Play Time

I bought this book several years ago. It is Savanna's all-time favorite book. It is full of easy crafts and adventures. Written for a parent, but the pages are easy for a child to look through and see what looks like fun. I love that each activity explains from a child's perspective what a child will be experiencing, feeling, wondering, or seeing from each activity. Also little hints with each activity about what you can say and do to help your child feel more special, powerful, smart, creative, helpful and loved by you. I loved the helpful tip "When an adult goes for a walk, it is usually for the purpose of getting somewhere. When a child goes for a walk, it is to explore. Children have very little interest in walking just to get somewhere." How many times am I walking full-speed with my daddy-longlegs and just want my little buddies to keep up with me. They just want to see and explore.

Today our playtime was making a wig out of a paper bag, a magic cap out of black paper, and 2 paper cups tied together with string.

My friend last night told me about this book below. I'm ordering it today.

Camping with cousin Sarah

We had a lot of fun this weekend. Four of Mark's brothers came from out of town to surprise their dad for his 70th birthday. The weekend kicked off with a camping trip on Friday night. Mark took 6 of our kids, and Jon took his daughter Sarah. It was a beautiful day on the Columbia River where they stayed. Lots of fun, rain, dirt, grass, and craziness. It was Savanna's first camping trip, and she was very excited. It was so funny watching her pack. She is a pack-rat. 100%. Each time I came through the kitchen I would see more and more random things shoved into her bag. Aubrey slept in a tent with Savanna, and she said she spent all night with Savanna going, "Aubrey, help me get all these stuffed animals out of my sleeping bag." They would pull out the animals, and then Savanna would say, "Aubrey, I need all the stuffed animals in my bag." Back in, back out, back in. I didn't realize she had packed so many until I was UNpacking her bag. There were 12 stuffed animals!

Hummingbirds

After 2 years of the ugliest, cheapest hummingbird feeder hanging outside my kitchen window, Mark bought this beauty for me a few weeks ago. All day long we have Ana's and Rufuos hummingbirds feeding. They are really beautiful birds--even better that now I get to look at this beautiful glass piece of art while I do the dishes.

Zachary loves the hummingbirds. He will be plowing through the house at full speed, but if he spots a hummingbird at the feeder he will stop in his tracks and giggle the word "hummingbird" over and over. And then when the bird is finished drinking, Zachary waves and says, "Bye, bird!"

Organization

I was attempting to find a matching pair of pajamas for Savanna tonight. She said she would like her princess PJs. I couldn't find them in her pajama drawer. In fact, there weren't many pajamas in her pajama drawer. Here is the conversation that followed:

Mom: Precious, I can't find your princess pajamas. You'll have to wear some others.
Savanna: The shirt is in the bottom drawer, and the pants are in the bottomest drawer.
Mom: Why did you put them in there?
Savanna: I mixded up all the drawers. See?
Mom: (perplexed at the mixture of shirts/pants/undies/socks/pjs in all 3 drawers) Why did you mix up all your drawers?
Savanna: Because we had so much fun organizing them last time!

Playground planning

We have been looking at playground equipment ever since we moved into our house 6 years ago. At first we looked at the big, fancy, colorful Rainbow Depot playsets. They seemed amazing. And then we realized that since they were made out of wood, you would have to sand and re-finish them every few years. YIKES! So then I really started paying attention to what the kids played with when we went to parks. I realized that when all fancy options are available, they usually resort to the good old-fashioned pieces I grew up with--swings, a free-standing slide, maybe some monkey bars. They pretty much leave all the brightly-colored doo-dads alone and stick with the basics.

I also have observed that kids--even teenagers--love to swing. Every time I drive by the park in an afternoon or the summer, there are teenagers sitting in the swings talking. This 4-swing set pictured above is what we are going to get. And probably the slide. I also have another secret in my aresenal. This merry-go-round is my kids all-time favorite park toy. Who didn't have a blast as a kid on one of these at the park spinning too fast and throwing up in the car on the way home?

No more stitches

Zack had his stitches taken out yesterday. It was much more traumatic that having them placed. The big problem was that Zack had no idea there was anything wrong with his chin. He had slept through the stitching, and the sutures were below his chin, so he couldn't even see them in the mirror.

Think of it. Then the poor boy is suddenly held down on a table at the doctor's office while a person he doesn't know stands over his face with scissors and tweezers. It was a little tricky because on Sunday Zack had fallen and caused the wound to bleed, creating a big new scab covering the sutures. And somehow through all of his craziness, Zack had lost 3 of the sutures already. So it just took a few minutes of holding him down, and a fresh coat of super glue over the owie, and Zack was bouncing off the walls again, ready to take on the world.

