Yes, They Go Outside

Lest you fear that these boys will spend the entire summer indoors reading, I will share a few shots from the past few days.

 Yesterday's activity involved swinging while wearing (fake) coon skin hats.  Delightful.

Today they both noticed that the channel drain needed cleaning, probably due to the high volume of dirt with which they fill it.  Get ready for the marked difference between siblings, people.

Luke used this handy, dandy shovel.

 Paul used his handy, dandy hands.  Happy Summer, Everyone!  Don't touch him.  He's busy.

Summer Reading Part 1

We are participating in the Exodus Books Summer Reading Program this year.  So far, each boy has read two books from the Outside of a Dog Booklist.  Here are Luke's reviews.

Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn is great.  I like the way Andrew Henry can build things and invent things.  I wish I could build things like him.  I think anybody would like this book.

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran is cool, too.  I like how creative the kids in it are.  It's like they have their own special village.  The next time I go on vacation, I think I should build something out of sticks just like the kids in Roxaboxen.

Paul has also read two titles, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans and Old Hat, New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain.  He, however, was too busy at the piano to have his picture taken and dictate some reviews.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Home!

After collapsing into my bed at 11pm, about ten minutes after arriving home from the airport, I slept long and hard.  Keep in mind, I was on east coast time.  My body was absolutely convinced that it was two o'clock in the morning, people.

I woke up this morning and dove back into life with my family, filled with joy and delight to be with them.  I started by enjoying coffee on the couch with the man of my dreams, my very best friend, my husband.  I love my life.  A lot.

After coffee time, I brought out the boys' little travel gifts.  I found these super awesome, two-sided dinosaur puzzles (for $2 each!) at a little gift shop in Greenville.  The boys were delighted and sat down to do them, placing them on library books to make the job easier.

Paul's iguanadon has Luke's pterandon on the other side.  Luke's spinosaurus has Paul's triceratops on the other side.  Am I the coolest mom ever?

After puzzle fun, I got focused on unpacking and doing my laundry from the trip.  And now a little back story.  Before I left for New York last weekend, we took my Volvo into the shop for some much needed love and maintenance.  The arrangement was that Oma would help Erik pick it up on Tuesday when it was ready.  When I arrived home last night at 10:45pm, I noticed the Volvo was not in the driveway.  

I thought, "Silly Erik forgot my car.  Oh, well.  I'm just happy to be home.  I'm not going to mention it.  We will fix it when the shop opens on Monday."

This morning during coffee time, I purposely did not bring it up, knowing there wasn't much we could do about it with the shop closed on the weekends.  I did not want my first day home tainted by the nagging wife thing.  Everything would work out on Monday.

Then the craziest thing ever happened.  Erik opened the door to the garage and MY VOLVO WAS IN THE GARAGE!!!!  No, you don't get it.  It was IN the garage.  That room has been filled with copious amounts of our garbage, Roots garbage, BSF garbage, pharma garbage, and kid garbage for two years, people.  Two years.  My awesomely awesome husband cleaned it while I was away.  Witness the glory.

Even Paul knows this is cool.

I'm still flabbergasted.  My husband is awesome.  I don't think I can say that enough.  I really appreciate the fact that he didn't just keep our kids alive and our home clean while I was away.  He cleaned the garage!!!  This is sexy, people.  Any movie, book, talk show host, magazine or music video that tries to convince you that something else defines sexy is simply trying to sell you something and make you discontent with your life.  Just sayin'.

We headed out to donate our garbage and drop some off at the recycling center near our house.  Feels good to reduce and recycle so others can reuse.

After that, we headed to our local farmer's market for lunch.  We bought two types of hummus, stuffed grape leaves, a tabbouleh salad, and some homemade pita chips with lemon.  The feast began.  It was super yummy.  My guys even tried the stuffed grape leaves.  They weren't partial to them at this time.  This is not a bad thing.  It leaves more for Erik and me.  :-)

The Feast!

Our final stop of the morning was the bike store.  Luke needed a new bike.  His old one was way too small about six months ago.  They just keep growing, don't they?  The bike store we patronize, The Outer Rim, is locally owned and about four blocks from our house.  They do service for life, and they are super nice.  We love it there.  The man helped fit Luke for his next bike and even said we could bring Paul's "new" one in for a shine.  (We purchased it there two years ago for Luke.)

 It's huge, and so is he.  Weird.

And then, this happened...

Paul got on Luke's old bike and gave it a go, rather successfully.  He still struggles to steer and pedal at the same time, a combination that is fairly necessary for biking.  But he does great on the straightaways.  We will work on the turning process this week.  We will also raise the seat a bit.  He just wanted to be as close to the ground as possible while he learned.  I get it.  I feel the same away about horses.  If they were just built like wiener dogs, short legs, long bodies, super close to the ground.  Then I would be thrilled to ride on their backs.  Wouldn't you?

