Think time

Free, alone think time. It's a rare commodity around here. I feel like during the day my thoughts are jumping from one necessity to the next while trying to be engaged with the little ones clamoring for my attention. Then at night after the boys are asleep, I always think I'll have some, but then the list pops up of things to prepare for, things already on my "to-think-about" list (I'm pretty sure I actually have one of those on my Google Task Lists). This morning Jimmy didn't have classes and he blocked it off in the calendar as family time. What a gift! He took Archer with him to get his safety and emissions done and was gone for a couple hours, while Levi napped. I decided to clean the kitchen. Without kids around, cleaning is so fun! You know, at least more fun. I put on some music, planning to sing and dance while I worked, but instead I just thought.

I thought about politics. I thought about social problems. I thought about issues my kids may run into. I thought about women's rights. I thought about my place in this wide world. It was really valuable, quality-thought think time. Afterwards I realized I was truly refreshed and felt like a real person. Taking a shower and actually getting ready for the day might have helped, too. They say meditation is important to your spiritual and emotional well-being. I couldn't agree more! Even if you're mopping at the same time.

Raking time

Well, it snowed last week, which means the trees have been dropping their leaves in buckets. Well, I wish it were in buckets. As it was, I raked the yard with the boys in the afternoon, and when Jimmy got home, he cleaned up the last bit and towed the can to the driveway. We'll have to rake again in another couple of weeks, but it was a nice day, and it should cut the work next time in half. Henry was a super helper - he stayed outside after I went in to keep going!

Every day is Halloween

I realized today as I was posting about Halloween, that you wouldn't be able to tell which pictures of ours were from Halloween and which were from any other day. These boys are always in some get-up or another. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 

  

  

Brotherly love

 Boys are physical. At least ours are. Especially one of them. Archer has always been our little bulldozer. He'll run at you for a hug and just plow straight through you. He tackles his brothers - both of them - whether or not his brothers enjoy it. I'll let the pictures take it from here.

Notice how it often transitions from sweet(ish) Archer to "Okay, Arch, that's enough!" Luckily, it would seem that in another year or so, Archer will have some competition. Or a playmate. If Archer's lying on the floor in front of Levi, Levi will dive bomb him, open-mouthed. Watch out, Arch!

Halloween 2012

Every day the boys wanted to be something else for Halloween. At first I thought that would be problematic, but then I realized the beauty in it - I could pick any one of the things they mentioned, and they're young enough to still get excited about it! Ultimately we stuck with Henry's astronaut idea. Jimmy and I were Mars and Venus (we had a couples party to go to, so we had to do something that would work as a pair!). 

 We've been on a space kick lately, talking about space shuttles, the Mars rover Curiosity, planets, etc, so this was kind of fun. I followed a lot of the tutorial here, but used yard sale football helmets we had. For the planets, I just painted some cardboard circles.

As a fortunate misfortune, I didn't have any red paint (it was all dried up), so I used some homemade puffy paint from Train Up a Child and dyed it red. It turned out awesome! You can kind of see the texture in this picture - raised and rough, and it even sparkled a little because of the salt!

For Levi, we used water bottles instead of the 2 liter bottles.

ever feel like some things weren't meant to be?

 Sorry for the long post, but the day really was that crazy!

Since we got here, I have been so excited to go to the Washington DC temple. First of all, it is beautiful and it's always exciting to see a new temple, but also I really start to feel it if I go longer than a month without the temple. I am just not as nice. We decided to make last weekend work (June 30).

The plan was to spend the night at my Aunt Mary's house in Maryland, go to the temple first thing in the morning, and then head into the city to see a couple museums. The crazy lightning that night should have been our first clue - there was mischief afoot. (That was the most insane lightning I've ever seen! It was constant, like a laser show, flickering the lights every few minutes)

We woke up as planned and were out the door only 5 minutes past our 7:30 goal. Mary and her girls were in a car ahead of us, coming to babysit our kids outside the temple. About 10  minutes into the drive we got news that the power was out at the temple and it was closed. Major bummer.  Mary turned around and we went on ahead to at least see and walk around the temple.

Then we entered Armageddon. Massive trees were sprawled all over the streets, trailing power lines everywhere. For the next hour-long drive we only saw 2 working stoplights. The others were completely dark. Our cellphones didn't work and we went at a snail's pace. At one point a giant tree was blocking all 3 lanes of our road, so caution cones directed us to go in a single file line into one of the lanes of oncoming traffic. Madness. I wish I'd taken more pictures - I feel like these are pretty mild.

