affordable housing for all, part 2

So the next morning when we woke up, we were one step closer to solving our housing dilemma.

While the girls were at school, I cut a drawbridge door and a window in the sides of the box, and during lunch we discussed ideas for how we'd paint it.  I make a diligent effort to let my children create things on their own, with as little intrusion from me as possible - but I also try to get them to think ahead and have a general idea about what they're aiming for.

Emma started painting the door with purple-yellow swish and samantha tackled the window:

How many times I have I said that I love taking pictures of kids painting?
This door was all Emma, zero mom:
Samantha's window started to take on a creepy halloweenish look, what with all the red paint dripping down.  (In an effort to salvage the greenery, we later turned the red drips into berries on a bush.)

On Emma's second side, she wanted to create a garden.  I wasn't quite sure what she had in mind, but I was pleased that she had a plan and could envision it.  I was amazed at the garden she turned out.  It was lovely!
I loved the differing heights of the flowers, and even the unusual blooms on the flowers - not your typical little five-petal-my-mom-doesn't-know-how-to-draw-a-flower flower.  The dirt at the bottom was also her idea.  
Samantha's next side was making a rainbow.  We had a fun time mixing the red and yellow together because we had no orange.  After lots of mixing, we had plenty of orange!
Here are Samantha's two final sides:
And Emma's two final sides:
nice work, ladies!  I was SO impressed and really pleased at how it turned out.  We still had to wait for this to dry before adding the finishing touches...

affordable housing for all, part 1

In the days of these economic hardships, no issue is more important to me than making sure everyone has a safe and clean place to live.  Of course, many people try to live beyond their means, but a place to lay your head, raise your family, and retreat to is so important.  I plan to write a three part series on this issue as it relates to our family.  

One problem in regard to affordable housing is, if you are a princess, that necessitates you living in a castle.

We are a family of limited means, and are unable to provide three castles to house the princesses we have birthed.  

But, several months ago, I bought a new little set of drawers to house/organize/hide the clutter that lurks in every corner of my cozy home.  

Once the drawers were in their proper place, there was the question of what to do with the massive box it came in.  

For our family fun night, we discussed ideas about what the box should become.  It didn't take long to settle on an answer.

It would become a castle.  

Step 1: Paint it white.  We prefer to do large painting jobs with as few clothes as possible, especially since the paint we used was actually white house paint (that was never actually used for the touch-ups on walls it was bought for).

Once it was painted completely white, self-control was exercised as we all went to bed and waited for it to dry...

yesterday

After naptime, the girls and I walked down the street to buy some fingernail polish.  They were excited for some girly-activities to take place once daddy was gone.  I gave them each 5 local dollars and we were on our way.

One interesting thing about yesterday was that it was the Opening Ceremonies for the National Athletic Games in this country, and our city was hosting it.  It was so fun (and sometimes funny!) to watch all the preparations for it, to hear people talk about it, and finally for it to come.  Our apartment building is on the main road as the venues, so we got to see first-hand some of the preparations up close.  

To begin with, from 1pm to midnight yesterday, only buses were allowed on this main artery of the city...an 8-lane road that connects to the superhighway...and yet, only buses (and VIP's, of course).  They closed the entire road to all traffic.  It was amazingly quiet, and a bit eerie.  This road, usually a hustle and bustle of horns, shouts, squeals, and zooms that makes it all the way up to our 10th floor windows, was oddly quiet.  

From both sides of the road, it was uncomfortably empty:

The lone policeman in the middle of the road - directing those hordes of traffic...
We turned the corner and made it back to the land where traffic flows freely again.  I usually don't travel outside with my camera much - it seems a bit ambitious to keep an eye on my oldest two, carry or push abby, and also be prepared for photo ops - but I had it yesterday evening.  

I laughed when I saw this noodle shop that had Po from Kung Fu Panda as its inspiration. All those headlines about copyright-infringement progress in this country seems really...misguided? incorrect? unrealistic?
And...who could pass up a picture of Hello Kitty on a gas can?  I could not.  
We picked up our nail polish, headed home and had grapes and popcorn for dinner while we watched Beauty and the Beast for the first time.  (Yes, my girls had never seen it before.  Josh apparently was traumatized as a child by watching disney movies with his sister, and strongly prefers not to be here when they are watched.  I'm sure I must also have traumatized my own brother because I watched all those movies til they were broken!)

We had a great night together and then I jumped on the computer and got to chat with a friend I hadn't talked to in a long time - it was a good first day!

agenda

Sigh.

Josh left this morning, for two weeks.  It's the longest we've been apart, ever.  Sniff, sniff.  

But, in order to keep my mind busy and entertained, I've come up with quite an ambitious agenda of things to get done.  

Here's what's on my nightstand for the next two weeks:

Educating the Whole-Hearted Child

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Mark of Lion series

The Memory Keepers Daughter

A biography of William Tyndale

*I've still never read the entire story of PW from her website, so I'm hoping to do that too.