Okay, that took a fairly crazy turn at the end, not unlike Paul's biking.  So I guess it all does go together.  I think I'll go take a nap now.  I might have jet lag.

Almost Home

Here I sit in the Starbucks at the Albany International Airport, charging my phone, listening to hits from the forties and reflecting on my trip. It's been a good one.

Today I enjoyed my last breakfast in solitude, a lovely Mediterranean breakfast wrap accompanied by a fresh fruit plate, a side of bacon, and hot, fresh coffee. All this was served in a stunning Georgian dining room on fine China. Yep. I've been spoiled all week.

The woman running the inn claimed I deserve it. I am more of the opinion that every mom needs time away so she can come home appreciating her people more. Yes, I will miss the peaceful start to each day, but I cannot wait to serve my people tomorrow morning.

After breakfast, my sister and I hung out at her place for a bit before she dropped me at Joe's school where I attended the dress rehearsal of his kindergarten class play. Nikki declined to attend for two reasons. She needed to be home to get Little Man Rory off his bus. And she's going to see it tonight when it debuts. Having seen it, I can affirm her choice. Once is good. :-)

It was everything a play written by kindergarteners should be...cute, adorable, and mildly non sequitur. There are princesses, dragons, knights, and Joe, the Mean Fairy, my awesome nephew. He turns one of the princesses into a unicorn, something that must be remedied before the conclusion of this stage masterpiece. It's riveting, of course. Joe did a great job in the dress rehearsal and I know he'll knock em dead tonight.

After the rehearsal was over, I signed Joe out of school, and Nikki picked us up. We ate some lunch and headed to town for errands and the airport. And here I sit.

It's been a good trip, made more sublime by the Ella Fitzgerald being played right now. I can't wait to see my husband tonight and my kids in the morning.

Here are a few random pics.

Sweet Nephews

The past two days have been good here. I am totally having crazy allergies, but I don't really care. My nephews are so sweet and adorable. Every time I sit down on the couch while Joe is around, he immediately sits down next to me and leans into me. He likes to snuggle. So do I.

Rory's birthday party was yesterday at 6 pm. He spent the entire afternoon saying, "eat birthday cake" over and over again. Yep. I know how that feels, buddy. Sometimes I just want to eat birthday cake, too.

I love spending time here, but I am totally missing my people. They need to invent that transporter beam from Star Trek already. There have been many times when I have wished the boys could be here...without traveling roughly six hours on a plane. And without invading the peace of this B&B. And I totally wish Erik could just beam here each evening, stay the night and then beam back to Portland for his workday.  C'mon, technology. Do your job.

And now some pictures.

More New York

Okay. It turns out that publishing a post here is akin to finding a taxidermy in the Pearl District of Portland...impossible. The reception on my phone isn't great and none of the Wi-Fi signals are very strong either. It's okay. I discovered this morning that while sitting at the breakfast table I am in some happy internet pocket and can publish from there. I was even able to check email.

So, day 2 here was fun. I got to volunteer in Joe's kindergarten classroom. I basically followed Rory around making sure he didn't dismantle anything. He's quick!

I also taught the boys my favorite kid song, Driving in My Car. They both like the windshield wiper verse.

And now some more pictures. Who knows when I'll be able to publish this business, but I thought I would get it written anyway.

The pictures are: the Internet Happy Spot, Cutie Joe, and Cutie Rory.

First Day in New York

I arrived in Albany about ten minutes ahead of schedule thanks to a tail wind from Chicago. It was so great to see my sister waiting in her mini van at the curb. Despite having flown all day, I was pretty stinking jazzed to spend the next six hours catching up.

Our ride to the farm was fairly uneventful, only interrupted once by jaywalking guinea fowl. I wasn't fast enough with my camera, but it suffices to say they were goofy looking and in the way. :-)

Upon arrival at the house I was greeted by Rory who is SO big now, I almost didn't recognize him.  Crazy! His greeting was somewhat unsure, but he warmed up quickly. See the picture below for proof of that sweetness.

Joe was waiting inside with a big hug for Auntie Amy! That guy is sweet and fun and also HUGE. One year is too long between visits for this auntie.

We spent the evening getting reacquainted. The main attractions for the night were Rory's new basketball hoop and taking pictures with Auntie Amy's phone. Some of the results are below.

I arrived back at my B&B around 10:30 to find the front door inaccessible due to a guest accidentally locking the knob instead of just the code accessible deadbolt. A few quick phone calls later and I received instructions to walk down the side yard to the kitchen door which was blessedly unlocked. It's the country, people.

I got a good night's sleep and enjoyed a lovely breakfast of quiche and fresh fruit before being picked up by my sister in order to attend Rory's end of the year IEP meeting. It was great to hear about all the progress he has made.

