Great Expectations and Cotton Candy

We had a blast all day today at the county fair. The boys and I arrived about noon, played all day. R joined us after he finished work. I have a million great pics, I'll try and choose the highlights. :)

In case any of you are wondering, though I think it'd be a better use of cyber-space, I'm afraid that if I make a slide show it will one day expire, and that would be terrible as I have high hopes that my sweet boys will be able to look back on this blog for decades. (That is, if the internet doesn't expire as well)

So...drum roll, please...

E goes bobbing for apples and comes out a winner.


J gives it a shot too, but to no avail. :(


N and J wait with amazing patience for a jump house wrecking ball "ride."


E waits with amazing patience for his brothers


E is the littlest actor (bear) in the "let's pretend" circus.


And J is a clown. Nate and I preferred to be part of the participating audience.


The boys congratulate each other for a graceful performance.


The fattest ice cream bars I've ever seen. Makes one feel almost okay about spending $3 on a bar.


Snow cone for N. Blueberry, of course.



E gets a pony ride.



The boys and their dad await the rodeo with expectations and cotton candy.


A nice grandma-lady offers to take a photo of the family. Take it from me, if you ever need help, look for a nice grandma lady!


Delight on N, R and J on the ferris wheel over the fair.


...and sometimes my little ones still hold me tight in the sunset. Makes mama so happy!

Quiet (for a minute) Summer Afternoon

The dishwasher and dryer hum away at my work, for a moment the boys are outside playing happily and I'll take advantage of a minute. We had a lunch of leftovers after a long, glorious bike ride to the library. It's our first venture of the sort this summer. Last year E cried when he saw the bike carrier, and this year J pedaled himself all the way without complaint. I loved cruising slowly up and down the neighborhoods, looky-looky that I am over houses and yards in great bloom. Then we headed downtown and got a treat from Goody's courtesy of the library book program. It was fabulouso, home in time for me to do more re-or and clean up that all this painting work is bringing one (yes, Karyn..I have photos.) So I am happily going to head into my afternoon work next.

Ah, and no root canal, but a cap which is extremely spendy- even with insurance. I little achy today but no worse for the wear.

And a few photos from this photo happy girl. :)

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie! Pizza and cake~



E helps unload the dishwasher.


Check out those muscles!!!



So this is J's super space boy room. I've ordered wallies for both rooms, you'll have to wait to see those. I think we'll try and paint N & E's room tonight.






The quilt that I bought, Karyn, turned out to be nearly neon when we got it on the bed. Crazy. As if this paint ain't bright enough! So I'll be shopping for something a little more...subtle.

















Two little boys in the tub gettin' clean, just smell them!
























Speaking of scents...The best smelling flowers J for me from his camping trip. I need to grow these! Seriously!


The sour little green apples I used to make a delicious cobbler. A big thanks to our generous neighbors. Now I'm peeling and freezing for winter cobblers! Mmm!

Simple Life

For Today...

Outside my Window...my sweetie is putting pork chops and asparagus on the barbie, boys are running around the yard in the lush grass in chubby bare feet.

I am thinking...I should go fold clothes.

I am thankful for...summer to play, rest, laugh, plan.

From the kitchen..whole wheat bread baking, dinner prep, recipe books and an extra phone book

I am wearing...sea blue tank, khaki shorts, bare feet

I am reading...Simply Charolette Mason, When Children Love to Learn, James

I am hoping...no pain after this cap on my tooth this afternoon

I am hearing...Nate call "Dad!", a fellow moms' playlist, Joe the fan in the kitchen

Around the house...the boys' room in nearly ready to paint, a box of hand me down clothes from a friend in the foyer, bathrooms are clean, carpets are clean, kitchen is happy-cluttered.

One of my favorite things...going to the beach (dreaming of August)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...library trips, bike rides, running, maybe a playdate? house keeping

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

These are some dear friends, Desiree and Teresa. I miss them both Des is coming to visit us next month, so I'm looking forward to seeing her so. I was 6 months pregnant with Nate in this photo. :)

A special thanks to The Simple Woman for hosting this meme.

"Get Candy, Get Candy"

An excerpt from Seinfeld;

"As a kid, the only thing I really cared about was candy. Candy is the only reason you want to live when you’re a kid. Ages zero through ten, candy is your life, there’s nothing else. Family, friends, school…they’re only obstacles in the way of getting more candy. And you have your favorite candies that you love. Kids actually believe that they can distinguish between 21 different versions of pure sugar."

How true is this. Catch this conversation I had with Joey, after his one night all-guys camping trip with his dad, grandad and cousin.

Mom: So tell us about your trip Joe.
Joey: Well, first, we went to the store and got some airheads. When we got to the campground we set up the tent. Then Zander and I had some gummy candies. Then yesterday we had three airheads. Today we had two more. At the beach we tried to build a sandcastle...Oh! And we had s'mores too!

Seinfeld is right! So, no more great trips to Chuck E. Cheese, or Disneyland for this mama. I'll just take the boys to the penny candy store and turn 'em loose! Who needs camping anyway?

Wordy Weekend

Ralph and I tackled the task of painting Joey's room yesterday, with plans for a big finish in Nate and Eli's room today. The painting was fun to do with my sweet husband. We rarely get to do projects together, and we had a fun time chatting and joking like old friends. We finished in the afternooon, the boys played and watched the boob toob all morning, so we spent time with them in the evening. These boys a truly a delight.

I like the room paint. The more I'm in there, the more I like it. It's truly a blue boys' room.

Then I hitched up my running gear & doggy, all set with a new playlist of worshipful music. I've been missing worship these days, haven't been singing over the summer. I did a good three mile run, enjoyed as always, watching Juneau run circles around me and chase birdies in the canyon. Good run.

