April/May

Well it's mid June. April and May just slipped right by me. I started and stopped this post at least three times. Every window of free time I had was never quite enough there were a half dozen last minute appointments to go to before we left for the summer, children in need of lots of attention :), new messes constantly in the making to clean up, a few piles of laundry waiting to be folded, end of the year schooling to complete, a house in need of deep cleaning for summer visitors, and last dinners and play dates with friends who would be graduating seminary and moving on to new places and ministries. Traever's time was completely drained too but by an endless load of reading, writing, and studying.

In contrast time for the littles seemed to be an unlimited resource, time crept so slowly for them that seconds were the only segments of time that they could comprehend. Adalai's most common question was "How many seconds". "How many seconds 'til I'm done with my Math, how many seconds 'til our friends come over, how many until we leave for IL" and on and on :). So I got pretty good at multiples of 60 and thanks to Adalai all of the talk of time just made me more acutely aware of how quickly the clock ticked. It reiterated the fact that life is like a vapor it's here and gone (James 4:14) and that it's the mundane and sometimes stressful moments that expose our priorities and thus how our hearts are most inclined. I found myself asking the question "When time is limited what are my priorities and why?" Too often those evaluations led me to embarrassing conclusions but it definitely was/is something good for me to stop, think about, and pray that God would grow me in such a way that my love for Him would more often be at the center, the driver behind my priorities, and the aroma of this vapor of a life!

A glimpse of time in the Guingrich household...

Remy caught sneaking cuties

The girls love their weekly slumber parties.

Walking through our neighborhood, I can barely keep up with them anymore!

Even with a little more on our plates we still managed to have some fun in the sun.

Just when Thatch thought the beach couldn't get any better...

A little family field trip to a local aquarium.

An afternoon at the Children's Discovery Museum

Picnicking at a Peacock Farm

My girls may or may not have gotten in trouble for pestering the peacocks. They were pretty aggressive in their efforts to pet one.

Play dates with my kids' dear little friends. We became fast friends with their family this year, which also happened to be their last year at the seminary. I'm so excited to see God use their family in new ways but it's always hard to say good bye.

 They decided to play church. I guess the implications of being a PK start early!

Saying farewell to friends that were graduating.

Thatcher

Thatch grew up a lot in the past few months. He was forced to give up his paci, he started helping me with grocery shopping, and has started talking a ton.

Thatch tackling one of his favorite little friends.

Remy

Remy Roo turned 4!

In the past few months we've discovered that she loves animals...

She gets a little spunkier and sweeter every year.

We got to celebrate Remy and all of her little friends with summer birthdays before we all parted ways. The party was for her and a few friends that also had birthdays within the week, but I'm pretty sure she thought the party was just for her...

Adalai

Adalai completed and graduated from Kindergarten! When we started school last September I didn't know how it all would go, but she did so well adjusting to both the classroom setting and being home schooled. We loved having the charter school/homeschool blend this year too. It was such a huge blessing and made my load as her primary teacher so much easier :). Below is a picture of her kindergarten class performing songs for their Moms.

This year she's gotten to be a good little reader. I'm so thankful she's willing to use her new skills to read to her siblings and friends.

Traever

Traever completed his second year of seminary! He has done amazingly well keeping up with crazy amounts of reading and assignments. He is now 2/3 of the way done!!! Just one more year to go.

Taking a study break to build tracks with Thatch.

Annual baseball game underclassmen vs. seniors and professors.

Thankful that God brought us through another year of seminary!

Spring

Spring is here. A step outside of our place and you can smell fragrant orange blossoms and hear the bees buzzing from the hive in our backyard. The kids and I are enjoying the sunshine and getting out of the house as much as we can.

Traever's in the middle of his most challenging semester yet. There is just an endless amount of reading and writing. So if you think of him say a prayer that God would give him endurance and efficiency to learn and do what he needs to do. He's still really enjoying his classes and feels so blessed to have the opportunity to learn here, I know he wouldn't have it any other way!

It's almost comical to me when I think about how different our days are. Traever spends his days reading and listening to some of the greatest minds in the past and present Christian world and I spend my days with three very... developing minds :). Here's a glimpse of a day a couple of weeks ago:

While Traever got to help unroll a 400 year old Torah scroll at the seminary: http://wscal.edu/resource-center/resource/torah-scroll-wrap-up?utm_source=HomepageBanner&utm_medium=Banner&utm_campaign=ScrollRecap

A few miles away I was watching Thatcher jump and squeal amongst butterflies:

When our schedules allow it the kids and I head to the Safari Park or to the coast. It's crazy to think that we have just 12 more months living here so we're doing our best to enjoy it.

I'm so glad they have all gotten over their fear of sand!

While Thatch had some one-on-one time with his Dad the girls and I took a day trip to Point Loma to explore the tide pools, walk through an old light house, learn about explorers, and the whales that migrate just off the coast... we covered a lot of ground! Adalai made us go through the light house twice and as we drove home asked if we could find a lighthouse to live in... I wish.

Just beyond those rocks were the tide pools where you could see dozens of hermit crabs, anemones, and starfish. 

Below, an afternoon with friends in Sea Port Village.

Spring Break

Right now Spring Break is in full swing. Traever's still immersed in paper writing, he has an incredible amount of writing this semester, but he's been able to take breaks here and there and when he's around he honestly makes everything better. The kids laugh 10 times more when he is in the room.

He threw our little tykes slide in the van and brought it to the neighborhood pool. The kids know that Dad will find a way to make everything more fun.

Taking a break from the books with fellow seminary friends.

Update on the littles...

Thatch

Thatcher's days right now are best summarized in one word, "cars". I hear that word more times then I can count every day and he always says it with this deep down in his gut forceful but funny New Yorker voice. I hope he always says it like that, it never gets old.

We thought it would be fun to take him to the Automotive Museum in Balboa Park... he certainly enjoyed seeing the cars but we didn't even think how tortuous it would be for him to not be able to touch any of them. Poor kid.

Typical morning routine lining up all of the "choo-choos" on the window sill.

Remy

Rems has recently turned into our little artist. She can spend hours coloring and painting her masterpieces. She likes to color in the lines but to use as many possible colors as she's able.

Below a book that she illustrated and dictated. I love how she has portrayed me ;) obviously my baby bump is growing!

Below, spending an afternoon with her favorite person at one of her favorite spots.

She thinks out of the box a lot. Her idea of sleeping with her dolls/stuffed animals is creating personal beds and hammocks for them all. When her dollies are privileged enough to spend the night with her prepping for bedtime takes forever... for-e-ver!

Adalai 

Adalai just celebrated her 6th birthday!  

She got to catch up and Skype with family.

And have a party with a few friends. She said she wanted to make/decorate cupcakes with her friends so our dining table turned into a bake shoppe of sorts and they iced and decorated their own little cakes... a lot of icing, a lot of decorating, a lot of sugar consumed.

Remy was so intensely decorating/icing her little cake I was pretty sure her face was going to end up in it.

Most of the girls with their finished products.

Yep, all of that mass on top of her cake is icing. Yum...