Playing Hookey Hiking

I convinced Rus to take today (President's Day) off work. It wasn't too hard..."Rus, stay home Monday. We'll all load up in the van and you can take us wherever you want."
He researched trails and then emailed-in sick. Hoo-rah!
We woke up to grumpy kids, Rus to a grumpy wife, but somehow we all made it out the door by 9am and headed up to the Sandias. Rus chose Domingo Baca Canyon, a hike that is accessed from the Elena Gallegos picnic grounds. It was absolutely beautiful, with a good varied landscape that included big rocks for the kids to climb on and a stream farther up in the canyon. I'm just including one picture because Rus did a great post on our adventure blog with a lot of good pictures. Click here to get there and check out the rest of our hike. Then come back. :)
My favorite parts of the day were as follows:
* Jacob hiking with a stick that he called a gun. He shot mountain lions for me.
* Jacob jumping from rock to rock and saying, "And now I jump down. And now I jump off. Now I jump across. I jump up."
* Bekah being a great rock climber. Enough to make me nervous.
* Helping kids #1/#2 in the woods. Always an adventure.
* Beau's utter enjoyment at throwing sticks in the stream. It was especially great because it was the only time when he wasn't in the carrier that he was actually happy. Perhaps a little maniacal, too, but happy nonetheless.
* Bekah's incessant questions.
(On the way back to the van) "How many seconds are we from the van?"
"What are mountain lions?" (lions that live in the mountains. wow.)
"What is the name of this hike? Why is it called that?"
"Where did this water come from?"
"Will a mountain lion eat me?"
"Do mountain lions like kids more than moms and dads? Why?"
"Is there a mountain lion right behind me?"
If you are ever starved for conversation, just talk to Bekah. She can keep it going long after anyone would think was reasonably possible.
Ahhh...It was really a nice hike. We all hiked over four miles and the kids did a great job. I think it's the best they've ever hiked. They didn't really complain until we were about a half mile from the car, at which point Bekah lost all trust in her dad and his promise that the van was really anywhere nearby.
We drove home, kids napped, got home, I napped...what more could I ask for?

Good Dream

Jacob came bounding down the stairs at 6:30 this morning. He was beaming.
"I had a good dream, Mommy!"
"What was it about?"
"I had a cousin who was a tiger and he had claws and he showed me how to climb a tree really good. And I had a tail! And Beau had a tail too. And we all climbed the tree really good!"
I could see that he had woken up happy. [understatement]
It was adorable and I felt myself having a happy morning too when the vision of two growling, climbing, striped, tail-ed little boys washed over me.
Maybe that's why I noticed Beau's nose this morning...how it would wrinkle up when he thought he was tricking me by hiding his miniature Bullseye horse (from Toy Story) under his leg...and then my Woody guy would find him...and his nose just got the finest little happy wrinkles right below the bridge.
I had to kiss it.
Then I had to show him where his heart was. I pointed to his chest and said heart, and then I listened to his. Then I pointed to mine and said heart and pressed his ear up so he could hear. He was in awe. "Heart!"
Then I taught him that he is two. "Beau, how old are you?"
"Two!"
"How old are you?"
"Two!"
"How old are you?"
"Two." (like, "Mom, enough already.")
I tested him by calling my Mom having her ask Beau.
He passed.

I just love happy moments. In our Stake Conference the stake president said he had asked his wife if she was happy. They are a relatively young couple with four children under 9 (or 10?). She said, "sometimes." And he said, "She's German. She says it like it is." I could totally relate to her. I could go days without being happy...I have, probably. I've decided it's got to be on purpose. I have to purposefully have happy moments everyday. And I do. And I feel so blessed when I find them.

Here I tried to capture the wrinkly nose...Jacob was my first model because I thought Beau was still taking a nap.Then Beau came in. We had a little photo shoot. He was way more cooperative than I thought he would be...but still I don't know that any of these really capture his happy wrinkly nose.Then Bekah got in on the action.The wrinkly crew.

ReNamed

"Mom!! You forgot to call me Robot Boy again!"
"Yep, I forgot because you're not listening to me! Do what I asked the first time." (Of course I say this in a very calm, loving tone.)
"If you called me Robot Boy I would listen!"

Jacob seems to be unsatisfied with his name. He has had us call him "Jacoob" because he wanted two "o's" in his name instead of one, Flash, Hero, Spiderman...Each time he asks me to change his name and I tell him we'll try it out for a day. It's pretty funny the stuff he comes up with, and last Friday he even bequeathed the rest of the family with name changes. Rus and I spent the day with Robot Boy, [two minute timeout: I have to leave because I have a "mommy arm" that can reach under the stove to retrieve a lost car...mission complete.] RoBeau, and Becky. Becky. I have never ever thought of Bekah as a Becky, but she informed me that Bekah is a good kid name, but not a grown up name and she preferred "Becky" for that. Not "Rebekah" like I suggested. Becky. I don't think I can do it.
Jacob and Bekah then named me Super Love Mom, and Rus got to just be Lloyd. (lame.)
Then yesterday it changed again. Jacob (formerly), inspired by a puzzle, decided to be called Star Wars. He even wrote his new name in church and did a fantastic job. Seriously. Better than he ever wrote Jacob. Maybe it's meant to be. Then he taped the sign to his room to remind the world of his true identity. (Didn't he do a nice job writing?!) He might be on to something...he does look to have a little Chewbacca in him. Kidding. He's totally Hans Solo.And Becky. please, please don't stick...Here posed with her trouble making Frenchy. That dog inspires more fits that anything. I'm thinking of buying a stuffed tiger to maim her stuffed dog. Irreparably. But I think she might not like that...in a Romeo-Juliet sort of way.And I just want to mention here that my last post title "Rare Snow Day" proved completely false. Tuesday off turned into Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It was slightly brutal...but okay because sleeping in balanced out fighting kids. Turns out NM is not meant for sub-zero temperatures and no person (or school) can function until sufficiently thawed.

What to do on a {rare} snow day

Yesterday, like today, was declared a snow day: No School. Bekah was overjoyed, and we celebrated by making cinnamon rolls for breakfast (since we had the time), and then later we decorated for Valentine's Day. We made these wax paper hearts as shown on Martha Stewart. They look so pretty in our front window. I might have ruined a cheese grater in the process - it said to use a pencil sharpener, but mine was too fat so I used my cheese grater which worked beautifully but is now adorned with an array of wax-colors.I also took the opportunity to clean out all my stashes of bills. I have a pile that I keep by my phone downstairs and another by my computer. I have a perfectly adequate file cabinet in the closet near my computer, but I have discovered that I'm not really a filer, I'm a stacker. And it works just fine, um sort of, until everything builds up too much and I have to sort it all out, like this: and the one thing that kept catching my eye was this paper, I thought it was perfectly fitting and ironic. Maybe I should get smart and do what it says. See above pic. See below pic. See above...see below...Today's project was making this fun V-day scarf from my stash of felted sweaters. I thought it turned out really cute. Look at the scarf, not me...remember it's a snow day. :)Sometimes having Bekah at home all day is kind of hard because she loves to boss around the boys and gets mad when Jacob doesn't want to play her games...but I have to say that the last two days have actually been really nice. Besides all the schemes she uses to divert Beau's attention from whatever she's doing (so he won't "bother" them), she's actually been playing really well with Jacob and being a good helper. Hooray! Oh and I haven't minded sleeping in until 7:30 because I don't have to get up at 6:30 to watch a little girl that we usually take to school with us.
But with all that being said, I will be just fine when tomorrow is a return to the norm!