Alone At Last

Guess what this Mama got to do this week? A visit to the OB/GYN ...

Again?

AND a root canal.

Waaa!

But with the bad, also came some good. Jake's parents took Parker Monday morning and didn't return him until Wednesday afternoon! Thank goodness for grandparents! Yes, I went to my appointments (neither of which was fun), and I did my usuals - Bible study, light cleaning and cooking, grocery shopping (Costco and Ralphs) - BUT I also got so much alone time I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I had so many things I COULD do, but I decided to actually relax, veg and just "be."

Call me lazy if you wish. I call it smart. I stocked up and restored energy and patience for my time with the little man. I caught up on reading and responding to people's blogs, caught up on writing some blogs (including this one), spent way too much time on Facebook, enjoyed some nature, prayed, and spent some quality time with the hubs. We debated doing something fun like going for a walk on the beach and getting ice cream, but decided we'd save money, time and the environment by not driving anywhere. Instead we took an evening walk around the neighborhood. We also trespassed on some private property, which made us feel like naughty teenagers. Tsk Tsk!

Haha - look at the shadow of my nose on hubby's shirt! Wowzers!
I've read your nose and ears never stop growing. Scary.

Trespasser!

Ooh... I'm gonna tell!

So fine me, I joined him. It was my idea in the first place.

View from one side of the "gazebo"

From Jake's phone's camera

View of houses from the other side

Talking on the phone?

My mouth is moving... do I ever shut up?

Chalk outline! AHHHHHHHHH!

Can you see the termite rot?

I can hear the violins playing now for this lonely, sad, dying plant
(OK, weed, as my friend Jelly, also a biologist, pointed out).

More dying plants... AKA fire hazards.

It's been a dry summer!

I found this lovely shed snake skin, noticed all the snake holes
around my feet, and we hightailed it out of there!

Did end up indulging in ice cream after all. I had bought a large bunch
of bananas for 99 cents at Costco -we had to use them up!
And I had a root canal, cut me some slack!

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Some verses that hit home for me this week:

"Accept correction, and you will find life; reject correction, and you will miss the road." - Proverbs 10:17

"You will say the wrong thing if you talk too much - so be sensible and watch what you say." - Proverbs 10:19 (I really need to memorize this one and recite it to myself daily... no hourly!)

"You should be happy to give the poor what they need" - Deuteronomy 15:10

"Three times I begged the Lord to make this suffering go away. But he replied, 'My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.' So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am. Yes, I am glad to be weak or insulted or mistreated or to have troubles and sufferings, if it is for Christ. Because when I am weak, I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for P-man wanting to help me with everything, even if it mostly just slows me down or makes a bigger mess. ;)

Washing Dishes

I'm thankful for Parker's new bath markers and crayons. Getting him in the tub is easy as pie now! The crayons are kinda messy, but it's well worth cleaning the tub every day to have a less stressful bath time experience.

He always asks me to draw "Happy Parker" and "Sad Parker"

I'm thankful for our nice walk to the park and the visit to our old neighbor Carly at her new house.


I'm thankful that Parker is interested in the world around him. Even if that means on every walk/tricycle ride I have to tell him the make and model of every vehicle we pass. *laugh* I'm learning a lot about cars because of this kid.

I'm thankful we are getting closer to owning our own place, and it's going to be brand spanking new! Whoever created laws stating that new developments had to incorporate low-income housing... well, may God bless you! ;)

I'm thankful for Gma and Gpa Munns always helping me with Parker.

And I'm thankful that our place is a little cleaner again... for now.

Adventure Walk in our Complex

On one of our adventure walks around the neighborhood, I was trying to capture a picture of a ladybug that P and I were admiring and was not having any luck.

Do you see the ladybug? Didn't think so.

I kept thinking about my sister Sarah and how she's able to get such clear pictures of up close things and it inspired me to try messing around with our camera to see what it could do. I didn't expect much since it's just a cheap little digital thing and there's really no such thing as a manual setting, but I found that if I changed to different pre-set modes, I could get much better results! These photos were taken on a lower quality setting and have been re-sized for faster uploading, but I think they weren't too bad (for me, anyway... these look pathetic next to Sarah's).

Stopping to smell the flowers...

Walking on...

Tried to get the flower AND Parker clear. Didn't work so well.

Look closely. Can you see the bee flying next to the flower?

View from the hill

Just a cool plant

Water grate

Crazy clouds that day

Silly boy

Just a few pics from another adventure walk day in Dana Point. Parker was being a total ham for the camera. I've seen many kids lifting up their shirts like this. Not sure what the reason behind it is, but I think it's cute.

Dana Point Adventure Walk

As promised earlier, here are some pictures from our fun day at Dana Point. Adventure walk to the extreme!

Drumming on the rock


Drumming on the rum barrels
(he's a little obsessed with drumming lately)


Whoa, cool "tractor" truck! What's he lifting?


Yikes, almost didn't make it!


Parker found his name on the tiles... can you see it?
(Hint: look under Nicholas' horse)