Spring Fever!

After months of cold, rainy weather, we finally had a super warm and beautiful weekend. Normally the rain and cold doesn't bother me. I actually like the rain. But after spending 8 days in Belize last month, it was very difficult to come home to the cold.

These are a few pictures that Mark took in the backyard yesterday. The pines have their candles, the firs are budding, the goldenchain tree is covered in lovely plumes of bright yellow, the azaleas are on fire with blossoms, and wild lupine are stretching for the sky. It is so beautiful. If only our grass looked as good.

Our backyard grading project received official OK from the county last week. They tried to find a place in the county code that would prevent us from landscaping. They tried several times. They still have not learned that Jill knows how to read the code, and I will push back and make them look like idiots if they insist. I thought that by kicking their sorry butts in a lawsuit 3 1/2 years ago they would realize that I'm no pushover. But that butt-kicking just made them angry, and they have tried in vain to stop us from legally finishing our backyard.

One of their good ones this time around was that they tried to say that they needed to see a 1-ft scale topo map of the before and proposed "after" project in order to consider our application as "complete". I knew this would run about $10,000 to do. So I looked up the code, and they only require a 10-ft scale topo. This 10-ft topo is in their county mapping sytem already. When I pushed, the idiot planner we are forced to appease said that he just needed to see that level of detail to determine whether or not the project would be stable. I asked him to show me his engineer stamp and to explain why the stamp of an engineering geologist on our plan guaranteeing the stability of the project was insufficient. He decided to back down.

Now the fun begins. A real sprinkler system. The LAST lawn planting. Shrub beds. And FINALLY a swingset. I'll have to blog about that beauty later.

A stitch in time

Zack got a bonk today. A big, bloody owie on his chin. He was doing a little happy dance in the kitchen while I was peeling his apple. He had his hands over his tummy, and when his dance got a little crazy he fell over on his face. His chin hit the hardwood floor and split open. He bled all over me and all over the kitchen before I finally got a good enough look at him to realize he needed stitches.

My friend Holly was on her way to my house when this happened, and so when she arrived I left her with Savanna (and the project we were both supposed to be working on together) and I headed to the doctor's office with Zack.

When we got there the nurse took us into their suture room and she gave Zack a pillow and a ball. He calmed right down and laid down on his pillow. He started to get a little sleepy. I slid him up so the pillow was mostly under his back, which forced his chin to go up and away from his chest. Then I just rubbed his head and talked to him until he fell asleep.

He was out cold.

The nurse then put the super-duper topical anesthetic on his chin, and they gave it 15 minutes to work its magic. Zack was still sleeping. The doctor came in prepared for the papoose-board, and then he saw my snuggly guy passed out on the table and couldn't believe it. I held Zack's hands closed so he couldn't startle himself awake. And then I watched in amazement as the doctor placed five perfect stitches in my boy's chin. They didn't even have to use a lidocaine injection.

I picked up Zack, put him in his carseat, drove home, and put him in his bed. He slept for a little while and then came out of his room as happy as ever. He has NO idea that he has stitches.

We'll see how he feels about in Monday when we get them taken out.

How to eat a donut

Our kids have 2 methods of eating a donut. Both are effective.

More birthday pics

Here are a few more pictures from Abram's birthday.
First: presents
Waiting for cake
Oh, yeah. I made that cake by myself. Happy singers.
Zack loves donuts.

Happy Birthday, Abram!

It's official. My baby is 14. I never could have imagined that my little 8 pound baby would grow so fast. Everyone told me it would happen. And somehow between all the busy craziness of every day, Abram is no longer a little boy or a scrawny kid. He's grown about 12 inches this year and bulked up to 125 pounds! I still have 2 inches on him, but with his size 11 feet, I know he is not done growing taller.

Yesterday one of his teachers brought cake and ice cream and surprised Abram with it during lunch. I was very excited when I asked Abram what kind of birthday cake he wanted and he told me "The usual Krispy Kreme cake." No, there is not a cake at Krispy Kreme. It's just that about 5 years ago when KK opened up here, I had a brainstorm one birthday that a bunch of donuts piled up on a fancy cake stand would look really cool. Stick some candles in the top donut, and you're done. They'll even give you "party hats" at KK if you ask for them. So the lame-mom donut cake was born, and 90% of the birthdays around here happen with a Krispy Kreme cake.

