insta friday

I'm a day late, but here it goes.

Our instagram friday wrap up.

The week kicked off with a Christmas tree hunt.

Last year we went on an adventure train ride to cut down our own.

I would have loved to do it again.

But it was intermittently raining all weekend.

And I'm still having trouble breathing from some lingering chest something.

This season has been filled with the weirdest medical issues for me.

But we may have found one source of irritation.

That rain has been flooding into the trunk of my car because of a defect

into the moon roof.

And we found mold everywhere. 

The sheer number of hours I spend in my car means I've been breathing that in.

Hoping and praying I'm nearing the end of it all.

So here we go...

The tradition at our local lot is that mommy does the

scouting, while the rest of them play hide and seek.

This year I walked in and immediately found THE one.

It's gorgeous and a noble fir.  

I loved it and didn't need to search any further.

But we stayed nearly an hour longer for the hiding and seeking.

They love it.

A quick stop at the playground to practice the monkey bars.

Long story short is that the younger one has been obsessed for a couple years.

The older never really had an interest and didn't try.

But it has been bothering her recently.

And those bars are hard, especially if you're starting out bigger and older.

I mean have you tried them lately?  

And then there was this little girl, maybe five who taunted

my sweet middle child, teasing her over how she is younger

than her and she can do them, what's wrong with you.

And there were tears.

And then a long talk with mommy about how that

little girl, you'll never see her again and she has no 

importance in defining who you are in your life.

And how many adults can't do the monkey bars either.

And no one goes around asking each other can you do the monkey bars?

I can, can you?  Because it isn't something that defines who you are.

You are defined by who you are in Jesus.

You are a child of God.  

He loves you to the moon and back and so do mom and dad,

just as you are.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made and you have

skills and blessings that he has chosen just for you.

But I know, right now you want to know how to do them.

And you will, you just need to practice.

So she waited until that little girl left.

And I held my tongue from talking to the little girl's dad who

was off playing basketball while his child played unattended.

And then she practiced.  

And she was able to do one.

ONE simple monkey bar.

And most importantly she pushed through her fear.

And saw she could make progress.

She didn't let the taunting hold her back.

And that one bar, it was huge to me.

They came home and of course wanted to immediately decorate much of the tree.

Those boxes and the ladder still remain in my living room.

Because mom just hasn't found the energy to complete the job.

We all took a hot chocolate break to watch "Elf."

And my husband and I celebrated 16 years.

This picture doesn't do it justice.  But that sushi is called green sea bass.

It's sea bass inside with arugala salad with edamame on top.  It's one of my favorites.

Oh and the nativities had to come out.

I have loved them since I was a little child.

I'd kiss baby Jesus goodnight each night.

My girls are following in my footsteps 

with their love of this story brought to life with little figurines.

This one my Aunt bought me in Alaska.

It is already broken in three places this year alone.

Due to miss Piper who just can't seem to help herself.

This one I bought with my own money, saved when I was 12 years old.

This one, a gift to my son.

These guys were made when I was in the sixth grade.

My mom recently found them. I guess we never painted them.

But I love having them. 

This one, was a gift the year we were married.

And the mantle, It has my new free download.

Onto some Piper adventures.

She goes crazy seeing the kids through the window

and plays with them through the glass.

Training..going slow and steady.

I have her sitting on command, most of the time.

The 'heeling' thing, she's not liking that too much.

I just love her style.

And she wanted to take her American girl doll for the walk.

But the first curb created a face plant in the dirty gutter so

we decided that wasn't the best idea.

I love, love, love how they pretend play.

The day that ends I know will be a sad one.

So I'll capture it every chance I get.

Bible study..much needed mommy/girl time.

It was my turn to bring snack.

Two pinterest inspired ideas.

spinach lasagna rolls

and 

These were something I modified to make with

a Christmas feel..and cut the tomato in half so it could stand.

My attempt at some bokeh twinkle lights.

And my view in the morning as I have my quiet time.

These just struck me as pretty.

They're not our own yet.

That should happen sometime in January.

It's getting closer!

So onto my medical stuff.

The antibiotics for my foot.

After one week on them, turns out I'm allergic to one of them.

Wednesday night I broke out in hives

that just got worse through Thursday.

They made me come in to be checked.

This is the girls entertaining themselves while waiting.

Everyone always smiles at them and asks why they're not in school.

I don't like answering those questions.

But it's getting easier for me to just boldly say we homeschool.

And yesterday, we made up for some lost time while in the doctor's office.

Getting caught up and going over lots of things.

It was a good homeschool day.

One where I felt like I did a good job.

I acknowledge that in real 'school' you can't jump

up and down on the bench while waiting your turn.

But that's ok.  Things are different at home.

Our science co-op was cancelled because the host 

family had some sick kids.

So we did the experiment at home.

We borrowed brother's fish to study how

fish behave differently in cold water versus warm.

And they were working hard with the reward of going to

the park when they were done.

The day didn't finish till after 4 so the park turned out to be dark.

But it was actually fun.

It was too dark to get a picture,

but that daughter I wrote about with the monkey bars.

The one who did just ONE.

She's up to SIX.  

She practiced over and over and over.

And I'm so proud of her.

We hooped and hollered and cheered for her.

And she's determined to do it.

Just two more, till she gets all the way across.

And I leave you with a tea called Deep Breath

I got at whole foods.  It's to help me breathe.

Literally,

but very much figuratively.

Just breathe.

I think that's what the Lord is wanting from me.

Nothing more right now.

Sit.

Soak it all in.

And breathe.