When a bead suddenly falls out of your nose....

We started out last Saturday morning with chocolate chip pancakes and digging a bead out of James' nose.

 While working on a craft project in the other room from the kitchen, we were suddenly informed that James might have a bead up his nose.
Some of the siblings were certain; others thought perhaps he was paranoid.
John and I were surprisingly not panicked but simply picked up a flashlight to peer up his nostril while the other three ate their pancakes (and added extra syrup because we were distracted...)

Sure enough, John confirmed that there was in fact a small bead lodged up his left nostril. We didn't even bother to try and uncover the reason for it's placement, but simply went to work devising a plan on how we could pry it out.
Tweezers just didn't work. Fingers were even worse.
"We need something with a small hook to latch in the hole in the middle and yank on it," said John.

Evie just couldn't look. She was disgusted, worried and totally upset by this whole thing. But then, as I thought about what John said, I immediately thought of Evie's little crafting hook that she uses to weave pot holders.
Immediately delighted by this solution, Evie jumped up from her chair and ran upstairs to retrieve the tool.

Amazingly, this tactic worked and the title orange bead fell on the floor beneath him.
Evie refused to go near the bead or the pot holder hook; but nonetheless, she was proud that she could be of assistance in this endeavor.

Upon debriefing about the situation, we all agreed that putting beads up your nose is not a good way to do the beading craft.

Later in the day, I went upstairs to try to escape the craziness that was taking over the house. John was preoccupied with fixing a leak in our basement, and I was exhausted;  so the kids had the run of the house. A few moments into my attempt of "zenning" out alone,  I heard an absurd amount of laughter coming from downstairs.
 I felt obligated to investigate. Sure enough, the kids had found a HUGE spool of fishing line and had run it all over the house creating invisible trip lines everywhere.
It went out of the house, into the garage and they had managed to string it around the front bumper of the van. Even when I thought I gathered it all up and tossed it in the garbage, I found myself tripping and getting tangled up in it throughout the rest of the day.
 Later in the day when I pulled the car down the driveway, a Styrofoam cylinder attached somehow by the fishing line trailed along with me, wound around the bumper. Getting out of the van, I yanked at the garbage attached to my vehicle. Unable to snap the line and getting progressively more frustrated, I looked ridiculous as I stood in the middle of the street pulling and kicking.

To sum up this day, I came out of the house to an abandoned toy jeep that Caleb was riding only moments ago, left in the middle of the street. Perplexed by this sight, I shaded my eyes and scanned up and down our road, wondering where he went off to. A few moments later, a woman five houses down informed me that Caleb had knocked on her door and wanted to play with her son, but informed her that his "mom didn't know where he was." Thank you Caleb for suddenly getting the epiphany to surrender your jeep to the road in order to engage with a new playmate.

Caleb and James both learned how to ride a two wheel bike sans training wheels, and their new found freedom and abilities has created a desire to be independent and seek out thrills. I find that I've been spending a large majority of the afternoons trying to figure out where they are and praying to God that they don't totally wipe out as they fly down the steep hill near our house on their bikes.
I think having four kids has made me way more chill than the average Mom when it comes to my kids falling, getting lost and seeking out dangerous activities.
I just pray...and hope for the best. 😳

Sunday morning I walk all of the kids into church, weary from the morning hustle of getting there and fatigued by the chaos and craziness in our home. Finding a brief moment to chat with some friends in the foyer while the kids burn off energy running around me, I am interrupted by Levi handing me a small sticky bead. "Here Mom," he says. "This fell out of my nose." He immediately runs off again to play with the other kids. I stand there, almost unfazed because my life has suddenly become a constant fountain of declarations I never imagined I'd hear stated with such normalcy.

My friends, who just had their first baby, just stare at me, and I tell them that this is what they have to look forward to. (Although, they just had a girl, and I'm not sure girls shove beads up their nose..) So far I've known about %50 of my kids doing this and %100 of them are boys. 

