insta friday - whew

This week began fresh off the heels of the whirlwind Washington DC trip.

A trip where we left at seven in the morning to return around 11:00 at night

every

single

day.

It was both fun and exhausting and this year for Mother's Day 

all this momma wanted to do was stay in bed 

and do very, very little but rest.

So the tradition of breakfast in bed was a start.

And the sweet little gift from my girls.

And my middle one who cut the orchid to place with my breakfast.

My first reaction was ooh, oh, don't cut the orchid.

But my husband smartly hushed me.

And that cut orchid is still living in that glass of water

by my bedside.  I honestly would have never thought

to do that.  She has an eye for beauty I tell you.

This week I have very much been moving to the

next thing I need to do.  And feeling all the while

that I'm still not recuperated from the trip.

My bedtimes have been as early as the kids.

And somehow we've made it to Friday.

But here is a look at some of our full week's of activities.

Monday began with a lab at sea field trip off the Channel Islands 

in Oxnard where they pull things up from the depths of the sea

for the kids to touch, see and learn.

My favorite part is on the real camera.

They showed us plankton under a microscope.

The stuff living in the sea water we don't see.

There were dance classes.

 And the end of the year brunch for my

Community Bible Study.

I recycled some of my willow of wonder

booth things for our centerpiece.

I knew it would be down to the wire and it was.

I was gluing this garden of grace banner in the

wee hours of the morning Tuesday.

Each lady added a tag with a favorite scripture to hang

 from our garden of grace tree.

 It's always a bittersweet ending.  At this point

we've traveled through a book in the bible over

the course of nine months together.  Sharing our

hearts, our lives and our love of the Lord.

And then we say goodbye, and the groups

are reassigned in the new year.  And it starts again.

This year in particular was an amazing group.

The Lord put me right where I needed to be.

A stop at Trader Joe's stopped me in my tracks

with the sight and smell of these beautiful peonies.

A worker there saw me trying to photograph my

girls amongst the flowers and offered to take one 

of me in there too.  So there you go. 

And on to the playoffs this week for baseball.

I'm so proud of how hard my son has worked

and how diligent and dedicated he is to baseball.

He thrives here and channels every bit of his

determination in a good way.

Gymnastics is the same for the girls.

And this one hour respite for me is a little

bit of bliss.  

Sitting and chatting with some really great moms.

 Not pictured, cause well I forgot, is my small group

of women I get to meet with.  We're starting a

book study this summer on the Bridge of San Luis Rey.

That was Wednesday night.  I am honestly so blessed

to have this as another touch point of grown up connection.

This week I realized gosh it has been SO LONG

since I read a novel.

Truly.

Life turned into parenting books and Christian

books.  Which are all good and I love them.

But I didn't give myself any breathing room to 

read a novel, to dissect its deeper meaning.

To savor the words and the symbolism.

And we're doing that this summer.

So yea, for being a grown up again.

But this scene of childhood, 

well it's a bit of bliss to me too.

You too? 

I think I'll forever be caught between

my grown up and childhood loves.

And I think that's ok.

And here's the orchid plant.  Just making me

smile as we go about our homeschool day.

 And I know typically pictures of food, especially

food like brussels sprouts really aren't too pretty.

But I just had to document this last night.

My eleven year old son kept exclaiming, "these

are so good."  He has come full circle from

being an amazing eater to a really picky eater.

So hearing this, well it was just one of those

mom moments where I was like, 'yes.'

Success.

 That, and two of the three were so excited that

I made them salads for dinner.  

I was having a pinch me moment.

My kids are growing up.  

They truly are. 

And I'm just so looking forward to this.

Lots of little plans for our summer.

I'll be sharing them soon.