The Rock Wire

2012-01-28T17:01:00.001-08:00

We are ready for you baby3!!

5x7 Folded Card

2012-01-18T20:51:00.001-08:00

Zoe's Birthday Adventures

2012-01-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun for Zoe's birthday.

The night before her birthday, we surprised her by picking up a few of her friends and going to the Phinneaus and Ferb live show. It was a fun & creative show. Everyone enjoyed it.

But as we were trying to find a parking space, we saw something peculiar- SNOW. There was a hill of the fluffy white stuff in the parking lot!

We came to realize the ice arena was right there and had likely dumped it. But, it sure made for a great adventure after the show & such a fun birthday treat! This is Zoe's first time playing in the snow that she came remember. It was special!

While she was sleeping that night, we wrote a birthday message on her chalkboard wall & put up the birthday banner. We also prepared her scavenger hunt to get her big birthday present from us. When she awoke in the morning, we handed her the first clue. She was pretty good at it!

We were also able to use a free meal at California Pizza Kitchen and we coupons over 60 free tokens at Chucky Cheese. Not bad for one birthday!

And to think we're not done. Our nephew, Peyton, turns 13 tomorrow. They join us tonight for pizza & cake!

37 Weeks

2012-01-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, her lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.

Your baby weighs about 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel. And, many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long.

Happy Valentines!

2012-01-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

We are ready for Valentines Day with these awesome greetings! Aren't they fun? I can thank Pinterest for the idea. Check out the idea here.

It's not completely done, we will punch holes above and below their hand so the final product will have each girl holding a sucker in their hands.

I know it's a month out, but we're ready to go!

Guess Who Is (Almost) 7

2012-01-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Zoe's birthday is next Saturday, January 14. We have a fun gift planned, can't wait to give it to her :)

They aren't kidding when they tell you they grow up fast. I know she is only 7, but at the same time... she is already SEVEN!!!

Zoe is an awesome girl. she is creative, sweet & nuturing. I say she would make a really good nurse because she is excellant at seeing needs and helping others.

She loves horses & unicorns, remote control cars, making houses out of boxes, creative projects, playing Wii, her scooter, joking & playing, etc. She has really been wanting to scrapbook & make up her own recipes and we are looking forward to learning those things this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!

Transitions, Budgeting & Baby3: 2011 in a Nutshell

2011-12-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! We have been looking back on 2011 and had a great year and we can prove it with this collage :) Also, check out our highlights below!

Blackbelt: In 2011, Matt achieved one of his life goals, to earn a blackbelt! For the past 4 years, he has studied with the independent Yakzir Maka Federation (similiar to Karv Maga) here in Bakersfield and this last Spring, he was promoted from Apprentice Instructor to Blackbelt. YEA MATT!!

Budgeting: This last year, budgeting has been a major focus for us. While we have never been big spenders, we have learned that without a plan- money gets lost. It has been a lot of work but having a budget has been so freeing. We know what we can use where, remove the guess work & even have goals. I'm proud of us!!

Comic-con: Another great blessing is that for the 3rd year in a row, Matt got to go to Comic Con in San Diego. This year, his friend Damon joined him. To watch their experience, check this out.

Countdown to Christmas: Each year, I have a lot of fun creating our own Advent Calendar to countdown to Christmas. I do this because our kids will only be kids once. Also- at least in my life- special doesn't happen until you purpose it!

Family in Bakersfield: We had some fun changes in our life in July. Becky's sister & nephew, Jenn & Peyton, made a move from NYC to Bakersfield. From July to December, they stayed in our home sharing in life and responsibilities. We love having family around to come to the girls sports games, to help out if we're in a crunch and just enjoy meals with.

Father's Day: Matt is such a great dad! He really shines in his role! In July, we had fun celebrating him. We enjoyed a game of mini golf. Then afterwards, enjoyed a steak dinner. We appreciate all you do to provide for, protect and lead us!

Featured Alumni: Too fun, in October, Matt was the featured alumni in the dotComm Newsletter, the newsletter for all Northwestern College communications students and alumni. I just so enjoyed Matt's answers and think I have the funniest, most creative husband. I just enjoy him! To read the full newsletter, click here.

First Grade: Zoe started 1st grade this fall! Her teacher is wonderful, we couldn't be happier. Zoe is doing well in school, especially in her comprehension in reading. It's been fun to see her learning go to the next level this year.

Green Smoothies & Pain: You might know, I've had some neurological issues with an unknown cause since the birth of our first baby in 2005. And while we have journeyed trying to get it figured out, no source or reason has been found. So this year, I decided since I didn't know what it was i would take a proactive approprach to at least feel like I was working on it! Green smoothies! Many weeks, I will grab a smoothie recipe, head to the farmers market and bland my greens for the week. I do seem to have more energy and my attitude is definitely better... I am happy to continue to do Green Smoothies and feeling like I'm doing something. greensmoothierevolution.com.

Halloween 2011: For Halloween this year, Zoe wanted to be a pillow pet. I made the costume and it actually worked out. The rest of our costumes we didn't make, but was still fun. I was Padame Skywalker (my incredible friend Jaime sewed this!), Matt was Raphael from the Ninja Turtles, Zoe was a Lady Bug Pillow Pet, and sophia was Princess Leia.

Home Owners 1 Year: February marked one year that we've been homeowners! We have had fun calculating and thinking through our different spaces and figure out how to best use them. We've painted the interior of the house-- yellow sunshine. Matt has a Dojo workout space; I have a Mom Cave craft room. We've had a huge learning curve this first year and have made so improvements and changes. We are loving being home owners!

Kern County Fair: It has become a yearly tradition for us to attend the Kern County Fair. Usually Matt has to work for the radio station at the fair, so the girls & I meet him. The highlights this year was the rides & petting zoo. Sophia had the time of her life on the boat ride. She was so happy and almost broke into a tantrum when she was the ride was over. But the petting zoo was even better! We spent awhile in there petting deer, llamas, goats, and a donkey... there was even a kangaroo!! The girls would've stayed there forever. My highlight was the kettle corn, mm! And Matt was excited to try the deep fried Kool-Aid... his review: not amazing, but worth trying!

Library: In July, we finally got Zoe her first library card. What took us so long, we do not know! We have had a blast this year going to the library and picking out books. Zoe's favorite is non-fiction learning books. Matt & Zoe both love the room where you can buy used books and magazines. It's been a great family tradition, est. 2011!

Long Beach: Matt & I had a great little getaway in September to Long Beach! We were blessed with a free hotel room & decided to use it to celebrate our anniversary. There was a good mix of the practical (we spent half the day on Saturday at a financial workshop), discovery (found a great $1 bookstore) & adventure (rode a tandem bike!!). Extra thanks to Jenn who spent time with our babes so we could get refreshed. It was lovely!

Minivan & Midwest Trip: One of the huge blessings of our year was our trip to the Midwest. Here, we saw our families and were able to pick up our new-to-us minivan. (We were gifted with a minivan and after 9 years as a one-car family, we have two cars. And just in time, too, as we are expecting our 3rd baby.) We spent time in both Wisconsin and North Dakota right over the 4th of July. We were so glad to have been able to visit our families!

Nine Years Together, Zero Regrets: August 31 marked our 9 year anniversary. Each year, we try to do something fun to celebrate our time together because life and people call for celebration! We collaborated on some fun lists together, but each posted slightly different ones on our facebook profiles. Here you can see our lists.

One Big Happy Family: Zoe had her first school musical this October. Since our families couldn't come, we made this video to share. Check it out! Her speaking part made me cry!

Planning a Celebration: We have been having fun planning and looking forward to our 10th anniversary this coming August 2012. We are doing some fun things-- for instance, we rented a castle & booked one of our favorite artists for a concert all in California's central coast wine country. It's 1/2 year off, and we're getting ready to celebrate!

Pumpkins & Pinterest: We had a lot of fun with our pumpkins this year. Zoe used a kitty stencil, Sophia painted, Matt used yoda accessories and I carved a P & drilled holes. We love the fall! And this fall was a little more "pinteresting", too because of a website called pinterest. There are tons of ideas to view and pin. This fall, I had so much researching different ideas and that's where we got many of the ideas for pumpkins. I highly recommend it-- and find us on pinterest!

Remote Control: One of the fun highlights from this year are the remote control vehicles that Grampy found for us. First, he sent Matt & Zoe two trucks. They had a blast with them & made this video. And this Christmas, Grampy gave them an awesome helicopter, too. They made a video for that, too-- Helicopter Rescue. Such a great adventure.

Saga Continues: We found out in late June our saga continues as we are expecting our 3rd child, due in early February. We have had fun along the way, from announcing the baby to not announcing the gender, accepted name suggestions, brainstorming names we wouldn't go with, then finally announcing the gender. It's been fun! Now we wait until February, only 4 weeks or so out.

Snails & Perspectives: Sophia has grown a lot in the last year! Physically, she has strated running and jumping and her language and social skills have progressed amazingly. She went from a vocab of under 50 words to now speaking in full sentences. She was sad at first when Zoe went to school this fall, but has enjoyed her days at home 1:1 with mom. Plus she enjoys the rides to & fro looking for school buses.

Sonsurf VBS: Zoe went to VBS in July and had SUCH a fabulous time. St. John's really does a great job teaching the kids about Jesus & they make it really fun. Each day has a different theme like: Wacky Hair, Sunglasses, Hats & Water. VBS has been an highlight for Zoe the past two summers. Surely we will continue the tradition. Love it!

Turning 30, Becky's Right of Passage: Although I wasn't excited to turn 30, Matt blew my mind with the celebration. He actually got many of my loved ones (from present times & past) to make a video to wish me happy birthday. It was such a special birthday and the great way to mark the start of a new decade. I am SO SO SO SO thankful for all the love in my life & simple ways people encouragement and touch my heart! So many birthday blessings, but the greatest of all is the people in my life. Read my birthday tribute here & watch my gift.

