Camping

We had a great time this past weekend. We went for only two nights this time, which I think was one night too short. (By the time you get there and get set up, the first day is done. You have a full day the next day. Then the next morning you have to pack up and leave!) Our other camping trips have been four nights long, which was long-ish with children our kids' ages. So I think three nights would be perfect!

Here are some pictures my friend Cassi took.

Levi and Lou playing baseball

I don't know what I was talking about here.

Long-awaited day

The kids have been counting down to tomorrow all summer!

Craft day

At the beginning of the summer, I promised Lucy we would have a craft day some time. I got everything together and made a (very simple) craft day last week, with painting, finger painting, and pipe cleaners. (When you don't provide day after day of amazing parent-led crafts, then painting, finger painting, and pipe cleaners make for an AMAZING craft day. It's all about expectations... keep them low. Haha) The kids (especially Lucy) loved it.

Mothering in the moment

I have been reminding myself that these years are short with the children at home... that I will regret hours spent ignoring or "shooshing" them. With two weeks of summer left, I am imagining what it will be like in two years, when all of them will be heading to school and I will wonder if I did enough with my time with them. Will they remember their earliest years with fondness? Or will they remember the yelling, impatient mother I sometimes (often?) am? I won't be able to get these years--or my children as their youngest selves--back. Oh how I want to be the best mother I can be for them--sometimes despite myself!

Life snapshot #3

It's hard to believe it has been over a year since my last snapshot. It's definitely time for a new one.

The good

• It's so easy to go places as a family now: no diapers, no strollers, no nap schedules. We went to the fair a couple of weeks ago, and everyone walked, fed him/herself, and went to the bathroom him/herself (Levi is almost there)--it was so pleasant! 
• We now officially have three great-sleeping kids (knock wood). Levi was a pretty good sleeper previously but would come to our bed most nights. Everyone still slept, but it obviously wasn't as restful. 
• Jon and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in June (and it was his birthday on Friday!), and I feel we're closer and stronger than ever.
• Homeschooling was a success this last year when I consider the goals I set for myself: spend time with Nate; do some fun learning things; read and work on math but generally take it easy on academics. I also came to the realization that this year of homeschooling was a "make-up year" for Nate: he didn't get to be home with me when he was 3 and 4 years old, like he should have been. He was in school 5 days a week at that time. So this year was the year he should have had at home with me when he was 3. 
• I am so pleased with how Nate is eating. That sounds silly, but I've found it so essential to the bigger picture for him--his attitude, behavior, etc. 
• Summer is nice!--care-free, fewer commitments, swimming--just fun.
• There are moments and days when the children play really nicely together. However....

The difficult

• Much of the time it feels like the kids are fighting, arguing, yelling, rough-housing, etc. In turn, I start each day with my patience already run out (there just isn't enough time overnight for it to refill). Things that wouldn't have bothered me 5 years ago are now impossibly frustrating.  
• Because of some outside forces (some beyond our control, some not), finances are stressful right now. We've had to make some tough decisions recently, which I'll detail as we head into the fall. 

How nice that the good far outweighs the difficult!

Newly discovered spider species

San Fran

Jon and I had a lovely time in San Francisco. We walked around the whole city, went to Fort Point, ate some good meals, and enjoyed being together just the two of us.

Enjoying summer

Many of our days this summer have been filled with play dates, the pool, the splash park, and some free/$1 kids' movies. Some days I just like to stay home, though. So today the kids and I had a nice (hot) morning exploring the creek behind our house and coming home to play in the hose.

Tomorrow night I'm flying up to San Francisco to meet Jon, who has been up there all week on a business trip. We get to stay for a few days and then drive home on Sunday. I am soooooo excited.

Here are some pictures from this week. Can I just say that I LOVE Nate's hole-y mouth? :)

Happy Independence Day!

Here is the picture from last year:

and look at this one from 2009:

Happy 4th!

VBS this week

This week is our church's annual Vacation Bible School. The children are SO excited. I'm excited too: this is the first year all three children are in the program (not just in the nursery). Levi is in the preschool program, and Lucy will be with Nate in the "big kid" program. It's always a tiring week but also very fun.

