By Your Side

One of my friends from high school posted this video of a song on her facebook page that I currently like. It's called "By Your Side" by Tenth Aveenue North. Whenever I hear the song I stop what I'm doing, close my eyes (no, not when I'm driving), and picture myself with God. In the chorus it says "I'll be by your side... In the dead of night whenever you call". I think of literally the middle of the night when I'm at work and how God is there with me. It also says "Please don't fight these hands that are holding you. My hands are holding you." I picture myself in the embrace of 2 big strong arms struggling against them, and then I surrender to the love and am forever protected. I really enjoy the words of the song and find that it speaks to me, right where I am.

Madness

For those of you that read my blog from time to time, you know that I like to give you background info to help round out the story. For those that are new, hang with me...

First, a quick rundown of our neighborhood. There are 7 houses, and 6 are occupied. We've become really close as a neighborhood. Part of it is that we have similar professions. I'm a nurse. We have a neighbor who is a police officer with a drug dog, one who is a detective, one who is in immigration, and one who works for the department of corrections. In the 6th house lives a convicted felon/drug dealer. Hmmmm, interesting combo. The drug dealer is named Sean and he doesn't cause too much trouble overall. He knows he is being watched. He doesn't do the dealing himself technically. The word is that he drives, and his girlfriend does the rest. A minor technicality. Overall, it is his friends and acquaintances that we worry about, not really him. The lady who works for the dept of corrections just happens to work in the same office as Sean's parole officer. Funny.

I worked last night. I left at 7:30pm as usual and noted that there was a sheriff driving by our road slowly with his spotlight. When I got home this morning at 8am, there was an unmarked police car sitting in the driveway across from our street, like he was clocking people. He was still there when I left to take Gavin to preschool at 9. I waved like any innocent person should :-) He was gone at 12:15 when we got home. I got the kids to bed by 1:15 and headed for a nap myself at 1:45. I had to get up and encourage Gavin to get in to bed so he would fall asleep and I would get more than 2 hours of sleep (I had been up for 30 after all). He is allowed to come out when there is a "3 in the front" on his clock, but I try really hard to get him to sleep on the days following my night shifts. At 2:05 I heard something loud and obnoxious through the window. I realized what it was and tore downstairs to look. Sure enough, it was what looked like the SWAT team at Sean's house. Great. There goes my sleep. They kept calling towards Sean's house to have anyone come out. Everyone did, but they were very cautious still. They apparently didn't believe that the 4 people on their knees with their hands on their heads were the only ones in the house. They headed in to the house with their (huge) rifles drawn and big shield in front of them. Oh geeze, this can't be good.

By this time my mom had come over from sleeping in her trailer (she had also worked last night) and Gavin had come downstairs. Before coming downstairs he stopped at the top and said that there were police with guns outside. Nice. He was worried that Sean was hurt. I explained that no one was hurt and that they were there to make sure everyone was safe. Seriously, how do you explain the SWAT team in your neighborhood to your sweet innocent 3 1/2 year old. I am still enforcing with him that police are there to help us, not catch us when we do wrong. Thankfully Gavin really likes our police officer neighbor and his drug dog Hunter. In fact, we routinely watch Hunter when his owner is out of town, so I think Gavin has a good positive exposure to police officers.

That reminds me of something. One of the girls who came out of the house was holding a baby. This whole police invasion was very exciting, but there are very sad points too.

Overall there was a bunch of hullabaloo and no one was arrested. They did their thing and searched the house top to bottom. They even got a ladder from the top of the police truck to (I'm assuming) search the attic. I wish they had found something to get Sean, but they were looking for his brother and he must have gotten away. It seems that the house was clean, but I'm sure this won't be the last time.

We live in a great neighborhood. We are all professionals. We respect others. We take care of our yards. We work hard to provide good lives for the ones we love. We watch out for each other. I guess things can't always be perfect. It is Granite Falls after all.

