Seattle on Memorial Day

 A lovely day and a three-day weekend called for a day trip somewhere.  Jason said he'd like to go to either the beach or Seattle.  Rachel agreed to be our tour guide in Seattle, in spite of her broken back, so we drove up north for the day.  We told her some of the places we'd like to go and she directed our travels.  We had a wonderful time with her, although I am afraid that our 7 hour trip may have broken her more than she was already (sorry, Rach!).

First up, the Pike Street market.

Beautiful, beautiful flowers.

What I assume are beautiful fish.

Beautiful fruits and veggies. 

Across the street we found a cheese store and watched them make curds.  We also got to try some and really liked the squeaky curds.

Another attraction that interested us was the gum wall.  I had heard that the wall had been cleaned off.  And it was, but that didn't stop people from starting it right up again.  (And this picture is the only photographic proof that Isaac was with us, but he was! All day!  He did pretty well in the stroller and carrier; he just didn't make it in front of the camera very much,)

We wanted to contribute, so we brought a pack of gum and got ready to make our mark.  Jason led the way.

Josh got in the spirit of it as well.  Michael tried to spit his on the wall and wasn't really successful.  Ben decided to keep his gum in his mouth.  And I forgot to do mine in all craziness of getting pictures taken.

Possibly Josh's best picture ever.

This is all Aunt Rachel had to say about wall.

We wandered outside for a bit until we found a little park.  Rachel said usually it smells strongly of pot, but we were lucky and were able to picnic there in the fresh air.  Below is one of the totem pools at the park.  Pretty cool.

Next we tried to walk along Alaska Way, but there was a bit of construction so the walkway was moved away from the waterfront.  However, we did manage to find a boardwalk area by the aquarium and were able to enjoy being near the water.  Also, a cool fountain.

Jason and the boys posed above the fountain and it wasn't until we saw the pictures on the computer that we got a good look at Josh's pose.  Very funny, Josh.

By the water we found a telescope.  One of those that takes your money and it is apparently designed for adults.  Nothing a dad can't fix.

And fix again.

Next on the agenda was a monorail trip to the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle.  As we got off the monorail, we were greeted by Monorail Man.

Outside of the station there was a folklife festival going on (SURPRISE!) and we got a good look at some of the members of the Republic.

And the Space Needle.

While Jason and I thought that the Needle was interesting, the boys were more interested in the playground they had seen from the window of the monorail.  I can see the appeal, but it was crazy busy there.  This is like a Where's Waldo picture.  Can you find Josh?

Also in the area was the Chihuly glass museum.  I had never heard of him, but Rachel assures me that he is very famous.  We didn't get a chance to go in the museum, but were several large pieces outside.

And if all that fun wasn't enough, our next stop was the University of Washington, Rachel's alma mater.

It is a fairly large university, but our destination was the "Harry Potter" room at the Suzzallo and Allen library.  Interestingly enough, the area in front of the library is called the Red Square.  I had to ask Rachel to repeat herself when she told us that, but it is indeed the Red Square.

My camera was so loud when it takes pictures and people were in there studying, so I didn't take a lot of pictures.  It was gorgeous and made me miss being in college.

Walking up to the library we were lucky to have relatively clear skies and could appreciate the spot called Rainier Vista.  My camera absolutely does not do it justice.  It is a lovely view of the fountain and Rainier.  The latter dominates the view here and is a stunning mountain. 

Most of us got sunburned and we may have broken Rachel, but it was a lovely day.  As we were waiting at the parking garage, Ben turned to Rachel and said, "I am so glad you came with us today, Aunt Rachel."  It was a wonderful, marvelous day.

New Deacon

Today Josh was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood by Jason.  It was difficult to gauge, but I think he was excited.  I am not sure he really understands everything involved yet.  That will come with time.

This means no more Primary singing/sharing time.  No more Primary Program.  No more singing in Sacrament Meeting.  He has been looking forward to all of that for months.

Now he enters the world of the Young Men's program and continues in Boy Scouts.  We are so proud of the young man he is and the man he will become.

But to keep this real, I do have to say that he spent the morning before he got ordained making various Daleks out of Legos.

Another Phone

A little while ago, we made the very exciting announcement to the boys that we would be getting another cell phone.

