Regal Park Pre-Easter

The house we are living in in Olympia is too small for us. The kitchen, the lack of bedrooms, lack of closets, etc. Makes me crazy. All winter, I feel like I'm going to scream. THIS HOUSE IS TOO SMALL! And to be honest, it boils down to the kitchen. I can deal with everyone being real close and giving up the master bedroom and bathroom to the kids and sending wild boys to the garage when it's rainy and there is too much craziness inside. But when it comes to cooking for this crazy bunch, well, the kitchen is a real bummer.

BUT, (and this is a really big "but") our house is located on 140 PRIVATE acres. Our landlords live right across the "road" from us (it's actually a good thing) and there are 2 other rental houses on the property, too. The beginning of last summer, the other 2 houses became vacant. A nice couple moved into one with a now 18 month old little girl. The other house remained empty while it got a face lift all summer and fall. In December a nice family with 3 kids ages 10, 7, and 5 moved in. They are great and such an answer to prayer for us! The kids have playmates on the property now and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Our landlords threw a pizza party/Easter egg hunt for all the kiddos on the property this year and we had such a blast. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We started the day with a baseball practice. Came home had an Easter egg hunt and then had another baseball practice later in the afternoon. After that we soaked up as much of the beautiful weather as we could. Hey, it's just the end of March. We have plenty of long, rainy weeks ahead before summer begins (officially after the 4th of July). We had a bon fire, played some basketball, pulled out the ping pong table and finally threw in some Easter egg coloring before bed. Whew! It was a fun, fun spring day.

I'm sure it takes no explaining, that despite our too small house and ridiculously too small kitchen, there is no place else I would rather be on these beautiful days. It is an absolute blessing to live here.

 

This is Easton's thing now. Just in case you see him do this to you while you are trying to talk to him. This is the "I'm dead". It means: 'I am feeling very overwhelmed and shy. I will not be able to respond to you anymore and I am trying not to be rude and yell something mean at you. I really do like you, but I have nothing to say."

 

too many pictures MOM!

Easton ::3 Years Old

...or also known as The Broken Leg Birthday.

My poor little Easton. Easton is so different from my other kids. He is the only one I can honestly say is more like me than like Rand. Not a fan of meeting new people or talking to pretty much anyone, and would just prefer that a big fuss or a lot of directed attention was never something he had to deal with. That being said, he warms up to people slowly and he has lots friends he loves, even if he can't show them to their face all the time. He is misunderstood often (as most shy people are), but when he is in his element he is charming and hilarious and talkative and fun. I have a bit of a soft spot for him because he is so much younger than his brothers (and wants to keep up so badly) and then his next closest sibling is the only girl in the family. That, plus he is shy and I understand his personality so well, that well....I have to be careful not to be a complete push-over.

Before I get to his birthday, let me say a word or two about trampolines. I grew up with a trampoline....and 4 siblings. It was a big trampoline with no net and we spent countless hours and years on that thing. No one ever got (seriously) hurt. Ever. My dad may say that is debatable because we launched him off the thing more than once, but honestly, no one ever went to the hospital.
Anyway, it was a great trampoline and it held up for years. In fact, it is still a good trampoline. When the kids grew up and my parents moved to their lake house, the trampoline went into storage. It came out one summer after me and my sister had kids old enough to use it, but then it went back.
When Brendan was diagnosed with Perthes Disease at age 5, we knew trampolines were out! Heck, running was out for a year and jumping, even off of the couch, was out for 2 years. Then the following years of that new bone growth was carefully watched and protected by no high impact activities of any kind. The last year or so we have talked with the Orthopedic doctors about trampolines and every doctor (we have seen one in Delaware, Phoenix, and now Washington) will not EVER tell ANY patient that a trampoline is a good idea. EVER. I get that. They can't recommend it. It's kind of one of those "use your own worst judgement" situations.

