A Hard Day's Work

Last week our church had a work day at a couple of local at-risk schools. We told Jake the night before that he would be going to work with Daddy in the truck the next morning. You couldn't get a bigger response from an adult who won the lottery. He was so excited! They needed to be at church by 7 am so I went in at 6 am to wake Jake. I was expecting a groggy, cranky boy but instead I heard a whisper in the dark: "Am I going to work with Daddy in the truck?" I reassured him and he flew out of the bed to go eat breakfast and get dressed. He was ready in about 10 minutes and tried to hurry Erik out the door early. Poor Danny was pretty jealous.

Jake helped scrape paint, repaint and rake. Very manly!

All of these things were interesting for about 5 minutes and then he discovered the wheelchair ramp and some painters' tape. The rest of the morning was dedicated to rolling the tape and confirming Newton's theories on gravity. I pray he is always this excited to spend a day working with Dad!

Boys...

So many funny little stories to tell...

Our friend Kirsten is bribing her way into the boys hearts with candy. They got to try Gummy Worms last week, which are disgusting in my opinion. They put most of the worm into their mouths and then slowly pull them out while saying "Ewwww!" Gross indeed!

We are rapidly learning that our speech must become more guarded as Jakey's verbal skills improve. Case in point: I call Erik "honey," thus Jakey calls everyone "honey." This is quite awkward at church when he asks the nursery workers "Can I have more crackers please, honey?" His friend Riley came over tonight to play and Riley's mom calls her husband "babe." So this is how it went:

Jakey: Can I have that truck, honey?

Riley: Not right now, babe.

Jakey: Let's run, run, honey!

Riley: Okay babe!

This is going to cause issues I think... Today we went to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History for our usual Monday expedition. Jakey told me he had to potty at one point and I thought he could hold it until we arrived at the museum. I think this was simply wishful thinking on my part because I really didn't want to deal with the hassle of exiting the freeway in downtown LA and trying to find a bathroom. It quickly became apparent that holding it was not an option so we began an earnest search for facilities. I stopped at a gas station and Erik opened the minivan door to help Jake out and get him to the restroom. Jake saw no need to go to the bathroom and as soon as his feet touched the parking lot he whipped his pants down and started to go. Now picture this: we are in the middle of LA at a very busy gas station and Jake has his pants around his ankles and is already peeing in a VERY public place. Public consternation... We just tried to laugh and let him finish, what else can you do? A 3 year-old doesn't exactly have the control to stop and walk to the bathroom and we definitely weren't carrying him there midstream. I think Libby's strategy is to act like she doesn't know her brothers and fake sleeping...

Here we are at the museum...

While we are on the "bathroom" subject... Last week I kept noticing that the kids' bathroom smelled bad, like urine. Gross. I walked in while Erik was brushing Jake's teeth and noticed a mysterious puddle on the floor around the toilet. Noticing my frustration, Erik reminded me that it was probably just an accident. I cleaned it, we moved on with the day. I came back in several hours later and the smell was worse, so I began to move things around to clean more thoroughly. I picked up the fake plant from the toilet tank and there was a puddle under the plant! Tell me that was an accident! Apparently a target practice session went awry.

Oh, by the way, Emily and I are now famous. I posted about Ken Ham speaking at our church and my mom followed the link to his site and noticed that he posted a picture of us and our friend Mary listening to his presentation on his blog. Look at the picture, Mary is the one sitting on the aisle in the black jacket with short grey hair and I'm next to her. Emily is one of the two girls sitting behind us. We'll be signing autographs all week.

Celebrate!

We have done alot of celebrating lately! First we had our seventh anniversary, which we celebrated in the snowy woods of Southern California. Yes, we have woods and snow. Here is a picture of our cabin... Then we celebrated Emily's 25th birthday with a My Little Pony pinata and a Bert and Ernie cake.

Here is Libby dressed up for church. I'm still celebrating that we have a girl...

And then one of our students went off to join the Navy and Popeye seemed most appropriate...

So I've been baking alot but it's fun! I have several great boy stories but no time to post them now. Emily and I are going to see Ken Ham speak about a literal 6 day creation and it's pouring rain! He has been in the news quite a bit over the last few years as his organization, Answers in Genesis, built the Creation Museum just south of Cincinnati.

The Beach

I can hear all of you chiding me for my infrequent posting and I humbly apologize. Sometimes the pressures of childrearing shove hobbies into the corner but it is a blessing that our family adventures take up my free time instead of more burdensome tasks. I have entirely too many hobbies right now and many, many waiting in the wings.

