This Means War

Here are the tools. A laundry basket turned upside down, a hanger with a rubber band extended across, and a handfull of Zoobs (a tinker toy of sorts).

What could four little boys possibly do with this strange set of equipment?

Open a dry cleaning business?

Oh no. This is WAR!

Here are the barracades - one for each boy.

The hanger and rubber band is transformed into bow.

Zoobs? Arrows of course!

And here are the soldiers.

Fight strong. Fight well. Protect your land and defeat the bad guys!

Reduce, Reuse

RECYCLE!

I came across a couple of funny posts today so I thought I would recycle them. If you care to comment on any of them, I encourage you to comment on the actual, original post, rather than going to the trouble of coming back to this post to comment. (I get all the comments emailed to me, regardless of how old they are. I love Blogger!)

Funny post #1 is brought to you by Jackson, at age four.

And this one, courtesy of Jackson and Davis, last Christmas.

Here is some fact checking from my brain.

And finally, some chuckles from Weston. If you really wnat something enjoyable, be sure to click on the links that are in this post.

Cutie-Pie

Last Saturday Ryan and I had a casual business meeting at our home. I decided to sit the kids in front of a movie and float in and out of the meeting as needed. A couple of times Weston came up the stairs, crying about one thing or another. When he is crying and you ask him "what's the matter?" his only answer is, "I-duh-know!!" The first two times he came up crying it was because he was being a pill to his brothers and they had finally had enough of it, so when he came up crying again, I bypassed the "What's the matter" formality and went straight to, "Oh, Weston. Are you causing trouble downstairs again?"
Sobbing, he replies, "Yeah!!!"
I pick him up and hug him. It's hard being two. All you want to do is stand two inches in front of the TV so no one else can see it. But nobody likes that. When my comfort to him was not followed by me carrying him back downstairs to "fix" the problem, he said (still crying): "You come downstaiws an' cause twubble WIFF ME! You cause twubble WIFF ME!!"

Such a funny little nut.

Cultus 2009

Another wonderful Cultus memory has been logged on the fingerprints of our family. This year was by far the most usual trip, as we went without my parents or my sister and her family. I have never gone without my folks. Though we missed them all dearly, we had an amazing time. It was incredible to experience Cultus all on our own. So,little five-year-old Jackson tried his hand at skiing. And he did great. He would get all geared up for it, all the equipment on, wanting so badly to keep up with big brother. And then just as the boat is pulling the rope taunt, you can hear him say, "Uh, I want to do this later. I will do it today, but just not now." And that is the point were we would say, "Here we go, sweetie! Hit it!" And he would hang on for dear life. When he was done he was beyond proud of himself.

And Davis promised Grandpa (who was not with us, remember) that he would "ski every day." And he kept to his word. He took that promise incredibly seriously. What is more, he decided that "the red skis" (smallest size, tied together, rope handle connected to them) were no longer for him. He was intent on mastering "the grey ones" that are significantly bigger and not tied together. Its a big jump to go to these ones. I was impressed by his tenacity and courage. I think he was too.
This is the only picture it seems I snapped of Baby D. He is army-crawling now, so I set up this play yard with a blanket below him and canopy above. He was pretty content. And when he wasn't, there were a number of arms holding him (thank you Pam, Dean et al!).

Dad let us take his boat up (another HUGE first) and Ryan was a master. He drove the truck and trailer like he had been doing it for years. He pulled up to buoys and docks like a super-cool dude. Just look at him. He is so groovy.

Though I would have preferred to be asleep, I did catch a sunrise one morning on my way to the outhouse.

And to keep the record straight, sleep was a bit elusive. But the baby was not the problem. He slept every camping night for 12 hours straight. Not a single night waking. Weston, on the other hand, was his regular self and woke up randomly several times each night. Jackson woke once to a full bladder and couldn't fall asleep again in the "big boy tent." He traded places with Ryan and slept much better that night. And yes, the two older boys slept in their own tent. I still can't believe they were willing to do that. Don't tell them this, but I would NEVER have slept in a tent without my parents. Not even into high school.

Our last day camping (the day we broke camp) it rained all day long. The kids hardly noticed and just played right through it. Fun to the last drop!

See you next year, Cultus!!

