LOVE my boys!!

Okay, I've been working on scrapbooking and I stumbled across these pictures of my boys. The pictures are from March, but I absolutely LOVE them!

These two brothers can drive each other nuts occasionally ("he won't let me play the game!") but they're also self-declared best friends. Granted, when they were little and a friend picked on the other brother, we would tell them: Friends come and go but brothers are forever!

Other memories? When Elijah was born Isaac couldn't say "baby" and so Elijah was called "Bay" for the first year or two of life. . . Then he was called "Yay-ya" (sounds like "Lijah") and Elijah called Isaac "I-yik." I smile thinking of how, when they were four and five, they'd tell me that when they grew up they would live together. When I told them that they'd likely move out and live with their wives and children they firmly told me that it's okay, their family can live with them too ;>)

As for these pictures, they were doing what they do: being silly and being brothers. They'd been dressed for church and after church they found some of Joel's ties to play with: wrestling, silliness, and me breaking out the camera. . . .

Man, I love these boys!!!!

YAY for Faith!!! She's a Jog-a-thon Champion!!!

Faithy participated in her school Jog-a-thon this year as a kindergartner. In all actuality it should be called a "Jog-a-TON." Faith's goal was to run 10 laps this year around the track. . . with Daddy's encouragement and a lot of drive she ran 20 laps! (That's roughly the equivalent of 5 miles!!)



Friday was her school's Jog-a-thon and Joel had taken the day off of work to cheer on his girl. This means that I dropped them both off at school and Daddy volunteered in her classroom and Faith "showed him off" to her friends. Joel told me that one of Faith's friends had her shoe untied and another classmate offered to tie it for her, but the little girl said, "No, I want Faith's Daddy to do it!" . . . These are the kinds of things that make Faith beam with pride :>)

So, Joel & Faith spent a VERY cold Friday (it was in the high 30's to high 40's most of the day) jogging the track at Ohara. He told her that if she made it to 20 laps then he would give her a piggy-back ride. . . Well the two of them jogged and walked the whole 1.5 hours and she made it to 20 laps and Daddy made it half-way around the track with her on his back :>)


I am so proud of her and her determination! She's been a strong-willed girl and the occassional challenge, but she showed me that this strong will can also be a real benefit. Many of her friends took the leisurely approach of walking a bit and then sitting and drinking water or eating their snacks and playing, but Faith was a real trooper and made her goal. SUPER cool!

Way to go Faith!!!!

It's awesome to watch Isaac play football!

I am so proud of Isaac! He's playing his first season of football (as tackle) and it's so cute to see him bond with his buddies on the field (smacking helmets and taking helmets off, raising them up, and hollering for the kickoff return). Granted, Isaac is 12-years-old and nearly 5' 8" and so he's still got to grow into his body -- but I love the happiness and fun he's having. (Next year will definitely be Elijah's turn!)

Here's some pictures of my boy:


LOVE this kid!!!

Family Camping Trip to Newport

"Smoke follows beauty"

Well, we're trying to make camping a annual occurrence (at least!) . . . but we're not quite to the "tent camping" point. And, it's not because we're wanting to play it safe; it's because we're two parents who work full-time and don't have time to pack all that STUFF! So, instead, we trekked off to a yurt in South Beach (down in Newport, Oregon) and had a terrific time!!

The weekend of September 12-14th was a real blessing, here's some of the memories (in no particular order):

* FREEZING the night we arrived: It had been in the 90's when we left the Willamette Valley in shorts and t-shirts and we arrived about 9 PM to a cool, damp wind and goosebumps! Thankfully we didn't need to set up a tent because we had our yurt (heater included) to keep us warm. For those of you who haven't done yurt camping, it's handy because we had a bunkbed with a twin mattress on top and full mattress on the bottom. And, we had a futon, table, and chairs. Plenty of room for our lot!!

Here's our yurt

Animals aren't allowed in the yurt and so Kali kept pushing it right to the line. . .

Instead, the dogs slept in their crates in the back of the Jeep :>)

* We had a lot of fun with the dogs -- especially enjoying Kali's experiencing the "wild" for the first time (she's nearly 2 years old and we missed our camping trip last year). Her ears perked up to every little sound, she smelled everything (and attempted to crawl under the yurt), and had her tail wagging almost non-stop! Between her mushing us on the beach and figuring out how to untangle herself from the trees (she was on a 30 foot leash tied to a tree) -- she was a lot of fun!


Specifically, on our first day she chased off some sea gulls picking at a crab. When she went to sniff the crab, she was surprised to find that it was still alive (and wiggling ever so slightly -- poor thing!). Kali thought that this was a wonderful toy and so she picked it up and tossed it into the air repeatedly. She would tire of it and go to explore the rest of the beach, but whenever the sea gulls tried to come back she would chase them off and toss the crab a few more times. (What a goof!)

Also, my parents came camping with us and had brought their dogs: Lira (a lhasa opso) is known for stealing toys and treats from other dogs. . . Well, our dogs had bones to chew on and so Lira tried to steal the bone from Kali. . . . Kali jumped up, growled at her, and threw her big malamute body between Lira and the bone. (No agression, just protecting her "treasure.") We laughed as Kali kept burying her treats at the campground and then unburrying it and moving it whenever anyone came near. . . . Seriously, she's a goofy dog! Great entertainment!