And then we crushed their hopes and dreams by telling them that it would not be a smartphone and that it would be my phone.

And suddenly their interest in this announcement immediately waned.

We have told them for years that we would not be buying any of them a phone.  We started telling them this when Josh asked, in 4th grade, when we would be getting him a smartphone.  I didn't know that this was a "thing".  Ten-year-olds with unfettered access to the internet and texting?  To each his/her own, but not our thing.  Then we moved here and have no landline phone.  Plus, we are at the point that Josh could be home alone for a little bit.  And, his school hours don't align with the other boys', and it would be nice not to be tethered to the house.  The cheapest solution we could devise was a pay-as-you-go phone to be used at our discretion or when home alone.

So, yeah, not as exciting a cell phone as they were hoping for.  But hopefully a good start.  And, as Josh starts branching out in his social engagements, a way to keep track of him in the age of no more pay phones.

And now he is 12

On the one hand I am so proud of this kid.  On the other I am so impressed that we've all made it this far.  Which is probably not the best thing to say right before he hits the teenage years, but there it is.  Our only extrovert (so far), he is great at jumping into new situations and making friends.  His head contains massive amounts of information (even stuff not related to Pokemon) and he loves to read.  He is a great big brother and Isaac absolutely adores him.  He is a leader to his brothers and includes them in all his interests and playing with his friends.  

And his latest and greatest interest is Doctor Who.  That will come up again in this blog post.

The anticipation of his birthday almost killed him.  And the fact that he had to wait until almost 5pm to open his presents may have been the greatest trial of his life so far.  But, in the end, it was worth it.

We started with the least exciting gift: clothes.  Josh will be ordained a deacon this Sunday and needed a white shirt and church pants that fit.  I also made a chart of his (soon-to-be) priesthood line of authority.  Not particularly interesting to him now probably, but hopefully at some point he will appreciate it.

The next gift got a much better reaction: a bow tie!  Because bow ties are cool.  (If you don't hear Matt Smith's voice in your head when you read it, you aren't reading it right.)

And then the Illustrated Dictionary of Doctor Who.  We haven't seen much of his face since he laid eyes on this book.

Also, because Jason is ordaining Josh tomorrow, I thought it would be cool for them to have matching bow ties.  Because, as you may have heard, bow ties are cool. (Again, Matt Smith)

Funny story about the book:  Josh told me about that book when it was on sale at the middle school book fair a month or so ago.  He didn't have any money at the time, so I told him no money, no book.  However, a couple of days later, Isaac and I snuck over to his school to buy it as a surprise.  We waited until after school had started and drove over.  Then, as we walked into the school, we came right up behind Josh at the front desk.  At which point, we made a quick, quiet retreat out of the building and hung out behind one of the pillars out front until he was gone.  That was a close one!

Aunt Rachel showed up to watch us eat dinner (I promise we offered her some) and dessert (didn't feel so bad about this one - most adults wouldn't find this appealing).  She helped us out by keeping Josh's eyes covered while dessert made it out of the freezer.

And this picture I just have to share because Josh looks like he has a very evil plan in mind.

And BLOW!

And EAT!

So, about this dessert.  Looked so much better in my head.  I should probably leave creative thinking to people who make Pinterest worthy stuff.  These were supposed to look like candles.  I bought Mega Stuf Oreos (because I was raised right), chocolate frosting (dairy free), and marshmallows.  Round one did not turn out great because of the difficulty of smoothing frosting on the marshmallows.  Jason recommended heating up the frosting, which worked pretty well.  Then I ran into the problem that marshmallows don't stack well if you want them to stay that way for very long.  I tried putting little lollipop sticks to hold them...and that helped...kind of.  Regardless, some them were tipping at some very precarious angles no matter what I did.  So much so that I placed them in the freezer as soon as I could and gave up on the idea of transferring them all to a nice, pretty plate for him to blow out.  So, presentation not so hot, but three boys with chocolate, marshmallows and cookies are happy boys.  For the win.

I was excited that the older boys liked them, but I figured that it would be a disaster for Isaac to get a hold of them.  So, we just gave him an Oreo.  He didn't appear to feel left out.

Our plans for a semi-clean baby came to naught.  But, he was one really happy baby.

