Pilot Rock

It smelt like summer yesterday. I was leaving the grocery store and I smelled that burning air and hot concrete smell.  It smells feels like eating popsicles after playing on the slip and slide, floating Idaho rivers, the sunflowers that line Utah highways on our way to grandma’s house, afternoons at the splash pad and loading the car for camping trips. It smelt like nostalgia. I love the dry heat of summer in Medford. 

To kick off our Father’s Day weekend, we decided to hike Pilot Rock! It was a beautiful morning and we knew we could finish the hike before Cate had to work, and Johnny had to go to a movie with friends. 

It’s about a mile and half up, with a steep ascent at the end involving clamoring up rocks, for about half of the hike we are on The Pacific Crest Trail. The hike oozed Oregon beauty. There were yellow, lavender, deep purple, red and white wildflowers scattered along the way. The views were spectacular. John carried Emma most of the way, which was quite impressive, seeing as I was dying at parts of the hike.  

The kids did well besides a squabble at the beginning and it was really sweet seeing them ask each other questions, joke around, play the the sling shot and race up certain parts (the boys in particular getting impatient with their slow mother!  

The rocky ascent at the end was more difficult than I predicted, especially with nonexistent core muscles- ha! John maybe had to hoist me from behind at one point, yes I’m a little embarrassed about that- but mostly grateful. The views at the top were worth it though. 

We scurried back to our car, Matthew and Johnny trying every trail before the right one a couple times, Emma scream-singing the whole way down calling out to her siblings, and Cate and Will target practicing with the sling shot. 

By the time we reached the car, Heaven felt a little closer, and I know that sounds cheesy; but it’s true. I need to remember the value getting out and adventuring as a family. 

We got home in time to get Cate to work, and Johnybto his haircut. Then Johnny went to a movie with his friends and the rest of us went swimming at the community pool. After that, we made a fire to roast marshmallows for smores, and roast hotdogs. Johnny brought the TV to the backyard and Emma set up blankets and we watched “The Parent Trap.” 

It was a great summer day!

 

MMA Morning Wake up Call

Excuse the following series of blurry, abstract photographs. They represent an attempt in capturing what I endure every morning as consequence of both sharing a bed with my husband and giving birth to three boys.  One by one those boys make their way to our bedroom, and give us a play by play of how their last night's sleep went. Johnny is typically chipper and usually let's us know he's been awake at least three hours already (usually not true.) William is always pretty proud of himself and happy that the sleeping portion of his 24 hour routine is now completed, "I 'WAKE!" He'll then curl up in a ball next to me so I can hug him and rub his back.  Matthew is a bit of a wild card. Sometimes he comes bolting into our bedroom all squeals and excitement, other days he is pretty livid with the world and just yells "Nooooooo!" while gathering his bearings.  No matter Matthew's mood, his requests are typically the same: that he weasel his way between John and me, and that I go warm up some milk for him.  While I am away serving that two foot tall tyrant, he excitedly arranges his blankie around him and nuzzles into dad. He'll then take a deep breath of anticipation as if he is saying, "All systems go! Momma, bring me my milk!" Then, I'm pretty sure fireworks go off around him spelling, "Youngest Child Right Here!"
These mornings are all fine and dandy for the brief moments that the five of us peacefuly enjoy each other's company.  There is chatter and joking and cuddling...then IT happens.  What is IT, you ask?
The wrestling. The crawling. The throwing. The growling. The swinging. The clamoring. The hitting. The pulling. The pushing. The creeping. The jumping. The landing. The legs in the air.
Our bed quickly transforms to a wrestling arena.
What was once a cheerful, quiet morning turns into a mixed martial arts display of their mother's nightmare and their dad's dream come true. They're animals. And their father relishes in it. To be fair, I do find it rather endearing in the early stages of their morning wrestling match, it just escalates so quickly!
Cue the pictures:

Today as I watched their brawl, introspective thoughts cascaded my mind. First, what a great dad. I am so grateful they have these moments with him every day.  Second, I have THREE boys; three dirty, mischievous, tender-hearted boys. Third, in ten years, I will have three TEENAGE boys; I will have stinky, hungry, taller-than-me boys, that probably won't want to cuddle and tell me all about the best and worst parts of their day. They will probably just want pizza rolls and more Axe Body Spray or something like that.
I guess I don't really know.
What I do know is that this phase of little blond boys clamoring for their mama's attention has an expiration, and it is quickly creeping upon me. I am excited for their lives ahead of them, those boys have magnificant spirits. It is my role as their mother to stengthen them for the mountains they will be called to move.  This morning, my heart swelled with gratitude that I get to be a nurturing influence on their journey.
Then I got kicked in the face, and everyone got kicked out of the bed.  The get-ready-fast-because-we're-going-to-be-late-again morning routine throttled into high gear.
I thank God for the moment of perspective that inspired me to squeeze my boys a little tighter, and laugh with them over something silly a little longer.  I am grateful for the realization as we knelt down for morning prayer, that no matter what lies ahead; I am not alone in my work and God is watching over His boys.

