10 Days!

One good thing about living out of state from my parents: their visits! Since all 3 boys' camping trips, October flew by with my parents here to enjoy it with us. They saw Braylen's last flag football game and Kaleb march in a parade with the Cub Scouts. We went to the pancake feed at the firestation and canned 53 quarts of applesauce with my sister-in-law and mom-in-law. The boys took turns waking Grammy and Grampy up every morning, and Aaron demonstrated his super-fast lock-picking abilities. Poor Grammy was never safe in the bathroom. My dad took the boys out for one-on-one lunch dates. They sure loved leaving school to eat someplace fun with Grampy. One rainy morning, I had my parents all to myself for breakfast. We went to a small cafe and I felt like we had all the time in the world. It was so relaxing. Aaron's still obsessed with watching my mom knit. We even took him to a yarn shop with us--he insisted on coming along!

Lots of times I wish my parents lived close to us. How amazing it would be to hang out with them on a Saturday. To help them with yard work, order a pizza for supper, or call up my mom and ask her to go to the mall with me. Everyday things like that. But when they were here this month I realized something. We do all of those things and MORE when they're here. It may be crammed into 10 days at a time, but our moments together are special. The boys wouldn't snuggle in bed with them if they lived in town. ;)

The day before they left, we had the chance to something really neat together. Kaleb will turn 8 in November. For his birthday, Derek's mom and dad chose to send him to a college football game! The game happened to fall while my mom and dad were here, so my dad got to come along! Derek and I sat with Kaleb and my dad in the most amazing seats: row 10 on the 45 yard line. What a treat! Braylen sat with his aunt, uncle, and grandpa in one of the end zones. All 8 of us had a great time in honor of Kaleb's upcoming 8th birthday! My mom spent her day with Aaron. That was a gift to me. :) He's not quite ready to sit through a college game. They had a great time at a craft fair finding pottery for Aaron, among other fun times. :) This was my mom's chance to get creamed playing the Wii. Nobody beats Aaron at Wii Jeep!

The next day they packed up to go home. 10 days flew by, and yet, I feel like we savored each one. Knowing we'll see them at Christmas helps ease the pain of goodbye. And knowing our hearts are knit together despite the miles between us. So here we are, on Halloween, ready for some fun with our boys! Aaron's SO excited! He's been asking "how many days till Halloween?" since September! Costume pictures next time...

A Time For Laughter

Since this is Wednesday, I've been on the go all day. Supper preparation's calling my name. Patches need sewn on 2 Awana vests. I wonder what games we'll play in T&T tonight? Being the game leader, I should figure that out. Soon. But I've had 2 weeks of funnies from my kids that are piling up in my brain. I don't think they will last much longer. I'm also 2 weeks behind in blogging about our lives, but that will have to wait for another day... Right now I'm taking time for laughter. :)

In random order, here we go:
One day Aaron said to me, "I'm so glad we have a German Shepherd. So much money for a lot of fun. You like a pet more than money, right Mom?" Looking at my checkbook, yes--I must like a pet more than money!

After a yummy supper of enchiladas, Braylen (my 10 year old!) said, "Those were really good iguanas Mom!" Ha! Later that night, he said, "What did we have for supper? What are they called? Iguanas?" The word "enchilada" never did stick in his brain.

Volunteering in my sons' classrooms has it's perks. Like the time I went to Braylen's class and saw he was wearing a completely different outfit than the one he'd worn to school. Hmmm. Now I know he was wearing shorts underneath his pants and stuffing his long sleeve shirts in his backpack once he gets to school. Not anymore! If he wants to live to see another day... :)

One night while making supper, I could barely keep my eyes open. I felt so tired! I said, "Wow, I just don't have any get-up-and-go tonight!" Braylen said, "Mom, you're like Grandpa's Dodge Avenger. He says it doesn't have that either." I don't think I've ever been compared to a car before.

