Spring has Sprung

Spring activities keep us racing around town to softball practice and swimming lessons. 

But, it also has the boys building bridges across our family room on rainy spring days.

There have been some hot days this spring and Caleb agreed to do yard work.

I try to keep extracurricular activities to ONE per child per season. So far in life it's been divided as
-Evie's activities and
-the boys.

 To my delight, Evie is playing park district softball. I talked her into it because I played softball growing up and have the best memories. 
Honestly I'm not sure how "in to it" she is. She's only played one game so far. 
One of the games was rained out and one of them she contracted pink eye the day before. 😝

Ready for action

When I signed her up in the winter, I was naive as to the expenses with all the needed equipment! All the girls need their own helmet (complete with face guard), junior mitt, bat, pants and cleats! 

 Growing up, I remember picking up any old dusty helmet and bat off the dugout floor. 
Sanitation is considered a little more these days, which, I honestly don't mind! 😀

It's pretty entertaining watching them play and I've had to adopt a relaxed attitude. 
There are girls hitting balls and forgetting to run. 
There are girls who watch the ball roll by them on a base hit. 
There are girls who'd rather pick dandelions in the outfield. 

They cap the game at 1 hour, which is a good thing. This is just the beginning of little league sports competition for our family!
During softball practice, the boys are eager to practice hitting balls on the sideline. Levi has a natural ability and swings that bat, making the ball sail. 
James is a natural lefty. I've tried to correct him on his positioning but he just explains that "it feels better this way." 
Little Caleb can hardly hold the bat up. He is all smiles though as he swings a few moments after the ball sails past him. 

We will see if they all end of playing baseball. 
 I know one thing for sure, they must be all on the same team! I feel like having one child on a team takes up a lot of time and energy. 
And, they will all share a helmet. 

So while Evie's Spring activity is softball, the boys are forced to take swimming lessons.

 It's going pretty much how I envisioned it.
 Caleb jumps in, nearly drowning, believing he can already swim;

 James really really doesn't want to get his face wet or be cold. He cries a bit, but afterwords declares "it's not so bad";

James rather be loungin' in the sun with a piece of banana  bread

 Levi is just one paranoid mess.
 Crying, kicking, protesting, this kids absolutely detests the water and putting any part of his body into it. 

Our kind swim instructor is very patient with him and just puts him on his back and guides him to float down the pool as he screams into his ear drum. 
I believe swimming is a necessary skill; so, regardless of their dislike and protesting, in the water they go. 

John calmly guides Caleb down the pool 

April just flew by. On April 9, John and I celebrated 13 years of marriage! 13 years! That happened so fast...but there was a lot of life in between. 

Young and free

I feel like at 6 years, when we had Evie, the years started speeding up. 
As we go through the ups and downs of life, I am more convinced than ever that good marriages just don't happen. It's both people constantly choosing to honor, respect and love the other. John shows me everyday that he still cherishes me and our family, taking the vows he made 13 years ago seriously. 

From then....

To now.

The other day, after a busy morning the kids needed a little down time (and so did I). We have a big sectional couch in our family room. I laid down at the end of it, head on a pillow. James came over and had a "very good idea" to put another pillow on my lap and lay down. Then Evie decided that a pillow on James' lap would make a comfortable resting place. 
Levi followed suit and then John and Caleb. From end to end on our large sectional the six of us laid in perfect order together. 
It was one of those moments to just soak up. Feelings of gratefulness and contentment flooded every ounce of my being and I thought, "it doesn't get any better than this." 
Little did I know when I said "Yes" to John when he asked me to be his family, that "two would become ONE"...and then Six.

Spring Break 2018

Spring Break 2018

Caleb and James spent a lot of Spring Break doing this:

It seems like our entire house is taken over by train tracks sometimes.

John and I decided to surprise the kids and take them on a real train!

We didn't leave the state or even the city. We bought an "all day" MAX ticket and rode downtown Portland for a day of stops along the river. There was truly magic in the kids' eyes as they boarded the MAX and we headed down the track over the Tillicum bridge, getting off in downtown Portland.

Before our excursion, I sat down and drew the kids a rough "map" of exactly where we'd be going and what we'd be doing. Admittedly, I wasn't quite sure exactly what and where everything was, but I felt confident that John and I together could successfully navigate the kids through a portion of the city.

