SCARED!

I finally feel like I'm in a spot where I can post about this.  This journey starts a few years back and with a longer back story which we don't need to delve into.  And mostly this is for me, the more I talk and write the more cathartic it is for me.  About 6 years ago we almost lost my mom and that was scary.  This last Tuesday we almost lost her again to a version of what happened last time.  I got a call Tuesday night that she was being rushed to the ER and it didn't look good.  So I made a few phone calls, hopped in the shower and took off for my mom.  When we could finally see her it was 6 years ago all over again.  I swore then that I never wanted to see my mother like that ever  again and there I was.  Seeing her hooked up to a bunch of different things, a ton of IVs, and she was put out because she was intubated.  It wasn't pretty when we saw her, scary is an understatement.  However, a few hours later when I saw her again there was a huge and visible improvement in 6 or so hours!! She just kept improving and before you know it they knew what was wrong and are able to treat it.  Pneumonia...that's the big thing.  Amen for answered prayers because my mom will be going home tomorrow!!! 

I went up to see her today after Frank got off work.  I needed to see her not hooked up and 'sleeping', I just did.  I saw her and visited with her for a few hours, she's working on getting better and done with the Pneumonia stuff. This roller coaster has been tough...and that's just for me.  I can't imagine what my dad or mom felt or will be feeling as things settle down.

I do know many prayers were said and they were answered, and that may be all we need to know.

Thank you Lord!

Ninja

SO...in the afternoons I have Dru go in his big brothers room and wait while I put Eli to sleep and lay him down.  When I'm done I let Dru know he can come out of the bedroom.  Today was no different.

However...when he came out I saw the front of him and didn't suspect anything.  When I asked him to get something, THIS is what I saw!  I died laughing it was SO funny!!

I asked if that was his cape, he said yes.  My husband and his co-workers however have decided that he is a Ninja Turtle (you know, TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) ).

 

And that folks is his shell!  Take a look....that's a sad, little shell!  Poor super hero!  But I'm thankful for the laugh!

Almost

When we went to Spokane awhile back, Grandma Lea asked Dru a question when we were there.

Grandma Lea: Dru. 

Dru: Yes

Grandma Lea: Are you doing T-ball this year?

Dru: Yes

Grandma Lea: Are you good at T-ball?

Dru: (after some thought) Almost!

He had us rolling! So here is Dru the night of  his first game! Such excitement!

Dru getting some practice in before the game.

Lefty at bat!!! Swing batter!

Gotta love the batting hat!

Love looking at this picture, such joy in running from one base to the next.  Playing the game!

It is so fun watching Dru play, he always has this huge grin on his face.  He also dances a bit...OK not a bit a lot.  Why I don't know.  Boredom?  Either way it's funny to watch, he's out there shaking what his momma gave him! GO DRU!

GO BLUE SHARKS!

Advice

If you could go back to the day before you had children, what two pieces of advice would you give yourself?   This was really tough for me and then of course I kept forgetting to take pictures or write them down. 

" It is impossible to spoil a baby by holding them all the time"

I got so sick of hearing people telling me I hold my baby too much and how were they ever going to learn to sleep on their own and blah blah blah.  I'll have you know all 4 of my boys sleep in their own beds and the youngest one is working his way to sleeping by himself with out have me snuggle and rock him to bed!

Once or twice was all it took for me to 'get' this one.  My friend always told me this and I'm sure I've told every new mom I run into this one.  It is my cardinal rule (for my kids, however if it's your baby and I want to hold them it doesn't apply...KIDDING!  Sorta...)

"Never, EVER wake a sleeping baby!!!!!"

I don't care what mountains you have to move...DON'T wake that baby!  I have been known to move baby swings with sleeping baby in them so I could go to bed!

*There is no need to carry the car seat with the baby in it...
*Just because someone gives you advice and has years of parenting behind them, you do NOT have to take that advice as law.  It may not work for you, it may not be right for you or your family.  Advice is freely give it is also freely taken or not
*Sleep when the baby sleeps
*Nursing is a relationship, you gotta work at it.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
*Ask for help, there is no shame in asking
*You will always panic when you sneeze because you don't know what to hold first (you know what I'm talking about ladies!)
*Being consistent as a parent is one of the hardest things you'll ever have to do
*Be prepared to experience weird things: rocks up the nose and googly eyes up the nose
*Each kid has their own personality and each kid is different

Just a few more I thought of.  So, what would you tell yourself??

Faces

While waiting for Lee to get done with his Flag Football Skills Assessment tests, we all fiddled around the field waiting.  So I took a few pictures. 