My dad is a lifelong fireman. My husband is a policeman. Anyone who knows anything about firemen and policemen, knows that they have an intense rivalry. When my parents visited us last week, my husband said this to my dad: "You know why we have policemen, don't you? Because even firefighters need heros." Hardy-har-har! :)

A couple summers ago, our church had a pirate theme for Sunday School. So when we were leaving Awana last week, Aaron tells me he sees a pirate. I was very distracted navigating through the crowds of people--imagine that--so I simply agreed with him. I assumed he saw a leftover pirate decoration. Well, imagine my surprise (and horror) when I looked up and saw a man with a patch over his eye, picking up his child from Awana! I had agreed with Aaron (out loud) that he'd seen a pirate! But it was someone's dad! Aagghh! Or should I say, "Arrrg!" :)

Aaron rides in the car with me every month to drop off our bills. The other day we were making our way to one of our drop-off points, and Aaron was trying to guess which place we were going. He says, "I know! We're going to the big blue can!" The what? Oh yeah--the blue mailbox at the post office. :)

A craft fair came to town. My mom planned to take Aaron, since the two of them were on their own for the day. The rest of us had a very fun place to go--more about that in a later post. Anyway, I wasn't sure my 5 year old son would like going to a craft fair with his grammy. So the night before the big day, I told him what he'd be doing. Immediately he says, "Oh good! Will they make things with mud?" What? Then he tells me about a cartoon he saw one time, and I figured out he was talking about making pottery. Well, there's NEVER been a working potter's wheel at this craft fair. When I tell him that, he insists one will be there. As it turns out, the little bugger was RIGHT! He saw a man working at a potter's wheel, and he even got his very own piece of pottery. A small little pot just big enough for one dandelion. :) For free. Did God smile upon him or what?!

Finally, just 2 little word mix-ups:
Aaron says "petuna" and "tulop" for tulip.
He says "re-raser" for eraser. :)

Okay, time to get back to my Wednesday Rush! But it felt so good to sit down for a bit! :)

The First Shall Be Last

10/10-10/11/2009
Braylen's turn to go camping with Dad! Being our oldest son, we thought Braylen needed his camping trip to be a bit more adventurous than his brothers' trips were. Derek planned to take him to a faraway campsite in the forest. He looked up the 4-wheel trails and planned a fun trip. What he didn't plan for was an early October snow and bronchitis! Plans changed, but the trip was still a success. Thank goodness for our family's cabin, which happens to be surrounded with some pretty neat 4-wheeling trails. Derek, being the trooper that he is, took his antibiotics and cough drops and forged ahead with this trip.

We woke up to snow--Ginger's first time seeing it! She was mesmerized!

Kaleb plopped down in the snow to build a fort.

Aaron and I built a snowman. This is how it looked 2 days after the snow fell.

Strangely enough, there wasn't any snow at the cabin. Plenty cold though! Derek let Braylen drive the 4-wheeler around the property for a while. He went through every dip and mud hole he could find! Once on the trail, his confidence wavered a bit. I think the ruts on the trail had something to do with that. Braylen drove off the trail 5 or 6 times. Derek brought tow ropes along for that very reason! Amazingly, he didn't need to use them. He was able to drive Braylen's 4-wheeler back onto the trail every time. :)

Aren't they cute?

Back at "camp," Derek took the opportunity to talk with Braylen about growing up; changes that lie ahead, friendships (including the g word--girls), and making his faith his own. He used several role-play situations and Dr. Dobson's book, "Preparing for Adolescence." They enjoyed going through the workbook together. Derek and I are trying to learn how to be intentional parents. To address issues important to us instead of hoping our kids will catch on somehow. This trip was all about being intentional with Braylen. When my two guys came back home, I asked Braylen what his favorite part of his trip was. With a big smile on his face, he replied, "Just being with Daddy."

I have to say, Derek did a FANTASTIC job taking pictures during his 3 camping trips with our boys. What a guy! :)

Girls Only

My husband loves to hunt. We have very good friends that come and stay with us every year during deer season. Derek gets to hunt with his hunting buddy, and I enjoy time with my dear friend! We also get together for turkey season, and deer season's choice in January. I really do like to see my husband enjoy his hobby. Well. It was time for me to enjoy a little getaway of my own.

