Kaylee & Co.

A Little Sneak Peak

2012-01-30T23:08:00.002-07:00

I have a story to write, but not tonight.

Here are a few pics from our first 24 hours. It is a blessing to be at home, but I sometimes forget that most people get those first couple days in the hospital to recover. No dishes, no cooking, no diaper changing older siblings, that kind of stuff. So I'm trying to just take it easy.

My dear friend, Jessie, was present at Annabel's birth and took pictures for us. I'm hoping to get to see them soon and post them with a little story.

Until then....here's a few taken from my camera and my sister's phone after the fact.

4am (just an hour old)

8am (Easton waking up to a whole new life)

My Grandma

On Being Overdue

2012-01-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

January 19th has come and gone. Like everyone on the planet that date automatically puts a deadline in my mind. 'Well of course I will have a baby on or by that date.' After that date doesn't really enter your mind.

I have chosen to have my babes outside the traditional medical model. I have researched and read and birthed and experienced enough that I feel confident and safe.

Anticipation is high and that makes the waiting harder. People are worried and that makes me lose confidence. There is an underlying feeling of now that we have passed the date, it is time to take matters into our own hands.

I read the following this morning from here. I feel better now.

Events during Pregnancy's Final Weeks

In the last weeks of pregnancy, maternal antibodies are passed to the baby—antibodies that will help fight infections in the first days and weeks of life. The baby gains weight and strength, stores iron, and develops more coordinated sucking and swallowing abilities. His lungs mature, and he stores brown fat that will help him maintain body temperature in the first days and weeks following birth. The maturing baby and the aging placenta trigger a prostaglandin increase that softens the cervix in readiness for effacement and dilatation. A rise in estrogen and a decrease in progesterone increase the uterine sensitivity to oxytocin. The baby moves down into the pelvis. Contractions in the last weeks may start the effacement and dilation of the cervix. A burst of energy helps pregnant women make final preparations, and insomnia prepares them for the start of round-the-clock parenting.

The watchful waiting and the intense wanting of the big day to arrive are all part of nature's plan. When the baby, uterus, placenta, and hormones are ready, labor will start. Additionally, all that preparation sets the stage for an easier labor and a fully mature baby who is physiologically stable and able to breastfeed well right from the start.

Waiting for Labor to Start

Thinking of, and clinging to, the “due date” as “the day” makes it difficult for women to trust nature's beautiful plan for the end of pregnancy and the start of labor. What women rarely know, and what people tend to forget, is that some variation exists in how long it takes for an individual baby to mature fully. Acknowledging that babies can safely come 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after the due date does not tell the whole story. Some babies are mature as early as 37 weeks (259 days), and others need 42 completed weeks (294 days) and sometimes a bit more to be fully ready. Size is not an indication of maturity, and the due date is only a guideline.

My colleagues who are midwives talk about due dates in vague terms. “The baby will probably come towards the end of August. If Labor Day comes and goes, we'll watch carefully.” In the days before ultrasound, caregivers encouraged a woman to note carefully the day she first felt her baby move. Moving forward 22 weeks gave a nice approximation of the time she would go into labor. It still does. Waiting for labor to start spontaneously is almost always the best way to know that the baby is ready to be born and that a woman's body is ready for labor.

That's what I'm going to go with. Here's to a fully ready baby and a fully ready Mama.

Soon.

During School

2012-01-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

During school today I was just a little bored. And besdes, I like taking pictures of their cute faces. Aaaaand, the time is drawing to an end where there will only be 3 little boys to take pictures of. These are my 3 that I have today. Maybe tomorrow there will be another cute face.

A Big Tree Mess

2012-01-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

There are pros and cons to living in the woods.
Pro: Lovely scenery, outdoor activities, nature and wildlife.
Con: When you have a big winter storm....it makes a really big mess.

Snow in the woods=really beautiful
Ice Storm and wind in the woods= really scary and eventually ugly.

I haven't left the house since Sunday morning. One week tomorrow. The ice storm that came after all the snow was frightening. All day and night we listened to branches cracking like gun shots and huge branches crashing to the ground. Some sounded real close and some we could tell were in the distance. There are hundreds of thousands without power. I don't know how ours managed to stay on, but the worst we had was about a 30 second black out.

Today it stopped raining for a second and I went outside to look around the house a little bit and see what things were looking like. Ugh, I hate seeing beautiful trees just destroyed. We will see how spring and summer will bring new growth and beauty to nature's natural pruning session!

What a big, big, ugly mess things are though!

Snowmageddon 2012

2012-01-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

That's what they are calling it anyway. Snowmageddon. For an area (in the low lands) that sees on average only 10 inches of snow a year...this is a pretty big deal. It's been snowing here at our house since Saturday. It's been patchy all around us, but here at our place, it's been snow, snow, snow. There was quite a bit yesterday morning and Rand had a bit of trouble getting to work. I was sure he wouldn't make it, especially since we don't have a 4-wheel drive vehicle anymore, but he managed. We had almost 7 inches by that point. Yesterday we had some melt which was nice and I emailed Rand a big ol' grocery list.
Sometime after midnight Snowmageddon showed up and I woke around 5am with about 10 inches of new snow on top of what we already had. It has snowed all morning and is finally letting up. We just lost our first big tree branch right in front of our house. We actually saw it go! I'm glad we were all inside when that happened. We were all outside after breakfast and currently are watching a giant tractor plow and clear the roads out here. Makes me feel a little better about being 1 day away from my due date, knowing getting to our house is at least possible!

Fun and exciting and a little nerve-wracking! Hey, at least we have food and I brushed up on my "what to do if you have to deliver your baby by yourself info." I'm ready.

39.5 weeks

2012-01-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm counting or anything....

I really do know better than to get anxious too soon about having a baby before my actual due date. But I just can't help it. I can't. I just think, maybe this time, maybe my baby will come at 38 weeks and be little and really easy to push out, and it won't be that scary.' But no. I cook 'em full term. Full-full. And they are nice and healthy and round. And that is good too. It's just scary. And I do stuff to try and encourage my body to move things along...but as I have learned before, if the baby isn't ready....there is no "making" things happen before it is time.

So today, I thought nothing of putting on all my snow gear (the stuff that still fits), basically layers of cotton/stretchy stuff and then hats, boots and gloves. I layered up all 3 kids, grabbed a carrot and some sleds and tromped off into our winter wonderland.

It is awesome out here. Apparently we are in one of those "pockets" because a lot of the areas around us don't have nearly the amount of snow we do. We've had 3 inches since yesterday and it's been snowing here almost all day with more expected tonight! Wooohoooo! I just measured and we have a solid 4 inches right now. (There is a small element of fear that I might end up delivering my baby unattended or something, but then again I don't think I'm ever going to have this baby...so carry on)

Living in the woods we have patchy areas that don't have as much snow, but there is plenty of clearings to go build a snowman. We built our 4th snow man today. He was pretty cute. And it was not easy for my body to do that. But I did. And my water didn't break. And my labor didn't start. I just couldn't breathe very well, and my back was aching after. And then I pulled Easton in a sled up a hill. I would love to have seen myself. I must look rather ridiculous. I guess if I'm going to be pregnant forever, I should just get used to it. :)

(don't worry. I know the end is near. Soon the huge child in my midsection will be out of my way and I will be able to bend and breathe at the same time. And that will be nice.)
Until then.....life as usual!

More Snow!

2012-01-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

It is a winter wonderland!

SNOW

2012-01-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Snow here is a coveted thing amongst some. Pacific Northwest weather is mild. Summers are spent waiting and waiting for a little hot weather to show up and winters can be frustrating with lots of moisture and temperatures hovering just barely above "snow". That just means there is lots of cold rain. So when Alaska sends us some really cold air and it slams into all that ocean moisture we always have, we occasionally get the perfect mix that equals a snow day. Yesterday it came!
Most of the snow fell last night when it was colder and we are anxiously waiting for the sun to come up so we can play in the "real" snow, but yesterday afternoon was very exciting for the 3 little boys from the desert. The snow was scarce and very wet but that doesn't stop anybody from trying to make a snowball and eat it.

The next trip outside should be more fun!

Easton's Fake Laugh

2012-01-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

I live with a bunch of characters I tell ya.

Baptized

2012-01-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

We're real proud of our little dudes who decided to get baptized today!

Acts 10:47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”

Acts 22:16 'And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

Galatians 3:27 'For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.'

Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism

The Lower Yard

2012-01-04T10:29:00.001-07:00

We have a small backyard and then a bank and then a ton of land. The little bank (until recently) was covered with a brush that we discovered was a Chinese weed and our landlord had said he was considering ripping it out (and then poisoning it so it wouldn't come back). He said we could do what we want. We have now deemed the area at the bottom of the bank our "lower yard". We have fantastical plans for it. The swing set is going down there (yes, we moved with our giant play structure) and a garden for me and maybe a little camping area for the summer with a bon fire pit and what not. Because there will most likely be a garden down there we opted to rip out the brush (by "we", I mean Rand) ourselves and NOT add RoundUp to the hill that would run downward directly into our vegetables. I can buy toxic veggies at the store, thank you very much. :) I'm not sure what it is with us and giant yard projects, but apparently we like them. And Rand just gets out there and starts working.....even in the winter. I think the thought was, "Let's clean this up before stuff starts growing and getting totally out of control." Instead what we are dealing with is very wet and heavy debris. But it's mostly all cleaned up now. And the best part is that our landlords (neighbors) are very helpful and are taking care of the piles for us and brought down his mower and mowed the whole cleaned up area for us. Score! We are really having fun here...even though it's winter. And I can't even wait for spring to see how everything will transform and bloom and come to color. It's going to be so fun to watch.

So here is the beginning of the "work" we do when we aren't "working".

before

after

the "lower yard". see the potential??

2011 Wrap Up

2012-01-01T16:08:00.001-07:00

2011--It was a good one. There was a lot of swimming, baseball, shirtless boys playing in the backyard, teeth falling out, baseball, sunshine, more baseball and just plain growing up. We've done a lot. We've played hard. We've loved deeply. We've done some hard things and we've been blessed beyond measure. Although 2011 brought yet another move and a few sad and hard things, God has been faithful. We look back with hearts of gratitude and forward with hope.

“I don’t really want more time;

I just want enough time.

Time to breathe deep & time to see real & time to laugh long, time to give You glory & rest deep & sing joy…

I just want time to do my one life well.

Life at its fullest is this sensitive, detonating sphere —

... and it can be carried only in the hands of the unhurried and reverential—

a bubble held in awe.” -Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

Perry the Parakeet

2011-12-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been around Brendan lately, you might not know that he has been slightly obsessed with getting a bird for a pet. He originally wanted a big parrot, like a black cockatoo, but then he found out how much they cost and we started doing some more serious research about caring for a bird and the best pets for kids and also what he could afford. He has been stuck on a green parakeet for quite some time and it turns out that parakeets are pretty good beginner birds for kids. I've been trying with all my might to get him to wait and not get one at the pet store because I know that a breeder (if we could find one) could probably provide us with a younger, hand-fed bird that would be easier for him to train/tame.
Well as it turns out, he just couldn't wait. I personally caved because I was really wanting to be done with the discussing of the bird and onto just having it here. Brendan is fully responsible for food, water, a clean cage AND a clean floor. So today he scraped together all his money and went to the pet store. We are now the proud owners of a little green and yellow budgie named Perry. Brendan is smitten.

See? Smitten.

Marbles!

2011-12-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 days since Christmas now and some of the excitement over certain new things has worn off. Some. There were so many good things that some got overlooked until now. There has been a lot of laser tag around here and also some electric guitar and ukulele playing. Today, however, has been marbles (and some laser tag). Marbles stress me out a little bit, especially with the littlest. They are always hitting the floor and rolling somewhere and then end up in a mouth and what not. But, I was pleasantly surprised with how this activity went over, even with Easton participating. He actually played with it longer than the other 2....who ran off with weapons when they were done.

What is so entertaining about watching marbles roll? It really did captivate their attention for quite some time. We built several different mazes and when Easton is sleeping I suppose the big boys will try to invent something much bigger than what we built this time!

Thanks Nana for the Quadrilla Marble Run Set!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T23:06:00.004-07:00

This year was different from any year before it. Many of us weren't together. We did, however, have a very wonderful, blessed Christmas with those we were with.

We spent Christmas Eve morning at our house. Me, mostly making sugar cookies. The boys, mostly adventuring outside. It was lovely weather and a perfect day. We packed it up early afternoon and headed to Shelton and visited with my aunt and cousin for a bit. Then we headed to my Dad's where we met up with my brother, Jordan and my sister, Joanna and her husband, Jon. My Dad cooked a fantastic, super delicious meal of ham and our traditional clam chowder (best clam chowder I may have ever had if I do say so....). He's quite a good cook. There were a few presents and Rand and I got the kids out of the house and walked around looking at Christmas lights. Then a few of us played a game and we headed home before Easton could completely melt down. It was grande (despite missing lots of people).

This morning Rand and I did a big breakfast and presents with the kids and then church. My Dad and brother came over in the afternoon and happen to still be here, watching movies with us. :) We had a yummy dinner and a Jesus birthday cake for dessert. It's always a little sad when Christmas is over. Another season marked and passed. But I tell ya, I'm really looking forward to January and lots of new things. :)

Lots of pics for those we missed....

We did the first batch together. Christmas trees and they were good!

The second batch was all me. (Why do I torture myself by making sugar cookies?? They are so much work! But they are cute!)

Christmas jammies

I just love these Christmas faces!

Got what he wanted!

Got what he wanted, too! :)

They were pretty happy about these too.

Glad this guy was here with us.

For God so loved the world, He sent His one and only Son.....

Kid Quotes::Vol. 43

2011-12-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

...
From the 8 year old.

Brendan: Dad, I feel like I should be taking it easy on you and not kicking you in the stomach.

hmmmm, that following a quote from the Dad himself last night while we were out, just us.

We just happened to drive past a gym.

Rand: I remember when all I used to do was work out. Now it seems so foreign to me.

How things change. :)
...