When I got back Ralph told me Nate had a fever. So I snuggled up with my little guy and held him through the peaking fever. The remainder of the evening was spent with him, pretty much. I tucked him in bed and only got through half of the second book when he rolled over and fell fast asleep. I spent much of the night with him too, he needed me close to him. I'm grateful to be available for that- knowing that R would let me sleep in after a long night.

And I did just that. I didn't wake until 8:30- unheard of for me. I showered while Ralph and Joe got ready to head to church. The littlter boys and I would be mellow at home. And we did. Puzzles, a movie for a feverish boy who just couldn't move, and playdoh. After church dad called and invited whomever to go camping with himself and my nephew. Ralph and Joey packed up and were off.

So my afternoon and evening were again full of little boys, relaxing and tickles, a bike ride (fever is subsiding)and picking apples from our neighbors' tree...count 'em all. Read some books, get in a good snuggle and bed. Now I'm getting in some good writing, reading.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment, had a cleaning/exam last week with a new dentist. My dentist last year wasn't a great experience. Turns out I have a big fat cavity (it was on my x-rays from my LAST dental exam, but not mentioned) that needs immediate attention. The dentist hopes to fill it, but it may be my first & dreaded root canal. Pray for a filling, please!

I found a great article about scheduling a planning day for us schooling at home mama's. I am just so excited about the idea. A whole day to get the plan together, figure out which books I need immediately. It's a huge burden lifted- sometimes it's hard to play through summer when I know there is work to be done, but haven't assigned that work. Painting & decorating the boys' rooms help me with that too...it won't be hanging over me in the fall when I need to be giving all my attention to school. After all, I have three boys to teach!

For the Record

There are some things I just don't want to forget.

Like in the early morning when Nate crawls in bed next to me to snuggle up and get warm. When Eli (who almost always finds his way in our bed in the night) wakes up, Nate is thrilled, smiling at Eli and touching his face softly with his little cute fingers. Then Eli returns the affection, they smile and giggle at each other their greetings.

Then, this morning Nate chimes in with this:
"Mommy, wouldn't it be funny if I got a spanking and my bottom popped off?"

I love these sweet minutes, silly boys.

Cow Days of Summer

Because we all like to dress up like a dragon and play with play doh when it's 9o degrees out side....


or eat popcorn like all cows do.





















So long as you can do this afterward.


Swimming always leads to a little rest.


It's a good thing we have a King sized bed. All these beds in the house and somehow at bedtime they all gravitate to ours. :)

Today we went out for our first letterbox adventure. The boys found a spider web on the way.


Letterboxing is a great little trek. Look at letterboxing.org to find some local boxes. When you look it up, you'll find clues to a box near you. Then the hunt is on! We headed to Eagle Crest and set out on foot to find the box; with field journal, stamp, ink pad, pen, water and snacks in the pack. We followed the clues, almost thought we wouldn't find the box. But I stood for a minute and surveyed the land and we found the box under a boulder in the rocks! The boys were thilled. Joey unearthed the box, then we stamped (from the box) all our field journals and stamped the notebook (also from the box) with our stamp. Then we took a snack break and headed out. So much fun for all of us!

Think my boys need a haircut? Well, you're just going to have to wait. I just like their long shaggy hair. :)

Found it!

I found it! I found it! I found it! I found it! Eli's prayers were answered, I found it!

Eternity

I've been thinking a lot of what it means.

I'm a Christian.
I am a follower of Christ.

But what does that mean? What does that really mean, in my life today? What difference does it make in my life.

Let's take this camera thing, for instance. Trivial, yes. I lost my camera. Of course I asked God to help me find the camera. I prayed that if I didn't find it that I wouldn't allow it to ruin my evening with the boys, (their dad is gone today) freaking out about the camera instead of being a patient & kind mama. In fact, I heard Eli at least 5 times; "Dear Jesus, please help my mom find her camera."

But there is more to this. I have eternity.

There will be no need for cameras, for photos in heaven. Really, in the scheme of things it's just a camera.

With Christ, we have the promise of life forever-after this life.

Can a camera loss be a God experience? I hope so. I'm want everything that happens in life to push me to think eternally. When we turn our eyes to Him, the things on earth grow strangely dim. Cameras, cars, jobs, relationships, even our worst loss is greatly eased with eternal perspective. I have a few of those stories. I've been meaning to sit down and tell you about those. Painful, ugly stuff that put under the light of God is eased by knowing that God works everything for the good of those who love him**

The little stuff, the big stuff. God wants us all to trust in Him, push on in faith that He's got our backs.

So now I move on in faith. That means not freaking out about the camera. That means not stressing about the $, the insurance, all the details.

**Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

The important Stuff

Two weeks ago we had a baptism out at the property of a family in our church. Joey decided to be baptized, much to our surprise. We have been careful to explain the process and meaning of baptism; we are baptized as an act of our love for God, acceptance of the work He's completed for us, and our desire to live in obedience to him. After giving it a lot of thought Joey asked to be baptized. My sweet friend Cathy took photos (I took movies) of Joey and her own son's baptisms.










If you want to see some fun photos from afterward (there was a huge BBQ and a fun time at the rope swing, yes, I did it!) have a peek at Cathy's blog, you'll see Ralph's, Nate's and even my flight. SO fun!

Heartsick

I'm pretty sure that my camera was stolen from my car yesterday. Yes, the brand new camera I bought three, four weeks ago. And the HUGE, expensive scan disk in it. We went into Bend and I can't find it today. I don't remember finding it when unpacking last night. Oh, I'm just sick, sick, sick.

My mother-in-law works with insurance claims, I have a few questions into her. Ugh.

Wordless Weekend