Limping

There are 4 1/2 days left of school.  4 1/2, not 5, because 5 would be the end of me.  I'm already having serious doubts if we can even make it for these last 4 1/2 days because there's still a rainforest creature to create where family participation is strongly encouraged, an end-of-year 1st grade party to help out with, a so-long preschool party to bake cookies for and attend with three stragglers, a homeschooled boy to finish up the year with, a preschooler who keeps asking for projects, a toddler who's forever up to no good, and...

my back hurts. my eyes hurt. my teeth hurt.  Unrelated?  Perhaps.

I've been waking up feeling just as exhausted as when I dragged myself into bed and fell into a black sleep the night before.

Then today I came across this.  I think I actually heard angel hallelujah choruses in my head.  I am not alone.

And somehow, that makes me feel much better.

Still not completely sure if we can make it (3 Lunchables sit in my fridge as I type this), but at least I feel better.

Which might also explain why today, at 11 am, I told the homeschooled boy that we could skip school if he could carry me on his back across the playroom.  His determination to do it was beautiful to behold.

I took pictures.

"I think I can, I think I can."

Mom is beginning to have serious doubts about this whole idea.

"I think I can't, I think I can't."

On the way down.

Seriously limping across these last 4 1/2 days, folks.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day can sometimes be a complicated day for me to navigate with an oft-times difficult relationship with my mom as well as a step-mom relationship I'm still trying to figure out how best to honor.

But you know what isn't complicated in the least?

Being called "mommy" by this guy right here.

Being called "mama" by this sweet slip of a girl.

Being called "mommy" by this little mini.

Being called "MA-MA!!" by this little munchkin.  But only when he wants something.  Usually food.

Nope, not complicated in the least.

And it's one of the greatest privileges of my life.  Even when bedtime rolls around and I can hardly wait to get 'em into bed so that the mommy!/mama?/mooooommmmmy/MA-MA!!!-ing ceases for a little while.

Yup.  Even then.

Getting a nice little haul like this?  Also not complicated.  But only if you ignore the dust there on the dresser top.  Black furniture?  What in the world was I thinking?!

Hope your Mother's day was more joy and less complication for you too.

Preschool Mom's Day

So earlier this month, Lauren's preschool had a special mom's day.  With a little juggling around, I was able to go with no other kids tagging along.  Lauren began referring to it as our special mommy date as soon as she heard that it would just be the two of us.

Happy to grab these little one-on-one times which so often are few and far between.

Our school date involved coloring with scented markers.  As all proper school dates should.

It also included story time.

And a puppet show!

She was equal parts riveted.

And silly.

And it ended with lunch- which is always a good thing in my book.

Love my girl and love that it got to be just us two this time.

His Birthday

Our dear Jami and James agreed to drive all the way over to our house and babysit our four kiddos so that Phil and I could go out for dinner to celebrate his birthday.

What wonderful friends they are.  Especially considering how cranky Jonah had been that day (we later figured out he was miserable from Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease) and how it turned out the girls were coming down with it that night, too.  So all things considered, these two are indeed very good friends.

Jami even got a picture of us on our way out.  Thanks, Jami!

His dinner.  Land and sea.  Not bad for a free birthday meal!

My dinner.  Pork chop.  Not free, but still good.  :)

Always fun to have a night out.  Even if we did look a tad tired.

The birthday boy.

We headed back home in order to have dessert all together.

The girls weren't feeling too good by this point but managed to eke out smiles for the sake of cake.  They never seem to tire of it even though this was our fourth round of birthday cake in the span of a month.

Jonah's got this candle blowing thing down now, too.

Our friends' daughter made this cake for us in what else but UCLA colors!  She did a great job and it was enjoyed by all.


So happy birthday, dear husband of mine.  I am so blessed and thankful to be able to share this life with you.  May the Lord richly bless you in this new year and hopefully the many more to come!


And many, many thanks to you, James and Jami for being so great with our under-the-weather kiddos that night!  We love you!

Sometimes...

it takes just one to tell the story. 


But. 

Sometimes, an extra one...

or two just tell it all the better.

What a grace it is to catch these little moments of sweetness between the sibs.  God is very kind to this undeserving mama.

Grandpa's, Day 3

And our final day together at Grandpa's...

This is what their doorstep looks like when we all (minus Phil) descend upon them.  Grandma always lines up our shoes facing outward so that they're easy to slip on and go when we're heading out.  Only with so many people heading in and out at all times, it's hard to keep all the shoes facing in one direction all the time.  I should know.  That's why I never attempt this at home.  Also why we're forever tripping on each other's shoes in the doorway.

Day three of full breakfast.

My brother wanted us all to do a little golfing on our final day together.  Like father, like daughter.

When I was a kid, my favorite way to "golf" was to remain in the golf cart (whenever my dad had money enough to rent one) and never step foot on the grass.  Apparently he remembered this and promptly went in to rent us two carts for this outing.  Even though it was only a six-hole course.  Turns out this is Lauren's favorite way to golf, too.

Turns out we weren't the only ones!

Hmm, kinda hard to get a clear shot in these conditions.

Jeremiah and Joy were awesome about sharing their clubs with their club-less cousins.  Mikey had a great time learning even though they were right-handed clubs.  And he's a lefty.

Getting a few pointers from Grandpa.

Our attempt at a group shot.

She makes a good golf cart model, no?

I let her drive the cart back to the drop-off area all by herself.  She thought this was thrilling.  Just like I do used to.  ;)


And that was the end of an awesome visit to Grandpa's (and Grandma's) house.  Time well spent and wonderful memories made.  Already looking forward to our next trip back!

Grandpa's, Day 2

Just when we thought the weekend couldn't get any better, it totally did.

My brother's family came to join us!

And my dad had something special planned for all of us.

Not-so-early the next morning, we all got dressed and ready.  Some of us needed more help than others.

And found ourselves on a pontoon boat in the middle of Lake Nacimiento.

Life vests were required for the littluns.  Doesn't he look nice and comfy?  Also?  I forgot to bring his shoes so I threw two pairs of socks that I found in the van on him instead.  Same thing, right?

Thankfully these others didn't mind donning the life vests at all.

Hold on to yer hats kids, cuz away we go!

There was a high turnover of captains on our boat.

Gotta love good quality cousin time.  Especially when it's on a boat.

Tweren't long before he started doing this very familiar sign.  Jonna wanna eat, eat.

Grandma and Auntie Joanna came prepared.  Thank goodness.  Because me?  I had three smashed Skittles in my bag and our snack bag sitting back in the van.  Nice.

Waving to fellow boaters passing by.

So, so nice to be able to enjoy this together. 

Me and my daddy.  And my baby.  (Thanks Joanna for taking the pic!)

My brother and I kept mentioning to each other how nice it was that a Kim Family Trip was actually working out so well for us.  I mean, look at us.  Don't we look like a totally normal family enjoying a pleasant outing on the lake?  Wow.  We've come a long way, baby.

Little baby hairs blowing in the wind.

I'm telling you, the man can sleep anywhere, anytime.  Wish I had inherited that particular trait from him.  Look closely at the other pictures and you'll see who all inherited that sleep anywhere, anytime gene.

For some reason, this picture just totally cracks me up.

We were actually supposed to do some fishing at some point while on the boat, but Grandpa decided we were all having too much fun just driving around the lake so the lines never got dropped in.  Much to Johnny's and my puzzlement.  But then again, why mess with an already good thing?  See above.

Brother-brother bonding time.

Love this.

And this.  Please note the napper there to the right.  ;)

Loved everything about this day.  I think we all did.