Around the House::Outside

2011-12-18T09:08:00.001-07:00

For December, we've had some pretty great weather. More sunny days then expected and lots of just grey, but not rainy days. We obviously are taking advantage and getting outside a lot because, let's face it, we have a great place to get outside and play!

Here are a few of the places we've been lately around our property:

Walking down the driveway to the mailbox

The boys' clubhouse

Hey, we missed out on fall. And for the record, it was too cold for short sleeves...(not for him apparently)

One of the lovely ponds

The orchard

What is it with boys and hitting fences with sticks?

Wyatt (before his hair cut!!!)

Just boys....for just a little bit longer!

Another Christmas Tree

2011-12-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

We went with my Dad the other day (when he got home from his Kansas trip) to get him a Christmas tree. It seemed rather late and we just went to a lot in the middle of the day, but we got a great little tree. The boys had a blast picking it out, taking most of the pictures and helping saw off the trunk. The weather here has been so good. Not too much rain. Cold and chilly and very wintery (minus snow).

look. someone took a picture of my belly.

And by the end of it, it was nap time and there is no picture of the finished product. But it's a good one. There is even a body-less nutcracker head on this tree. Classic Dad.

Toof-less

2011-12-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to share the big news around here!

Brendan has no front teeth. Wyatt is mostly responsible. The teeth have been semi-loose for a while but not much (My boys, so far, lose their teeth kinda late!) Then a fist to the mouth (all in good fun, of course) got one of them quite loose. Brendan was thrilled. He wiggled and messed with it for several hours until it was yanked from his mouth. A few days later....same thing to the tooth next to it. Only difference...it was an elbow instead of a fist. Wyatt! Again, wiggling, pushing, pulling, twisting ensued. I was grossed out beyond belief. He kept showing me this bloody mess of a tooth hanging there in his mouth. By the end of the day that tooth was out. Both front teeth gonzo!
His gums were sore for about a week.

Has he heard the Christmas song??? Only from about every single person who has gazed upon his toothless mouth. Does he want his 2 front teeth for Christmas? No. I think all he wanted was for them to fall out. We still giggle when we look at him. Losing teeth is such a weird thing! :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 42

2011-12-14T09:53:00.005-07:00

.
Wyatt: Hey Mom, how many days 'til Christmas?

Me: 11!

Brendan: 4 days past one week! I better get all fattened up so I can be jolly!
.

Around the House

2011-12-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

Okay. I've got some anxious bystanders waiting for house pics. We are so almost done...but then there is the constant picking up behind everyone that makes taking house pictures difficult. Over time, I'm sure you'll get more looks at more of our place. For now...this is what I got!

our house: 1 story stone rambler. 3 bedrooms. 2 full baths. 1 great room. 1 small kitchen. 1 huge attached garage. nice size laundry room with sink. lots of storage throughout. 1400 sq. ft.

Me, Rand, the dog, and the new baby will occupy the master. All three boys are in one bedroom and the other room is multi-purpose. School takes place at the kitchen table because my kids table (I'm still crying about this one) got destroyed in the move. (I need a carpenter friend to come look at it. anyone? anyone?)

I have yet to hang curtains and most of the pictures. It's always last. And curtains are difficult on new windows, IMO.

a place for the train table (close to the sewing machine for kid entertainment close to mom!)

we haven't had it out since the big boys kinda outgrew it. Easton is just at the perfect age and went around and around and around last night....and this morning. (the big boys played with it too!)

a place for school books and other stuff

a place to sew!

a place for all the other crafty stuff. very accessible to a couple holiday crafters.

a place for all the other kid books (I keep the school books separate from all the other ones)

a place for little boys to sleep and play

a place to do laundry...and clean up from outside! (that's the door out to the garage)

another place to hang coats and store mittens! (and play the piano)

a little nook to stash the mail (and hang a fish)

a place for a Christmas tree (a rocking chair when the tree is gone) See my giant teddy bear? How did that manage to make the move with us???

Out the front door

Front

Out the back door

the back

Wish you could see the stream!

coming next....around the grounds

We're Still Here (and I Can't Believe We're Here!)

2011-12-10T22:50:00.001-07:00

We are nearly, completely unpacked and just about organized. We're squeezing into a much smaller place so we are having to get creative. Luckily we have a huge garage! It has been a looong week of moving in here and we just got Internet today (the worst experience with all that that we've ever had in all our moving and Internet-setting-up history). But now it's here and we are still here (it really feels like you drop off the planet when you don't have Internet). And we live in Washington....and we still can't believe it. Perhaps we go through this every time, but we just keep saying, "I can't believe we live here. How did this happen?" And then we relive all the recent events. Just our processing I suppose.

Our new house is awesome. AWESOME. We really, really love it. It's small, but fitting us surprisingly well and the location and setting is literally unbelievable. The weather has been really nice. Freezing cold, but dry and even sunny a few times! :) We have taken unpacking breaks to explore the woods and paths and streams and ponds and there is much more to see and discover...especially as the seasons start changing in a few months. We see deer and raccoons pretty much every time we drive down our long driveway. I can only imagine how this place will come to life in the spring!

There's not a lot of pictures to show for the last 3+ weeks that we have been here and the ones I have aren't so good, but I will post them anyway...especially for a Grandma and Grandpa and a few other long-distant friends and family who would take just about anything off my camera card. :)

The best kids around

new gloves for cold weather!

and boots! we live in the woods!

We had to get a Christmas tree right away because the boys were going to have a cow if we didn't!

Easton just watched and pointed while the boys put it up. Brendan and Wyatt pretty much did everything, even stringing the lights! :)

Here's a sneak peek at our new house. This is the side of the house. That door leads into the garage and the garage is just out of the frame to the left. The front of the house is around to the right.

More coming soon.....

Blessed

2011-11-30T23:39:00.004-07:00

I feel very blessed today. I am blessed everyday. But today is a day I feel spoiled-blessed. Our frustrating house hunt has come to an end. An "I can't believe how awesome this is" kind of end. I know it seems a week is no time at all to be looking and finding a place to live, but the search has been going on much longer. I like to do lots of searching and lots of research so that I really know what the "market" is and what we can get and where and for how much. All that. In our price range, in the area we need to live since we only have one car, the pickins have been quite slim. I was mostly looking at tiny little townhouses or really (really) junky little houses without yards. I kept looking and wondering how I could do this with 3 little boys who are getting kind of big for "active" playing inside, especially inside something as small as I have been looking at without the option of playing in a yard or something. Well, it was frustrating. Frustrating, but we kept going back to a word Rand felt God had given him at the very beginning of this little part of the journey. "Patience". We have reluctantly said no to a few properties because they just didn't feel right, knowing they would get snatched up if we waited longer than a minute to think about it. They were too far from work, WAY too small, zero yard, too expensive, etc.
After a full day of driving around on Sunday with the whole fam. we came home a little defeated. Brendan asked on Monday during school when we might have our own place. Not knowing what in the world to say I said, "We just need to keep praying about it. We're having a hard time finding a place we can afford, close to Daddy's work, where we will have enough room for all you boys." He suggested we pray right then. I said, "Great idea." He prayed (doesn't usually want to, but did this time). His prayer was precious and went like this...almost verbatim:
Dear God,
Please help us find a house where me and Wyatt and Easton can have lots of fun.
And where Mom and Dad will like being there too.
Amen.

I gave a big smile because children's prayers always make me smile and I thought it was perfectly perfect and very sweet.

After school I got back on the computer to check out listings and find all the new stuff and start my little process. I found a couple. I sent some emails. I got a couple emails back and I arranged to go look at one with Rand that night. (You have to move FAST on rentals we've learned.....more times than one). Anyway, we drive to it. GREAT location. Great! Perfect actually. Close to absolutely everything. Kids stuff, Rand's job, shopping, church, etc. We drive down this long driveway, through a gate (awesome! it's gated!), onto a 140 acre estate. 140 acres! The house was great. A little small, but good and literally on 140 acres. The owner lives on the property and also 2 other rental homes with tenants who have been there for the last 6 years.

Side note: Did I tell you all that I got rid of my chicken coop because we were moving? Well we were going to put it on craigslist and I got on to see what they were selling for just to get a feel and I found an ad from someone who wanted to trade a canoe for a chicken coop with 3-4 chickens. Rand and I were like, "Hey, let's get a canoe!" And we did. It's pretty much awesome, but we did feel a little silly strapping it to the roof of the mini-van and driving from Phoenix to Olympia not knowing exactly how we were going to use it. My brother-in-law even said, "What are you going to do with a canoe?" "I don't know. Take it to a park or a lake or something and paddle around" Whatever. Anyway, we have a really sweet canoe!

Back to the story....
So we are talking to the lady (who is really cool and just opened an art gallery downtown Oly. by the marina) about the house and the property and she says this: "You can't see it right now because it's dark, but just beyond the backyard here there is a stream and you can canoe in it right down to Black Lake." Rand and I looked at each other with our mouths open. "No way! We have a canoe!!!"

Needless to say we jumped on the opportunity to rent this cute little house on a private 140 acres right in Olympia. And we had a signed deal in just a couple days. I just still can't believe it.

The property has an established orchard with apples, plums, pears, etc. It has a private lake that is fenced that we get to use in the summer with a sandy beach and a dock. It has woods and fields. It has a sport court (tennis and basketball) and a little kids play house/cabin. There is a beautiful pond and a meandering stream. And did I mention 140 acres for all the walking and exploring one could wish for? The road to the home is paved so there is great bike riding for the kids. It is like living on our own private county park. There are lots of birds, owls, deer, otters, eagles, etc. She even said when you are canoeing on the stream beavers will swim next to you and fish jump right out of the water!

It is beyond an answered prayer and we are just dreaming and imagining of all the fun we are going to have there and how perfect it is in every way. God answered our prayers about location and price and size and space for our kids to play. And then went over and above and gave us something that we will LOVE, where we can use our canoe for goodness sakes! I keep telling Brendan, "look how God has answered your prayer! You and your brothers are going to have so much fun, and Mom and Dad are going to like being there too!"

For as fast (and unwanted) as this move has been, God has answered our prayers in such obvious, kind of over the top ways, that we can't even stop and wonder if this is what He wants us to be doing. From the job, to our house getting rented in less than a week, to money concerns, to finding a place to live here, it feels like God has taken all our worries and answered all our pleas and then some. It's the "then some" that has left us speechless through this process over the last month or so and we are so grateful!

We feel very blessed and can't believe we got it. And as my mom said, I can't believe there was even something this good (that we could afford) to be got! Another part of the story though is that the owner had listed it for rent a month ago. It's been available since Nov. 1. She told us it always rents super fast, but this time she hardly had anyone come look at it. She reposted her ad that day, and we showed up. It literally feels like it was just for us!
So we will be unpacking our stuff now and moving in this weekend. And soon, there will be pictures. Lots of pictures!

Just Transition

2011-11-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

If I never have to transition in this way again.....well.....that will be alright. This has been a tough one. And boy did it happen fast or what?! All of a sudden we were packed and loaded and driving down the road. Getting here took forever. We were together (for the first time during a move) because we didn't do the U-haul thing, but we were sick and stressed and it took us 3 days to drive from Phoenix to Shelton. But we made it. We got here on a Saturday and Rand started work on Monday. The guy does not skip a beat, does he?! He got cold sores and the rest of us got the stomach flu....twice. bleh. We've been here just a week and I am house hunting full time. It's hard. We are on a budget...we don't want to be "house poor". We have one car so being close to Rand's job is essential. We have 3 little boys....wonderful mind you, but we've gotten some concerns about that from potential landlords. I would love for them to have space outside, space inside and what not, but our budget is making that option look near impossible.

Anyhoo, we are practicing patience which has been the word of the week while we look and search and look some more...striking out nearly everywhere. But everyday there is something new and at least with renting things can move pretty quickly. We are getting settled in other ways and are ready to plug the kids back into AWANAs and we went to church on Sunday and that was good and I get to go to my old midwives who delivered Wyatt and I am thrilled about that. My parents, while divorced, live within walking distance of each other at the moment and it has been a blessing to send Brendan and Wyatt on their own down to Nana's house for cookies and video games and crafts every afternoon! :) I actually love that.

So that's the scoop. Here we are. Things are good. Trying hard to trust with the house situation. Something will work out, hopefully soon. I know my Dad likes having us here, but we are a pretty big presence! It will be good to have our own space again!

Stay tuned for more developments! :)

BTW, baby #4 is doing just great. I only panick a little when I start doing the math about how much time left. Yikes! I'm 32 weeks!!!!!

Kid Quotes:: Vol. 41

2011-11-21T03:38:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite quote from our most recent road trip! :)

Driving somewhere near Grant's Pass

Rand: Hey guys, check it out. It's snowing.

(no response from the back of the van where the 2 older ones are immersed in Nintendo DSi games)

......10 minutes later

Brendan: (literally yelling) OH MY GOSH!!!! LOOOK! IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!

Rand: Guys. This is a good life lesson. When you take your heads out of the video games, you experience life more fully...

good word, Hon, good word.

Our Last Day (In 2 Places)

2011-11-15T21:22:00.001-07:00

Our last day in Wichita was Sunday. It was a lovely warm day. We soaked up the sun and each other as much as we could. I miss them lots.

We drove straight from Wichita to Phoenix. It was 18 hours. That was crazy.

I came home to a very packed up house. Rand is a machine. His new job starts next Monday. We are excited and sad. Right now I'm mostly sad...and feeling very pregnant.

Today my Mom and I packed up most of the rest of everything. The moving truck will be delivered tomorrow and loaded. We will most likely hit the road on Thursday.

Our house rented in 4 days. That is a God thing! Rand's current job is cutting the night calls soon. The new job is there now. That is a God thing, too.

Transition is hard.

I keep shifting my mind to the positive. Rand has a great new job and God continues to provide for us in His perfect timing. I will be back in the Northwest by family and old friends. I will have a baby girl soon. I really love Rand and those 3 little boys of mine. It's a good life.

Rand told me the other day that the word "sacrifice" is made up of 2 words that mean "holy" and "to make". I like that. It makes me want to sacrifice more....or at least be grateful for the sacrifices that come with walking this path.