Week of Broken Teeth: On New Years Eve, Zoe fell off the bed while playing. This kind of thing happens all the time, but this time fell straight on her front teeth!! It was a teary, bloody mess. We had to wait 3 days to see a dentist and thankfully, there was no permanent damage to her teeth. Our bodies are so cool- they actually eventually healed themselves. The funny part of this whole story was the morning of zoe's appointment, I was getting Sophia up and saw her smile looked funny. Upon closer inspection, I see her two top front teeth were chipped! Although, Falls & trips happen regularly with young ones, I have no idea when or how this happened! Thankfully we had no repeats of this day anymore in 2011.

Winter Garden: In Southern California, the growing season is different than what we were used to growing up in the midwest. There are two growing seasons here, summer and winter. This is our first year trying a winter garden. We planted a few root crops: carrot, beats & garlic. We also planted sweet peas, romaine lettuce and broccoli. Wish us luck! We're hoping for lots of yummy veggies soon.

Work: We moved out to California for Matt's job in September of '07. Four years later, we continue to be thankful for this wonderful job. He serves as the Afternoon Drive On-Air Host. To hear him, you can tune in locally (88.3) or online from 2-6 p.m. PST. He is also serving as the Production Direction and produces most of the on-air spots. And Matt's rock & hip hop show, Level 6, is now playing across the country in several cities-- including Minneapolis! I have been working for our church, Life Journey, as the Director of Creativity & Communition since August of 2008. It is a good fit for my gifts & my life's season. I especially love the creative work I get to do & using my gifts to help communication organize & keep people informed. We have also both been working together doing some freelancing, mostly copy writing & audio comedy bits through Explosure Creative.

Zoe's Broadcasting Premiere: We had nothing to do with this, but it sure made us laugh! Enjoy Zoe's unsolicitated broadcasting premiere.

Helicopter Rescue

2011-12-29T11:08:00.001-08:00

Thanks Grampy for the awesome gift to Zoe & Matt!

Now for the waiting!!

2011-12-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

Baby3 could be here anytime between now & February 15. Now for the waiting game!!

We have been a little slow-moving and are just begining to get a list of what we need to do to prepare. I have been feeling a little panicked and unprepared, but started preparing has helped that feeling. The ball is rolling... but we need:

A plan for where our girls will be when we go to the hospital
A properly installed carseat
Freezer Meals
A packed bag for the hospital
Unpack & wash what we do have (bedding, clothes, etc.)
Buy what we don't
Search craiglist for a stroller

There's a lot we can't plan when it comes to a baby being born. But there's a lot we can & we need to get our butt in gear. But either way, it's going to be great!

Ready? Set? Go.

Our 2011 Advent Calendar, days 4-7

2011-12-06T19:49:00.001-08:00

We've been having fun with this year's advent calendar. (Read more about our calendar here.) We are on days 4-7 right now.

Day 4: A family favorite: Elf! While we watch, we made a popcorn garland. Was a cozy night with a favorite movie. :)

Day 5: This was our day to deck the halls. We decorated the inside of our house & set up the nativity. Zoe was very excited to decorate our house for Christmas.

Day 6: Today we joined in a tradition done around the world: Saint Nicholas Day. I love the story of St. Nicholas. He was such a cool guy!! Such a cheeful & generous giver. As part of the tradition, I filled the girls' boots with treats and a few small toys. We also watched St. Nicholas: The Story of Joyful Giving to help us learn who St. Nick was.

Day 7: We are purposing tomorrow as our gift-making workshop. Hoping to get some fantastic heartfelt gifts completed.

Hope you are enjoying your countdown to Christmas!!

Their first present for sister

2011-12-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

The girls making first present for sister, such a special time

Our 2011 Advent Calendar, days 1-3

2011-12-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

I have had a lot of fun the last few years creating our own Advent Calendar to countdown to Christmas.

I do this because our kids will only be kids once.
Also- at least in my life- special doesn't happen until you purpose it!

So here's what our calendar looks like this year. We have a physical calendar and each day, they tear open a window to see what it says.

Bellow is our first 3 days. New this year, we are reading a chunk of Scripture each day to unfold the Christmas story. And with that, the girls will be illustrating the story. The pictures they draw will be used to tell the story of Christmas in future years (thanks to Shutterfly's photobooks). Special thanks to the blog How Sweet It is for the line-up of Scripture and images to help tell the true story of Christmas!!

Day 1: Tonight, the girls will watch the Bakersfield Christmas Parade on TV (being a workday, we couldn't get down to downtown on time) & write a letter to Santa.
If you live in Bakersfield, find information about the Bakersfield Christmas Parade here: bcparade.com or watch it at TV 23.

Day 2: One of our family highlights each year is the December 1st Friday Event in Downtown. There is always music and art on the sidewalks... plus mega bonus, meet the best Santa ever at Solorzano Photography AND there will be FREE Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides. 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. THIS Friday at The Historic Arts District.

Day 3: Our day at home to get the yard & tree ready. Pretty self explanatory :)

Matt as Featured Alumni in this Month's NWC Communications Newsletter

2011-12-01T12:29:00.001-08:00

I have the funniest, most creative husband. I just enjoy him! He was the featured alumni in this month's dotComm newsletter, the newsletter for all Northwestern College communication students & alumni. To read the full newsletter, click here.

First World Thanks

2011-11-27T16:05:00.001-08:00

The last summer, we were introduced to a concept called "First World Problems." It is all about the crazy inconveniences and problems we have in the first world how they come along based on our luxuries, not our true problems. To get a greater picture on the concept, watch this video:

We love having an attitude of thanks for the most basic levels of luxury, because when you look at it in this perspective, we are more blessed than much of the world. We are thankful for:

Life
Access to clean water & the variety of food
Shelter & warmth
Family & friends
A place to worship without persecution
More changes of clothes than there are days of the week
Health & access to great healthcare
A great country & relative safety
And so much more... we are blessed!! We are thankful!

Below is our Thanks Tree. We eat took at least 5 leaves and wrote what we were thankful for. We were all thankful for different things, but top of the list was relationships. Happiness isn't real unless shared! Relationships, beyond our most basic needs of food and water, are our greatest gifts.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!! May your "thanks" continue into each day of the year!

Parenting: Beautiful Heart Charts

2011-11-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, it's said. One thing that has worked well for us as parents is charting. And one of our most successful charts is the Beautiful Heart chart.

This is Zoe about to redeem one of her Beautiful Heart charts. :)These charts are our way to recognize behavior that goes beyond actions, but is the result of a beautiful heart. We like to reward generous loving, (sharing, thinking of others), servanthood (doing a task or chore that isn't yours), etc. But the thing is, there is no formula. The things we recognize should be abnormal and a stretch and something to be recognized.

We keep it simple, just use paper we have around the house & stickers. When we run out of stickers, we color in a circle. The chart itself doesn't need to be fancy, the concept is still caught.

The good thing about it not being a formula is that your motivation for good cannot be greed. It has to be genuine. We do our best to really look at the heart behind the actions. When Zoe has filled up her chart, she does get to go to the store to pick out something fun.

We hope doing these charts affirm our girls' character and help them to become a quality ladies one day. And it seems to work well for us. So far, we just use the charts with Zoe, but as Sophia becomes older we will use them with her too. Zoe really likes getting affirmed in her character and of course picking a toy out is a bonus for her.

Zoe's Broadcasting Premiere: REST TIME

2011-11-10T12:51:00.001-08:00

Enjoy Zoe's unsolicitated broadcasting premiere.

(The sound volume is low, so listen carefully.)

Baby Odds by Karl Stavem

2011-11-07T11:26:00.001-08:00

Our friend Karl is GREAT!

On Friday before our gender reveal, he sent us this mathmatical analysis of baby odds to venture his guess.

We thought it was really funny, so we asked his permission to post it so others could enjoy his creative scientific work as well. :)

BABY ODDS

A BRIEF STUDY OF “THE PELISHEK PROBLEM.” OR “HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB”

BY KARL STAVEM
ONE BABY
Okay... so the odds of having a boy or girl are 50/50, right? So, when you conceived (ha, sex) Zoe, there was a 50% chance that she could have been a boy.
So what is this saying? If 100 women had babies about 50 of them would be girls, and 50 would be boys.
TWO BABIES
NOW... What are the odds of having two kids - each of them girls?
Well, conceiving (ha, sex again!) is an independent task. Meaning it doesn't matter what happened before, each time you conceive (do it) the odds are still 50%.
SO... to find the probability of two independent events occurring in sequence, find the probability of each event occurring separately, and then multiply the probabilities. In math words... when two events, Z and S, are independent, the probability of both occurring is:
P (Z and S) P (Z) P (S)
So, the probability of Zoe, Z, being a girl:
p[Z] (.5);
Probability, of Sophia Justice, S, being a girl:
p[S] (.5);
Probability of both of them being girls:
p[Z and S] p[Z] p[S]
0.25
Printed by Mathematica for Students

2 gender.nb
So there’s only a 25% that if you have two kids they will both be the same sex. Weird, right?
So, what does this mean? That if 100 women all had two babies: 25 of them would have two girls, 25 would have two boys, and 50 would have a mix of boys and girls.
THREE BABIES
So, since you are being mysterious and not letting anyone know what you’re having, I’m left to guess.
Well, it’s a coin toss as to what happened when you conceived (BOOM). So what’s the likelihood that you’ve got a girl on the way? 50%!!
I feel like we’ve covered that part. BUT...
Remember we're not looking at individual cases. We’re looking at your whole family and asking the question, “What are the odds that a family could have three children, and all of them are girls?”
The odds of the same result occurring three times in a row is pretty low.
Think about doing a coin toss three times. It seems more likely that you will have a mix of heads and tails instead of three heads with no tails. (In this example, tails are penises).
So we go back to our formula with independent tasks, and this time throw in one more variable... G for girl.
P (Z and J and G) P (Z) P (J) P (G)
So... the probability of having a girl:
p[G] (.5);
The probability of having three girls, and no boys:
p[Z and J and G] p[Z] p[J] p[G]
0.125
So, the odds of having three girls in a row is 12.5%.
So what does this mean? That if 100 women had three children each, about 13 of them would have 3 girls.
Printed by Mathematica for Students

gender.nb 3
SO WHAT’S YOUR POINT??
So... you’ve got a group of 100 women. Each of these women had three babies. Only about thirteen of the women have three girls.
Meaning there are 87 other women who have AT LEAST ONE boy.
My conclusion: You are having a boy.
It HAS to be. I mean the odds of having three children with AT LEAST ONE boy are 87.5%. But that’s just a guess...
TO THE CENSUS DATA!!!
Do census figures back up my theory?
OF COURSE:
.
See the bottom there. That means in the US 12.1% of three-children families have all girls. EVEN LESS THAN WHAT I PREDICTED. SO... you’re having a boy.
THE END ###
(By the way: If I am wrong, ignore this.)
Printed by Mathematica for Students
3-Children_Families
Ii 14.151915 Actual
12.596 Predicted

It's a....

