Sleepover

We had the joy of having Maddie and Mackenzie stay with us for a night this past weekend while Jill & Mark were in San Diego for meetings. We had a blast! We hardly knew there were four kids playing since they were so excited to be together and just played in the playroom until dinner.

Dress-up time

Everyone enjoyed Caleb's watermelon cake and thought they should have it for all meals and snacks.

One of the exciting parts of the weekend was that Paul bunked the boys' beds so the kids were excited to go up on the top bed to read and play. Maddie and Mackenzie have friends who have bunk beds so both of them shot up the ladder like old pros (Mackenzie insisting "I do it my-self" when I tried to help her). It took Caleb a little bit more time to muster the courage to go to the top and was pretty proud of himself that he did it (with a little help).

On Saturday we spent some time in the front of the house letting the kids play in the street (supervised, mind you!). The boys were riding their bikes while Maddie tried the scooter and Mackenzie just pushed the mower around the cul de sac (much like Caleb did a couple years ago). Paul even got out Aunt Ruth's kite and tried to fly it which really excited the kids. Unfortunately, we did not have a consistent wind to keep it up so that did not last very long.

Paul--the pied piper

The boys always look forward to having a sleepover with their cousins and were extremely bummed when they found out that Mark and Jill were picking up the girls on Saturday night instead of Sunday morning. Thankfully, the holidays are ahead so hopefully we will get some more crazy quality cousin time in the near future.

Life and Death

This past month has been full of busy-ness for more reasons than just our day-to-day happenings. I feel like September passed us by without my getting everything done that should have been done because regular life got put on hold for a few weeks.  This year was one of the first birthdays that I was sort of dreading.  I guess 36 sounded so old to me--you know, now that I am on the downward side of 30 leading to 40.  (Sorry to all of you over 40 who are shaking your heads at me.  I know that "old" is relative, and in my mind it just seemed old for me. I am not intending to define old here and apologize if the above statement bothers those of you who have experienced more years than me. ;-)  Anyway, I "missed" my birthday and having to officially face "36" on my birthday because of my spending the entire night  in the emergency room and parts of that day in the ICU with my great-aunt Ruth.  It wasn't until the day after my actual birthday that I realized I was 36 so I guess my hang-up before the fact was unnecessary. 

My time with Ruth in her last days here on earth gave me time to really think and gain perspective on this life. I confess that I tend to let myself be busy all the time and do not take the time often enough to just enjoy the life (and people) with which God has blessed me.  This time here on earth is such a tiny speck in the scheme of eternity, and I was reminded over and over that week and in the weeks following that everything in my life has to center around Jesus because having a relationship with him that transforms my life and my interactions with others is all that really matters.  And that is my challenge (unknowingly given by Ruth) to live in the grace offered through Jesus Christ and to extend that grace to all whom God puts in my life.  (Feel free to ask me how that is going because I know it is something that will not change overnight but that God will continue to grow in me.)

I think I learned more about Ruth after she died than I realized about her while I got to know her these past 13 years that we have lived in her neck of the woods--going through old pictures of Ruth during her college days and the years soon after was so much fun and very enlightening! You see, Aunt Ruth was a pioneer in our family and headed west back in the '60s for a job and settled here.  I do not remember meeting her as a kid but remember hearing about her and seeing pictures of her and knowing who she was.  She lived in California which was sort of like the promised land when you grow up in Minnesota--we thought that California was all sunshine and movie stars and the exotic life.  (Now that I have lived here for 13 years, I do agree that it is a lot of sunshine and is a beautiful place to live, but I don't run into movie stars on a daily basis nor does my life feel exotic most days.)

We were given the gift of getting to know her in person these past few years. She loved the beach and tried to convert this "lake" girl to appreciate the ocean and beaches here as much as my MN lakes. She was very health-conscious and shared her love for healthy food with us trying to convince me and the boys that manna bread really is delicious.  

One of my favorite memories of Ruth and her healthy eating habits included the first time Paul and I met with her after moving out to CA. We met for a picnic, and Ruth brought the sandwiches while we brought the sides.  Unfortunately for Paul (especially), their definitions of a good sandwich differed.  Where he would choose plain white bread with just a bunch of meat on it, Ruth made our sandwiches on 15,000 grain (yep, a bit of an exaggeration) bread with a tiny sliver of meat topped with veggie mayo and a thick layer of bean sprouts.  Bless his heart, Paul ate most of his sandwich though I did see him flicking bean sprouts out of his sandwich when Ruth was not looking.  (We always volunteered to bring sandwiches after that. :-)

Being silly during one of Ruth's visits

Our boys loved spending time with Ruth because she just ate up the time she got to spend with them.  They always enjoyed the attention she gave them and the thoughtfulness she had in picking out special "noisy" cards for their birthdays.  They loved going to "Ruth's beach and park" to play and eat a picnic lunch.

Although we did not get together with Ruth as often as we should have, it is hard to believe that she is not around anymore to even have that option. I am thankful for the time I had to get to know her and for her to get to know my family. I will miss her and am honored that God allowed me to get to know her in person these past 13 years.

School through the Boys' Eyes

School.  That word alone contains many nuances of meaning to it (depending upon one's perspective). As a kid I did not mind school (actually looked forward to its start every fall) but did enjoy any days off we had.  As an adult I have really enjoyed teaching. School has been one of the rhythms of our lives since we were in kindergarten.  (The fall that I stayed home with Isaac instead of going back to teaching was a hard one for me since it was the first time in 25 years that school had not been part of my fall routine.)  Seeing it through the boys' eyes today is very refreshing for us. It is fun seeing how the world is opening up for Isaac as he learns new things at school.  