*the book of Deuteronomy (for our read-through-the-bible plan we're doing together)

I also have these movies I've been saving up (since they're not action/adventure, they seldom get any air time in this house!):

Pride and Prejudice, the full-flown A&E version

Confessions of a Shopaholic (I know, I know...I can't help it)

Young Victoria

While You Were Sleeping

The Wedding Planner

Becoming Jane

I also have a to-do list that is forming in my mind, but it didn't require the level of advance planning that my movie/book list required.  

I'm hoping and praying that I also use this time to really invest my heart and time into my kids.  I've found that often when josh is gone - whether for the night or for several nights - my tendency is to "get through the day" so I can make it to bedtime and do something I really want to do, like take a bath, watch a movie, post on my blog, etc.  BUT I don't want to do that this time!  I want to actively minister to them and seek ways to bless their hearts while daddy is gone. Having now publicly mentioned that, I may have more accountability to do it!  

My plans with the girls include our first foray into paper mache (thanks, carrie!), some sleepovers in mommy's bed, a few new movies they don't know anything about, and a couple of fun fall outings.  They are also already very excited about planning daddy's homecoming celebration; I've told them it's great to plan ahead, but they were drawing up the plans before he'd even left the house!  

I'm going to also really endeavor to hold up the same standards for our home that josh has, even though he is gone.  Another dirty secret I have is that my standards of obedience and attitude (for the girls) often get eroded by laziness and preoccupation while he is gone, and I let little things slide that wouldn't normally slide.  But this is a way I can honor my husband while he is gone, and also set an example for my girls that their daddy is respected, whether he is home or not.  So - back to first-time, cheerful obedience!

Another little goal I have is to try to post on my blog every day while he's gone (and line up some future posts too), so hopefully the blog drought of 2009 will be over soon.  

Do any of you have suggestions to add to my list?  Books? Movies? Sitting on the couch eating bon-bons listening to Yanni?  What would you do to pass the time? 

what have I done?

I haven't been posting for a while, and here's the reason why...

More detailsto come, but that's what's news...

most certainly NOT at a snails pace

Change of topic here away from Rosebud and onto someone else...Abby!

Abby has become mobile over the last month or so...yes, it was a month ago that I took these pictures, but at least they eventually made them here.

She currently has two little bottom teeth, but since these pictures are from a month ago, they aren't there yet. 

I've officially entered into that stage where someone, somewhere needs to have an eye on her almost all the time.  It's not that she's discontent to play by herself - far from it!  I can stick her in room on the floor with a basket of toys and she's all smiles...until she pulls herself up on a chair and can't get down.

Yes, I said she pulls herself up on the chair and I try to remind her that she not even seven months old, she can slow down her developmental milestones.   There's no need to act like a seventh-grader, Abby.  

You just take it easy there on the floor, girl...don't rush this growing up thing.  

Who needs to stand up anyway?

the many adventures of rosebud the snail

You may have been wondering how our household pet has been faring lately...oh, you haven't?  =)

The truth is, Rosebud, our dear little snail friend, has been dead for many days.

The story of her demise is a tragic one, though accentuated by brief bits of creativity.  If you have to die, you might as well go down in a blaze of creative glory.

As I recall, it was Saturday afternoon and I was preparing a plate of cornstarch so that the girls and I could play a little get-to-know-you-game of sorts with the snail.

This article I had read online said that if you put a snail in a plate of smoothed out cornstarch, their footprints will be left on the cornstarch as they glide around. Apparently - did YOU know this? - that snails have hundreds of tiny little feet?  Well, it seems that they do...it's just that we don't know that because all we usually see is that big, disgusting blob.

After placing Rosebud carefully on the plate - actually Samantha had to do it because (ewww!) I still didn't want to touch her - we watched.

She didn't move.  At all.

It was almost as if the cornstarch had paralyed her.

I called the experiment off and left her out of her cage so the girls could watch her more easily.  She seemed perfectly happy, stretching out her fascinatingly long antennae, lugging that big ol' shell around, flaunting her newly painted digs (yes, we applied some purple-sparkly nail polish.  The girl needed some style.).

So she played for a while, and then went back into her little cagey-home thing.  I assumed all was fine.  Later that day, when she retreated into her shell for some introvert-time, I thought nothing of it.

But the next morning, she still hadn't come out.  I still wasn't too alarmed, but that evening when she hadn't come out, I was starting to get worried.  Don't laugh at me for being worried about the snail.  Please.

Upon further inspection (cough, two days later, cough), I realized that a significant amount of cornstarch had gotten inside Rosebud's shell...and then when we put her back into her little house, there are parts of it that have water.

My guess is that the water and cornstarch mixed together, creating a little paste.  While she was sleeping, the paste dried up, firmed up, caked up, whatever you want to call it...thereby - in more or less words - burying Rosebud alive.

And all because I wanted to try a little experiment.  

We did release her into the wild, just in case there was some small sliver of hope that our breed of snails actually hibernate and will wake up at some point.  I guess if we ever see a purple-shiny snail crawling in the grass outside, there will be a happy reunion...

rites of passage and tears from mom

The unthinkable has happened.  

No, America has not been attacked.

But Samantha has started preschool.

