Friday Update #26 (7/3/15)

Seth has been at the Yakama Indian Reservation all week, since last Saturday, serving with Sacred Road Ministries. This is already his fourth year going with a team from our church, although it's his first year leading the trip. It was 100-110* all week, which made it a hard week, but the team persevered. However, I did get texts like this:

We actually went out there to visit Wednesday night and Thursday day, which was such a great trip!

But first, in chronological order:

Saturday morning we got up early and rushed to do errands before Seth left. Somehow (mercifully) we made it to Lowe's on time, despite my pessimism, to for their Grow and Build program. The boys built a Captain America motorcycle (with lots of help... or "help" because I don't think I was actually much help. They were so little that it was hard to hammer in the nails without destroying the rest of the motorcycle!).

Sunday was the church picnic, so I took the boys over to the Hamlins'. Unfortunately, the Family Olympics were cancelled, but Pastor Rich bought 30-40 squirt sticks (is that what they're called?) and the kids had fun playing in the water.

Monday morning we went up to Shoreline with my mom to see my grandparents. Since we still had our squirtsticks in the car we got to play with them again. I got to talk to my grandparents while the boys played, so it wa those silly sticks more than paid for themselves! I also got to help my grandma figure out her new tablet..

That night I dropped mom off  at her house, along with both boys, for a slumber party in the tent. Ezra has been talking about this for weeks, and since Seth was gone it was especially nice to have a little break from watching kids. I was supposed to go to my swim lessons at 7am Tuesday morning but slept through them since i'd stayed up so late the night before, folding laundry at watching movies. I did get to take my online Herodotus class without interruption though!! And then, after class, I got a hair cut and picked up Isaac at the spray park (where he'd been playing with Grandpa and Ezra). Ezra had somehow convinced all us to let him spend another night at Grandpa and Grandma's house, since "a sleepover means you sleep over and over and over" " at someone's house. So Isaac and I got to spend time together packing for our trip and then, Wednesday morning, Ezra and my mom met us at the Y for the boys' swimming lessons, after which the boys and I headed off to the Yakama Indian Reservation.

We made pretty good time, got dinner and checked into a hotel. We got in the pool a little after 6pm and didn't get out until it closed at 10pm! I did get the boys out for a bathroom break twice, actually. And Seth came and joined us around 8:30-9!! The boys are swimming so well this summer. Every time we get in the water they make more and more progress, which is so fun to see. We were all pretty wiped out when we straggled back to our room and Isaac hardly stayed awake during his shower. Ezra, as is typical, powered through his exhaustion and took a long leisurely bath, but fell asleep wrapped in a towel on the bed as I was looking for his underwear.

Thursday morning the team drove up from the rez to meet us in our hotel parking lot on their way to Rimrock Lake. The lake was a good hour and twenty minutes from the rez, but it was much cooler up in the "mountains" and I think all the kids thought the drive was worth it. Our kids thought so! I sat in the shade the entire time and watched the teenagers play with my kids, so it was quite the break for me too. Unfortunately, one of the teenagers found a little garter snake and the group of them spent a good 5-10 minutes passing it around, much to Ezra's delight. I, of course, heard "snake" and jumped up and ran down the beach and sat on a log 50 yards away until Seth assured me the snake was long gone.
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When it was time for the team to leave the lake (to get to Kids Club) we thought we were going to part ways and see Seth (and the team) on Saturday. The boys and I got popsicles and then went to the museum.

I just had so much fun with the boys at the museum. Ezra was SO excited and to go to the museum. I'm not exactly sure why - he enjoys going to other museums and we had talked a lot about the Yakama, but his enthusiasm was particularly high. I took our umbrella stroller and kept Isaac in it for about half our time in the museum, which was probably a good decision. He did ok, but it was hard to keep his interest in a particular installation as long as Ezra wanted to stand there and look at it and talk about it. There were a lot of taxidermied animals on display, though, which helped Isaac immensely. Since we'd talked so much about Yakama history and culture, it was easy to interact with Ezra while at the museum and he asked great questions. I love, love, love this stage of engagement! [photos in the museum weren't allowed]

The museum closed at 5:30pm, otherwise we would have stayed a bit longer (well, definitely longer if Isaac hadn't been with us), but we spoke with the clerk in the gift shop and admired the beadwork for sale and then Seth called and invited us to come have dinner with him (well, and the ERC team and other churches) at the church on the rez. We hadn't expected to see Seth again and were just going to hang out in Yakima for a while (find dinner and a park?). I hadn't seen the new church building (built last year) so it was really fun to go see where the teams now stay and to meet some of the new missionaries and, after dinner, listen to Chris Grandberry speak. The boy enjoyed a great deal of attention and the opportunity to play on the playground equipment.

