Around Here: Week 26 {2018}

I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River

Road tripping... to Vancouver to see my parents & Josh's parents.  The drive down was fantastic.  We got there in a little over four hours, and Carly was amazing! The boys are always good on road trips, so she is our only wildcard.

Watching... Josh's brother race at Portland International Raceway (PIR) on Friday night with Josh's nephews and sister.  It felt like a luxury to squeeze in some adult time away from the kids, and I felt bad arriving & dumping the kids off at my mom's, but she assured me she did not mind one bit, and the kids, of course, were overjoyed to spend some special time with Nanny & Papa without mom and dad around to say no to anything. ;)  (Thanks mom & dad!)
After watching Samuel race, we went out for dessert where, as usual, we had so many laughs.  I just love Josh's brother & sister and am so glad they are part of my life.

Eating... donuts at Voodoo Donuts in Portland Saturday morning with my dad and the boys.  The donuts were delicious.  We tried the Butterfinger one, the maple/bacon one and the cocoa puff one.  Yum!!!  The only sad part was how much homelessness we witnessed while downtown.  Wyatt said it was making him really sad.  It made me really sad, too.  I mean, people were camping in tents and even sleeping on the sidewalks.  At certain corners we literally had to step over them.  It was heart wrenching.

Visiting... Powell's bookstore for the first time with my dad & the boys after we had donuts.  The boys enjoyed picking their books, but while waiting for mom to look, they were bored.  I was in heaven! I could seriously move in!  I think it will be a destination every time I visit from now on!  (But without the kids!)  The location we visited is the size of a city block!!! Can you imagine all the books!?! They sell new & used, so the prices are awesome, and I just love bookstores, so I felt like I had arrived!  (I'll be doing a post all about what I bought coming up!)

Loving... the time with my mom and dad, and the kids loved the time with their Nanny & Papa and their Grandma and cousins.  I got to see Book Club with my mom at the theater, and we also got to visit the fabric store to choose material for a new, bigger crib blanket for Carly.  She's outgrowing her baby blanket.  It can't cover her shoulders and her feet, and when it isn't reaching both, she says, "It's not working!" So cute!  We loved having some time together, just the two of us, my mom and I, while the kids spent time with their cousins at Grandma Carol's house.
My boys got to go on walks with my dad, one of which included finding a small snake in the woods by their house and picking it up, a definite "boyhood rite of passage" they were thrilled to experience!

Lunching... with my mom and cousin Alix another day when Grandma Carol had the kids.  It was great to catch up with Alix, whose cute baby is nearly a year (I can't believe how time flies!) and have more time with my mom.  We even snuck in a trip to Target before lunch and mom treated me to some new throw pillows that are breathing some life into my living room!  They make me so happy!

Walking... in the rain along the Columbia River waterfront after threatening my children's lives convincing the boys it would be super fun and then getting poured on halfway through in an unexpected change of weather. Ha! Luckily we all just laughed and were super grateful the van has leather seats as we literally looked like we had just gotten out of the shower with our clothes on by the time we made it back to the parking lot!  The boys decided the weather in our hometown (dry desert) is far superior to that of Vancouver (liquid sunshine).

Jumping... at SkyZone with my mom's cousin's sons who are near my boys' ages.  They all had so much fun together, and I loved catching up with Amy, who lives in Hawaii.  It was awesome how much family I was able to see during our short trip this time!

Celebrating... my Uncle Jon's 60th birthday and getting to see both my mom's sisters, as well as my cousins and some other family friends.  I got to meet my cousin Savanna's boyfriend Derek, who the twins adore (!); and we got to see Dawne, who Wyatt loved visiting with; and Norma, who I worked with in high school; and Alix's baby Elliot who is so smiley, he wins you over instantly!  It was a lovely night, and all my kids were super well-behaved, which was awesome!

Catching up... with my bible study girls from junior high.  We started our weekly bible study together back when I was in seventh grade... which was like, an eternity (or twenty-two years) ago.  We have continued to meet up at least once a year and now we have a total of four husbands and thirteen kids between us, and our time together never feels like enough.  I love those girls who hold my past and all my youthful prayer requests, so much.  Those girls who loved me back when I loved scrunchies, Doc Martens & overall shorts.  I am so grateful they are still part of my life.