I wish it could have been prevented, but her excitement was growing by the day.  She wanted to go.  No amount of my pretend-crying could dissuade her.  She especially loved getting a new backpack, which she so proudly wears.  I swear, it makes her look like she's 10 years old.  

Ok, maybe not ten, but certainly not the "just-barely-three" that she actually is.  

She's way too young to be so excited to leave her mama.

But, since it's only three mornings a week...and only for three hours each time...I gave in.  I knew it would be good for her.  I knew she would make friends and her language ability would take off.  I took the plunge and paid the money and got the backpack.  

She started about two weeks after Emma did.  She was so happy the first day of school:

She also made it in time for morning exercises her first day...she's a little hard to see in the picture (because I was hiding inside and didn't want to reveal my location by getting closer) but she's wearing a yellow shirt with pink shorts...there, do you see her now?) 

She didn't particularly enjoy morning exercises the first day, and just kinda stood there with her hands to her side...but now, she and emma pretend to do morning exercises at home and crack themselves up while they do it.  They seriously do.  
All those things I said about making friends and learning language and all that...well, yeah, it's true.  Samantha has her own little friends that love her - "Samantha's here!" they all yell when she arrives.  Samantha has her own little boy that pesters her and gets added to her nighttime prayer list.  Samantha is speaking asianese with courage and accuracy.  It has been good for her. 

And, maybe, it's been good for me too.  It helps me treasure the times when they are home.  It helps me get motivated to plan fun stuff for them to do when we're all together.  It gives me a little time by myself, to play with abby, run errands, and blog.  (Oh, and shower.  I've got to start working showers into a normal part of my day.)

I know my kids won't stay with me forever.  Letting them go, bit by bit, is just a natural part of growing up.  But I feel that my hesitancy to let them go reminds me and forces me to depend more and more on the Lord and trust in His care and watchfulness over them.  

first day of school

Because my other alias is "slacker-blogger", I'm just now posting these pictures from Emma's first day of school that was.....um, let me check, here....oh, sheesh....one month ago.  

Anyway, she chose her new "rainbow dress" as the outfit of choice, and double braids for the hair.  It's hard work being a four-year-old, and you need to look nice whenever possible.  :)

Inside her class, everyone was lining up to get ready for morning exercises outside.  Morning exercises are the highlight of her day, and (if I happen to be watching) are usually the highlight of mine.  
Why are they the highlight of my day, you ask?
Well, it's because you get to see grown women doing strange little aerobic things for four-year-olds to imitate, while the loudspeakers are playing things that belt out: "Good morning, sally!  Good morning, henry! How are you? I am fine!" in heavily accented voices.  

Trust me.  It would be the highlight of your day too.  
We are so thankful for this school.  I feel like we've found a great environment with teachers who really care about our girls, a principal who understands our opinions, and where our kids really like to be.  Sure, there are issues - is there anywhere or anyone who doesn't have issues?  But, after some of the stuff we've seen, we can deal with these issues!

Can you see Emma in her rainbow dress in the picture above?  This was her first day doing morning exercises...and now she's a pro!  She comes home and shows me the moves - and that really makes my day!

an afternoon with mom

I had planned a special surprise for my girls, but they had no idea it was even coming.  

The surprise involved a lot of preplanning on my part, and required the gathering of several important items.   Several of those items were purchased at a local dog market, and a few were purchased online.  Yes, this special surprise might have involved fur, four legs, and the usual amounts of poo and pee.

My heart was ready.  

The day arrived when we would make the purchase and bring the surprise home.  

But - as is so often the case in this country - things didn't quite work out the way I thought.

The dog market was closed due to a massive sanitation campaign (I guess it was too dirty?)  The breed we had wanted to buy no longer existed in our city.  Other comparable breeds were being sold for WAY more than we wanted to pay for them.  It was not to be.  

But I had planned NOTHING for this particular day, thinking the activities would likely be centered around the new, furry-ish creature who would be running around our house. 

So I had to think fast. In the absence of one surprise, give another.  

I took the girls to a nail salon.  They thought it was a fabulous surprise.  

There was a mind-boggling array of selections and designs.  Of course, not all of them would fit on the tiny nails of the girls I brought with me.  

They each carefully made their choice and sat down to get fancied up.  

Emma chose pink with black and white dots:
Mantha opted for blue with white hawaiian flowers:
They took their places just like the other big girls did.  They watched everything with intent fascination. 
Emma was done first and was thrilled with the result.
So thrilled was she, in fact, that she went to nearly every single person in the mall...showing and telling them about her beautiful nails.  I love the ladies laughing in this picture.
She even woke up this grandfather who was sleeping to show him her nails.  
...and the ladies at the makeup counter were not left out.  
When samantha was finally done (a few of hers had to be repainted due to her wiggliness), she was inspired by emma's friendliness...
...and found the eyeshadow artists...
...and some other customers.  
It was a really fun outing, and even though it wasn't a four-legged creature, the girls and I had a great time.  I enjoyed being with them and doing something new together.  After they were beautified, we went to a park down the street and burned off whatever energy might have been left in their bodies.