Perfect for...

Oh, Rainy May day. Your constant dampness encouraged us to pretend it was fall again and wear our pajamas all day, clean out a bunch of closets, watch way to much Curious George while snuggling, and take a little artistic break. Thanks for the encouragement to take it easy, Rainy May Day.

Penny Lane

Parker has been pining for a gerbil. And when I say pining I actually mean begging us for one morning, noon and night and making some pretty good arguments in favor of the furry pet over the last month. He gave Jeremy his top five reasons this morning as to why he NEEDS a gerbil and I think that sealed the deal for him.

His reasons are:

1. They are SO cute.

2. It will help me not go crazy.

3. They need love.

4. They're all SO cute.

5. Everything I just said.

Off we drove to get ourselves a gerbil and add to this circus household.

 

Parker named our gerbil Lightning and Everly added Penny for the middle name. We found out she's a girl so she mostly goes by Penny. And sometimes Penny Lane when she's feeling sassy.

 Everly wanted to do the introductions for Molly. Molly declared she's too old to care about a gerbil.

 Then everyone got in on the holding action. Penny is a good gerbil and the kids are so gentle. Especially Parker. He lets her climb all over him and he keeps her safe. He was right. He's a good gerbil owner.

 

Larrabee

I heart Larrabee. These series of beaches along our beautiful coast are home to one of Jeremy and I's first dates. We laid low this Memorial Day weekend and stayed home and our dear friends Spencer and Lisa came up with their two kids. A friend for everyone in the mix makes for a very happy group. We took it easy this weekend and had a few lazy mornings with coffee, a few afternoon mimosas, and a couple evenings in the driveway while all the kids and the neighborhood kids formed a baseball team and played t-ball. My favorite? Lazing in the sun at Larrabee while the kids climbed on the rocks, played in the creek, and we had a picnic lunch. Total bliss.

Parade Day

I love a good parade. The high school marching bands make me cry, the military representation makes me proud, and all the local business floats make me feel so happy about our small town. The Ski To Sea parade, every year on Memorial Day weekend, never disappoints. And this year we got to share it with some long distance friends, up visiting for the weekend. The combination left me teary.

The others.

I am so lucky to have a husband who can step in and take over when I'm sicker than sick and parents who live less than 10 minutes away who do the same thing. With this pneumonia, the grandparents and Jeremy have totally stepped in more. They keep saying things like "You're never going to get better unless you rest and take care of yourself!" and other crazy things that I am not capable of like that. I'm trying to be a better listener, though so that means letting other people help me. (Sometimes that's not my strong suit).

 Breakfast at Grandma and Papa's means donuts. I'm pretty sure they're big fans.

 Grandma encourages silly behavior.

I have the most helpful grandparents in the the greater northwest, I think. They are active, fun and busy grandparents with "a life" (what?!), but whenever I need them most they are there for me. They are currently working on a gigantic remodel project away from home and when I got super sick, my mom dropped everything and stepped in where she could. This means grandma is on her own, dropping off at preschool, doing some crafts with the kids, and manning bedtime. I'm lucky that my parents have always lived minutes away since the kids were born. They have been pretty involved in their lives from the start (just like my grandparents - it was my greatest wish for my kids), so the kids have always looked forward to some grandparent time. And I think occasionally they give them a few more special treats than we do...just as grandparents should.

 And then Jeremy made bread with the kids. Seriously.

What I'm so, so thankful for is that I have such an amazing husband who is THE MOST awesome dad. He makes bread with the kids, he gardens with them, he plays, plants, swims, bikes, and teaches them to help around the house. He does all of this without any prompting or nudging. And the last big conversation we had about the days when I'm at work went like this "Honey! Do less cleaning and projects and more playing with the kids! It will all get done somehow, feel free to enjoy your time with them and don't worry about making sure dinner is on the table when I get home!" Seriously. That happened. And?! He still cleans the house, does the laundry and has dinner on the table when I get home. He is THE BEST. He also often does all of this on zero sleep because he works 24 hour shifts and arrives home to walk in the door and immediately be Mr. Mom for the day. We both have our parenting strengths and what I lack for, he makes up. We make a pretty good team, but I believe I still get the winning end.