2011-11-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

We had a cross-country gender reveal. While our parents had cakes delivered to reveal our newest Pelishek's gender, we hosted a gender reveal party at our home.
(Click on any of the photos to view them larger.)

We had a UFC themed night.
U will C
amIright Night

Matt made an amazing UFC ring where a Barbie battled Casey Jones.
Our guests ventured a guess and wore a bow or a mustache to represent.

Here's our decor for the night. The mustaches & bows, ultrasound pics, and our blue & pink food.
Unfortunately when the photo was taken not all our food was set out. Here's what we had.
Blue: blue chips & blue hummus, blueberries, York pieces
Pink: whoppers, rasperries, baked apples, pink whipped cream

Our delightful guests!

And it's a....

GIRL!!!

TKO!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

Princess Leia
Ladybug Pillow Pet
Raphael from the Ninja Turtles
Pregnant Padme

Pumpkin Pelisheks

2011-10-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Here is an update to our post about our Pelishek Pumpkin Plan. We thought our pumpkin plan was prepared, but turns out it was most definitely pending. :)

The day didn't allow us enough time to buy more spray paint, so Zoe opted out of silver spray paint and decided to do a kitty stencil instead. She was very happy with it. Maybe next year we'll have to try the paint & scratch method.

Sophia did indeed paint her pumpkin. And she was way into it, too! She covered the whole thing and made it very colorful!!

Becky stuck with her plan, too. After mod podging leaves onto her pumpkin, she carved out a "P" and drilled holes in it with her dremel tool. (highly recommend drilling... not only is it pretty, especially with light shining through, but it was a heck of a lot of fun!)

Matt, after helping Zoe carve her kitty, ran out of time to do much more than use his Yoda accents. Still, looks good!

And then to finish our Pelishek Pumpkin Plan, we created a pumpkin tower... very festive, decorative and fun!

Here's our people at the pumpkin patch. :) (Dang we have cute people!)

Pelishek Precautionary Pumpkin Plan

2011-10-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you were just sitting at home, dying to know what we will do with our pumpkins this year. Well thankfully, we are producing our plan right here, right now. Let the party begin! :)

Here is our 2011 pumpkin-carving plan. We had fun searching and collecting ideas and plotting how we wanted to decorate pumpkins for this fall. Watch for photos later!

Matt is going with the old school free hand carve. I’m sure he willcome with something masterful. Of course,someone’s gotta use those Yoda accessories he bought.

Becky modpodged leaves on her pumpkin this afternoon and will be use her dremel tool to hand drill the letter “P” into her pumpkin as well as other holes for the candle light to shine through.

Zoe is going to try the scratch a Design method. First, we will spray-paintthe rind and let dry. Tonight, we will use a spoon handle to scratch away paintto create stars, moons, and spirals.

Sophia is going to go nuts with painting. She is too young to carve,so I’m just hooking her up with paints & brushes. It’s going to be colorfuland beautiful.

ALL AFTER Our different DECORATING Methods we will be creating a Pumpkin Tower. To Make a tower, use a knife to make holes in the tops andbottoms of the large- and medium-size pumpkins. Insert the dowel completelythrough the pumpkins (largest to smallest).

We also considered these other options, (the first 2 also great for young kids):

Permanent Marker FACE: freehand the features with washable markers(just wipe off and restart if you're not satisfied with the design), thenfinalize the sketch with a black permanent marker
Designs: Usepainter's tape and self-adhesive paper to mark off designs (stripes and circles).Spray with glossy black and white paint.
Score: creating designs by scoring the skin ofa pumpkin using a linoleum cutter

Winter Garden

2011-10-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

In Southern California, the growing season is different. To us, anyways! Growing up in the Midwest, we had one growing season and it was pretty short. Here, though, there is two growing seasons, summer and winter.

This is our first year trying a winter garden. As you can see we've planted a few root crops: carrot, beats & garlic (unpictured). We also planted sweet peas, romaine lettuce and broccoli. Wish us luck! We're hoping for lots of yummy veggies starting in 8 weeks.

And we're still waiting on a few treats to ripen from our summer growing season. Our watermelon plant has two melons! MMM! Come on watermelon babies, grow!

We're counting down...

2011-10-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

to EVERYthing!

What do you have to look forward to this season?

Green Smoothies and Pain

2011-10-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Since the birth of our first baby, I began to have some different neurological symptoms come up in my body. At first, i would see just sporadic numbness and tingling throughout my body. It was strange, but there was no pain or anything. Still I sought it out. 5 MRIs later, spinal taps, EMGs, many other tests and 6 1/2 years, they still don't know the source or cause. Shortly after the birth of our second daughter, my neurological issues got worse. A change from sporadic numbness and tingling, my hands and feet continue to grow more and more numb and lost strength. Also new this Spring, pins and needles headaches with pressure in the front. I also am extraordinarily tired each day, have cognitive delays and some other issues which may or may not be related.

And though my symptoms have progressed, I choose to not be afraid. For one, they cannot find a single thing wrong with me. Yes the way my body is communicating is saying something is going on, but through the many tests, nothing has come up irregular. But for two, I am making a choice to do something instead of sitting and waiting for my symptoms to take over me. And they still might get worse. In fact, my neurologist strongly encouraged me to consider not having any more children. There is a rule of thumb with symptoms like this and pregnancy, with 1/3 of cases symptoms get worse, 1/3 get better and 1/3 stay the same with pregnancy. And for me with each pregnancy, my symptoms have gotten worse. So, for us, choosing to welcome another baby into this word was a risk. BUT a good risk!

Anyways, here are the choices I've been making not to let the fear and pain of health concerns dictate my life:

Choosing life despite my symptoms (that means welcoming this baby, but also living life to the fullest every day)
Choosing hope (I will not give into fear, especially knowing nothing solid has been found wrong with me. I choose belief and faith)
Green Smoothies (For a long time, I've known things about eating well that I've chose to ignore. Not anymore. More below)

Starting last Spring when i was feeling my worst, another friend told me about how their life had changed doing Green Smoothies. I have heard this many times over, but for some reason remained skeptical. Then one day it occurred to me that nothing should be stopping me from at least trying green smoothies. It is not a scam, I'm just blending veggies... The worst it could do is that I could see no difference, but the best is that I could see some improvement.

There is a ton of evidence that you are what you eat and that what you consume does affect your body. Seems like such a simple principle but yet we think so often that it will take some complicated to eat well or we just want to continue to eat junk because we like it. I am not a health nut, i will never be a health nut... but what this has done for me is given me something I can do. And truthfully, I haven't noticed any significant difference. I do seem to have more energy and my attitude is definitely better... but it's all about choices!! You can always do something!

I am happy to continue to do Green Smoothies and feeling like I'm doing something. And after baby 3 is born, I'm going to continue to seek out what is going on with my body. Pray for me, too, that my symptoms would indeed improve and not continue to progress. And if you are interested in the world of Green Smoothies, check out greensmoothierevolution.com.

Names we COULD go with... but should we?

2011-10-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

We promise not to hold out forever on the baby's gender. :)

Since this will likely be our last addition to our family, we have been having a little more intentional fun with this pregnancy. I'm all about celebrating everyday; Since the days of pregnancy are here for their last season, I'm all about celebrating this season right here and right now.

Matt & I spent some time thinking of creative names we could (but won't) go with-- regardless of the baby's gender, whether boy or girl, just to have a little fun.

Anni Moe
Bailey Tyranus
Blake Coco
Cameron Evan
Drew Artica
Harley Dooku
Jean Grey
Jordan Lightning
Katana Gluten
Kelly Joe
Kris Plotwist
Mathmatica Dystopia
Morgan Crix
Parker Anklesaurus
Pat Adi
Skyler Tracy

Inspiring Redcloud/ Becky's BD Song

2011-10-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

RedCloud to me

Oct 7 (1 day ago)

Happy 30th Becky! Very few times in my life am I inspired by someone elses idea, but the act of writing and recording that song inspired me to do my "own" birthday song! And its one of the most downloaded songs off of my new album, (mcredcloud.bandcamp.com) "birthday suit" ... I perform it at every show- so I'd like to thank YOU!

Matt was amazing for my 30th. One of the things he did was commission one of the most talented MC's out there, Redcloud, to co-write & record a song for me for my birthday. Redcloud liked the way the song turned out so much that my song actually inspired the song "Birthday Suit" on his most recent album. You can listen at the link above... but do note, it will make you blush. My version, below, still has a few blush-worthy notes, but nothing like the song on his album. My song is super fun... Matt & Redcloud included many fantastic memories. LOVE IT!!

Memories:
"said you wanted a Kitten Farm one day when you grew up"

Matt knows when i was a little girl, i dreamed of one day being a farmer... a kitten farmer.

"you surprise me like the corn inside y bowl of Ramen noodles"

When we were first married, I made dinner called "Ramen Surprise." Still one of Matt's favorites to this day. The surprise? Corn.

"Manchild is rolling inside his pendleton"

For matt's 30th, I commissioned Manchild, another AMAZING artist to write & record a personalized song for Matt

"since i pulled a table and two chairs out of my GMC van"

As friends before we started dating, I used to meet matt for lunch on break from work. One day, we just ate lunch in a parking lot. I thought it was so cute when he pulled out chairs from his van for seating. i thought he thought of everything, really he just had chairs he acquired in his van!

"like driving in New Zealand... now we're stuck at the top..."

In 2004, we took a missions trip to Australia & New Zealand. We ended up driving 15-passenger vans throughout New Zealand. On the first day driving, we drove to the top of a park to sight-see. It was so windy and the driving experience scary, we didn't want to drive back down EVER!!