Even-more-updated porch

Taking those "outdoor improvement" pictures last week showed me how much some things needed to be painted. I did the trim (which we later realized was never supposed to be white! Those are replaced boards that never got painted back to brown. Oh well.) and used porch/floor paint for the floor. I'm really happy with how it looks.

Here's a before-and-after comparison. Doesn't it look so much better?

Outdoor improvements

I can't seem to keep plants alive. However, I've had the urge to improve our front patio area and have been perusing photos of do-it-yourself planters and container gardens. I like the look of succulents and figure I have the best chance of keeping a plant alive if it's supposed to be watered only once or twice a month. So yesterday, Lucy and I spent some time "potting" a bunch of succulents I'd gotten at Ikea and Home Depot. I saw a pin on Pinterest with a similar idea done with mason jars. We also put some plants in the galvanized tub over on the right, which I'd been using to hold extra toiletries. Now no container in the house is safe!--I want to plant everything!

Goggles

Levi's first goggles came in the mail yesterday. He's very excited!

June happenings

Hello Nannie and Mama! :)

Life is rolling along over here. We had a really wonderful visit with Mama earlier this month, though it was way too short.

During Mama's visit, Jon and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary with a one-night trip to La Jolla. Jon always picks the BEST little trips for us! We stayed at the La Valencia hotel. If you click on the link, the first picture is basically the view from our room!--we were unexpectedly upgraded to a spacious suite with a gorgeous view. We had a lovely time walking around the cute downtown, window shopping, and eating some good meals (sushi for dinner, a delicious breakfast at Cody's, and artisan pizza for lunch).

While we were gone, the children had a FANTASTIC time with Mimi. (In fact, after Jon and I got home, at least one of the kids asked if Daddy and Mama could go on another trip, please.) They each picked a couple of "surprises" Mimi had planned, including swimming in the spa after dinner (after they figured out that "going in the hot tub" did NOT mean taking a bath), going to the Spectrum, eating at Chipotle, riding scooters and bikes while Mimi sprayed the hose, and generally just having the most fun possible.

Mama pointed out a cool benefit we've gotten out of homeschooling, especially the past couple of months when Lucy hasn't been in preschool: the three children often play together. That doesn't sound like much, but having all three kids together--all the time--has created a comfortable dynamic that wouldn't be there if one or more child was in school for most of the day. They do still fight (some days a lot), but they also play games that include all three kids a lot. I like that.

GAPS diet update

I've been dragging my feet lately when it comes to blog posting! I've been meaning to post about our progress and my changing philosophy on the GAPS diet.

After Lucy was in the hospital last month (and there was a possibility that the GAPS diet made her symptoms more likely to occur), I decided to back off 100% adherence to GAPS and reevaluate what's good about it and what I want to move away from.

The good:

• Going on GAPS has greatly broadened Nate's diet and improved his eating habits. 
• Whole foods meals--almost nothing processed
• No sugar--and no ketchup addiction for Nate! Eliminating sugar alone definitely helped with hyper behaviors.
• Helps me stay away from the "easy fix" meals like peanut butter and jelly on gluten-free bread EVERY day for lunch for Nate

The bad:

• Completely eliminating all grains, including super healthy ones like quinoa
• No wiggle room for occasional off-diet treats

My updated philosophy has been to stick with the good stuff from the diet--whole foods meals, no sugar, no easy fix meals every day--but back away from the extremes. I've added quinoa into the daily rotation (the boys don't care for it, so I've been mixing soaked/cooked quinoa into other things like the breakfast sausage I make). I am not making every single dish for every single meal from scratch (today the kids had Trader Joe's packaged roasted seaweed as part of lunch). On Sundays after church, we get In-n-Out meat patties for the kids and one order of fries so they can each have a handful. Fruit is still a between-meals snack, separate from other foods, since it is digested differently. I'm not making Nate drink broth with every meal anymore. I feel like adhering to the GAPS diet with total dedication for three months was a good thing, and now it's time to back away, holding on to the great things we've taken from it.

