Carversations: Is God coming today?

Another special moment with Rosi today - our CARversation:

ROSI:  Is God coming today?

MAMA: I don't know.

ROSI:  Well,  God came to our house yesterday morning.  I hope he comes today too. 

MAMA: God is always with you, Rosi

ROSI: Yeah, if he comes. I am going to get a washcloth for him, so he can wipe his blood.  A washcloth fwom your bathwoom, Momma. 

MAMA: Aww,  that is so nice Rosi.

ROSI: Yeah, and he can sit next to me while I eat my wunch.  But, I hafta make sure I don't squueash him, because he could bleed again.

MAMA: Uh, okay.

ROSI:  You can sit with us too.    Did you know that Jesus rides in boats?  He wears white.

MAMA: Yes,  Jesus walked on water too. 

ROSI:  Yeah,  dats amazing, huh Mama?

MAMA: Yes, it is darling.  You are learning lots about Jesus.

ROSI:  Yep.  (thinking mode)

ROSI:  I want to invite Jesus to my bwirthday?  K, mama?

MAMA: Okay Rosi. 

So, what did you do this Summer?

Wow,  I am amazed how Summer has just flown by for our family.   And, if you asked me, "What did you do?"  -- I would seriously have a long drawn out pause and possibly a deer in the headlights kind of look too.

I am not really sure.

Swimming.

Uh...

Swimming.

Movies (sad, I know...but, when it is triple digits - who really wants to be outside??)

VBS

Swimming... (yeah,  pools are cool -- literally)

My girls each had their own special time with their Mimi & Poppie (Grandma, Grandpa) this Summer.  Each of them has about 2 weeks of  "one" time. Sweet Rosi only stayed for about 5 days - she is only 3.5 years old.  But, she had her first time away -By-my-self!  And loved it.   To be spoiled?  Indeed!

The two older girls enjoyed their time at camp.  Sophia at an overnight camp & Lydia at a daycamp.  Camp is such a great opportunity for kids.  I remember back when I was a wee little girl attending the VERY same camp.   There were so many good memories for me -- and it was where I first remember accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior!
Campfire Songs of "What-a-lee- atcha. What-a-lee-atcha. Doodley Doo. Doodely Doo."   and "Kumbaya my Lord." in a round of course.
Pond time,  Craft time, Shooting bow&arrows,  Shooting guns onto a target sheet,  making new friends,  trying really hard not to put your elbows on the table at meal time - or thus around the bathroom you shall go.
Fun times.
Good times.
Blessed times.

So happy my girls experienced that this Summer.

Well.... Summer is not over quite yet for us.  We have another month to enjoy Mr. Sun.  So... I have some ideas planned and some Summer yearnings that need to be met.

1. Camping.
2. Beaches
3. Making Ice-cream

I will let you know about the others on the list too.... in another post.  

Summertime....to be continued......

Ride On!

A little bit of sunshine after days of rain makes a great day for learning to ride a bike without training wheels!

Running into the house with a big toothless grin, Sophia runs to tell me, "She did it, She did it! Lydia has rode her bike without training wheels!"
I put up my messy deranged hairdo into a buntail and then grabbed my camera to go outside to record this lifetime event for Lydia.


As a mom, these are moments that you just cherish as parent -- to see your child take a next step in life --learning to ride a bike! It is also a time where memories just flood in from your own childhood. Memories of when you first learned to ride a bike and all the experience and fun times you had riding your banana seat bike down the gravely driveway.


WELL...it wasn't just enough to have one child ride her bike today. Sophia had a "new" bike that Papa bought for her a little while ago. He found it at a yard sale for only $10. It only needed some new tubes put into the tires. (The bike that Lydia was riding was a hand-me-down from Sophia and Papa had bought that bike at a yard sale for only $2!! Great deals -- My husband is quite the bargain shopper!)

Sophia, Lydia, and Papa took a trip down to the local Walmart and found some new tubes for Sophia's bike. Sophia was getting her mind set to ride her bike too.

Soon enough, Sophia came running back into the house with her toothless grin, this time sporting a jumping up and down motion --She road her bike all by herself around the whole block!

So, yep I went out to record the miraculous riding of Sophia. I call it miraculous because Sophia has taken quite awhile to just get on her bike. She is a very cautious child and has many fears of falling, hurting herself, etc. So, she rarely tries things in fear that it will be the death for her.
Of course, it works wonders when your younger sister starts to ride her bike first -- an incentive that "maybe I CAN do this??" sets in her mind and she gives it a try!

