Peace

I just need a little peace sometimes. I am sure you can all relate. I have not blogged in three weeks. I have not cleaned my house during those same three weeks--gasp! I. AM. TIRED. Tired all the time. Seriously tired. However, today I was able to just enjoy an overwhelming sense of peace. I didn't have to look at the dirty mirror or window I've been meaning to clean. I didn't have to think about what I would be making (or ordering) for dinner. Imagine that. So dreamy. Yes, my friends, I am on vacation. I. LOVE. VACATION. Tropical? No. Cruise? No. Island getaway? No. Theme park related? No. My favorite vacation spot in the world~my parents' house. The kids LOVE it! I relax. Grandpa and Grandma play with them the whole time. This is better than Disneyland for them! Love it. My mom plans out every meal. Love it. As long as I have this I will never need a tropical vacation of any type. The only thing missing? My husband. Work calls. He loves his job. We are thankful he has a job. But alas, we miss him so.

Praying tonight for my friend whose brother has had cancer return to his body. Praying that God can help to provide peace, strength, courage, and hope for him and his family. Praying for my friend. She has been through so much in her life. Praying for her strength and hope too.

Lastly, thankful for my family. My husband and kids, my ADORABLE little niece Kaili :-), my sister, parents, extended family, in-laws, and friends who are family. We are SO blessed by those that are in our lives. We are so fortunate to have support all around us. We have FABULOUS friends and EXTRAORDINARY family. We love you all!

Hamster in a Wheel

No. We don't have a hamster. We don't even have a hamster wheel. We have a me. Yep. A me. That's right. A mom. A wife. A Mrs. Harlow. A Liz. I am the closest human version to a hamster in a wheel that you may ever lay your eyes upon in your lifetime. No joke. Imagine it. Me. In a wheel. Going in circles for hours making no progress. Yep. And of course, I'm having a heck of a lot of fun with a smile on my face the whole time.

This morning did not start off well. I woke up with a RAGING headache. Dark circles. (The night before my eyes were so puffy I had to sleep with a cool washcloth on them.)I started to worry how I would get it all done. Laundry. Report cards. Report card comments. Placement cards. Dishes. Shopping for the birthday party. Uploading pictures for school. Grocery shopping. Paying bills. Visiting friends who just had babies. Cleaning. Finishing the fence project. And oh yeah--let's not forget that I wanted to actually have FUN with the kids this weekend too. Ryan had to leave for work. The kids were both up before seven. Did I mention that I had a headache? Sweet husband went to get milk and caffeine (Starbucks) for me then off to work he went. I dreaded the day ahead. I was so sure that the kids and I were going to be at odds all day. Oh and I forgot to mention that it is Dylan's weekend with the classroom stuffed animal Fluffy. Fluffy needs to go around town with us and we document where he goes. Yep. Take pictures of Fluffy. Upload pics of Fluffy. Pick up pics of Fluffy. Have Dylan write about pics of Fluffy. And yes, all due back in class by Monday morning. Hamster. In. A. Wheel.

Around 10:30 I decided that we needed out of the house and for a morning I dreaded, the day could not have turned out better!

We ran off to Home Depot for the kid's clinic. They each made a tool box with me. Yes. Me. I can pound a nail and line up wood like no other. Okay, well maybe I had to try a few times, but hey the kids loved their toolboxes! And yes, Fluffy had his picture take during the process and after.





As we were leaving Home Depot Dylan said, "Mom, that was so much fun!" Melt my heart. We all held hands and off to the car and our next stop we went. If you have never been to a Lakeshore Learning store you must go. They are known for their teacher supplies and educational games, etc. My kids love everything there! Today they had free puppet making and a man playing guitar and singing. Last week was story time. So fun. And free!!!



Of course, Fluffy had his picture taken there too!



So as the day is now half done I have successfully worked on the most important item on my lengthy "to-do list"....have fun with kids!

California Sun!

In the midst of birthday parties, family fun nights, planning a birthday party, preschool orientations, work schedules, and upcoming golf tournements (yeah, not me on this one) we have still found time to enjoy the California sun! We are currently experiencing some "May Gray" soon to be "June Gloom." Seriously, who comes up with this stuff. Is it suposed to make us all feel better that we won't see the sun again until July just because nothing rhymes with it? However, we were blessed with some great weather the past two weekends.

We went and swam at some good friends' house on Memorial Day. Below are some pics of the kids having fun in the pool (of course there are more pictures of my children, who else would I blog about?). We have a couple of little "frogs" on our hands. Nope, not fishies. They like the water but are alright being in it or out of it. Kind of like a turtle too I guess. Either way we loved every minute of being able to swim. Well, I wasn particulary fond of the "I need to get in a swimsuit to swim" part of the whole deal. C'mon...whatever happened to the days when women had suits that covered their whole bodies. The "average woman" was much better off...and much more protected by the sun. Anyway, I got in one and we had fun!





