Last Days of May '12

I'm sorry I have let so much time go by without posting. I've recently bought a smartphone and am using the Whatsapp to communicate with pictures via our phones to family instead of sitting down to blog.

God has been working on us and I am thankful to say that grace is starting to penetrate our parenting. One night last week I realized how different Scott and I are now when one of the kids got out of bed and instead of sternly telling them in exasperation to return to bed and angrily asking "why are you out of bed?", we were able to embrace that time and hug on the child and get to the heart of why he/she was out of bed. Time and time again I catch myself thinking, "Ann, God wouldn't kick you when you are down; he'd help you up and give you another chance." I'm truly trying to apply that to my parenting.
I am thankful for a husband who prays aloud over me every morning. His prayers are being answered. I am thankful for books like A Mother's Heart by Jean Flemming, You Can't Make Me [But I can be Persuaded] by Cynthia Tobias, and Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel. I am thankful for Beth Moore's study on the Fruits of the Spirit. It's teaching me how I can not possibly posses love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control WITHOUT the aid of the Holy Spirit. When I think about not wanting to extend goodness, I first reflect on God's goodness to me. When I think about not wanting to extend patience{particularly to my kids}, I think first of God's patience with me. etc....

I took the 3 older kids to the Botanical Gardens last week.

 Matthias was quite sure he was just as old as they are.

Now that's a leaf!

 A bonus as we were leaving....The dinosaur exhibit was packing up to leave and we got to get close the a dino without having to pay $10 to see it again. Scott took them to the exhibit in February, but of course they had been begging to go back...mainly because Adeline was SURE the dinosaur eggs had hatched by now.

 Scott and I went to the International Women's Club Gala on Saturday night. We had so much fun and even though we didn't arrive home until 2a.m., we both felt the night wasn't long enough. I'm SO thankful we still have fun together after 7 1/2yrs of marriage and 4 kids. We will have known each other for a decade this June.

Matthias insists that he needs to be a part of bedtime story time now. 

kids HARD at work

I could go on and on and on about Darton and how we are learning to parent him. He regularly puts his fingers in his ears these days in order to not hear our reprimand, instructions, explanations, etc. 

Adeline sounding out a note she was writing to me. 

For now, Darton is learning ONLY from absorption of his environment. He will have nothing to do with sitting down with me to learn something UNLESS it's his idea. 

Adeline continues to love bugs and insects. This is a snail she found in the yard.

A Sweet Visit

A Christian girlfriend, Krista, that I met shortly after I met Scott in 2002 came to visit us with two of her friends, Ana & Neda, last week. 

We enjoyed a day at the beach

Krista took some great shots of life here. 

Krista is all about catching the moment on camera!

This guy asked me to buy him a mango while I was buying fruit. I didn't respond. Then he said "It's for the nino." I told him, "It's always for the nino" (b/c that's a common phrase when they want something). But after Krista wanted his photo he said we could take it if I bought him a mango! Fair enough.
I LOVE THIS PHOTO. It captures the dominican fruit stand, the dominican street sign, and you'll notice our friend here is a windshield washer.  At almost every stoplight there is a guy wanting to wash your windows for a few pesos...it's better than begging! The clever ones, like the one above, use a 20oz bottle filled with soapy water with a hole poked in the lid to squirt the water on your car windows. He then has a disgusting sponge to wipe his dirty soapy water with and a leather strap to swipe off the water. 

Krista and the girls enjoyed coco water and the flesh of the coco or la comida del coco (didn't like that part so much). We found out the hard way that coco water must be refrigerated if its not in the coco or it starts to ferment quickly!

Staple ingredients in dominican seasonings include: red bell pepper, onion, garlic, and cilantro

They DEVOURED Santa's chicken

stoplight vendor

papaya

 Krista, Macklin, and I spent a couple of hours in the Colonial Zone.

restaurant on the water before heading to the airport

We miss them a lot!!

Enjoying our Days

Oh how the days are flying by! Well...there are those hours that seem to never end, but the days are fastly turning into weeks which are turning into months [spellcheck says "fastly" isn't a word, but we're going to roll with it]. 

Adeline and Darton enjoy playing Peter Pan these days. Some days Darton is Hook and other days he's Peter Pan...thanks Aunt Jenny for the awesome costume! 

 Neverland is in the bushes [not exactly bushes]. Matthias curiously followed his older siblings into Neverland.

 "Help me, Peter," Wendy called.

 Matthias' stomach is going to be the strongest of us all with all the hose water I catch him drinking! It's a big no no to drink from the tap here. Praise God he hasn't gotten amoebas yet. The stubborn boy looks me straight in the eyes and THEN puts the hose in his mouth!!

 Macklin turned 2 months this past Tuesday.

 Adeline always asks for dessert after dinner so I thought it would be fun to bake a cake for Macklin's 2nd month bday. Adeline and I baked it, Adeline frosted it, and Darton put the sprinkles on.

Macklin enjoyed sleeping during the celebration. His favorite position is laying on his stomach across your legs. 

Matthias had fun blowing out the candles. 

These clever fellows cut circles out of cardboard squares to create sombreros! They gladly posed for a picture. 

Our train as we walked around the neighborhood this week. I LOVE MY NEW STROLLER!!! 

Matthias sucking on one paci while helping Macklin with his. 

I think it's in there now!

It's lots of sunshine these days and the kids are in the pool just about every day. 

Darton can official swim solo but only when an adult is in the pool. 

A girlfriend loaned us her Moses basket and I'm convinced I'm going to buy one for Adeline's first child. It's awesome!