"I'll break the law to walk behind a frozen waterfall"

In 2006 on a date, we had an incredible experience to see Minnehaha Falls frozen. We did hop the fence, and went behind teh frozen waterfall-- an experience we'll never forget!

Thank you Matt again for blessing me with an AMAZING birthday & many wonderful years together!

One Big Happy Family!

2011-10-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

The Baby's Gender, according to Sophia

2011-10-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

We told Sophia the baby's gender before anyone else knows.

I think our secret is safe.

Portraits

2011-10-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

I decided to attempt some portraits of the girls. These are the results! At best I'm a hobby photographer, but my girls make the photos great :)

Long Beach!

2011-10-06T11:08:00.001-07:00

Matt & I had the joy of a little weekend away a few weeks ago. We were blessed with a free hotel room & decided to celebrate our anniversary the weekend after Becky's big 3-0. We had SUCH a sweet weekend together. There was a good mix of the practical (we spent half the day on Saturday at a financial workshop), discovery (found a great $1 bookstore) & adventure (rode a tandem bike!!). Extra thanks to Jenn who spent time with our babes so we could get refreshed. It was lovely!

Kern County Fair 2011

2011-10-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

It has become a yearly tradition for us to attend the Kern County Fair. Usually Matt has to work for the radio station at the fair, so the girls & I head out to the fair when Matt is already out there.

The highlights this year was the rides & the petting zoo. Sophia had the time of her life on the boat ride. She was so happy and almost broke into a tantrum when she was the ride was over. But the petting zoo was even better! We spent awhile in there petting deer, llamas, goats, and a donkey... there was even a kangaroo!! The girls loved it & would've stayed there forever. My highlight was the kettle corn, mm! And Matt was excited to try the deep fried Kool-Aid... his review: not amazing, but worth trying!

Are we having a boy or girl??

2011-10-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

We're not sure… here look at this and then you tell us.

Fetal Ultrasound

2011-09-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Email from doctor regarding ultrasound:
09/09/2011 11:22 AM
These were all good:

" CONCLUSION: Single intrauterine pregnancy. No abnormalities are seen. Clinical and sonographic dates coincide. "

Baby Doctor, MD

Turning 30, Becky's Right of Passage :)

2011-09-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

I was so overwhelmed at my birthday! In fact, I've been overwhelmed for like two weeks knowing it was coming. It arrived yesterday and I had to work real hard to just keep my cool. I really didn't want to turn 30. But the celebration, the encouragement, the love so helped!!!

It was such a special birthday and the great way to mark the start of a new decade. I am SO SO SO SO thankful for all the love in my life & simple ways people encouragement and touch my heart! So many birthday blessings, but the greatest of all is the people in my life.

Matt was incredible-- was able to get videos from friends from all areas of my life.

My family who I met when I was born :)-- my mom and sister!
My friend Bridget who I met when I was 14 at Camp Onomia over a conversation over giant black ants!
My friends Sheena & Katie who I met as a junior in High School when God blessed me with Youth Alive.
My nephew Peyton who I saw come into the world January 1999.
My friend Sarah B who I met at BSC in January 2001.
Of course, Matt who I met also in January of 2001 at a very random gathering of people.
My in-laws Jo, Rick & Rika I met in the Fall of 2001 when I started dating your son/ brother. You still haven't gotten rid of me :)
My friend Sarah P, my very first friend when we moved to Minneapolis in 2002.
And my friend Alissa A.-- who was Matt's friend in high school and has been a great friend of mine!
My friend Alissa F., who I went to Northwestern College with-- Public Relations Majors!!
My daughter Zoe who I have the pleasure to mother & met in 2005.
My friends in Bakersfield- Jan, Erin, Barb, David, Becky, Bernie- who we meet in 2007 when we moved here!!
My daughter Sophia who I also have the pleasure to mother & met in 2009.

(Alissa & Katie, sorry your videos weren't compatible, I got to see them and loved them with all my heart!!!)

I am so thankful for this gift. Thank you to everyone who participated. I'm in a season where I really needed some encouragement and it really did a number on my heart to hear from everyone in ways I've touched their lives. In addition to those who helped with the video, thank you so much to all who came to eat cake & watch the video premiere! and thank you for all who took time to call & write to wish me a happy birthday! I sure love you all!!!!! Who wants a hug??

The Big Reveal

2011-09-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

FLAT ZOE's book

2011-09-21T21:55:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Updated: Now Accepting Name Suggestions

2011-09-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

We are now accepting name suggestions for our bun in the oven!

We're not indicating whether or not we're going with any of these names, but we thought it would be fun to invite suggestions and we'll make an ongoing list and update it with any additions!

All the names below have been suggested to us... And, now it's your turn! Let's hear them!

Female Names	Male Names
Adora Alexa Anabelle Anezka Athena Audrianna Bay Blaise Bodana Calliah Callie Cassidy Charis Ciera Hope Clara Constance Dagny Dominique Eliska Emily Francesca Isabella Jael Jem/ Jericha Jera Jolana Joy Katie Jo Lauryn Leia Lily Lydia Madelyn Malaki Michaela Natalie Olivia Padme Petra Quinn Rainbow, Rainbow Bright Samatha Savannah Shiley Strawberry Shortcake Sunshine Thorn Desintiny Zady	Adrienne Alian Anakin Bob Carl Caleb Charles Chester Clive Ctibor Damian Elias Elijah Greyson Hadden Hank Jared Jericho Joel Jorgen Levi Leyoda Libor Luke Malachi Mathmatica Mannaseh Matrix Michael Oliver Owen Rampage Roboto Ryker Samuel Silas Skids McBurn Skyler Sterling Styx Dinosaur The Hulk Vensa Wyatt Xerxes

Zoe's Art: Favorites from Kindergarten

2011-09-03T22:38:00.002-07:00

Which one is your favorite?

Pandora

2011-09-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

We love Pandora. We listen to it on our phones, we listen to it on our blue-ray player, we listen to it on our computers.

I've particularily been addicted to some kids stations. I listen to them even when the girls are asleep. They are just so sweet and positive and helps me bring out the best sides of life. Plus, I'm a nerd.

Anyways, if you are a parent of little ones 1-12, I recommend the following Pandora stations:

Little Sack of Sugar (my #1 by far)
Taco Love
Karen O & the Kids
Jewel (Children's)

If you're into adult stations, you can't go wrong with these:

Eye of the Tiger (Matt's #1 by far)
JJ Heller
Norah Jones (great chill music)
Epic Soundtracks
She & Him
Aerosmith
Spoken
Kim Walker-Smith

9 Years Together, Zero Regrets

2011-09-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary. Each year, we try to do something fun to celebrate our time together because life and people call for celebration! We collaborated on lists together, but each posted slightly different ones on our facebook profiles. Here you can see our lists. Happy anniversary to my love, still my favorite friend!

Our Lists of 9 Things:

Matt's List

Becky's List

‎Rebecca Pelishek

9- years ago you married me
8- times you’ve moved with me
7- hair colors you’ve had
6- months it took to work up the courage to ask you out
5- days of travel to move across the country
4- years living in California
3- kids with you (one is just real tiny at the moment)
2- bruises this last month from your surprise attacks
1- times you cooked ‘ramen surprise’
0 - regrets
Happy Anniversary!

‎9- years we've been married today

8- times we've moved
7- number of tacos eaten weekly
6- months we dated
5- years in minneapolis
4- years in bakersfield
3- times we've dressed in groups for Halloween: Yip yips, Skywalker Family, Ninja Turtles
2.5 - kids we have together (one is real tiny at the moment)
1- favorite place (where our heart is, together!)
0 - nights someone had to sleep on the couch
HAPPY 9th ANNIVERSARY, MY LOVE, Matt Pelishek!

And here are some classic photos from our early days:

Zoe's First Day of School

2011-08-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today was Zoe's first day of 1st grade! She was happy to be there and
as cool as a cucumber.

Sophia, however, cried most of the way home about the school bus. :)
But she quickly forgot about it. Below a picture of her, too,
when she discovered a snail. Her language skills are getting really
good.

I'm sure Zoe is going to do very well. Her teacher, Mrs. Aies, seems
great and I have heard great things about her. She doesn't have too
many friends from last year in her class, but she will make friends
quickly!

Multimedia message

2011-08-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

New back-to-school tradition! Rootbeer floats!

Matt goes to Comic Con!

2011-08-08T18:15:00.001-07:00

Fwd: Multimedia message

2011-07-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

First library card!!

Transitions

2011-07-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

We have some big changes in the Pelishek home. We were gifted with a minivan and after 9 years as a one-car family, we have two cars. And just in time, too, as we are expecting our 3rd baby.

The second transition is that my sister, Jenny, moved here to Bakersfield. She is getting settled and transitioning and her son Peyton will come next month. We are very excited to have them here and many more adventures to come!! We finally have someone around to come to Zoe's soccer games, to help out if we're in a crunch and just enjoy meals with. It's totally different than we've had for a long time. Almost a bigger change than 2 cars. :)

Our Flower!!

2011-07-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

We call Sophia OUR FLOWER. She is growing up so beautiful. She is such a joy :)

Wacky Hair Day

2011-07-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Zoe has been at VBS this week and is having SUCH a fabulous time. They are doing such a sweet job teaching the kids about Jesus, I love it. They have a fun thing for the kids to do each day. This was taken on Tuesday, Wacky Hair Day. Wednesday was Sunglasses Day, Thursday- Hat Day & today, Friday, is Water Day.

VBS was the highlight of zoe's summer last year, and it hasn't failed this year. YEA for St. John's for doing an incredible job with VBS once again. Love it!

The Saga Continues...

2011-07-01T07:25:00.001-07:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

2011-06-19T20:05:00.001-07:00

For Father's Day 2011, we went mini golfing and went out to a steak dinner, MM. LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU MATT!!

May the 4th Be with you!

2011-05-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

Not being a Star Wars fan, but being married to one, HAPPY STAR WARS DAY.

And in honor of this day, may the 4th be with you!

We camped out for Star Wars, Episode 2 in May 2002 with our friends Damon & Meg just a few months before we were married.

