.

PS  Our irresponsible tooth fairy did manage to make the switch, just as Ian was waking up...

Happy 13th Birthday, Seth!!!

I don't feel like I can possibly be old enough to be the mother of a teenager.  But, sure enough, I am!

It's new ground for birthdays for us.

I think Seth's favorite part of the day was picking out two dozen donuts.  Seriously.  It was more impressive than Disney World:

Since this is a "party year", the big cake is comin' up in a couple of weeks.  But, ya know, you have to have something to stick a candle in:

And some presents...  Seth asked for a "lifetime supply of orange pop".  With as fond as I am of letting my kids drink pop, this is almost a lifetime supply...  But I made him promise to outlive it, anyway...  I think the latest I've heard is that if he asks for a year's supply of pop on every birthday, it will, in essence, be a lifetime supply.  This really probably is a year's supply:

 

I am so proud of this guy!  Mama loves you "the most-est", Seth!

L.

Would You Believe...

… that it’s still Saturday.

Funny, I think I said something similar on Monday.

So I started off the day by welcoming my friend, Ang, who was willing to wake up at an unreasonable hour on Saturday morning and haul her toddler and preschooler over to my house to watch Caleb, Ian, and Miah for a few hours until another friend, Brandi, could arrive.  I think these people must be saints, because Ang send me a text, thanking me for asking her to watch the kids, and she sent me a couple of wonderful messages about the fun they had, as well.  She wouldn’t take anything for watching them.  Then… the deal with Brandi (& Lawrence, too) was that they would watch our kids for pretty much the rest of the day, and then we would hang out this evening, and we would buy them pizza.  After putting up with our munchkins for a little over seven hours, we arrived on the scene only to find that they had ordered pizza for us.  Who has friends like this?  I am blessed.

As many of you know, today was our last quiz on NEI.  It was a really good day.  Seth struggled in early rounds but managed to quiz out in the last three rounds in the morning, finishing 13th, overall.  And he was sick.  I’ll take that.  Grace had a perfect day, averaging 90 with no errors… clearly 1^st place.  I’ll take that, too.  As a team, they were undefeated in the morning and pulled off a first place finish in the tournament!  

Bon Voyage, Illuminate Peru:

This is not a great picture.  The lighting is terrible, and it’s a little bit blurry.  Whatever.  This picture represents my favorite moment of the day, and you might be surprised to learn that it’s not because of what was in front of the lens… not really.  It was, instead, what was happening behind me.  They had already been announced as the top team.  Everyone had clapped.  The “official” picture had been taken.  But I quickly stepped up and said, “Stay there,” because I wanted to take this shot.  And you know what?  Somebody started clapping again.  And it rose just a little bit louder and lasted just a little bit longer than it needed to, and quite honestly it got me all choked up, because I just love it when people show love to my kids.  And that’s exactly what that was.

This picture, I kinda like:

L.

Preschool Music...

... can it be?

Taking Miah to class, today, was bittersweet.  I wasn't sure if I was going to cry or dance, but as it turned out, things felt strangely normal and as they should be, so I just hung out with friends in the waiting area and enjoyed some good conversation.

I'm not going to lie.  Little things are setting me off and making me teary as I work through the emotions involved in transition.  Little things like thinking about leaving behind the tree Grace planted, an unexpected message here or there, taking a quick snapshot of Miah and her friends, thick as thieves as long as the snacks keep coming:

Miah, Owen, and Rocket

But it's all good - just a little bit of an emotional roller coaster to be so very happy and a little bit sad at the same time...  If you happen to catch me in tears, you might stop to ask if they are happy tears of sad ones!  A little of both are going to be present for awhile.  Or you might just ignore me, because I really hate crying in front of people!

L.

Some Things...

… just don’t work out.  And it’s OK. 

This intersection is, perhaps, the best reminder of that, for me:

As I sat down to write, it suddenly occurred to me that I don’t really want to re-hash the story.  I thought I would.  But I don’t.

I hope Phil doesn’t mind that I made him turn around to get this picture for such a short post!

L.

There Are Things I Should Say…

… but I’m finding that I can’t seem to get the words out.  If you know me, that’s saying something in and of itself!

Mostly, I am overwhelmed.  I am overwhelmed at God’s goodness.  For anyone who does not yet know, Phil accepted an associate pastor position, this past weekend, and we are headed “home”.   

Almost 12 years ago, we knelt at an altar with Seth (age 1) and Grace (age 2 weeks) and were sent out from our home church on an incredible journey that has led us many places and allowed us to meet many people.  I don’t regret one moment of it.  On Sunday morning, we knelt at an altar with Seth and Grace (Caleb, Ian, and Miah had already headed to children’s church) and were welcomed in to our new church family, and we are ready to start the next adventure.

For the temporary, foreseeable future, we are even going to be living back “home” at the campgrounds where Phil and I met… were called to ministry… were engaged… bought our first home… and brought our first two babies home from the hospital.  I am really capable of crying (happy tears) like a baby, myself, over this.  I know this, because it just might have happened…

Adequate words…  I just can’t seem to form them, but let me share this.  Grace and I wrote a song, together, this summer.  The lyrics are mine, but she brought it to life with music.  This is about as close as I can get to what I really want to say:

This is Grace:

There is nothing I would rather be than yours

Filled with passion

Speaking only truth

Yet I’ve run scared

So unprepared

And the journey

Sometimes it’s just too much for me

Perplexed I cannot see

It’s easy to get distracted

In the wind, in the rain, in the fire, the storm

And often I’ve over-reacted

This life lived so loudly the whisper you’ve formed

Has been lost - in the noise

I’m getting what I don’t deserve

Your mercy’s clear at every turn

It’s something I could never earn

This is grace

Oh, your grace is amazing

Going back the way I came seems so unclear

But I know you

And I trust in you

I won’t be scared

You are prepared

And the journey

Sometimes it’s just too much for me

But it’s never too much for you

Mystified I cannot see

But you can always see

And you lead me

It’s easy to get distracted

In the wind, in the rain, in the fire, the storm

And often I’ve over-reacted

This life lived so loudly the whisper you’ve formed

Has been lost - in the noise

I’m getting what I don’t deserve

Your mercy’s clear at every turn

It’s something I could never earn

This is grace

Oh, your grace is amazing

© Lisa and Grace Michaels 2013

L.