And let me say this publicly and loudly: my sister IS Wonder Woman. When her youngest was diagnosed with EoE, a disorder that could have completely destroyed his esophagus, necessitating tube feeding for the rest of his life, she eliminated all grains, gluten, soy, casein (dairy) and all preservatives from his diet. She learned to make everything he needed from scratch to slow down his refluxing. Today his feeding specialist and his nutritionist, along with the rest of Rory's IEP team applauded all her hard work and sacrifices, explaining that it has all worked. Well done, Sis! !
Now we are headed out to volunteer in Joe's classroom for the afternoon.
Here are the pics!

Last Day of School!!

We finished all of our course work today, so that makes today the last day of school!  We finished one day early!  YIPPEE!!  When I taught public school at the junior high level, I always contended that we ought not tell the students when the last day of school would be.  We should just finish the course work and then tell them not to come back the next day.  It would have been SO much saner.

I was never able to work myself high enough in the ranks of public education to effect change in this arena, but here in BangsundLand, I AM THE QUEEN!  So, today when I realized that we were going to finish one day early, I officially declared it our last day.  It's good to be queen.

I would like to add that Luke did exceptionally well on his "finals."  His cumulative poem review this week was outstanding.  He memorized all of the required poems, including a three stanza masterpiece entitled Mr. Nobody.  Today he aced his final grammar review, remembering the definitions for nouns, pronouns, verbs, and the four types of sentences, giving me examples of each.  And we actually finished The Story of the World, Volume 2 in its entirety this morning.  This was particularly sweet for me because last year we weren't quite able to finish Volume 1.  I knew we would be repeating that time period in another two years, so I didn't kick myself too hard.  But finishing is pretty stinkin' sweet.

I was on the phone with my buddy Holly and shared with her how faithful the Lord Jesus Christ has been.  This year, of all years, we have had our most "successful" ending to our home schooling year.  That's crazy!!  I worked part-time this year as a children's pastor while also serving as a Children's Leader for BSF.  Our home schooling ventures should have been abysmal at best.  But that was not the Lord's plan.  He called us to this home schooling adventure, thus He is the one who makes it succeed.  We finished everything for the first time ever.  How great is our God?!?  I give Him all the glory for all He has done, from helping me find great curriculum to giving my seven year old a heart that wanted to do school.  I am grateful to Jesus Christ for His saving grace, His faithful provision, and His abundant love through all of this.

And now, the pictures.  :-)

 Paul with Coach Tim and Coach Adam after the Upwards Award Ceremony on Tuesday this week.

 Luke with Coach Tammy - can you tell these two love each other? :-)

At the end of each school year, I let each boy pick their favorite titles from the year.  It was impossible to narrow it to just three or four like last year.  Each boy ended up with six.  I had to let Luke add a seventh.  Pretty soon, they won't all fit in the pictures.

Paul chose No Children, No Pets, Dinosaurs Unleashed, The Family Under the Bridge, Little House in the Big Woods, Capyboppy, and Here's a Penny.  He has excellent taste.  All of these titles are delightful and I recommend any of them for all ages.

Luke's titles were similar to Paul's, with the addition of The Usborne Book of Knowledge.  I love having a curriculum that gives these boys so many favorites each year.  We are blessed.

To continue with the celebration, the boys and I opened up a Kiwi Crate that had a secret agent theme.  It was pretty fabulous.  Here are some pics of that goodness.

They made the periscopes first and they were pretty cool.  But the disguises made for awesome pictures.

 Agent Alpha reporting for duty

Agent Omega deep undercover.

They came up with their code names and numbers all by themselves.  I love it.

With school finished for the year, I will continue to prepare for my trip to New York on Sunday to spend time with my sister and her fabulous family.  Look for blog posts from the east in the coming week.

Last Upward Game

Today was our last Upward Saturday of 2013.  We had a great time, despite a rain shower and some tears on the field.  Here are the pics with a few stories interspersed.

 Paul hangs out with Coach Adam toward the end of a defensive play.  This is a fairly common sight this year.

 Paul waits for the play to start.

As Paul's game was ending, the clouds arrived with a shower that meant we all needed to dawn our hoods.  Paul was undaunted and joyfully excited to run through the tunnel.  Here he comes!

 And there he goes!

 Our heroes!  Three generations of Upward Awesomeness - Coach Adam (dad), Kai (son), and Coach Tim (grandpa)

 My guys love giving high fives to all the teams who run through the tunnel.

Go Upward!

 After his game, Paul finds a quiet spot near Luke's practice to enjoy his snack bag.

 By the time it was Luke's turn to go through the tunnel, the sun was shining.  Gotta love this town.

 Luke running the ball on the Luke Sneak.  He's pretty intense when he plays.  He's pretty intense when he does anything, isn't he?

The Saints

(front row: Erik and Josiah)

(back row: Annika, Luke, Achilles, Armani)

Not pictured - Coach Tammy who had to be somewhere else today.  And Napoleon, the best twelve year old assistant ever, who mysteriously disappeared after the game.  Probably to the snack shack.  :-)