Blue Moon Highlights!

2011-05-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since we've sat down and thought through what's going on in our life. And maybe that's because for the last year or so, we have not had any big changes. In february marks one year we've been in our 1st house. We love it! In one year, we've made so many changes. I've proud of matt for improving and fixing so many things in our house. This is his first time with a lot of those things but he's pushing forward and learning like crazy. Just in the last few months, he has installed a screen door, fertilized the lawn, hung a mirror and a fan, fixed the sprinklers and so much more. We are trying to settle into things slowly so we don't regret where we've hung anything or decorating a certain way. We love owning a home. We are having fun calculating and thinking through our different spaces and figure out how to best use them. It's been a blast. We've painted the interior of the house-- yellow sunshine. Matt has a dojo workout space; I have a Mom Cave craft room. We are loving being home owners!

We are so thankful for our lives here. Sometimes there are so many blessings, we can't keep up. For instance, we were actually gifted the opportunity to take our girls to Disney over Christmas! We'd been wanting to, but hadn't been able to free money to do it. So getting a gift to take the girls was such a delight. Because of another generous gift, we were actually able to take the girls a second time. Matt & I are holding the same jobs we've had for awhile now. I continue working at our church as the director of creativity & communication. Matt is on-air and working as the promotions director at the radio station. We've both been picking up a little freelancing as well. And Matt's rockshow, Level 6, is now playing across the country in several cities-- including minneapolis!

We are thankful for family who has traveled to visit us over the years we've lived here. Just in one year's span we've had my mom, matt's mom, matt's sister, my sister... my mom and sister just visited again and now matt's sisters are coming very shortly! We haven't been able to visit as often as we would like, so we are very grateful family has made the effort to visit us!

But speaking of not visiting as often as we'd like, Matt & I have focused on budgeting a bit the last half year. We are taking more control of the daily, weekly & monthly flow of our money. We were never big spenders. We were always good at not spending money and being sort of intuitive with when we needed to take it easy, but we never really had a budget. But, having a budget has been so freeing. We know how much we can spend on each category every month. There's no longer guess work involved. and the beauty of it is that we now have goals and other things we are saving for. So now, we are planning to visit our families 1-2 times a year. We actually have a plan in place so we can do this instead of watching the years roll by and never being able to afford it on our own. I'm proud of us!!

We are very much looking forward to this summer. We are planning our first purposed trip to see family. Really want to plan in some fun days while we're there and really think through it. Matt is also returning to Comiccon and bringing a friend with him this time around. Our friend is going to help Matt build an epic shade off the back of the house, too! Stoked for that. After summer is over, I get to look forward to turning 30... and this August, we celebrate our 9 year anniversary.

Speaking of our anniversary, Matt & I having been having fun planning our 10-year anniversary celebration for next year! We rented a castle, booked one of our favorite artists all in California's central coast & wine country. It's still 1 1/2 years off, but we're getting organized now and hoping some out of town friends and family come. Save the date cards are being sent out the next few weeks!

All for now. I hope to do better again about reflecting on life on a somewhat regular basis!

Getting Ready to Celebrate 10 Years

2011-03-23T22:57:00.001-07:00

Forever Yours Berry Save The Date

Unique save the date cards and magnets by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The Week of Broken Teeth

2011-01-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

On New Years Eve, the girls were jumping on the bed with me. Zoe kept standing on me and then letting herself fall down. I was trying to do research for work, and would try to keep them in check as I was working (sometimes it's difficult being a work-at-home mom!). I should've drawn them to a stop because what happened next sucked! Zoe fell off the bed- and this kind of thing happens all the time- but this time fell staight on her front teeth!!

Oooh it was a mess. Lots of tears & blood. Lots of fear on my part.

We called the emergency dentist who suggested we have her in on Monday to make sure there was no permanent damage. Monday was 3 days away!! Zoe adapted quite well despite her injury. Mostly it was her parents who lacked adaptation.

Her appointment went off well. The dentist said her teeth may even heal themselves! The alternative is that they will fall out early, but she was optimistic.

But get this-- the morning of zoe's appointment I was getting Sophia up and saw her smile looked funny. Her two top front teeth were chipped! Falls & trips happen regularly with young ones and i have no idea when this happened.

What an interesting week. I'm thinking we'll laugh about this in the future.

Winter

2010-12-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about winter this week. It's been pouring here all week, which I love. I like to pretend that it's blizzarding. Seems like people here don't know what to do with the rain, they are used to sunshine. It's a hard life here in the winter :) Anyways, I enjoyed these winter-themed videos. Even though it's not what it looks like here now, I remember the snowy days fondly. The snow is so peaceful. and sometimes, it was a nice excuse to be trapped inside your house. It slowed life down. And when the snow subsided, it was an adventure digging you & your car out. Good times. Happy winter, world!

Enjoy the videos & also here's an epic rap song called "Snow Day."

They GROW So FAST!!!

2010-12-12T17:25:00.000-08:00

Oh my!! Look at the difference between our pumpkin patch pictures from this year & last-- especially in Sophia.

The left one is '09 & the right is '10! Sophia is 6 months in the left picture and 18 months in the right. Zoe is 4 1/2 on the left & 5 1/2 on the right.

They GROW so fast!

Thankful & counting...

2010-11-28T09:04:00.001-08:00

Found this list of thanksfuls from last year & thought they were still worth posting... Will make another thankful list soon!

Becky- For the main & deep (love, Faith, friendship) & the auxiliary (artistry, white mochas, laughter, growth, color & variety, bike rides, dark chocolate, story-telling, tacos, atmosphere, etc.).... mmm

Matt- Living in a house full of pretty girls. Knowing that while other people are shovelling, I'm picking lemons from the tree in our yard. A great job.

Zoe- Everything Mom, God (He's cool & awesome), Sophia (I get to take care of her), Grandma (when she comes to visit), Chart (she can kill bugs for me)

Sophia- dad, mom, zo-zo, baybes, chart

Apple Picking!

2010-11-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

Why did we wait so long to do this?! It was a very fun time to pick our own apples... an adventure in and of itself. It was a novelty since we don't grow our own apples (though we do grow lemons, mandarin oranges, peaches, lavendar & rosemary!). We found a farm that doesn't charge for picking, only charges by the pound. The 5 lbs of apples went for snacks & the rest turned into pies. Another great adventure!

Veterans Day Parade

2010-11-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

We went to the sweetest Veterans Day Parade. I'm sure most of you know that Veterans Day is our day in America to celebrate all the men and women who have served in the military. We had a blast at this parade. It was our honor to cheer and clap for the vets as they came by. How sweet was it to see them tear up as people cheered! I'm so thankful for all the vets! How admirable to give your life to God & country. Some gave the greatest gift they could give- their life. For the first time in my life I also enjoyed seeing all the marching bands from all the area schools. Man, it brought back memories from my band days! So glad we went and so glad for this great time together!

Tea for One

2010-11-25T22:14:00.000-08:00

MMM, I just love how this image turned out!

Sophia has started the fine art of make-believe!!

I know it's easy to miss these precious moments after having more than one child. I never want to do that! Yet staying on my toes as family archiver isn't an easy job. :) I'm working on it...

This photo is catching Sophia in the act of her first days of pretend... her very first tea party! Keep the imagination coming sweet pea!

Halloween

2010-11-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

We've entered a new age in Pelishek Halloween costumes. An age where our kids care what they dress as for Halloween & the parents no longer can decide easily for the whole crew.

This year, Zoe had her heart set on being a ninja. Honestly, I think she wanted to be a ninja because daddy was a ninja a few years ago & she wanted to be like daddy. (Sweet, right?) We were gifted the tinkerbell costume. Sophia made for a gorgeous tink! Matt & I wore our Yip Yip costumes again this year & attempted a costume contest (we lost to K.I.S.S.!).

We went to the Safe Halloween event at the museum for our trick-or-treating. It didn't seem worth the charged $8 a pop. The give aways were things like toothbrushes, beef jerky, and lots of cheap toys with corporate logos (companies pay to have a booth to promote their business- not what we had in mind). BUT it was safe... and we were home in time to also go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood a bit.

It was a nice time for us Pelisheks! We won't do it the same next year, but we were glad we checked it out. Maybe next year, we will find some fabulous theme to our costumes. More shall be revealed!

Pump-pumps?

2010-11-25T21:23:00.002-08:00

Sophia's vocab has to be at least up to 30 at this point. Over the last few weeks, we spent time at the pumpkin patch & carving pumpkins, so Sophia added pumpkin to her vocab. Only it's a long word! So instead of pumpkin, she says pump-pump. You're good with that, right? I love our cute word master! :) I love the ability to understand what she wants or needs. Fun stuff.

Like our pumpkin we carved? It was Zoe's design! Yea for family memories!

Everyday Happy

2010-11-25T21:11:00.000-08:00

Choosing to find happy in everyday is a choice, isn't it? It is for me at least. I've learned that of myself so I try to maintain a proactive attitude, always doing the things that keep me thinking and feeling positively.

I love to be outside. I love to laugh with my girls. I love to do stuff with my hands. I love to express and reflect. Days like this are perfect to remember we are living the best days of our life... among the things that really matter.

Life, love, faith & freedom

baby

2010-10-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

song by J.J. Heller

(Double click to watch large... for some reason it gets cut off a bit when it's small)

She steals our camera

2010-10-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

She loves to take photos with our camera. She has one of her own, but using ours is way more fun. The cat is a usual object of this torture and she's starting some new artistic ventures & perspectives. Love this girl, love sharing my life with her.

Celebrating the 1st Anniversary of Balloon Boy

2010-10-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

My Life is...... SO... beautiful

2010-10-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Motherhood is the hardest job I have ever had. And I... can be SUCH a lightweight. I try to take time intentionally to look at what God is doing in the season of life that we're in and I'm almost always blown away by it's beauty.

In this video Zoe was trying to help me capture how Sophia jumps (or thinks she's jumping). But what I think was captured was so much more.