Dru , don't tell him that sometimes when he makes faces like this he's really hard to say no to or ignore (although the older he gets and the more annoying he gets it's getting easier for me!).

 Isaac...I say smile and let me take your picture.  He says hold on until he gets this look just right.  Cracked me up!  We all were so excited to have Isaac! We got to have him over for a sleepover...Dru finally could have his Isaac for another night, yet again! 

 Eli...he's still cute.  Problem is he's going to turn 3.  I don't like 3 year olds...he's gonna get ugly soon!! Ish!

Hope you all have had a good start to your week so far.  We are busy the next couple of months.  We have started baseball and this year we have 3 in the league.  Which is fine just keeps us busy between practice and games.  And then after Easter Lee starts up doing Flag football, so from Sunday to Thursday it's go, go, go!  The upside to this?  I have 4 boys that go to bed MUCH better than they normally do! AMEN!  Now my only struggle is to go see two nephews play their games because they are in a different league than we are.  I have to make it to at least one...I'm the awesome Auntie remember!?!

Sunglasses

Put your shades on folks!  There was some sun on Sunday...then it snowed about 1/2 an inch that night and into Monday morning.  Mother Nature is a fickled woman!

Mad Scientists

Don't ask me what these two are cooking up but it entertained them while I was making dinner.  (Ian got a microscope and other things in a container from his grandparents...sometimes I don't think they like me very much when they get things like this ;)   ).

Our Goodbye's

Sad to say but our time had to come to end, we can't stay there forever you know!  So we met up with my little brother and his niece and my nephew!  Can you see just how sad Samuel looks!  He just knew this was a goodbye! He is going miss his Auntie SO SO much!

It was so nice meeting up the next day after having him all day long.  He came right to me!!!  I am the COOLEST Auntie!  Whoopeee!!!!!

 We met Uncle David and the kids at the North Town Mall, to have a snack and visit before we took off for home.  The kids were wired before we got there (should have made them run laps around the mall, too bad the mall is at a busy intersections!).  Pictures I keep taking of Ian...well look! He's looking so much older, how can turning 9 do that???  He sure is a handsome boy!

 It almost looks like there's gonna be a confrontation...or a fist meeting a face.  I don't think they were fighting but playing some game.

 Look at those eyes!  I'm gonna miss him and he's going to miss me! 

We all did have a good visit and we enjoyed a small snack.  I'm glad we were able to go and spend some time up there visiting them.  I wish we could do it so much more than we are able to but it is what it is.  So until we meet again my dear nephew...remember Auntie loves you!

The Farm

The day we've all been looking forward to...THE FARM!!! Woohoo!  The boys have been waiting for some place to just run free.  My dream someday is to have some land for my boys to play on (I'm sure I'd still hear from Ian just how boring that is).  On that chunk of land of course would be my dream house (let's not forget that!). 

Well off we went to my friend Nikki's mom's house (that's a mouthful and I'm my own grandpa!), also known as, Grandma Lea's farm.  We got there in the late morning and spent almost all day there!  The bigger boys played outside for that except for meals. 

There is a back story here and I won't do it justice cause I was not fortuitous to take pictures of it.  BUT....at Grandma Lea's farm there is this 'puddle' but we'll call it a lake (to particular 4yr. olds it would appear that way).  Before we were at Grandma Lea's house, like a week or more, Grandpa got his 4-wheeler stuck in this 'puddle' and it was made deeper by the attempts to get it out.  Add all those things and all the rain we had before we got there, and you get Lake Williams.

So that's the back story or there abouts.  Now all the boys INCLUDING Dru were warned and spoken too by Grandpa.  Specifically don't go IN the puddle/lake!!  Under no circumstances were they to try and jump in it or other such hair brained ideas young boys come up with.  I think Grandpa was on to them before they got out of the car!  Well, Dru being who he is and getting by on his looks ( I jest...sort of...he is so darn cute and all) and such I don't think he thought Grandpa was talking to him particular.  So off Dru went...to jump in the puddle! 

Much to Dru's extreme horror it was a tad deeper than he anticipated.  He was brought to me by one of the other boys, almost positive it wasn't by one of his brothers, cause that would be just pure silliness.  It was probably by his buddy Isaac (you know, the one he bawled his eyes out about not going to the park and playing with?).  Isaac has a heart, love that boy!  So there was Dru, soaked...soaked doesn't even describe it, but we'll used soaked.  Soaked from the chest down, he took his boots off and probably poured about a cup of water out of each boot.  It's cold outside, the water was cold and his unsympathetic mother was all set to make him play outside anyway.  Oh stop it!! I only brought one pair of extra clothing, and they were for after they were done playing!  Sigh...well, we took the wet clothes off and we washed and dried them, all the while he got in the other clothes I brought and sent him on his way.  Thankfully he learned his lesson and steered cleared of the puddle.  One really big circle!

