Del Mar Races with Tinies

We had our first day at the races over the weekend.  A friend in our small group organized the whole day, her dad was a jockey and is now a trainer.

We have lived in San Diego our whole lives and had never been to the races before!  It really was fun, but I am so glad we had Kathleen to show us around.  We even got to go into the winners circle at the end.

The Tiny slept in the moby for much of it, but woke all sweaty and happy up just in time to see the horses parading around the circle.  Too bad the one horse I bet $4 on was not among them.  

I love our small group.  Having a group makes outings with a baby so much more fun and easy.   Plus, it's great to have amazing friends.

 Right before The Tiny fell asleep, he started to get pretty tired.

See this winning horse?  It was NOT StoneStepper...  Just an FYI.  Rats.  Heather won big bucks by betting on a trifecta.  Shoulda listened to the preggy ;)

 Here is Kathleen's dad, the jockey and trainer extrordinaire!

We had such a great day eating good food, having good conversations and watching beautiful horses, all while tiny babies slept wrapped up in their mama's arms. 

The Young and the Very Old

As soon as we push through the double doors, we can hear the excited oos and ahhs, and the scrapping back of the chair legs as those who are able to, rise to their feet to greet us.

We bring wrapped presents, they already have the bingo boards and the chips.  Before we set up, we catch up.  Our small group goes out into the community to serve and show love at least once a month, and Sunrise has become our second home, the most frequented service project.  We have spent more time here than any other place.

We and the Palmers bring our kids to each project, hoping to instil a servant's heart for those in need at even this young age.  Usually, our little ones bringing more joy to the faces of the lonely or forgotten than us or our prizes.

"They grow up so fast," they tell us solemnly, as they stroke a soft baby cheek.

We catch up with some of the ladies, and mourn the loss of those who have passed.  Just this trip, one of our favorites had passed since we visited last, her photo on a memorial board. "The Black Widow," as we called her.  You see, during bingo, I'll sometimes call out a discussion question so we all get to know each other better.  Such as, "What's your favorite season, favorite food, etc."  When I asked about favorite past time, our dear friend yelled out, "SEX!"
We couldn't help but all burst into laughter throughout the whole room.  "I've been married 4 times," she smiled, her face bright.  "I killed 'em all, one after the other!"  She added, jovial.  We couldn't help to joke about it weeks later.


Jaime was our caller so she could continue to cuddle her teenie boy, and the rest of us filled our spots with plastic chips, pretending to be very competitive, and mentioning how much we would love to win one of the prizes.

When a bingo was called, we made it a big deal.  Declaring their name, presenting their present that they got to unwrap, usually to someone so surprised, their mouth open in stunned surprise as the gift is placed into their hands, no words coming out of their mouth, eyes wide.  Until they slowly start to unwrap, a shy smile coming to their faces as they hold up their prize.

When the prizes are gone, and the chips are stacked in a tupperware, we say our final goodbye, tell our friends that we will miss them and that we will see them very soon and that we are praying for them.

Babies and Books--How early?

Now, we weren't the type to be reading baby books to my rounded, pregnant belly, we have read to him since his very first weeks after birth.  When when those eyes didn't seem like they could see past the nose in front of his tiny, little face.  Even when he would fall asleep after the first page, get extremely hungry after the second.

While student teaching in Kinder, some of the kids didn't know how to hold a book, where the front cover was, which side was up or which is down.  As I showed these kids the front cover, how to turn a page, how to read from left to right, I saw how much they loved it, they LOVED reading.  I knew they could have loved it earlier.

Our boy may be small, and he may not be able to talk, or walk, or lets face, even do a normal crawl on his knees, but this boy knows books.  He LOVES them, sometimes too much.  We aim to read at least 2 a day to him.  And he's into it.  He sings along, he points, I sometimes have to hand him a blanket so his doesn't yank it out of my hands mid word.

We don't have a whole lot of books, but that's ok.  He's hearing the words, seeing the pictures.  We count objects on the page.  

 So how early is too early?  What I've learned from teaching is that I am always surprised at how quickly kids pick up on things that I would initially think too hard for them, or out of grasp.  I like to keep it light, short and fun.  I don't want it to be a chore, but a fun family event.  When he's done, so am I.  And yes, I get my crazy character voices on, sometimes.  It's a fun time.

Pool Party

What do you do on the weekend when you're hungry and want to swim in the pool with your friends?  Send out a text to your growth group, and a few others in the morning, tell everyone to bring something to share and when everyone shows up with their suits on,  have piles of food and plenty of arms to hold and love little tinies.

I love that there are gourmet friends in our growth group, Andrew and I are seriously blessed.  I wish I could say the same for them, but alas, someone has to host, right?  ;)

There was even enough to share some juicy, pink watermelon with little tinies.

So color coordinated!

Here is Hawea and The Tiny practicing their sign language, they start class together next week!  They'll be study buddies.

And when the sun fades away, and just a glow is left around the palm trees, the jammies are put on little boys, and the hot dogs have cooled too much to eat anymore, it's time to say goodbye, and start planning the next time we can share a huge feast together.