Don't Ask

We have a walk-in pantry that houses just about everything under the sun from our thrice-used China dishes to a well-used child's magic set. This "pantry" is the place I toss things when I don't have a place, and a few food items here and there. The shelves are already full, so every new addition goes on the floor. You can imagine how well-organized it is. I usually have to step over a stack of paper plates, TV trays, and a breadmaker to access the playdough. After our Family Easter Gathering the room held the empty plastic Easter eggs that all the kids had hunted for (each egg at one time held two whole M&Ms). I think those eggs found their way up to the attic where they belong sometime late in June.

The impetus for cleaning out the floor of the pantry is usually one of two things:

1. I can't actually reach any of the shelves anymore, or
2. embarassment.

It is a good thing I have long arms and that I am not easily embarrassed because I don't re-organize this pantry often. But the good thing about this pantry (besides storing homeless items) is that it affords us some good photo opportunities for Weston.

I call this shot:

I Fwine-num! Em-em-ems!

If you look closely, you can see that every single egg has been pulled from its basket and opened. You see he has four eggs left in front of him to open and move to the "opened eggs" location. He is methodical, is he not? Perhaps he will enjoy organizing my pantry someday. He eventually found One Single M&M. He was ecstatic, yelling, "I fwine-em! I fwine-num em-em-em!"

And this one I call

Don't Ask

Yes. I know he is n*ked. No, I did not remember that I had not finished dressing him that morning. Oh well. Welcome to "four kids and a part-time job."

Bound to Happen

Let it be known that on March 19th, 2009 at the age of NEARLY four months, Drake spit up on Mommy for the first time.

It was bound to happen. I count myself very fortunate to have non-urpy kids. The upside of that is obvious. The downside is I never have a burp cloth when I need one, and my reflexes to catch spit-up before it hits the floor are seriously lacking.

Do you feel sorry for me? No. I didn't think so.

Laugh Together

The boys and I had a laugh together tonight watching these two YouTube songs. They are both by They Might Be Giants (I have fun high school memories of this group), and they are just totally random and have little redeeming value. Sometimes its just great to simply laugh together!

The Number Two and E Eats Everything
Violin

Busy Life these Days

I have so many things I want to blog about but I have SOOOO much TV to watch! We just got through the desert that was January, and now we are being bombarded with ALL our favorite shows all at once. Ryan comes home from a hard, long day at work and flops into his chair asking, "You wanna watch 24?" What is a good wife to do?

But I thought I could at LEAST let you all know that I am alive (albeit, barely breathing...). Funny, I have told my kids that too much "screen time" in a day or week or month or year will turn your brain into a gloppy mess. My seven year old believes me (I mean, he understands the metaphor). But I guess, for this February, I don't believe me. Or at least I am willing to take the risk.

Yesterday, while cracking eggs together, Jackson (nearly 5) said to Davis (7), "I want to put the messy stuff back inside the shell and make it not cracked anymore."
"You can't, Jackson," Davis replied, "Cracking an egg is an irreversible change. Right Mom?"
"Uh, yeah. I guess it is, Davis. Where did you learn that?"
"On that show Sid the Science Kid."

Gloppy Mess? Thank you, PBS. You have made a liar out of me.

Hip-Hip-Hooray, Bubbles!

I have four kiddo vignettes today.

#1
Jackson, calling out to me from our storage pantry: "Mommy, Weston is wanting to blow bubbles outside." And before I can really even say no, he continues: "I know we can't. I know that. (insert thoughtful pause here) But...we could if we caAAAAAan!"

#2
Weston and Jackson were running up and down the hallway together. Back and forth, back and forth. They would stop at the end of the hall long enough to get set up to run back. But before the mock race started up again they would both wait for Weston to count to three. His way of counting is not your traditional One, Two, Three, GO! Oh no. Its so much cuter. It goes like this: Eight, oh, eight, EIGHT!! (He has his numbers and letters fused together. To him, the letter "O" is as much a number as it is a letter. He is well prepared to tell people our area code: "five-oh-three."

#3
After reading a picture book telling the Easter story, Jackson said "IIII-EEEEE KNOW WHAT A MIRACLE IS!!" You do?!? Tell me!! "Its when you get sick and then you are UN-sick. When you are hurt and you get UN-hurt. When you are dead and you get UN-dead! ...But I don't know how they do that. How do they do that and why can't IIIII-EEEE do that?"

