13 days!

13 days until Scott gets home! Not that I'm counting or anything. Man, do I miss him, and it's manifesting itself in the weirdest ways. I have a constant desire to eat at his favorite teriyaki restaurant, and I can't get enough of a particular granola bar which I don't think was particularly his favorite, but one of the last days together, he gave me one to eat, and now it's linked to his memory. I am compulsively reading his favorite series of books (or, well, listening to them whenever I can, anyway - who knew I'd be a geek who listens to books on tape? But I just don't have time to actually sit down and read). I'm listening to his music rather than mine, and I get choked up each time I put on the jewelry he's given me. I sleep on his side of the bed, and often end up sleeping sideways in bed (but it's much more annoying when he does it because I'm in bed, too, and he's either laying on top ofme or pushing me to the foot of the bed or even off the bed). Oh honey, I miss you, and I can'twait to see you again - in 13 days!

So I pretty much have the best neighbors in the world! During all this time of craziness without my husband, they've constantly been asking if there's anything they can do for us... and actually meaning it. Of course, being the stubborn girl I am, I say I'm doing fine, then cry in my bedroom at night. Haha! But do they care? Nope! They just keep on inviting us over for dinner, or roping me into chatting with them for an hour when the electricity's off, or just being good folks. Most recently, the husband, Greg, was out of town camping, so Tawny invited us to have a campfire and make s'mores with her and her son, Ethan. And what a great night! We roasted

the HUGE campfire marshmallows the have now, ate s'mores, and had fun watching the kids do... guess... get muddy! Thank you, Tawny, for being such a great neighbor and taking care of me even when I say I don't need it.

Here's R playing in the smoke. She was gracefully flapping her arms and saying she was angel. It took me a minute to figure it out, but finally I realized she was on a cloud of smoke being and angel. How cute is that?

I eventually got rakes and shovels, etc. out to eventually bury the fire. The kids took to this very quickly and started raking all the dirt and ashes into the pit. I thought they were just having fun and being helpful, until they thanked me for letting them make more fire. They apparently thought that since they were putting more stuff on the fire, it would burn longer. Oops!! Luckily neighbor Ethan started playing with the hose and pouring water in the fire. I think they thought that explained why the fire went out.

Of course, where there's water and dirt, I have trained the kids very well to make mud and get dirty. The only problem was the sun was setting and it was already a cooler day, and there was a bit of a breeze. But they stilled filled up their favorite mud hole and sat in it. They just covered themselves up with their favorite tarp. What you don't see in this picture is it shaking as E shivered uncontrollably. It was sooo funny. But did he want to come in? Nope! He did eventually come out with teeth chattering and stutter out, "Mama, I need a sweater." Haha! As he's dripping wet and covered in mud. What a sweet boy. At that point, I decided it was time to come in and put them in a hot shower.

Thanks, Tawny and Ethan, for coming over and taking care of us. You're definitely the best neighbors we've ever had!

A-Hiking We Will Go!

This morning the kiddos and I went hiking up the Umptanum Ridge. The kids loved it! We were surrounded by chipmunks and squirrels and birds... and mosquitos! We got as far as the waterfall, then I decided to stop. There were a couple scares with E tripping and falling, or running andnearly falling head-first down a sheer cliff, and before we were even halfway to the waterfall, he had blisters. But man is he a tough guy, and he wanted to slog on! Especially since there was lots of mud and throwing rocks in the stream. All in all, it was just a pleasant morning. And then to make good days even better: I checked my e-mail, and Scott bought his airline ticket to come down here, and it's a day earlier than expected! Hooray!!! I love you, babe, and I can't wait to see you again!

Summer Mud Baths

The kids have obviously found my weakness: mud! Something about the kids getting absolutely covered in mud makes my soul sing!

The changes that have happened in them very often seem so small because they've come about so gradually, but when I look at what the three of them were like just a year ago when they initially came into our home, I can now smile, and say we've given their childhood back. When I see them happily playing in the mud, I now smile as I remember being exasperated and ushering them outside. When they cried, "There's nothing to do out there!" I can retrospectively giggle at their tears when I turned the hose on, and said (or maybe yelled) "GET DIRTY!" despite their fear of doing so. Oh sure, I trip and fall in the hole they've made in the middle of the yard with their wallowing, but I trip then giggle.

I no longer roll my eyes while remembering their first time through the car wash with us. To this day I still get a little giddy when I go through it. I felt like such a fun mother because I was letting the kids go through with me! Imagine my sadness when just sat inside the car as the rubber fingers massage pink and purple foam into the car, and they just looked around and said, "What fun is this? It's not doing anything to us. We're just sitting here." I no longer roll my eyes because last week I took them to the car wash and I had to cover my ears because they were screaming and giggling so loudly as the giant squid attacked our car and ate us, but not without spraying us all over with its ink.

