Stuart Graham

Stuart, you turn 4 today. This is the hard year for me, the one where the lump sits right at the edge of my throat, waiting for any little opportunity to jump out and remind me that you are no longer a baby.

 

I wish the whole world could know the Stu-Bear that we know; you are such a delight to Daddy and me. You are thoughtful and caring, strong and smart.

 You challenge us to think before acting, to lead through loving, and to listen well.

You decided today to start getting your hair wet and slicking it over to the side with a comb. Such a dapper dude.

Four years ago today it was love at first sight. We are so thankful for our Stuart Graham. You are such a gift to us. We love you. Happy birthday!

Pig Whisperer

Some sweet friends invited us over for a play date and Emmett immediately fell in LOVE with their 2 pet guinea pigs.

He loves animals. All kinds. It was really fun to see him work on being gentle with these guys.

Reality Check

I live in a paradoxal world. It's called the world of mommy-hood. To be honest I get tired of the mommy blogs where we pat each other on the backs and shame the rest of the world for not understanding how hard we work and how thankless our job is. Don't get me wrong. This job is HARD. Kids, when you read this when you are all grown up and rolling your eyes at the things I say, please know this. I LOVE YOU. And you are the hardest thing I have ever done. But it's not because you yourselves are terrible. It's because this is the longest I've ever stayed at something. And this something is more valuable than anything else I've ever worked for. (Before the world of, "marriage comes first," explodes on me, let me caveat this by saying, yes, marriage is hard, a challenge and rewarding, as is parenthood. But you can kind of fall into a bit of a groove with marriage, so it's not quite the same). The condition of your hearts will to some measure be a testament to how I lived in front of you, and that is terrifying sometimes (a lot of times).

But on to my point, the purpose of this post. I completely exhaust myself with internal pressure to have the world see my kids as the sweet things I know they are. I exhaust myself with this competitive spirit (PRIDE?) that the world will acknowledge my super powers of having them all stand quietly in line at the grocery store, say please and thank you, and when I give a command they immediately respond with, "Yes, Mommy." I ache when I hear that a friends' kids wanted to give all their birthday gifts to the poor, or they selflessly handed their favorite fill in the blank to a younger sibling, because they are just naturally that sweet. I used to be inspired by those stories because my kids were young enough (and I, naïve enough), to believe that with good training, my kids, too, would grow to be mini-Mother Theresa's. Now I sigh and remember, not fondly, how the one wanted the orange that the other was eating so poked him in the eye, while the other grabbed the baby's favorite toy and dangled it in front of his face, because he got pleasure out of the high-pitched shriek that commenced.

And then the paradox. What I really want is for you, friend, neighbor, fellow frazzled mama, to come over. Come over to my house and observe my chaos. Future adults-in-training running amuck the majority of the days and an impatient, harried, exhausted mom following after. There are times that I can laugh at the antics of the four, but there are also times I fall in a heap on the living room floor, cover my eyes, and tell my kids that I can't see them so they can't see me. Mature, I know. I look at pictures of them plastered on my walls and know that I will desperately miss their innocence and un-hindered excitement over everything in this season. But when I turn around and see that the two year old has found a dry erase marker and drawn all over the wall for not the first (or second) time, I think how nice it will be when pens and walls aren't nearly so fascinating.

I want people to know this about my life. It is messy, it is unorganized, it is unruly. My kids are in the process of learning. And so am I.

What I want the world to see.

 

What reality is.

Emmett Boy

Emmett. 2 years ago today we met you for the first time. It seems like you've been a part of our lives for so much longer than that, and at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday that we first saw you.

I remember that day with so much joy. So much delight in our 4th blessing, our Emmett-boy. You bring so much light and laughter into our home.

You love to give kisses, coming in with an open mouth and closing with a, "Pop," sound. The latest silly thing you do is roll your eyes back while leaning your head back and then coming down in a chuckle. When you laugh your whole body shakes. That makes me laugh.

You also enjoy throwing things. Balls, pinecones, glasses that are full of water. It's all so funny to you.

