13 Years...

A guy rang my doorbell today.

It was the FedEx guy, and he brought this:

I haven't received a box like this before.

This is what I found inside:

Beautiful

Delicate (and perhaps suffering from a touch of heat exhaustion... but they're already looking peppy-er)

Gorgeous.

And the card?

13 years ago today, Matt I promised to love each other in sickness & in health, in good times & bad... as long as we both shall live.

Thank you, Matt. These flowers are beautiful.

I love you!

Rocks

One of our favorite outdoor activities is chucking rocks.

We find a place on a gravel bar where there aren't any other people. Then we wade in a bit and start letting the rocks fly. What boy (old or young) doesn't want to here the words, "Well, for pete's sake, throw that rock!" I think it's interesting to watch my boys approach this activity in their own ways.

There is some tandem wading,

...usually at first as everyone gets used to the cold river water.

And then they sort of do their own things.

Tyson enjoys the feel of the water on his feet:

He likes to search for interesting rocks and share them with us:

He is fascinated by the skipping of rocks, and he both loves to watch Matt & my dad...

...and "teach" his little brother how to skip rocks:

Riley takes a completely different approach.
He loves to watch the boats go by:

And other than that, well, Riley just loves the

pure...

...and complete...

...joy...

...that comes from chucking rocks.

The Family That Camps Together...

...stabs eachother with hot dog sticks.

I'm just kidding! We love camping, and every camping trip is a happy one... with no stabbing of anything other than hot dogs & marshmallows.

Summer is for relaxing, slowing down and recuperating from life's crazy pace the rest of the year. The best way we know how to unwind from the hustle & bustle is to grab the pop up trailer and head into nature.

So, what do we do while camping? Well...

We relax. I know it looks like a whole lot of nothing, but there is some serious rejuvenation going on here.

We read. A lot. This is my dad. What you don't see in this picture are Matt, my step-mom, my step-grandma and myself, all reading while the boys chase bugs nearby.

We eat fabulous summer foods. Watermelon, foil dinners, hot dogs roasted over a fire and s'mores are our favorites.

And we sleep. All that fresh air makes for some tired boys and long slumbers.

And yes, sometimes one of those tired boys leaves the campfire (on his own) to commence with the slumber... with unbrushed teeth and s'mores still on his cheek.

We also enjoy chucking rocks, but you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out what that looks like.

What do you do to relax in the summertime?

KidSpeak

One of the most amusing things about being a mom is the amazing (& sometimes strange) running dialogue in our home. When we were a young married couple with no kids, the house was filled with talk of politics, weather, funny friend stories and where we should eat out (Because, dude. I seriously could not cook).

Enter the children, and even the grownup conversations seem to center around snot, school kids, bowel movements, who put which new scuff mark on the previously freshly painted walls, and oh-my-gosh-how-can-we-be-out-of-milk/bread/toiletpaper-already?!?!

The best stuff is what we hear out of our kids. So, without further ado, I give you some of the strange things we have heard around our house this week:

 

From Tyson:

"I hate to tell you this, but..." (this is his new catch phrase, and it could be followed by anything from "these bananas are squishy," to "Riley is stuffing buttons up his nose.")

"That is soooo inappropriate" (uttered to his little brother)

"He's not making good choices. Again." (uttered about his little brother)

"Mommy, what does your colon do?"

"Everyone needs to be quiet, because I need to tell everyone this...." (this preceded a big announcement at dinner - see the next in the list)

"...we made a home for worms yesterday!" (Worm homes are apparently quite important..)

"Mom! You just said the 'Nerd-Word'!" (I admit to needing an explanation of what exactly a "Nerd-Word" is...)

"Wow! Mom, you have got to come here [to the bathroom]. I just dropped a BOMB in there!" (Do I really need to elaborate? Suffice it to say that boys are strange, and sometimes icky, little creatures.)

 

From Riley (with translations)

"Momma! Rotcoe [slurping noise] [licks hand] Ewwwww! [touches face]" (Mom! Roscoe the dog just licked me all over the face when you weren't looking and it was gross, but that won't stop me from going back over so he can do it again.)

"Uh-oh. Momma! Uh-oh! Wiwey may mess meowk. Momma! Meowk coe!" (Uh-oh! Momma! Uh-oh! Riley made a mess [with] milk. Momma! Milk [is] cold!) (Uh-oh! Mom, you're not gonna like this, but I just spilled an entire cup of milk all over myself, the cabinet front, the floor and the dog. Oh, and the milk is cold.) 

"Wiwey no yike Daddy caw rrrmmmmmmm." (Riley no like Daddy's car [that goes] vroom.) (I do not like Daddy's Mustang Cobra, as it is quite loud, and the emissions from the tailpipe could easily kill an elephant unfortunate enough to be behind it.)

"Momma! [grins] Wiwey oohh. In oohh." (Mom! Riley ear. In ear.) (Mom! I have stuck several peas into my ear. Good luck getting them out because peas are really squishy and I have the smallest ear canals ever seen on a human toddler.)

"Jfjiilllll. Wiwey fhfhfhpplththth." (I have no idea. Seriously. Sometimes he just lets loose with a string of very excited, but completely unrelated phonemes, then nods his head as if he has made his point. He then waits for us to give some sort of appropriate response. Thankfully, a "really?" or "Oh, I see" from us is sufficient.)

