Jumping Ship

Ok, Friends… It’s time for me to switch blogs.  It’s the only way I know how to keep going.  You can keep following along with the Yeh adventures by clicking here.   For future reference, the new site is http://www.livingtheyehlife.wordpress.com.  I will also soon have my hubby direct caradaniel.com to that site.  See you on the next ship!

Glimpses

It’s been two weeks since a sweet mom in our homeschool co-op announced that she was going to have the kids do a musical, “Back to the Cross.”  Most of the kids were super excited, including my own — except one.  This girl adamantly insisted on not being a part of it, and did not show up for the first rehearsal.  Again at the second rehearsal, she made it clear that she would only sit through it because she had to wait for her sisters, but she would not participate.  Then this sweet mom found out and personally asked Sierra to be a part of it.  I followed it up by letting her know this lady really wanted her.  That’s all it took.

Nowadays you can find her sitting next to the cd player on the counter belting out the songs and enjoying every minute of it.  She’s thrilled.  So thrilled, she is going to request a solo at the next practice.  We’ll see if she follows through.  Oh, I hope she does!  Listening to her brought tears to my eyes.  She is so passionate and has such stamina for practicing.  That is certainly something we struggle with together in almost any other subject, so to find something she loves has me beyond thrilled!  She even asked if I thought she could be in musicals when she was older.  (I’m telling you, the turn-around was crazy!)  I responded, “If that is God’s will for you, then that would be awesome!”

I know she’s young.  I don’t expect her to have her life or passions figured out in the least.  But, to see that spark in her eye and to hear her singing the amazing lyrics — they are mostly scripture-based songs — filled my heart!  Sometimes all we need is a small glimpse into our kids, and God has given us a huge gift.  At least, that’s what it feels like to me; such a gift!

Now to try to get to sleep without the musical soundtrack repeating through my brain!

Messy

Question:  What do you do when the house is a disaster and you really need to clean?

Answer:  Make more messes.  **sigh**

Planting Day!

In case you were wondering, we are still going strong with our gardening journals, though we did take a break along with everything else this last week.  (Spring break is glorious!)  Before break, we did another entry and then had a planting day.

You can see by the last picture that our seeds are actually starting to sprout!  I was a little worried because 1) the seeds are old, and 2) the kids planted them without much guidance.  (I explained briefly, went to get my camera, and they were practically done by themselves!)  Tomorrow we will transplant them into our garden boxes, which are finally ready.  Thank you, wonderful husband, for all your hard work on prepping soil and re-building our collapsed bed!  I hope to say thanks with a delicious salad, soon!

Morning Fires

Since we’re smack dab in the middle of spring break, (ok, it’s almost over, but anyhow…), I seem to be applying the spring cleaning philosophy with me wherever I go.  “Use it or get rid of it!”  When I had to move our outdoor fireplace to make way for our new planter boxes, I realized we hadn’t really used it in a while.  I always think I will remember when it’s cold, but after dinner on a chilly evening I don’t ever feel like going outside!  Then it occurred to me.  Whenever we camp, my favorite are not the evening campfires, though those are special, too.  I LOVE morning campfires!  A new day.  A fresh start.  Brisk morning air.  The world is quiet.  A cup of coffee… yes, morning campfires rock.

At first they were content reading and enjoying the fire and each other’s company.  It was quite sweet!  It didn’t take long before someone asked for the obvious; morning s’mores.  What the heck; it is spring break!

We’ve since had a couple morning fires, and I think it might be a great new morning devotion spot!  Hooray for re-discovering old treasures!

Chickie Funeral

I awoke to a crash, but didn’t think much of it.  The winds were blowing, which is a normal occurrence around here.  I got up to go to the bathroom and looked out the window only to learn the “bang” was our chickie coop knocked over.  We (pretty much my husband) stayed up to get the chickies a new home in the garage as well as to get things cleaned up.  We also looked and looked and looked for a missing chick, but without success.