(About the pictures, they are in reverse order and I'm too tired to fix it now. The one with the black and white police car in it was an officer posted in our neighbor's driveway. That car was not involved. It lives there-not at Sean's)

Sadness

Just over a year ago I met my neighbor Cindie. She is married to the detective and has a 21 year old son. They are a great family and we love to have them near. When I first met her, she was holding her "baby" Fancy. Fancy was a tiny, and I mean really really tiny, dog. We used to joke about eagles swooping down to have her for a snack. When our grass needed to be mowed, it was hard to see her hopping around. When she would walk down the road with Tony and Cindie, sometimes she would be wearing a hunter orange vest for better visibility. She didn't really like kids, but she loved to be chased by Gavin in our yard. The 2 of them had so much fun together.

Tonight I had just gotten off the phone with Cindie and we were coordinating our neighborhood's weekly trip to Taco Tuesday. She said she had to let Fancy out to potty, then she'd be over. She came and knocked on the door and the next thing I knew Cole was going to help find her in the dark (Tony was at a required meeting 2 hours away). Then Cole called me and said he needed me to call Tony because they had found Fancy on her side in the grass, unresponsive. Cindie gave her mouth to nose and could not revive her. Cole called back and asked me to come help since it was just the 2 of them and he was in over his head. I swooped Justin up and went to comfort Cindie in her grief. She was understandably distraught. Thankfully Gavin was with another neighbor's husband, and stayed there while that neighbor's wife came over too. We sat with Cindie while she held Fancy until her son came home.

That was terrible. Cindie has lost someone very special to her and it was very hard to not be able to anything to help, other than just be there. I was holding my usual distance until later when Gavin was talking about how sorry he was that Fancy died. He really wanted to go to Cindie and tell her how sorry he was, and that maybe she could get another Fancy. He was so sweet and got me choked up. It is so hard to loose a pet, and even harder to try and explain that to your child.

That is the 3rd completely unexpected death near my life in the last month. I am so very thankful that none of them were immediately parts of my family, but I am also so sad for the other families. A few weeks ago I was told that a friend from high school had suddenly lost his life. Last week one of my co-worker's grand-daughter went to bed acting normal and never woke up (she was 2). I know that Fancy was "just a dog" but she was loved as a family member in her house.

I have been having a hard time in the last few days learning to be content with my life and where we are. I am oh so grateful that we are anywhere at all, and that we have God with us, no matter where we are.

I'm like a motorcycle

It's a strange title I know, but bear with me...

I have been awake for 26 hours. As you all know, this is not unusual and happens on a regular basis. What I am bragging about right now is that I have been home for 1 hour and 10 min and this is what I've done so far:
Did my nighttime routine with Gavin (since I can't do it on the nights I work, he likes it when I get home)
Got Justin up and dressed
Started their eggs and toast
Got the pot roast in the crock pot (including flouring, browning and prepping the veggies)
Fed the kids their breakfast and cleaned each one of them up
Emptied the dishwasher
Did all of the morning dishes including the pot roast stuff (I even put it all away)
Put Gavin in Time out once
Checked my work e-mail and my calendar
Posted to Facebook and here
And finally, I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee (standing of course)

Soooo, to the reason I'm like a motorcycle! If I keep moving, I'll stay upright. If I stop, I'll drop like a stone. As hard as it is, and as crazy as it sounds, right at this very moment, I like my life? Maybe I'm just delirious. Well, I'm starting to sway from standing here at the counter, so until next time... Vroom!

So smart

Well, maybe it's not smarts, but routine. Just now Sesame street ended and Gavin turned off the TV as usual. Then Justin dropped what he had been doing and took off for the stairs. I followed him up and he went straight in to the bathroom. That's exactly where we always go after Sesame Street to brush Gavin's teeth before his nap. That was cool :-) Now they are both in their rooms. Justin is sleeping and Gavin is playing. I have 1 hour and 51 min until Gavin sees the 3 in front on his clock (3pm) and comes back out. :-)

Cleaning?

A couple of days ago Gavin spent 15 minutes cleaning his work bench with baby wipes. He was very thorough and even took parts of it off to get them nice and clean. He was doing this while standing on a layer of toys that had taken over his play room. I asked him if he would continue his efforts and clean the play room and he seemed astounded that I would even ask. Apparently he only cleans on his terms.

