This week was good and this week was busy. I sure love these summer days with my kids! I haven't been taking as many pictures lately, so the ones I have are certainly random. I just wanted to make sure I captured the little every-day summer things we have been up to, so that come five-hours-of-daylight January, I can remember I am living the good life.
Monday
Doctor Appointments for Caity and Johnny in preparation for school.
Hauling our crew aaaalllll the way to WalMart for school supplies.
Picnic with lunchables and juice boxes to celebrate surviving WalMart.
Family Night with the Missionaries.
- More on school supplies: I was so proud of myself for taking a tired, hangry crew for this excursion. There were quite a few melt downs, particularly from a sweet preschooler who wanted every single thing the big kids were getting, he didn't understand that they weren't necessarily keeping the supplies for themselves. He was partially satisfied with a pencil box, some crayons, and a composition notebook. Not to mention, WalMart was crowded, loud, and it was hard to find supplies- everyone did so good, considering! Also happy to mention none of the meltdowns came from me! (Except maybe when it came to paying for all the supplies, ugh, ha!) As soon as we got home, Caity and Johnny set to work separating and organizing their supplies. They were so happy and settled. Johnny proceeded to walk around the house with his Michael Jordan back pack full of all his supplies. Over the next few days I would trip over the back pack more than once in random places in the house, ha ha. Then everyone colored for the evening, because can you beat fifty cent crayons??
Tuesday
Doctor Appointments for Matthew and William
Activity Days for Caity- she got to meet and greet a Judge Whipper.
Root beer floats for the boys.
Play basketball with Dad at the neighborhood Park.
Water fight in the backyard for the boys.
Watched Harry Potter 2 with Caity (who just finished the fourth book- making her hold off a little for the rest.)
- More on the doctor visits: William was anxiously watching to see who would get vaccination shots. He was so relieved witnessing when Caity, then Johnny, and finally Matthew were all in the clear. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky. He was pretty ticked off. He handled the pain so well, but it was funny that the one child who was dreading a shot, got a shot. Meanwhile, Caity and Johnny have since faithfully maintained their "at least two vegatable servings" a day without complaint, because for some reason when a doctor says it, the whole veggie concept sells a little better.
Wednesday
Blackberry picking in the morning.
A sweet girl from church babysat the kids while I hopped on the MAX to have a Portland date with John. We went to the farmer's market (so dreamy), and got Iraqi food. I loved seeing John mid-week!
Dollar store to cash in my I-owe-you-guys. All the boys got stuffed snakes, Caity chose glitter glue.
Play date with friends who have been gone all summer.
A 3k race at Nike Headquarters for Caity and Johnny
- More on blackberry picking: The above random picture is the only one I have of the excursion, and it was about three seconds too late. I was trying to capture how sweet Johnny was being to his brothers the whole morning. He would hold their hands helping them down steep hills, use sticks to lift poky branches, give them his berries so they felt happy with their spoils. It really was the sweetest. Blackberry bushes are weeds out here in Oregon and I can't even believe that I can just go to any random ditch and 30 minutes later have enough blackberries for a pie. This day we just grabbed just enough for fruit, granola, and yogurt.
- More on the Nike race: My kids have never ran deliberately more than a mile. Both kids did a great job! Caity was determined and did pretty good at pacing herself, she looked so cute running past me at the halfway point. Johnny got about halfway through the race and was exhausted. He wanted to quit. When he got to where I was cheering, he pulled over to the side and sat down (some of the younger kids stopped at this point.) At first I thought, "He worked so hard, he's good to stop." Then my inner mom said, "No, he can do this. He needs to know that he can, and he needs to learn to finish hard things." SO....in my dress and sandals I held his hand jogged the last 1.2 miles with him. He was exhausted and was half-crying the whole time...but HE DID IT. Honestly, I felt like I earned the mom of the year award. I expected a big 'ole hug from him and a big smile. Nope. He didn't say A WORD to me for a good 20 minutes. And not because he was embarrassed his mom ran with him in a dress. He wasn't talking to me because he was genuinely mad at me for making him finish. Johnny doesn't get mad very often, so seeing that emotion geared at me for the first time was kind of funny (another mom award there, am I right?) The kids got otter pops and power bars and they all looked so satisfied with themselves that they did it! I had to rush off to youth group and left Caity with the Osbornes. I didn't have time to get home before youth group so I took the boys with me. For the activity, we set up tents and played dodgeball. Johnny was pretty happy with that. He came and gave me a few hugs during the activity. On the ride home, out of no where, he said, "Thank you mom. For the race and for bringing us." He looked so content and confident. And there was my mother of the year award. Johnny now knows he can do hard things like run 1.85 miles. He hated me during the race, he hated me after the race...but by the time he went to bed that night, he understood the bigger picture because he felt like a different, better version of himself having finished some thing hard.