My Visit to The Legsters Store

I decided to spend the lag between lunch and dinner shopping at "The Legsters (where you can get towers of legos.)" I must say I was impressed with this quaint shop. The owners were courteous and understanding when my baby accidently knocked down one of their towers. I found every thing necessary to make a mega-cool-awesome-lego-castle. With help from one of the owners- I made this dream creation a reality. When I did have a product that broke, the management was more than accommodating in replacing the product and apologizing profusely- assuring me that in all their hours of operation, they have never had an upset customer. They even threw in pink and yellow lego camera and a red and green lego hand gun.

This store typically opens in the afternoon about 3 days a week, when the owners' mom tells them they need to spend time together not fighting. Though their hours are sporadic, it is well worth accommodating your day to fit a visit to this store in. (It doesn't hurt that the owners are so cute as well!) It was fantastic experience, they have found a loyal customer in me! 

*I was asked to shop at Legsters for an honest review, the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

Three Boys and a Mom

With John starting work on Monday and Caity starting back at school, I am the mom exclusively of three boys for seven hours a day. It is strange how much it affects the dynamics of my daily life. Yesterday it was punching and transformers, today it was throwing snowballs and jumping head first into the snowbanks on campus while I was running errands. While I was trying to find books for class, William and Johnny found a Superman comic book that they read on their bellies with thier snow boots in the air saying "Oh cool, look William!" or "O coo! Wook Nonny!" (William kind of reminds me of the little brother off of Sandlot that copies everything his brother says.)  I feel like as I walk with them, they just ricochet off me in every direction, they come back and bounce off me again. Johnny always holds the door open for everyone and William always insists on opening the door himself, and Matthew who seriously weighs a ton these days- is lugged around by me. The favorite show is Ninja Turtles and the favorite book is Spiderman Adventures. Opposed to Caity, the boys don't get in baths so they can get clean and cuddly after. They get in baths so they splash and dunk and soak my bath rug in addition to three towels. I love watching Johnny run down the hall, and Will toddle/run right after him mimicking his big brother in every action.  I also am so impressed at how good those older boys are with their little brother. Being a mom to three boys for a few hours a day has been a blast.

An Evening Walk

Yesterday right before bedtime, we went on a walk. John stayed home to get caught up on some work; I grabbed Wills and the stroller, Caity grabbed her jump rope and Johnny grabbed his sword.  Halfway through the walk, William reached up and insisted on holding my hand the whole way home.  Johnny challenged about a dozen hedges and bushes to battle (after being told repeatedly to stop attacking his sister.)  Caity got twenty five jump ropes in a row.  At one point, Caity harnessed Johnny with her rope under his arms and across his chest, and said, "Giddy up Rudolph!" Johnny took off with Caity flying behind him in a fit of giggles. William looked on from the stroller with an amused grin on his face. Him and I have quite the view from behind.
We walked to Caity's school. I paced the track while Johnny and Caity practiced timing themselves on the slides so they would reach the bottom at the exact same moment.  Did I mention Johnny was wearing his cowboy boots? He was. There is just something about a child in cowboy boots that makes me happy.  On the way home we picked some fragrant blossoms and William would pretend to smell them and sneeze because I sneezed for real when I smelt them a few days ago.
Spring air is nectar for my soul.  It just felt good to be outside and to be alive.  I am excited for more frequent evening walks with John and the kids.

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Johnny's Christmas Bucket List

Johnny has quite the idea of needs to happen before we wake up Christmas morning.  He was listing everything off for me, so I ran quick to grab a camera.  He makes me smile, that boy.  I know, I am probably the only person who will watch this....then watch it again...and again...then make John watch it again, but I just love capturing his thought process.

I know it sounds like I told him to say it, but in the bucket list before I started videoing Johnny said, "And number four- we have to have Christmas Spirits."  That made me laugh. I wasn't sure if he meant alcohol, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, or if we just needed to have the spirit of Christmas. 

I mentioned it before, but Johnny's new "swear word" is Bah Humbug! If he is stuck or he falls he'll make sure to exclaim, "BAH HumBUG!" 

In other news, not a night goes by that I don't find Johnny sneaking into Caity's room for story time.  I kind of want to be like, "Get in bed you crazies!" but I am mostly just so excited that a)they are getting along and b)Caity is reading, and to her brother.

This moment is one of my happy places.

(this Charlie Brown book is read by my brother, Matt. Johnny just likes listening to the front page over and over because it says "Read by Uncle Matt." and he says, "HAHA! Uncle MATT!" It is the favorite at our house this year.)

Sappy, Happy, and Sally.

Feeling sappy these days, and it is the most random things that set me off: Johnny sleeping, William laughing as I push him on the swing, Caity skip-running from my car to the school play ground, listening to the voicemails John leaves me, even the messes the kids create playing together.  It is just these weird little moments that make me smile from the inside.

I don't really know how to describe it, but lately I am just getting all emotional over these every-day quiet moments.

Speaking of sappy, we sold Sally on Monday.  Everyone was pretty devastated. This was our last family picture.  At Family Night later, I was telling Johnny that our family was going to be together forever and he corrected me and said, "No, because Sally is gone. She is a part of our family." Oh, the memories we created driving that Land Cruiser.  We are still in mourning, if only rent came free.