Since weekends are so busy with church activities, Erik has Mondays off every week. This has been wonderful because we can visit all the touristy places of Southern California and, for the most part, miss the tourists. On Monday mornings we pack up the van with a sack lunch, diapers, juice, sippy cups, bottles, changes of clothes, toys, books, the camera, etc. We climb into the van and then then decide on an adventure for the day. This week we headed to a state beach just south of Santa Barbara. We parked on the hillside and walked down a path and then carried a terrified Jacob over the train tracks (we had just watched an Amtrak train pass and that was a bit awe-inspiring), then walked down a short road and carried all three kids over a large pile of rocks (a wave breaker) to a small section of dry beach. We only played for about 30 minutes because the tide was coming in and our small strip of dry beach was becoming smaller by the second but it was worth it!

These pictures aren't the best quality, I know, but with the prospect of carrying three children down a hill, over the train tracks, down a road and over the rocks, the camera couldn't make it to the top of the priority list. These were taken with Erik's cell phone. Libby was less than impressed with the beach, but as usual was simply happy to be held and loved on. Danny enjoyed digging his toes in the sand and making large holes in the sand with seashells.

None of Jake's previous apprehensiveness about the ocean is left. I bet Erik $5 that we wouldn't leave without Jake being wet and I won before I could finish the thought. He chases the water with each wave and will get distracted by a rock or shell that was hidden before. The next wave then knocks him off of his feet and he runs to tell us that the ocean "got" him. Then he is off again. It seemed silly to leave him in wet clothes so Erik stripped Jake to the striped underwear he had hand-picked that morning. I think little boys feel tied down by clothes because as soon as you remove them you can't catch them to put them back on. He was never still from that moment on. Even though this is Southern California, remember that it is January and the currents hit our coast straight from Alaska. The water is not warm by any sense; the surfers were wearing full wetsuits. Jake needed only underwear, if that.

Of course the worst part of the morning was hiking back over the rock, down the road, over the tracks and up the hill with three kids while carrying their wet, sandy shoes and clothes and precious beach finds but overall it was another great Monday adventure that I hope will add great memories of childhood.

Seven Years Go By Quickly

Yes, it is our seven year anniversary, awww. A few years ago we devised a plan in which every year we switch who plans the anniversary date. Last year I was in charge and it was a major flop due to an extreme lack of babysitters. We managed to find someone to watch the kids long enough for a QUICK dinner out and that was it. I had good plans though. So Erik was kind and let me off the hook even though I offered to try again and he told me at midnight last night that the Hunts were watching the boys for two nights and we are escaping with Libby to a cabin in the mountains. Just like our honeymoon...I get brownie points for noticing that right?

On Saturday we felt like a trip to the beach and traveled to Redondo Beach to the SEA Lab. It's a neat facility run by the LA Coastal Conservation Corps that educates the public about native wildlife in a hands-on way. They had a neat "pond" with halibut, sea bass and sharks with a big sign warning against putting your fingers in the water. They mean it! One little boy, not mine, was leaning close and a shark went for him. His mother kept a closer eye on him from that time forward. The sharks are about 3 or 4 feet long, pretty neat! For $2 you get a tray of assorted frozen fish and squid parts to feed the sharks, here is Erik helping Jake throw squid at the sharks. Emily looks concerned...
Here is a picture of Emily pitching in and playing pack mule. We looked at the sharks and then walked to the beach for a while before the tour started.

Danny and Jake chased the sea gulls. They were a little timid about the waves at first, it's hard not to feel small next to the Pacific Ocean no matter who you are.

After a full morning Erik wanted to drive up the Pacific Coastal Highway (PCH) and the kids crashed. It was a great day!

Life with Boys...

We decided to have a New Year's Eve party for our Crossroads group and I told Erik he needed a theme. He decided on "Burn, Baby, Burn." On the invitation for "Why" he put "because pagan idols should be burned." So we had everyone bring old Christmas trees and the guys used an axe and a chainsaw to split them up for the fire pit. Thankfully the neighbors didn't call the fire department but we had a great time! This is a 14-foot tree tied on top of Erik truck, does it make the truck look big? This morning Danny pulled up a chair to the counter and announced that he wanted to cook. Erik gace him a bowl of water, a bag of popcorn, a spatula, salt and pepper. That's what you give have given him right? Well he "cooked" for half an hour and it looked good, but alas, we didn't taste it.

Em came up for the night and it is awesome to have her here! I think she is never allowed to move back to Texas. Every time she leaves Danny wonders around the house calling "Emmy?" It's pretty sad. I've missed her so much over the last 10 years, I can't believe it has been so long since we have lived near each other.

Em and I were playing with the boys this afternoon and Jake saw a little scratch on his arm. He told us he fought a jaguar, no kidding. And then he said Emily killed him but I'm pretty sure he's making that one up. We're not sure where he comes up with these things!