Noodle Behavior

My friend Leah has been asking what noodle behavior is at our house. She overheard a secret convo about it while I was trying to talk to her on the phone and have a private discussion with my kids. It went like this:

me: "That's interesting, Leah. Tell me more about that thing."

Leah: (normal adult talking)

me: "Kids, stop doing that. No, sorry Leah. I'm listening."

me: "Kids, seriously. If I have to ask you again... Leah, I'm sorry. I really am listening"

Leah: (more normal adult talking)

me: (trying to whisper) "Kids! I have asked you to stop pestering each other! Go play separately! I'm listening, Leah!"

*banging and crashing happens in the other room*

me: "I AM ON THE PHONE! IS THIS NOODLE BEHAVIOR?!"

Leah: "What's noodle behavior?"

So, we've been earning noodles around our house for anything and everything that could possibly be considered a good thing or great behavior. The kids decorated small jars and when the noodles are filled to the top, they get to choose something great. We wistfully think of our noodle earnings every day. I wish I could take credit for this, but this little gem was the brainchild of my friend Lisa (who also sent Pinky who saved the day with Everly's cast). Lisa might intimidate everyone with her awesomeness.

The kids filled their jars after two months (jars are bigger than they look!) and earned their "prize" smack dab in the middle of the sickness. They chose going to their favorite toy store and buying anything of their liking. Jeremy and I agreed and also put a spending cap on that.  I had to convince Jeremy to let me go with them because I am so.not.well. The whole event took 45 minutes and then I returned for an exhausted nap. And they were so proud of their noodle behavior.

Parker immediately tried to negotiate for more stuff. He was currently negotiating for all the items on the floor, plus the two in Jeremy's hands. He got one.

 Everly played with the dollhouses while Parks debated.

 The happy noodle kids with their winnings.

 Some messing around at the bookstore next door. We picked up Ralph S. Mouse to continue Parker's chapter books at bedtime. :)

 Everly picked out a balloon rocket and Parks picked out a stuffed animal dog. (Named Dingo. Whom I have to feed, bathe and walk while he is gone. Dingo is a lot of work). Everly's rocket was a hit with everyone.

Head above water

My great parents took the kids for the morning and early afternoon while I went to the doctor to get some medicine for this bronchitis and pneumonia and then I followed that with a three hour nap from exhaustion from driving myself around for an hour. Lovely! I'm *slightly* worried about tonight's sleep with cough syrup with codeine AND my nighttime Sudafed with no backup parent to attend to the children, but here goes! Sleep well, children! This afternoon after my parents dropped them off I basically tried to keep my head above water and lay as low as possible (ha, ha - that's kind of a joke because my children are three and five and absolutely "full of life") so we played outside for as long as possible and then I threw them in the bath after we got muddy cavorting at the creek and now we're rounding it out watching The Story of Jonah and eating hotdogs I warmed up. I think I'm going downhill again.

Trying to catch wild bunnies in the backyard.

 Shoring up the dam at the creek.

Heading back to the house for that delicious and healthy dinner I'm about to make.

Eighteen

Being sick always makes me feel like I'm wasting time. I've been calling this stuff  "allergies" for months now trying to convince myself that it was nothing, so it figures it would eventually hit me like a mack truck. So for today, my only day with the help of a husband home, I thought I'd feel like I could go along for the ride and at least tag along to a park and sit while the kids played, or go to my favorite nursery and point out the 2 plants I've been meaning to get or just do *something*. Alas, it was not meant to be today. I got tired just walking into the kitchen, I can't catch my breath from this lung infection at all times, and coughing and sneezing fits are a total bummer. So I'm trying to find the adventures in these little moments so I don't feel like it was yet another wasted day while being sick.