Our travel time out on the MAX was a mere 20 min to our first stop; we jumped on and off at various points in the city to explore different sections and neighborhoods of Portland.
The kids were excited just waiting for the MAX to arrive!

Crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Willamette was a thrill in itself; we exited the train and walked on foot back over the top, observing boats, bridges and buildings.

Next, we got off at Clinton Street and had lunch at a place called Ford Fuel and Food. A huge, farm house sized table was available and fit our family perfectly.
We all sat around it, enjoying our lunch in this new section of town; thick grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids and organic bean and rice bowl for the adults, we all enjoyed lunch.

We climbed aboard once again and got off at Bybee St and walked about a mile to Westmoreland Park. A charming landscape of flowering trees, ponds, bridges and ducks, this place was bursting with  spring.
The playground was inspired by nature. It was constructed with fallen tree trucks and sand.  The kids ran around in the sunshine for awhile, climbing trees and building sandcastles.

Finally, we headed back to our initial stop in Milwaukie.

Overall, we kept it simple, cheap and enjoyed the small things, like walking over bridges and looking out the windows from the train.

This summer I plan on mapping out a few train adventures for the kids. It's a simple, inexpensive way to see the city, explore new places and have a good family time.

Another fun adventure I took the kids on was the Woodburn wooden shoe tulip farm. The kids enjoyed riding the hayride, bumping through the flower fields on a cow train and eating a corn dog in the sunshine.

Easter weekend had us searching for eggs at a local church.

We spent Easter day enjoying the special service at our own church and then having a nice Easter dinner with our  friends and neighbors. We organized  another egg hunt for the eleven kids. We hid the first batch of eggs in the house, all filled with vegetables! (April Fools!)


We then directed our disappointed kids outside to another batch off eggs hidden around the yard, this time filled with Easter candy. :)

 

This week we've been getting back into the routine of school and social fun!  Its a windy day today but the wind sweeps the white blossoms off the trees around the house creating quite the magic show.
It reminds James of snow: "Is it almost Christmas time now? It's taking forever!"

Catching Leprechauns

I've been waking at 4:30 am a lot lately. Frustrated, I want to go back to sleep; nonetheless, I lay there, mind racing, tempted to get up just so I can sit quietly on the couch, sip coffee, read or write or study without interruption.
And that always wins.
That is probably one of the reasons I am so tired. Moments of peace and solitude are more important than sleep sometimes.
 But I do look in the mirror and think, "Wow, what happened?!"

The house is perpetually chaotic and messy.
Lately, this energy has been channeled into constructing leprechaun traps.
Evie had to make a leprechaun trap for a school project. I handed that one off to John and sure enough, what they created was masterful.
This then sparked a desire in the boys to trap their own leprechauns.  Thus, they worked diligently on building their own traps from shoe boxes, alternating between excitement and total fear if the trap really worked!

 

They went to sleep the night before St. Patrick's day with their traps set, anticipating what they would find the next morning. To their delight, they found gold chocolate coins instead of actual small creatures. There was evidence that they had visited; little green foot prints dotted the kitchen floor, and they left the toilet seats up-and the green water indicated that those pesky leprechauns didn't flush!

We attempted going to downtown for St. Patricks day; but, my ambition once again got the best of me and we ended up in a crowd of people, getting rained on. After waiting in a long line to get in the magical tent of Irish dancing merriment, we ended up abandoning our plans because of the $15.00 per person entry fee.
 With hail falling from the sky and our family running for cover, the kids started to complain about their lack St. Patricks Day luck and their right to something else "special."

If you know me, you know that one of my biggest struggles with raising kids in this present world is balancing my desire to create magical childhood experiences without producing entitled, spoiled, self-absorbed monster children.  Whenever I hear whining, complaining or demanding, something inside me wilts.
I've been known to suddenly react to this behavior by insisting that my kids partake in a selfless activity or project.
This situation  reminded me of a project at our church that I wanted to participate in.
 After getting settled into our warm vehicle, I turned around to my unhappy, soaked children and informed them we would be celebrating St. Patricks day at Walmart instead, creating "restart kits" for refugee families.  Thus,John and I led our clan through the aisles of the store, picking out toothpaste, toilet paper and deodorant.

This ultimately turned out to be the best way to spend this holiday. I truly believe that things work out for the best;  in my opinion, I think disappointment is one of the best character building tactics in kids. A sudden change of plans creates flexible kids, kids who can wrap their hearts and minds about more than themselves and their special outings and surprises and plans.

