Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

To get me back in the swing of things, here is a bullet-y update for you:

• My surgery went well. Recovery took longer than I anticipated, though I don't think the doc really factored in the fact that my full-time job includes lifting a 50 lb. toddler.
• My grandfather passed away in November and I went back east to be with my mom for a week. Pillbug got to go with me. It sure was amazing to have it be just the girls - Pillbug is a whole different personality compared to those rambunctious boys we have!
• Homeschooling took a three week break due to the surgery and my trip back east. We will go an extra week this coming week with math and reading. Then we'll take a two week break. Yeah for breaks!!
• Ben finished up this semester and we are both looking forward to his evenings being free. On our first evening together, we laid in bed watching Howl's Moving Castle, drinking his homebrewed beer (English bitter if anyone cares), and reveling in the time together. It had been way too long since we had watched a movie without one of us working during.
• Our Christmas shopping and gift-making is complete. We'll be playing St. Nicolas to some friends over the next few days and I'll give an update after Christmas with pictures of what was made for the kids.
• I have been reading a blog called Small Things. I like the pace of her words and often feel a sense of peace and/or understanding of life with kids. She hosts a Yarn Along each week or so and I'd like to start posting a picture of the knitting project I'm working on along with the book I'm reading. Join us if you'd like!
• Treefrog has decided to grow his hair out. It is now in the awkward stage of fly-aways and longer-in-some-parts-than-in-others. I'll take some pictures when I can get him to stand still long enough. The best views are right after he wakes. So funny!
• Speaking of hair, Pillbug seems to still not have very much. Oh the irony - her brothers with a full head of hair each from the beginning and her with wisps still at 18 months. But, her sweet personality makes up for what she lacks in hair!
• Fish is FULLY. POTTY. TRAINED. It's awesome.

Alrighty, I'm pretty sure that is everything to date. Hopefully, I can get back into a rhythm with this blog. It sure is hard to reclaim parts of routine that have been lost!

Meet Brielle

Isn't she so cute?!

We recently got the chance to meet "our cow." We are a part of a creamery and receive a gallon of milk each week from one of two cows on a farm about ten miles from our house. Both cows are pregnant right now and the one in the pictures isn't due until about February. The other cow will deliver sometime in the next couple of months (so she is getting a break from milking right now so her body can grow that calf!). We will make another trip out when the calf is born, but hope to visit sooner than that if possible.

Treefrog and Fish had a great time running around, saying hi to Brielle, and thanking the cows for giving us milk (literally! It was so cute to hear Fish, "Thank you for our milk!"). Treefrog, ever sensitive to smells, decided it wasn't very pleasant to breathe right next to Brielle. He did like climbing over the hay piles and jumping from higher-than-Mama-would-prefer.

I resisted the urge to offer my milking services on a regular basis, but just barely. I would love to get my hands on those udders *wink*

It is such a huge responsibility, caring for two milk cows. I'm so glad that there are people who are willing to make these two beauties a part of their life! The milk is delicious and fresh. We see first hand how the cows are cared for, the process of milking the cows, and how the milk is cooled quickly to keep it fresh longer. I have had people ask me if I am nervous about giving my family raw milk and my answer is a resounding "NO!" It is very comforting seeing the entire process and knowing the milk my kiddos are drinking is roughly 12 hours out of the udder.

Want to find a creamery near you? Check out this website. It is an incredible source of information for local food sources all over the United States.

A Quick Check-In

I haven't disappeared. My mom came for a visit and life was rather busy with her here - busy in a very good way! We had fun at OMSI, exploring the tide pools at the beach, and going for walks. Of course, we went to The Cheesecake Factory (a little tradition we have going on) and shopping. Mom bought us a butter bell to keep our homemade goodness a bit fresher and a laundry system (to sort clothes as we take them off, instead of my previous system which was put them all into one bin).

I was delighted with these gifts.

Am I a grown-up or what?

Thanks for a wonderful visit, Mama!

Blueberry Sal

That's a fun book, by the way, that we enjoyed when Treefrog and Fish we smaller. I should put that on my library queue while I'm thinking of it since it is blueberry season and all.

