Memorial Day Activities

Three boys on a bridge. This is the only picture of Isaiah with his eyes open. :)
Eric and Isaiah. They were trail buddies for most of the hike.
Elijah climbing and displaying his masculinity completely unprompted. There is just something about the great outdoors that brings out the boyness in boys.
At the overlook. That is the Kentucky River and there is very little between us and the water below. Scary. Eric has Isaiah on his shoulders at this point.
There is a butterfly on Elijah's finger.

What did we do with our day off from school and work? The weather was beautiful so we packed a backpack and headed to Raven Run Park for some hiking. We went here last summer at the end of the summer and the boys loved it. Its about a 15 minute drive from Wilmore and they have some great trails- very hikeable for little ones but challenging enough that they feel like they're really hiking into the deep dark forest. When we first pulled in to the parking lot, we heard a lot of, "This isn't a park... where's the playground... I don't want to go here."

After a stop at the porta-potty and the nature center, we ventured to the overlook- a REALLY high cliff that overlooks the Kentucky River. We hiked about 40 minutes to get there. We don't have many pictures from this beautiful spot because we were both busy making sure little ones stayed away from the edge of the cliff. We ate lunch out on the trail and a snack when we got back to the nature center- an hour and a half of hiking, and the boys hardly complained about being tired at all. The whole afternoon was good free fun, and at one point I heard Elijah say, "This is so much fun!" Amazing what some good fresh air, a picnic lunch, trails, bugs, rocks, and streams can do.

Bodily Functions

If poop and puke nauseate you, consider skipping this post, but it is a pretty good story.

Wednesday night all three boys were taking a bath in the fabulous, jetted tub in our new bathroom. I was in the kitchen on the phone and Eric had run downstairs for a minute to get a book from the office and was on his way back up the stairs. We both heard a weird scream from Elijah, and then way too quiet. Eric got to the bathroom seconds later and I figured he would be able to handle it until I hear him yell, "A little help in here please!" I hurry to the bathroom, thinking the worst, of course, and I see Elijah first, dripping wet and naked puking into the toilet. Then I notice the HUGE puddle of puke dripping over the side of the fabulous, jetted tub in our new bathroom and onto the white bath rug. The stench is overwhelming, so I take a step back and ask Eric, "What happened? Is he sick?" Eric says, "No, Isaiah pooped in the tub." I look over to see Isaiah, looking completely bewildered, poop floating in the water next to him, staring at the stream of puke still spewing from Elijah. I grab towels, wrap Elijah in one when I'm pretty sure he's done and Eric carries him to the other bathroom while I get Isaiah out of the nasty tub, wrap him up and take him to the other bathroom as well.

The funniest moment was seeing Micah all alone, sitting in the poop and puke infested water with a grin on his face. Elijah pukes at the sight of poop, and here Micah is almost smiling at the flurry of activity he has just witnessed. All the time I'm helping him out and wrapping him up, he is pointing to the puke, describing the chunks and guessing at what the various particles might have once been. He doesn't seem to be the least bit disgusted by it all. Strange.

Anyway, I re-bathed all 3 boys in the other bathroom and put them to bed while Eric cleaned up the poopy/pukey tub. Elijah seemed fine, but I gave him a snack to replace the dinner he'd just lost and even as I was turning out the light in their room, Micah was still asking Elijah what the white chunks where. He was not in the mood to talk about it, which actually helped our going-to-sleep issues quite a bit.

So, that was our Monday night adventure. Don't you wish you'd been here?

WHAT IF #4

Elijah likes to ask impossible WHAT IF questions... here is another gem from lunch today.