Nonetheless, these kids are certainly not deprived of special things and outings. For their birthday the boys received a gift certificate to a place in the mall called Young Art where they got a 30 min one-on-one art lesson. I used the certificates to have a one-on-one time with each of my boys, a rare occurrence and one that I cherish.
During each of the sessions, it was remarkable how differently they interacted with the teacher, lesson and materials. Their choices for pictures they wanted to create reflected their personalities;;

 Levi: a pink butterfly; 

Caleb: a red dolphin

and James: a train, of course.

Right now as I write this my four kids are fast asleep in one room. Lately, they've been wanting to have "sleepovers."  The boys will take turns sleeping on the floor next to Evie's bed. But tonight, the excitement was high as Evie decided to sleep in the boys' room. Thus in our house with many rooms, they choose to all sleep together in one. ♡

The BOYS turn FOUR!

OK So what does it mean when you spend your entire Saturday night reading about grey paint online?!

Seriously, my mind was completely blown away by how much there is to know about the color grey. And apparently, based on its popularity on Pintrest, it has a big fan club. 

 Earlier this fall I convinced my dear husband that we needed to paint our family room and kitchen. The early 90s decor of peach sponge paint and light oak cabinets just needed to go. It's amazing how a good coat of paint can brighten and cheer up a space. 
It turned out beautiful (after finally coming to a decision on white! Yes, apparently there is more than one white too.....)
Now that we are coming up on four years in this house, and coming out of the fog and chaos of babies and toddlers, I  have a renewed passion and vision for updating my home. I think I'm nesting again; I have this intense desire to create an even more warm, nourishing place, one project at a time. 

So... after the paint job, I hinted at getting a new couch in the living room. 
John agreed, and we found "the one" at an after Christmas sale at Dania. We purchased a nice, mid-century tope couch, a couch that really didn't go with the flesh colored walls in this room. WELL...suddenly I found myself again on Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams websites, analyzing which colors actually would go well with this couch....for the future.....when we decided we wanted to paint this room...

Well, my friend painted her interior light grey and as I marveled at what an improvement it made in her house, she casually passed along her painter's number....for the future....when we decided to paint again....

The couch is lovely, but the curtains really aren't doing it or the room any favors...but the paint needs to be in place before I figure that piece out....
                  sooo, that is when I went to the paint store and that is when I called the painter and got a reasonable quote...
                    and while he was here, he might as well quote our bathroom cabinets, which are chipping...
        and our laundry room cabinets have never even seen paint...
and then the laundry room walls...yikes. 
"Let's just see what it would be.."
 And so, this is what began the crazy quest for the perfect grey...the perfect colors...and eighteen samples later, I've arrived at what will make our dwelling beautiful.
And now, I sit in my living room, with painted walls, and new couch, two new accent chairs...about 10 different colored pillows (I need to figure out which ones go with everything else!) and a coffee table on the way.  
.....Still got to figure out those curtains.....Good thing I found the right grey.

This, my friends, is just one of the projects I've been attempting as I try to juggle my nest full of children. And this project is a perfect metaphor for my life. 
Simple sounding things usually turn into a big messy ordeal, more complicated and intense than originally planned. 
It's hard to fit ANYTHING else into my life except keeping kids alive and relatively happy. 
But I do try. 

The first sixty days of 2018 have been filled with some really good things. And some really not so great things; but nonetheless, things that make life LIFE. 
Here is a quick recap: 

Hot Cocoa Stand:
In January, Evie's Awanas group focused on raising money to send Bibles to Uganda. Evie, by her own efforts, set up a hot cocoa stand at the end of our driveway and sold hot chocolate for four hours one Saturday, raising $30.00.  I was truly blown away by her determination and enthusiasm, and the generosity of our neighbors. 

HSP: Caleb came screaming down the stairs one afternoon, pulling up his pant legs, exposing the most horrific looking rash I've ever seen. I thought for sure it was Chicken Pox, but then I knew he had his vaccination....I took him in to the doctors and after some urine and blood testing, it was determined to be Henoch-Schoenlein Purpura,which is a rare autoimmune disease. He got progressively worse, his joints becoming so swollen and painful that he couldn't walk; his kidneys so tender he couldn't lay down. There was nothing I could do except keep him on a regiment of pain medicine and steroids. Luckily, my mom and grandma came into town for a visit during this exact week. This couldn't have been better timing because Caleb needed a whole person for his own. 