Now, of course if our two year old Rosi started to get on her bike and ride around...that would truly be a miraculous day! But, instead she put her baby on the tricycle and was content to get her baby settled onto the bike with pillows and blankies.

It was definitely an exciting day of riding into the next stage of their little lives!

HARLEY BABE!

I don't want a pickle
 Just want to ride on my motorsickle
 And I don't want a tickle
 'Cause I'd rather ride on my motorsickle
 And I don't want to die
Just want to ride on my motorcy...cle
 The Motorcycle Song, Arlo Guthrie

Well, I guess she isn't ridin' a Harley, but rather a Honda...

Lydia really wanted to ride her Papa's motorcycle for quite sometime. So, last Sunday, when it was finally sunny and beautiful outside, she got her chance. Her Papa put on a helmet, sat her up on the motorcycle and took a cruise around the block. She LOVED it! In fact, over the next few days, she would ask almost ALL the time if Papa would ppppppleeeease take her on the motorcycle again.?
How could he resist such determination and cuteness -- so a few days later when the weather was nice again, Lydia got to ride on her motorsickle!

Back to Life, Back to Reality

My world is spinning. I think I have Cruise Ship lag (kind of like Jet lag --but only a Cruise ship version). It is taking me awhile to feel like I am not swaying back and forth --

My hubby and I just got back from a week vacation cruise in the Western Caribbean. Can I just say that it was FABULOUS! (Oh, sandy beach and tropical fish how I miss you....)

I hope to share some pictures of our adventures with you soon.....soon as I can get my mind and legs back to steady ground. And, a computer where I can download pictures.

For now, I am slowly getting back into the groove of routine...this is my least favorite part of vacation. The part where you have to try and recuperate from fabulous getaway --still dreaming of sandy beaches, sunny skies, and beautiful tropical surroundings -- to that of laundry, grocery shopping, meal planning, kid taxi service, schedules, meetings, appointments, sorting through mail, etc. It is exhausting.

I would rather be sifting my toes through the sandy beach sipping a Pina Colada (virgin of course--because of the baby)....and soaking in the sun.

However, it is "Back to Life...Back to Reality" here in the Lil Daisy world. Instead, I am having to sift my toes through piles of laundry and sip on hot tea while it pours rain outside my home.

Ah, well. I can still close my eyes and dream of tropical fish...especially since I am still swaying. But, I suppose it is time to switch laundry too.

Life is going on....

Where in the world is Waldo?

Okay, not really Waldo....but, Bella???

Well, it has been extremely busy over in the Lil Daisies nook for the past two weeks: Getting back into school routine, dance, and preparing for a one week cruise with my mom.

WOOT WOOT!

So, Actually I am currently at a friend's house catching up on good ol' times --- while my mom is making a GOOEY BUTTER CAKE in her kitchen for us to enjoy in a little bit.....Our cruise leaves tomorrow!

My mom and I flew down a few days ago So. California and visiting with my old college roommate....though, I suppose I shouldn't call her old! She is the same age as me!

We have a wonderful time relaxing....eating....talking....

So, that is where I am in a quick little note. I promise to start writing more diligently once I am back and settled into routine ---and recovering from the cruise! =)

Come play with me in my castle

Rosi's LOVE! Oh, what a special friend! There is just something TOO cute about child like love and play! Innocent and sweet!

Playing in the Sand

We spent a week as a family with friends at the ocean. I absolutely love the ocean. It is a peaceful escape for me. I am not sure that I would like to live there all the time...because it can get dreary after awhile...but, I wouldn't mind owning a vacation home by the ocean someday.

Our family had so much fun playing on the beaches. One of the beaches had lots of fun rocks to dig through and find agate rocks. The other beach was just pure build sand castles, fly a kite, and play in the ocean water.

Summertime

we've spent our summer so far swimming, eating otter pops, watering the garden, harvesting the garden, summer camp, traveling, camping, eating homemade ice cream, BBQ-ing, visiting with grandparents, hanging out at the lake, reading books, picking cherries, working on the house, more swimming, eating watermelon, playing with friends, playing dress-up, painting, riding bikes,flying kites, watching Night of the Museum when it's too hot to play outside, eating otter pops....