Imagine your world in complete upheaval and all of a sudden this comes into view:

With the world being in such chaos, the temple was all the more radiant and stunning. They had a generator but were using it sparingly, allowing only weddings and live ordinances. We walked around the slightly uprooted grounds, occasionally throwing branches and leaves back into the woods.

The boys found a mini-excavator (their highlight).

After calling the Smithsonian to make sure they had power in DC, we found a metro station to get us into the city (on a train for the boys). Unfortunately the metro station also didn't have power. The metro was running so we could get on, but the station was completely dark. And 4 stories underground. This picture was with my flash - I tried without, but it came out completely black.

Sitting in the dark tunnel almost completely by ourselves - our little family huddled on one of the benches - it really did feel like we were in an end-of-the-world movie. Plus side? we didn't have to buy tickets :)

Oh yeah, and Henry had to go to the bathroom (of course) and there were no bathrooms anywhere (of course), so Jimmy just held him up and he peed over the outer edge of the station (where the lights would have been, not where the train comes). The boys did LOVE the train, though! Probably the best part of the day.

We got to the city and up into the light! And the heat. It was 103 in DC that weekend. It was 1:00 and we were getting hungry. Bad news - we didn't have cash. So we walked in the heat for blocks and blocks to find an ATM. First one was out of money. Second one was closed. Finally, desperate, we went into the museum and paid way too much to eat at their food court. I had done a few "lessons" with the kids earlier in the week about space, so we chose the Air and Space Museum. The boys liked it, but a lot of it was lost on them because of their age and the absolutely insane crowds.Turns out everyone preferred to be inside that day. I swear there was a homeless man napping in one of the exhibits. Smart man.

The child in this picture looks cute. Don't let him fool you. That's what I thought, "Oh, he's tired, how precious." Nope. He's pooping.

And that was it. One museum and we were ready to go home. By the time we got back to the metro station, we practically had to mop the puddles of melted boys off the sidewalk.

We made it to our only transfer and waited for our next train. And waited. And waited. Wouldn't you know they had some malfunction on our line, so we stayed with our 3 boys right next to the track, trying to keep Archer from falling in and each other from going crazy for OVER AN HOUR. Of course Henry had to pee again, with  nowhere to go, so I, being the resourceful (or desperate) mom that I am, just put a diaper on over his underwear.

We finally dragged ourselves into Aunt Mary's house and had dinner at almost 7. Right before bedtime, someone pooped on the floor. We were willing that day to be over, but it just wouldn't end. Oh, and after all that, I had to run out at 10:30 to grab diapers because I hadn't brought quite enough. Sheesh!

I heart Lancaster

A couple weeks ago we were finally brave enough to venture out into the great exciting world and do a day trip! And I have decided that I want to live in Lancaster, PA. It's Amish Country, and it is beautiful. Pastoral farms tucked into wooded hills, little farm stands and rustic stores on all the corners, but not outside of civilization's niceties (read: 2 major outlet malls). The little buggies zooming up and down the streets were pretty awesome, too.

Our first stop was the Amish Farm and House, where we took a tour and wandered around the farm. We went with some friends who are also doing an internship here, and who happen to have a redheaded little girl and a baby the same age as ours! The kids loved seeing all the animals and feeding the goats. I thought the tour was fascinating.

this was just a fake "boogey" at a gas station (notice the horse's perfectly manicured tail) but it was a good photo-op!

After that, we stopped by the outlet malls and stayed only slightly longer than the half hour we allotted :) I did get some badly needed dress shoes out of it, though! Then we took off for a self-guided covered bridge tour. This meant a couple of hours of driving through the countryside while the boys traded napping in the back seat. I loved this! The bridges were neat but didn't do as much for me as the farms - seeing farmers tilling their ground either with tractor or horse-drawn plow, passing buggies everywhere (Archer yelling "There's a boogey! There's a boogey!") and just being in awe of the beautiful landscape.

After we had our fill of driving, we went to dinner at a little Amish buffet to try the local delicacies. A lot of it was fried or very sweet, but the bread pudding was to die for, and I rather liked the pickled beet eggs. Outside there was a mini farm/petting zoo that the boys wanted to stay at forever.


First real family trip on the East - a success! We would need that good mojo to cover some of this weekend's adventure . . . (duh duh duuuuuuhhh!)

saving graces

The last month has been extremely trying. I'm not going to lie, I went to bed crying more often than I have in a long time, and woke up crying more than once. We are finally starting to get back into a rhythm now. The boys are coping much better with life, playing well with each other (you know, for their ages), and are back to their usual cycle of only occasional disobedience. We now feel like we can go out on excursions and have adventures! Life is fun again!