Elijah: What if the whole house flew up into the air...
Me: (Waiting cause I could tell he wasn't done... ) and
Elijah: and when it came back down it was all messed up (his turn to wait)
Me: If the house flew up in the air, I'm sure it would be messed up when it came back down
Elijah: yea, but what if the door was where the windows are and like the windows were where the doors is and stuff like that? What then? (big smile spreads across his face- ear to ear- probably from the dazed expression on mine)
Me: I guess we'd have to get in and out through the window?
Elijah: No, we would still use the door, it would just be where the window is.
Sheesh. What was I thinking. Of course. :)

Indiana Trip

Here is a slideshow of our pics. We had a great time of course. Micah helped with the video. He picked the pictures, the style and the music- with some guidance. :)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sleep

Training all 3 boys to sleep in the same room at the same time has been an exercise in patience to say the least. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that Eric and I have both been pushed past our breaking points, so frustrated that we were thinking thoughts one just should not think toward one's children. Finally, after many late nights of kids still awake, we're seeing some hope. Last night and tonight were much better than the previous week, so I feel like we're on the uphill climb. The main instigator is Isaiah. He just CAN NOT seem to stay in his own bed. But you'd never know it from this sweet, innocent picture huh. Before our renewed commitment to this new endeavor, we had been putting him to bed in our bed and moving him after he fell asleep. One night a few weeks ago we entered to find him dressed in my sweater- but the sleeves were on his legs instead of his arms. How? Why? who knows, but sleeping children are always so cute huh.

Time

We, as parents, are fond of saying (or at least thinking) occasionally- "it's a phase I hope he grows out of soon enough," or "I can't wait until she starts feeding herself," or "if we could just get him out of diapers..." There is certainly the desire to see our children become more responsible, more mature, more self-sufficient and more independent. Imagine the mess we'd be in if we didn't have those desires.

But, if I could have my cake and eat it too, there would be a list of things that I'd want to keep the same forever.

1. Elijah would always think it's cool to write "I 'heart' you mom" with sidewalk chalk in the middle of our driveway.
2. Micah would always want to cuddle for a few minutes when he wakes up in the morning.
3. Isaiah would continue to believe that a hug from mommy can cure every evil.
4. All three would continue to tell me every thought they're thinking without fear of judgment or criticism.
5. They would continue to be best friends who share everything and protect each other fiercely.

Isaiah Rides

Isaiah is riding his tricycle most of the time but don't call it that; call it a motorcycle. He is also riding Micah's bike quite a bit, but he likes the motorcycle better because he can ride it faster.

Micah rides

Micah's Spiderman bike has a busted tire right now (yeah, I know it's brand new- the little nubby thing just fell off the tube, weird) so he's riding the old one. His favorite thing to do is push his bike up the hill and then ride it back down.

Bike Riding

Elijah has been riding his bike with no training wheels for about a week. I've just been slow getting these videos up for everyone. He reminds me daily. :)

Unpacked Rooms (Scroll Down for the finished rooms)

And these are what unpacked, unpainted rooms look like. Our bedroom. Notice there is room for our couch on your far left, a recliner in the corner and our TV cabinet at the far right. This is where the boys hang out in the mornings while I get ready in our...
Master bath... WITH 2 sinks and a HUGE tub that the boys LOVE, and a small shower that presently has a more than annoying leaky shower head but all in all a great place to be in the morning.
The boys' room before I unpacked it and put away the toys. The bunk beds are on the left and the loft bed you can see. Most of the toys did fit in their baskets on the shelves in the closet and to the right (you can't see it) but their TV with Leapfrog games and a dresser are against the wall. Also there is a tall bookshelf with all of their books to the right of the window. So, still lots of play space in the middle of the floor after I stowed things in their places. I'll try to post an after pic sometime.
This is the hall bath on the main floor. Yeah, I know, nice border and PINK sink. Why? We haven't done anything to this room yet but it will get some love once we know what paint we have leftovers of.
And this will be the international student's room and a guest room during the summers. It is plenty big enough for a full or queen bed, desk and dresser plus there's a big closet.

New House Pics

Here are some pictures of the new house. It's really hard to take pictures of rooms, but they give you an idea.

In other exciting news, Elijah wanted the training wheels off his bike yesterday and when I took them off he got on and rode away like he'd been training-wheelless for weeks. After he returned from school he got back on the bike, got off to eat and then back on until bed. I'll post a little video when I get back to KY. I'm in Denver for a working retreat this weekend. Woo Hoo, but it's COLD here. SNOW last night. Ugh! I'm such a weenie. Where did my Canadian blood go? So anyway, on to the house pics. They represent what unpacked and freshly painted rooms look like- a far cry from the WALLPAPER and white walls that used to exist here.