Daddy and I pray that you will grow to know Jesus, that HE would be your delight. We are so thankful for you, Buds. Happy 2nd birthday sweet boy. We love you.

Chicken Graduation

A friend of John's from work has a small farm and he invited us to his family's 'chicken graduation' day. We got to experience a morning of butchering, cleaning, and storing fryers for dinner.

 

It was hard but fulfilling work and we both had a great time. We are so thankful for our new friends who let us learn on the job!

Picture Day

I always really like to do Christmas cards. Every year, though, it seems that my standard of what those look like gets revised. This year the standard was to get a Christmas card done.

 

The best days to attempt pictures is on church days, because the kids are wearing something other than super-hero shirts and sweat pants. Apparently the standard of, "clean," didn't cut it this year as you can tell by Emmett's coat, smeared with yogurt. Also, perfectly coifed hair.

 

But here they are, nonetheless, and they do absolutely reflect the season with four little ones and a mama who can't quite keep up.

 Before you look at the next picture, please take a deep breath. I didn't and I completely lost it all when I saw this. She is growing up SO FAST. Whew.

And the first picture of just John and me taken in a long time. By Aubs. Our little photo bombers in the background make me laugh. And Stuart was sitting in the car screaming. Just keeping it real as you check out our super-serene faces.

This is our happily ever after.

Nana & Papa's Visit

Nana and Papa came to visit and it was so hard not to climb in their suitcases and hitch a ride back home!

We had so much fun while they were here and as has become my habit, I forgot to take decent pictures.

 

We had another cook-off. The teams were: Aubrey and Nana, Bryant and Papa, and Stuart and Daddy.

 We took a day to go to the Mariners' Museum and learn more about the ironclads during the Civil War and then we headed up to Yorktown and visited the farm and military encampment.

We also went to Chuck-E-Cheese and spent time watching movies, riding bikes, and going to the park. So there's my proof that we did stuff. :)

We love you, Nana and Papa, and we cannot wait to be neighbors soon!

Halloween 2014

Halloween, oh, Halloween. Bryant and Stuart lost their privilege of trick-or-treating this year. Bummer. Bummer for everyone. They make life more fun. They make Halloween more fun. They bring fun and excitement to Aubrey's world.

And they chose to give our sweet babysitter heck last night and therefore lost the privilege of dressing up and trick-or-treating.

Our bad choices affect everyone around us. Aubrey said as we were walking back from trick-or-treating, "This would have been a lot more fun with the boys."

She was a cute candy corn this year. She painted her nails orange and yellow, she designed and made her own hat, and she drew, colored, and cut out candy corn to tape on her shoes.

Emmett was Sully from Monsters, Inc.

Bryant said it wasn't very fun to hand out candy. Hopefully he will remember that. He also said, "At least I'll get presents at Christmas." I said, "Well, maybe." And then I said, "Just kidding." But we are continuing the discussion about the seriousness of our disobedience and rebellion.

Stuart didn't seem to care. We'll see as he talks to other people about his Halloween experience. He's a pretty straight forward kid, though, so it would make sense that he just accepted the punishment for his crime.

My favorite part of Halloween is that the next day is November, and we can be through with all the scary, dark, yucky decorations. Happy Halloween!

Going Private

To my blog followers, (Hi, Mom!)

I'm going to be making this blog private, just to add a measure of protection in the current world that we live in.

So please let me know via comment on this blog or via my phone or via email if you'd like to be invited to continue reading the blog.

It will go private beginning next week.

So Much to Catch Up On!

This has been a rather extraordinary autumn. As evidenced by the 603 pictures we had on our camera until I uploaded them onto the computer. Over 300 of those are pictures of John's trip to Alaska, so that will be a post all on its own.

 

Why 'extraordinary?' Well, we found out about a week ago that we will be moving back to Oregon! For real, for good, with no plans on moving away again. We have been anticipating finding out about our future for awhile and we received our answer and we are so darn excited we just about can't contain ourselves.