#4
Weston continues to be a potty-trained champ. We seem to have progressed beyond his obstinacy and are finally in a phase of "joyful release." Sitting backwards on the toilet seems to have made the biggest difference because he can finally see what is going into the toilet. And that is fascinating. When he discovered that forcefully peeing created some great bubbles in the toilet he screeched, "Buuuh-booos!" And yesterday, he added a new phrase. "Hop-hop-ho-way, Buuuh-booos!" (Hip-hip-hooray, Bubbles!) Its the cutest stinkin' thing I have heard in a long time.

25 Random Things

It's a Facebook Phenomenon. I can't resist...

1. All my nails grow long and lovely except my thumbnails. They always split WAY too low and I have to clip them when they do.

2. I am not a people pleaser, but I am learning the virtue of compassion and genuine concern.

3. My two year old is currently screaming and crying because he needs to have a BM but is afraid to do the deed. Patience, Jenne. He will eventually figure it all out.

4. The year we studied Genesis in Women's Bible Study changed my life and taught me what the term Grace really means. I am still astounded that God would choose such screwed up people to bless and do His work in this world. That knowledge gives me great hope!

5. I run all my shoe choices by my husband, who has 100% veto power. Foot Fettish, he has.

6. I don't believe in anti-bacterial soap. No super germs in this household, thank you very much.

7. I used to wear contacts but my husband gave me the gift of Laser Eye Surgery about five years ago. Thanks again, sweetie!

8. I have never downloaded an MP3 to listen on an MP3 player.

9. Ever since I was in high school, I have been excited to be in my 40's. I have this notion that by that age, I will probably know enough that people will actually think I know what I am talking about.

10. I secretly panic when I see a pair of snow ski gloves not being worn that are not hooked together by that little hooky doo-hicky thing. I have my father to thank for that. It was a BIG DEAL to not hook your gloves together. I guess we lost a fair share of single gloves in our day.

11. I am so proud of my husband. He has built up our little business from nothing and worked so hard to keep it strong. I never knew how wise he was until he took this venture on! (I am a slow learner)

12. I wear size 11 1/2 shoes. Yeah, yeah, I know. I can ski on them.

13. I have dreams of one day getting to speak often in front of groups of fellow moms.

14. I love-love-love having four boys. I lay awake at night praising God, just amazed at how blessed I am to have the honor of raising them with my husband.

15. I enjoyed my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich at age 19. Prior to that, peanut butter made me gag. (How on earth did my mother survive 19 years of peanut butterless lunch-making?!

16. I pretty much always think I am right, and usually others believe me (or they say they do) because I can say "it" with such confidence but I actually, am wrong a lot. (Don't tell my husband.)

17. I never had even an inkling of a desire to travel anywhere beyond Bend or Seattle until Ryan dragged me to Sweden 5 years ago. Now, the travel bug has given me the itch. Let's explore South America, sweetie!!

18. I shop at Kmart rather than Walmart because I don't impulsively buy things there. Who would? I came in for shampoo and razors. I leave with shampoo and razors. Saves me tons of cash.

19. My sister is my bestest friend.

20. I can count on one hand the number of times she and fought as kids. Really.

21. I was a cheerleader in high school. Some of my best high school memories are from the top of that wooden cube they had each of us cheer from.

22. I have been learning how to enjoy my kids more this year. Thanks Lindy.

23. I am not a saver...I am a tosser. And it has gotten me in trouble pretty much everywhere I have been. Once I tossed Ryan's favorite pair of bright, bright yellow (uuu-guh-lee!) shorts with the Squirt soda pop emblem on the front of them. They were his frat party dancing shorts Freshman year. He was sooooooo mad at me. I was sooooooo sorry (that he noticed they were missing). It took him several years to forgive me and stop bringing it up.

24. I don't scrapbook. I don't take pictures (very often). I am glad I don't do the former. I kick myself for not doing more of the latter.

25. I am really good at starting projects but have to force myself to fi

Cain & Abel questions

I started reading Genesis to the kids last night. We read the story of Cain and Abel tonight. Both boys had such great questions:

Jackson, upon hearing that God asked Cain where his brother was after Cain killed Abel and that Cain said he did not know, Jackson (who has been telling little lies lately) asked:
"Did he really really not know where his brother is?" (how perceptive!)
"No, Cain knew exactly where his brother is!"
"Cain lied?"
"He sure did. No good, huh."

