Off the Blog Map

Here is Chase, waiting for his brothers to get dropped off from the bus.
He's standing everywhere and pulling up on even unsteady surfaces.Sadie is a content and stable little girl. She still has afternoon naps and actually gets really excited about naps because she knows it means she can stay up "late."

A couple days every week, she misses her nap. She does become more sensitive but nothing too huge. Until this, the perfect example of her first estrogen moment where she introduced some mellow drama.

Then there is our little trouper. We've been watching Chase and his teeth rather carefully. This particular day he had blisters on his gums!!! Poor little buddy as he is teething. (Sorry for the view of the crusty nose. It's complimentary to the teething mouth).

Here's our season wrap up of Basketball. Will enjoys running lay-ups and is quite successful executing them.

There he goes!

Colby and Quinten are beaming with the pride of a completed season.

On one particular evening Colby was not having good luck. Basketball in the eye and then 5 minutes later an elbow.

We should be hired as the half time performance.

Our up and coming All Star Athelete. The youngest to hit the court.

We have always planned visits to Great Grandma's house but this visit had a fun new twist. I drove to her place, picked her up and brought her back to ours. A new phenomenon has occurred. She said she really enjoyed herself more as she wasn't fussing in the kitchen. Instead, I was so she could spend more quality time playing with the kids. On this particular day, Will assured her he was going to win in a mean game of War.

Now, I've committed to a number of projects which have caused a need for blog catch-up. Hence why I've fallen off the blog map.

First, I collected desserts for a funeral. I was SO touched by the overwhelming support (*tears in my eyes overwhelmed).

I always want photo albumns in the house for the kids to look through. But the age of digital printing has created a new dynamic that I'm learning to work with. I decided when Costco had their next sale on printing pictures I would go through every year (my digital camera has caputred) and send to print. SO I spent a week staring at my computer and organizing photos. I lost track of the count after 2000 pictures had printed. AND like any project I start; there's always more to do. *Until the next sale.

I'm tired of being a nag. So I created a magnetic Chore Chart. The clear tiles are the daily expectations and the blue tiles are the "big responsibility." I'm thinking they will have to complete 2 per week. They include, empty dishwasher, set the table, dust and clean windows, take out the garbage, etc. The last step will be to create cute Vinyl lettering for the chart titles.

If their list is complete then they earn their weekly allowance. I track it daily on a calendar.

I rearranged bedrooms which has been super fun creating a content space for each child.

I forgot to grab a picture of Chase's set-up. I love that he can nap in a room where Sadie doesn't disturb him. Sadie was funny though because she told me that she doesn't want to share a room with Chase because "he" wakes her up. (he totally does not).

The most awkward situation was having Logan move into a pink room. SO, I created a masculine side to the room. That was fun! and then I've taken it one step further and sewn a dividing curtain for the room. Now the two kids are in somewhat of a dorm room feel. When I take a picture I will post it. The rod that hangs the curtain is worthy of a blog post all it's own.

And with every successful project always comes a certain mishap. In the last moments of painting Chase had woken from his nap and was crawling around at my feet. He knocked over the grey paint can perfectly so it missed the drop cloth and poured onto the carpet. Dinner was burnt that evening as I turned the priority to getting paint out of the carpet.

Another note: it may have been easier to move Logan to the basement bedroom. But I'm grateful that he wasn't ready. I know once he does, he will have grown up to being more independant and teenager-like. That is coming all too soon. For now, this will do. I snuck into their room at night and grabbed a picture to share with a friend.

Boys out adventuring in wide open spaces. If all stars align, then we will avoid the move to the basement bedroom and just build a bedroom for every child in the country. Until then, we love where we are, and are happy to stay.

The next project: Our Loft. I hate this space. So, it's time to make it pretty. 5 years after living here I will finally make it into a space that will be fun to escape to. (I can say that confidently because I've already started! Just not finished yet).

Chaos in Point Form

Chase visits his cousin recently returned from a 10 week stay in Costa Rica. "S'Up Little Dude?"Chase has advanced out of his infant seat and into a regular car seat as he is a hefty 22 lbs at 10 months old.

Where, oh where do I begin.

I mentioned in my last post how I am living the life I had always dreamed I would be. Sometimes this life gets a little out of control. At this stage, with a husband rarely around, I've noticed a coping mechanism kick in. It gives me blurred vision and fuzzy feelings which basically numbs me and allows me to push through. Here's some of the experiences of the past few weeks.