* SMORES: Camping isn't camping without smores. I got a kick out of Joel and my mom comparing techniques to create the perfect smores. The kids, Dad, and I all just hold the marshmellows over the fire and call it good, but Mom & Joel have to move the logs around to get the embers just right and then toast them ever so precisely. It was very funny! (And, there were the obligatory comments about how I'd burnt the hot dogs . . . cracked me up!)


* The Beach. . . The beach is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. The waves are so life-giving and spiritually refreshing and the windy beach is soothing. I LOVE IT!! And, God blessed us: Our second (and last) day there, we had a beautiful, sunny day with about 70 degree weather. There was a slight wind and it was perfect! The kids built sand castles together, Oliver (our jack russell) chased sea gulls, and we had a fun time.


Seems like a majority of my shots at the beach are "butt shots" -- Faith gets so busy playing she just doesn't want to pose for me. I don't push the poses because it's so good to see them having so much fun.

Joy

Elijah and Oliver. . . Do you see Elijah's wet pants? ;>)

* Walks through the campground: Mom & Dad didn't get a spot next to us and so we spent quite a bit of time trekking from one spot to the next. Even the trek to the beach was about .5 a mile: Funny thing is that Elijah wanted to complain about the walk but Isaac had just come back from a camping trip with his best friend, Jacob, where they had done a 10 mile hike and so Isaac told Elijah "this is nothing!" ;>)


* Faith packed for herself. . . Again, we are two full-time employees and parents. . . I made the mistake of letting Faith pack for herself. What does this mean? She packed slippers and costumes to wear -- no shoes and nothing warm. So, Saturday morning Grandma watched the kids while Joel & I made a run to Walmart for some clothes for Faith. Fortunately their summer attire was on sale and so we were able to buy sandals for $1 (Praise God!). Needless to say, I learned that Faith isn't quite ready to pack for herself!

Anyhow, those are some of the memories. . . Here's a few more pictures just for fun :>)

The kids watched "High School Musical 2" on the car ride over and then again in the yurt. . . Technology addicts!Isaac didn't want his picture taken which led to all sorts of brotherly-fun and wrestling! :>)

Oliver was constantly getting himself tangled up. . . crazy-making dog!

Special memories. . .

Isaac's favorite memory: Getting to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Elijah's favorite memory: Getting play with the dogs and having smores and "the best part was spending it with my family."

Faith's favorite memory: "It's something that you get wet and it's water. . . I gave you a clue!" . . . Playing in the ocean!

LOVE these kids!!

Faith turned 6 years old!!!

My baby is growing up and I don't like it! This September Faith turned 6 years old. . . She's learned to tie her own shoes, she can put her hair in a pony-tail, and she's pulled her own teeth. . . . She's definitely growing up. . . I pray that this process slows down!

Admittedly, I've had baby urges lately: hormones? or the fact that my baby isn't a baby anymore? Alas, we are done in the baby department -- but, still, I've been very blessed to be given three wonderful children to raise :>)

LOVE these kids!!

Here's some birthday pictures:


Grandma came down on her birthday and brought her a gigantic teddy bear (which Faith named "Sarah" -- her favorite name!). Here they are "cuddling" as she watches Barbie and the Diamond Castle (one of her birthday presents).

Faith still sucks her fingers and clutches bear against her cheek when she's resting. I know that someday soon we'll have to work to break those habits since odds are that the sucking of fingers will mess with her teeth. But, it's also comforting to see that she's not all grown up yet. Know what I mean?


One of her favorite presents was the Playdoh Octopus set. . . She'd been asking for it for several months but both Joel & I haven't been big fans of playdoh since the boys were big on having pieces tossed elsewhere and then mashed into the carpet. But, as a special gift, I opted to take a chance and get her some Playdoh this year. She, Joel, Isaac, and Elijah were teamed around the little table (one that Joel & his brother played at as children) and had fun. [Note: Mom was busy taking pictures!] She's done really well at keeping it picked up and has had lots of fun playing with it :>)

Faith's birthday menu? (Note: family tradition is that the birthday person gets to pick their menu for their birthday.) Faithy chose McDonald's cheeseburger and chocolate cake!

Here's my growing girl. . . 6 years old and a happy, well-adjusted kid. . . VERY loved!

I'm WAAAAYYYY overdue to blog. . . so keep posted. . .

I'm going to be posting tons of pictures. . . But, in the meantime, here's what's happening at my house:


The kids are playing video games and Elijah has had his "girlfriend" Savannah over. . . Looks like Isaac (top bunk) is playing and everybody else is just watching.


Where do they learn these behaviors? "I learned it by watching you, okay?!?!" . . . One of Joel's favorite pastimes is to play World of Warcraft on his computer. He's sent me links to the "World of Warcraft Widow's forums" -- are there any other widows out there?

And me? Alas, no picture of my happenings today. . . I'm sitting on my bed, propped up by pillows, with "Something to Talk About" paused on the DVR. I can hear the kids sifting through legos in their room. . . And I thought I'd upload pictures and blog. You know, a typical Sunday.