The computer is probably getting packed away tonight. I'm going to bed early. My body is telling me to stop...or else have a baby tonight. :) I think I'll wait on that one.

Thanks for the support and prayers for us for the next couple weeks while we re-adjust!

Pics from our last day in Kansas....Miss you Lovingfoss'

He means business folks, serious business

So does she......all the time!

And happy 3rd birthday to this "little fire ball" on Sunday. You are precious.

A Busy Day in Wichita

2011-11-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

It seems like we always try to cram a bunch of stuff in at the end of a trip together. We just hang out for much of the beginning and then we think, "Oh dang. We gotta do some stuff while we're together." Today was that day for me and Rach. We had a pedicure in the morning at her favorite "natural" spa. I have nice new purple toe nail polish that I'm thinking might need a touch up before the baby is born....and someone else is going to have to do it! :) After that we hit the store and got some lunch and came home. In the afternoon we ALL went to one of Rachel's most favorite family hang outs. THE ZOO! If you read her blog you've seen and heard lots of stories about her zoo, but it was awesome to get to go in real life. After dinner her and I went to another of her favorite places...Paint the Town, for art night. We painted pears and I wish I had one of these places in my town. Such a fun thing to do with sisters...or girlfriends...or whatever. We've been playing party farkel at night and going to bed super tired. One more day...which will be spent gathering and packing to leave. :( I hate goodbyes.

The beginning of my pears

my pears. finished....I think...

Rachel's pears

Fossil Hunting

2011-11-11T19:52:00.003-07:00

Today Royal (a.k.a. Uncle Bubba) took all the kids except Easton somewhere (somewhere in Kansas? I don't even know where) to dig up fossils. There was a lot of talk the night before about what kind of dinosaur each was expecting to excavate the next day, so I was a tad worried they would be disappointed to learn that it would mainly be shells and such that they would be finding. They seemed to take it all in stride and each came home with their own collection of dirt, rocks and fossils to treasure. I sent my camera with Brendan. I'm told he took 2 pictures then set my camera down on a rock and ran off to dig fossils. :) Uncle Bubba took the rest of the pictures. Royal is currently studying earth environment and physical science at Wichita State and I'm sure the boys (and little girl) got a great education on rocks and all the things they were looking at and digging up. Hooray for hands on learning/field trips! Not to mention fantastic people to visit and play with in Kansas.

one of Brendan's shots

I love this picture with the shadow of Willow's head on the side. :)

Here's the view from Rachel's back deck. I think it is very nice and very Kansas.

In Wichita

2011-11-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Holy Moly. That's about all I have to say. We are in Wichita....me and my Mom and my three littles.....staying with my sister and her 2 littles. Sounds simple enough, right? Well it is down right nuts. Fun and great, but totally crazy. The three big boys, Brendan, Wyatt and cousin Jayden are 3 peas in a pod and are running at 110% pretty much the whole day. We have a little afternoon break when Jayden goes to school at 12:30 but then it is back on until bedtime once he gets home. It is loud and fast and there is a LOT of food happening. Willow is little Miss attitude and fiestiness and participates with the big boys a bit and doesn't get along with Easton very well at all. Easton whines quite a bit and sticks pretty close to my legs. We have taken Willow to swimming lessons, Jayden to school, gone to the grocery store many, many times, and had every weather you can imagine...including an earthquake. Totally nuts! Fun, but nuts.

I have taken almost NO pictures because it is virtually impossible, but I have a few...gonna try and finish the week a little better!

We were crazy enough to do a balloon, yarn, glue craft with all of them! :)

The Hawk that Survived

2011-11-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

I've been sick for the last few days. Isn't being sick and pregnant the worst??? Tylenol just doesn't cut it. At all.
Anyway, I was nursing my sniffles by resting on my bed and all of a sudden.....SLAM! A bird rams into my sliding glass door. I saw it hit and assumed it was a pigeon because there are quite a few pigeons in our yard eating up olives. I got up and looked and sure enough there was a bird...still alive mind you....laying on the ground right in front of my window. Only it wasn't a pigeon. It was a little hawk. Sad! I thought for sure he was a goner. He wasn't moving, his wings were all sprawled out and he was breathing real fast. Well, I hate seeing things suffer like that so I pulled my curtains so that I wouldn't have to see and so that another bird wouldn't meet the same fate. A bit later I went to check on it and it was laying there in the same position only it was breathing real light and it's eyes were closed. Well, then I knew he was dying. I opened my door and startled him and he jumped up and ran off real fast. Startled me! I didn't see where he went, but I notice a little dead dove laying in about the same spot the hawk was. I'm assuming he had captured it or was chasing it or in some way was about to make a meal of that little bird. The dove was most definitely dead. I walked out into my living room and looked out back and there was that little hawk, sitting on my pool fence. Well then I took some pictures and I'm pretty sure that crazy bird survived! Check it out!

Grief Continues

2011-11-01T10:00:00.003-07:00

I've been thinking about Willie a lot lately. I don't know if it's the time of year, the sad Christmas music playing in the background, or the continued loss that I seem to keep experiencing. My own little family, we try real hard to focus on our abounding blessings, no matter our circumstances. We love each other deeply. We have fun and try our best to be content with what we have and where we must go and all that. We thank God for everything. We are thankful....even in our losses.

Yesterday, my parents sold their lake house. It is not the house I grew up in, but it has been a home of really awesome family gatherings and parties and dinners and holidays for the last 12 years or so. It is all the little kids have known. It is where we all went for Christmas and it was a yearly summer vacation spot. It was big enough to accommodate all of us and our kids and all our gear and it was awesome. Here are just a few of the posts that have accumulated over the last almost 5 years of my humble little blog.

Christmas 2010
Christmas 2010
Christmas 2010
summer 2010
summer 2009
summer 2009
summer 2008
summer 2007

I have my own life now, but I can't help but feel a significant loss at the closing of this chapter. It represents so much of what I love about life and "family" and even that has been lost.

Today my parents terminated their marriage. They are now officially divorced.

While this is something I have been privately processing and grieving for the last year, today marks a significant day of loss in my life. Perhaps it has no business on my blog. Perhaps it deserves a space to be spoken about.
I go back and forth between real sadness and a renewed focus on my own marriage and family apart from all that, knowing we will make the best of whatever our family looks like now.

I suppose it makes sense that Willie has been on my mind. I wonder what he would make of all this and how as siblings we would bond over the shared loss of things we considered valuable and a part of what makes us "us".

In all, I am constantly reminded to give thanks. God has blessed us immeasurably. I have to look at this path we are on as one that God has set before us and my responsibility is to keep my eyes on Him, the only one who can heal us and redeem us and build something beautiful from ashes.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

There is grief. It continues. But there is great joy in the bigger picture. And I'm grateful for that.

For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

Halloween Recap

2011-10-31T21:58:00.004-07:00

Oh Halloween. It not really my favorite holiday and I'm always glad when it's over. Then I don't feel so weird about listening to Christmas music. :) Actually, I just hate all the ghoulish monsters that are everywhere we go in stores and in people's yards. I do enjoy the harvest stuff, and the colors and the smells of fall, but Halloween itself....blah. However, children happen to just love it and we have been anticipating the fun of tonight for weeks and weeks. The big boys went as Power Rangers and bought their costumes themselves this year (thank you very much boys) and Easton had 2 options. A dinosaur or a tiger depending on the weather. It was too hot for the tiger so dinosaur it was. Besides, he wore the tiger last year....but it still fits this year thanks to the "miraculous thin-down." Just look at this little fat-man! (Seriously, click on the link and scroll to the bottom and look at the picture of him in the stroller. SO FAT!

Yesterday we went to a fall festival. Another excuse to wear the costumes and grab a couple buckets of candy for a head start. :) I was there solo and I didn't bring a stroller so I didn't get many pictures. And then tonight we did the whole trick-or-treating thing. This year Easton was soooo cute! The big boys were really good with him helping him learn the ropes. And I think he thought it was really fun and kind of weird. He tromped around following the big boys as best he could and sometimes he would say, "treeeat" and sometimes he would just hold out his bucket. Then he would wave bye-bye to everyone. It was so cute and very sweet. I think we filled an entire pillowcase so the candy should last us a week or so...maybe more. :)

Easton the dinosaur---he just figured out how to smile on purpose...or on command I should say.!

will the pointing ever end? I hope not

this picture reminds me of "the night Max wore his wolf suite and made mischief of one kind...."

Here are the pillowcases I made the boys. We were at HobbyLobby. They spotted the fabric. They picked out their own (including Easton....I couldn't persuade him from the owls) and I did the sewing. Brendan said I must put them on the blog so Nana could see them.

I accidentally took this picture, but it shows just how sweet the little trick-or-treators were.

Kid Quotes::Vol. 40

2011-10-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

after church tonight....

Rand: So Bren, what did you learn at church tonight?

Brendan: Well last week (we didn't go last week) they learned about the 10 commandments.

Rand: But what did you learn tonight?

Brendan: Well, we didn't learn about any characters of the Bible.

Rand: Okay, so what did you learn about tonight????

Brendan: Yep.

alrighty then.....

Chicken Chronicles::Vol. 11 (The Best Pets)

2011-10-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Our 4 chickens have been the best pets. We have all loved them. Rand has sort of loved them. They were impossible to keep off our patio because I insisted on letting them run around wherever they wanted. They made a royal mess on the patio and it was a real pain trying to keep it clean. I loved watching them run around the yard and chase bugs and fight over fruit and take dirt baths. Not to mention the daily supply of eggs...even if one of them hid them from me most of the time.

I loved these 4 ladies and that is why it was so sad for us to let them go to a loving home who wasn't going to truck them north and then probably provide them to raccoons for supper in their not-so predator safe coop. We are already making lists of names for our new flock that we have planned. And believe me. There will be more than 4! :)

The Pumpkins

2011-10-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

We lit them for only 2 nights.

And then they looked like this:

Brendan's

Wyatt's

Easton's

Pretty much dehydrated....in less than a week.

Easton::18 Months

2011-10-19T12:31:00.003-07:00

I'm about to miss the milestone all together. In just a week he will be over the year and a half mark and well on his way to two!

Easton keeps growing, although he is still in the same size clothing he was wearing about 10 months ago, thanks to the miraculous thin down. He has yet to have his appointment so no impressive stats to report. I suspect he is sneaking down into the "normal" ranges, though he still seems really big compared to other kiddos his age.

This is a little boy who wants to be big and little at the same time. He keeps up with his big brothers well. He wants to climb and jump and ride bikes and run outside with them...and he does. At the same time he is very much a mama's boy. Doesn't share me very well and likes to be close pretty much all the time. Loves his Daddy time but has more fun if I am nowhere in sight.

His words are coming slowly but surely and he has quite a vocabulary if you are me and can understand what he is saying. More, Milk, Elmo, Einstein, No, Ow, Mouth, Nose, Eye, Mom, and Dad are the most spoken. He's not combining words yet, but soon. He loves looking at animals and we drive around an area of town that has tons of horses, goats, sheep, etc. just to entertain him. I call it our drive-by zoo. It's just people with pets in their yards. :)

He still takes 2 naps a day...most of the time...and sleeps great at night. He and I get up together at 6 usually. A little early, but these years of being a Mommy have made those early mornings a little easier. I guess I'm getting used to it. I took the crib rail off his crib (much earlier than I wanted to) out of necessity because my belly is now what I would consider "large" and I can no longer bend over the side to put him in. He can easily get in and out by himself, but knows when it is nap/bed time and he stays in and does what he is supposed to. What a good little boy! Not nearly as stubborn and strong willed as his oldest brother was. Either that or it is just the difference between a 2 year old and an 18 month old. We will see as time goes on!

Easton loves babies and has acquired a baby doll from a little girlfriend and he actually is so cute with it. Carrying it, just like a baby, and sleeping with it and poking it in the eyes and then, of course, violently throwing it to the floor. I think there will be a love/hate relationship at first with the new baby. I'm praying for this little guy and the transitions coming up in his life. My heart always hurts a little bit when major things happen in the lives of the little ones that they can't quite understand yet.

18 months old. Kind of hard to believe.

We sure love this little big guy!

Jack-O-Lanterns

2011-10-17T14:50:00.002-07:00

We got our pumpkins a little early this year. It's still 100 degrees here. I've been trying to put off carving them because they don't have a chance of surviving once we cut into them and leave them outside. But you know little boys.....they can hardly wait. Every. Single. Day. "Can we do pumpkins? How 'bout tonight? How about I get the pumpkins ready?" Every day. Last night we had an early-ish dinner and Rand hadn't gotten a call yet so we just went for it. We will light them every night this week and see how long they last. I have no hope of them still being around by Halloween, but whatever. Last year we didn't even get pumpkins. It was our first year skipping the tradition and I felt so bad that an early destruction of the poor things really isn't that big a deal.

For the record, Easton wouldn't touch the goo (he has a spoon in the one picture). He thought the whole thing was a little weird and kind of scary. He's not a fan of the dark so he wasn't even that impressed when we went out into our really dark front yard and lit them. But he also only had one nap and it was bedtime for him and so I'm blaming that!

see? doesn't he look tired?

now he's getting further away from it. :)

Brendan's, Wyatt's, and Easton's (next year 4?)

Weighing Pros and Cons

2011-10-10T08:33:00.003-07:00

The job hunt. What can I say? We have been determined to stay here. Unlike other past job hunts, Rand has kept his resume here, in the Valley....right where we are, knowing we have a bit of time to figure it out and find something that will work. We have driven all over town dropping off resumes and there are the multiple online searches a day looking for what is new in both of Rand's career fields (funeral service and ministry). Nothing.

The only other place we occasionally check is Washington because deep down we've always thought eventually we'd go back there for good. Well, let's be honest...Rand started dreaming about living in our house here forever, but not me. It's too.....city for this small town girl. But I have been more than willing. Anyhoo, Rand knows my dream and so in the search that has been bringing up nothing he has also looked in Washington just to see if there is anything. Recently a job came up within his company (SCI) and he made a call about it. Turns out he went to mortuary school with the manager there who is hiring. There was an interview on the phone and then they asked him to fly up to continue the conversation. He spent last weekend in Olympia checking it out. It went well. And now we are left with a really hard decision.