Which also brings me to a quick comment I've pondered for quite a long time. I hear women say, "I'm so behind on my blog" Or "I never have time." Almost like there's some social pressure to perform. Here's what I've wanted to say back: Why do you blog? Who is your audience? In 2006 when my brother was leaving to travel Asia, he started a blog. So, I did too. At that time, it was an opportunity to keep him updated on his nephews (because it was important to me). He was my audience. It soon transformed into my organized and thorough exhibit of family activities. I'm not good at alot of things, but I'm good at being consistent and I don't feel pressured because, now, my audience is me (and anyone else who chooses to peak in and know us a little from the stories we tell). I look back on the years of journaling and am so greatful for it because my memory is not as vivid as the many pictures and the quick stories within. With that, here's an excerp for our current state of mildly crazy.

Colby's whites of his eyes turned totally bloodshot. He awoke a couple mornings with his eyes glued shut from excess sleepy goop. I did not worry at all. I had something like this when I was a kid. It's more a nuisanse than disabling. So I prepped Colby for school and, out of courtesy, asked his teacher's opinion. She sent him home. I think this day and age of raising children is slightly paranoid. I find it rather humorous because you are often more contagious when you haven't displayed signs of an illness. And there his twin brother sat, in the same classroom, with his twin brother being visually diagnosed as having pink eye. Something defined by the school as being super contagious and needing a visit to the doctor for antibiotics. SO, Colby and I ran errands and had a wonderful two days together, sans doctor and antibiotics. Thank you to my nurse friend who visited with me today saying, it's more likely a virus that can't be treated. I knew I was right.

But this lengthy story about Colby is going somewhere. On Tuesday, Quinten jumped in the car saying, "Is Colby coming to school tomorrow? because I am already two days smarter than him."

I LOVE twinisms.

We had a busy evening planned of hosting dinner and Ryan attending to appointments. I had a dinner scheduled for 5:30 pm. I drove out to the country to pick the boys up from the bus. The boys had dropped one of their school crafts and I drove over a piece which punctured my tire. Have you ever gotten out of your car and heard a hissing sound? I knew what I would see when I followed that sound. Ryan was working from home with two napping little ones and a vehicle that was not equipped with car seats. I was on my own. Here's one of those times when everything went numb/fuzzy... whatever you want to imagine it to be. I just pushed through, saying, there is a first time for everything; and I pulled the tire off. It took an hour.

The four school boys waited for me. They were jumping on the trampoline and Colby was accidentally kicked in the mouth. He lost his first tooth! I was sad to have him lose his first wiggley tooth prematurely. If that's not enough, as I hurried to complete the project I fought with closing Dad's garage door ... only to determine the power had gone out. No automatic door opener works without electricity. And finally, I ran a bin into my parents house (due to the constant transitioning of supplies) and in a hurry to leave ... locked my keys inside. This is the part when I almost cried.

In 20 minutes of searching I found a spare key and was on my way. I arrived home at 5:20 pm. 10 minutes before dinner. Phew.

Here's where Colby's fun jump cost him a tooth.
I was sad about tooth loss not being even. I always imagined the boys wiggling and wiggling until they barely hung on. Colby's had fallen out prematurely.

A couple nights later Ryan asked Quinten to stand still so he could attempt to wiggle the loose tooth. Quinten pulled away in protest and the tooth was out!
Next story.

'Tis the Season. After spending some time in the country and desiring for the kids to grow up with the same memories I have as a kid. I decided to stop in at Princess Auto and grab a 6.5 horsepower 170 cc horizontal engine. Yep. I decided I wanted an engine, didn't know what kind, looked in the flyer and found one on sale. Seemed like a logical fit. For our go cart!

I took the new engine out to the country and compared the mounting bracket. It looked like a match. First hurdle complete. In the first session of work I removed the old engine but could not determine how to detach the throttle cable. Just visualize an engine hanging from a go cart by a thread. I also made note of the old engine: 5 hp (horsepower). I thought to myself; I wonder if that matters? More on this later.

I will also add that it's amazing how quickly your hands can be converted to looking just like that of a mechanic.

The second session called in the expert. My baby sister was sure to know what to do (and bring her pink coveralls). 1 hour later, she was cutting the cable with wire cutters. It's funny because that's what I wanted to do but worried it was too wreckless.

By the way, I'm writing this all down so I can refer back as the manual on how to do over. We have one more go cart to replace an engine for.

At the end of the second session the engine was installed. And with Amanda's wonderful talent of attaching new throttle cables, checking chain tension and adjusting choke, we had the new engine running by dark.