I no longer fume as I remember turning on the sprinkler for the kids to run through last summer, and them just walking through it once and staring at it wondering what they were supposed to do with it. Instead I fume that I can't get them inside from running through the sprinklers and making castles and fortresses and fighting fire breathing dragons.

Oh, sure, I still have to remind K often that I'm the parent, and to stop fussing over his siblings. Oh sure, I still have to pry an independent opinion out of R as she clings desperately to pleasing everyone at her own expense. Oh sure, I still have to unwrap E's arms from around my leg and leave him sobbing each morning at daycare.

It's a strange phenomenon we have in our family, I think. Most mothers are trying to teach their kids to grow up, and we're trying to teach or kids to be young. I guess that's what Scott and I get for being so backwards ourselves!

Six weeks!

I know I'm a little late sharing all this, but Randy's off in Alaska now. He's living with a couple of guys from our church, and moaning about having roommates again! The day he left, we had one last fun family outing to the Pacific Science Center. I must say, it was not as exciting at 29 as it was at 9. Isn't it funny what 20 years will do to ones' perspective? Anyway, we did the Science Center and dropped Papa off at the airport. We then went up to the top of the parking garage (cause of course we had to go around and around and around to the top!) and watched "his" airplane leave for Alaska. Incidentally, according to E, every plane we see now is "Papa's plane." Apparently he is permanently stuck in the sky. Along with the Holy Ghost, but that's another story. How are we surviving, you ask? One day at a time! We have good days and bad days. We laugh and we cry. I was helping my parents type up some letters my grandpa had written my grandma during... one of the wars, and I was hit by a wave of gratitude for Skype! And I was talking to my parents, and when they were engaged, my mom was in Texas and my dad was in Alaska, and it was $.40/minute to call each other! Thank goodness for cell phones! Having Randy gone has definitely shown us how much we love Randy, and what a rock he was in our family. We love you, Papa! We'll see you in six weeks!

And the training wheels are off!

I'm constantly amazed at how talented these kids are! They're so smart and so coordinated and so athletic! We didn't even try with R, but she's already off her training wheels! What actually happened is her training wheels fell off! They came loose and she never told us - I just noticed her riding without them one day. Good job, babe!

A Weekend with the Mahoneys

We had a great time with the Mahoneys this weekend! It's very likely to be the last time we (Scott, more especially) get to see them for a while, so they decided to come up to see my musical and to get to spend some time with us. Thanks!! I know that our kids LOVE spending time with them. Kelton and E are about the same age, as wellas Malli and R. Korban and K are a few years apart, and I know Korban gets a little annoyed with him, but man what a good example Korban is for K! Thanksfor humoring him, Korban!

We also had a blast of a time floating the Yakima River on Friday. The kids were a little incredulous about the whole thing: "We just sit here for 3 hours?" But in the end they all seemed to enjoy it. Except for maybe E. We're not quite sure what was going on with him, but he sure had a rough time with it, and ended up sitting in my lap for a good portion of it with his eyes covered. Maybe he just needed a nap? Maybe he got a little sea sick? Who knows - but by the end, he was beginning to perk up again and had fun with the water guns.

That night, Scott, Dennese, and the kids (minus Kelton and E) came and supported me at my show. This was my first time back on stage for about 9 years, and it was a blast! I had actually done my stage makeup at home and scared the kids before I went to get dressed and everything, and that was a hoot! The kids actually really liked it! They even got these cute little pirate hats that they've been wearing around. It was fun being on stage and seeing especially Malli and R at the edges of their seats, and they sure seemed to be trying their hardest to distract me by waving to me! My favorite was at the beginning of the second act when I'm coming down the aisles looking for Papa and asking people in the audience if they're Papa, and I got to go to the

kids! They got a kick out of that. "Mommy! I'm not Papa!!" The next night, K & R went to the show AGAIN with Grandma Layne and Auntie Lori, and we actually dared to send E with them too! He just sat right on Auntie Lori's lap the entire time, and was soooo good! It was too cute, 'cause at the very end of the show, we all come out in our night gowns and bridal veils, and everyone was quiet, except E seemed to think that was funny, and I heard his little giggle on stage. Bless my heart, he's cute! Anyway, thanks for the great weekend, Mahoneys! We're sure going to miss being able to see you so often! And everyone else: come to the show! It closes this weekend! My parents are taking tickets on Thursday, and K gets to hand out programs, which he's excited about. It should be cute!