At night I panic and say, "No. We just can't. We have to stay here. But there's nothing else. We are running out of time." And then in the morning I feel really good and think, "No problem. I'm okay with this. We can do it. It will work out just fine."

So I have been making lists and lists of pros and cons. There's a lot of things on both sides. Here's a few of the majors:

Pro: Hey! It's a job offer! That's more than we can say for any other leads we have followed.
Con: It would mean moving again.

Pro: The job pays more, involves more (kind of a promotion), has the opportunity for overtime if desired, bonuses, is a "transfer" within his company so he keeps all his vacation, 401K, etc., is at one of the nicest funeral homes in the area, and is in Olympia (close to my family) and hello?? it's the Northwest. :)
Con: The compensation is more than he makes now, but is nothing to write home about.

Pro: We can stay here until we are ready to come. They are flexible as far as when we have to be there and start.
Con: uh, we are having a baby. Move soon? (NO!) Move after the baby is born? (NO!)

Pro: Living close to my Mom, Dad and Sister would be great help not to mention friends and other family we have missed for almost 5 years now! (Can you believe Brendan was 3 and Wyatt was Easton's age when we left?!?!)
Con: Our family here is great help too. Not to mention the friends we would miss terribly and would be saying goodbye to for the second time.

Pro: I prefer NW weather and really hate summer here (basically May-October)
Con: It rains there a LOT...and while I like the rain and grew up there and what not...I really enjoy winters here (basically November-April)...even though it's not really winter and I miss true seasons.

Pro: We have some property there that has always been a dream to eventually get on and grow our own food and run through the woods, etc.
Con: We have a house here and we aren't sure the best move with that (keep it as a rental and find someone to manage it for us? Get out at all costs and not deal with the headache? List our house now and deal with showings?)

These are just a few of the issues racing through my head all the time. I'm hoping that by writing it down I can get it out of my mind and get on with...I don't know...schooling the children, growing a baby, doing my chores, etc. :)

In my gut I feel kind of excited about it. Olympia feels like "home" to me and I can see us there very easily. The job is a really good job and I think Rand could really thrive there. The idea of moving doesn't stress me out all that much this time around and if we hadn't done it so much recently I probably wouldn't hesitate for a minute.
At the end of the day it comes down to what it has come down to every time we've done it. It's a job. It pays. And what other choice do we have??? That's the question!

What do you think? (Try not to be biased based on where you live) :)

Ahhhh, our life. So glad I've been writing it down for the last 5 years because honestly....who would believe it?

Pumpkin Patch--Southwest Style

2011-10-07T20:15:00.002-07:00

Every fall that I have lived here I have mourned the loss of our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. I kinda thought the only way to get a pumpkin here was at the grocery store or one of those little hay stands by the side of the road...which might as well be the grocery store.

Today I was very much surprised by an impromptu visit to MacDonalds Ranch with Grandpa Mike. I decided last minute to go with so that Easton could participate too, even though I really didn't know ahead of time what we were even doing. Well, MacDonalds Ranch is in North Scottsdale on 1300 beautiful acres of desert. There was horse riding and all sorts of Western style games, lasso practicing, hay maze, a petting zoo, a LOT of dirt and a horse drawn hay ride out to the "pumpkin patch" that was literally out in the middle of the desert. The true desert is really quite a beautiful thing (especially when the temps are in the low 70's).

Now, I say "pumpkin patch" in quotes because it was a little different than I was expecting. As we rode along out into the desert I found myself pondering a pumpkin patch out there amongst the saguaros. I even said out loud, "I didn't think you could grow pumpkins here. I wonder what kind of watering that would take?" And then we rounded a corner into a clearing and it all made much more sense. There is no pumpkin patch in the desert. It was very much staged. There was no patch. There were no vines. There were pumpkins in bins and stacked on hay and who knows where they were shipped in from. But I have to say, it was the closest thing to a real pumpkin patch experience I think you could get around here! I have a LOT of pictures to share because it was so much fun, so keep your eyes peeled for the "pumpkin patch"....southwest style.

still a lot of pointing going on :)

he was thinking about riding a horse, but decided not to when he got up close!

i love this picture :)

i think he thought Wyatt's hair might have been food

a bull

a goat

bunnies!

here she is, people!

check out our driver! his mustache actually curled up on the edges, with a twist.

Ghostly Feet and a Scarf

2011-10-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have taken one major hiatus from my crafty side. I'm blaming it on a very active 18 month old (I need to blog that!) and a very tiring pregnancy. But it's fall....at least it is supposed to be....and my instinct to hunker down indoors and do fall cleaning, cooking, and crafting is kicking in (despite our summer temperatures). I actually got my sewing machine out! It's been a while. I made a scarf, inspired by this girl who found the easy breezy pattern here. I had a white jersey knit sheet that I had saved (to Rand's dismay) just sure I would find some way to re purpose it. And so part of it has turned into a scarf. And it was easy. No finished edges, just whipped together.

Then this other girl said she was doing this project and I ran right out and did my own version of it that very day. And I love it! Doing projects on canvas just makes them 10 times better. I've got lots of other ideas up my sleeve along the same lines.

Up next, Halloween pillow cases (I even left my sewing machine out!)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 39

2011-10-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

Wyatt: Did you do AWANAs when you were a kid?

Me: No. They didn't have that when I was a kid.

Wyatt: Was there TV when you were a kid?

Me: Yes. Yes, there was TV.

Wyatt: Yeah, but it was only black and white.

(Let's face it. To him....I'm old.)

Fall Ball

2011-10-04T12:16:00.002-07:00

One of the perks to Phoenix living is year round baseball (although we do NOT play summer ball. No thank you. Spring is borderline too hot, so summer you can forget about it). Fall on the other hand...especially night games are perfect! We put Brendan in Little League this season instead of the league we used last year because it wasn't quite up to Daddy-coach standards (and I have to admit it was a tad frustrating). Little League is proving to be a bit more up to par, although Daddy-coach is still finding himself a little frustrated watching from the sidelines. :)
Brendan is so cute out there! He is one of the smallest dudes on the team, but one of the better players and he just loves it. They started him at short-stop last night (Daddy's boy). He got walked his first at-bat and then proceeded to steal his way all the way home. He claims to love stealing which boggles my mind because just the thought of it gives me anxiety. Like I said, Daddy's boy!
Wyatt, a baseball player at heart, is having second thoughts about his career in karate and I think will be back in cleats for the spring. I really love watching these little guys play baseball.

Halloween Decorations

2011-10-01T07:23:00.002-07:00

Who in the world knows where my box of fallish decor has gone. It is only just now October 1st, so I haven't been all that concerned that I can't find it. Brendan has been. He is really into doing all sorts of traditional types of things this year and he is pretty much going to do it with or with out me. We dropped Wyatt off at Karate last week and then went to Sprouts for some groceries. In the check out line he begged me to buy him the Martha Stewart Halloween magazine that he spotted. How could I say no???
So he flipped through it for a couple days and then yesterday he and Wyatt weren't going to wait for me to initiate any craftiness (I've been slacking off in that department for quite some time) and they just went to town themselves. They made and put up Halloween decorations for most of the day yesterday. What can I say, something I taught them long ago obviously stuck.

Crazy Boys

2011-10-01T07:19:00.001-07:00

Well the rope swing that Wyatt asked for and got for his birthday has literally been a dream come true for him. I love that, at least for now, the boys are extremely easy to please on a budget. You want some rope? You got it! And they do all kinds of crazy things with that rope, tied to a branch that is just barely strong enough. There have been injuries and blisters and blood and lots of new callouses on their hands. It's pretty much awesome. The other day I looked out the window and saw them tip toeing on the top of the ladder climbing onto a tree branch and then launching off from the tree itself. Looked like a blast so I took some pictures before it did in fact end in an injury. It was minor, but there was blood involved. :) They are boys. What are ya gonna do?

(see my little chickens? i love them)

Special Delivery

2011-09-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

Look what I got in my inbox this morning.

Awwww. There's a baby girl in my belly!

Robin Hood Wyatt

2011-09-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

We get the Vision Forum catalog every once in a while. They have boyhood adventure "things" that Brendan and Wyatt parooze through frequently. Cool stuff like spy gear, swords, zip lines and the like. Wyatt has had his eye on a bow and arrow that he spotted months ago. Well, he got it for his birthday. It is a little freaky because technically it is "not a toy". It is a real bow and arrow. As in, it could cause death to whatever it strikes. Yikes! They (the big boys) have been out practicing being Robin Hood and have a bale of hay and a target to shoot at. So far they obey all the saftey rules and are actually getting better at hitting that target. Only one arrow went wild and landed on the roof! :)

watch out little chicken!

#4 is....

2011-09-23T18:30:00.001-07:00

A GIRL! I know. It's old news thanks to the big wide world of facebook and holy moly I practically feel like I've had a party, I've talked to so many people and read so many messages from many, many friends. It's been real fun.

The ultrasound tech came to our house for the appointment. He was great! He set everything up and I lounged on my couch. I only had to drink water before he came. We watched the picture on the big screen with all the kids (Easton left for a nap in the middle b/c he was crabby) and my 2 sisters were also there via video chat. They couldn't see much but heard it all and it was really fun!

It was by far the most informative ultrasound I have ever had. He talked through the whole thing telling us exactly what we were looking at, what he was measuring and what he was looking for. He said everything looked absolutely PERFECT! He said she had chubby cheeks and looked like she was smiling and she was kicking like a champ (that led me to believe she must be a boy). It was really fun! He recorded everything on DVD including our voices during the whole thing. So we have a video of the ultrasound picture, but you can hear him and us and our responses. It is so great! Makes since now why he talked so much through it....so you can watch the DVD and actually know exactly what you are watching. He didn't tell us he was recording until he was done so that we wouldn't censor anything...and believe me I would have. :)

So there ya have it. He guaranteed his "findings" as far as the sex goes and said he would pay us $200 and 7 weeks worth of diapers if he was wrong. He says he's never been wrong! Everyone is super-duper excited. Oh how a girl will change things around here!

Second Fiddle

2011-09-19T10:15:00.002-07:00

It's tough being second fiddle, isn't it? Rand and I were both the oldest children in our family, so honestly we don't know how it feels to not be first. My second born is such a sweet soul. He is just naturally softer than Brendan. More sensitive, less sure (read "less confident"), very sweet and always second. He had a tough end to summer being in Brendan's shadow as Brendan got a lot of special attention. First Bren's birthday and party and then his manhood initiation and special retreat with Dad. Wyatt is a patient boy and he kept a lot to himself as Brendan got gifts and lots of attention. Wyatt is really good at articulating how he is feeling...better than any little boy I have ever heard. He will tell me he feels insecure, or lonely. It's heartbreaking actually, but I'm glad he does it. Once he was getting out of the car and said, "Mom, I just don't think my face fits in very well. Brendan's seems to fit in better than mine." How sad is that? Or, "Mom, I'm feeling a little lonely. I think I need to have a date with Dad."
He appreciates words of affirmation A LOT and gives them to others often. He will easily and frequently say encouraging things to others. "Mom, you are so beautiful. I like when you wear your hair like that." "Brendan, you are so good at that." He throws out lots of "I love you's" to lots of people, all the time (I just got one! :) ). And I can't even tell you how good he is with Easton.

So anyway, after a summer of Brendan, Wyatt decided he didn't like baseball anymore. I wasn't surprised and we so didn't make a big deal about it. All of sudden he just didn't want to go play catch out in the yard. He was done. So as we were talking about fall sign ups, he really didn't want to play (he was going to be on the same team as Brendan). So it turned out, instead, he really wanted to do karate. We found a place close to home and went and checked it out and he said, "yes! that's what I want to do". He's been going for a couple weeks. It has been TORTURE for Brendan to not participate. Brendan's baseball practices don't start until this week so he has just been watching Wyatt learn karate and can hardly handle not doing it too. But it has been so good for Wyatt to be doing his own thing. And I have to say it has been good for Brendan, in my opinion, to sit back and let Wyatt shine for a moment.

Since, Wyatt has come around and pitched a few perfect innings with Dad in the backyard and he got lots of praise for that too. For now though, we are really proud of our little karate kid!

Wyatt::6 (The Party)

2011-09-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday over the weekend. Wyatt is finally 6 years old. Seems like it takes forever to get to his birthday after Brendan's. Probably because we talk about it every. single. day.

He had a few requests. One being Chuck E. Cheese. We opted for a few friends at Chuck E. Cheese and a sleep over. I can't say it was any "easier" than the big party we had for Brendan, but it was different, and I think that was the point.

His big "want" for his birthday was a rope. I know, weird. He had a total idea of what he wanted and what he wanted to do with it. So we obliged. We gave him a birthday bag with 20 feet of black nylon rope in it. It was kind of funny to us, but he was pumped. Rand went outside with it in the morning, set it up just so in one of our olive trees, and the kids did not stop playing on it. Oh, the simple pleasures of being a 6 year old boy! It is still getting a lot of use!

A Jojee Visit

2011-09-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

This last week my sister, Joanna, came for a visit. She is in massage therapy school right now and last week was their week break in the middle of their program. Considering the lousy summer they've had in the northwest (until recently) she came for heat and sun. It was interesting to be around someone who just wanted to go outside all day. I'm determined to NOT go outside until it is below 85 (it's getting there at night!!!)

Mostly we stuck around home. She studied while we did our own school (we studied inside, and she studied out by the pool). She ran all around with me on Wednesday which is our busy day and on Thursday we had a birthday party. She and Wyatt have birthdays just one week apart so of course we had to celebrate together. We had pizza (Wyatt's choice) and cake (Wyatt's choice) and a couple of presents.

Best of all, while she was here, everyone got massages. There is NOTHING like a *free* massage by someone who knows what they are doing! AHHHHHHH. If only I could pay her to stay here for the rest of my pregnancy!

Happy Hour!

everyone waiting for Dad to get home

someone else obviously taking the pictures

some pitching practice

and an after pitching massage

Happy birthday!

I know. I know. My camera is terrible.