Frustration with the letter "s"

Isaac still LOVES going to school each day.  He loves packing his bag and bringing home his papers. When he gets home each day, he pulls out his work and "reads" as much of it as he can. He is not the most verbal about volunteering information about his day so Paul makes it a daily habit to ask him questions.  One question he always asks is, "Did you or anyone get into trouble today?"  One day when Paul asked him if he got into any trouble, Isaac paused and immediately said back, "Did Mrs. Petro say something?" The teacher in both of us paused and then started pushing to see what he did.  I guess he did not do anything, but he had us worried for a minute. He loves learning Spanish and likes to share his newfound Spanish knowledge with us. He is starting to read sight words and loves that; we are very excited for him to be able to read the words in all the books he loves looking through now.  He is amazing with his memory verse each week and has gotten a "no helps" grade each time. He actually likes doing homework though he has informed us (in his first homework meltdown) that he wishes his name does not have an "s" in it since that one is so hard.  He is a bit of a perfectionist and does not like when his teacher marks his letters with the correct way to write them.

Dad helping with writing homework

Caleb also looks forward to school days for a different reason.  He gets to play with everything by himself and asks each day what we are going to make that day. He is turning into quite the baker and cracks an egg better than I do. This past week he helped me bake blueberry muffins and a cake that looks like a watermelon. He is very busy these days and still breathes football and baseball. When Isaac is not home to play with him, Caleb just plays the game by himself. His newest invention has been his football tee that he created using one of his crocs. I admire his enthusiasm and zest for sports. (This morning in church when I sat down next to him after playing bass, he leaned over with a big smile to tell me that the Vikings are playing the Bears today.)

Lightning McQueen football tee

2011 Summer Video #2

Here are highlights from our 2011 summer stay at Grandpa and Vicki's house.





(If you have tried to watch this video that Paul put together, sorry about the lack of music.  He had the perfect summer/relaxing song to go with the pix, but we have been having some issues with the song.  Please continue to enjoy the silent slide show, and hopefully, we will get the song to go with it again soon!  :-)

My Hero!

Most people call him "Paul," but today he has earned the title "Lizard Wrangler."  I was on the phone when I heard Caleb let out a little squeal from the living room and saw him come running into the kitchen with his hands over his mouth and his eyes as wide as only Caleb's can get.  I asked him if it was a spider.  He shook his head and said, "No, it's a wizard."  (His l's sound like w's.)  I am not totally sure why the idea of a lizard shook me up more than the thought of a spider being in our house, but I will admit it really creeped me out.

I finished my phone conversation very quickly and asked Caleb where it went.  He yelled (as only Caleb can since he rarely talks more softly than a yell), "It's under the chair. Over there!"  When I asked him how big it was, he gave me two descriptions:  the first was that it was only about half an inch and the second part was that his "tail was this long" while demonstrating with his hands that it was about five or more inches.  Being the brave mom that I am (Sandy, I can hear you laughing...), I realized I needed a second set of hands and called to school to see if Paul could come home to help me since his lunch break had just started.  (How fortunate was that?!?)

After I got off the phone, I asked Caleb a little bit more about it and asked how and where he saw it.  It was in the middle of his football "field" (our 5' x 8' area rug that has lines as part of the pattern) so he told me that he touched it and then it ran under the chair.  That led me to ask why he touched it (HELLO, it's a lizard!) and his response was, "I thought it was dead."  (Again, HELLO, it's a lizard; why would you touch it even if it is dead?!?) 

At that point I looked towards the door and saw it sitting next to the door.  It wasn't very big at all so I actually was okay with trying to put a bowl over it until Paul got there; in the time it took me to turn away to get a bowl, he was gone.  And that meant I had no clue which way it had gone--back under the chair or behind the TV?  We just watched for him until we heard the garage door open letting us know that our hero was there to rescue us.

Okay, okay, I know this is a bit melodramatic, but things have been beyond crazy here for the past two days so it really does not surprise me that the thought of a lizard IN my house freaked me out so much.  (I am embarrassed to admit it, though.)  Paul calmly stepped through the door and actually started laughing at me--probably due to which people were in the office while he was on the phone with me.

Anyway, to shorten this story that really did not need to be this long since it only lasted about ten minutes, Lizard Wrangler Paul looked for and found him behind my basket of shoes.  While he tried to grab it, I blocked its escape with a book.  Unfortunately, the size of the lizard prevented my book from being a great stopper which I realized when the lizard wrangler said, "It is squished between the book and basket."  (HELLO, my hands and feet were right there so I was imagining a lizard scurrying on me or that it was squished so badly it was bleeding and dead.)  At that point the lizard wrangler sent me away so he could get the job done and proceeded to retrieve it with his fingers (see what I mean by calling him the hero?!?). 

He was so brave he even allowed me to take a picture before setting it free.  Don't worry; it is not really dead--just playing dead according to the lizard wrangler.

Could he have been any smaller?!?

As you can see from the picture, it really was not that large, but it made up for it with lightning speed.  (Again, an overexaggeration but it helps give an idea of my state of mind at the time. :-)

Superheroes

Thanks to a friend, the boys have a plethora of fun costumes with which they like to play.  Here are a few pix of our little Superman and Batman.

"Up, up, and away!"

"Crime doesn't pay!"

Superman in action!

I especially love that they are each wearing a couple of their favorite shirts--Mario Bros. for Caleb and Lego Star Wars for Isaac.

Crazy Boys

The crazies with whom I live make life interesting for me.  Caleb's new thing is randomly crossing his eyes.  I am not sure how it started, but Paul thinks it is the most hilarious thing since he knows how much it creeps me out.  I managed to stuff my horror to get the following picture of all three of my boys being crazy.

This was the best picture I could get of all three of them with their eyes mostly cross-eyed.  You have to admit, this is rather disturbing.