In this picture I was still making Dru play in his extremely wet clothes...but hey he had his big shovey coat on!! (that's what he calls that coat...not sure where the shovey part came from).

 Chickens!!! They were the excitement (well so were the horses but we'll get to them later).  Eli and Samuel were so enthralled with them.  Pretty much followed them around the whole farm.

 Eli and Dru...yes Dru is still in his wet clothes (I promise I did put him in dry clothes...Grandma Lea and Auntie Nikki insisted! :)  )

 My boy Samuel (not really but nephew)...he was unsure of the whole thing at first but enjoyed himself as a whole I think.

 Eli and Samuel...'feeding' the horse.  Those necks can really stretch by the way if they want that food!

 Eli hunting for the chickens in the barn.

 Samuel waiting for his turn on the horse. I notice that his shirt said he loves his Grandma, I need to find him something that says he loves me best. Better yet I should just make him a shirt that says that.

 Grandma Lea and Grandpa decided they would get a horse out and let the kids take a jaunt around the arena.  The horses name is Pepper, an old horse who was more interested in eating that carting a bunch of littles around.  He'd done his time, well so he thought.  Pepper and Grandpa had some words over the eating part, not sure who won the conversation though.  The boys were excited to get to ride a horse again.

Here is Ian taking his ride, Grandpa led Pepper around the arena.

 It was Lee's turn!  I think Lee had fun.  During Lee's ride however Pepper decided he would stop and have a snack, Grandpa however said no.  Lee did really well through all that...Pepper kind of shimmied and stalled and Lee stayed calm through the whole thing.

 Then we get to Dru.  Look at this picture, it's hysterical!!!!  He's such a serious horseman! (he's in dry clothes by now). 

 Now the little guys!  Eli and Samuel shared a saddle and they did great!  Samuel did crack me up though, I put him on the saddle and he immediately went limp like a noodle.  I think they had a good time.

 They had such a good time they passed O-U-T!  They didn't sleep for long but it was a much needed respit.  We had dinner at Grandma Lea's and then off we went to take Samuel back to his parents.  So we met up at a Baskin and Robbins.  The owner of that store was WONDERFUL...cause we (not me mind you, the boys) were loud and running around.  Pretty much the boys acted like they had been couped up ALL day (forget we, again not me the boys, were at the farm all day running around looking for bugs in piles of poo).

We had a great day hanging out at Grandma Lea's farm and being outside!  It wasn't a half bad day either!  All in all really the weather wasn't bad, and I was appreciative of that.  I had a blast having my nephew for the day and so very thankful for the time I had with him.  Thankful that his parents allowed me to have him for so long!  It was a great little vacation to Spokane, I was sad to leave my nephew (oh and my brother and sister in law!).  But alas I had to go back to the regular program.  So tomorrow we say our goodbyes...I don't know when I'll see Samuel again.

I can't believe it's so late at night!  I hate it when time goes by soo fast I can't keep up!  Well nighty night folks...don't let the bed bugs bite!

Chillaxin

Chillaxen...you know, chilling and relaxing.  That's what we were doing at my brother and his wife's house and at the hotel during our Spring Break. 

After eating lunch at Zips (post from yesterday) we headed to their house to visit and let the kids play and get reacquainted.  I decided that when my friend got to the house I would allow Ian and Lee to go across the street and play at the playground with her older children.  I will tell you I didn't allow Dru to go because the boys would not have looked out for him and would have walked all over him...just wasn't worth it for him to go.

He, however, had different thoughts and was very, very angry with me.  Here he is with his brother and cousin looking forlornly out the window watching the bigger kids play.  Dru carried on for close to an hour, he was dedicated to his cause, he didn't even stop when put in a different room...he wanted his Isaac and NOTHING was going to do until he had him with in arms reach.  He didn't stop bawling until his Isaac came in the door and the tears magically dried up with the snap of a a finger...

 I have laughed several times over this picture.  My nephew is stinking cute and hilarious (he could have asked me for the moon that weekend and I'd have gotten it for him!). I was calling Samuel's name and after several times this was the look I got.  He didn't appreciate being disrupted in what he was doing and he was NOT happy with me that Dru was crying and for some reason Eli was feeling empathy for Dru. Notice those two in the background?  Shortly after this picture Dru just lost it and that's when the bawling began.