I Guess It's September

2011-09-01T07:04:00.001-07:00

We are breaking records left and right with our weather around here. I'm so over summer I could spit. We are about to break the record for most days over 110 degrees in a summer. The record was set in the summer of 2007....our first summer here. I remember it clearly. It was miserable. This is too. I may in fact have a psychotic break just so they lock me up in a really cold air conditioned psych ward. The holiday weekend is coming up and while in the Northwest we celebrate Memorial Day (the mark of the beginning of summer...at least we hope) AND Labor Day (the last big summer hurrah) with fervour, here I just try to get through them. Both holidays, in May and September, are always too hot to enjoy outside. People still participate in outdoor activities, but you are literally risking death when you do so.

I have been quiet on here lately about my disdain for Phoenix weather this time of year, but I can remain silent no more. 6 months out of the year, this is the most miserable place to live (obviously, just my opinion). Hot, hot, hot, hot. Everywhere. Outside, in the pool, in the car, in the house, in your clothes. Yuck! I do not mark the beginning of September in the same way I used to. No fog. No chilly mornings. No major shift in wind and sunlight. No first turning leaves or end of summer harvests. No fall for that matter.

BUT, I am so, so, so glad it is September. That means only 2 more months of weather that is too hot to enjoy. Only 2 more months until a chill will indeed set in (brrrrr, it might get in the 60's!!!!). Only 2 more months before hitting up parks and setting up our tent in the yard and laying in grass and getting outside without turning purple from over heating. Slight exaggeration? Maybe. But I do remember some Halloweens that have been too hot to wear a costume!

Just 2 more months to go.

Art Lesson 1::Composition

2011-08-29T08:43:00.004-07:00

This year in school we are using an organized art curriculum. This is our first time incorporating actual art into our schooling. I'm so excited about it I want to do the projects myself. :)
My boys spend hours at their table doing "art". Mostly they are drawing pictures. I love it. LOVE it. They draw all kinds of things. Scenes from movies, their favorite action heroes, their favorite things to do, things straight from their imaginations, etc. I love how they think, and then they draw it. They don't need to copy a picture and even when they are asking me for ideas of what to draw, they usually don't like my suggestions and come up with something themselves. They use pencils, colored pencils, crayons and markers mostly. Every once in a while we paint, but not often with Easton around and sometimes they pull out the watercolors.

I'm excited about art this year because it will introduce new mediums for them and give them a little broader knowledge to draw from (get it? draw? haha) when they sit down at the table.

The art curriculum isn't just art projects, but includes lessons and also art history. It's called ARTistic Pursuits in case anyone is interested.

Their first lesson was about composition. They used sketch paper and an ebony pencil. Brendan took a little artistic liberty and added some color to his. :)

"Hanging out with Dad" by Wyatt

"Dad, Me and a Movie" by Brendan

(don't you just love the back of Rand's speckled head in this?) :)

A New Year

2011-08-28T08:50:00.005-07:00

I know my friend, Kelly, would concur...the beginning of the school year feels more like the start of a new year than January 1 does. This year, that has been especially true for me. (It could very well be because I have felt sooo lousy for so long and now I am feeling so much better and ready to get to work. Blame it on pregnancy.) I have taken on new personal challenges to change bad habits and start new good ones. I'm feeling motivated to clean up and re-organize. We have new systems in place to keep up on things better and a lot more structure around here. School has started well, but it is just the beginning. The more motivation at the beginning...the further it is going to get us!

One new system in place that has made such a HUGE difference is our daily schedule and chore charts. The boys have always been great helpers and picker uppers, but we don't usually have a "system" in place. So things just get pretty out of control (fast too!) and then I say, "Okay. Time to clean up," and we do, but then it's bad again quickly and it seems like we always wake up in the morning 3 steps behind. So in trying to be more intentional, we seriously took on regular chores for the boys and made charts and the whole works. Rand started the process (he's the list-maker-checker-offer and work-buster-outer) and then I tweaked it to make it work for me (since I'm the here-all-day person). So we have morning chores to do before breakfast and school (get dressed, brush teeth, make beds and then Wyatt does the dog and Brendan does the chickens). Then school, then lunch. After lunch we have afternoon chores. The boys take care of things like taking out the recycling, taking care of some things with the pool, tidying different rooms of the house and then we have a once a week chore that is bigger like helping with laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, washing mirrors, vacuuming and mopping and such....
Then at the end of the day we have a quick "Clean Sweep" of the house before bed. The before bed chores have been the key for this whole thing working. Doesn't it feel like you are always behind if ANYTHING is a mess when you wake up in the morning??? It is nice starting the day with a cleaned off school table! It makes all the difference.

The other thing we are doing is allowances. Okay, seriously, how much do you pay your kids for allowance? This can get a little pricey when you start thinking about it! Well, part of the deal is that the boys complete their chores with a "happy heart" all week and we pay them every 2 weeks $10 each. This was a little lower than we originally had talked about paying them, but we are teaching the 80-10-10 principle (save 10%, share 10%, the rest...do what you like) and so 10 is an easy number to make that happen. Plus we are paying 2 kids....eventually 4... and we have to make sure we can afford that considering raises and what not! :)

I love watching how kids thrive off of this stuff. Brendan especially (little Rand) just thinks it is the best thing in the world. Even Wyatt enjoys checking off his chores and getting things cleaned up. He says things like, "I'm doing this chore first so that I will feel so good when I'm done." They like taking responsibility for it themselves and not being told at random that it is time to work. It is making my life a lot easier! They are great helpers. Now if only I could get them to make a delicious dinner!

This is what is working for us right now. It feels good after a very relaxed, not feeling very good summer to be back into something more structured. Feels like a new start...a new year and I like it.

Raising our Boys::Vol. 2 (the retreat and the mohawk)

2011-08-27T13:50:00.004-07:00

I don't even know where to begin.....

Let's start with the mohawk. It is a story that starts months and months ago.To sum up a very long story quickly, he's wanted his hair cut like this for a long time. We recently attempted to "lay down the law" about the issue and then realized we were probably making a parenting mistake by doing so. So Rand decided to take the clippers up to the cabin for the retreat and allow him to make his own decision in regards to his hair. It seemed appropriate considering the theme of the weekend....growing up and all. Does he like it? Um, yes. He loves it. Our opinion is beside the point, and we'll just leave it at that. It feels a bit like the lesson about the whole thing was more for us than for him.

So, as for the retreat, Brendan's induction into the first phase of his "knighthood training" (ie, becoming a man) was great success as far as I'm told.

Here is a list of many of the things they did:
1. Ate dinner
2. Rand interviewed Brendan concerning how he could improve as a dad.
3. Gave Brendan a binder containing the info. they were going to cover and also the things we will be focusing on as we parent him from here forward. It is something that Brendan can reference as the years go by as a guide and also as a memento.
4. Played Risk
5.Played in the campground gym--discussed "Areas of Life", Luke 10:27
6. Ate breakfast--discussed Proverbs 1:7, 7 Marks of a Right Heart, The Gospel and the "exchanged life"
7. Played Frisbee Golf
8. Prayed at the chapel that is at Hole Nine of Golf course
9. Played catch
10. Played ping-pong, basketball--discussed Vision for Manhood, 4 Expectations of a Man, John 15:5, and Code of Conduct
11. Hung out in Cabin--Read Bible together on couch--story of Joseph and Potipher's wife (went with the code of conduct talk concerning Purity)
12. Lunch--Read and discussed Ephesians 6:10-17, prayed Caleb's Prayer
13. Went to a movie, drove home
14. Dinner as a family--discussed the trip together
15. Gave Brendan his gift and prayed for him

All the things that they covered such as "Caleb's prayer", "Code of Conduct", "Expectation of a Man", etc... were obviously not unique to us. They were things we came across in our research that we decided to include in our version of "manhood training" for our boys. If you're interested in some of the places we found these things, let me know!

Here is our growing boy!

gassin' up--oh look, that's our new car! :) And also...before the haircut

That is our "family crest" that Rand designed

yep. he likes the hairdo.

Raising our Boys::Vol. 1

2011-08-24T11:55:00.011-07:00

About 5 years ago, Rand read the book Raising a Modern Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding his Son to Authentic Manhood, by Robert Lewis. It was good and got us really thinking about a plan to intentionally raise our boys. Well time went by, and as you know, lots of life happened, and all of a sudden we realized that we were approaching Brendan's 8th birthday. If we didn't start getting "intentional" this was never going to happen. We started doing a lot more research....by "we" I really mean Rand. He would print things off, and I would read them and we had lots of talks about it. Mostly this is a task left for Dads, however, I really enjoy being involved as I can and Rand desiring my input as we decide on a path to intentionally raise our sons to becoming true men. So we have a pretty good plan that includes goals and tests and ceremonies along the way. We have these little dudes for just a while and we are intent on doing our best!
We are using "knighthood" as a model and also the Hebrew/Old Testament model of a family which includes a special ceremony at age 13 declaring our son a "man" (sounds young, doesn't it?!).

This is the beginning of Brendan's first phase of training. A page. Here is a little info.:
At age seven, a nobleman's son began training for knighthood. During this first step of training, boys were called pages.
As a page, a boy learned how to fight, how to use weapons, and how to ride a horse into battle. He learned manners from the nobleman's wife.
Like everyone, pages had a strict rule of conduct, a certain way of behaving that they had to follow. The rules were very detailed and very clear.

This weekend Rand and Brendan are heading north for a short retreat to signify the beginning of his training. When they get back we will have a special dinner and present Brendan with a plaque (each phase will have a special gift). The hope is that these will be significant moments in his life on his way to independence and manhood.

While we won't be teaching our boys how to fight (well, not like medieval knights), how to use weapons, or how to ride a horse into battle, we will be teaching other things. Things like practical life skills, worldview education, character development, and theology are a few of the (very broad) topics that he will be expected to begin mastering by his 13th birthday. The hope is for his role in our family to change by the time he is 13 and for a significant "letting go" to happen on the part of his parents! (yikes) His training will continue in a different way between his 13th birthday until he leaves home.

Rand and I are excited about this and think it is really important because our society seems to be producing a lot of confusion in this regard. When exactly are you a man? Is it when you get a car, graduate from high school? Turn 18? Turn 21? Move out? What is a man? Is it just your age that makes you a man? Having a legitimate job? Having a family? The ability to fight? Is it being "tough"? Is it being mature? What is it? Boys get thrown into the world without a handle on how to make decisions and understanding their place in the world, and who they are (this is true for girls too). They are left to figure it all out, trial and error. I think that all boys can benefit greatly by an intentional effort on the part of their parents, especially their dads, to get them ready for the world, to teach them how to be leaders and to know what in the world they are doing! It's much more than just being a loving father....it's about being strategic.

There will be much more to share along the way. I'm hoping to send a camera with them this weekend so hopefully I can share about their retreat when they get back.

By the way, we covet your prayers along the way. We would love for other Christian men, who love us and our boys, to be involved and walk with us (specifically Rand and the boys) on this path, and to leave a little bit of your wisdom-print on our sons as well. It is a big enough deal to do this once, but we have 3 (maybe 4!!!) sons to raise. Here we go!

Kid Quotes::Vol. 38

2011-08-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

the boys were sitting calmly at their table drawing pictures and I heard this very polite (sort of) exchange.

Wyatt: (speaking in a very sweet, high pitched voice...as if talking to a baby) Ah Bren. I'm going to punch you in the face.

Brendan: (not even phased and returning the sentiment in the exact same way) Oh Wyatt, I'm going to upper-cut you in the chin.

..and they continued their non-violent art work at the table.

Life with boys?

First Day of School::2011-2012

2011-08-21T11:30:00.004-07:00

I was really dragging my feet this year about starting. I don't feel organized enough. I can't keep the house clean enough. Easton is a lot of work, how can I do school and him at the same time? I had lots of excuses. I was talking to Rand about it last week and he said, "Why wouldn't you start next week?" Hmmm, good question. I answered, "Well, I guess the only real reason I wouldn't start is because I am scared."
Last year I struggled with motivation and desire. Last year we added Easton to the mix and we moved (don't we always?). It just seemed so hard! So I thought that being scared wasn't a very good reason not to start so I made a plan to get everything we needed and get on it! I started with Ann Voskamp. :) My daily dose of perspective. What did she write?? Organizing Head and Heart to Homeschool. Perfect. Her fifth sentence: "I am scared to homeschool this year." Oh thank you! I'm not the only one!

I think I can do it.

We started today. Yes, schooling on a Sunday is unconventional, but we go to church on Saturday nights, and Rand heads to work on Sunday morning, and well....what else are we going to do? It was a perfect first day. Easton was pleasant until his morning nap. We had pancakes for breakfast. The boys were thrilled to start again after only a few moans about it in the weeks prior. We breezed through reading and writing and math. We ended with Science and were amazed at how fast we went!

"I love school. It is so fun." That was how we ended our morning.

Sometimes I think about what I loved about the first day of school. Fog, cold weather, a new backpack, pictures by the front door, new outfits and new shoes...a new year. I wonder what excites my kids? I know they love their new workbooks and reading books. They get excited about their new pencil boxes and fresh crayons.
But they don't wear cute outfits (half the time we don't get out of pj's, although today they both chose their "my mom rocks" t-shirts), their hair isn't done up. They don't walk out the door with a packed lunch and they don't have a new teacher or a classroom full of new kids. There is something I really like about that.

Is it possible this is our fifth year??? They are growing, and we are learning, and I get to see it all. I don't regret the work and the fear and the sacrifice.

This is 3rd and 1st grade....at home.

Box Day::2011

2011-08-16T11:33:00.001-07:00

School is here. Well, we haven't officially started, but we have the equipment for another full year.

This year Brendan and Wyatt are starting Intro. to World History (year one of two). We have some great books to get through this year.

I love getting all our new books. It's so fun. And then I start putting all my Instructors Guides and schedules into my giant binder and I start thinking, 'Oh my gosh. How am I going to do this?' Both the boys have quite a bit of work to do each day.