In times like this when it feels like everything is uphill, sometimes our Heavenly Father sends encouragement through angels that look remarkably like middle-aged women in the grocery store and old ladies at the mall. The mother with grown children who stops and says, "You've got your hands full," (I swear I hear that at least twice every time I go out) but she goes on to talk about how fast they grow and asks how we're doing in the area. The grandma who stops you to say how beautiful your children are ("He could be on tv!").

When things are going well, I hardly remember comments like these, but when it's rough, they may give you the strength to make it to nap time. And that is something.

How NOT to move across the country

 

Are you moving this summer? Maybe just taking a long road trip? Here is some great advice that I sincerely wish we had followed. All except the last one, I guess! :)

1. Do NOT let the driver get sick on Day 3 of your trip.
The major stomach issues will make him pull over even more than your 3-year-old in the back seat's potty breaks. It will also lengthen your drive by a day. It turns out that Day 4 is where everyone turns nasty. Give me 3-day car trips forever. 4 days? Not advisable. 5 days? Never again.

2. Do NOT forget to check and double check the day that you can move into your apartment. 
This will make you sit in the leasing office for probably an hour longer than you should while they figure out what to do with you because you are there a day early, and they are supposedly cleaning your carpets (lies, all of it!) which won't be clean until tomorrow. During this eternity, you and your children will be barely tolerated by the office staff, obviously not used to seeing a family with 3 obscenely cranky kids under age 4 in their office. You will then need to get back in the car because you still can't get into the apartment for another 4 hours. Luckily there are beautiful parks and the breath of fresh air will be good for everyone, even if your children act like zombie monsters at McDonald's.

3. Do NOT have a baby 5 weeks before you move.
Contrary to popular opinion, babies at this age actually travel very well in our experience. The drive is not the issue here. It is the sudden upheaval of everything your older 2 children know and care about all at once. You may do this, but be prepared for a solid 3-4 weeks of not recognizing your children and really not wanting to own that they are yours in public. Seriously.


Now we did do some things right. First of all, we made a sweet pulley system to go from the front seat to the back seats where the bigger boys were (thank you, pinterest). I could relay snacks or toys in a bucket to either of them at any time. We also only ate out one meal a day to cut costs, and we had a few activities and prizes to give to the boys throughout the drive. They loved playing "Guess what animal I am." Anyway, for good or for bad, we'll chalk this one up to experience!

The Reader's Digest version

Now let me catch you up to speed on the past couple months at our house. It has been exciting.
March 30: We had a baby. Here is baby Levi. My mom and dad came into town, which was so very nice! We loved having them!

Mid-April: Jimmy gets out of school (hooray!) and we begin a month of scrambling to do house projects, find renters, and pack our belongings, while adjusting to the new baby. Here is the new laminate flooring my dad put in while he was here. Thanks, Daddy!

May 20: We leave for a trek across the country for an internship at Johnson & Johnson in Philadelphia. We really danced on the table singing "I'm So Excited" before leaving.

May 25: After taking 5 days instead of 3 to get from Utah to Philadelphia (more about that later), we arrive, bedraggled, in Ambler, a borough about 45 minutes outside of Philly. The apartment has carpet everywhere except the teeny tiny kitchen and the bathroom, so I made the boys eat their dinner in the bathtub because we didn't have a table. Made for an easy transition to bath/bedtime!

We have been here for about a month now, exploring the area and trying to get through the day and maybe even enjoy it a little!

To blog or not to blog?

Reader beware: this is my third attempt to write a blog. My first two trailed off into the abyss of this-would-be-nice-if-I-had-the-time. They are probably sitting somewhere next to making homemade bread and exercise. Unfortunately, journal writing is in there, too, and I feel like a schmuck of a mother not keeping any records of my adorable children and their milestones and cuteness. Lately I've felt the real need to start journaling again, along with the need to pull my far-away family into our lives. Ta-da! A blog is born. (Don't worry, I'll try and keep this to detailing our lives and leave the scary inner workings of my mind to my leather-bound REAL journal!)

My point is, I have a history with blogging, and it does not bode well. I take no responsibility for the hearts I may break if this blog suddenly goes AWOL. That being said, I am going to give this a real shot. In my mind, I'll fill these fake pages with pictures and stories of our lives, plus an occasional musing about motherhood, and maybe the odd nutrition thought or two. As my 2-year-old has been singing lately, "I'm so excited, I just can't hide it!"