Yesterday when he came out after his "nap" he said that he had a surprise for me. We went upstairs and he showed me how "beautiful" his room looked. He had spent his "naptime" "cleaning" it all up. He had shoved everything against the wall under the window. He has a shelf in the closet for the books and a box for the toys, but apparently they don't work. He had also put his laundry basket on the bed to clear off the floor. At least he can appreciate a clean looking floor space. He's getting a real toy box for Christmas instead of an ugly tote.

So Profound

I know it's been a while, and I really don't have time right now to share much, but here it goes. Just now, Gavin shared something that I know we should all remember...

"If you poke your finger in your eye it hurts."

Following Mama

It looks like Justin wants to sell Tastefully Simple too! ;-) What you don't see are the several catalogs spread at his feet! I wonder what his favorite product is?

Discoveries

I remember that at some point this morning Gavin got a little milk on his shirt. He decided to use a wipe to wash it off and I am now recalling him saying "I'll just leave it open for a little bit." I didn't worry about it. I forgot about it completely until just a minute ago. I heard some rustling and peeked over the couch to see what Justin was doing. He had found the pack of wipes and was fascinated by each one as he pulled it out. The look on his face was precious, but of course as soon as he saw the camera he stopped pulling. I was laughing and he "showed" me what he had discovered. At least he wasn't eating them, which is more of what I expected him to do.

Growing Up

My mom watched the boys last night when Cole and I went out. She mentioned that Gavin asked her to take his camera out of his room. This was the first we had heard of it and were pretty bummed to hear about it. We have always said that if he wanted it out, we'd take it out. We certainly don't need it there and as he gets older, he needs to know that his room is safe and private. He mentioned it to us today and we said sure we'd take it out, but why? He said he was scared of it. Ok, no problem, it's gone. I'm sad though. I have just loved watching him fall to sleep, play in his room, treat his animals with the utmost of care, and just be the sweet innocent baby of mine. Well, I guess he's not a baby anymore. I just deleted the shortcuts to his camera and felt a big let down. I had opened Justin's room eventhough I can't see him in the dark, I can hear him, and my mouse went right to Gavin's room. I wanted to watch him and Cole in there get Gavin all dry and ready for bed, but it's not hooked up. It's just one of many little things that I will have to let go of while my baby grows up.
I know the quality of the pictures isn't great, but I've included a few snapshots from Gavin's camera from the last 3 years (if you can read them, a lot of the dates on the pictures aren't right).

So thoughtful (said with a smirk)

First, a little background info... Justin is still combat crawling everywhere. He eats just about everything that he finds on the floor.

Today at lunch I was doing some dishes and Gavin has to turn around in his chair to see me.

Sarah, "Gavin, please eat your cookie over your plate."

Gavin, "Why Mama?"

Sarah, "Because, all of the crumbs are falling on the floor."

Gavin, "I'm letting them fall so Justin can eat some too."

Our cool weekend

Now that I feel a bit better, here is what I've really wanted to post...

We had a great time at the party this weekend. We had around 30 people here to celebrate my and Pat's birthdays. As we were getting ready, the power went out. Strange. Then I heard a bunch of sirens and concluded that there was an accident that caused the outage. Thankfully the cake was baked, but I sure needed a shower. We are on a well that needs an electric pump to send the water to our house, so we have a generator for when we really need the water. If the power goes out we can't flush the toilet either. The neighbor has city water and he was out of town, but I had his house key, so I filled a pitcher of water there and planned to take a shower if the power didn't come on in time. It was a nice day so we didn't see any reason to haul out the generator unless the power was still out for the party. It came on an hour later and all went well.

The next day we had my dad, his wife, my grandpa, my brother and his family over. Including the kids, that was 10 people. We had a lovely time and the chili I made was a huge hit. After everyone went home we enjoyed some down time, then we had a very cool thunder storm. We were able to watch it move in and then enjoyed the rainbows afterwards for quite a long time. The sky was amazing! Then, just before we were getting ready to put Gavin to bed, the power went out again! This time was probably from lightening. We set Gavin up with a battery powered lantern and he went to sleep. Cole and I hung out on the back patio with a fire, and of course the power came on. We shut of the indoor lights and stayed out for another hour or so. It was a nice end to 2 crazy days.

The pictures (including the one in the post below this) were taken after the storm had moved through. It was so beautiful, but the pictures barely catch it.