My mom-in-law, sister-in-law, and I loaded up and left town for a visit to my other sister-in-law's house. She just happens to live in beautiful Colorado Springs--yay! This trip has been "in the works" for 21 months. We'd schedule it, and then a tragedy would occur. A literal tragedy. This happened twice. Because of that, I really didn't think this trip would happen. Praise God, no disaster happened this time! Away we went!

I love being with these girls

First thing we did in the Springs was visit a massage therapist where the 4 of us had hour-long massages...heavenly. The crease on my forehead from the pillow lasted all evening! I was glad The Elephant Bar was kind of dark inside--that's where we ate supper. Very yummy. Being a girls' weekend, we stayed up late to talk. Of course I loved it. :)

On Saturday we shopped here and there and enjoyed lunch at Panera. What a treat to do things that I wanted to do instead of what my kids wanted to do. I intentionally did some shopping for my husband on this trip. He rarely tells me he needs something--unless it's hunting-related. :) He does have a thing for gloves and boots though...

We grabbed a quick supper at Chick-Fil-A and then saw the movie "Love Happens." Cute movie, kind of sad at times, but still good. When I think of us sitting in that movie theater, I'll always remember my sis-in-law passing all of her candy down the row--Whoppers, Reese's Pieces, Twizzlers, M&M's, etc... You'd think we hadn't eaten all weekend! Hee hee! Her boyfriend came along with us to the movie, so afterwards we visited his new place. Very nice--it even has a Colorado yard of rocks and a little patch of grass. :)

Sunday we went to church and out for lunch at Jason's Deli. I enjoyed not rushing out of there right away, even though it meant a late night for us to get home. The time goes so fast, as it always does, but that must mean we had fun!



My husband took Friday off so I could get away, and he made the most of his day off with our little Aaron. They enjoyed lunch at McDonalds and went 4-wheeling while Braylen and Kaleb were in school. Lucky Aaron! They picked some gourds and pumpkins from a friend's house during their 4-wheeling time. It was like visiting a private pumpkin patch. :) I told Derek ahead of time that Aaron's word for gourds is "orgs." Too cute. My boys had great "Daddy time" with their amazing daddy. They played games, played in the yard, repaired a picnic table, and deep-cleaned our family room. I never worried how things would go, I didn't leave instructions--only medicine doses in case they were needed. They weren't needed. My dog was VERY happy to see me when I got home, which made me feel good. She's such a Daddy's doggy that I was surprised to see she loves me too! :)

Braylen playing chess with Daddy--I don't even know how to play!

Monday morning brought me back to reality, but I was refreshed and ready to be home again. It couldn't have been a better trip!

The Little Things

Ginger is 6 months old already

Nobody takes my frisbee!

2 weeks of our life have gone by and all I've blogged about are camping trips and sicknesses. There's a song out there with this line: "So you fall into bed when you run out of hours; and you wonder if anything worth doing--got done?" That is me every single night. I run and I run and I run all day long. On Wednesday I don't think I stopped at all.

This paragraph is just for me--you may skip it if you'd like. But someday I will forget what my life is like right now, and this will remind me. :) Wednesday went like this: wake up and shower, wake up boys, let dog out and feed dog, sign planners, pack snacks and water bottles, pack lunches, pack show & tell, pack snack for entire preschool class, serve breakfast, brew coffee for myself on my way out the door, realize I have no time for my breakfast, call dog in, she ignores me, take everyone to their schools, meet with a good friend for half an hour--an oasis in my day, run all over town paying bills and running errands, pick up preschooler, feed him (and me) lunch, make menu for the week and make Walmart list, sort coupons, go to Walmart with my preschooler, unload groceries at home, put the dog in the car and go pick up my 2 big kids from school, come home and pull all plants out of garden before this weekend's big weather change, make and serve supper, leave late to pick up son's friend for Awana, go to Awana and lead games, get everyone home, put kids to bed, stay up till 11:00 making pumpkin muffins for my preschooler's snack, fall into bed asleep before I hit the pillow....my life.