Lastly, here is a picture of "Ooh" and "Aah" as my husband refers to them in our backyard.



As I close this entry I just want to say how fortunate we are to have "fun kids." They think EVERYTHING is fun! Somehow going to the dentist is fun (they did not inherit that from me), going to the store, shopping, setting the table...you name it. They make everything into a game! So fun!

Emma's Birthday Part 2 and 3

Part two of Emma's birthday happened at preschool this week. On Wednesday at Chapel time, Emma was sung to and received her "Jesus Loves Me" necklace that every child gets on his or her birthday. She loves it! Then on Friday, she took in popsicles and shared with the class. By the sheer grace of God, I arrived just in time for her to pass them out. The teachers at our preschool are so wonderful, and they went to get Dylan from his classroom to share in the celebration with his sister!








The last part of Emma's birthday was today, her actual birthday. Ryan had to work all day today and tonight, so I really tried hard to make today as special as possible for Em. She did open up all of her gifts this morning before Daddy had to leave for work.



Then D and I took her to Toys R Us, Target, and Lakeshore Learning to buy gifts with giftcards she received for her special day. We had a lot of fun this morning! After nap, we picked up Auntie Julie (my best friend) while D played with Zachy and Matty (his best friends) and Uncle Mike (my best friend's husband....are you following all of this? :-). Auntie Julie, Em and I went for pedicures! Yes...I know what you are thinking. SOOOOO Orange County! Please, give me a break here! We wanted to indulge the princess on her special day!



After her toes and fingers were painted pink, we picked up all the boys and went to Ruby's for dinner.



My goodness am I tired! God bless you all out there with more than two children, I don't know how you do it! All of this running around and celebrating is exhausting! However, I would never trade a moment of it for anything! Especially moments such as when I am bringing Dylan into my bed this morning, where Em has already situated herself and the first thing my sweet boy says is, "Happy Birthday Emma!" Wow...those are the moments that make everything else feel a thousand miles away. Not to mention that the last thing D said this evening when we were going to bed was, "Mom, let's sing Happy Birthday to Emma one more time!"

Emma's Birthday Part 1

Today my little princess had her 3rd birthday party. Her actual party is not until May 30th. She is such a little princess and a tomboy all rolled into one! :-)



She loved her new party dress! She loves dressing up and is very opinionated about everything: which shoes she will wear, how she wants her hair done! It's crazy!





We had her party at one of the local parks! I loved it! You can reserve the parks for free through our HOA. What a great idea/deal! The kids had such a blast! It was the perfect day too. About 75 degrees, sunny and a great breeze. The park has four covered picnic tables, tons of play equipment including Dylan's favorite sand diggers, and a HUGE field. We took bats, balls, and sand toys for all to play. We had 30 people there and we had FUN! We have a FABULOUS group of close friends (who are family) and fantastic neighbors. We are so blessed that they love our children so much!

Here is a picture of me with my favorite little girl!


Here is a picture with my favorite man!
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What a perfect day for a princess birthday party! Life is good!

Bilingual...did you know?

Dylan informed us at dinner the other night that he can speak and understand Korean. Wow, we knew he was smart, but we had no idea. No, seriously we were trying not to laugh when he told us. We asked him what he could say in Korean and of course his response was, " I can't remember right now." Mom: "Dylan, does anyone in your class speak any other languages? " Dylan: "Yes mommy, V does." Mom: "Oh really, what language does V speak? " Dylan "She speaks 'inquiet' language." Ryan and I could not keep the smiles and small snickers to ourselves. V is a delightful girl in Dylan's class that is quiet spoken and well mannered. Upon further investigation into this language matter, Dylan also informed us that others in the class spoke "just regular" language like him. Very insightful conversation.

Driving home yesterday Dylan and Emma wanted to know if tomorrow (Saturday) was a mommy day. This is what we call days when mommy doesn't have to work and we can have a day off. I told them that the next two days were mommy days. Dylan wanted to know if it was a day off so we could pray for all the soldiers in heaven. While driving and trying to unsuccessfully multitask, I did not fully grasp what Dylan was asking about. I asked him to repeat what he said again. He wanted to know if we had a day off to pray for all of God's soldiers that were now in heaven. Then it hit me. In preschool they had been talking about Memorial Day. Wow. I was blown away. I had never, in my 32 years of life thought of Memorial Day in such a powerful light. Yes. Dylan was right. We would be praying for ALL of God's soldiers that day that have gone on to heaven. All of the men and women that have died giving their lives in order for all of us to have ours. Wow. So powerful. Seeing life through the eyes of children is beyond words. At that moment when I understood what he was talking and asking about, I was completely covered in goosebumps realizing that Dylan understood the meaning of Memorial Day so much better than I could have ever explained it. So amazing. My sweet boy, so, so, so amazing.

Job Hunting

We recently had the opportunity to visit a children's museum. Dylan and Emma had the opportunity to test out some future possible job opportunties! Enjoy!