Our Forever Family

Our Forever Family

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Emberlin News

Emberlin: A Heavenly Adventure is currently on sale!  

For the next three days the price is less than a buck!

Yay!


And she is getting some good reviews.  Check them out at Amazon or Goodreads.

Frankly I would have been completely satisfied with less but they are all fives now.  Read it and rate it!



And don't forget about .   Domino.

  



It is much shorter.  Feel free to read it and rate it as well so it doesn't get jealous of Emberlin.

Living with Children

I came into the entry and saw Riley chucking a ball up at my decorative books.  

"Knock it off," I told him.  "I don't want you throwing balls up there."

He rolled his eyes, barely containing his disdain for my utter stupidity.

"I know, Mom," he said.  "I an trying to get the other ball down."


Ah.  Now it makes sense.

Living with children is quite an adventure and not for the faint-hearted.

Heat Wave

When I got in the car on Saturday the dash said that it was 109 degrees outside.

Ummmmm....this is Cailfornia, not Arizona.


Never fear, as I went further, the temp went up to 112 degrees.  

What the dickens?!


And today when we got in the car for church the dash read 112 degrees again.  And then it stopped working.  Said it was too hot for the temp gauge to work.


Gotta love a heat wave...

Ice Cream Monster Again

Ev ate the top off of his ice cream sandwich.

Then he poked his finger into the ice cream and licked his finger over and over again.



Sometimes he missed.  Can you see the large glops of ice cream on the floor?


Thank goodness the tile in the kitchen is so easy to clean!

Pool Time with Mom

Before this day, I had only been in the pool once since we moved in.    I'm not a poolist or anything, I just get cold very easily.

But this day was a ridiculously hot day.  So I hopped in.

Riley couldn't believe Mom was in the pool so he joined me.





I was wearing one of my super cute vintage suits. 
And yes, I really am this pale in August in California.  I'm pretty sure there is some ghost in my mother's line...perhaps my father's too...



It's been so hot since that I have jumped in twice more.  What are the odds?


Yogurtland

These pictures make it look terribly unfun.

However, we had a lot of fun, and as I explained earlier, I took very few pictures of all of our activities.  So, you get what you get.







The loved it.  I swear.

Basketball




Swish!


Brothers


Plan B

Ev spilled his drink.

No worries though.  He had a plan B.

He lapped it up off the table like a pet.  



Beach Day

I told the kids that I would take them to the beach.  We were having warm days and I thought it would be fun.  

So, we went to a govt office (which took three times longer than it should have and we have to go back...sigh...).  Then we went to lunch at a great burger place.

And finally off to the beach.  Where it was a little cooler than that week's average temps had been.  Sigh again.

But, we would not be daunted.

The kids checked out the temp of the water.  Freezing.  I swear the water seems warmer at the beach in March than it does in August.  Every year.



One kid gave up.  

Then later got out of his funk and played with the skim board with his brothers.


One kid slept for a while. 


Some roamed, unsure what to do when the water was cold and Mom forgot the sand toys.  Oops!


Some tried to bury themselves.


And then something changed.  The kids realized they were at a great beach!  Lots of kids in America don't get to hang out at great beaches.

So they played.  James taught his sister how to boogie board.  



Took a while to get out...



Some have shark fears and got in the water...but stayed on shore.





Once out, C got the hang of boogie boarding right off the bat!  She was a natural.  

Later I went out with her and had fun until the salt water got in my eyes and stung.










Baby woke up and was a little grouchy.  I tried to get him to smile with a selfie because he really, really likes looking at himself.



Fail.

But the kids kept playing.






Trying to make Ev laugh, take two.





A little better...

The boys and girl had fun body surfing as well.











And at the end of it all, the kids were begging me to leave them there (on the beach alone!) and go put more money in the parking meter so we could stay longer.

Uh no.  But that means that...

In the end, success!

I called it and we packed up.  We trooped out the car and just as the kids were desanding themselves to get in, rain came.  Giant, juicy raindrops.

We quickly hopped in and took off.  Timing ended up perfect.