Summer 1.0: Rowena Crest

Ben staged a well needed family intervention on Saturday and declared a ban on all computers, scooters, textbooks, homework, and yardwork.  Then he packed us all into the car and drove us out east for a little adventuring.  I had my hesitations as it was obviously naptime, our sweet angels were knee deep in the whiny trenches, and we were headed out in eighty degree weather to hike unshaded wildflower fields.  But I set my concerns aside and figured we could all use some beauty and spontenaity after the crazy few weeks we've had.  Apparently what the littles actually needed was some downtime because within five minutes of open road they were both in this position for a straight hour and a half.

Now Ben is our appointed family researcher so I really had no idea what to expect when we arrived.  He only said it was our last chance to see the wildflowers at Rowena Crest.  You couldn't really see much when we got there so I had a lovely passerby snap a family photo before we turned north.

Unfortunately our family researcher did not disclose the hazards of the trail which include any and all of the following: rattlesnakes, turkey vultures, poisonous tree frogs, poison ivy and poison oak.  

Ok, kiddos, just watch your feet as I send you out into the dry, open field for the perfect shot!  Mommy, What's that hissing sound?  Oh, it's probably just the wind.  Smile!

Sun, family, beauty, and the promise of an after hike ice cream cone.  I was in my happy place.

Me and my boy.

Hoping for a rattlesnake hideout.

Took about 30 shots of her in the flowers.  This is my favorite.

The grasses painted yellow.

You can't really tell but we were sitting on a crazy dropoff.  It was scary but pretty spectacular.

Ava was a rockstar hiker.  She did the whole 3 miles solo with very little complaining.  Queen of the mountain!

She was so excited the find this butterfly and almost caught it with her bare hands.  She now has a butterfly net on the top of her wishlist.

Ian didn't fare quite as well as his sister but managed a few hundred feet about every hour.  I'm pretty sure that was the best leg workout Ben's had in awhile.

The trailhead.

Close-ups

Ian perfecting his snarl.

Love, love, love that I'm married to a man who knows exactly when we all need a change of scenery.  I was so close to staying home so I could clean the house and get work done.  It's not always easy to say no to everything right in front of my face and say yes to the unknown.  But it is always worth it.

yin and yang

I keep coming back to this photo of Willa and Ian and I'm telling you I cannot stop smiling every time I look at it.

These two munchkins have been causing trouble together since I was still in the early stages of the two babies mama fog.  I can hardly believe that they are now big enough to ring each others doorbells and plan their own playdates.  I'm not sure I've seen two more polar opposites tie up a friendship so beautifully. Where Ian is cautious, Willa is bold.  Where Ian requires that I put his seatbelt on in every grocery store, Willa has her picture up at Costco with the label, Warning, Extreme Seatjumper!   And while all mamas involved have discussed the many future scenarios where these two could end up in the principals office, we cannot help but admire the fierce loyalty of their friendship.  It definitely required a trip through the archives...

Getting into Ava's hairthings

Sharing french fries

snacks on the couch

not paying attention in gymnastic class

getting their brave on for a trip down the "big slide"

Birthday party buddies

We both have hats!

Singing, swinging, and snacking

I can leave them alone for twenty minutes and never know what I will find

A:  washing Barbies in the toilet?

B:  putting on jammies for a little princess and superhero play?

C:  Taking off all our clothes to "practice potty"?

D:  all of the above

They are definitely in my prayers but I can't wait to see where their adventures take them.

Saturday Stream of Consciousness

*I had a glorious reunion with my couch today.  A movie, nap and cereal ensued.  He said, "Same time tomorrow?"  But sadly I had to give him the cold shoulder and divulge my to-do list.  I penciled him in for next Thursday from 9-midnight.
*Spring has officially sprung, but after two weeks of sunshine and seventies I'm going to go ahead and officially announce summer.  Who's with me?  Apparently she is since I can't get her out of her flip-flops.

*In light of these events I spent the afternoon trying on short shorts at the jcrew outlet.

*It did not go well.  When did short shorts get so short anyway?
*However, I scored a t-shirt with a sequined flamingo on the front for under $10.  It was kind of nostalgic considering I rocked flamingo bedding and room decor for a good part of my childhood. (Ok, and maybe for a good part of my teen years.  I was way ahead of my time.)
*Ian's going through a bit of an identity crises and wore his pirate costume for seven straight days. Luckily Grandma chose a pirate theme for her birthday so it all worked out.

 Man, I would wear the same outfit for seven straight days if I got the reaction he did.  We're talking high fives from complete strangers.  But then suddenly he felt empowered by his "capm mewica" jammies and doesn't want to take them off.  I had to draw the line when he wanted to leave the house with his pj's over his pirate costume.  It was just too confusing for everyone.  Little man did not approve.  Lately we've been getting a lot of this face:

*Luckily he approved of his room renovation.  Although, poor Ben just about lost touch with reality trying to put that bed together.  I think he's going to refuse to take me to IKEA from here on out.  I cheered him on from the sidelines cause this bed rocks.  It's got drawers AND a trundle.  I'm telling you those Dutch furniture scientists blow my mind.