....and we are only 1/2 way through our Summertime!

Sweetness!

Anniversary Trip

Ric and I were able to celebrate our tenth anniversary in June. It was wonderful! We decided to go to the Oregon coast. Florence, Oregon was suggested by an acquaintance...and we are so glad that we followed her suggestion!

We had lunch her at this brewery pub in Roseburg. Ric enjoyed a brew and I enjoyed a water. Ha ha. I saved my drink for later.

We saved some room for ice-cream at Rice Hill....however, I don't think you can save enough for ice-cream. I ordered on scoop of ice-cream and it was HUGE. One scoop looks like about 2-3 scoops. I didn't finish it all.

A little wine tasting. We ended up going to 5 wineries during the entire duration of our trip. We got what they call a wine passport. At every winery that you stop at they will mark your passport with their personal stamp. At the 5th winery -- you get a picture of their winery. Kind of a fun thing to do. We got our picture!

We tent camped. Ric had a sweet set-up. We had two cots put together with a mattress on top and then our sleeping bags. It was VERY comfortable. Me likes comfy tent camping!

....and made pockets our first night. We cut up the veggies ahead of time...and the placed in the foil with some terryaki sauce. Pretty tasty.

Lighthouse --- We visited the Heceta Lighthouse. It was a beautiful walk up a trail to get to the lighthouse. We then had a little private tour of it. I love history and I love lighthouses --so this was a treat to go and see.

For lunch this day we went to a cute little restaurant in a nearby town. I had open face fresh crab sammies and an Italian soda!

That evening we ate a recommended restaurant in town. We were going to put in reservations, but didn't and we really should have. It is a small restaurant bar. But, we ended up sitting at the bar and that ended up being a lot of fun. The bar tenders were fabulous fun and gave me few fun drinks. I learned that I like mojitos!

The next morning we made scramble hash with our leftovers from the other night. I cut up some fruit too and made a fruit salad to enjoy with our hash.

We took a trip in to the little town of Florence and savored some coffee at a local roaster. It was delish and very cute surroundings.



So...that is a short version of our anniversary time. I feel like it is a dream already. I had such a great time with my best friend and I look forward to having many more dates with him like this soon.

Back in the Old Days...

Sophia's school has "theme days" twice a year. The first theme day was in the Fall and was Colonial Theme Day. In the Spring, they had Expedition and War Theme Day. Everyone dresses up in the period of the theme. So, we dressed like people would have dressed back in the Civil War time. They have different booths and things to do that are representative of the time. I helped with the Theme Day by doing the tin can lantern booth. It was a lot of fun and I love that her school does this each year. It is amazing.

Sophia doing the "Tin Can Lantern Punch" She is doing pretty well with a nail and hammer!

Here is Sophia and I dressed up...Don't you think we belong in an episode of Little House On The Prairie?

Check out the video of Sophia Dancing!

Trader Joes

May 1st was not only May Day---but here where I live it was the amazing opening day of------



I absolutely love Trader Joes. When we lived in the Bay Area, I shopped there all the time. When we moved away, we moved to a place that didn't have my favorite store. I was saddened for 3 years....and I would stock up every time I came near a Trader Joes store (the closest store to us was about 1.5 hours away).



So...this day marked history for us and made me ever so happy! Rosi and I were there right at the opening --9am. There were people dressed in hula skirts dancing (though it was very chilly that day..brrr for them!), BBQ, and lots of people. Rosi was a trooper and loved seeing everyone there....she was a spotlight to the little ol' ladies. And, of course that would be my cue to scoot around them and grab something off the shelf while Rosi was being entertained.
So in honor of opening day, I bought "Two Buck Chuck" to celebrate!

The Tree Hunt

We packed Hot Cocoa, Homemade Chili, Crusty Bread, Cheese, Cookies, Warm Hats, Cozy Coats, Gloves, and Boots.... we were set for our tree hunt adventure.

The weather was sunny and cool with clear blue skies. Beautiful.

We arrived at the Forest Service Station to obtain our permit for cutting the tree. We also made last minute potty time. However, they only have the Big Blue out houses (of which I really, really do not like to use--I think I have some sort of phobia. I will hold it to find something more suitable). But, my girls were to go potty, so that we didn't have any sort of accidents while tree hunting. I had to be brave and take them into the Blue Boxes. Sophia did not want to go, but I said I would go too. So, I had suck in my phobia and do it. Thank you Lord for making them clean.