Mustache Party

2010-10-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

How did I not write about this?! While Matt had some things going on for work this summer, Rika & I threw a mustache party. For some silly reason, I'd always wanted a mustache party, where we all wear fake mustaches and watch burt reynolds movies (or another stached friend). Rika was up for it, so we went for it!! We had mustache food-- like croissants & coffee dunkers... and watched Moulan an with uncountable amount of mustaches. REAL fun. YAY for mustache parties.

Until next years!

Our List

2010-09-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Before Erika headed back to Wisconsin last week, we made a list of all the things we had experienced this summer. It ended up being a real long list. I don't expect much of it to make sense, but here it is:

We camped at Pismo
Made beanbags
Peach chaos & Blonde Control
Spit Watermelon Seeds
Farmers Marketed
Boba Tea
Sewing Machine Lessons
Made Ice Cream
Hung Pictures (mine won)
Found BD (a wild kitty in Home Depot garden dept.)
Watched BD (SVU, lots of it)
Celebrated BD (Matt's 30th)
Destruction Party
Mustache Party
Greek Festival
Venice Beach & L.A. Film School (& walked 2 miles with the girls)
"Manned" the grill
Pickled
Grilled 2x in one day (burgers + kabobs)
Tortured flies
I said awkward things (on accident)
We thai chai pie (& thought Chey should too)
Hissing Beetle
Fusion Friday (Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2)
Scooted
Ladies Night Out
I Swept, She Sharked
Tehachapi Days
Awesome socks (we made some & were gifted some)
Chased awesome clouds
You know what summer means... (windows down, music up)
I chunked it....
Erika died (or at least acted like it)
She Yakzired (bless her)
Cave Cheese
"Hi, hi, kitty"
Dear facebook...
Sam
Sewed covers
Moved Bunkbeds
Flew
F & M Fabrics, Mac & Cheeza
People-watched at MMA Fight
Switched kids
Bought Cigar
Yellow Picnic
Textmexed
Yoga-ed
Beated Each Other Up
Up & Down

That's about it!:)

Mamas

2010-09-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Since we've been in California, we've heard people refer to our little girls as mamas. For awhile we were confused so we started to ask around why on earth they were being called mamas when they were indeed very small and not mamas at all.

Well, it turns out they call little boys papas as well.

Any theories?

Well I've heard a few. The Hispanic people really value family and hold the parental relationships as very valuable. So they view the little girls as little mamas and the little boys as little papas. Isn't that sweet?

Seems like this idea is cool in a lot of ways. You are more likely to value someone if you know he or she will likely be someone's parent someday. Plus valuing the future parent in them gives them a deeper meaning to their existence from an earlier age. Knowing that side of me has been so cool... I didn't know how important being a mama was until I was one and if this culture prizes that, well, i think it's neat for young girls to know that being a mama is a wonderful role to have.

That's all... mamas & papas!

We Made Monster Feet

2010-09-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm setting new goals in my life as the seasons have been changing and swaying. One of them is that each afternoon that I have the girls (monday, Tuesday & Friday), we are having Magical Mom Afternoons where we set out on an adventure of fun-ness.

Today, we had 3 fabulous tasks to do together.
1) Make Nannerfins (Banana Muffins)
2) Have a Homework Tea Party (because having a party makes everything more fun)
3) Make Monster Feet -- pictured below

It was magical indeed. We were all engaged, laughing and loving. Good day!!

Now you need to make some monster feet!!

what i do best...

2010-09-10T23:40:00.000-07:00

Hello.

I have happily taken the role of family archivist (better than family anarchist... am i right?). So I'm traditionally the one who writes on this blog, but sometimes you do hear from Matt as well. He writes maybe 2x a year to my maybe 2x a month, but hey... it's collaboration. :)

I was looking at pictures from this summer and man have we covered a lot of ground!! It seems like so much has gone on, it's been hard to keep up with all the sweet moments. In short: Pismo camping, pita chips, 4th of July, watermelon seed spitting, sewing, Matt's 30th birthday countdown, freezer cooking, sophia's therapy, trip to ND, 8 years celebrated, growing peaches, creative team, milk bubbles, sunburns, yakzir maka, freedom, Tehachapi days, film school, muscle beach, walks, mustache party, Fusion Fridays, fabric, riding a horse, Comic Con, costumes on the kitchen floor, cooking with my girls, Pokey Little Pupply, scrapbooking, Dan O' Day, chalk, swim lessons, backyard play... and so much more. Blessed summer!!

We've been on a bit of a journey with Sophia. I've written before how she has been a little behind on her physical milestones. It's interesting to me how as a mom I instantly take the pressure and guilt on that my child being behind is because of something I did wrong. So lame that I think that. I've been working on that. Sophia is so close to walking now. Today she totally walked as her soft prompt just hung from her. So basically she thought she had support, but she didn't... and she was totally walking. She just needs to get through the fear & she'll be walking like a pro. The end is near :) ... Then we'll open a new chapter for her.

Zoe loves Kindergarten....... she is so happy to go to school. It is so sweet to see her run to me after school. Today she colored an "Itsy Bitsy Spider" booklet and on the cover wrote "to mom from zoe." Oooh man that was so sweet! I love it... I'll keep it forever. I love us both having the structure from the school schedule and I love what they're working through in Kindergaren. So basically, it's been good.

It's been such a blessing to have Erika here since late June. It's been huge. We've been making tons of memories and having her help here has been beautimous. Dang it I am so grateful!! I really enjoy Erika's company, but I am excited as she works on her next steps.

Been thinking lately about how truly amazing moms are. So so so so so amazing. So selfless. So hardworking. Even the light working moms are hard working compared to any other profession. :) I can only now appreciate my mother... and probably only a fraction to what it's worth. Hug a mom today!!

I've been doing a lot of missing lately... Wish I could visit my family on a regular basis. Wish we could visit matt's family on a regular basis. And now with my parents selling their house and Erika heading back, I want to be where they are. I feel like we're jipped by not getting to make memories with them every year & they're jipped in the same way. I need to be patient and grateful... The Lord is my Shepherd. :)

This is a piece of patch... a little this, a little that... but a time to recognize the beauty of today.

I'm in love with you, Sheeky!!

2010-08-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Gee, I really like you. No... DANG IT I REALLY REALLY LIKE YOU!! I LOVE YOU!! Believe me!!

Matt & I have been reading a sweet book together called "Love & War" by John & Stasi Eldredge. IT's such a sweet book. If you are married, I would highly recommend you picking it up. It has really helped us remember how much love is worth fighting for.

All things get into funks. My face get into a funk when I repeatedly use the same soap. My body gets into a funk when I eat the same food. Our love gets in a funk when we get into the same routine. That's why I love a good book or conference or time together to look at our life and goals to figure out where we are going.

Celebrating our anniversary yesterday, we went down to the river, read our book, watched a horse be trained and prayed together. This so delighted me and I think it was my favorite anniversary celebration to date. We added to that some walking, talking, eating (at outback), exploring (some books at the bookstore) & some more walking. What a precious celebration.

I'm in love with Matt more every day. Despite my young in-love feeling, I worried that one day the high emotions would end and it would look very different. To my delight, it has not been too hard to love Matt. He is the favorite part of my day. And just being beside him makes a highlight!

Knowing him and being his friend has helped me to grow closer to God. We have demonstrated deep grace to each other... learned how to love each other despite our flaws or constant mistakes. And loving being together provides an example of how I can know my Father even more. (I love to spend time with you God!)

I think Matt is brilliant, a thoughtful husband, a creative employee, a funny storyteller... and an amazing dad. It's been a delight to grow deeper in love with you every day.

Happy 8th anniversary my love.

I LOVE us!

2010-08-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to be celebrating 8 years of marriage with Matt this Tuesday. I can't believe how fast our years together has gone. I love our life, our marriage, our love... I love us.

Us.

I love our secret smile that we share.

I love our "twinspeak."

I love being able to communicate with a simple glance.

I love our touch.

I love our humor.

I love waking up to you every day.

I love cheese bombs.

I love being next to you.

I love plotting ways to love you

I love talking through an issue or doing a creative project

I love learning with you

I love talking philosophy together

I love experiencing local flare

I love daydreaming with you, remembering snow & thunderstorms

I love exchanging audacity, and making each other laugh

I love how you always beat me in toothbrushing races

I love being willing to adventure and take risks

I love our sloppy morning routine and the noise level in our house

I love how we are always a work in progress

I love our family

I love how we are everything to our sweet daughters

I love how much we've grown... and how much we've yet to grow

GARSH, I LOVE YOU MATT.

I LOVE US.

The day we got engaged- Feb 14, 2002.

Love Is

Adapted By Becky Pelishek from "Love's Not" by Mars Ill & 1 Corinthians 13

Love is time spent, love is personal. Love is sacrifice. Love is commitment. Love’s until death do us part. Love is respect for yourself. Love always hopes. Love is action. Love never fails. Love unites. Love builds up. Love seeks wisdom. Love is sacred. Love is touch. Love is powerful. Love is creative; it is authentic. Love is physical, spiritual, emotional. Love is measured by bi-product. Love is passion. Love never fails. Love’s just, love's fair. Love takes thoughts captive. Love is controlled & gentle. Love is sweet. Love is uncontainable. Love always trusts. Love listens. Love is not self-seeking. Love is ready and willing. Love is patient and kind, love is sight for the blind. Love is patient, love is kind. Love was born before the morning, love's transforming your mind. Love protects. Love is body and blood, bread and wine, remember the time. Love is God divine, crucified for mankind.

Together, the best place to be!

Zoe Prepares for Kindergarten

2010-08-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is Zoe's thoughts on entering Kindergarten. She's a bit nervous, but excited. We got her teacher letter a few days ago. She'll be in the mornings AND has the same teacher as her closest friend. AWESOME!!

We're all excited to start our fall routine. I've been talking with Zoe about what she's going to do before and after school. Plus we've gotten some new clothes for her and she'll get a haircut soon.

I'm sure I'll get emotional when it gets closer. Who am I kidding? I'm already feeling that way. Can't believe she's in school!! YAY ZOE!!

Matt's Birthday Mix-tape

2010-08-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday my love!! 30 years, wow!!

This is the mix-tape that I've been quiety calculating, collecting and attempting to edit for a few years now. First came the idea of of the custom song from Manchild of Mars Ill. He's one of our favorite artists. His words are potent poetry. take daily.