 We didn't make it home until 2am Friday morning, but it was definitely worth the long drive to go see Daddy and have a better idea of what he was doing for a week (even if, on Friday, the boys got to watch too much TV while I napped and didn't get any of the chores and projects done that I had expected to).

Friday Update #19 (5/15/15)

Hannah didn't get to go to Ezra's birthday party on his birthday, so we met her at her new apartment by Wright Park to check it out, then go out to lunch at The Hub and then play at the park. It was fun to have so much Hannah time, and it was an absolutely beautiful day. The boys also got to try out their new Avengers tattoos.

For Mother's Day church hosted a brunch and the kids gave their moms a potted plant and a "I love my mom because ____" poster. This is what Ezra gave me:

We had lunch at my parents' house with Jack and Esther afterwards.

We've been trying to decorate our mantle with seasonally appropriate decorations and candles. Ezra gets a big kick out of it.

We started our new session at the YMCA and on Tuesday and Thursday Ezra and Isaac are both in swimming lessons (and I’m in lessons with Isaac) and then we all shower and head off to the gymnastics room for gymnastics class. They’re in different levels, but we get to all be in the same room together. Well, I have to be with Isaac, since he’s only two and can only participate in classes with a parent, but I enjoy doing classes with him, especially this session because that means I also get to watch Ezra in his class instead of being outside the room or playing with Isaac elsewhere.

On Friday Isaac is taking a “creative movement” class (that Ezra gets to tag along to) that is similar to gymnastics in that we do a lot of the same stretching and beginning exercises. But then he gets to play with ribbons and hoops and bean bags and gets to run and jump and gallop in time to whatever music his teacher selects. For Isaac it’s an exercise in following instructions more so than it is an exercise in actually perfecting any skills.

But Ezra is really getting rather accomplished, especially in his gymnastics class. On Thursday he was actually called up, in front of the whole class, to demonstrate a series of routines on the bars to the rest of the class to demonstrate how each routine should be performed. I was so proud of him! I think he was suitably proud too.

Isaac has moved up to a new level of swim class, based on his age, and it’s much more challenging. Eventually that will be a very good thing for him, as he really needed to move up and be challenged, but right now it’s just hard. He doesn’t enjoy the challenge yet, so neither do I. But he needs to learn to swim! And I really appreciate and respect the teachers and the lesson progression, so I have full confidence that this is indeed what he needs to do and what he can do.

One day, for craft time, I pulled out a bag of "jewels" and the glue sticks and the paper to which the boys were supposed to glue the jewels. I then washed dishes and came back to this:

Isaac thinks he's getting cuter and cuter. For example:

Ezra has been asking about the piano a lot lately and wanting to play pieces from the Frozen book I have. But this week he was especially persistent and I wrote out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" for him and put "A," "B," "C" stickers on the keyboard and he played it all by himself!!! I am so proud of him and SO excited!

 
And then he wanted to write his own music:

Friday Update #18 (5/8/15) **needs photos

On Sunday we were supposed to go up to my grandparents' house after church but our after-church meeting ended an hour later than expected and then we still stayed at church for another hour and "debriefed" with some of the people in the meeting. We didn't regret staying, and it seemed pretty necessary, but then we had to rush and find a gas station bathroom for the boys and it took two tries. And then I5 was backed up and it was already 3pm (and we'd expected to be at my grandparents' by 1:30) and Isaac was starting to fall asleep (a 3pm nap start time means he'll be up til 11pm, long after my bedtime) so we decided to just stay in Tacoma. We tried to go to Chick-a-fila, but didn't remember, until we noticed the drive through was blocked off, that they're closed on Sunday. So we went to the Food Court in the mall and had yummy Thai and Chinese food and then played at the play place and Seth and I debriefed further.