Here is a little sneak peek at school arriving.

these are Brendan's grade 3 readers

Here is history, geography, and read-alouds

and here is my huge schedule

In that big ol' binder is our schedule for our Core (history, geography, read alouds) and then Brendan's language arts (spelling/phonics, readers, handwriting, vocabulary and creative expression), Wyatt's language arts (same) and our study guides for all that. Crazy. I have another binder for Science which we all do together and the boys each have their own maths. We got an art elective this year, too, which we are all really excited about.

I just need some school supplies and a little more organization and perhaps another school room re-vamp and then we are off. Grades 1 and 3...here we come!

Our White Horse Moment(s)

2011-08-15T20:48:00.006-07:00

I read this today, here:

"How a white stallion had rode into the paddocks of an old man and all the villagers had congratulated him on such good fortune. And the old man had only offered this: “Is it a curse or a blessing? All we can see is a sliver. Who can see what will come next?”

When the white horse ran off, the townsfolk were convinced the white stallion had been a curse. The old man lived surrendered and satisfied in the will of God alone: “I cannot see as He sees.”

And when the horse returned with a dozen more horses, the townsfolk declared it a blessing, yet the old man said only, “It is as He wills and I give thanks for His will.”

Then the man’s only son broke his leg when thrown from the white stallion. The town folk all bemoaned the bad fortune of that white stallion. And the old man had only offered, “We’ll see. We’ll see. It is as He wills and I give thanks for His will.”

When a draft for a war took all the young men off to battle but the son with the broken leg, the villagers all proclaimed the good fortune of that white horse. And the old man said but this, “We see only a sliver of the sum. We cannot see how the bad might be good. God is sovereign and He is good and He sees and work all things together for good.”

~An Old Story from South America

Written down by Ann Voskamp

I almost want to apologize for my life. These things cross my mind: 'I'm sorry we can't get it together.' 'I'm sorry we aren't just normal people with jobs and money and consistency.' 'I'm sorry I have to keep writing the same thing, explaining again and again what has happened and why it is all changing....again.'

I, like the story, don't know whether it is a blessing or a curse. Did I explain this well enough before? Rand's company is becoming a 24 hour/day facility. That means all the over-time he does at night, between 5pm and 8am will become another shift. He won't be getting the overtime anymore. The over-time is how we survived. SOO, where does that leave us? It leaves us in that all too familiar position of knowing that something is coming to an end, and something new will have to begin. But what? And where? What if there is nothing here? Are we willing to move? Where are we willing to move to? Since we are in the business of "starting over", what do we want to start over doing? Do we stay in funeral service? Do we pursue pastoral? Do we pursue anything that would keep us where we are?

Rand and I are having a lot of the same conversations that we have had in the past (2006, 2008, 2010). I am having trouble having an open mind, a good attitude, a supportive role. I'm mad and wonder why it is that it can't just last. Anything. We had one job lead that seemed like perfect timing and a perfect fit. It is now a closed door. We are pushing open other doors. Some of them require moving. Some of them don't. Today, we spent 4 hours in the car, driving around with Rand, dropping off resumes.

Are we really doing this? AGAIN??? I just want to cry, really. Poor Rand. It isn't even his fault. Partially it is mine. I feel guilty that much of what we are going through is the "sacrifice" we have made in committing to raising our kids the way we do. We are still committed to that, but I am feeling the weight of that burden. Knowing a second income would change this story significantly (in some good ways, and in some not so good ways).

I appreciate so much Ann's post today. Is it a blessing? Is it a curse?

"How can I really see if a seeming disaster or dilemma, is actually dire? "

"My focus need only be on Him, to only faithfully see His Word, to wholly obey. Therein is the tree of life."

"God’s only up to good work"

"We see only a sliver of the sum."

"It is as He wills--and I give thanks for His will."

Mini-Vacation

2011-08-15T08:23:00.002-07:00

Rand's Aunt Joanie is here this week, visiting from Minnesota. We always have lots of fun with Joanie because, well one, she is just fun, but she always spoils us severely. She travels a lot and always stays at Marriott's. Phoenix has a beautiful JW Marriott Resort that she stays at when she is here and over the weekend she booked a room for us for 2 nights, too. It was the most exhausting, fun weekend we have had in a long time. The big boys slept in her room and stayed up until who-knows-when watching movies. Rand and I had Easton and he was so much work during the day, I guarantee we got more sleep than those in the other room! We were tired!
We had a beautiful room overlooking the grounds behind the hotel which includes lots of water(!) and a great desert view and a golf course. The resort has several pools and water falls and a lazy river and a water slide.
We spent a lot of our time wrangling Easton in restaurants. Not his favorite place to be at the moment. He is busy and wiggly and not at all patient! He eats fast and then he is ready to go. Not exactly the resort lifestyle.
All in all, though, it was a great break from reality. We weren't far from home, but boy did it feel like it! :)

Thank you Aunt Joanie for such a fun weekend!

(entertaining Easton)

(these little guys are everywhere at the marriott)

(ahhh, the view. surprise, surprise, another sunny day)

(3 happy boys)

8

2011-08-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

We have a new 8 year old in the house! Over the weekend we did nothing but celebrate Brendan. Big pool party on Saturday evening (cooler temps and more shade) with all our friends and some of our family. It was fun to see the yard and pool full of people and lots of kids. Rand's hard work out there paid off and the yard looked fantastic. Sadly, I have no pictures of all the craziness. Note to self: assign someone else camera duty!

Brendan made out with some of his most wanted gifts. He got catchers gear and a catchers mitt, stilts, a magic kit, and plenty of art supplies to last a while. I have no idea where this came from, but he has been asking for a DJ. I finally asked him one day if he meant he wanted someone to come to his party and play music or if he wanted to be able to scratch records? Well, scratch records, of course. So he told everyone that's what he wanted for his birthday. Well, Jojee to the rescue. He is getting DJ hero for wii with a turn table. He hasn't received it yet, so hopefully he won't read this! :)

He is one lucky kid.

Oh, he also got face paints, which will explain the scary green monster in the pictures to follow.

Brendan has a big weekend coming up that is directly related to him turning 8 and I will write more about that soon. 8 is a big deal at our house and begins his official "manhood" training that will continue for the next 5 (ish) years. He is going on a special retreat with Dad and we will have a little private ceremony for him when they get back. I'll share more after.

We're pretty proud of our Brennie-boy!

This year I steered the planning conversations away from a "theme" birthday and we went with blue and green decorations. I was relieved to not be making an iron man cake or something like that!

Instead, at Brendan's request, I made a delicious 4 layer lemon flavored cake with raspberries in between the layers, complete with star decorations which were my favorite thing to make this year. Easy!

Can't have a party without cake pops anymore. They are always a big hit, plus they are cute! (I only had a couple disasters this time)

face paints! (and stilts)

Look how we've grown!

Baby #4

2011-07-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

Woohooo! Another baby. How can one not be thrilled about another little one?? I am already 15 weeks pregnant. A little freaky that I am getting so close to half way done. This one has been a little tougher than those before it. Let me rephrase that. This time around I have been sick as a dog and more tired than I ever dreamed possible. I don't throw up easy, so it is no surprise that I haven't again this time, but man oh man did I want to.....and pretty much all day, too. All day, every day for about 7 weeks. Miserable, I tell you. The sick feeling has all but disappeared, but I am still struggling in the energy department. But wow, I am glad to be done with that first part.

So the first question everybody asks is: "Were you this sick with the boys??" And the answer is a qualified NO. Not even close.

The statement that immediately follows is: "OOOO, maybe it's going to be a girl this time!"

I have mixed feelings about it. One, I would love to have a girl. I love my boys and I know another would just enhance what we already have, but a girl would add a whole other element that we have yet to experience and I think I want to. :)

Do I have a feeling either way?? Well, I've never had strong feelings about it with any of the others and I really don't this time either. I tend to lean towards the idea that the reason I have felt so sick this time is because I am on #4 and I am starting to get kind of old. :) Most likely I am having a boy and I am totally cool with that. I'll be finding out at 20 weeks because I just have to. And I can. And I will (hopefully).

I heard the heartbeat at my second mid-wife appointment. And the plan is still a homebirth (round 3!!) assuming all things for the next 25 weeks go as they should.

We are pretty excited around here and everyone (except Easton who has no clue) is really pumped to be a big brother (or daddy) again.

Things to Write About

2011-07-27T20:16:00.004-07:00

I refuse to call this "Wagner Family Update" because I think too many of you would know what kind of a post this was going to be. Well, now you know anyway. :)

I find it really hard to blog about anything when big things are happening that I have yet to blog about. I am not a "must blog about EVERYTHING person", but this blog has been a great record keeper of my last 4+ years and I love that about it.

So what I am about to write is just the truth. I can't change it or change us or change the path God has us on or turn us into a family that we aren't. This is us...and these are the kinds of things that just happen...no matter how much we strive for "normal" and "settled" and probably a little too much of what we think others think we should be. I'm not going to call it "bad" or "horrible" or boo hoo about having it hard. And I really don't want pity or attention or a whole bunch of "Oh my gosh, can't you guys catch a break" kind of comments. In fact, to clarify: we are happy and have lots and lots of great things happening as well as some things that aren't so fun or great or all that lucky.

Rand's job. Let's start there, shall we? Rand really, really enjoys his job. He has worked there for about 16 months. It isn't ideal, as he has to work quite a bit of overtime for us to be able to remain a one income family and still pay our bills. BUT, he has been so grateful to be able to basically get as much overtime as he wants, give or take (there are slow and busy times). His prayer for the last year and a half was simply to have favor at work. And God has more than answered that prayer. He has good relationships at work with his bosses and his co-workers. It's good.
About a month ago, however, we got word that the company was going to be switching to being a 24 hour facility no later than January which meant they would be adding a new shift...which meant that there would be no more overtime. There goes two-thirds of our pay check. There has been another open door in the job department, but it is only that so far (it will NOT require moving for those curious). We are praying hard for that open door to quickly transition into Rand's next venture and a new stability for our family. If there is one thing I've learned though, it's that God always provides and Rand always lands on his feet. I know we will be fine.

So moving on. On our camping trip we had some car trouble. On the way up we were overheating. Got to town, filled up on coolant and pretty much thought we were good to go. On the way home we were overheating again. The car went straight to the Nissan shop. They said we really needed a new radiator and a new thermostat and that it was going to be about $800 (at the time this sounded like a lot, but after everything that has transpired it doens't seem like that much). Ugh. Well we thought we ought to think about it because we know that in about 5 months we are going to need a new car (more about that later). They told us we would probably be fine driving it in town, but the long hauls weren't going to happen. Well that was fine with us. I don't go far anyway...and most of the time I'm home. Well it just wasn't running very good. We test drove a new car while we were there...thought about trading it in...decided on no (we are trying HARD not to borrow or go into debt for ANYTHING and it just didn't feel like the right thing to do). So I was driving the car to the store and it started overheating again and it was running real rough. I turned around and went home instead. Then, Rand and I were headed to the home school convention in it last weekend and basically didn't make it there. We had the car towed to our mechanic (not the Nissan place) and he told us we needed a new engine.....and that there weren't any engines in all of Arizona OR California, AND it was going to cost around $4,500 if that was all that needed replacing, AND he suggested we donate it to charity. WHAT??!!!! Well, it's over. It's done. Our family car is officially junked. So, (again, if you know us) we are down to Rand's trusty Snowball.
Side note: When I first met Rand I thought, 'what is that big (he was really muscly) guy doing driving that ridiculous little car?? And HOW on earth does that little thing actually have 4 doors?' We paid it off right after we got married and I prayed that soon we could move on to something else. That darn car is like the energizer bunny. It.Will.Not.Die! And it has been such a blessing. Granted I hate driving it and it is really on its last leg, and we really don't like putting our children in it, because it just doesn't seem safe, but I digress.
Rand's car is sounding bad. About a month ago one of his tires blew up in the driveway (Thank you LORD that didn't happen on the freeway, just moments before). We seriously considered selling it because it's about time. Not sure we want to put any money into it for tires and belts and whatever else it might need, it's just been sitting there. Believe it or not we've had about 4 different people knock on our door and ask if they can buy it. Fortunately, we haven't done that. For now, (as it has been in the past several times) it is our only car...assuming we can spend a little and get it fixed up and running.

So, as they say, when it rains it pours.

If you have managed to read all the way to this point (and you don't already know) you deserve to know that we are expecting baby #4 in January. Baby #4 is a whole other post, but it adds another element to our car dilemma (and job crisis), don't you think? Our family of 5 car wasn't going to fit us for long anyway, but we really weren't expecting it to get totally ruined either.

That's it (I think)! Now that I got that off my chest maybe I can move on to other things. Seriously, I've only cried about the car a hand full of times and the rest of the time I have a pretty good attitude about it. I know we are blessed. Losing our car is not the worst thing that could happen. It is inconvenient, yes, but we just don't want to take on a car payment (especially now with the job thing) ever if we can help it. And that requires us to live a little differently than maybe a lot of people would. I have no idea how this is going to work. Stay tuned, we'll find out together!

Kid Quotes::Vol. 37

2011-07-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Wyatt: Hey Mom, what's Dad's favorite color? Bald?

Fool Hollow Lake

2011-07-17T10:10:00.006-07:00

This weekend (remember our weekend is Thursday-Saturday) we got to take our 4th of July Holiday (Rand worked on the 4th, so he took last Thursday as his required "day-off" for the holiday). We planned a long while back to escape the heat and go camping for a couple days. We haven't done much camping with the kids except in our own backyards (wherever they might be all over the country). We planned a trip to Fool Hollow Lake in Show Low, AZ...about 4 hours North East of Phoenix at about 6,000 feet elevation (much cooler).

We packed and planned and packed and we managed to squeeze an unthinkable amount of stuff into our already too small for us car. Rand, as we have discussed before, can pack like nobody's business.

The big boys were bouncing off the walls excited. I'm surprised they didn't explode. They all helped pack. :)

My mom came to town the week before and she stayed behind to hold down the fort and babysit the chickens. She made the boys a road trip scavenger hunt and they got right to work on it before we even got out of the driveway.