This is insane

I just got up off my knees and I'm hoping for a miracle. I worked last night like normal and had a normal morning after. I got the kids off for their naps and was able to get to bed soon after that. For some reason Gavin was insistent on not sleeping. After an hour he came in and needed to poo, so I had to get up and wipe his bottom. Then Justin woke up and that was the end of any hopes for sleep for me. So, Justin has slept 1.5 hours today, and Gavin is coming out of his room every 5 min. Cole got home and had to immediately ready the yard just in case we get dirt delivered today. I was feeding Justin when Gavin came down again and said "everyone is waking me up." He had been laughing and jumping in his room, so there was no "waking" that could be happening. I was so out of patience that I was almost shaking and almost yelling at him to get back in his room. I was almost swearing and I could feel that I was very close to loosing control. It's amazing what a lack of sleep can do to someone. He went to bed and is now sleeping, but I'm up and have to continue on. I have a couple of other things brewing that are bothering me too that seem so much bigger and more difficult today. I know that they won't seem so bad tomorrow, but I am so tired of this. I set Justin down in his highchair and was walking towards the living room for something when I decided to just drop to my knees right there. I cried out to God to fix this somehow and tried to release it to Him. I think the solution is to not have a job, but that would take a miracle (I do believe in them). I know I'll feel better tomorrow, I'm just grumpy right now.

This blog is usually for sharing fun stuff about us and our lives, but as a journal, you get to read the ugly too. It is a bit therapeutic to share and to know that there are others out there sharing my pain. Thank you for your friendship and prayers.

My other men

While I was writing the post below this one Gavin came down and mentioned that I forgot to sing Twinkle Twikle at bedtime. He likes me to sing "Rinse and Shine" and read him a book at bedtime. Then he goes through a couple of phrases he says every time. "Tell me you need water or milk. I be asleep. That's ok." and "I can come out to go potty or poopy." He used to get a little water and milk before bed so I think that's a hold over. He thought that we could talk to him through his monitor so he thought that we could let him know if we needed anything. How cute is that? Anyway, recently he has wanted me to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and rub his back, just like a little girl's dad in an episode of Sesame Street. How could I resist? I went up there and snapped a couple of pictures before I sang to him. He's wearing his Super Man Jammies tonight. They are a hand me down and have Velcro spots on each shoulder where a cape used to attach, but we didn't get that part. I also walked in to the computer room and visited Cole while he was playing on his computer game. It's nice to sit and think about all of my men!

Busy life

Wow, it's been a while! Sorry about that. I have been busy with appointments to get my foot feeling better and things are getting better. I have pain in my heel that has been worse and better for over 10 years, but really bad in the last few months. Anyway, that's one thing I've been working on.

This week I've been busy thinking about the big party this weekend. My birthday is next week so we always have a party over Labor Day weekend to celebrate and to celebrate our friend Pat's birthday (same as mine). He'll be 40 this year, so his wife is providing most of the food (woo hoo!) but it's at our house. We love to host parties so I'm excited about it. She wanted a Luau theme though, so she bought grass skirts. Yup, we'll see about that.

Justin has been growing up fast. Just a couple of weeks ago he learned to get from on his belly to sitting. Even now Gavin still cheers when he does it. He has also learned to push a car along like his big brother. I noticed that Gavin never did that, but he didn't have a big brother to show him how to play with cars. It's so cute because Justin is still doing a combat crawl, so he drags himself with one arm and pushes the car with the other. He's ready to push through his next 2 teeth to make 4 total. I hope these top teeth don't hurt me much ;-) Cole came in from outside the other day and checked the camera and saw that Justin was standing in his crib. Thankfully we had lowered the mattress when he started sitting, so standing was not dangerous, but it sure was exciting. It's so fun to watch him grow and learn. My heart just breaks with love each time I look at either of my boys. What a blessing.

I would like to stop working night shift, but it's the shift that works for our family--- no day care! I'd love to be a stay at home mom, but we spend too much money. I'm trying to find a way to work from home in the evenings, and still make the money I'm making now. I love selling Tastefully Simple, but I'm not forward enough to get lots of party bookings, so that's more for fun than profit. Oh well, God has a plan, I just wish I knew what it was!!! I am trying to spend more time in the Word and release my stress and worries to Him.

