Intervention Needed

We have now been living in our house for almost 9 months and this week we finally went for a swim. A little pathetic I know. It has been a bummer to stare at the empty pool all this time but after getting in once, we were completely addicted. We have a serious addiction and have been for a swim at least once a day every day since and I think only some sort of 12 step program can help us now.

About midnight last night I finally heard from Erik. He and our friend Mark left for LAX around 9 pm on Monday night, boarded a plane a 1:40 am on Tuesday morning to Beijing, flew for 12 hours and 40 minutes then boarded another flight to Chengdu and another 2 hour and 40 minute flight. When I talked to him at 12 am this morning they were just getting settled in the room in Chengdu, what a trip! Mark and his lovely wife Yvette started a program a few years back and go every summer for almost 2 months to teach children circus arts and see that they are continuing in school. As Yvette is currently very pregnant, Erik travelled with Mark this year to visit the families of the children involved with the program. I was reminded that anything with Mark involved is an adventure as they packed a suitcase full of unicycles and fire torches.

Over breakfast this morning the boys asked if we could go to China to see Daddy, they miss him already, but the above itinerary does not easily yield to a mom with three small children. Thus we will patiently await his return on Monday, July 14. The return will definitely be the tricky part for Erik as he will return before Mark, who speaks Chinese, and I know as well as all of you that Erik is a man of many talents, however speaking Chinese is not one of them. Shocking to be certain.

Uh-oh!

All right, I have finally conquered blogging and figured out how to post video. I expect much praise for my efforts in the comments section! Libby started walking last Thursday and it's so cute that I just had to find out how to show everyone. When she falls she says "uh-oh!" and a brother or two come to her rescue. Watch for the ferocious wild animal in this snippet.

Danny started potty training yesterday so this blog entry is particularly daring as I am not giving him my undivided attention. Anyone who has potty trained a child before knows that is a recipe for disaster, but I like to live on the edge. He has only had one accident, well two now, and is being bribed with chocolate chips. We had a pre-training celebration at Walmart as we bought both boys some really fun new undies.

Aren't you jealous? He really isn't into the underwear thing just yet and prefers to simply go bottomless. Less laundry I guess but come church time, that's gonna be a problem.

Em and I had fun on Monday as we went with our friend Kirsten to buy her wedding dress and find bridesmaid dresses. These were the contenders and as we were having major problem with the neckline on the style Emily is modeling, we are going with the other. For the record, I love them Kirsten (these were just for style and size purposes, not her color). It's one of those dresses that makes you feel good and you are thus tempted to wear it around the house on bad days just to feel a little prettier, even if you look ridiculous.
Our friend Grandma Lu from church gave us this ginormous zucchini the other day when Erik and the boys went to pick up Mr. Zebedee. Grandma Lu was kind enough to keep him while we were away for our conference. We had family members farmed out everywhere! The boys had quite a visit as they gathered yard eggs, extra large vegetables and buried a bunny that had died. Erik even hopped on a horse for a quick ride but the boys weren't too sure about joining him. We really need to spend more time outside of suburbia!I had a strong desire for zucchini bread the second it came in the door so the boys and I had a bake-off yesterday. We have eaten zucchini bread for every meal since and it is fabulous! Thanks Grandma Lu!

A Zoo Birthday

We are still in shock but our little Libby turned one last week. The bottles are gone, her carseat is now forward-facing and we are saddened to see the baby phase of our lives come to a close. We went to the Resolved Conference, which is a conference aimed at college-aged adults, in Palm Springs over the weekend and came back to a little girl who stands by herself and is taking a couple of steps here and there. Her official party was in Colorado City, Texas last weekend, another blog, another day, but on her birthday we traveled with all of our friends to the Los Angeles Zoo. Six moms, two of whom are pregnant, 14 children, the oldest of which is 4, and countless sippy cups and strollers were a sight to behold. We had a wonderful time and got quite a bit of sun.
We picniced and played and sang Happy Birthday...
...it was enough to wear anyone out, even the burthday girl.Our dear friends the Ottavianos and the Branners cared for our kiddos over the weekend and Emily was brave enough to take over on Monday and Tuesday while we were away. She is probably the bravest person I know because not only did she take all three of them to Walmart by herself, she took on fingerpainting! Danny was the artist for the untitled piece on the left and Jacob calls his work "Big Waves and Swordfish."

It is so good to be home and to celebrate we are leaving again in a couple of hours to go to our youth group's retreat. Erik is teaching tonight and we thought, why not all go and making a camping adventure of it? The boys are trying their hardest to sleep right now knowing that we are going to the river when they get up (Too excited to sleep Mom!) I had better go pack as there will be no patience left when the gentlemen awake...

The Great Varmint Chase

Emily, Libby and I flew from LAX to DFW on Thursday, were picked up by Mom and then drove another 4 hours to Colorado City, Texas, home of my Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Donna. Colorado City is classic "small-town Texas" where things are just a little different. I really wanted to share a bit of rural life with you so to everyone who has never lived anywhere without a sidewalk or a Walmart within 50 miles.


On Thursday night upon arrival at 11 pm (Central Time) it was casually mentioned that a badger had taken up residence in their long gravel driveway. My cousin Jody had been trying to relocate the badger all week without much luck. I didn't think much about it until the next afternoon when one of the boys came running into the house, grabbed a gun and ran back out. Of course all of the little boys were skipping with excitement and went out to watch. We soon heard a shot and the boys came back in to tell us the good news, "Jody killed it!" Well that's just about as exciting as it gets in Colorado City so we grabbed to babies and headed out to see.Apparently badgers are pretty mean and could really hurt the kids so this was quite an accomplishment. Look at the claws on this thing.
Upon closer examination we learned that it was a mommy badger so naturally the boys needed to try and dig out the baby(ies).
They dug quite a hole with shovels and pick axes and climbed down in the hole to look down the tunnel. Before long it was too deep to continue and the kids lost interest and went off to swim. Jody decided that a dead animal should not be wasted so he bagged the carcass and put it in the freezer with the frozen meats so that he could take it to the taxidermy shop later. A couple hours later there were little boy screams yet again, the baby had appeared. There was another scramble for guns and after a few more minutes my cousin Monty had taken care of the baby badger (a badglet?). Jody packed that one up as well and it was reunited with its mother in the freezer. Well now the dilemma, could there be more babies? Just how far down did the badger's tunnel go? Well, anyone that knows little boys knows that these questions must be answered at all costs. So after work on Saturday Jody brought home some help.
Unfortunately the hole went down even further than the backhoe could assist with and the search had to be abandoned. Overall it was quite a weekend but all the shenanigans were actually refreshing. I think sometimes indulging in seemingly pointless endeavors is the best way to create lasting childhood memories, I wish Jacob and Daniel had been with us!