Busyness...but the good kind.

Finally, a new post so that people won't see that goofy picture of a bird on my head! I used to have the habit of being so careful not to do anything that may be slightly embarrassing (post teen years, of course) yet now I am finding freedom in just being, yeah being...even if that means a bit of uninhibited silliness (BTW, now that I'm approaching 30 I do find satisfaction in using the word "silly" and am not embarrassed about this fact.) I'm not sure if my perception is changing or if it's really true but I feel like I have fewer embarrassing moments now that I'm not so worried about being labeled as an odd individual. All of that to say...posting a potentially embarrassing picture of a green parrot on my head is the new and improved me!

Moving on...


Are you one of those people who tends to always say "I'm so busy" even when you aren't THAT busy. I am. I mean, it is such a convenient excuse and even if life isn't chaotic it always feels kind of busy. I am confessing that because I want you to know that I am not kidding when I say life has been busy. Like, really, really busy. Almost whirlwind kind of busy. BUT, a really good kind of busy. Here are a few things going on in the Kroeker home....

April 19th Mom and Dad Kroeker arrived from the U.S.! We've been looking forward to this time for a while. Karis has been soaking in the attention and we've enjoyed spending time visiting around the dinner table, playing cards, etc (hey, playing cards is a part of the busyness, ok?) We've enjoyed the past few weeks, busyness and all. Here is a picture of the munchkin with her vovô and vovó. This picture cracks me up...if you don't know why I'll explain underneath....


Do you see that oh-so-attractive man that Karis is pointing to in the picture?

Yeah, this one....



As Karis was helping make some picture books for the Indians she suddenly exclaimed "hey look, I found a picture of vovô!"

Thankfully dad Kroeker found it as humerous as we did (and let us take a picture...or two...or ten)...


Having in-laws around also means having built in babysitters. The best babysitters. There is nothing like taking off for the day knowing your child is being kept entertained more than when you yourself are home with her.

So here is one way we took advantage of the situation (and yes, this counts as part of the busyness too)....

We went to a water park for the day! Just the two of us. And not just any park but the world's largest naturally heated water park. All of the water is heated underground and then comes out into these natural springs where they channel it into the water park. In fact the water park doesn't even have to use chemicals in the water (at least I don't think they do) because the water is constantly being emptied and refilled. I think they said the entire wave pool has completely new water every three hours.

Anywho, here's a picture from the front of the park....



It really is wild to be driving along a two lane road with nothing in sight then to come upon this water park. It isn't well marked either so you have to know where you're going.

We had the lady at the check-out counter take a picture of us at the end of the day. The waterpark is right behind us...

Besides having built in babysitters we are also blessed that my in-laws like to stay busy and they like to serve. This meant Jonathan and dad getting lots of projects done and this meant mom totally organizing over half of my house! Really, I'm not kidding. It is so nice. I get to go to Portuguese class and then come home only to see one more project done that has been in the "to do" list for quite some time (or shall we say, 6 months, since that's when we moved in?) Not only that but she does a better job than me as I'm a spastic organizer. I don't always organize for the sake of organizing but more to make sure everything is behind cabinets so that I don't have to look at it. It doesn't matter that 50 pieces of tupperware come falling out when I need to retrieve one. Why? Because I know what lies ahead. I simply throw my arm across the cabinet to hold the 50 pieces of plastic in place as I retrieve what I need and then ever so quickly slam the door again. There, I don't have to see the mess and the task at hand is accomplished. My mother in law on the other hand organizes to relax. No really, she does. It took me several years to finally believe her and now that I do I am reaping great benefits. Take a peek....

This is just one of many cabinets. Well, she organized all of the cabinets in my dining room, kitchen and living room. I get a peaceful feeling when I open the doors now that I don't have that surge of adreneline required to keep things behind closed doors while trying to retrieve an item. Aaaaaaaah....I am truly thankful.

I really gotta bring this to an end. Here are a few random pictures...

Chief (also known as Chiefton or Chief-a-doo) has grown a bit...

Karis "cooking" the morning away.

(look at the next few pictures...that white cabinet behind Karis is the tupperare cabinet....can you tell what's going on?)


I've had my hubby home for 3 weeks now but will be losing him again in about 8 hours. This next trip will only be a few weeks long so even though we'll really miss him we can handle that!