Then I thought, to go alongside the custom song should be birthday greetings to make a mixtape!! You might know or you might not, that with hip hop, mix-tapes are common... and I wanted him to have the feel that this was truly a work of art.

We've had so much fun counting down to his birthday and the culmination is tomorrow. He's had SO many fun things, I can't imagine topping this birthday.

Learning to make tea!

2010-07-26T15:37:00.001-07:00

drying lavendar

For a while now, I thought it would be awesome to learn how to make tea. Fortunately moving into our new place, we've had tons of edible plant life that I can turn into tea. I'm starting with lavendar & mint tea. And maybe I'll expand upon it once I've learned. MM.

So in a few months if you get a present from me... and it's tea, don't be sad! Be happy, I worked hard on it. (And ooooh, my hands smell so good after picking that lavendar!!)

Up and down skills

2010-07-22T23:19:00.001-07:00

Standing!

2010-07-22T23:18:00.001-07:00

I just adore this photo of Sophia. For some reason, there are only a few conditions which she presently is willing to strand: 1) In the bathtub & 2) When we say UP, DOWN. She seems to think both are a lot of fun and deem some standing... so who are we to argue that?!

I am completely excited that she is now doing some standing. I try to walk that line between fear & being lax, being paranoid & knowing everything will be alright (like bob marley sings!). The doctor said that if she weren't walking at 15 months, to have her checked out again. Well at 15 months she wasn't walking, so we had her back in at the doc & also had her seen by Kern Start to see if the county had any tools to help Sophia's motor skills.

After both appointments, she is still checking out healthy, just behind. She has a physical therapy eval coming up soon, as well as an appointment to see a pediatric neurologist next month (just to cover all bases). She also qualifies for a class where they'll work on her motor skills. I was feeling pretty rotten as a mom about it, but realized looking inward was not helping! Plus, people pay tons of money for activities that stimulate their child's brain, heart and body, so I'm grateful she has that tool!!

Anyways, our sweet girl is making all kinds of progress. She's standing on her own without help this week, what will next week hold.

Progress in Professionalizing Motherhood

2010-07-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

Some weeks are just miracles. I try hard to step outside of myself and my week to see the beauty in the mundane. This week has been SUCH a good, proactive, healing week... and I've been praising God for it. I've been on top of my work, got extra time soaking in the Living Water, took initiative & got in some exercise, lots of laughing with my fam, sophia making all kinds of progress, blessing matt with his countdown calendar, zoe already getting better with swim lessons, growing by heaps & getting organized as a mom... AND I finished reading another book.

I'm feeling good... like I could do anything. And yet, I think I've been realizing more than anything else this week how much work there is when it comes to making a home. I'm coming to realize to how when I became a parent, my life is forever changed... and I have to quite wishing and hoping for a different reality, but I need to embrace the reality that's right in front of me. I think Matt & I both are getting better at knowing our life right now is as a family (our time, energy, and resources all go towards this cause!). This quote really encouraged me this week in homemaking & helped me to see how important it is!! My heart is at home!

Cultivate your skills, not only of housekeeping, but of making a home for your family. As you know already, they are not always exactly the same.

Housekeeping consists of the laundry, the dishes, the toilets, and floors that need to be scrubbed, but homemake is something else. The difference between housekeeping and homemakeing is the difference between a barren field and lovely, fragrant garden.

Homemaking is the deliberate cultivation of beauty and productivity in family relationships. Homemaking is about helping your family feel loved and comforted. Homemaking is about celebrating each other, and about caring for each other, as well as for your friends and extended families and even the occasional stranger. Anyone can keep a house. Not everyone bothers to make a home.

I've been having a blast preparing for months, maybe even years for Matt's 30th birthday. I finally got to give him part of his gift last week, a countdown calendar that counts down to his 30th! For each day, he opens a window and it has a fun little surprise underneath. I'm posting each fun thing on facebook that he gets, so we're "friends" on there, check it out. For now, here's the front of the calendar:

I am hoping it will be truly fun for him & that he can enjoy it!!

Thankful

2010-07-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Just made myself a peppermint tea. So I should make it through this blog-- even on my mommy energy. Okay, maybe not, but I'll do my best, hehe.

Matt's sister, Erika ('Rika) has been staying with us. It's been about a month so far... and I've been so enjoying having her here!

She may be our part-time paid nanny, but she is a full-time auntie to the girls & friend to Matt & I. She is so fun to hang around. I love having lots of similar interests as her so I never run out of projects we intend to work on or things we have to talk about.

I continue to grow in my valuing the relationships of family- both those I've acquired by birth and by marriage. They are naturally invested in your life, and you're stuck with them for the long run, so might as well embrace the beautiful relationships family members bring.

Anyways, it's great to have family in town! We have her for sure until the end of the summer and then maybe longer, maybe not.

Blessings!

Fear

2010-07-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

I realized last week that fear has totally seeped into my life!! This ephipany made me want to shake myself out of my comfort zone bad-- and mess myself up with taking more risks!! Too much fear, not enough faith. I had the opportunity to act on my decision right away. Matt challenged me to ride our new scooter. I resisted at first, but then sped off into the sunset and felt free and alive and good. I also threw in a run through sprinklers. I throw water in my comfort zone's FACE! ♥

I find the responsibility as parents to be HUGE. I never want to be caught in an unhealthy spot because I don't want our kids to follow that lead. They are always watching, always observing who we are and what we do. What a compliment and how freaking scary at the same time!!

Watching Zoe at her swim lessons the last few weeks made me realize even more how fear had become a factor in my heart. First off, i don't think I am equipped to know how to teach our daughter how to swim properly and it was so a reminder that it's such a blessing to have other honorable people teach our children from their expertise. But I think I have held her back in the water because I have not wanted her to get hurt in any way.

They are messing up this whole idea of fear and just getting her all over in the water. They are teaching her skills to dive down & paddle in the deep water. Sometimes, I still want to jump in and tell her to only stay where she can touch or to just doggie paddle, but then I realize that idea is insane and the reality is that she is getting better with each lesson. She is learning tools that will give her the ability to withstand deep water.

And doesn't God do that for us? Doesn't His Word give us that strength? You never read promises that we have it easy, but that He'll never leave us... that He's given us the things we need. And that's what I choose!

Homemade playdough... FINALLY!!

2010-07-17T23:54:00.000-07:00

Did it REALLY take me this long to make homemade playdough? Yes, it really did.

Zoe's been playing playdough since she was a toddler, but I never made my own. But oh well! I'm making it now :) The first batch-yellow!!

What new things are you trying today?

2010-07-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Sophia has become such a CLIMBER! She may not be walking yet, but she's finding a way around to explore everything. It's hard to keep her off all these interesting spaces. She loves the fridge, dishwasher & stairs. :)

I love seeing our girls mind run. Sophia has lots of good ideas. She loves to manipulate things to see how they work. Pictured below she thought she'd give her coffee can shakers a ride! :)

Carrot Party... and other reasons to party

2010-07-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

Lately, we've been making everything a party... from "Curb Parties" when you accidently hit the curb to "Carrot Party" where you eat carrots. Life's good when everything's a party. :)

My favorite moment...

2010-07-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

We recently took a camping trip to Pismo Beach with my sister and nephew. We really had a fun adventure. The first night we were there, things weren't looking good at our camp ground. After getting completely smoked out from our neighbors at the camp site, we decided to head to the city to explore and see how things would look for the holiday weekend.

It ended up being the nicest evening while we were there. There was hardly anyone in Pismo that night, so we just had fun exploring and enjoying the nice night. One of the best parts of their public beach is the swings. We swang and swang and swang as the sun was setting, weather perfect.

TWAS a nice night!

She Loves Bugs!

2010-06-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

She loves catching bugs, looking at bugs, holding bugs... just love 'em!

We had heard about an awesome place near Bakersfield called The Insect Lore. One day when Matt was home early for work, we headed up there. We had so much fun! There were interesting bugs to look at and we got to learn about their various stages of life. We were even able to bring home 2 for the price of 1 lady bugs! Zoe had so much for with them until we released the remaining into our yard. Good times.

Given the opportunity, she'll catch most any bug to hold or enjoy. Usually they don't make very good pets, though! Here she is pictured with a butterfly she caught while in ND. (I actually snuck when she was asleep & let it out, I felt bad for it!)

Grandparents- a blessing

2010-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say it's been sweet seeing my girls & their girls grand parents. I'm glad they get to experience them!!

It is wonderful to see each of them love each other.

Happy summer 2010!

This Used to be my Playground

2010-06-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

One morning, Zoe & I took a trip to my old elementary school. She is starting Kindergarten in the fall, so I wanted to show her where I went to Kindergarten.

She didn't want to play by herself so for the first time in a long time I climbed in tunnels, went down slides, walked across death-defying bridges, it was good. We picnicked at the top of the playset.

We spent some time looking at the clouds. I saw a mouse, she saw an aligator. What do you see?

When I saw certain pieces of playground equippment, I literally had flashbacks to my elementary school days. One of the things I vividly remembered was that bar in the picture above. I remember us girls would put one knee over and the other leg straight and twirl around and around. I remember envying the girls would could do it so well. SO random!!

It was such a sweet time to take Zoe to my old playground & I think she liked it too.

Water Jousting

2010-06-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Coming up in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Water Jousting. I bet you didn't know this fabulous sport existed.

First, you mount a water noodle.

Then, you swim towards your enemy.

Sound hard? It is. Watch for it in 2012.

She's not ready for water jousting.......................

GREEN

2010-06-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

I love coming back to North Dakota in the summertime! Living next to a desert & in a very dry climate, it's easy when you're visiting somewhere else to appreciate how lush, fresh and green everything is! I mean, it's not a rainforest, but it's beautiful. I kind of like visiting a place and getting smacked in my face by it's beauty. It's good stuff & I'm trying to savoring it all. MMM- that's a good view.

Good German-Russian Food

2010-06-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

The people of North Dakota have the usual mix of immigrants, and a unique people group- The Germans from Russia. It's a group of Germans who in 1709, moved to Russian to avoid persecution. Then a few hundred years later, they moved to America. I'm one of their decendants. And fortunately for me, they were good cooks & North Dakotans keep their food going!