 I love taking pictures of Eli, especially when I can get a good one, and one with out a plug in his face (slowly working on that).

 Lee was quite infatuated with this fire truck toy of Samuel's.  Too bad it made noise or I would have offered to find one for a birthday gift for him...NOT!  He's a goofy kid!

 My brother...a.k.a. Uncle David.  He looks thoughtful here but don't let that fool you :)

 Samuel having some time with his dad...still having a hard time with his hair being short...but I'm not his momma.  Guess I gotta let that one go too...sigh!

 Well back to the hotel we went, we'd see the family again later.  I have no idea what we did for dinner...I think we ordered pizza.  I believe we also went swimming but in what order I don't know.  We were really disappointed in the pool there, the worst family and kid friendly pool I think I have ever come across!  The kids really couldn't go much past the steps into the pool, the bigger boys could go a bit further but not much.  So we went to Eli's favorite spot...the hot tub!!

 Big boys watching the TV and relaxing, it was getting too quite and I watch some eyes roll in the back of their heads several times...so we probably went swimming or did dinner or something. 

That day was a fun day.  Walked around the park, saw an Imax movie, met for lunch, wrestled with their Uncle, played with toys, swam in the pool/hot tub, and then crashed hard to be up early for the EARLY bird breakfast (6am-9am), unimpressed!!  That was a tad too early to me, but no one asked me.

Tomorrow will be our fun-filled day at the farm! 

Riverfront Park

So day one of our trip and we find ourselves at Riverfront Park.  It's kind of a cold day, nothing we shouldn't be used to already, but cold none the less.  We walk around the park and find the part with all the rides and the Imax theater.  Score!  On our way to that we found the goat that eats everything...I think it's a garbage can of sorts.  You turn it on and the air sucks things up, the kids loved it (Lee kept feeding it small sticks, wonder what that does for the diet?).  Here are the boys minus Eli.  Ian cracked me up the whole time he was with my friends' son.  Whatever he did (he's 12) Ian did.  So in this picture Ian is trying to look like his friend (they have known each other since they were babies, funny boys!)

 What's a walk in the park with out a look at the ducks/geese?  Might as well take a picture of it and document it!  Eli was quite taken with these guys...they were on a mission.  Word got out that someone down the river had bread and that's where the party was at.

 When we got done with our Imax show we met my sister in law and nephew at Zips. Yummy! I had a great sandwich there, but that's neither here or there.  I miss my nephew SO much (he keeps getting bigger when I'm not there!).  So we all had lunch (there's a lot of us) and we had a good time and the children inhaled their food (who said you had to taste your food?).

 Samuel and his momma

 Ian...it was a good picture so I had to take one. That and this was his face after he kept trying to tell me what he wanted and I kept telling him I was taking orders.  This face was, PLEASE can I have the Triple bacon cheeseburger!!!! Please!  To which I said NO...no one needs to eat a burger that big and that's TOO much!  It's not good for you (yes you can imagine the crestfallen look on his face) but honestly...he's 9...he doesn't need to eat food like that!  Moderation people!! Just cause it's available does NOT mean it should be devoured!

 This picture has me chuckling EVERY time!  Samuel and Lee making some serious eye contact!!  This is MY town mister and we roll by MY rules!  I'm the center of attention here and if you have a problem with that...well...just you wait!

Pretty serious! 

Enjoy!

Where's Charlie?

Let me know if you find Charlie.  This dog cracks me up sometimes, so desperate to be loved and petted.  He's also a dog with OCD and blanket issues (along with many other things).  Good Boy Charlie!

On Our Way

A few days ago the boys and I went on a road trip to see my brother, sister in law and my nephew...we went along with my good friend Nikki.  We had such a good time!  We stopped at the Wild Horse Monument just after you go over the Columbia River.  I'd never stopped before and my friend said she was stopping so I did.  It looks really cool and someday I'd like to make the climb up there and look at them.  Sadly if you look close enough people have been 'decorating' the horses...naughty! 

 Quite the view from the turn out for the Monument...I like the clouds.

 Loving my boy Eli here!  If you are wondering, he really does his own stunts...trust me!

This is not a good picture of all of us, it's a good picture of me though! HA!

 Time to have some fun!

We had some fun and the drive wasn't bad.  It is getting easier the older they get and before you know someday we should be able to drive straight through...OK maybe not but at least we'll be stopping cause it's cause we want to, not because someone has to pee since the last rest stop! 

We had a few fun filled days and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.