We climbed the hills to Payson and then on to Show Low and it was such relief to my dried up eyes to find trees and nature and, hallelujah, cooler weather. Our campsite was smaller than I was expecting but our tent fit and we were up on a rocky ledge over looking the lake. It was beautiful!

It was a little challenging with Easton, but the bigger boys couldn't have had more fun. Climbing the rocks and exploring the "cliff", riding their bikes all around, running over to the play structure....it was a boys dream come true! We did a little non-successful fishing, a little swimming, a lot of eating junk food. We were freezing and uncomfortable the first night. The second night we all slept like logs. OH! and the highlight of the trip was a very, VERY close encounter with a skunk. We.are.SO.lucky! It was less than 10 feet from us, probably licking our marshmallow sticks and we were at the picnic table playing Uno by lantern light. Rand heard something and shone the flashlight past our table and there he was! He turned, lifted his tail and waddled off. Silly me wasn't thinking and got no pictures of the thing. I am just so glad we aren't sitting in tubs of tomatoe juice right now!

Easton...filthy and still pointing

My almost 8 year old is looking so big!

I forgot to mention too, and so as not to forget, we had car trouble on the way there AND on the way back. UGH. Coming back was the worst. Let's just say that driving back into the Valley (108 degrees) with our windows down and our heaters blasting was my idea of pure torture. I thought possibly that I was going to die. I didn't. We survived. We made it home and Easton and I bailed out of the car before it was even parked and went straight to the pool and jumped in with our clothes on. Seriously, we did. BUT it didn't dampen our trip...just moves us one step closer to the inevitable move towards a car replacement.

Camping was a total success and we can't wait to go again!

Chicken Chronicles::Vol. 10 (A Broody Hen)

2011-07-10T08:52:00.003-07:00

Alternative Title: An Eggventerous Day!

Yesterday started with the realization that I had not locked up the chicks the night before. I scanned the yard just to make sure everyone was there and I couldn't find our black hen (Jemimah Bean). Not one to separate herself from the group I went out looking. She was nowhere. Nowhere!! Long story short....I eventually found her in the front yard around the side of our house. All 4 back together! Phew!

Well that got me a little paranoid because I hadn't seen them up on the wall in a while, but obviously at least one had "flown the coop" and escaped. So I had my eye on the chickens throughout the day, more than normal. Well a few hours later I couldn't find our red hen (Hattie Rose), our egg layer.

....a word about the eggs.... Our chicks were born at the beginning of February. Most hens start laying between 4 and 6 months old. I knew at the earliest we could start getting eggs in June and at the latest August. However, Phoenix summers are extreme, to say the least, and many times hens will stop laying or wait to start laying until the weather is cooler. SOOO, our little red hen laid her first egg in her nesting box. We didn't get another one. About a week later we found one in the yard under a chair up against the wall. I knew it was possible for them to find a nicer place to lay eggs and so I wasn't surprised. We didn't get another egg. And it's been HOT, so I haven't been surprised about that either. I occasionally check some of their favorite hiding spots in the yard thinking that it was possible for them to lay eggs in those spots, but nope! Nothing!!! Not a single egg from anybody.

Okay, back to yesterday. So I couldn't find our red hen anywhere! The only place I hadn't checked was around the kids play area and their swing set. There is a little playhouse in the bottom of it and I suppose she could have been hanging out in there...but I had my doubts. Well low and behold there she was. In the playhouse, hunkered down in the corner and there were 5 eggs sticking out from underneath her breast. I. could. not. believe it!!! We started gathering the eggs from under her and I thought to myself, "She has been laying her eggs here all along!!! And then we pulled out a green one. Hattie Rose did not lay that egg! Sister Hazel did....our Easter Egger. Now I wasn't convinced that all of them were laying, but how could I know??? Little Hattie Rose looked like she was ready to spend the next 20 days just sitting there on her clutch and she made a little fuss about us getting her eggs. Poor thing was just trying to be a mama.

When all was said and done we collected 18 eggs from under her and another that was laid later that day. 2 of them were green. Who knows how long they had been out there? About half of them floated so I knew those were bad, but I know I have to throw them all out. I'm sick about it!!! They are still sitting on my counter! Our first dozen and a half and they are all garbage!!! I'm still in shock about the whole thing and our little broody hen is not happy we stole all the eggs. She keeps coming after us when we go outside as if to say, "GIVE ME BACK MY BABIES!" I threw some golf balls into the make-shift nest and thought maybe if she laid another the collection of golf balls would satisfy the need to sit.

Lesson learned. Chickens will indeed lay eggs in extreme heat and they could be anywhere!

Dust Storm::2011

2011-07-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

This is my 4th summer spent here in the Valley of the Sun, as it's called. I am still shocked that humans can survive it. Every year I go through the same thing. 'Why would anyone live here???' 'How can summer last this long???' 'How is it possible for it to be this hot???' 'How much higher could our electric bill go???' (I'm real whiny when I say these things too) I find this weather almost unbearable. It is dry, and HOT...although our humidity is up now that monsoon season is here. I personally welcome the humidity because it is miserable no matter what, and I have a small OCD issue with "dry, hot" things touching my skin (it's a story for another day).
Anyway, I pray and hope and watch the skies for rain. There really is a monsoon season here, but when they say isolated thunderstorms, they really mean isolated. Most of the time you can see the storm but someone else is experiencing its wrath.

During one of my first summers here I was in the car driving towards a friends house. I looked to my right across the flat desert and I could see this HUGE cloud, real low to the ground. Where I was driving it was perfectly sunny. I was like, "what in the world is that???" It looked like a storm cloud in the distance, but it was brown. Like dirt brown. As I got closer to my destination, I drove right into it. A massive cloud of dust. Inside the cloud it looked like a rain storm (except it was brownish instead of grey). It was windy, it was hard to see, I even had my wipers going, but it was dry! That was my first experience with a dust storm. Crazy, desert weather.

So yesterday evening we were in the pool. I was watching the thunderheads build and just hoping we would get a rainstorm. It was close, but I could see the wind was blowing it to the west of us. Bummer. We got out, I put Easton to bed and the rest of us were watching a movie. I looked out the window (now dark outside) and I could hardly see our neighbor's street light. YES! Rain!!!! I should have known better because I hadn't heard any rain. In fact, I had been sitting there wondering why our house smelled like dust (I hate the smell of dust). I went out back and turned on our spot light and low and behold I was standing in the middle of swirling dirt. It was just blowing past the light almost like a light mist. It was hard to breathe, hard to see, and I had to walk around the side of the house and lock up the chickens. UGH. Imagine a rain storm lacking all moisture. Hot, dry and yet hard to see through. It is the weirdest thing. And let me tell you....it made the biggest mess!!!!! They said on the news it was one of the biggest dust storms Phoenix has ever seen. Picked up by over 50mph winds, it was over a mile high and over 50 miles wide. Crazy!!! Kinda glad I looked up and got to witness it! Dust Storm 2011.

Not my picture, but this is what it looked like if you saw it coming!

That's all dirt...not an ounce of moisture in that there cloud.

This table is actually under our covered patio

this is under our covered patio, too, up against the house

the top step of our pool

looks like it might have sprinkled (rain) a little, but not enough!!!

Easton::15 Months

2011-06-29T09:03:00.005-07:00

note: Easton doesn't normally have a binki in his mouth ALL the time. However, while painting, it does aid in keeping paint out of the mouth!!

Three months have flown by since our little, big guy turned one! Easton continues to mesh into our family more and more and becomes more and more of himself. I think one of my favorite things about having kids is watching them become them. Totally unique, funny, cute, clever and perfectly them.

Easton loves his brothers. He wants whatever they want. Playing outside? He's going too. Any particular toy? He'll take it from them. Ice cream? You better be sharing. He has already started coloring with them at the table, which is really the cutest thing ever. So it was no surprise when I brought out the paints....he already knew what to do.

We went to his appointment yesterday. He weighs 27 lbs. Down 2 lbs from his 9 month appointment. Pretty sure at 9 months he was 29 lbs, then 12 months he was 28 lbs. He is back down on the charts though still near the top. Seriously, remember when he was rockin' way above the 100th percentile??? Holy, crazy breast milk. His regular diet has now brought him down to the 80th percentile for weight and 95th for height. That's more like it!

Easton is a swimmer! He wears goggles and goes under water and jumps off the steps. He swims pretty much twice a day. Every day. Which means so do I. He tends to be more tentative than the other boys EVER were. He doesn't like it if I let go of him in the water and he doesn't really care for all the crazy tricks that Rand and the other 2 used to do (and still do). Throwing, twirling, flinging, all that....he'd rather not. He hangs on tight.

Easton points instead of talking. He can talk. He just chooses not to. He doesn't even say Mama. He can say it, but he really doesn't need to. He just follows me around and hangs on my legs and reaches up as high as he can. If he wants something off the shelf...he points. If he sees something interesting...he points. If he wants the other half of the apple instead of the one I gave him...he points. I like it. :)

My very most favorite development over the last 3 months has been watching Easton just fall in love with Rand. Oh, it is soooo cute. It's like it dawned him that this guy is his Dad and he is a really awesome guy. We watch out the window for him to come home and then we squeal and jump off the couch when we see him. And then we run to the door for hugs. It. is. so. cute! He still prefers me for almost everything, but it is only a matter of time.

We sure love this guy!

One of the Best Purchases Ever

2011-06-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Word. It is hot. Let's just get this out on the table. I hate summer here. It is soooo hot. I almost threw up walking from church to our car. Ugh. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

OKAY! Now that I got that out, let's move on.

The pool. The only saving grace in our backyard. Sadly the sun has shifted and our pool receives NO shade until about 6pm. If you haven't spent a summer here in the desert you really can't appreciate how intense the sun actually is. It is bright and hot and blazing. You practically need sunglasses to look out your windows from inside the house. So even though the pool will cool you off, the crazy, crazy sun will send you running for the house. I have been known to go swimming in a t-shirt, a hat, AND sunglasses when I go in in the middle of the day.

Well, low and behold, we made one of the best purchases ever. It is no where near big enough, but I will take what I can get! Easton and I hardly stray from the protective shield of our new umbrella. This thing is pretty awesome. It has several different settings and the arm can swing all the way around so you can really manipulate the shade.

Oh I just can't wait until the monsoons arrive. At least then there will be some clouds...

Staying Cool...And a Flashback

2011-06-25T08:28:00.001-07:00

Staying cool in the desert in the summer is no easy feat. Even in the house (to me...used to about 68 in the house) it feels WAY too warm (try about 81). Yuck! Even the pool, while cool and refreshing for sure, is no place to escape the blazing hot sun during most of the day. (We are working on fixing that problem).

Anyway, on the hot days I like to take the kids to Desert Ridge to play in the fountains. It is becoming quickly more appropriate for Easton, and less for the older kids, but they still have a lot of fun...even though they are usually surrounded by just waddlers. However, there is lots of shade, and big comfy chairs, and Starbucks, and lots of cold water. We usually go early in the morning when it is still only in the 90's, but going at night is really fun too.

Here's my kid who still points. A lot!

And because I was feeling a little nostalgic looking at these pictures. Here are a few from about 4 years ago. Same place, some of the same people, and even one of the same towels! :)

(you can see Wyatt in the background)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 36

2011-06-23T13:35:00.001-07:00

One more kid quote because it is too hot to do anything else...including managing all my recent pictures.

Today we were driving back home. We rounded the corner and there was a man (assumed of Mexican decent). He was carrying a weed-whacker and wearing an awesome huge hat. It was like a straw cowboy hat but the brim was HUGE, like the size of a sombrero. My reaction was instant.

Me: Wow! Awesome hat!

Wyatt: Yeah! It goes with his mustache.

(and it totally did!!!)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 35

2011-06-19T14:17:00.004-07:00

Wyatt: Hey Mom, does Dad ever get bothered by you?

Me: Oh yeah. He sure does.

Me: And sometimes I get bothered by him.

Wyatt: And sometimes Brendan gets bothered by him. Like when Dad says, "Tonight we are going to have stink bug casserole."

(classic Rand)

Me: That's for sure!!
Wyatt: Mom, I love your laugh.

Me: I love when you make me laugh!

Chicken Chronicles::Vol. 9 (First Egg)

2011-06-16T07:55:00.002-07:00

Today was the day! After weeks and weeks of faithful checking (especially Brendan), his daily chicken duties have paid off! He came right into my room (where 3 of us were sleeping...actually, let's be clear. 2 of us were trying to sleep and one was flip flopping all over the place) holding the prize!!! One, lone, little egg. She laid it in the lower nesting box, just like I was hoping she would do. They all sleep together in the top one because it is a tad higher than their roosting bar and they just can't stand to not be at the highest spot. So she picked the lower box to make a little nest.
I had a feeling it was coming and am fairly sure which chicken laid the first egg. I'm 90% sure it was the red one, Hattie, because she has been acting weird the last 2 days. She has been separated from the group a few times (which is very rare. They stick together big time!) and I've gone to check on her thinking for sure something was wrong, but she would just hop up and trot off like she was fine. Yesterday she was making all kinds of noise and acting weird enough that I actually went and checked the nesting boxes that afternoon...And it looked like someone had been in the lower one (which no one has been in since we got them.)
And I was right! It's a little, puny thing, but they say the first ones are. Brendan has made a chart to keep track of each chicken's production (ever seen Chicken Run?) and so we will be keeping you posted!!! :)

Easton Dances

2011-06-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hey. Don't make fun of my music. It's my kid's favorite "picking up the house" music. They really do work faster with some good jam music, and they happen to be Toby Mac fans right now.

Christmas in June

2011-06-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

The boys now know, that when boxes arrive from Aunt Joanie....it is Christmas...no matter what time of year it is.
Aunt Joanie is Rand's Aunt. She is Rand's Dad's sister. She is the oldest of 10 kids, grew up on a farm in South Dakota and has a really cool life story. She started her own company that she just recently sold and she and her husband live in Minnesota. They do not have children of their own, but have loads of nieces and nephews that they have loved as their own....Rand being the oldest of them. Rand and I are the only ones of that entire crew of nieces and nephews that have kids. In fact, we may be the only ones that are married even. So our kids have been slightly spoiled by their Great Aunt Joanie. Some boxes arrived last weekend, loaded with tons of summer fun as well as anything else she ran across that she knew we could use and would love....including paper and pencils and pens and toothbrushes and.....