Anywho, we have been picking blueberries from our three bushes for about three weeks now. They started slowly and are peaking right about now. We have eaten A LOT of the berries so far and only put one gallon-sized baggie by for winter use. I'm not sure we are going to have many more to put by since our demand has increased as the boys have gotten older.


He just consumes what he picks . . . and whatever ones he actually puts into the bucket, Fish claims as his. Fish isn't a berry-picker (he's just a berry-eater).

What fun it is growing one's own food! We didn't even plant these bushes (I think renters previous to us may have put them in), but we sure do love taking care of them and harvesting the berries! I hope we are fortunate enough to be able to plant even more berry bushes and food when it is time for us to buy a house. That is definitely one of the qualifications - space to plant!

Afternoon Rut

Round about 1:00, I tucker out. I want to drink my coffee and read. I don't want to answer questions or play games or argue any more. I'm all done.

Unfortunately, that feeling can last even after our family's rest time is over. Yesterday was one of those days. I had been hosting Ben's mom and sister and was finished with people. But, people were still here. I was poking around on the Intra-Web and found a recipe for homemade paint. Hmmmmm. Paint is messy. But, it is warm outside. . . . What if I made the paint and then threw the kids outside while I started dinner?! Genius!!!


Never you mind those Oregon Brewfest cups *wink*

That's what we did. Treefrog merrily followed me out and proceeded to paint picture after picture. Fish (who had fallen asleep during rest) grumpily joined Treefrog, stole his pictures and threw them into the pool. Good times. It did, however, afford me the chance to start dinner.

Today, everyone is gone (except Pillbug. She is still attached to Mama.). The boys are with Ben's parents and Ben is at work. I'm relishing in my time to myself while Pillbug sleeps, listening to the sweet music the coffee pot makes just before it is finished brewing and loving the fact that I swept the floor and it is still clean. Sigh.

He Knows How to Get What He Wants

A scene from my day:

Treefrog (crying, mouth open, blood dripping down): What happened to me?

Me: Well, you busted your lip when Fish jumped on you. (checking teeth to make sure nothing else is wrong) Why don't I get you an ice cube to suck on? That will make your mouth feel better (inwardly sighing of relief that nothing else is wrong besides the busted lip).

Treefrog: I want ice cream.

Me: . . .

Yes, he got ice cream. So did Fish. The rewards/punishments for injuring here are, I think, pretty darn good.

Camping - Part 1

Goodness! Recovering from our camping trip while starting to get Treefrog and Ben ready for their backpacking excursion this coming week has taken quite the toll! Upon unpacking from our family's venture into the woods (sorta), I began cooking and dehydrating food for Ben and Treefrog (thanks for the use of your dehydrator A!!). Now that my part is finished in their trip, I get to sit back and relax. Oh, wait. I have two others that I'll be in charge of while Ben and Treefrog are gone. Sigh.

So, in order to give you a glimpse of our awesome trip, I'll just throw out some pictures for you to peruse. My hope is to have another post later in which I share the do's and don'ts of car camping. Let's just say that after 8+ years of camping together, one would think that Ben and I would have learned some lessons. Not so.


My three guys enjoying a bench seat behind a waterfall.


The boys being boys and throwing rocks into the water. Ben is attempting to keep Fish from jumping in (we were only semi-successful with that one!).


Treefrog on one of the many trails near our campsite.


Another trail by the site. We learned here that Fish isn't a big fan of using his own legs.


Pillbug spent the majority of her time attached to me (because it was butt-cold), but every once in a while she got a posh seat by the fire.

Camping!

I can see why people own a camper now . . .






Why, yes, that IS my second cup of coffee for the morning in the foreground. Don't judge, people. Don't judge.

We are heading out, as soon as I am off the computer and the remainder of our stuff is packed (What? You thought one bag of clothes and three bags of food was all we were taking? Silly, silly reader.). A little south of us is a place called Silver Falls, of which we have heard some pretty good feedback. There are multiple waterfalls along a fairly short trail, swimming, and a playground. What more could this family ask for?! Well . . . maybe an RV to haul all of our stuff in.