Wiggling... teeth in our house in tandem.  Logan & Jack have matching loose teeth, just like in their infancy when they grew matching teeth.  Wednesday Jack was complaining about how his loose tooth hurt and I jokingly said, "Then pull it out!" And then he did!!! So the tooth fairy paid him a visit and he got a $2 bill that night!

Tolerating... constant Nerf gun wars.  The twins spent all their birthday money on combat gear for their wars and they've been loving every minute of it.  They are pretty tough, luckily, and don't come crying to me when they get shot in the eye or face.  The only annoying thing is how I find Nerf bullets all day, err day! Seriously, they're everywhere!

Enjoying... lots more fudgefickles and Carly saying, "No problem" to me lately when I ask her to do things.  I also love how she sings all the time.  Wednesday she found an old sprinkler head in the garden and has been pretending it's a microphone ever since. It's so cute!  After dinner the other night I made an exasperated noise because it was a disgusting mess under the table and after I made the sound Carly immediately asked, "What'd brothers do, mom?" Hah! Like only her brothers could possibly cause me to be that irritated!

Driving... Logan to Spokane after spending hours in the car the day before getting home from Vancouver.  Unfortunately his neurology appointments are all there, in Spokane, about an hour and a half away.  Luckily our drive there and back was uneventful.
At his appointment (which I will be writing a post about soon) we decided that our next step will be to slowly wean him off his original epilepsy medication (Trileptal) which is only effective in preventing grand mal seizures, not the petite (absent) ones he's been having as of late.  We're hopeful that getting him off Trileptal will help stop the absent seizures as it can sometimes trigger them.

Reading... and finishing Tell Me More.  Still working on The Stranger in the Woods and Four Seasons in Rome.  I got to choose the next book next for our local book club.  I chose This Is How It Always Is, which had amazing reviews from Modern Mrs. Darcy.  I will also be leading The Inspired Readers Book Club with a new book for July. (We'd love to have you join us on Facebook-click the link!)  I have chosen The Book of Essie and I can't wait to dig in!

Playing... the days away in our backyard.  It hasn't been quite warm enough to head to the pool this week so we've been sticking close to home, putting the sprinkler under the trampoline and having water balloon fights instead.  I even made a homemade "water table" for Carly with some dishwashing buckets and she had a field day with it!  I found myself thinking multiple times that I'm so glad the boys have each other as playmates.

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Haverlee shared this last week & I love it so much.

The Oregon Zoo

Yesterday my mom and I took the kids to the Oregon Zoo.  We had an awesome visit.  Carly was not so sure about going to the zoo because she was scared of seeing the bears, but once we got there, she was excited.  And lucky for her, the bears were sleeping, so they looked pretty sweet & harmless.  We also got to see the cougars who were sleeping.  Carly said she wanted to give them snuggles. 

All three boys were really helpful with keeping an eye on Carly.  She mostly walked, not wanting to be stuck in the stroller, and they held her hand or corralled her back to us when she got to far ahead.

We loved the elephants, the fish, the giraffes and the seals.  

For snack my mom got us elephant ears.  Carly insisted she DID NOT want an elephant ear and that "Nanny, you're teasing me!"  We explained that they were like donuts and she'd like them.  Sure enough, she loved them, and we all enjoyed them very much!

When Carly got cranky toward the end of the day, Jack volunteered to carry her on his shoulders, and she was ecstatic.  She has the best brothers in town, I'm telling you! 

Wyatt & Logan ran ahead at one point on the trail and scared the pants off Nanny.  They were all laughing so hard!  Little stinkers! Hah!

We did so much walking that by the time we were leaving, the kids were all pretty worn out (and honestly, so were my mom and me!), but Wyatt had the worst of it.  His left foot (the one that was broken back in the fall) was hurting pretty bad so I let him climb into the stroller and I got a serious workout pushing him back to the car!  Eventually we made it!

It was a great day, full of great memories!

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