Session 3. Driving Day. After an hour of working with it's kinks Amanda meets us on her newly energized wheels of the go cart. We took a couple runs, not sure who was first and second ... but we soon learned that the go cart had so much pep that it's wheels would spin out in the gravel when pressure was applied to the gas pedal. We also learned that the supply of gas does not seem consistent. When we release the pedal a little, the engine would stall. Now it's time time for Will in the driver's seat. Have I ever told you that I have a saying, "If it's going to happen, it happens to Will?" This is the kid that has somewhat of a curse placed on him. After a brief instruction on the running of the machine I thought to add where he should take his first tour as I thought he's not likely to plan a route. My instructions were to go through the garden (level ground, free of trees and debris).

Logan was sitting in the passenger seat, he jumps out of his seat because he want's to throw a stick for a dog or something of a similar distracting nature. Will applies the gas and barrels out of our teaching space, driving over Logan's foot and hitting his shin. I watch carefully thinking he'll do okay and quickly see something going very wrong. Will is 34 pounds wet. He is similar to an empty go cart positioned in full throttle. He starts going so fast I see his head (without a helmet!) tilt back from centrifugal force. A few of us yell at him to ease off the gas but I see him turn the go cart at amazing non-reduced speed through RVs and out into the garden (just as I had directed). Is the gas stuck? Now I'm thinking two things, 1.WHY did I say drive thru the garden! he could have driven straight into open pasture and been so much more safe AND 2. how is this going to end!

He has to manouver through 1 of three locations: 1. our RV and a gas tank = sharp turn with our suburban as a barricade once he makes it through these two obstacles. 2. a large bush and a fence post = best alternative but narrow and highly unlikely to execute and 3. burning pile and barn = dead end of wire fence followed by electric fence.

Needless to say, I was screaming inside a quick prayer for him to be okay. Amanda was freaking out AND Ryan, (a.k.a. Mr. Easy Going) was running after Will like his life depended on it (that's how I knew it was going to be bad).

I run out into the garden and look for the carnage (no joke). There, I find Will sitting in the go cart up against a pole (behind our RV).

He burst into tears and I asked if he was okay.

One day later I asked him what he was thinking as he rounded the corner so fast. He said he was thinking nothing. He didn't know what to do. All I know is that he had a little angel watching over him and guiding his foot off the gas, which caused the go cart to stall out before it hit the pole. He obviously had slowed enough that he merely bumped the pole. But his positioning was an obvious sign of an overly aggressive turn as a result of speed.

Amanda and I regularly have flashbacks to that moment and what could have happened. It's a small form of torture. It was a humbling wake-up to the safety necessary before allowing the kids to drive. So we have 12 Motocross helmets on order because it's a better deal than ordering 5.

Now to the funny story. In point form.

Amanda is driving the go cart with Quinten as a passenger.

She heads out down the driveway.

Colby and Will take off running down the driveway after the driver and cart.

Logan jumps on an old bike

Ryan walks behind (and ends up being a witness to this).

Go Cart Stalls and Amanda gets out to restart

Will and Colby are standing around watching Auntie work

Logan barrels down the driveway yelling, "Will, Colby, watch out!"

Will moves out of the way

Logan yells again. But this time at Colby directly.

Colby looks over his shoulder at Logan, does not appear concerned and looks back at Auntie.

Logan barrels into Colby sending him into a ball on the ground. Logan drives over Colby's head and flies (literally) over the handle bars of the flipping bike and into the ditch.

Amanda runs over to Logan asking if he's okay

The go cart rolls away down the gentle sloping driveway, plows into Amanda's shin and tips her over into the ditch.

After the Story has unfolded:

I say, "Why, oh Why, did I not have the video camera on at the time!!!" This is *winning* material for America's Funniest Home Videos

Logan gets a major lecture about doing everything in his power to avoid pedestrians. And that Pedestrians always have the right of way.

Colby has a skinned elbow.

Logan's wrist is sore and the palm of his hand has been skinned.

Amanda has a bruise on her shin.

The bike is fine.

The go cart is too.

In all that writing, did I mention we bought 2 quads?

Whoops. We bought them before the go cart experience.

We assembled them after the go cart experience.

We'll see what the future has to offer.

Dear Future Husband to Miss Sadie Leigh.

This little woman is confident, sassy and girly. We hope you can handle her.

Love The Parents and Brothers.

Will gives dirt biking a try. Just for kicks (and crashes). No crashes this time though.