Off into the deep forest to find our tree. We traveled on a dirt logging road for a bit. When we arrived, it was so warm. There was no snow. It was kind of a weird feeling to be tree hunting and feeling like it was Springtime.

We ventured through a ton of Manzanita bushes. Can I tell you that it is quite a trek for a 3 foot little girl to trample through. They were troopers (mostly). We saw one tree...but, it was not "standing" out to me.


So, we started to head back to our van without a tree to the base camp of our friends (who had campstoves, chairs, hotdogs grillin, etc. ) On our way back, I decided to go just a little different route. And, then I found the tree.

We love it! It is a beautiful tree. Even our neighbors have Tree envy.

We plan to decorate it soon. I just need to get my house straightened up before we bring out all the bins of Christmas joy. Oh, soon we will have Christmas music playing abundantly and scented candles burning, hot cider brimming, and our tree trimming.

Whirl Wind Tour

We have had a whirl wind trip the last couple of days. I think we spent our Christmas money on gas.

Thursday: Stockton for Turkey and Family Games of Apples to Apples, Wii, and Backgammon. Sophia rocks at boxing and bowling, Lydia is the bomb at golf!
Friday: Play day-- Guys went shooting guns and the girls went to the Zoo! "We're going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo! How about you, you, you. You can go too, too, too. We're going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!"
Friday Evening: Head home
Saturday Morning: Off to meet friends at 9am to go hunt down a Christmas tree. We drive about 45 minutes to pick up our permit and the head out another 20 minutes deeper into the forest to find our tree. Eureka, we found it!
Saturday afternoon/evening: Head up to my parents house to visit with my cousins. Roast marshamellos with the cousins. Ric and I were able to go out on a "date" without the kids (they stayed with Mimi and Poppy) with my adult cousins to a local Pub/restaurant. Nice. Good beer!
Sunday: Church at my parents and then a yummy lunch of Salmon burgers.
Sunday afternoon: Home (I slept the whole way home--YES!)
Sunday evening: Stress out over the after-math mess of my home. Put up our Christmas tree. We will decorate later.

Off to take a bath to soak away all my tension, tiredness, and reflect on all the wonderful quality family time we had over the past several days.

Birthday Princess

(Almost Wordless Wednesday Pic & Video)



Lydia is LOVING to push her sister Rosalia on her new bus that she got for her 1st birthday. Notice how Lydia even puts the meaning of "The people on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down" into practice.

Rosi Birthday Bus from Bella @ Lil Daisies on Vimeo.

Im not sure how to title this post...

Odd things make me laugh. Circumstances out of the ordinary. Out of the realms of the norm. These type of things can make me just have to giggle.

So...we were headed home from a short vacation. And of course, out in the middle of nowhere, Lydia announces she has to go Poo poo. If it were a time to pee, we would just pull over and let her pee on the dirt or gravel on the road (Yes, we have done this before). Bathroom agenda #2 is a different story. Thankfully, we found ourselves about 3 miles away from a small town. We told Lydia to hold it.

We head in the direction towards the town to find a gas station. Ric does the fatherly duty and takes Lydia inside to do her duty. Ric comes out and now it is Sophia's turn, because now she has to go too (of course).

I wait outside with the other girls. I am trying to relax because I am cranky, tired, sick, etc.

Then...

A gold van pulls up next to us. I look over and out of the driver's window crawls a white parrot. The parrot goes up on to the roof with ease, like she has done this many times. The driver is a spunky old lady. She gets out of her gold van with spiky white hair and wearing mismatching sweats, carrying a big bright red purse/bag. I kid you not.

While she is in the gas station, the bird is happily playing on the roof of her van. I had to take a picture because it was hysterical. I could not believe my eyes.


But then it gets better.

Ric comes out with Sophia and they notice the bird. "Look Mommy!"

As Ric finishes helping girls buckle up while they are fascinating over the bird as well (talking to the bird), I snap a few pics. Ric walks to his door and the bird says, " I like your nice car!"

Ric shockingly says"Yah, you have a nice car too"

Me: "Did that bird just say "You have a nice car?"

Ric: "I think so."

Oh, we laughed. God knows how to bring in a bit of humor to my cranky morning....a little oddness to my day. A car complimenting white parrot atop a gold van owned by a crazy spiked hair lady.

Classic.