 This morning we had another "Playfest 2012"

 After about half an hour, the kids got serious, broke out the rug and set up a whole city. Train tracks later followed for some mass transit options for both people, animals, and a couple of fairies.
 

 Everly spun some tunes for us. She really prefers just the first 5 seconds of most songs.

 I tried to read to them. I pretty much camped out here for the morning.

Parker played school with me and practiced his letters. We had a cute moment when he said "You should be a teacher" and I said "I was a teacher!" and he looked at me all wide eyed and said "Did they call you Miss Mama?".

And then tonight when I was putting Everly to bed she wondered aloud "When is it tomorrow? Because it's always tomorning and tomorrow never comes...."  I told her she was kind of right and we should just call it tomorning. Then when I was putting Parks to bed he had harder questions. About 20 minutes of them. The highlights were: "When will I die? How big is heaven? How was I a baby in your tummy? When will Molly die? How does God put a seed in your tummy and make it into a baby? (*that was kind of a follow up question...) How big is the world? How long is kindergarten? How big will I be when I'm six? How much do I know right now? How much will I ever know? How did Everly get picked especially for our family? Why do you guys have to work? How long until our garden grows? When will I get to pick all my carrots?" Just to name a few. JUST TO NAME A FEW, GUYS!

And we truly deserve this night's sleep...

Maiden Voyage

Everly got to take her first trip out with the boys to go fishing. To say she was excited is an understatement.

First a little of this:

 And always a little of this:

And then this happened:

I've got a fever...

...and the only cure is more cowbell.

No, seriously, I do have a fever. I have yet another ridiculous cold because apparently I'm going for a three-fer this spring. I pride myself on staying healthy. I cannot remember feeling this sick and rundown since I got pneumonia when Everly was two weeks old and Jeremy went back to work doing overnights. Wonderful Grandma took Parks for some one on one fun so that I can limp around after just one. One crazy, moving, energetic, full of life girl. I was exhausted by 9am. I am sometimes astounded that every time I get sick I can't "call in sick" to motherhood. While we get through it somehow (maybe that's the reason I have had 3 rounds of the flu in 7 weeks?) I feel like my only wish from this is that I could somehow go back in time and just tell my former self to appreciate it more. Appreciate that calling in sick! Appreciate sleeping as long as you needed to get well! Appreciate cozying up and watching a Lifetime movie and stuffing kleenex up your nose!  'Cause that doesn't get to happen anymore. However, it's been replaced with a girl who kept asking "How's your fluffy nose?" all day. And a boy who asks right away in the morning "How are you feelin'?" while patting my on the head and waking me out of my slumber. And kids who thought it was the most hysterical thing they'd every seen when they did catch me with the kleenex stuffed.

Midway through the afternoon I broke out the big guns and cleaned this up from last summer so Everly could enjoy this on the deck while I laid by the door and contemplated how exactly to conjure up the energy to make dinner AND put someone besides myself to bed. She had an awesome time.

Taffy Time

The other day Jeremy made taffy with the kids while I was at work. Something involving sugar, making candy, playing with it, and wrapping it like a present...the kids were all in. I heard via secret phone call at work what they had done with their day so when I walked in the door it was pretty cute to see the pride and excitement on their faces and know what the surprise was. They led me, eyes closed, to the cupboard and flung it open and revealed a big bag of taffy. I got to taste one, Everly and Parks tasted 4 more. Jeremy said that probably rounded the taste-testing up to an even 20 or so for each of them. Homemade taffy = new favorite dad activity!

B is for Butterfly

The other day we were playing out in the yard and this little guy fluttered up and landed right on the stick Parker was holding. It was mesmerizing. And beautiful. He carried it around for a little bit and then we gently set it down on a plant. A few minutes later she flew away.

Cheers!

We cheers'd a lot during brunch, drinking mimosas (my mom and I) and sparkling cider (the kids) at my favorite restaurant, The Fountain. Happy Mother's day to me! And my mom! :)