School

As I mentioned briefly, Lucy got into Journey School! We got the call a couple of weeks ago that she'd moved up the waiting list from number 10 all the way into the class. That means that Nate is now number 1 on the 2nd grade waiting list.

Lucy and I went to a brief meeting with several of the kindergarten teachers. They asked me about Lucy's temperament, eating and sleeping habits, likes and dislikes, etc. They do this for all the children and take the information into account when dividing the classes; they try to balance the classrooms this way. I'll be very interested to see if Lucy's "home personality" comes out in the classroom. Although the teachers exchanged smiles remembering other "shy in public, crazy at home" students who reveal their "home personalities" by October or November, I tend to think that won't happen with Lucy. I think she'll save up all her tantrums and craziness for the car ride home from school each day. :)

One of the reasons I didn't post right away with the good news about making it into the school is that I've been struggling with some indecision. I do believe this is a good decision for us, but I can't help feeling guilty for giving up on homeschooling. And there are some things that are so nice about homeschooling that I know we'll miss. (For example, we've gone to the pool several times in the past couple of weeks by 11:00 or 12:00--when the kids would normally still have several hours of school left. Another "nice about homeschooling thing" we'll miss is the flexibility, especially with travel: my sister Lucy is getting married in September--yay!!!!--and homeschooling would have meant we could travel to Virginia for however long we needed/wanted. Being in Journey School will mean the children will have to go to VA for the shortest trip possible.) So, like I said, I'm still wavering. I don't think I want to homeschool; I'm just mourning the loss of the great things about it. (I think.)   :)

Video games

I know video games are supposedly "bad" for kids--fries their brains and all--but I've been loving them. The kids play them really nicely together, which is more than can be said for many, many other activities. This morning, I overheard Nate and Levi playing Mariokart (a car racing game) together. Nate helps Levi by telling him which buttons to push, and then he cheers him on. It's so cute how excited they get when Levi gets something other than last place. (Nate, having finished the race first out of the ten cars, cheers Levi on until he finishes. Then they celebrate: "Levi, you got ninth place! Yayyyyy!") We also love the Wii Sports games (bowling is the favorite, I think) and the dancing game we have. Since we have two remotes, the kids do really well rotating turns and cheering the others on when it isn't their turn.

If/when Nate and Lucy attend Journey School in the fall (side note: Lucy got in to the class! And Nate is #1 on the waiting list! Separate post about that soon), we'll have to reconsider our video game policies (because Journey School recommends/asks for no screen time during the week--which I think I would follow moderately). But for now, I love it.

Popsicles

The kids have been loving my homemade popsicles. I just make extra juice in the juicer in the mornings and put the extra into the popsicle molds to freeze. Today's creation: apple and carrot juice with frozen raspberries.

Boots in the bath

Levi tonight.

Photobooth fun

The Photobooth program on our Mac is really fun. Here are a few pictures from a couple of months ago. I'm pretty sure Nate has taken hundreds of himself on the "kids" profile on the computer.

A boy and his bike

Last week, I found a balance bike (a bike without pedals that helps kids learn how to balance on a bike before they go to a "real bike," never needing training wheels) on Craiglist for Levi. It took him about 2 days to figure it out, and now he is in love. He thanks God for his bike when he prays ("Dear Father, thank you for this food. And thank you for my bike. And thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. In Jesus' name, Amen.").

Here he is on the second day:

Here he is on the third day:

Within minutes of this video, Levi rode his bike head on into a tree while avoiding a car that was pulling out of a parking space. Thank goodness he was wearing a helmet, because he made contact pretty hard! It also splintered the front part of the bike pretty badly. I thought it was beyond repair, but Jon was able to fix it the next day. Levi was very, very happy.

Nate is 7

Happy birthday, wonderful boy! Nate is 7 today and is turning into a "big kid." He has matured and grown up a lot in the last few months.

He is so sweet and excited when opening his presents and always thanks the giver. One of the things I love most about him is his enthusiasm! Nate is also smart, happy, and responsible. We love you, Nate!