Well anyway, we live back up north near my parents (and the poor trampoline that is in storage) and it was offered to us if we felt like it was a good idea to have it (considering Brendan's leg) and we really did vacillate about it. But we have this great property, where the trampoline just seems like it would belong and summer is coming and I can't imagine anything more fun for my crazy kids. [Insert worst judgement]
So, Saturday (2 days before Easton's birthday) my dad helped me bring it over and set it up in our lower yard. We decided it was Easton's and it was for his birthday, and he was thrilled. He is naturally a little timid, so he really didn't like the idea of the big brothers being on when he was on. That's fine, probably better. The big boys, when on by themselves were instantly crazy, doing flips and literally jumping for 3 hours straight. (They were SORE the next day)
On Sunday, the day before Eastons birthday, I had to work. When I came home around 4:30 Rand met me at the door and said Easton had messed up his leg on the trampoline....like 2 hours ago and he was still on the couch not moving it. CRAP!!!!! It was a bad combination of no supervision, no rules, and big brothers. They bounced him and he crumpled. If you have spent much time on a trampoline, you know how it goes. You bounce right before someone else and then they catch your bounce and they go rocketing into the sky. (Think how high an almost 3 year old could go). Well he didn't go high at all. He just crumpled because the force of big brother was too much for his little legs. Honestly, I can barely type these words. I am just sick about it. SICK.
Well, Rand and I were pretty sure he twisted up his knee, praying to God that rest and sleep would make it better (plus it was Sunday night and knew it was Orthopedics we would have to see anyway). It was a hard night and in the morning he was miserable and hurting. Rand stayed home and I took him in at 9:30am. It was his birthday.
Long story short, X-rays showed a fracture at the top of his tibia (the big bone of the lower leg). UGH!!! The doctors there were SOOOO great. Not once giving me a guilt trip for setting up a death trap for my children and endangering my sweet birthday boy's precious little bones. Do you hear the motherly guilt? I am still feeling so bad about it I could just cry. They helped put Easton at ease (who absolutely did NOT want any strangers touching him, talking to him, or even looking at him). He was so brave and tough, even when they were manipulating his leg every which way and he was in excruciating pain. They casted him with his ankle at 90 degrees and his knee at 90 degrees so that he would remain completely immobile and not be able to stand on it in any way. We will follow up in a week with an Orthopedic surgeon and continue to follow it closely as he heals.
For his birthday, we had a party planned, but cancelled all his little friends that were going to come since he couldn't participate at all, and just had my family come over with their presents and cheer. He was in good spirits and opened his gifts and played from his spot on the couch. When he was about done with all the attention he asked to be moved to his bedroom where he played for a little while without all of the attention (and even rudely asked for everyone in the other room to stop laughing), then came back out and joined us in his make-shift wheel chair (an old stroller that I found in storage with the trampoline). He ate some cake and then we wheeled him onto the back deck and let his wish lantern go into the sky. It was perfect (except for the first one that caught on fire, hahaha).

Despite it all, he is so excited to be 3. He has a great attitude and we are just making the best of a bad situation.
Pray for my poor back. I am lifting him from crazy positions way too much! (Remember, he wrecked my back as an infant when he was 24 pounds as a 4 month old and then didn't walk until he was 14 months old) I need to start a core strengthening routine!
Pray for Easton's leg. The break is in a "high risk" area because of it's closeness to his growth plate.

Easton, we just LOVE you!

Not the best way to spend your 3rd birthday.

 

Kindle helps. A lot. 

  

I showed Easton this picture and told him those crazy scissors were awfully close to his private parts and he got such a kick out of it I thought he was going to hurt himself laughing. Third boy. I know how to speak their language! :)

 

 

Taking a stimulation break in his bedroom

 

Had to settle for store bought cake for now!

 

First lantern: FAIL

 

Family shenanigans. Always.

Racers

Brendan and Wyatt got to participate in their first Pine Derby Grand Prix last week. They bought their blocks of wood themselves and we scrambled to figure out how in the world to go about this task without the experience or the equipment. I am proud to say, that at the end of this, we all have both of those things now!

Brendan got 3rd place for speed and Wyatt, although he won 3 out of 4 races, didn't get to advance and continue racing. He did, however, win 4th place for design.

So cute these little growing boys.