Day Four of VBS

Looks a little like this:



Me too, Fish. Me too.

Ten Things

From SouleMama (an ALL TIME favorite blog):

And you?? What are ten things bringing you joy right in this moment? Write it down, say it out loud, photograph it, or share it with those you love..

1. A not-really-planned-out trip to the strawberry farm with Treefrog.

2. Watching Treefrog run down the rows of berries.

3. Finding strawberries that say, "Treefrog, you must eat me right now!"

4. Meeting smiling friends at the farm

5. (Okay, enough about strawberries!) A delightful lunch (brought on by a freezer that had been inadvertently turned off by some little hands).

6. Rest time

7. Weekends away

8. Weddings

9. Peeks of sun

10. Gnarly Head Cab

Summer is Here!!

I have fully embraced summer today. We (and by 'we' I, of course, mean 'Ben') set up the swimming pool. Can I just tell you,

3 boys + 1 swimming pool = a whole lot of fun (and mess, but we aren't thinking about that right now!).

We let Treefrog invite our neighbor over for a swim and they had a wonderful time splashing, getting into trouble, and torturing Fish. Poor Fish. He needs a buddy closer to us. Or maybe I just need to be more intentional about inviting his buddies over. One of those.

The set up of the pool was rather humorous. My mom had purchased this pool for the kiddos when she came out in April. It sat in a closet until today, in its original box. Before we set it up, Ben headed to the store to purchase an electric pump. My mom broke our last pump while setting up a different pool and we have been borrowing a friend's whenever we needed to use our air mattress. We figured it was time to invest in a pump. Upon beginning to blow up the pool, Ben realized there were three caps missing therefore the air wouldn't be able to stay inside. We had three very disappointed boys hanging around at that point. A few unproductive phone calls later (thanks for nothing Fred Meyer!), Ben headed back out and to the hardware store to see if he could find a cap that would fit. He returned semi-successful. The pool stays inflated for a bit, but will need emptied this evening as it won't hold throughout the night. We have the three needed caps on order and will hopefully get them before the weather turns cold again!

Today also continued our strawberry extravaganza. I am trying my hand at fruit leathers. Strawberry puree is currently hanging out on top of our grill outside to dry. I'll see how it's doing after dinner and then I may transfer it into the oven for a bit. I was trying to go low-energy on this one, so I am hoping the oven won't be needed. Oh, and strawberry shortcake is on the menu for dessert again. Hmmmm, I wonder if the kids will remember it is in the fridge . . . maybe they won't notice if we don't have it for dessert . . .

For the Love of Strawberries

Well, one good thing about all this rain we have been having here in beautiful Oregon is that the fruit becomes out-of-this-world good. Sweet, juicy strawberries were picked on Friday afternoon. Since then, my family has been enjoying them straight up, with a bit of cream, in smoothies, and tonight's feature was . . .


Yum. Strawberry Shortcake.

Don't worry. I shared:


This picture was snapped just in time - I'm pretty sure Fish didn't breath during the two seconds it took him to consume this.

Success!

Well, our pictures were successfully recovered (though all of the organization was lost). Ben is gearing up to leave for a conference, so those awesome posts I have in my head for those two special people who just celebrated birthdays will again be put aside. Maybe this year I will just handwrite a letter to them since this is getting ridiculous.

Another success is in regards to our weather - sunshine is finally here! Only for a day, but I'll take what I can get for now. We have spent most of the day outside and I am hoping that the trend continues for the remainder of the day!

Alrighty, I'm off to cajole my family into taking a walk. Though, I don't think I will have to work hard at this:)

One Computer Crash Later . . .

We have had a wonderful weekend and beginning to our week. We spent Memorial Day weekend with Ben's family at a campground close to the coast (like within a mile from the coast, but, interestingly enough, I never seemed to make it there). It was truly a great trip for us. The kids had a blast, were filthy, and were totally worn out by the time we arrived home. We then began the birthday craziness in our family. . .