Hmmm, I sure had a lot to ramble about. Thanks for hanging in there with me! I've included some random pictures that are pretty recent (or even from today).

Read the post below this first...

Did you read the one below yet? Read that one before this one so that the story flows...

We picked up my mom and were heading out to do a little shopping. She gave Gavin some grapes to much on in the car. It did cross my mind that if we were in a car accident, he could possibly choke but I let it go.

I was chatting away with my mom and we were just pulling in to the shopping area when I heard something that made me look. I glanced in the mirror and saw Justin throw up all over himself and the car seat. I had a couple of thoughts within a split second in this order. Hmmm, Justin wasn't acting sick at all, maybe he was car sick, and so much for that breakfast I was bragging about! Then I saw it, something green in his hands. I very calmly asked Gavin what was in Justin's hands and he very matter of factly said "A grape mom." This is what my mind said "Oh s**t, what the h**l is a f******g grape doing in his hand?" and of course I was screaming in my head. The nice level headed mom that I am said (very calmly again), "honey, why did you give Justin a grape?" and so the conversation went. I was dealing with the rush of adrenaline after realizing that Justin was choking and I didn't notice, while trying to impart to Gavin why we shouldn't give Justin grapes. I had never told him to ask me before giving Justin food, so Gavin wasn't in trouble. Now he knows though, he must ask before giving Justin ANY food.

Well, all of that wonderful food and all of those colors that he ate were everywhere. Luckily we were going to Target. It's funny though, as we were leaving the house in the morning I decided not to bring wipes because I figured I might have some in the car. Ha, no wipes! I did have a towel that we used to sop up the mess as well as we could. It was about 10am and over 70 degrees, so I knew that the yumminess would bake while we were in Target. Oh well. I brought Justin in to the store in just a diaper and bought him a cute new outfit.

When we got home I took off the new outfit because it too was nasty from sitting in the mess in the car seat. I took the car seat apart and threw the upholstery in the wash. While I was doing this, Justin was hanging out in the play yard, and taking off his diaper. It just never ends :-) All of this on a day that I have been up for 30 hours too.

I should eat so well

Justin had a very nutritious breakfast today. Of course the appetizer consisted of 2 mounds of fleshy goodness full of warm sweet milk. Then he moved on to inhale 1/2 of a nectarine mixed with a few grapes in the Magic Bullet. I stirred some rice cereal in to thicken it up a bit. When we are out of rice cereal, he'll be moving on to barley, Cole's favorite. After the fruit, he was still asking for more, so I looked back to buzz up more nectarine and Gavin had finished the other half. Justin then finished off the rest of the peas from last night and I gave him 2 baby mum mums for dessert. They are basically a repeat of the rice cereal, but he sure loves them. If we all had so many colors at our meals, we'd be much happier. He had yellow, purple and green along with some white rice. Good job buddy!

August 2005

When I was looking for the picture for the following post, I relived Aug 2005. These are some pictures taken that month. Gavin was about 7 months old. Hanging with Dad in the hospital. Naked in the grass (we sure miss lush grass, but Justin would eat it anyway). Swinging with Dad in the hammock. Playing on the couch with Ooma and Oompa. He still loves to play with that hat. Note Scott's hair, that was before he shaved his head when Cole lost his hair. Swinging all by himself in the hammock. It's fun to look at old pictures!

When we had dogs

So, the dogs may have eaten the crumbs (see the post below this), but Gavin preferred the scraps of hair anyway (look in his hands). They were Siberian Huskies after all. This picture doesn't show him eating it, but believe me, he did! That was taken in August 2005 when Gavin was about 7 months old. Note the pillow behind him, just in case he fell back. It was hard laminate flooring under that rug, so not a soft fall.

Who needs a dog

When we had dogs we enjoyed their unique ability to clean our floors. We have been without them for about 1 1/2 years and miss them terribly, but we have a new alternative, at least for the cleaning benefit. As I've mentioned, Justin doesn't crawl, he drags himself along the floor. He has shirts now that have gone through the laundry but are permanently stained from the dirt he has picked up with his belly. He also likes to get under the kitchen table and pick up the scraps that Gavin has dropped. I just saw him making one scoot, pick up Ritz crumb, another scoot, pick up unknown crumb, another scoot... well, you get it. I know it's gross, but he's learning to eat with his fingers very well, and picking up some immunities at the same time! Right now he's at my feet chewing on one of Gavin's shoes...