That led to Davis asking: "Now I have a question. God knows everything we are going to do in our whole lives. So he knew they (people like Cain) were going to do bad things - all those bad things all the time. (pause. pause.) How can that be? Why would he create them if he knew they were going to do all that bad stuff? He could have just not created them." I was so astounded at the thought-provoking question and so overwhelmed with thoughts of "where do I begin?" I started with, "You ask the best questions!"

I am excited to get another window into his brain and help him work through this big, big question. And I am so glad that I don't have to have all the answers. I pray that the Lord would give my little 7yo the spirit of wisdom and revelation that is beyond his years.

I have proof that I am a Mean Mom

Before I give you the proof, I have a potpourri of funny little things to share.

Here are some more cryptic questions from Jackson:
Out of the blue, with no context whatsoever, not pointing to anything, Jackson asks me, "Is this the front of everything?" And then later, "Why is this the kitchen?"

And here is Jackson's rendition of Chris Tomlin's song "Indescribable." Imagine a four-year-old singing at the very tippy, tippy top of his very powerful lungs...
"Untribe-able! Uncontainable! You and the stars and my knees and the Sky's and my ridge... You are amazing, God!!"

And a short - very short - conversation with Davis yesterday went like this:
Mom: Are your lips chapped? Do you want some chap stick?
Davis: Let's not discuss it.

Finally, my proof:
I gave myself the "best wife award" when I surprised the family with a Wii for Christmas. I learned today that apparently I did not earn the "best mom award" that same day. Here is the writing that my son came from school with today: "On Christmas moning I woke my bruthr up. We wint to the Christmas tree. My Mommy was olretee (already) ther. We watite for my Daddy. Then my Daddy finulee kame wot (out). We storted to opin preses. I liked ol (all) uv our preses but the most bestist preset that we got was a Wii. I asct to plae. My mommy sed no."

Honestly, I don't remember saying no. I guess "no" is the answer that comes out when I am not really listening to the question. Proof, indeed, that I am a mean mom.

A Lame Way to Save 24-Cents

So I have my two youngest laying side-by-side on my bed. One is still wet, wrapped in a towel and smelling like baby shampoo. The other is awaiting his turn in the bath but before he makes his big splash I must take care of one detail: the unmistakable scent of two-year-old poop under his size 4 diaper. (Odoriferous, wouldn't you say?)

As the diaper is removed from him, the newborn next to him - completely naked under that soft towel - is grunting up a storm. I try to console myself... "Well, at least I just saved the expense of a diaper."

Weston is now in the bath, and the sacrificial towel is saturated with stain remover. I must end this blog now, because our track record for poop in the bathtub is not good. (We are up to two episodes in two weeks, now.)

On the bright side of infants and bowel movements (you mean there is a bright side? and a dark side?), this is the first poop-or-pee-outside-the-diaper we have had in Drake's 6 weeks of life. (unbelievable! Not even a cheap shot mid-diaper change!) But there is a first time for everything.

I wonder when the first spit-up occurrence will be...?

Happy New Year!

We hosted a New Year's Eve party again this year, but this time we celebrated East Coast time. So New Year's was 9pm, not midnight! It was so much fun.

There were 20 kids (!!) nearly all of them were under 5 years of age. They all played dress-up for a long time. The kids (and their moms) all enjoyed making these cool noisemakers. The kids and grown-ups alike made their own banana splits. The guys and some of the kids played Mario Cart and other Wii games. The evening ended at 9pm, when we all ventured onto the deck and watched a short but impressive fireworks display.

Thanks, everybody, for making the party a success! We'll do it again next year!!

A Flurry of Events

I did not ever post wintery pictures, or Christmas shots. We PNW folks have certainly all seen enough "Valley Floor snow" to last us the entire season. But for posterity sake, I must-must-must sneak one or two in here.

Above: The view out one of our family room windows. The barn is not ours, but we enjoy looking at it. And the icicles were 12-18" long SPEARS!

Above: Just two shots of the backyard. In case you can't tell, that first picture is of the creek covered in snow and ice!

And I cannot pass up this opportunity to throw in shots of the kids opening gifts and making gingerbread houses at my folks house.