"Momma! Wiwey weh. Neenee. Wiwey wike neenee. Weh."(Momma! Riley wet. Candy. Riley like candy. Wet.) (Mom! My diaper is wet. It's barely wet. Okay, maybe it's not really even wet, but you've been giving me a mini M&M every time I come & tell you that I'm wet. I really like candy, and we hardly ever get any at all, so I'm gonna go ahead & cry "Wet!" so that I can get a little candy. By the way, we both know that you will give me the piece of candy, and then take me to the bathroom to change said diaper. And that's when I'm planning to make my escape. The minute my feet hit the floor, I'm going to do the "wet noodle" & drop to the floor, then I'm going to do a "triple sow cow with an extra twist" to wiggle away from you. I'll finish my program with a full on naked-from-the-waste-down sprint around the house during which time you'll be thinking about how my diaper wasn't really that wet & I'll probably end up peeing all over the house as you chase me. Good times, Momma. Good times.)

What kinds of things do you hear in your home?

It's the Great Pumpkin...

Well, we didn't find the Great Pumpkin, but we did go to the pumpkin patch. This was a new one, and there was so much to do!

Ty started with the giant, bumpy slide. It was made of PVC pipe, and he thought it was funny.
Then we did some swinging. Riley liked the "pony" swing...
...while Ty preferred the more traditional variety.
We did the see saw (Riley needed a little help, since he now weighs exactly half of what Ty weighs).
Then we went over to sit under the pavilion.
To eat Kettle Corn and this:
That there is a deep fried Oreo, and it was heavenly.

We listened to some great music while having our snack.
See that skilled musician sitting in the front there? That's my Grandpa.
He plays the steel guitar, and I'm pretty sure that every last drop of my musical talent came from him.

When we had eaten, sang ("... Rocky Top, you'll always be...!") and danced a waltz or two, we watched the chickens & turkeys.
Then we went over to the pumpkin patch.
Riley was impressed with the very big pumpkins that people were carrying around. He tried & tried to pick this up. He even made some interesting grunting sounds (imagine the Incredible Hulk)...
... but ultimately decided on a more manageable pumpkin.
Ty picked out our family pumpkin, in addition to his own personal pumpkin.
When we were paying for the pumpkins (which were quite reasonable) I noticed a wall that had rows & rows of preserves. We also got some wonderful apple butter, which tastes just like fall, in convenient, spreadable form!

We painted the pumpkins the next day. Check back tomorrow, when I will post those photos. It was a blast!

A Parenting Success!

We had the most amazing experience this evening.
Here's a little back-story for you: Every evening, Boy1 (6yo) and I (or his Dad) pray before bed. We say the "Now I lay me down to sleep..." prayer, and then we take turns thanking God for things that we are grateful for. We have been doing this ever since he was old enough to speak (or sign) words for things in his life.
Over the course of this summer, we have been working to make sure that God is truly at the center of our family. This means that we study the Bible together (I didn't even know all of the Ten Commandments), pray before every meal and snack and read and discuss the lessons from this book. When I have to correct the boys' behavior, I try to do so with patience and "faithful instruction." I have also been stressing to Boy1 that he can talk to God anytime, and that he should especially feel like talking to God when something is bothering him.

I have to say that I have suspected for a couple of weeks that it is working. It's definitely working a lot better than losing my cool and yelling. [Ducks head] Boy1 is much more accepting of the faithful instruction than he was of the ranting. I still have to take a breath once in a while and remember not to lose my cool. (My personal Bible study is turning toward "patience" lately...)

This evening we had what I consider to be a huge breakthrough.

See, Hubby has been working a lot lately, leaving early and getting home late. He hates it, but sometimes his job requires crazy hours. Boy1 was really tired tonight and whenever he gets tired like this on a night when his Daddy isn't home by bedtime, he tends to get a little weepy. So, we called Hubby on his cell and then settled in to read a book and say our prayers. After we said our thank you's we had a brief exchange:

Boy1: Wait, Mommy. You can't go yet.

Mommy: Why, *Monkey? Did you lose one of your sleepy friends [stuffed animals]?

Boy1: (with tears in eyes) Can you say the other prayer?

Mommy: Which other prayer? We said both of them.

Boy1: The one where you tell God I'm sad?

Mommy: You mean you want me to pray for God to comfort you because you miss Daddy?

Boy1: Yes. So He will make my tears stop?

*I sometimes call Boy1 "Monkey" because he has always been my little snuggler... my "Snuggle-Monkey" if you will. I also sometimes call him "LilMan," because he has always been like a little Man.

And there you have it. For the first time ever, Boy1 asked for help in turning to his Heavenly Father for comfort. I honestly didn't think that part of what I've been saying and demonstrating was sinking in with him. Apparently it was. That's quite a bit of validation, and confirmation to me that we are definitely on the right track with our family.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news, I started back to work for another school year. I'm almost excited to get back to my job, back to answering my Call. I will be happy to get back... right after I get over the overwhelming guilt over leaving my children. And the disappointment over not being able to spend every waking moment with them. And the stress over trying to balance my work responsibilities with my home responsibilities...
...but as soon as I get over all that, I will be 100% back in the game and ready to answer God's Call with joy and love in my heart. I just have to get over myself first. Geez. Why is that so hard?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Boy2 went back to day care today. He had a great day(!) so at least that is one thing a can let go of a bit. He had no tears, and seemed to enjoy getting back to the business of playing with his friends.