Friday, May 30, 2014

Funday Friday: Highlights

 For the time being, Friday Freebies, will be Funday Friday...highlights.  It'll be sort of like the blogging you're used to seeing here, lots of pictures and kind of like a cross between a personal journal and a scrapbook. I'm not going to go day by day and give a run down, just highlights and fun pictures and any funny stories that come to mind as I'm looking through the pictures.

Ready, Set, Go!

Highlights from March 26-29

Wednesday, May 26 (The day after the year of blogging ended...whoa!)









Thursday May 27






Kora found her Hello Kitty shirt, de-robed and demanded this shirt be put on. Them Kees wanted a new shirt too! Geeze, as if I don't have enough laundry as it is. ;)


Indoor play place at Carl's Junior. Doug was still doing low carb and had a bun less burger.

This girl wil be the death of me...

And, if I remember correctly, Katie posted this on Facebook...what?!?





Friday, March 28th: Kroc Swimming





Trying to get changed and Kora helped herself to her yogurt cup.

Round and round this pole waiting for the play place to open.

He's so weird sometimes!


Saturday, March 29th: 

We explored our area, tried a new Thai restaurant, and went to Dockside for a giant "gooey"!










Here's the gooey! It was yummy!

Under construction, but I sure love that flag waving in that beautiful sky!


And in random news, my kids were obsessed with this book for about a week.











Thursday, May 29, 2014

Thankful Thursday: Keesisms

Thankful Thursday

Alright, the official ruling on Thursday, and keep in mind I'm no rule follower, is that it will be Thankful Thursday. I'll keep my eyes peeled throughout the week, looking for something I'm thankful for, something I find funny, or maybe a particularly bizarre happening at our house...like last week, when Kora figured out how to climb on the trash can and "helped" me, by putting her used yogurt cup on top of the clean dishes, but not before she "painted" the countertop with the leftover yogurt.

Here's some evidence:



This week's "Thankful Thursday" thing (say that 5 times fast),  actually happened on Sunday.  Doug was showing the kids a picture of him when he was 5.

Here's a picture of them looking at the picture, and the actual picture:


After seeing the picture, Kees said: "Why'd you make your cheeks come out like that?"  Doug and I both died laughing. Later in the evening, I pulled out a picture of Kees where his cheeks were sticking out and asked him the same thing, only he made up an answer, "Well, I kept laying in the road getting run over, and I died, then came back to life, got run over again, died, came back to life again, and it made my cheeks stick out!" 

When it was time to clean up for the evening, I overheard Kees saying: "Kora wants everybody to die, so she can eat all the candy in the house!"

Where on Earth does this kid come up with this stuff!?!  We love all the bizarre things he says, if you haven't lately, you should check out this video from Thailand.  Kees put himself in "jail" and made up a wild tale about "crooky officers" hiding money, and a monster in the toilet.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Wordy Wednesday

Okay, Wednesdays will be wordy! So, prepare yourself mentally. But I'll throw in a couple pics, to keep it interesting.







Last week, on Tuesday, I was drinking my coffee, skimming Facebook, when I stumbled across this:



My kids were nearby playing, so I showed it to them.  I asked Kees what he thought was happening in the picture.  He said, "It looks like God, and a little girl."  I asked him what was behind the man's back and what he was wanting the girl to do.  Kees could see that if the girl gave up her small bear, God (Jesus) had a better one for her.

This picture struck me for a couple of reasons.  The first thing I was thinking about was a conversation I had with a friend recently about being "in between".  Sometimes, we go through the hard step of giving something up, not knowing what's next.  But, unlike this picture makes it seem, the next thing isn't necessarily forthcoming.  Then comes doubt.  You might think, "I gave up my favorite and very best thing, and now I have nothing."

Do you know what I've found, it's the "standing there with nothing" times when you learn to trust the giver.  It isn't about what you had or what you will have, but about our great God who holds it all in his hands.

"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17 NASB

In the last couple weeks, I know many who have lost loved ones, given up on a dream, or experienced an extremely difficult time.  And they're waiting.  They loved what they had, and can only cling to the hope of the future, that isn't here yet.  For some it's the hope of seeing their loved ones again, for others, it's waiting to see how God will provide for their family and direct their path. That's a terrible and wonderful place to be in.  I know from experience that God is absolutely faithful and more than able to carry them through.  The key is to stay focused on HIM, not on the past and what is lost, and not on a day to come.  That doesn't mean that we don't mourn, it just means, when looking backward and forward, keep HIM in mind.  He was there, in the past, and he's there in the future.

I've struggled myself, missing Thailand.  Some days it's looming, threatening to consume my day.  And each time, I have to willingly choose to thank God, for the time we had, and remind myself of how far he brought us.  I don't think God wants us to forget the past or never think of it. I think he wants us to fully depend on his word, where it says,

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 NASB

When I look back, it's a mixture of great joy and sorrow.  And some things that I'm not even sure how to categorize. When I catch myself demanding answers about all the little things and wanting to know why each and every thing happened the way it did, I stop, and remember, it's not mine to decide. God can take care of it, and good or bad and everything it between, HE is good enough, strong enough, big enough, and faithful enough to make it good, somehow.  

There are so many things he's already shown me, how HE worked things for my good. And some things, I'm still unsure. But my trust is in HIM, and HE has shown me more than enough for me to know that he is trustworthy.

(Okay, in classic Kellee form, I said there were 2 things, and never got to the second, maybe next week, I'll do the second half.  Didn't want to get TOO wordy!)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Taco Tuesday, but it's Lemonade.

Okay, Tuesday has been dubbed as "Taco Tuesday".  Who has seen "The Lego Movie"?





If you haven't seen the movie, this is slightly less funny.  I was trying to figure out what to post on each day of the week, and Taco Tuesday as the title for recipe sharing days, seemed like a good idea and easy for my ADHD brain to remember.

Today's recipe is LEMONADE

You can find it here.

I love lemonade. It's just one of those special treats that never disappoints.


There was an Auntie Anne's in Thailand, they had lemonade that was delicious, so very occasionally, we'd get some at the mall.  Lemons were hard to find in Thailand. I did get them once, at Royal Project, and guess what...I made lemonade.  Mmm...now I want lemonade.

Anyway, this recipe is basically just lemon juice, sugar and water. It's a simple recipe, but that's what I like, simple recipes.  You can make this with bottled lemon juice, but it isn't nearly as good and certain members of my family (DOUG TOMLINSON) have been quite insulting when I've made it this way.  I made Strawberry Lemonade for Kora's 2nd birthday party using the bottled lemon juice, I just added frozen strawberry puree.  I thought it tasted good, but Doug made a face and would give zero suggestions on how it could be fixed to his liking.  Fine, drink water, and be a crank pot.  Everyone else seemed to like it okay, but let's be honest, if it was as awful as Doug claimed, no one else would have been brave enough to say so because they wouldn't want to be the reason I'm crying in the bathroom at my daughter's birthday party.  I figured this was a happy medium, lemons are not in season in January, but lemonade made from bottled lemon juice HAS to be better than Country Time.  I'm not sure Doug would agree, but his vote doesn't count.

Now that it's FINALLY summer time, I'm hoping I score some cheap lemons so I can make lemonade and put fresh strawberries in it!