Fast forward to the next morning, and our sweet Natalie was devastated.  After all, it was her little “Blackwing” that was missing.  She searched herself, but still couldn’t find her. 

Later that morning, Malachi discovered her in the front yard under a bush.  Poor little baby was gone.

When I told Natalie she could get another one and that we would have a little funeral, she was quite excited.  Apparently, she had always waned to have a little funeral for a pet.  (Sounds super morbid, but I get where she was coming from!)  Kids are so resilient.  So, we holed our little backyard hill, had a little funeral, said our goodbyes, and welcomed “Goldilocks” to our home.  We also fixed the chickie coop so no more wind gusts will affect our little ones!

Easter 2016

Happy Easter!  We enjoyed a quiet, family Easter mostly at home.  (If you can call our 4 kiddos quiet!)  We began with the Easter story and “Easter baskets,” (mini German pancakes) for breakfast.

After breakfast we had a mad dash to get showered and get to church.  The kids came with us into service, which I always enjoy during Holidays.  I love for them to see how we worship and “do church.”  Afterwards, we stayed for the next service to serve while the kids went to Sunday school.  We came home tired and hungry, but were soon re-energized for our Easter egg hunt!

I love how the Easter bunny actually hid all the eggs really well this year — in bushes and trees and not just scattered on the grass.  Aw, the joys of “older” kids!

We couldn’t finish our celebration without making some butter mint play dough.  That is one tradition the kids just love; it is tasty, super fun, and easy to make!

 The afternoon proved to be tiring.  To combat our fatigue, we walked to the horse stables, then the park.  Our intention was to go out to Chinese for dinner afterward.  We had had friends over the night before and were looking for simple.  We were so tired, we took simple to the next level — we made frozen potstickers for dinner.  I had to laugh.  While others were probably feasting on ham with company, we were perfectly content to eat our frozen potstickers, let the kids play a little Wii, then call it a night.

I hope you had a blessed Easter!

Spring Break 2016!

Spring break is finally upon us… hooray!!!  And, my husband is home the first four days… HOORAY!  He came home yesterday completely exhausted and went to take a nap, when this happened…

Yes, buried in every pillow, blanket, or sleeping bag around.  Sweet littles get so excited when daddy gets home!  Believe it or not, he was so tired he slept right through this for another couple hours.  He woke up just in time for Friday night pizza, then Good Friday service at church.

After church, we surprised the kids by going out to froyo.  (It was essentially bedtime).  That was a huge hit, but then we made it even more special; we stopped by a new park we had discovered just the day before.  The kids fell in love with it because it has a zipline.  The park was dark, of course, and empty… For the next hour we zipped and swung and slid and tackled and had the best time.  I am certain it will go down as a historic night for the Yeh family!

Lots more stuff on my spring break to-do list, (including catch-up on blogging!)  My, how wonderful breaks are indeed!

Tomorrow is Easter.  I am  so glad it is so much more than chicks and bunnies and candy!  The Son of God came down to earth and took my sin (and your sin) upon his shoulders.  He died, yes.  But, he rose again and is alive!  Hallelujah!

Happy Easter!

St. Paddy’s Day 2016 (Minus Shamrock Shakes!)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Though we are not Irish, the green milk and Lucky Charms breakfast is a favorite tradition around here.  

Traditions really are special.  Though I know my kids won’t eat them, I had to make my Irish Soda Bread muffins with green sugar on top.  (At least I enjoyed them with my coffee!)

And, another tradition of ours… getting Shamrock Shakes with friends.  Well, guess what?  There were no Shamrock Shakes this year!  I have yet to figure out what Mc Donald’s was thinking!  We still enjoyed an incredible day with friends, decorating cupcakes and playing in their awesome yard.

I guess from now on we will just have to make our own Shamrock Shakes!

Garden Journals, pt. 4

For our fourth garden journal entry, we took the Sunset planting zones for California and painted them onto our journals.  Basically, they learned different areas have different recommendations for planting.  The fun part was mixing the colors.

I’m hoping today will be a hands-on, in the garden planting day!