Thursday
Kids helped me make Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake and homemade spaghetti and turkey meatballs.
Beach Day at Hug Point
Stuffed animal wars when we got home.
A much needed family dinner.
- More on Hug Point Beach: John, the kids, and I have all been to Hug Point briefly on the way to other beaches and I always loved it. I've been wanting to spend more time there playing and exploring. Despite being almost 100 degrees in Hillsboro, it was a windy 65 at the coast! Caity spent most of the time hanging out and talking with me on the blanket, taking in the beauty of the ocean waves. Johnny and William found new friends and lived their best life climbing up steep trails to overlook cliffs, digging holes, and battling waves. When the boys reached the top of a particularly steep climb (it took them about 30 minutes), Johnny and his friend turned around and did the cutest victory dance. I was mildly (not so mildly) freaking out as he explored his limitations and independence, but I'm so glad I pulled back a little and just let it be as I watched this new, more confident and assured side of Johnny shine through. It was so cute watching him turn back and help determined William finish the climbs as well. Matthew kept himself busy playing in the sand and chasing waves.
- More on Family Dinner: Before we left for the coast, we made a yummy dinner that made our house smell so good. Caity and I set the table nice and put our zucchini bundt cake on a Lenox cake stand I got for my wedding. Somehow that upped the game to a whole new level. The kids were so excited and William and Johnny kept saying, "Thank you mom!" and Matthew thought it was someone's birthday. When we got home from the beach later, we all decided it was awesome to come home exhausted to nicely set dinner table with a pretty cake as the center piece. Noted. It was such a good family dinner that night. John said it was the best spaghetti sauce we ever made, which basically made my whole life because I guess that is what thirty-one looks like.
Friday
Splash Pad with Friends.
Chores.
Pizza and Movie night at Osbornes.
- More on the Splash Pad: We live so close to the splash pad, but never have never actually been. On Friday, everyone was a little cranky (myself included), so I just forced us all in the car amidst complaints and we went the park. It was exactly what was needed. We told a few friends we headed there and it ended up being a little party. (With my kids eating other kids' snacks because: mom fail.) The boys all played with each other, but Caity, in that weird-almost-pre-teen stage, needed an older friend. On Friday, that friend was me. So we ran through the fountain, and played games and laughed and seriously had the best time. Matthew cracked me up just running through the fountain the entire time giggling. At one point, William and Johnny were playing on nearby swings with these teenage boys. The older boys were all dressed in baggy clothes/side-ways baseball hats/Jordan shoes. It was the cutest thing seeing these somewhat tough looking teenagers playing and laughing with these two little blond boys, genuinely having fun. I was so grateful for those teenagers for taking my kids under their wings! And as always it is fun to catch up with grown up friends too.
Saturday
Fishing with friends.
Picnic.
Enjoying Dad being home.
Probably one of the biggest smiles I've seen on William- he was laughing so hard, he was so excited.
(Matthew was wearing Caity's jacket and when William made fun of him, he kept showing us his muscles and saying he didn't like pink, but did like being warm.)
- More on Fishing: We had SO much fun. I love weekends because John is home! We caught three big fish and the kids were delighted. As soon as we got to the pond, it started sprinkling and turned to pouring rain. It was cold but we still had a blast. The kids who weren't fishing ran laps around the pond, getting all muddy. They would stop to cheer on who ever caught a fish, it never got old. Granted I basically cried the first time we caught a fish because it was so sad for me. I mean, I guess not sad enough to become vegetarian, but enough to be a little embarrassed. It was like, "And what did you think fishing implied, Mary?" Sunday we cooked up our fish on the grill. Such a great summer adventure.
(Waiting for the fish cook!)
Whew! And that was our second week of August!