My mom is an awesome (mostly self-taught) cook. One of the best things she cooks is her German Russian food. Below she made kneophla (dumpling) & kraut (sour kraut). It's a basic dish-- dumplings, sour kraut, sauted onion, and bread crumbs... but it's comfort food and super delicious.

There's a few German-Russian restaurants here in Bismarck, but one of the most well known is Kroll's Dinner. Good news, on Mondays, they offer Kraut Buttons (I'm guessing sour kraut & cheese buttons)!

I had dinner here and had cabbage rolls. Quite good and tasty!

ND Wonders

2010-06-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

We left on Monday afternoon from our home to start our journey towards North Dakota. We took a bus, stayed in a hotel, took a shuttle, took an airplane, hitched a ride 2 1/2 hour ride to Grandma & Grandpas & finally arrived a little over 24 hours later. (While on the airplane, I was peed on, drooled on, snotted on and apple juiced on, but how is that different than any other day? :) )

We've already been having adventures since we've been here. Before leaving Fargo, I got some Caribou Coffee. This is always a highlight since I only get my favorite coffee once/ year! One medium white mint condition please! On the way to Bismarck, we saw North Dakota's beautiful wide open skies and drove briefly through a thunderstorm with bolts of lightning.

Grandpa Steve took Zoe to run some errands and get an ice cream cone, then came home to grill us some buffalo burgers- MM. My mom made (defrosted some previously cooked) delicious homecooked soup. Can't beat that. Sophia found the kitty, Rosie, particularly awesome. She even crawled underneath the chair to swim the toy at her and was VERY proud of herself. Zoe caught a butterfly with her own hands and some patience and was so incredibly happy. The butterfly's name? Zoe. :) We're having a sweet time & it's only been a day!

My Girls Win a Grammy

2010-06-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

Before we came on our summer trip to ND, Grammy came out for a visit. We had a nice laid back time together. We picked her up in Los Angeles and hung out a little bit in Hollywood including lunch at Roscoes Chicken and Waffles- MM!

When we came back home, we kicked back into our mostly normal life schedule. Grammy got lots of time with the girls playing games and pretending. We enjoyed lots of good food together (kabobs, grilled chicken, ribs, enchilada casserole... and more), Matt, Grammy & Zoe went to Shrek, we enjoyed a concert, played on the slip n slide, ate watermelon and many other fun things like that.

One morning, I decided that since Grammy doesn't get to be around for most of our birthdays, that we'd have a little birthday party for everyone that night. Most of us set the objective of creating some sort of birthday gift for each other for that night. Zoe made personalized place mats, grammy made different crafts for everyone and I made a strawberry peach pie (I was pleased it turned out SO good). We sang happy birthday and shouted everyone's name in the middle. Fun times.

Thanks for coming Grammy!!

Zoe's Yummy In My Tummy soup (aka the barf bowl)

2010-05-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last week Zoe wanted to cook something with her daddy. We've done this before. You know the drill, I make cookies, and Zoe helps with dumping chocolate chips and stirring, that kind of thing. This particular morning was different. This time, Zoe had her own recipie in mind. I figured, ok, well lets see where this goes.

Daddy - What are the ingredients?

Zoe - Well, first you need ice cubes.

This was a good sign. We've made smoothies before, I figured she was going along those lines. The thought passed abruptly as she told me the next essential ingredient.

Zoe - Then, we need Teddy Grahms. (they also had to be the chocolate ones)

At this point I have not totally ruled out that this could be some kind of smoothie, but perhaps with a different definition than I'm used to. However, I'm starting to think I should have asked exactly what the end result would be before I told her I'd make it.

Zoe - Aaaannnnnd....*a hard look of concentration on her face* Hotdogs!

My first response was to laugh out loud. That one really caught me off guard. My second thought was 'dear God, please don't let this be a smoothie.'

Daddy - Is that all?

Zoe - Yup!

Daddy - How do I make it?

Zoe - first, you need to cut up the hotdog, then cook it.

I was too far involved now, there was no going back. With 50% amusement and 50% regret, I slice up the hot dog and fry it up on the stove. By Zoe's instruction, the ice cubes went into a bowl. Then the Teddy Grahms, followed by the sliced hotdog. We were finished.

Zoe - wait, there is one more thing.

Uh oh. As it turns out, what I thought was simply a strange dish, was actually supposed to be a soup. What makes it soup? Well strawberry-kiwi crystal light of course! She poured in a coup of the drink. I tried with minimal success not to gag as I asked

Daddy- What do you call this?

Zoe - Yummy in my Tummy Soup.

Indeed. I looked at it again, the teddy grahms were disintigrating into a brown mush in the juice, which was also turning even more watery as the warm hotdogs melted the ice cubes. Becky refused to even look at it, as simply hearing our discussion was enough to make her turn a few shades of green.

So the big question. Did she eat it? In short, yes. She couldn't eat the ice cubes, but ate every single piece of juice-soaked hotdog. The Teddy Grahms were no longer distinguishable, but no doubt the mush of their bodies was also consumed as a part of the mix.

And now for your viewing pleasure, I give you Yummy In My Tummy Soup.

Hello... Goodbye.

2010-05-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Was reading one of my regular blogs today & got inspired. YES, we said goodbye to our friends who are moving tomorrow across the world to Portugal. However I had to shake off the sadness, because it made me remember how with goodbyes always come hellos.

This summer ushers in so many hellos!

For example, Zoe might be saying goodbye to preschool, but we welcome Erika for the summer to hang with the girls and also Zoe starts a new chapter in her life with Kindergarten.
Matt may be saying goodbye to his 20's, but he gets to welcome in a new decade, a new book in a his life-series. I'm excited to write it with him... and I'm excited to celebrate his first 30 years with him!!
We also need to say goodbye to cooler temps and hello to the heat. The few trips, water play tools & air conditioning this summer will make the heat doable. Hello North Dakota, Pismo Beach, spray parks and slip n slides!
I am, at least temporarily, saying goodbye to my coffee house events, Mile 124, to focus on other things. They may be back, they may be not... but goodbye for now. Hello to creative energy in places determined and not determined!

And yes, we might be saying goodbye to those friends, but surely it is just see you later.

Kindergarten Bound (click to view videos)

2010-05-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Zoe graduated this morning from preschool. At first I thought a preschool graduation was silly, but I loved it. They were so sweet!! It was really more of a spring program than a graduation, but it was sweet. Yay for the next stage; congrats Zoe!

We didn't have our camera at the actual graduation, but Zoe was kind enough to redo the songs for us afterward. They are all so precous. Love it.

Love is Patient Song by Zoe

2010-05-15T17:42:00.001-07:00

Love is Patient

2010-05-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

This summer, Zoe and i are doing summer school again at the "School of Hard Rocks"... and this year, we're studying the love of 1 Corinthians 13. In order to get them all in, we had to start in May; Last week we studied "Love is Patient."

First we talked about how the #1 thing God wants us to do is love-- both Him & our neighbors. And that God also says if we love, we are of God, but if we don't, we aren't of God. So, love is... pretty important!!

We also read the story of Abraham & Sarah. How they trusted God... even though their desire to have children & their reality to become parents were so far apart. Their love was patient. Then... just for fun, I made Zoe wait a lot. She didn't think it was a fun game, but it was a good excuse to be slow :).

Zoe got stuck on the passage of Scripture that said faith can move mountains. She was really boggled by that. She tried calling a few people to get her question answered, but no one was home. So... I recorded it. What do you think?

Goodness

2010-05-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

I missed posting about some wonderful things from the last month or so.

Easter was a sweet time. Zoe got more into the Easter egg hunt this year. We enjoyed watching her try to find our eggs... and for one girl, she quickly found the eggs. Next year Sophia will be at it as well! Both girls got age-appropriate toy keys & treats (Zoe got candy & Sophia got little melt-aways). Grandma got them some beautiful new baskets. Sophia was very interested in the texture of the basket grass. She liked feeling it on her face.

We dyed eggs over webcam with The Pelisheks. That was fun though we had to keep bring Zoe back as her attention span doesn't stick very long on the webcam. It's still neat that we can do those things with them.

The evening before I went on my retreat, we spent some time together. I knew I would miss everyoe, so I wanted some focused time together. I bought the girls swirly suckers & we chilled outside. It was Sopher's first time with a sucker. She enjoyed, but was perplexed. :) Matt took these photos from his perspective.

I love switching up our normal schedule. This Saturday, instead of the normal lax & watch cartoons, we went to the park at Riverwalk right away. We walked around the lake & let the girls play. Sophia SO loves the swing. It's one of the few things that really makes her laugh.

Zoe brought her ducks along & was determined to let them swim. Matt had a great dad idea to let them race upstream so we could catch them... that was an adventure Zoe loved. We let the ducks race like 3-4 times & captured them.

We had to pull Zoe away from the ice cream truck when we were leaving to get ice cream at Target. We had a nice time looking around Target, too. Zoe used her allowance money to get a butterfly net. I love Target.

Wonderful day.

I want to give to my family out of the overflow of our heart!

2010-04-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

I just read an awesome newsletter from Hearts at Home. It filled my heart with life-giving words & reminded me that I'm important too. (I never realized until recently how easy, as a mom, it is to put everyone else before yourself!) I've been realizing that I've been trying to do everything & I'm trying to come out of that period of time with empowerment and hope.

I have been missing my family. I am physically present, but mentally doing other things. I've been busy busy busy. I've worked hard to organize my to-dos and that has helped a little. But I need some FRESH EYES. That's why I'm looking forward to retreat this weekend with the ladies at our church. After all... Jesus pulled away from the crowds to refuel... & I need to too.

re·treat –noun 1. the forced or strategic withdrawal of an army or an armed
force before an enemy. 2. the act of withdrawing, as into safety or privacy;
retirement; seclusion. 3. an asylum, as for the insane

ark, asylum, cell, cloister, convent, cover, covert, den, harbor, haunt, haven, hermitage, hiding place, refuge, resort, retirement, safe house, safe place, sanctuary, security, shelter, solitude

It's time to make good. It's FREEDOM time. :)