Monday I cancelled my piano lessons because we're still sharing a car (it's been too hard to find time to talk about what we should do, let alone do it!) and Seth had to teach and then go coach the last baseball game of the season. The boys and I tagged along. It was a beautiful day and the Chief Leshi field and surrounding area is really nice, so we had a great time. (It certainly didn't hurt that the Crusaders scored some points and had a decent pitching and fielding performance, leading to a win!) Ezra spent about an hour picking me daisies while Isaac mostly rolled around in the grass.

After the game we had to go meet one of Seth's employees and then Ezra asked if we could go to Ana's grave, so, after getting Chick-a-fila finally, we decided to go! It was a sweet evening.

Tuesday we started our new Y session with swimming lessons and gymnastic class, and then I taught all day. Isaac woke up especially early and even before I woke up had exhibited a particularly difficult attitude, which, unfortunately, was not something he gave up until he arrived at grandpa's house. I don't remember a more difficult 4-5 hour span in recent months. Certainly not while we've been out and about! Thankfully, Ezra could not have been more sweet and obedient and helpful, which I certainly recognized as a special grace bestowed upon me.

And Wednesday was Ezra's FOURTH BIRTHDAY!!!!??!! Oh, he is such a blessing to me and I am so very, very grateful for these last four years (and nine months besides). I think he felt celebrated.

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Thursday morning Ezra woke up and told me to feel his muscles because, now that he's four, "they're so much bigger!" Silly guy.

Friday Update #17 (5/1/15)

On Seth’s plate this week (besides, you know, that regular –very time consuming - job he has and this drama class he's teaching) was the big annual yard sale our church hosts every spring to support our upcoming mission trip to Sacred Road on the Yakama Indian Reservation. Seth has gone the last three years, but this year he is leading the trip. He’s had all sorts of things to do in that role (monthly meetings, coordinating with the other teams going the week we’re going, delegating responsibilities for the trip, finalizing the roster for the trip, etc.), but heading up this yard sale is one of the biggest efforts because it provides a good 50% of the needed funds. I helped with some of the coordination but needed to stay home with the boys during the sale. I think Seth was there for 3-4 hours night and 9 hours on Saturday? But they made a decent amount of money and it didn’t rain, so we were pretty grateful.

My mom came over, randomly, after garage saling and finished planting the starts she'd brought over the day before. And then Emily pulled up too! We rarely get visitors and to have two people stop by in one day was especially unusual. It was nice to have the diversion because I'd been feeling a bit discontent, staying home while Seth was off "gallivanting" at the church garage sale.

Sunday night church hosted a documentary film regarding public school education in the US and though Seth and I weren't planning on going, my mom insisted we go and that she be allowed to watch the boys.  We weren't really thinking through our babysitting needs the rest of the week or we wouldn't have "used up" some babysitting on the film. We pretended it was a date and had a good conversation about education, so it wasn't really waste, but later on in the week when we were so overwhelmed it was hard not to begrudge that time.

Monday morning I babysat for my friend so she could go to one of her prenatal appointments without her four year old, then taught some lessons. The boys and I played at the park by Seth's school for a while too.

This week I had a lot of lessons. Well, my usual amount, but a bit more spread out, so it ended up taking up a lot more time than it does most weeks. Until we find the time to decide what to do about the van (necessary repairs? Sell it and buy a new vehicle?) we’re sharing the car, so we’ve had to be a bit creative about our schedules. It’s actually worked out really really well, considering the timing. And we’ve actually seen each other this week, because we’ve been driving each other places. That sounds a bit Pollyanna (ridiculously optimistic) but it’s been really nice. If we had our own vehicles this week we probably wouldn’t have really seen each other. And Seth definitely wouldn’t have seen the boys. So this way we’ve been able to chat and Seth has told the boys lots of Superhero stories.

On Tuesday, in addition to teaching, I also had to make several trips to chauffeur Seth or things he needed around, because we're sharing one car and because the baseball bus left without him and because he'd left his keys at home and because he needed me to take one of his workers to a moving job. I drove at least 100 miles and did lots of backtracking and double crossing.

