Sundays here are different

Overall I'm enjoying life in a new place. We were blessed to have friends already in place here, we have each other, we live in an adorable little house, and I'm finding my way around pretty well. I can't complain much! (And even if I did, who wants to listen?)

That being said, Sundays are the toughest days for us right now. You see, we left a church home that we loved and with leaving the area physically also came leaving our Sunday afternoons at Mama's. With the exception of the time Ian and I lived in Grenoble, we have spent pretty much every Sunday (unless we were on vacation or Mama was out of town) from after church to late evening at her house. Traci and Adam are there, and so is Ian's mom. The only rule is that there are no set agendas. We eat a wonderful meal that Mama prepares and then usually most of us would nap. Sometimes we'd play outside, sometimes we'd help one another with grading papers or editing yearbook pages, and sometimes we'd just sit in quiet conversation. Adam, Traci, Ian and I would leave at various times to back to church for different activities (Kylie typically opted to stay at "Dahama's haus") and then we'd come back for a light supper and to watch Ty.

But now we're here and while we've been visiting churches in the morning, there is no "normal" Sunday afternoon for us. It's strange trying to fill the empty space of family companionship that we miss so! Here's a glimpse of this week...

We did visit a great church with Darby and her family. After the service Stephen (who is the worship pastor) had to stay, but C.C., Darby and Henry went to lunch with us. We ate slowly (of course, there were four kids under the age of 3!) and then stood outside and talked for a while while the kiddos played together. I finally got my camera out, but missed any cute shots of Kylie and Darby together. All I managed to catch were backs of heads (those girls are fast!) or ridiculous faces. In one picture of Henry walking (C.C. I'll have to email you a copy of his expression ~ I'll save him the embarrasment of posting it here) I caught this exchange between my own kids.I'm still not sure exactly what was being communicated between them, but Caleb quietly came back over to me and quit running with Kylie and Darby for a while after it happened...

And it has nothing to do with anything, but I thought this picture of Caleb was too sweet!It was taken just after Henry had stumbled and Caleb was trying to help him get up. For whatever reason he just sat down for a while.

Both kids were wiped out and it was all we could do to keep them awake in the car so they would take full naps when we got home. Ian and I caught the first half of the Panthers game and when the kids woke up, we went for some real family excitement ~ GROCERY SHOPPING! If nothing else, it is entertaining to take TWO two year olds to the store... And I just must whine one little bit here to say that we're trying to cut back on expenses (a morgtage in the old city AND rent in the new one is tough on the budget!) and are only eating out once a week ~ Sunday immediately after church. But trying to feed your family in a healthy manner isn't cheap! We spent $150 for the week's groceries! Aargh!

Anyway, I was using up some leftover spaghetti sauce and shredded cheese to make a pizza for dinner and Ian decided the best way to help was to get the hungry kids out of the kitchen. So the three of them went for the cheapest entertainment they could find...and now Maya smells much better! Kept 'em busy until the groceries were put away and the pizza was done! I always knew my hubby was a smart man!

(And yes, he even cleaned the tub after they were done...)