Our dearest Fish was born May 31, 2007. Pillbug decided to make her entrance into the world on June 1, 2009. So, it was our first year of birthday extravaganza!!! We had pancakes two days in a row since each child gets pancakes on his/her birthday in the shape of his/her age. As well as birthday cake and presents for each day. Whew - this is one tired out Mama!

One awful thing did happen this weekend, our computer's hard drive decided to go kaputt. Once again we may have lost all of our children's photographs (there is one more chance that they will be recovered on Thursday - keep those fingers crossed!!). We are for sure purchasing an external hard drive now. No more waiting for us. Uh-uh. We are on it. First thing tomorrow. I am waiting to do the birthday posts for Fish and Pillbug until after I see how many photographs can be recovered. Is it sacrilegious to pray about photos?

Oregon Rain

[Side note: my favorite Phish song is their cover of Purple Rain, originally recorded by Prince. I find that funny.]

[Side, side note: this is my 100th post. I find that fun.]

Upon deciding to move to the great state of Oregon, Ben gave me a few 'lessons' in Oregon culture. He figured that we would fit in since, in our southwestern Pennsylvania home, we were known as the 'crunchy-granolas' because we, . . . wait for it . . . recycled and liked to camp - insert astonished, mouth-opened-wide GASP!! (Okay, so there may have been a few talks about me wanting dreads, but those never came to fruition so technically that shouldn't count against us.) Ben also assured me that our political views would probably not seem quite so left (indeed, we actually fall closer to the middle than the far left out here. In PA, we were most definitely far left-ists!).

The lesson that I like to bring up often though, the one at which I am constantly baffled that I believed, is Ben's proclamation that rain in Oregon isn't really like rain in PA. It's more of a drizzle; a constant one, he said, but a misty-drizzle nonetheless. Yes, to some degree my loving husband is correct. There are days that are just plain moist. Days when, though there is technically nothing falling from the sky, the glasses that adorn my face are wet and the air is thick. However, more days than not, my amazing man is wrong. We have actual raindrops falling from the sky, a LOT of raindrops falling. And, for the past couple of weeks we have been having downpours. Like, cats and dogs downpours. Spattered with hail. I am trying desperately to keep a good attitude these days, but holy hell, this is a lot of rain. I need some sunshine in my life (and would like to actually get some plants for the garden, call me crazy here, planted in the ground).

To Oregon's credit, we do have wonderfully warm, dry summers (usually July through September). Those are the months we all live for (and the sporadic days throughout the remainder of the year that we are given sunshine).

I guess for now I will continue to live for and look forward to those 90 degree days, full of sun, and out-of-door playtimes, with a thriving garden in the background. . .

Tuesday Nights Revive My Soul

Each Tuesday evening I can be found (or can be found wanting to be) at my friend A's house for a few hours. She hosts a "Craft Night." At times there is a little bit of talking and a good deal of knitting/crocheting/whatever-ing. While at other times there is only talking, wine, and chocolate. One never knows what the night will hold beyond good company, freedom to just be, and a lifted spirit at the end. Tuesday evenings have become a sanctuary for me.

Thank you, A, for making your house available, allowing us to laugh loudly, talk too much, craft too little, and stay too late each Tuesday evening. The time there revives me for the remainder of the week!

Last night we spent much time talking to a new(er) friend about our milk choice. I haven't blogged about this yet, but, well, we've gone raw. (Are you keeping a list? I now make my own deodorant, wash my hair with baking soda and vinegar, AND drink raw milk. It's official - I'm a hippie). We pay $5 per half gallon and get milk that was in the cow less than 12 hours previous to us taking our first drink. It is a beautiful thing for me. I love having a connection with a local farmer, making a sustainable choice for our milk, and knowing the cow from which we are consuming milk. So, our newer friend was intrigued (maybe a bit disgusted at first), but took the plunge, tried the milk, and declared, "Oh! It tastes just like milk!" I guffawed heartily and we moved on. It was fun introducing someone to the choice my family has made in a non-judgmental (hopefully!) way. There was no request for her to join us in getting the milk. We didn't talk her to death about the health benefits and/or the way our milk industry treats milking cows and/or the benefits to buying local. The three of us present who are buying the raw milk could have gone on for hours on these topics. But we didn't and I think that is what begins the process of good communication regarding these issues: Talking all friendly-like about the choices my family has made and accepting and communicating that not all families can or should make those same choices.