Seth has been substitute teaching a bit, before his drama class, but this week it actually worked out well for him to have so much time sitting at his computer. He likes getting the hours, since he's already at the school for seventh period, but it's been disappointing that he really doesn't get to do much teaching. It's really more babysitting than anything else. Perhaps once the teachers get to know him better and know what he is capable of he will get to do more than administer worksheets?

Our last day of BSF was this week, sadly. (Well, for this year, that is; it will start up again in the middle of September.) It is such a wonderful fit for all three of us and we will miss it greatly this summer.

I was surprised and so pleased when Seth offered to take the boys out on a Daddy date Thursday morning. I desperately needed the time alone to finish sending in some information about the ERC team to Sacred Road and to finish our quarterly taxes. There's nothing like having three big "projects" due on the same day. They went to IHOP and, it was reported, that they had a great time. Ezra came home saying he'd had the "best pancakes of his life" and Isaac kept talking about "bueberry 'rup" (blueberry syrup).

As I mentioned last week, Seth's drama students had their Fine Art Night performance this week. They performed selections from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Miller's The Crucible, and did a wonderful job.

We got to relax all day Friday, which was lovely. Well, the boys didn't really relax, but what's new? Isaac even lugged his trike up onto the couch in order to stand on it in my sight.

Friday Update #16 (4/24/15)

There are some months that we just can’t ever catch our breaths, and April has been one of those months. Nothing particularly dreadful has happened, it’s just been busy busy busy. The Fine Arts Night preparations are consuming.

The weekend was mostly spent at home I let Ezra use a real knife to help me cut up rhubarb and he was so very careful and so very proud.

He also found bluebells and picked them for me.

When we were at my parents, Ezra disappeared to listen to more Hobbit stories from Uncle David. He's getting really excited about the story.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I had a lot of lessons. Well, my usual amount, but a bit more spread out, so it ended up taking up a lot more time than it does most weeks. Until we find the time to decide what to do about the van (necessary repairs? Sell it and buy a new vehicle?) we’re sharing the car, so we’ve had to be a bit creative about our schedules. It’s actually worked out really really well, considering how busy this last half of the month is. And we’ve actually seen each other this week, because we’ve been driving each other places. That sounds a bit Pollyanna (ridiculously optimistic) but it’s been really nice. If we had our own vehicles this week we probably wouldn’t have really seen each other. And Seth definitely wouldn’t have seen the boys. So this way we’ve been able to chat and Seth has told the boys lots of Superhero stories.

Isaac bumped his head this week and asked for an ice pack. He didn't hold the ice pack on his head in the correct location, nor would he let me, but it was still cute.

My allergies were really bothering me Wednesday, but I muddled through lessons. I hadn’t thought to take my allergy medicine because I usually don’t, but my body really didn’t take well to whatever plant started blooming. When I got home and looked up the pollen index it was a “very high alert”. Thursday, however, I couldn’t even get off the couch! My sinuses were so congested and my eyes so irritated that I would have been miserable enough, but I also had one of the most relentless headaches I’ve ever had. Thankfully we didn’t have anything scheduled that day (except for trying to make a dent in the laundry and dishes that had accumulated through the first part of the week – ha!) and the boys were so very sensitive and thoughtful. They watched a lot of TV and played Duplos and did puzzles and PlayDoh and were especially kind to each other. Ezra even got snacks and juice for them! When Seth got home at like 9pm, he had to do quite a lot of cleaning to just even pick up all of used tissues and wrapped up dirty diapers piled up next to me on the couch. And then he put Isaac to sleep and took Ezra to the grocery store (because I also hadn’t had time to go shopping all week). If that weren’t enough, they came home with food for me and a dozen roses! Ezra said that the roses were “the best headache medicine” and apparently convinced Seth of their necessity. He is so thoughtful and particularly protective of me. It was a very sweet ending to an otherwise hard day.

Once it started raining Thursday evening my allergies drastically cleared up, so today I was finally able to get up and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! It felt amazing to be up and about, but even more amazing to get so much cleaning done after a full week of total neglect.