We got nerf guns and water balloons and sprinklers and slip 'n' slides!

It really was so fun. And of course we had to open and use it all as fast as possible.
Thank you Aunt Joanie! You totally made these boys' day!

Lazy Summer

2011-06-08T16:37:00.001-07:00

A few people have been begging for a new post. I just have nothing to say. We pretty much do the same thing....every. single. day. It's hot, so there's not a lot of going and doing stuff other than in our yard once the sun is almost gone...or in the pool (which everyone has seen enough of)....or in the house (which always seems to be a horrific mess).

I took a few pictures recently, though. Let's see what we can come up with!

The boys play "pickle" almost every day with Rand. It's their favorite baseball drill. We had to get a helmet because it is rather dangerous for the runner and the helmet has already saved about a million brain cells.
Other then playing pickle, Rand spends a lot of time obsessing over the lawn. It is looking great! I spend a lot of time observing the fruits of his labor and listening to his schemes to make it bigger and better! :)
The chickens are still getting into trouble even though I clipped one of each of their wings. They may be getting an enclosure to spend most of their time in.
And then besides that, the big boys are spending the week at VBS. They went dressed as "coal miners" today. They are having a blast!

Here's the proof!

Easton's favorite activity while the boys are playing pickle:

Pickle!

I think this is the quintessential summer picture. Little boys playing baseball in the grass in bare feet.

Rand's yard!

While I was taking pictures these 2 came over to see what I was up to. I'm sure they thought I might have treats or something.

Summer Has Arrived

2011-05-30T13:51:00.003-07:00

The weather has switched (I'm pretty sure). No more lovely 75 degree days and 50 degree nights. No more sleeping with the windows open bringing in a lovely cool breeze. No more air conditioning free days (or nights). No more long sleeves, even at midnight. No more cooking, inside or out. :) *sigh*

BUT, there is A LOT of swimming. There are tank tops and summer dresses and letting wet hair dry all crazy. There is lots of playing on the grass in the dark and soon there will even be midnight swimming. There are consistent hot days and warm nights. I'm already counting down the days until monsoon season and hoping for a lot of great summer storms...it's the only thing that breaks up those crazy hot afternoons. Last year, monsoon season was totally lame. Hoping for better this year!

I'm just trying to come to terms with it all. It is summer. And summer here is nothing short of a scorcher. It is HOT. Dry, but hot.

I really, really love my pool!

Chicken Chronicles::Vol. 8 (On the Roof)

2011-05-29T10:21:00.002-07:00

Chickens, chickens, chickens. They are naughty little things. I take full responsibility for that. We only have 4 of them, thank goodness, and I can only imagine what kind of trouble they would get in if there were, say, 8...which I was thinking for a while might be what I wanted. :) I think I'll stick with 4. The little chicks have been getting bigger and bigger. They've got to be about full size now, although their combs and wattles are still coming in....and no eggs yet!
Well, I prefer to just let the things roam. We have a big yard and they are entertaining and do their fair share of fertilizing and pest control while they are out there. They are driving Rand a bit nuts because they aren't quite "contained" enough for him. For example, they wander onto his very clean patio. They go after the dog food. They get up on our patio chairs. And let's just say you can tell where a chicken has been. For several evenings in a row we came outside after dinner to find them up on our wall. Uh-oh! I was a tad concerned they were going to jump down to the other side so we would lure them down to our side with treats.
I've been very diligent about locking up their coop at night since I rescued them from a giant stray cat one time. So the other night, it was just before dark, and I went out to lock up their coop since I knew they would be in there hunkered down for the night. Well, instead, I found them hunkered down for the night.....ON THE ROOF! Like on the roof of our house!!! I thought it was hilarious and ran inside to grab the fellas and my camera, of course. :) Rand had been out golfing all day and he was beat. He basically said, "Well, get a ladder," and turned as if he were going back inside. What? I have to do it by myself????
So I grabbed our little ladder and a broom. Then I started getting a little worried that if I shoo'd them off the roof with the broom they might hurt their legs from such a high jump. I knew they had gone from the little fence, to the wall and then to the roof. (they aren't terrific fliers) So I sheepishly approached my gracious hubby and said, "Ummmm, I think I need help." So Rand-O climbed the ladder onto the chicken coop, onto the wall, across a narrow gate, and climbed onto the roof. I got on the ladder. One by one, Rand grabbed a chicken and handed it to me on the ladder. And then I handed them down to the boys who, I think, are hoping this happens again.

It was kind of a fun, impromptu, adventure, but I'm pretty sure I need to clip their wings, although I'm not convinced they need them to get where they were! We shall see!! :)

Boys on the Town

2011-05-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

Rand and the big boys got a fun night out the other night. We have some new-ish friends who have boys on our boys' baseball teams (so they are in all the same places as us all week). They invited us to go watch the D-backs kinda of last minute when they acquired some free tickets. I decided to hang back with Easton since it was a 6:40pm game and he would be no good after the 1st inning anyway. Rand thought it would be fun for the boys to take the light rail downtown rather than drive through rush-hour and try to find parking. He was right. They loved it. I think the whole night was a blast, especially being at the game with their best baseball buddies. I made Rand take the camera and they came back with proof of their night out! They weren't home until 10:30pm. They were pumped full of all kinds of sugar and came possessing 2 balls they got from their perfect sidelines seats!

I love this picture. They all look just a little bit crazy. I blame it on the copious amounts of sugar that was consumed during those 9 innings!

Around the Yard

2011-05-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Talk about a major work in progress!!! We LOVE having a big yard, but there is so much we want to do with it, we have to be careful not to be always frustrated that it isn't up to par yet...and who knows when it will be! There is never enough time or dollars to get it done fast enough! When we bought this house the yard was, at best, patchy grass. There was strange railroad-tie landscaping everywhere. There was buried river rock and boards that probably nicely bordered the yard a long time ago. And that was about it! Since late winter we have been working, working, working (mostly Rand has). He ripped out every last railroad-tie (except the 2 hammock posts). He spent HOURS engineering a watering system that would get the most coverage with the least amount of work (he has actually succeeded!!). We have planted grass seed and re-planted grass seed. We have watered diligently. We have planted a (very) small vegetable garden. I guess I could go on and on! There are a few pictures of what the yard used to look like here and here.

And here is some of our work in progress!

see? still have new grass coming in.

our mini-park. we want to fill this area with something but haven't decided on what. sand? pea gravel? rubber mulch??

This whole area is right off our patio when you come out our back door. Coming soon (hopefully) pavers to extend the patio and make this a nicer (cleaner) lounging and eating area.

this is what the ground is like under that table. really fine dirt. i have an obsession with sprinkling it with the hose so it's not all dry and dusty. :)

beyond that black hose (part of our intricate watering system) my plan is to make this the future vegetable garden. i'd like 5 (or so) raised beds.

growing vegetables has been a big learning curve. how do you garden in the desert??? we protected everything from the chickens, but failed to think about other birds. pretty much all the seeds i planted didn't have a chance. of 2 rows of cantaloupe i have 2 little plants that survived. same with sunflowers and zinnias. BUT, i have tomato plants with green fruit already! i have peppers doing nicely from starts, but the bell pepper seeds i planted got gobbled up as soon as they sprouted!

grass is almost all filled in. the soft green grass is all new, the brown yellow grass in the back is old grass that we have practically killed by over watering to start our seeds! (drought tolerant grass is a good thing!)

this area is going to have a small retaining wall on the one side and a stone path

and this spot. still in question. we are considering ripping out the hammock posts and putting a fire pit here.

more yard. that back corner is going to have a retaining wall flower bed. you can't see it but the back corner is actually a big pile of mulch from the yard. it's the chickens favorite place to scratch. they can take down the whole pile in a day! :)

the last brown spots! can't wait to plant along that back wall. i hate all the concrete!!!

thank you, olive trees, for shade!!!

and last but not least. our watering system. 6 sprinklers (soon to be 7) and hundreds off feet of hose. all connected to one hose bib. rand is pretty much a genius.

Daisy

2011-05-10T17:00:00.004-07:00

Our pup. The poor little thing. I don't even know where to begin. Trouble, trouble, trouble. Puppies are just this way. It's a good thing they are cute or they probably wouldn't live. Oh how I wish she was about 3 or 4 years old. She has puppy energy and puppy teeth, and puppy potty habits. She is restricted to outside unless very closely supervised inside. She chews on everything but her chew bones and I just can't keep the house puppy-proofed well enough. She has chewed t-shirts, colored pencils, COUNTLESS binkis, the corners of quilts and the corners of pillows, and lots of toys. She is ALWAYS jumping up in Easton's face. She chases the chickens and she drives Sammy insane.

But she has great potential. :) Someday, she is going to be a really nice, well behaved, cute little doggie. Until then she is kind of a pesky little puppy.

Our Daisy.

Kid Quotes::Vol. 34

2011-05-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

Brendan: What's a vegan again?

Me: Someone who doesn't eat any food that comes from an animal. Meat, eggs, milk, cheese, stuff like that.

Brendan: I thought a vegan was someone who was like 24 and hadn't had a baby yet?

Me: Nope.

(hope ya'll caught where this conversation was heading!)

The Wonderful Wallaby

2011-05-09T20:45:00.001-07:00

I would like to call myself a knitter, but I can only use the term loosely...very loosely. I knit. On occasion, in spurts. Less, now that I live in the desert. I do love knitting though and the idea of knitting, but it's slow and a little tedious. The end product is totally worth it, but it's sometimes hard to stick to it. Anyway. I have created a few things in the last 10 years that I love. Like a felted pair of mittens that Rand won't wear because they turned out way too big. But I love them! And I have knitted countless booties for my friend's babies. The same pattern again and again because I love it so much. And then there is this one sweater. I knit it for Brendan when he was one, out of some oatmeal yarn that my mother-in-law gave me. The pattern was called The Wonderful Wallaby. A great sweater, built more like a sweatshirt with a hood and a front pocket. I bought the pattern mostly for that reason, but also because I knew I could knit one for the whole family. The pattern ran from 6 months all the way up to an adult XL. Let's just say we are all lucky that this one got finished because, well, that's just the way I am.
This sweater is one of my very most favorite self-created items. All the boys have worn it. As our temperatures have crept up to the triple digits lately I thought maybe it had seen its last wear, but no. We got lucky! Today was cool! And at baseball practice tonight the sweater came out again...maybe just one last time.

I have this crazy, crazy goal to start knitting with the hopes of creating one for each member of the family by next Christmas, but let's face it, something major would have to give...probably everything. :)

Sickies

2011-05-03T08:00:00.002-07:00

We have been heal.thy! All year we have had nothing but a couple minor, minor head colds and one little bout with random fevers.

Yesterday, the two youngers woke feeling lousy and promptly started throwing up...both of them! All morning. Over and over. And then as fast as it came, it was gone. By noon they were both hungry for lunch and the pukies seemed to have vanished! Here's to hoping no one else gets it!

Dinner Interrupted

2011-05-02T13:01:00.001-07:00

Why is getting dinner on the table so gosh darn hard?? I propose that nothing should be required after 4pm...and dinner most definitely should be served earlier in the day...or even better, much later at night.

I said to the kids, "Boys, keep your eyeballs on Easton, I have to go inside and check dinner."

It wasn't 2 minutes later and Brendan was yelling from the door, "Um, Mom? Easton really needs a bath."

I run to find my little darling (and my walls...and my door...) covered in MUD. Turns out, that dirt near the sprinkler isn't really dirt anymore. It's a real nice mud bath.

Dinner came to a hault while we hosed off babies, and scrubbed down walls.

Take out, anyone?

Zoku

2011-05-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

I just got this sweet contraption for my birthday from my mom. I've taken about 100 pictures of the kids eating the delicious treats we've made but haven't captured a single decent shot. :/ Still, this thing is awesome. I was skeptical at first because supposedly it makes pops in 7 mins flat, but you don't have to put them in the freezer OR plug the contraption into the wall. It totally works and it is so sweet! You hard freeze the unit (I just keep it in the freezer all the time) and then whenever you feel like whipping up some cold treats it's ready to go. Our favorite right now (because we always have these ingredients on hand) is our typical smoothie recipe: frozen berries, vanilla yogurt, banana and orange juice (or milk). Pour it into the Zoku and you have Popsicles in 7-9 mins. I find at my house, because it is a tad warmer than probably most people's (try 82 in the house on hot days...which are becoming more frequent and it is only a matter of time before it is our everyday for the next 5 months....) it sometimes takes a little longer for the pops to freeze solid. But still...9 mins. is nothing!

Then and Now

2011-05-02T09:09:00.001-07:00

He decided to cut it (well actually he decided for me to cut it).

I like it both ways. :)

Kid Quotes::Vol. 33

2011-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

I love overhearing the kids talk sometimes...

Wyatt: (just having taped on his freshly made mustache...and in his very best Italian accent) Me Mario!!!

(mumbling to himself) If only I had some overalls.

picture from last summer

Chicken Chronicles::Vol. 7 (Chicken Feet)

2011-04-25T10:10:00.001-07:00

Watching these chickens grow up has been so fun. They aren't even laying eggs yet and I'm ready for a few more chicks! :) While they are entertaining and endlessly fun to watch, I find myself kind of grossed out by their feet. I don't know why. They start out just tiny and pink. But they grow fast and now they have these really weird looking legs and feet. Milly (white) and Hattie (red) have yellow legs. Milly's are really quite huge. Sister Hazel (the easter egger) has green legs. Green! And Jemimah (black), I kid you not, she has black legs with yellow toe nails...or claws...I don't even know what to call them! She is the prettiest chicken (IMO) with really shiny black feathers, a shorter beak and big black eyes. And then to top it off it looks like she's had her toenails painted. I like it! ....And yet it kind of grosses me out at the same time!

Easton Points

2011-04-25T09:38:00.003-07:00

This kid and his pointing is just cracking me up! Maybe it's the chubby hands and chubby arms attached to his "point" that I find so cute!