Black Friday

The phrase you are looking for is "cacophony of colors".  I told the boys to get dressed for a short hike with Nana this morning (OptOutside) and this is what Isaac came up with.

A fun age!

Ben, on the other hand, went the other way - I call this Seattle camouflage. It's almost like the people here don't want you to be able to see them in the dark, rainy season.  

Michael has found a new use for his hoodie - tie it tight and he figures I won't/can't take pictures of him.

I did sneak in a couple of pics of Nana (heh, heh). Isaac found a painted rock that had glitter on it and he wanted to show it to her - the perfect distraction for me to swoop in and take a pic.

I was having a difficult time getting Michael to show his face so I yelled "Look! There's PewDiePie!" and that did the trick.

We have a budding dabber.

After forcing them against their will to expose their bodies to fresh air and sunlight, I did return my children to their comfortable rooms with their relaxing electronic devices. After they played video games for a little bit (to take off the edge), we hauled the Christmas gear into the house so I could torture them with more family time.

The teen years are such a special time.

Getting the Christmas decorations out is, for Isaac at least, about as much fun as Christmas morning. We have to keep him from unpacking all the bins at once and creating chaos in all of his excitement.  It is pretty fun as all the Christmas-themed toys, books, and movies are packed in with the decorations.

But this hard work has to be done by somebody, so we all pushed on.

Despite the general lack of interest the older boys showed in participating in the setting up the tree etc, they did all fight over who would get to put the top on the tree. I came up with what I thought was a pretty sneaky plan - I sent them all to the den and told them we would call them down one by one to let them know who would get to put it on. So we called them down one at a time and told each of them they could put the top on but not to brag to their brothers. Then we'd take it off and do the same routine with the next child.

It worked pretty well until Isaac spilled the beans that he had put it on. Honestly, I didn't think it would take very long for them to figure it out, but it was entertaining for Jason and I while it lasted.

Let the Christmas season begin!

Sherri Visit

We had a visit this last week from Jason's sister, Sherri. She is in the States for a time until she can head back to Russia and came to spend some time with us while she is relatively close by. There weren't a lot of fun adventures to be had at the start of the rainy season while the kids go to school at home during the covid19 pandemic, but we played games and hiked in the rain and introduced her to Mario Kart 8. 

Isaac and Sherri became buds pretty quickly. He enjoyed sharing his school work with her having her read to him. His schedule allowed us to go on little walks around the neighborhood and even go a very, very, VERY wet hike to McClane Creek to check out the salmon.

After a very rainy week, we got a break in the weather so the boys and I took Sherri to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge as she told us she enjoys watching birds.  It was a bit cold for a lot of the wildlife and even for the wild life we brought with us. To pass some of the time, Josh and Michael tried to figure out who was taller (it's getting pretty close these days).

Either way, they are at least taller than Aunt Sherri,

Still taller than these two though.

Group pic!

Follow-Up Questions

Having two teen boys and a tween boy has taught me the importance of follow-up questions. I discovered that, when it comes to certain words and phrases, we do not have the same definitions of some fairly common words and phrases.

Me: Did you put on clean clothes?

Boy child: Yes.

Me: Clean as in you weren't wearing them yesterday?

Boy child:.........

Me: Clean as in clean underwear?

Boy child: Yes

Me: Clean as in you haven't worn them since they were washed last?

Boy child:........

Me: Did you brush your teeth?

Boy child: Yes

Me: With toothpaste?

Boy child:..........

Me: Did you take your allergy meds this morning?

Boy child: Yes

Me: Including the claritin?

Boy child:........

Me: And the nasal spray?

Boy child:........

Me: Did you do the dishes?

Boy child: Yes

Me: Including the ones on the counter?

Boy child:.........

Me: And the ones in the sink?

Boy child:...........

Me: Did you do all of your assignments?

Boy child: Yes

Me: Did you open up Canvas and look at the calendar?

Boy child:........

It's Alarming

Continuous Remote Learning 2.0 has meant that all of the boys can sleep in later than they would on a normal school year....but somehow that hasn't translated into it being easier to get them up.

Weird, right?

So I've had to employ some different techniques (especially since nagging them to turn on their alarm clocks at night does not seem to be working).

The most effective so far has been music. It took a bit of thought and careful consideration of the likes and dislikes of each child, but this is what I came up with:

Ben: Senorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello - after one morning of playing this song, Ben now throws off of the blankets and get out of bed at the mention of it

Michael: ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears - after one morning Michael decided to sing along with Britney using the mocking tones that only a teen whose voice still breaks can produce

Josh: Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus - so much groaning and moaning but he did emerge from his cocoon of blankets and no repeat was needed

As a side note - Isaac loves all of these songs and follows me from room to room when I use them. 

So I am still working on figuring out another song for Michael as he is still the most difficult to get up. My current thoughts are country (perhaps Shania Twain's Man! I Feel Like a Woman) or something by Kidz Bop.

Good Pumpkins Gone Bad

Ew. Just ew. We never got around to putting candles in these jack-o-lanterns and that ain't happening now.

A Walk in the Woods

Sunday was lovely and chilly.  It seemed like a great day to introduce Doug to some of the great trails we have in the area. (He was not impressed with Mima Mounds - I don't blame him)  I picked up him and Mom kind of early in the morning because people in this state are SERIOUS about the outdoors and any sunny day, even if the water table in your backyard is frozen over, is fair game. We got there with plenty of parking spots available and proceeded to traipse through the woods for 3.8 miles.

Mom was not amused. I did not sufficiently describe the uphill sections (which I did know about) and the crazy muddy sections (which I didn't really know about). For a while there I wasn't sure if we were still going to be friends.

HOWEVER, Washington State came through at the end and we finished our adventure walking through, under, and over scads of gorgeously golden maple leaves.

Photo cred to Doug and his phone that takes better pictures than mine.

Halloween

On Halloween Eve (which we apparently celebrate some years) our ward had a drive-thru Halloween activity. There were games to play and candy to eat. Isaac played the games, but Michael and Ben helped with the candy eating. Last but not least, my friend Becky put together this fun photo shoot spot. Sadly Isaac (well, and Scully) was the only one of the boys with any Halloween spirit.

Bright and early on Halloween morning found Ben and I hiking up at Lena Lake with the Bremner crew. Taking the opportunity to hike on one the (likely) last nice weekends of the year was a lovely way to start our day.

 After 8 miles or so and some dinner, the Millers played some games. 

Games with eyeballs.

Games with blindfolds.

And games with glowsticks.

There was a t-rex invasion. The kids didn't exactly have great responses: Isaac tried to punch him in the belly and Ben just lay down and gave up.

Turns out this was a dancin' dino!

And then there was candy.

So.

Much.

Candy.

Irene's new Halloween rule (for boys over 10): eat as much candy as you want, but you are responsible to deal with and clean up after any puking.

Luckily, no one got that sick, but at least one of them woke up the next morning with a stomach that was still hurting. 

Natural consequences, baby.