Laundry

I've probably mentioned it, but I have this new found love of hanging clothes out to dry. Any time that the sky looks remotely clear enough I throw a load in the wash and then drag them (well not really drag...then they would be dirty again) outside to the line. Seeing how the line is in the front yard I do refrain from hanging any "unmentionables" on the line; I just don't want my neighbors to know that much about me. I've thought long and hard about this new passion (mostly when I'm procrastinating instead of oh, let's say, making dinner) and have yet to come up with a substantial reason as to why I love it so much. Is it the smell of clothes and towels and sheets dried in fresh air? Is it to lower our electrical bill? Is it because it means that it's not raining? None of these seem to adequately explain the satisfaction and contentment I receive from the lines full of drying clothes, though the last one comes close except for the small fact that I don't mind the rain. I suppose it's not important in the grand scheme of things. So I guess I'll just do it and remain blissfully unaware of the deeper meanings to hanging laundry out to dry, if there are deeper meanings. Or maybe I'm just a housewife whose friends are contemplating intervention because I need to get out a little more.
"Oh dear, there she goes, she's rhapsodizing about laundry again!"
But alas, no more procrastinating, I really must get up and make dinner.

My Little Artist

Hannah is always drawing. This morning she asked if I knew anyone who could help her be a better artist because, "I am an artist but I need help to be better."
Here are a few of her latest drawings, she's going through a pencil or pen drawing phase right now.One sun, two flowers, three butterflies and six princesses.


Starting from the top right corner and moving clockwise: "Waiting to talk to someone when they are talking to someone else." "Being patient" "Putting your toys away" "Picking up your clothes" and "Letting Ivan go first when we go for a walk".



And the above is my personal favorite; they are all superheros on the left. The top one is a guy who takes care of cars, the middle is a girl who takes care of people and the bottom, oh the bottom one, is a person who takes over the world.
I love how it just naturally follows the other two. : P

Hope you have a great day!

Breakfast at Emily's

Believe it or not, it's that time of week again. I think.

It is Thursday, right?

Oh good. It's really been one of those weeks.

Head on over to Cowgirl Clippings for Soaked Granola. This is a new favorite breakfast at the Dante house even though we are currently out of it. Food doesn't last long around here.

Tuesday Night Fun

Erik and I have been watching tons of Mythbusters on Netflix lately.

Truth be told, I would rather watch Mythbusters than a chick flick.

That said, even though they warn you not to try any of what you see at home, we figured this one was safe.

Which one you ask?Well, just wait a minute and I'll get to it.
But first, we decided to invite our friends over to watch. While we were waiting for them to traverse the length of the road from their house to ours......we decided to run some races. My kids love to run races and Erik got in on the fun too:

And again!


We're still working on sportsmanship. This is the "he pushed and pulled me and so I lost" face:
So can you guess the experiment we're recreating?

That's right. Mint Mentos and Diet Coke fountains.
The crowd waits in expectation.

Two Mentos:


Four Mentos:

Um...more than four :



Oh yes. Good cheap fun. Much better than actually drinking the stuff.

Quincy

Our dog Quincy has been holding his back left leg off the ground for a day or two so Erik took him to the vet today.

Diagnosis: partially torn ligament in his knee.

Poor puppy dog. So we've got to keep him resting for the next couple weeks.

Oh my. This should be fun.

Then There Were Nine

No, I am not pregnant with triplets.

No, I am not pregnant at all.

The other day, much to our disgust, we realized that we have owned eight vehicles in less than 7 years of marriage.

Yesterday we picked up our ninth.

Sure I can justify each and every vehicle but still, eight?!

I tried to see if I had pictures of all our different vehicles just to make this post more interesting but alas, even though we have gone through a lot of vehicles, I just don't love them enough to take their pictures.


And now, without further ado, here is number 9:
It's a '99 GMC Safari with less than 10o k miles on it. The plan is that this once will last us for a very long time.



And now for a little story.

Erik and I both dislike looking for vehicles. Though we know some great mechanics we are not mechanics or car people. We know if they drive. We know if they are clean inside. Erik knows more but that's about the extent of my knowledge.

So we prayed.

We've always liked GMC Safaris or Astros (they're basically the same vehicle) and so we started looking around on Craigslist. We found one in Vancouver, WA in our price range with low miles. We arranged to go look at it yesterday and drove out after church. We left the kids with Erik's parents. They are wonderful like that.

Thanks to his parents' GPS system we finally made it to:


Victor and Angelina are a wonderful Christian couple that were very excited to learn that we had a "large family" and that we were Christians also. They invited us into their home for tea and then fed us while all the time continually speaking encouragement to us about God providing and looking after us. They shared their hearts about raising children to know God and know that the Bible is truth. It brought tears to my eyes and warmed my heart. They moved to the US from the Ukraine about 18 years ago and still speak with very thick accents but it was so much fun and made our car buying experience just that, an experience.

I love when God goes beyond just what we ask.

Breakfast at Emily's

It's that time of week again and the only reason that this post wasn't up sooner today is that I haven't had internet service until now. So check out Cowgirl Clippings for Breakfast at Emily's: Authentic Sourdough Bread and Cinnamon Rolls.