Evidence

As I sit down to write this, I can tell I'm going to have a hard time explaining myself. I guess sometimes I write too much with my readers in mind. This posting is mostly for me, I'm not going to be offended if you don't find it interesting.

Call me crazy but I love all the little things around my house that remind me that I am a mom, or that say, "Collin was here", or "Lucas was here". Here are some examples: (again, I feel like documenting this stuff for my own enjoyment, I don't imagine too many of you out there want all these details) I often find Collin's bath bucket full of chap sticks that he has collected throughout the house. I can usually predict what will happen if he sees me putting on chap stick, I will hear him trot down to his bathroom and push back the shower curtain to get his little orange bucket, then I will hear the "plunk, plunk" as he goes around collecting from night stands, purses, and kitchen and bathroom drawers. Lately it has tickled me so much to empty out his tractor seat after he has gone to bed. Last night I found two forks, the knob to the lamp (I heard it fall off the week before when Jesse turned it on) some random toys that were small enough to fit, and a Sam's club receipt that Collin had saved because of the smiley face. It's so fun to imagine what Collin's little mind was thinking as he rode around the house on his little tractor collecting treasures.

And now that Lucas is full-on mobile he stays busy with what Jesse and I refer to as "his little projects". I watched him working on one such "project" the other night as he went back and forth from his toy basket to the top of the stairs to watch each toy topple down one by one. After each toy would stop on the landing, he would turn around with the biggest, proudest grin on his face and quickly go get another one. I guess these kinds of things make me happy because of the reminders they are. I was doing laundry the other day and was lost in my mindless task, not really thinking about much when I came across Lucas' toothbrush. I had been looking for that thing for a couple days and had to smile as I thought about him walking around sucking on it and deciding the hamper looked like a good place to put it. Just that little thing pulled me out of my mindless task and made me think little prayers of gratitude for the people whose clothes I was washing.

It's a bit strange to hear myself talk about things like this, I remember so well hearing these same things from moms before I had kids. I guess I'm a little worried someone might read this and think like I used to think, "big deal, all kids do that", but it's my kids doing it and I get to experience it. I hope that I can remember these simple delights forever. It's not always the funnest to pick up toys and little misplaced items all the time, but as long as there are things like that around my house it means my kids haven't grown up, gone to college, gotten married, or moved away yet. Phew, I'm not ready for that. Thank heaven they're still little and still want to spend time with their Mama. For now, I will try to savor all the little bits of evidence I find that make me smile as I am reminded of the blessing it is to be Mama to these boys.


Here's Collin with a bit of 'evidence' I found on the kitchen floor--Thomas stickers!
"It's fern [for] you."



Sounds silly, but I like the fact that someone visiting my house for the first time would look around and say, "Yep, Mom to young'uns."

The Day Has Come

Ever since we found out we were expecting Lucas, we have anticipated the two brothers being able to play together and the day has finally come. Just last Saturday Lucas ventured on to Collin's toy tractor and to my amazement, Collin didn't push him off. Instead he showed him how to hang on and slowly pushed him around our house. It ended up being about a twenty minute episode and they both totally enjoyed themselves. I snapped this pic right before Lucas got off, by his expression you can tell he had had enough. Pardon the three year old missing his pants. I guess boys this age just don't believe in clothes. Can I get an amen, Sunni?

Back Door View

It's balloon fiesta time again! Another reason why Fall is great. Early this morning I heard the tell-tale sound of a hot-air balloon so loudly (sounds like Darth Vader) and ran outside to see two balloons right over our house. I quickly got the boys out of bed and we got to watch them land right outside our back door. The Hot-Air Balloon Fiesta runs through this whole week, I'm hoping to get a pic of the balloon filled sky, it's really impressive.

This pic shows them both, but the second one is almost hidden by the one in front.

Two Reasons

I'm only blogging this for two reasons:

1. I wanted to show Jesse the improvements to our entry way, no one else will really appreciate the difference. I should have taken a before and after.