*Speaking of Ben, I discovered these two photos during my nightly upload:

*I sure hope he's auditioning some sister wives on the sly cause I could use some help around here.

*Did I mention I got two new jobs and am going to grad school?  No?  That's because most days I like to pretend that the only decision I have to make between the hours of 1 and 3 are whether I'm going to watch Ina or read.

*Speaking of reading I did manage to get three chapters in of this book and it's awesome.  

*Turns out I'm a highly sensitive ambivert.  That means I go both ways.  Personality speaking.  So don't get any ideas future sister wife!

*Ok, it's not even Saturday anymore and that three hour nap isn't pulling it's weight.

*Happy belated Birthday shout-out to my beautiful mother!  

*Here's my current fave photo of her with my eldest.  I figured if I posted the one of her doing hoola-hoop with the Wii she won't give me my birthday presents. Thank you for always making me stand up straight and for all the times you held my hair back when I threw up.  You never cease to amaze me with the ways you love our family.
*Ok, it's time to go clean the kitchen.  Because until that sister-wife thing works out it's just me around here.
*Thank you for bearing through my, it's my blog and I'll bore you to tears with the mundane ramblings of my life, attitude.
*This blog post is now officially retitled, Sunday Stream of Consciousness.

Easter

Easter morning kind of feels like a lifetime ago but the joy still feels tangible and the sound of He is Risen still rings in my ears so I think a little documentation might be in order.  

All the kids bring balloons in from their classes at church and it is sheer beautiful chaos.  

Family self take.

Ian's going through a bit of a photo phase.

And another one.

It was a beautiful day for an egg hunt.

I don't even want to think about how much candy he ate.

We did not make it easy on the bigs.  They have to work for their chocolate.

With 16 of our lovies over for lunch it was a full house.  But it's the only official holiday I host and I love pulling out my china and having all of us sit around the table and sing the doxology before we eat. I look forward to it all year.

Look who found the golden egg!

I wish I had a pic of all of us sitting around the table but we were just having too much fun to stop for pictures.  Within half an hour of finishing lunch half the posse was asleep in the living room.  I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the cheesecake.  You know its a good day when the sun shines, every door opens with "He is risen indeed!", your house fills with the sounds of five littles getting into mischief, and you put half your guests into a food coma.

No cavities!

Pretty much an Easter miracle considering how much candy this boy eats.  "I'm yo chocate boy mama!"  Yes you are my love.  Yes you are.  But can we please not tell that to the dentist.  I'm going to enjoy this proud mommy moment for the oh, I'd say 6 months that its going to last.  

Happy Dance!

extended stay-cation

Let's see....so last we met we were living the high life

double spooning frozen yogurt 

like there was no tomorrow.
Because there wasn't

There was only impromptu gatherings with kindred gigglers

and beautiful birthday girls.

There was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, new parks, bikerides

and breathing in the new spring air.
But there's only so many slices in the chocolate cream pie before you have to get your kid back on the school bus.  Luckily for us, an extra slice of pie arrived on United Airlines just in time for us to pretend it was still spring break.  Hi Amy!

We pretty much ran around like we owned the place.  We ate boar collar at eleven in the morning.  We let our kids rummage through waterfalls and barely blinked when they shimmied down a ravine.

When they got dirty we stripped them down to their skivvies and hit up the closest goodwill for new pants.  We called it Portland chic and then turned into Powell's for a two hour bookfest.  We went for broke, left the kids in the brave hands of the hubby and shopped through Nordstrom Rack like it was a two am rager.  It was only three-ish days but it was a wild time and further sealed the bonds of some good kid-friendship.  And sometimes, ok, all-times, it's just nice to have someone in the passenger seat. Because life is messy and every mama needs some backup.  We miss you guys already!

But this week we're back to dentist appointments (eh), job-interviews (yay! ahh! yay! ahh!), meal planning(eh), long nights of Ben coaching track(boo!), viruses(boo!), Italy planning (yay! yay! yay!), grad school(yay!), and church work(yay for spring pedicure money!).  It's the familiar last stretch until June.  Eight weeks of the inevitable arm-wrestle.  The searching out of joy in the routine and living in the now and not in the countdown of summer break.
So, at the crack of dawn (ok, it was 7am, but in my defense I have a nasty cold and had to get up with Ava twice due to a nightmare involving yo-yo's and "growing pains") the sound of little feet stirred me just enough to peek out and see Ian tip-toeing towards my bed.  He kissed me straight up on the lips and whispered, "I yuv you Mommy."
I figure it's a pretty good start.