So, yeah, Tuesday nights rock. And buy local (when possible).

A Wet Fish

Fish has decided to potty train himself. But, only when Ben is home. Aaaaaaand we are into RA selection season so Ben is rarely home. Oh, this child may just be the death of me.

Patience, Lord, patience.

On Sunday there is an "alternative worship service" at our church. We are attempting to fill a need that was spoken (5+?) years ago. I jumped on just before Christmas and have been trying to find my niche in the group. For the first couple of months, I felt like I left every meeting asking myself why I was doing this. I was satisfied with our "normal" church service . . . well, as satisfied as I can be as a Presbyterian attending a Quaker church. The changes I would make to the service would probably get me thrown out of the church, or at least whispered about:)

Anyway, I digress.

Recently I found my position. I may not be hip to all the young kids' music or be able to contribute significantly to the message or have the patience to hold kids in childcare, but I can make food. Hence, the baking of bread. Today was stock day. I made roughly 2 gallons of vegetable stock for a black bean soup. Again, I worshiped in my kitchen and it was good. It got me through the peeing off the chair (and onto bedroom carpet), the peeing on the couch during "rest time," and the nibbles my Pillbug takes whilst nursing.

God is good!

The To Do List, She keeps Growin'!

Well, Pillbug does indeed have something more serious: kidney reflux. Life is never dull, eh?

These days my list of things to get done just seems never ending. Especially when throwing in days of Fish taking A LOT of energy and a teething babe. Fish is sitting into his two-dom very nicely, thankyouverymuch. There are many tantrums throughout each day due to his stage in life. I respect that he is growing and developing. Really, I do. Somedays I just wish that growing and developing would happen a little more quietly is all.

I'm in the middle of baking bread for our alternative church service this weekend. I find baking (especially bread, but anything will do really) very centering. In many ways, baking and being in the kitchen is a time where I can meet God in ways that singing and being around a large group of people cannot provide. The time in my kitchen is so precious, so focused on the task at hand, so worshipful. Having my hands in bread dough or mixing batter of some sort brings me a sense of warmth. I provide nutrition for my family and/or friends as well as nutrition for my soul.

My prayer is that I can cling to these rare moments where I can be in the kitchen while the kids are occupied upstairs (or sleeping in her crib) and utilize the energy given to be a better, more patient Mama. Lord knows I need all the help I can get:)

The Challenge of Vacations

We have three weeks at the end of each year for 'break.' The students are gone for winter break and the holidays are upon us. Ben took two weeks of duty this year and so our break didn't actually start until Saturday. He kicked it off with a Lord of the Rings movie marathon (extended editions) while I did some cleaning, cooking, and chatting with friends. It was a good beginning for both of us.

We rolled through a normal Sunday (church, lazy afternoon, evening together reading, etc.) and then Monday hit. We aren't supposed to have the crazy-Monday-syndrome while on vacation, you know? But, somehow we managed to do just that! After each of us taking a time out and refocusing, we came back together and made a plan for the week. I think it'll go a bit more smoothly now that our expectations are set.

Now, I'm off to look over some home school books at our church to see if I can get some ideas as to what I'll need for the upcoming year.

A New Year

2010 is here. I wonder what this year will hold. We have had a pretty crazy end to 2009. To sum it up: A significant head injury (Treefrog), bladder spasms (Fish), and a UTI that turned into a kidney infection (Pillbug). Yep, all within 5 weeks time.

I'm not necessarily one for resolutions, but there are a few things I would like to see happen this year. One, exercise more (doesn't everyone say this?!). Two, blog more. Three, make a point to play with my kids more.

There are many things that I could do better, but I would just like to focus on these three. I think keeping it simple, using broad terms, and allowing myself the freedom to shape the goals as time goes on will help make these things happen this year.

Signing off for now and hoping to be back sooner rather than later:)