2. I wanted to gush over Sunni and thank her for her help. I know she will take this as the greatest compliment when I say that she gave me Mom-like service. I was drowning in all the things I had to get done before our open house and she stepped in just like our Mama would have if she lived closer. I want to be more like Sunni, who wants to be more like our Mama. Some day when I am like Sunni, I will then work on being more like our Mama, but for now I've got my work cut out for me. I'm never very good at accepting help or calling on those people who say, "if you need anything, let me know" and Su knows that, she just sensed my need and said, "do you want to drop off your kids at my house, or would you rather have my help at your house, which would be more helpful"? Can't even begin to express my gratitude. Love that girl.

Here's the front porch with the beautiful arrangement Sunni helped me create and while I'm tooting her horn, the fountain is one that she made as well. It was a birthday gift to me last year. Now do you see why I want to be like Sunni? Well actually, let's get this straight, even if that girl didn't have a creative or crafty bone in her body, I'd STILL want to be like her. Enough said.

Boys = Pyromaniacs

We had an impromptu hot dog roast the other night. It's times like these that I'm glad we live out in the desert so we don't have to drive anywhere to have a desert cook-out. Works out pretty well. Josh and Su drove a whole 5 minutes and I grabbed my boys and walked out the back door to Cliff and Lisa's house and BAM the hot dog roast is on. Cliff got the boys all hyped up helping make the fire. Boy, were they excited. For a while there we didn't know if they were possessed or just doing a dance to the fire gods. For them, the fire was the best part of the night. Cliff was busy digging the hole, cutting his up his lumber pile, and helping the kids with kindling, while the moms all stood around giving out reminders to not get to close, be careful, fire is dangerous, etc.

Cliff is such a fun uncle/dad, he often reminds me of how Uncle Sam is with all the nieces and nephews, but in this case it was just nephews, and lots of 'em. It was a perfect night--another one of those times when I look around me at the people I love so much and just have to heave a big sigh because I feel so content and blessed. There are always things I could pick out of a situation that would make it better, but that will always be the case, might as well be grateful for what I've got in the here and now. And maaaaaaaaaaaan, am I grateful.

What are the odds?

I walked into Collin's room this morning and had to laugh out loud at his amazing bed-head. I have never seen it so wacky before and so I had to run for the camera (pictures never do it justice). I didn't get around to blogging about it this morning, which is a good thing because lo and behold, Lucas' morning nap gave him a 'do' worthy of documenting as well. Here are my bed-head boys:

Ode to my Angie

So I remembered another reason I love the change into Fall (including the smell of manure--but only in the cool air-transition stage) it reminds me of my last area in the Mission and my companera Angie Wilcox (well, manure doesn't remind me of Angie, it reminds me of where we lived). We were together for a long time and never got tired of each other. We got to be bridesmaids at each other's weddings and have both had two boys in the same years. In fact, I loved her so much that I made sure to find a guy to marry who had the same last name as her maiden name. We even got to visit our favorite family from the mish together. I had planned on blogging my ode to her on her birthday earlier this month but I missed my chance. Here are just a few things that come to mind when I think about Angela and the blessed September we met 8 years ago. These are for you, Ang.

~purple skittles and Reece's pieces

~gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, yur CUTE

~ooh wee ooh wee ooh wee ooh wee

~scaring me to get rid of my hick-ups

~"oh dear"

~whatever the case may be, at any rate...

~syke, rreeeaaar (cat noise)

~hola, mi amor

~yatzee hand-held game

~muneca mi nina

~kid me not

~killing black widows

I realize that no one else gets any of this stuff and maybe no one has even read this far--sorry to bore you but I seriously love this gal and besides that she's my faithful commenter on all my blogs, she deserves a shout-out. I would have put a missionary pic. of us but my scanner isn't working. Anyway, thanks for all the memories--GOOD TIMES! Love ya dear, and happy late birthday!