I wanted to include a video of the kids opening up presents but it is a little long and is a huge file. Instead, a simple description of one scene. Weston is oohing and aaahhing over a book, while the big boys are opening up downhill skis in the background. I just love the excitement you see and hear from each boy at the gift. In the foreground is little 2yo Weston, who is absolutely THRILLED with the farm animal book he received (and I mean thrilled... you hear him squacking about in the background when the attention turns away from him and onto his brothers). And in the background is Davis, super excited about the set of awesome (used) skis he received - oh, and they are way cool looking... thanks Grandpa and Grandma! Jackson receives a pair, too, and upon seeing the present's shape my 4yo - smart as a tack - says, "Well, I already KNOW they are ski's, Daddy."

This Christmas will be known to us as "The One With All The Hats." Each boy received a total of 4 hats. That's 16 new hats floating around the house right now. My oh my. The photo above is the boys wearing stocking caps that Ryan and his two sisters wore some 25 years ago. I think they are the coolest!

And then (below) you see us melting snow by our fireplace. What would possess my husband to do such a crazy thing? How about not having running water in our house for more than 24 hours. That's WAY FUN with an infant, let me tell you! We were very thankful to learn that it turns out we did not have frozen pipes but rather a neighbor(?) turned our water supply off by mistake inside our neighborhood pump house for the shared well.

Thanks for peeking in at the fun we had in these past several days!

A Simple Request, Unsatisfied.

With a cheerful smile and pleasant tone, Jackson came to me asking, "Tie this string on my (stuffed) kitty's tail, please."

"Sure I will. But, on his tail? How about around his neck."

"No. On his tail. and make one side of the string short and one side long so that I can swing-swing-swing him around and smack people's faces. Smack! Smack! Smack!"

Needless to say, the string did not make it on the kitty's tail.

Don't tell Tiffany, please

Please don't tell Tiffany, but for Ryan's Christmas present I caved. I totally and completely caved. And now I am "the best wife ever." So, I am sorry. I hope she will still be my friend. And yes, Andrew, you and the fam can come and play. Anytime. If your wife can forgive me.

Our Little Curious George

I have blogged enough about Weston's lack of words over the past several months for most to know that our little two-year-old is mostly without expressive language. But I made an interesting and fun discovery about our little Weston that I thought might bring a smile to my snowed in friends this week.

So Weston's most favorite character is Curious George. He carries the book, "Curious George and the Bunny" around to look at often. he was delighted when Daddy came home one day with a Curious George stuffed animal (he now sleeps every night with it). And BY FAR his favorite TV show is PBS's Curious George.

It dawned on me that our little Weston expresses himself a lot like old CG. Lots of pointing and "uh-uh" grunts, with big laughter or tears. To tell us he is thirsty, he points to his mouth, makes a gulp-fulp sound and then whispers, "aaahhh" as though he just took a big, satisying drink. If you have ever watched the little TV show you are aware that, though George does not speak, you always know exactly what he is thinking (thanks, in part, to the help of the narrator, I suppose).

Here is a short video of Weston watching a little bit of Basketball with Daddy.

I bet you can figure out that he is retelling Daddy what he just saw on the TV.

Anyway, the other day I said to Weston, "You talk like Curious George, don't you?" to which he excitedly and emphatically answered,

"YEAH!!"

He seemed thrilled to be understeood in a new and more complex way. It was quite a moment.

Fact Check

A little reminder for moms, or a little TMI for the rest of the world...

FACT: Thinking about needng to feed a newborn WILL cause your milk to let down.

FACT: Wondering when the last time it was you fed your newborn WILL cause your milk to let down.

FACT: Showering, even immediately after nursing your infant, WILL make your milk let down.

FACT: The process of changing out of your day bra and into your sleeping bra WILL make your milk let down.

FACT: Blogging about your milk letting down WILL make your milk let down.

FACT: That's too much letting down. Where is my pump?

First Grade Writing

For those of you who have yet to have kids enter into school, let me just tell you that Kindergarten is fun and exciting, but First Grade is AMAZING. I mean, they walk into first grade generally not knowing how to read or write much at all, and before Christmas they are reading and writing sentences you will be astounded at.

It is just so much fun. Really. Really. Fun.

Here are a few examples of Davis' writing. Mrs. Baker encourages the kids to write about real things, and his little stories are the making of an elementary school blog:

9/10/2008
I playd socr. We wun 3to8.

10/30/2008
I korvd my pumpkin. It wus sceree. It was mad (made) wot uv triagles. Frst we brot in the pumpkin and thean we wosht theam. We got sum newspaper and poot it on a table. We poot the pumpkin on the table. Dad cut the top off and we rethe into the pumpkin.

SO much happens in just six weeks!!