This coming week doesn’t look much easier, but after Thursday we’re all going to take a big sigh of relief and then take a day off and do nothing. And then, the week after that Ezra turns FOUR YEARS OLD!!

Friday Update #15 (4/17/15) **needs link update

This really won't be an exciting post, haha, as we spent the week in California and I wrote about our trip here: <link>.

Friday Update #14 (4/10/15)

Isaac received a Batman and Joker Duplo set for his birthday, which he plays with all the time. But his brother also found the figures this week and decided to make sure the Joker couldn't make any mischief.

We had a pretty low key Easter Sunday. The boys wore their new matching shirts, but I hardly got any good photos. Hannah captured this shot, however:

Dad and I spent a lot of money and went to opening day at Safeco Field. We had great seats and watched a great game.

And this amazing moment happened this week:

I love, love, love watching the boys interact with Seth. It's the sweetest thing to me.

We're actually already in California, but I'm going to just wait til we get home and write up a big recap instead of splitting it into these weekly update posts.

Friday Update #13 (4/3/15)

I'm not sure how it started, but the boys are obsessed with Seth throwing them up in the air. Outside, especially, because then he throws them higher. "Daddy, frow me in da air! 'Eeese? Outdide!" is a request Seth hears a good 5-10 times a day. It used to scare me a bit, but they really are hardly out of his hands for more than 2-3 seconds and he hasn't ever come close to dropping them.

Saturdays are often the longest day of the week, I suppose because they are Seth's longest day of work and because we usually don't have any activities planned. I try to take the boys somewhere, but sometimes I chicken out for fear "everywhere" will be too crowded. This week, however, I braved the (theoretical) crowds and took the boys to one of our favorite parks.

My parents were doing yard work, so they called and invited us over. The boys looovvveee gardening with Grandma. I don't think they're actually helpful, but she is very kind to let them "help". 

If I spread a blanket out on the floor, excitement spikes. A picnic! So we had a little picnic of waffles and blueberries before church:

We headed to my parents' after church for a meal with all of my siblings. We used to try to get together every Sunday, but it just doesn't work that way any more, as everyone has jobs and various obligations. So these days we're lucky to make it happen once a month or so.

Ezra has been talking about finding Seth a Hulk t-shirt (to go along with his Superman t-shirts and Isaac's Batman t-shirts) for Father's Day, since Seth told them that The Hulk was his favorite Superhero (something that wasn't a lie, but wasn't exactly true either... neither of us had ever considered who our favorite Superhero was before!). So when we were at Walmart this week and we saw a Hulk shirt for $8 (instead of $26 on Amazon as I'd seen), it wasn't too difficult for the boys to convince me to buy it. The plan was to wait until Father's Day, though, to give it to Seth. I hid it away when we got home, hoping the boys would forget about it. But no: every day we talked about it and the anticipation of giving it to Seth proved to be too much, so we told him it was a present for being such a good Daddy. Ezra immediately requested that he put it on and that he lift some heavy things and smash them, since that's what The Hulk does.

This was Seth's first week of teaching drama class at TBS. It definitely breaks up his day and sometimes will make it hard to do moving jobs, but we're excited that he gets this opportunity.

On Wednesdays I teach piano lessons at my parents' house, to three sisters who attend the elementary school across the street. I used to teach two kids who go to our church, Drew and Darya, when they attended the same school, but this week they got to come over and play anyway.

We all headed over to the school, after lessons, to play on the playground for a while too:

We didn't plan to let Isaac's hair grow out, but we're having a difficult time making plans to cut it. Look at these curls!

Ezra really, really wants to climb trees. I don't think he's quite ready yet, but we also don't see very many good climbing trees. There is this little fruit tree on our property, though, and Ezra convinced me to help him climb it.

On a whim this week I found some old Sword of Judgement videos on YouTube and introduced the boys to a different image of their Uncle than they usually get to see. They loved it!

Once a month, usually on the last Friday of the month,we plan a game night for our church youth group. We had other plans last Friday, though, so March's game night was held this week. We have a potluck meal (this time personal pizzas) and spend a bit of time in prayer, but primarily just spend time together, playing games. I don't always get to go, but this time I got a babysitter and tagged along with Seth.