Not that the other boys came completely unscathed in the chocolate department.

Our chocolate monsters.

Happy birthday to our firstborn!

Summer (already?) Fun

We've had some incredible weather here for the last couple of weeks.  Sunshine.  Temps in the 70's and 80's.  Some of the locals have been complaining about the heat and calling it summer weather, but, after 11 years in Virginia, if this is summer I am completely and utterly in love.

Turns out the lawn is not as infatuated with the sunshine and heat, so we've had to start watering it.  A new concept for us after living in townhouses and an idea pretty foreign to the boys.  So off to the store I went to add a sprinkler to our garage collection.  The boys warmed up to the sprinkler fairly quickly and got soaked to the bone.

Another victim of our gorgeous weather lived in the garden plot: the strawberries.  Heat and my lack of experience killed them dead, so this weekend the middles and I went to the garden to try a new batch.  Everything else is doing beautifully (well, as far as I can tell).

Due to a fortunate miscommunication, we ended up with a second garden plot, so we happily used our lovely weather to weed, prep, and plant it.  Our second plot contains (the seeds of) watermelon, more carrots, jalapenos, and onions.  We'll see how it goes!

Facebook

This blog is intended to be our family history.  I am not so great with writing in a journal or diary, but writing this blog and adding pictures is usually fun.  And since I am suffering from some sort of child-induced memory loss, it is good to know that the kids will have somewhere to go to find out what we did when they were little.  I realized the other day that there are several moments and conversations that I have recorded on Facebook and not here.  So here are some of the posts about the kids and life in general that I have written last year and this year:

Oma: What did you boys do for your mom for Mother's Day?
Michael: I gave her a card with a flower on it and a flower pen.
Ben: I drew her a picture of a flower.
Josh: I semi-willingly went to church.

This afternoon's monster screaming tantrum is brought to you by Swiffer.

Because sometimes you've gotta help your big brother out

Isaac has no words, but yesterday we did manage to teach him how to laugh like the Count on Sesame Street.

Our minivan is where baby socks and half-eaten teddy grahams go to die.

Monday battles with Isaac:
The battle of the dishwasher
The battle of the fireplace
The battle of the diaper change
The second battle of the diaper change
The third battle of the diaper change
The battle of lunch
The battle of the sippy cup
The battle of the tampons

And the war drags on.....

We offered the boys a penny per dandelion flower they pick. I've never seen them so motivated about yard work. Also, we are going to have to go get some cash tonight. Also, also, we are apparently in desperate need of dandelion killer.

This makes it 4 out of 4

At lunch yesterday
Isaac: Mama! 
Jason: You said "mama"! Too bad it was to a potato.

Story with high ickiness factor: At church on Sunday, while I was talking to someone and not paying 100% attention to Isaac, he found a piece of used gum under a pew and was happily chomping away for a while before I caught him. Ugh.

Isaac loves family prayer: he gets to roam around the room and hit people on the bum and (depending on the brother) on the head for several minutes.

Can I take a minute and brag about our youngest? At 14 months, he throws the tantrums of a much older child.

Sometimes I catch myself trying to teach Isaac to say "Mama". And then I realize that is a bad idea. Because, as soon as he learns to say that, he won't. ever. stop. So, then I try to teach him to say "Dada" instead.

Keeping the pantry stocked with the good stuff.

Let us all take a moment to say a prayer of gratitude for the makers of Gatorade.

Jason just got home after being away for 3 weeks. I would like to take a moment to thank family, friends and the wonderful manufacturers of Lexapro for helping us all survive here.

My house is a bit of a mess, but I figure that is actually the best security system ever. Sure, someone could break in, but he/she would likely trip on a toy and break his/her neck. Right?

Just learned the hard way that USPS makes 6am deliveries in December.

J: I've often wondered what it would be like to have an older brother.

M: It's terrifying, Josh.
J: Seriously?
M: Yes.

Every single time I think I can start trusting the boys to start taking care of their own personal hygiene (changing underwear daily, brushing teeth properly, etc), reality comes crashing down on me.

Isaac squealed with delight and did his little baby dance when he heard the Doctor Who theme song this evening. I am so proud!

You can never start too early.

When Isaac is happy, he babbles "Dadadadadada". When Isaac is mad, he screams "Mamamammamamam". Naturally.

