The Rock Awards and Other Cousin Antics

We had a mini-family reunion last week with lots of cousins in town.  Our kids love it when that happens.  They sure do love their cousins, or "that guy in the green shirt"/"that friend," to James, because he has a hard time remembering names sometimes, even the names of his favorite little people.

They spent time watching the same movie that every other kid in America watched over and over last week, as well as a little Baby Einstein for the smaller ones.

When James saw the above picture on my phone he said, "I love this picture!"  

An unexpected super-exciting past-time the kids decided to take up was hunting for "rare" rocks.  Ella and Claire quickly dubbed themselves geologists and named each of the rocks they found.  The other kids joined in by the end of the day, each taking a bag out in the back and filling it up with every rock they could find. It was dirty and fun, and it gave us the ability to sit in the backyard enjoying the Spring day.

She calls these "the multi-colored rock" and "the shiny pink."

Aunt Katie held the "Rock Awards," and each participant picked a favorite rock to tell us about.  I'm afraid they might have wreaked havoc on the landscaping, but I suppose their grandparents won't mind.

The one-year-old set really loved venturing behind the bars.

Sweet little Karis Anne.  She's so precious.

After a suspicious quiet fell upon the house one day I went in search of the big boys.  It was sweet to find them playing together with some of KJ's old Transformers.

My kids would be really happy if every week contained two days of formal schooling and three days of informal fun activity with their cousins.

Franco Fridays: Harfleur

KJ had one last stop planned for us before we stopped for our first night on the road in Normandy.  I'm afraid that I ruined it for him, poor man.  I'm not usually much of a napper, but I guess the busy week caught up with me, and when we got back in the car and left the cliffs of Etratat I promptly fell back into a deep sleep.  So when KJ pulled into a parking lot, I was feeling really grumpy.  "Where are we?  Why are we stopping here?"  That's all I could say.

We're in Harfleur.  Take my picture! 

What is there to see here? 

You know, Henry V... "I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur, till in her ashes she lie buried."

It's a really cute town, but I'm sorry.  I'm so tired.

Just smile, and we'll remember how happy you were here.

Pictures can lie.  Can we please go back to the car?  I just need a bed and a Bible.

Yes, let's go.  "Therefore, you men of Harfleur, take pity of your town and of your people."
 

And that is the story of how my husband just wanted to quote Shakespeare, and I just wanted to be put to bed.  All pictures are courtesy of his iPhone, because I was too tired to care.  It's a travesty.  He took me to l'hotel and then went out to pick up dinner, which ended up taking an inordinate amount of time because of traffic, causing me to question the judgment of being apart from him in a foreign country with no way to communicate.  But to quote Shakespeare again, "All's Well that Ends Well."

Franco Fridays: The Cliffs at Etretat

After leaving Monet's garden, KJ and I continued our journey through a beautiful Normandy Spring.

Besides the fields of gold, the apple orchards were all in bloom.  

I was so very tired from having not much sleep the night before that I fell asleep to the tune of our France playlist we made before we left; KJ had to wake me up so I could stumble sleepily from the car to this amazing sight.

 I know.  It's breathtaking.  It was also very cold and extremely windy.  

Before our trip, not really knowing what I would want to see in France, I perused Pinterest for pictures of beautiful places.  I found a picture of this place, and with the help of Google Maps, KJ found it for me.  It felt like a special gift.

Looking at that picture almost makes me feel like I'm falling.

There's a nice little chapel looking over the English Channel here.  I was a little bummed that England was so close yet still beyond my reach. ;)

My yellow sweater hood looks pretty ridiculous, but here's what happened without it.

I believe there is a golf course near here; I can only hope the wind doesn't blow quite so hard there?  Also, for those used to their grass dying in the summer and winter, nothing equals the grass in this climate.

This is the kind of place you'd want to stay for hours just soaking in its beauty...but it really was quite cold.

I liked seeing the birds sheltering from the wind in the cleft of the rock.  It reminds me of Moses and the old hymn, "He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock."

"A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,

He taketh my burden away,

He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved,

He giveth me strength as my day."

Birthdays and Babies

We jumped into the weekend a little early with a birthday celebration with the Kameron Pugh family on Thursday.  We had some more good visiting time with them on Friday, followed by an impromptu (almost) Spring walk in the sunshine and a frozen yogurt treat.  After Ella's first bite of brownie batter frozen yogurt, topped with chocolate chips and chocolate sprinkles, "We should do this all the time."  Well, yes, a world of frozen yogurt every day would be quite nice, dear.

 Cousins Watching TV

Of course we had to take lots of pictures of the newest addition to the family.  Three months is the sweetest age.

I can barely handle how cute she is.

She was by far the cutest little part of our weekend. 

1,000

This is my 1000th blog post, which feels worth noting.  I think it's worth remembering my very first blog header, designed for me by the talented Hillary Sikes.

Four years ago this month I started this blog and went through the process of figuring out what to call it, because all blogs need a name, right?  And somehow, my thoughts brought me to this quote from the movie Harvey, and it has proven to be an apt name.  It reminds me of these verses in Acts:

And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face

of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their

dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their

way toward Him and find Him.  Yet He is actually not far from each one of us.

Wherever I am--both physically, spiritually, emotionally, any kind of season of life-- isn't a haphazard circumstance.  The people around me aren't haphazardly placed there.  All of these things have been determined by a gracious God, and they've been determined that I might seek Him and find Him!

I needed to remember that this morning.  

"Oddly enough," we made tentative plans to watch Harvey tonight.  I just love Elwood P. Dowd.

I'm thankful for an avenue of recording all the places we've been and all the places we'll go.  There have been normal everyday things.  In the past four years I've written in detail about my sleep deprivation (what scintillating reading material!) and a picky eater eating her greens.  

There have been silly videos:

 

There have been long days without my husband while he was away on mission trips. 

There have been trips to Disney World and camping trips, stomach viruses and new babies.  Engagements and funny quotes.  

It's all been full of grace.  

"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' - she always called me Elwood - 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."

Fun with Caleb

My mom kept my nephew this week, and on Monday the kids and I went for a visit and a little cousin playtime.  I brought a collection of farm animals with us that doesn't get played with very often around here.  Little Caleb tore right into the bucket of toys.

Of course a toy is never fully explored until you put it in your mouth.

Caleb had some really cute Legoes that Ella enjoyed putting together and setting up wildlife scenes with.  She always enjoys playing with her younger cousins.

James chased Caleb up and down the hallway, and then they had an ice cream break.

I also brought Caleb a hat that was too small for James.  I thought he would just take it off his head immediately, but he seemed really proud of it.  He even strung together a bunch of sounds that sounded very much like, "I gotta hat."  It wasn't just me; we all heard it.

It was a fun afternoon at Debbo's house.