Making pumpkin muffins was the LAST thing I wanted to do Wednesday night. But since this is Aaron's week to bring the snacks for his preschool class, his 3 picks were Go-gurt, rice krispie squares, and muffins. He'd already brought the 2 easy snacks. I could have told him no muffins. I could have bought boxes of granola bars or fruit snacks for Thursday's snack instead. But I'd promised him his muffins. Since I only have one tray of mini-muffin cups, I could only do 12 muffins at a time. That's why it took me 2 hours to make these muffins. I even bagged them up in little Halloween treat bags. But you know what? I was in his class on Thursday when he passed out his snack to everyone. He was so proud of those muffin bags. He came over to me and said, "Thank you for making my muffins Mommy." He gave me a big hug and kiss. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying. Such a little thing--muffins--and I didn't even want to make them. But I'm so glad I did...

A quote from my mothering calendar really spoke to me this week.

"The great doing of little things makes the great life."

It's the little things that add up to make a really big difference. At least that's the lesson I'm learning these days.

Funnies from Aaron this week:

"I had chocolate-hot in preschool today!" (hot chocolate)

ta-pato soup (potato soup)

"Can we go to Walmart today? I want to buy my very own big jar of salt." (Aaron loves salt!)

Enjoying our last bit of mild weather before the snow falls

Camping With Kaleb

Okay, so I'm a week behind...time to catch up. Last Saturday, Sept. 26-27, Kaleb and Daddy went camping! What started with Aaron will end with Braylen, with Kaleb's trip in between. How appropriate! I like to see Derek carving out time for each of our boys. This post is all about our middle son's turn!

Kaleb and Derek left for their campsite on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. After setting up the tent, they searched for firewood...all the wood was wet. Hmm. Lots of paper and leaves were needed for kindling, and they had a nice fire for their hot dog roast. Kaleb was so afraid he'd burn his hot dog that it was barely warm! After supper they went on a bike ride--11.3 miles! Kaleb wanted to practice his turkey calls, and it must have worked. They got within 15 feet of some turkeys! Kaleb's fascination was seeing a burned bridge. Derek says he could have stared at it forever.

Kaleb gazing at the burned out bridge


See those turkeys? They have blue heads!

A beautiful sunset for Kaleb & Daddy to share

Back at camp, Daddy and Kaleb played football and soccer. When Derek was ready to roast marshmallows, Kaleb agreed to have one. Just one? First Aaron, and now Kaleb...they only want one marshmallow. Derek wanted more than one! :) Kaleb kept saying he was tired, so after some stargazing and a trip to the bathroom, they crawled into the tent for the night. The wind came up during the night but Kaleb slept soundly. Ah, that's my boy. :)

Snuggled up together in the tent

Sunday morning Daddy cooked Kaleb's favorite breakfast--pancakes. :) They spent their morning playing more soccer, riding bikes again, and sharing a Bible lesson from Philippians 2. The wind was really blowing, and it blew the tent over on Kaleb as he was zipping it up!!! Derek and Kaleb laughed and laughed and laughed at that. :) Their things from the tent just about blew into the fire pit, but Derek grabbed them just in time. I'm sure it would have been hilarious to watch them take the tent down in that wind. At least it gave them some good memories. ;)

Some things Derek noticed about Kaleb on this trip:

Kaleb did not always have to be doing something...he was content to sit and watch what was around him.

Kaleb did not want to fish. He was all about riding his bike to that bridge!

Kaleb didn't have lots of words to get out...he's quieter than his brothers.

I love to see how different our boys are, and Kaleb is sure different from his brothers. Derek really enjoyed having Kaleb all to himself for this trip, and Kaleb enjoyed Daddy. It doesn't get any better than that. :)