When Isaac gives me "baby kisses" these days, I am never sure if it is because a) he really loves me, b) he is practicing to become a cannibal later in life, or c) he thinks that my cheeks produce milk.

I am wearing oatmeal and sweet potatoes. I have talked to Poison Control. I got the new (to us) laptop to talk to the printer, but now the old laptop won't. It feels like a Monday.

Ben: Would you rather die or kiss a girl on the lips?

Michael: Die.
Ben: Yeah, me too.

Teaching Isaac how to tell time

Me: Stop rolling your baby brother up in the yoga mat.

What do you mean I am going "backwards"?

Tip on how to be extremely unpopular: watch an episode of Man Vs Food and then feed your family beans and rice for dinner.

Ben: If you haven't eaten Five Guys, you haven't lived.

The most beautiful words in the English language: Go outside and play.

Michael is dancing around the house singing "Michael Miller is awesome" in falsetto into a walkie-talkie this morning. Apparently, we don't have any self-esteem issues yet.

Just three more days and it still doesn't feel real. Which is weird, because you'd think the mountains of boxes everywhere would make it feel very real.

I have seen Olympic athletes exert less effort winning a gold medal than it takes for me to get my non-stop-motion, vaseline-covered 5-month-old in his pajamas.

The screaming, the fighting, the crying, the slamming of doors (there were some consequences to that one) - oh, summer vacation, I forgot how much I love you!

Making recipes from Pinterest is a bit of a mixed bag. Some are horrible. Some are kind of blah. And some are mind-blowing amazing and make you want to cry when you realize that your tongue is not long enough to lick every crevice of the food processor.

Because WE ARE NOT AT ALL COMPETITIVE, I got Jason a FitBit for Father's Day. (Because I am impatient, I gave it to him early.) 

His reaction: "You better watch out!" 
My reaction: a 4 mile walk in the heat this morning.
BOO and YAH!

Took the boys out for a morning torture...I mean walk. No good deed goes unpunished. Based on this mornings behaviors, I now have new names for the children: Distracti-boy, Whiny Pants Man, and Sir Talks-a-lot.

The boys decided to have a turkey impression competition this morning. One turkey - irritating. Three - AHHH! I must admit, I was very relieved to send them outside to wait for the bus. Sorry neighbors!

In a moment of desperation, I told the boys that whichever one of them could teach Isaac to roll from his front to his back in the next 24 hours would get $100. (Can't handle the screaming any longer) Josh has taken this to heart and is working hard to earn some money...I mean, help his brother out.

I decided that I have watched too many episodes of Chopped when, after looking in my fridge this afternoon, my first thought was, "What can I make with red potatoes, jello, chicken and guacamole?"

In a disturbing turn of events, we have absolutely no bread in the house but we do have three partially eaten bags of oreos.

Sometimes, when I am taking photos of the boys, I look at their clothing choices and think, "Yeah, that picture will look better in black and white.

Michael to Isaac: You are slower than a sprinting slug.

I have GOT to remember to turn the volume off on the TV when I use the Wii Fit board to weigh myself. If I have to hear that squeaky voice say "That's obese!" one more time, I might cry.

Oh the Peep-manity! It was Peep-icide at our house this weekend.

Michael: I don't want to be a frog in China.

Just when I thought that Isaac as our fourth child wasn't going to be able pull any stunts his brothers hadn't done: poop sprayed in my face. Nicely played, Isaac, nicely played.

How would you describe a day that ends with BBQ sauce, spaghetti squash, bath water, hydrocortisone, Vaseline, and orange juice on your shirt?

Michael: I don't want to have a wife because that would just be too much work. I would have to do all that laundry. AND it would be gross.

Results from highly scientific Star Wars personality test:
B - Han Solo
M - Han Solo
J - Darth Vader
Me - Obiwan Kenobi
Jason - Padme

2 of the 5 were not pleased with their results.

When Josh saw that one of his personality traits was ruthlessness, he said, "I am not ruthless! When someone surrenders to me, I let them live!"

I would like to publicly thank Netflix for adding Friends to their streaming offerings and making newborn/breastfeeding hell a little bit easier to bear in the middle of the night and wee hours of the morn.smile emoticon