 

As I mentioned before, John took the opportunity to fly to Alaska to do some work and while he was away my mom came out to help me hold down the fort a bit. It was such a huge blessing to have my mom's help, and for the kids to have Nana to play with!

 

John's been doing a great job of taking a picture a day (or 10, depending on the situation), to document life as it happens with four kids and two tired parents.

 

Emmett likes Daddy's shop. And his 'horse.'

 Aubrey and Emmett share a very special bond.

 Aubrey does music lessons.

 This happens constantly.

 So does this.

 Aubrey loves being in the kitchen. She has started baking bread that John takes to work and sells. She is learning about 'overhead costs,' that she owes to Mommy for the ingredients, tithing, and saving for the camper Lego Friends set she wants so bad.

 This was our pizza night. Emmett likes to help with cooking so in my delirium I gave him the 1/4 full tub of cornmeal to 'cook' with.

 Cheeser.

 John and I went out on a long-awaited date. Emmett tried his darndest to wait up for us, but he didn't quite make it.

 Legos are a HUGE part of our lives these days. Aubrey creates beautiful, realistic structures, Bryant creates abstract, completely nonsensical 'warplane' type aircraft, and Stuart loves to have help making things straight out of the directions.

 We have started to go on family bike rides pretty regularly. After over 2 years of being off a bike it's been fun to brush off the dust and get out there with John and the kids.

Stuart, helping put breakfast on the table.

 One of Aubrey's Lego creations.

 And I have no idea here. But it made me laugh.

Bryant and Stuart are working on these toolboxes to sell.

 Aubrey and I were visiting with some friends for a bit one Sunday afternoon. Apparently the boys had some quality time out in the garage, eating graham crackers and doing some painting.

...and then this happened. Right before our sweet babysitter came over. Yes, I'm tired. With all the bread we've been baking we decided it would be a good idea to buy 50 lbs to stick in the freezer (to keep the bugs out.) But John wasn't home and after almost spilling the 50 lb bag right in the freezer as I lugged it out, I thought it best to wait until he came home to put it back. The bag was about 5 lbs lighter when John came home. And Emmett topped it off by dumping 2 glasses of milk out all over the table.

Yep. There is still flour in the grout lines of our tile floors.



Our Newest Nephew!!!

Noah Geoffrey Anderson is here!!!

He was born August 24th, to the delight of his parents and all the rest of us. :)

 We are so excited for Geoff and Michelle and look forward to meeting him!

Seriously, the cuteness is almost unbearable.

Patriot Sprint Tri

 

 John participated in his first sprint triathalon today! We both thought it was great that a portion of the money from this event goes to support kids whose special ops parents have died protecting and defending our nation.

John had his very own cheering section. They made their own shirts to show their support. Aubrey's read: "You Work Hard! You Can Do This!" Bryant's said: "Go Get 'Em!" Stuart's said, "Go, Daddy! Go, Daddy!" and Emmett's said, "Yay!"

Since John was swimming, biking, and running for significant distances I thought it was appropriate that we go through McDonald's drive through for breakfast. Stuart is holding a sausage breakfast sandwich. Nothing like grease in the morning before cheering on endurance athletes.

 

 

 Daddy and his girl. She was SO proud of him.

 Getting ready for the 750m swim in the James River.

 

 Off they go! John is a speck in the front of the pack.

 This is John. Please just trust me. The almost 2 year old in my arm was trying to sabotage the competition by throwing an empty milk carton onto the road. And I was trying to take a picture.

 

 So right after riding his bike 20 kilometers and as he is about to run a 5k, John hears the kids yelling and gives them high fives. He knows how to make them feel like they are very much a part of this whole shebang.

 Again, I was being man-handled by Emmett as John went whizzing by, almost to the finish line after his 5k, so please excuse the poor photography. The kids were screaming and he smiled and yelled back. It was so fun! 

 

John did this for fun. For a sort of 'test-run,' in case he ever wants to do another one. Out of 473 competitors, including several collegiate teams, he placed 65. He finished in 1 hour 14 minutes.

 

I wonder what would happen if he were super serious about it? :)

 

This was a great end to our summer.