my FAVORITE weekend

I think the greatest thing about being a mom of boys is the father and son campout. they are usually only gone for about 19 hours, not even a full day. but they are my favorite 19 hours of the year. please don't misunderstand; i love my husband, and my boys; but MAN do i love a quiet house. i have had the pleasure of many "me days" before where i go somewhere. but nothing compares to a big quiet empty house.

anyway, the boys had a great time and everyone stayed in the tent. (i'll tell you that story in a bit.)
here they are in all of their camping glory:
Last year was the first time brent took ALL of the boys with him. spencer was 2. he was still sleeping in a crib so i encouraged brent to take the playpen. brent felt they would be fine inside the tent.
once it was time for bed, it all went downhill. i had gone out to visit my brother for the night (about 30 minutes away). I got a call around 9:30 from brent. "do you think you could bring the playpen down for me?"

"sorry honey, i'm not home. why, what's going on?"

"well, jake and elijah are both trying to sleep, and spencer won't stop jumping on their heads."

silent giggle, in my head. "oh no. those poor guys. i could come get him."

"no, we'll be fine. i'll just try to bear hug him some more until he falls asleep."

"ok, love you. good luck."

the next day, i learned that spencer had outlasted brent in the bear-hug-until-someone-falls-asleep game. apparently, at around 1:30 a.m., spencer let himself out of the tent and went on a little adventure. one of the other dads saw him, thankfully, and led him back to the tent. i guess the funny part is that it took a couple of minutes for this other dad to realize that a toddler wandering around a campground, alone, in the middle of the night, was an abnormal occurrence.

needless to say; last night's campout went much more smoothly. and i am a happy camper.

my dog

i know the cuteness of my dog only really matters to me, but this is my journal. so, look at my dog.

spence and eli in laundry baskets

a jacobism

"hey mom! i told spencer to lock me in the dog crate and he did. i wanted to try to get out by myself. it wasn't that hard because i have disposable thumbs."

the green machine

so i know it is super trendy to be going "green" right now, but, i think i am about ready to jump on the band wagon. my sister has been reading up on environmental issues and has passed her books along to me. check out living like ed, gorgeously green, and clean house, clean planet. to be honest, i'm afraid of being labeled that crazy granola girl, but then i think, hasn't our Father in Heaven given us this stewardship and we are completely blowing it? the earth is a mess. so, i've been reading. and there are a ton of tiny things that i can do that can make a difference. so, i'm gonna try. granted, i will not be going vegan, or even vegetarian ( i really have tried tofu and i can't do it), but I will cut down on red meat, and make an effort to at least read the label to see how the meat was raised. i do shy away at the idea that the animal i am eating had a miserable cramped life. but i also know, that if i follow the word of wisdom, it includes eating meat, SPARINGLY. additionally, we will cut back on chicken as well. there is a part of me that says i am not actually creating a meal if there is no meat involved. i don't know where that comes from. but, we don't need meat everyday. i need to get over myself and find ways to add more beans and legumes. when brent lived in brazil, they ate beans and rice everyday. meat was a special occasion treat.
i also want to recycle more. but, since we live in a condo, we have a dumpster service. the single family homes on our street have bin service, including a recycling bin. i am hoping to be able to convince the trash company to let me buy a bin for recycling. we'll see.
anyway, this is my new thing. ride your bike today. you'll feel great!

and knot watch is going great. he still hasn't asked for a knot once, and he seems to be sleeping just fine.

knot watch; night #2

Elijah woke up this morning, at 6:30 (very early for him) very excited about his Crayola crayon tower with 150 crayons displayed in a three tier case. He loves to color and cut and make any art he can, so the knot fairy did well.
tonight was a little rough for him. we were out late for dinner and some shopping, so he was a bit overtired. but eventually, with a little snuggling from mom, he dozed off. he did ask for some warm milk, and a stuffed animal, but never a knot, nor did he try to suck his thumb without the knot; interesting.

happy birthday eli!!

elijah turned 5 today. since his brothers have already had their birthdays, he had a very clear idea of what his would be like. he has been taking a mental inventory of every birthday he has attended in recent history. for example, there MUST be a pinata, which he gets to hit first (like jake and emily).

there MUST be a cake with a #5 candle (NOT a #5 cake like spencer's and jake's). at preschool, we needed to take in donuts, not cupcakes, like allison had for her birthday.
he was so funny when we were planning the party. normally, we only do big parties (with friends) on even years. on odd years, we have a small family gathering. however, he was insistent that he would have a birthday party. tonight's celebration was just family, but since allison was there, and there was a pinata, i think it passed muster for him. at least he said he had fun.

the other big deal for him is the arrival tonight of the knot fairy. anyone who has spent any time with eli knows of the sick grey rag, that used to be white, that he takes around with him everywhere. The Knot. it is his security item and he loves it and sucks his thumb with it. a few weeks ago, we looked at the calendar and chose a date on which the knot fairy would come. on this night, he would gather all of his knots and put them in a basket (he has many but carries around the 'favorite knot' most of the time). in exchange for the knots, the knot fairy will bring him a big boy surprise. so tonight, he very excitedly went around the house gathering up all of his knots in a basket and put them on the landing at the top of the stairs. i'll let you know how happy he is about what the knot fairy brings. as for tonight, so far, so good. we'll see what tomorrow brings.

happy birthday to my handsome little man.

new sister site

I have created a cake blog. check it out if you wanna.

SAFE!!!!

The original owner of our home fabricated black powder rifles in our enormous workshop/garage. We have lived here for just about 10 months. Any of you who have come to visit us have received "the tour". On "the tour" we always share our super cool, built-in, concrete reinforced, walk-in, gun safe. Then we say; "but we can't open it". It was open, and empty, when we moved in. But before we put anything in it, we wanted to make sure we could open it again. We couldn't. We have the combination, but no matter how many different ways he tried, and no matter how many different websites he went to, Brent could not get it open again. We had decided it was much safer locked than unlocked, as far as the kids were concerned, so we just left it alone. We figured that when we had an extra $500 lying around, we would get a locksmith out to open it for us.

Today, Brent decides it would really be the best place for food storage, and he gets a hankering to have it opened. (We don't have $500 hanging around, but apparently, that was suddenly beside the point.) He found a "safe specialist" online and gave him a call for a quote, etc. The man gave him a few simple instructions, and with the combination we have had taped to the safe door for 10 months, Brent opened the safe in two minutes. 10 MONTHS WE HAVE BEEN LIVING HERE, THINKING IT WOULD BE SOME HUGE EXPENSE, AND IT WAS OPENED WITH A SIMPLE PHONE CALL. Brent said it sounded like the guy got calls from people with "hopelessly locked safes" all the time. Anyway, its open. Anyone need to rent space in a gun safe? Your weapons will be safe and insulated right next to all of our wheat.

He is so triumphant:
And seriously, the thing is ridiculously huge:

eli-ism

"I like to play with my friend Vijonny (Giovanni)."

high adventure

We took a trip to the Madrona Marsh last month with the 11-year-old scouts. It was very hot, but extremely beautiful. We saw all kinds of great bugs and birds (even a snowy egret, which is endangered). The place is covered with indigenous plants, and it is still the marshy season, so there was lots of water. This crazy little place is smack dab in the middle of Torrance, where Brent works.

Eli had just gotten himself a new backpack in preparation for kindergarten. Despite the heat, he insisted on carrying the backpack the whole day. The back of his shirt was soaked with sweat when we got back to the car.Classic. Spencer. Smirk.
Investigating a lady bug.
Another. Classic. Spencer. Smirk.
Relaxing after the hike. That pack is bigger than he is.