Mom and GG visit: My Mom and Grandma stayed with us for 10 days, spending time with the kids and helping me around my house. They always leave my home clean and orderly. It's nice to have them here. They lighten the daily burden I feel with caring for whining, needy little humans. I have some space to breath a bit as they take over fulfilling those needs. I know it's really hard work, but I love that breathing room.  We even got a few hours together without children, enjoying a leisurely breakfast while they were all in school.

GG and Birthday Boy #1

Boys Turned 4!: Perhaps the biggest milestone we've reached this month is my boys turning FOUR years old. The Winter Olympics reminded me of four years ago; they were born during the 2014 Olympics. I remember thinking as I sat watching the events,  bottle feeding them, "In four years when there is another winter Olympics, they will be four!" 
The thought was unfathomable, completely absurd and unattainable. BUT,  here we are, our family snuggled together on the couch, watching the Olympics together, commenting on the skating and skiing.

I feel like FOUR is such a milestone. In my mind, we are exiting the really grueling baby/toddler stage. They even got big beds for their birthdays.

 My mom commented that "The worst is behind us," :) and I couldn't agree more. 

Birthday Boys at school!

We celebrated with Grandparents at Red Robin, enjoying hamburgers and embarrassing birthday songs....




BUT, we ended the night in the ER with Caleb, (he experienced some intense stomach pain we attributed to a dangerous HSP side effect...turned out it was probably due to eating too much raw birthday cake batter)

The boys also had a birthday party which included all their friends! This is the first year they had a list of people they wanted to celebrate with and were genuinely  excited by their presence. I'm all about outsourcing birthday parities, and this one was outsourced to McDonalds Playland, complete with Happy Meals and overly frosted birthday cake. The boys really couldn't have celebrated a better way. 

Sweet Big Sister Evie even woke up early to make them a special birthday breakfast and decorate the kitchen. 

And that's all I have time to write in this moment. ;) 

January is here. 

Birthday is Over.

Christmas is Over. 

Life is settling back into a manageable routine. 

In the mornings hours, we usually have something that gets us going, out of the house, a routine that keeps us sane.  
The afternoons, however, are The Worst time of day for me. Things start going downhill the time right after lunch and the few hours before I pick up Evie from school. 
I finally pinpointed the problem as to why this time is so miserable. 
The boys don't nap anymore, and the alternative activity "quiet time" is a struggle (I.E doesn't happen....) So,  I'm left really tired and frustrated as the triplet mob circles the house, searching for me. 
They are tired, or hungry again, or want something or WHATEVER...but their main focus is on how they are going to get Mom from not getting anything done or sneaking in a little quiet time herself. 


Sometimes I can get really depressed in these afternoon hours. I don't like the feeling that I'm just trying to pass time, and I really don't like feeling that I can't get anything done. And I really really  don't like being stalked around the house. 

But each day at around 1:00, I start to get this sense of exhausting dread. 
SO....after realizing that the boys are not going to change their behavior, I decided to change mine. I decided to implement some sort of semblance of schedule to this mayhem.

It obvious that the tension is with me wanting to be left alone, and the boys wanting me. Thus, I decided to designate a block of uninterrupted time to them, each afternoon, with the negotiation that they then will in fact let me have some time to do what I need to do. 

This time has structure.
               It has purpose. 
It has intention and my hope is that this will fill up their little "mom shaped hole" and be content for awhile. 

So, here it is. Time with Mom.


Monday: Muffin baking day! (Bake and eat a new muffin recipe)
Tuesday: Train Day! (build super train tracks together)
Wednesday: Game day! 
Thursday: Cuddle and read day!
Friday: Write letters and draw pictures to family and put them in the mail. 

After trying this out, I am happy to report it is a success! ⭐⭐⭐ 
Each afternoon my mindset is on them, knowing I have a designated activity to focus on with them. 
The boys enjoy their time with me and then are able to go off by themselves for a bit so I can do what I need to do. 

Things I'm learning: If there is something in my schedule I don't like or that isn't working, I have the power to fix it. 

One aspect of myself I want to work on this year is being more proactive than reactive. I don't want my emotions to dictate how I am as a person. I want to make ways so I am approaching problems and situations before my emotions take over. 
It's tough, but I am learning its a worthy goal, especially when dealing with little humans who hunt and attack your existence at all hours.