I told Abram he could invite a few friends over today for lunch and basketball. I asked what he wanted to eat, and he said, "Costco pizza." So I took Abram and 3 of his friends with me to Costco. They walked around the store and ate samples while I did my shopping, and then when I got in line I gave Abram a $20 for them to go get pizza, churros and drinks. They were very happy boys. They ate up, and we went home and they played basketball like good 14-year-old boys.

Abram

My baby is turning 14! Tomorrow is the big day (and Happy Birthday to Meg, too). So hard to believe how much time has gone by since I had the miserable day in the hospital 14 years ago. I have a CD by Linda Rhondstat of rock songs sung as lullabies that I have always loved. One song on there, "Be My Baby" originally sung by the Ronettes, is one that I have always sung to babies in our family is this:

"The night we met I knew I needed you so

And if I had the chance I'd never let you go

So won't you say you love me

I'll make you so proud of me

We'll make 'em turn their heads

Every place we go

So won't you please

Be my little baby

Say you'll be my darling
Be my baby now.

I'll make you happy, baby

Just wait and see

For every kiss you give me

I'll give you three

Oh, since the day I saw you

I have been waiting for you

You know I will adore you

Till eternity."

I'm going to have to come up with a new name to call him. Baby Abey isn't going to fly any more. He's going to his first Stake dance on Saturday! The times they are a-changin'.

Happy Birthday, Joel!

Last week was Joel's 9th birthday. He is such a great kid. He works hard at school, practices the piano like CRAZY, and is always trying his best to make people happy. He has a sharp wit, and a real gift for humor. I love this boy. Pretty much everyone loves this boy.

I asked Joel what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. He said, "Hmmmm. I think some kind of bird would be nice. Maybe an american goldfinch. No, no. I think a mallard. A male mallard." So I had to figure out how to make a cake that would sort of look like a male mallard. There are 2 couples of mallards who come to our backyard morning and night for dinner, and the male mallard is Joel's favorite bird. I was worried that Joel would think the cake looked a little--well--like a Kindergartener made it. But when he came home from school and saw my creation he said, "Mom, I really like how you did the details!" Sweet

Joel got binoculars for his birthday. Not just cheap toy ones. Real birding binoculars. He has been out on the patio each morning at 6:00 with his jacket, bird book and binoculars to see what new birds he can add to his list. This weekend was a good one. We had the great blue heron, osprey and bald eagle all fly by to say "Hi" to Joel.

Mod Mum Baby Slings

Mark's 2 adorable cousins started Mod Mum. See their product at www.modmum.com . They sell the most adorable, and practical, baby slings. I cannot believe that I raised 6 babies without one of these slings. Just think of what I could have done if I had one! I bought one when Zack was about one year old, and it has been so great. The picture of me at the top of the blog is with Zack asleep in a sling. I love being able to use both of my hands AND hold my boy at the same time. It is great when Zack falls asleep in the car, because I can just put him in the sling and carry him around Costco without having to wake him up to put him in the shopping cart, or having to try to carry a sleeping baby in one arm and shop with the other.

As you see I have biceps to spare.....

Zack is a powerhouse. He's built like a tank. Most people ask if he is 3 when I have him with me. I tell them he is 1 1/2 , and nobody can believe it. He is huge. Really, on the growth chart he is the size of an average 3-year-old.

We had this Tupperware shape sorter toy when I was a kid, and when Abram was a baby we bought one like all good parents should. I remember as a kid being at the mercy of my mom or another adult to open the dang toy and shake all the shapes out for me after I had put them in. Abram (and all of our other kids) had the same problem. It was just very hard for a small kid to have enough strength to pull the halves of the ball apart far enough to let the shapes out.

Enter Zack. This is his favorite toy right now. He is very quick at finding all the right places for the shapes. But what he is even faster at is pulling the ball apart and shaking out the pieces. He uses his brute strength to effortlessly pull and shake, and he's ready to go again.

His other favorite toy is this treasure we found at IKEA last month. He calls it "Buddies." He runs the loop in our house as fast as he can while pushing this toy, watching the little people (buddies) pop up and down. I couldn't believe it was only $7. Where have I been? I guess most other families of young children already had this toy, because most people make it to IKEA more than once every 2 years. We just hadn't bought any new "baby" toys in quite a few years. Just a little noise as the wooden people pop up and down. No electronics. No lights. No obnoxious robot voice saying "Let's play and sing together." Just happy giggles from my boy. I love this toy.