 Boys are great. I love my Evie, but the dudes and I spend a lot of time together since older sis is in school all day, everyday.
My pack of boys and I do a lot together.

Today we went to Walmart and what do you know, Halloween costumes were all nicely lined up on display, organized by size. So, we decided to chose what superhero we wanted to be this year. This year we have Flash, Captain America and Iron Man. There are benefits to buying costumes early. For one, all the sizes and all the options are available in somewhat neat order. Secondly, by buying them now, I just secured several hours of play a day. Now Caleb can speed down the hill by our house with a full on Flash cape. I just had to remind the boys, to their dismay, that masks over their eyes while speeding down a hill is not a plan for glory.

Last Days and First Days

In some ways, the end of the summer feels like a long drop after a steep climb upward.

It seems counter intuitive that structure and schedule gives freedom and exhilaration; but, nonetheless, after a long summer of fun and flexibility, structure is a welcome change.
The last few weeks of summer were very challenging. The kids were fighting constantly. The house was in disarray. Activities had run dry. This combination makes for a tired, crabby mama.

Our last week we were trudging. The kids asked me nearly every day when school was going to start and I was desperately trying to fill the hours.

 Our last big "hurrah" was a labor day weekend "family camp."
Family camp was always one of those things that seemed like it would be good to do someday, but it also seemed like a lot of work.
Our good family friends had invited us to partake in this family camp experience for the last few years; finally, we felt like we could accept this year and actually have a good time.

Washington Family Ranch

The thought of being disconnected from technology for the weekend and spending focused, uninterrupted time with my family was something I was excited about.

 I was also excited to spend some intentional time with dear family friends of ours, ones we've know throughout our entire married life. Remembering vividly the day their first daughter was born, she now is 11; these are the people and relationships that matter. The older I get, the more I recognize the absolute gift it is to be surrounded by people with whom we can trace these roots. However,  I also realize that the busyness of life can cause these precious relationships to slip away so easily if we are not careful to nurture them. So, this was a weekend of intentionality, of committing to pouring into relationships that matter, both within our family and friendships.

After packing an absurd amount of stuff, we sat on our suitcase and zipped it up.
We left midday Friday and drove through the mountain to the other side.

 I've not been to the other side of Mount Hood a lot and the landscape is a whole different place. It's brown, and desert like and hilly. It's completely different than the lush, green vegetation I am used to here in the Willamette Valley.

We drove through small towns, no towns, ghost towns....through a seemingly abandoned town of Antelope, Oregon. The only reason I know of Antelope, Oregon is because John and I watched the documentary series, Wild Wild Country, a netflix series about the Rajneesh Cult that once took over this region. One of the reasons I was so intrigued by the Washington Family Ranch camp is because after it got shut down, it was purchased and occupied by Young Life.

Now a beautiful oasis built for the cultivation of friendship and fun, Washington Family Ranch is truly a place of respite and reconnection. The camp was full of so many people we've seen and known through our school and church. It was a weekend of strengthening and building new connections.



Coming back from the ranch, we launched right into school. Blessed school.

We spent the day before getting new shoes, hair cuts, labeling school supplies...Tuesday was Open house, or as I like to call it, false start.....and Wednesday my house was so quiet.  John and I woke the kids up a little earlier than usual and surprised them by taking them out to the pancake house for breakfast. Once they were sufficiently stuffed with too much sugar and carbs, we deposited them at school and bid them farewell.
Then John hopped on a plane to NYC...and me, well, I basked in the peace of my own dwelling. The boys were only there for a few hours before I had to hop in the car and pick them up. We ended up playing on the playground for another hour as I chatted with moms I haven't seen all summer and caught up with friends whom I missed! It felt like I was reconnecting with co-workers or something. It was very energizing for me.
I am fully entrenched in my two communities of West Hills and Bethlehem Christian Preschool. My seemingly empty calendar is suddenly filled to the brim with functions and events. I love it though. I love this time of year. Of new beginnings. Excitement. A fresh start. It's just the best.