6/30/2011
Treasure Seekers...
6/29/2011
(nearly) Wordless Wednesday
6/28/2011
Murals on Monday
So these photos are of the mural Alex designed that all three ended up playing with. It's a castle with a garden maze. The little lego pieces all represent something different. The blue ones were knights, the orange ones were attackers etc. There was a pretty epic battle over the princess, or at least that's what I hear.
6/27/2011
Weekend adventures - pool time
Splash!
6/24/2011
Who we are
We are the children of God, part of a Holy family that transcends time, language and culture. We are in church every Sunday whether it is convenient or not. Not because we have to, but because we want to.
We are butterfly chasers, daydreamers and puddle stompers.
We are frozen fruit smoothies on a hot day.
We do not own a working television, and have no plans to get one.
We are messy, creative, and fluid. We do not have everything in it's place, and most days we're too busy enjoying life to care.
We have more love than logic. And it breaks our heart as a family that any child should have to go without.
We read, draw, dig, cuddle and explore.
We are in the process of embracing the Russian culture as our own, even though we are still quick with our "nyet pa russky's".
Where others see weeds, we see art. Where others hear a noisy racket, we hear a symphony.
We wonder just how many children God has planned for our family, and where they will come from. Perhaps one from each continent would fill our family out nicely. Only time will tell.
We wonder how God is going to provide.
And we are equally amazed when He does.
We teach our children at home. Not because there's anything wrong with school, but because we like having our kids at home with us. We love watching them learn, grow, create, explore and thrive.
We roll with the punches. Even when they suck. Because we know it's all a part of a perfect plan. A fabulous story that God wanted our family to tell.
We laugh, cry, argue, tickle, complain and love.
We are Petersons, and we are soo blessed.
6/23/2011
Dragon Slayers
The beauty behind this movie however, was not the engaging plot line or the dynamic animating. To my kids it was more than a way to kill time. It inspired them. We had several mornings of brainstorming dragon names, which lead to the creation of our own dragon guidebooks. Sometimes when my kids get on a kick like this we'll scour the internet and the public library looking for good resources related to the hot topic at hand. This time we didn't, but that doesn't mean we won't the next time the dragon buzz hits our house...
6/22/2011
(nearly) Wordless Wednesday
6/21/2011
Summer Adventures - Ludwig Mill
I've been down to the mill plenty of times and walked along the little tow path next to the canal more times than I can count, but I don't really recall ever riding on the boat. So this was sort of a new experience for me as well.
They had some live actors on hand to explain the ins and outs of what we were experiencing and explain a little of the local history related to the canal boats.
And so did the adults.
A good time was had by all.
Until a thunderstorm came and rained on our parades. I'm sure Judy's still chuckling about the little umbrella incident. The one where my daughter tried to explain how to use the umbrella, and I very snippily explained I didn't need any help and grabbed it away from her. Then had a split second where I didn't know how to use that umbrella. Yup that's the one. I don't want to talk about it.
6/20/2011
Summer adventures - The Henry Ford Museum
6/16/2011
Forgotten Favorites
What can I say, I've had a thing for tall grass this summer. And sunkissed little girls. (Yes, I checked them for ticks when we were done)
And just in case you thought all I do is sit in tall grass watch the local wildlife here are some of my little Max...
6/15/2011
(nearly) Wordless Wednesday
6/14/2011
craft escape... fabric painting
The jury is still out on what function these little pieces will hold. Zipper pulls for their backpacks? Bookmarks? Reusable gift tags? Who knows. But they're fun. And the kids love them, and that's all that really matters, right?
6/13/2011
Weekending
6/10/2011
Treasures for today
6/09/2011
Book shelf
Max Lucado - Outlive Your Life: first of all I'd like to recommend anything this author has ever written. Talk about an author who knows how to craft an image. But this one I just picked up last night and it's already killing me. The first chapter gives a statistic that I shared on facebook this morning about how many orphans are on the planet vs. how many Americans claim to be Christian, and how we could eliminate orphanages altogether if each person who claimed the faith would step up to the plate.
Shutter Sisters' - Expressive Photography: nearly every photography book I've ever picked up catered to the technical side of photography, which I don't need. After I learned the ins and outs of how my camera works I sort of gave up on reading books about photography because I just couldn't find anything that spurred me on creatively. This book does exactly that. Not only does it touch on different ways of using photos to tell a story, but also how to create photos that make your heart sing. Those are the photos that I want to take. Good, good stuff.
So that's what's on my bookshelf this week. I have a rather voracious appetite for the printed word, so if you know of any good reads, please please pass them along!
6/08/2011
(nearly) Wordless Wednesday
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46: 10
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got a great photo for (nearly) wordless wednesday to share with us? Post a link so we can all see it!
6/07/2011
Anniversary adventure
So here are my photos, these are a little quirky and artistic. I have enough properly exposed photos of my children smiling at me, so I got a little creative this time around.
6/06/2011
A day at the beach...
So you already saw the pics from the dairy, here are some from the beach.
Alex and his buddy Kyle
Alex says: SAND!
Girls say: Shells!!
Mom says: bird poop? On my leg? Was that really necessary??
Jory says: can we go yet?
6/03/2011
A day on the farm...
Kids say: What's that smell?
And just for the record, if your wife is holding a camera, you might not want to do this...
you just never know when it'll come back to haunt you.
Stay tuned for the rest of our adventure that happens to include a place Jory happens to dislike even more than he dislikes cows.
6/02/2011
10 years in...
to this...
This marriage thing is working out pretty well... considering you weren't my type and several of our friends tried to talk us out of it...
6/01/2011
Our Russian Adventure part 8 - Winding down
Ok, so I got these books for the kids (for homeschooling of course) but I really learned a lot from them. Picture books are a fabulous thing...
(The Church of Sts. Isidor and Nicholas in St. Petersburg)
These are nonfiction...
Russia: The People (Lands, Peoples, & Cultures)
Spotlight on Russia (Spotlight on My Country)
Russia (True Books)
And some folk tales:
The Scarlet Flower: A Russian Folk Tale
AT THE WISH OF A FISH: A Russian Folktale
The Kingfisher Book of Tales From Russia
(The Angel on top of the Alexander column)
This is the book that Jory read to prepare for our trip: Cultureshock! Russia: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette it came in handy more than once.
Sadly in most movies, the Russians are the bad guys. We're sort of working our way through as many movies where the Russians are the good guys as we can. Here are some we've seen recently...
Dr. Zhivago
Anastasia
And we haven't watched this yet, but I'm hoping my girls will like it.
The Magic of Russian Ballet
(cool buggy outside the Winter Palace in St. P'burg)
And last but not least... music.
Peter and the Wolf (one of my childhood favorites)
Russia's Most Beautiful Songs
The Russians have such a beautiful culture and heritage, we have enjoyed drinking in as much of it as we can. I hope you'll take a moment to unpack some of the treasures the Russians have to share with you.