Gavin

Well, after doing video of Justin, of course Gavin wanted to be involved too. Note his Superman jammies. We get lots of cool hand me downs from Cole's cousin's boys :-)

Justin

Hey cool, I think I got the video to work. Let me know if it works for you! It's from my phone just now :-) Justin is actually much faster than that when he's on a mission. For the video I had Gavin hold a book in front of him so he would chase it. Justin's shirt is generally pretty dirty by the end of the day since this is how he spends most of his time. He goes everywhere!

Thankful

We just got back from Justin's check up at Children's. His kidneys are growing as they should and the one that had only a minor problem is looking almost normal. The other one seems better than it was, so that's good. He'll continue on his daily dose of antibiotics to prevent any urinary tract infections (which could quickly cause kidney damage) and go back for more tests and follow up in 6-12 months. In the mean time I have little strips to check his urine with if he gets a fever and that's about it.

Sitting in the various waiting rooms and corridors at Children's certainly helps to bring things in to perspective. We were only in the outpatient/clinic area so we didn't see the real hospital stuff, but it was still a good reminder. Justin is a beautiful, healthy boy and we are so blessed to have him. Every child that we saw was happy through whatever ailed them. They are so resilient and can handle so much more than us wimpy adults, it's just amazing.

As I've typed this I've had to rescue Justin from his position under the dining room table where he has gotten stuck. Just like any other normal 9 month old, and that makes me so thankful.

The Mall on My Forehead

Shortly after I got home from work this morning I had Gavin in his chair working on his breakfast and I was sitting on the couch feeding Justin. Gavin asked "Mama, why milk comes out of your boobs?" I started to formulate an answer (this is not a new subject in our house, so I wasn't shocked at all) and he kept on talking. He said something like "Oh, it comes from the mall on your forehead too."

Me, "The what?"

Him, "The Mall."

Me, "Where's the mall?"

"No Mama. The MALL! The bumpy thing on your forehead!"

He was almost yelling at this point and frustrated that I didn't understand. I understood his words clearly. He was saying something about a Mall and my forehead. Huh? He mumbled something and stopped his breakfast to come and show me what he was talking about. He was almost to me when the light bulb went on....

***I have to break here for a little background info. Gavin frequently sees things on my skin and says "is that your nipple Mama?" "No Gavin, that's a mole." Besides, my nipples don't look anything like moles!!! (I know, TMI)***

So, back to the story... He was talking about the MOLE on my forehead near my temple. Of course, milk comes out of that too doesn't it? I know that Justin thinks I just ooze the stuff, but I really don't think Gavin has ever seen milk come out of my forehead. Now that would be amazing.

The picture is from my phone and was many months ago. I snapped it to remember what Justin looked like from my personal angle.

Real quick

I am just about to go up and get Justin, but I just have to get this down. Gavin is outside playing in the back yard, bare footed and in his jammies. The crows are cawing and Gavin is saying "Hi birds. Nice to meet you. Thank you birds" and on and on. It is so cute, it almost made me cry :-) He can be so sweet.

Yum

Looking for something, and yum, little rocks taste good!

Where I live

I recently read a post that Christie wrote about how not so wonderful it is to live up in Alaska. I also took her advice and read one from Emily (through Christie's blog) on the same thing. I truly feel for you girls! We have a lot of rain and gray days here, but at least we have things to do. We've had the coldest spring I can remember and it's just now getting nice out. I don't really like hot weather, but it was even too cold for me. We spent a lot of time at Target or places like that. Even if it wasn't raining, we still couldn't play outside much because we didn't have any grass.

This post is about what a beautiful place we live in. We bought this house knowing it was far out compared to what we are used to, and knowing that no friends would want to visit because it takes so long, but we really love it otherwise. I worked Thursday night, just like every Thursday. We had a very busy week and were gone most mornings before nap time. Usually on the mornings after I work we leave the house so I can keep Justin up. That way he will nap at the same time as Gavin so I can nap too. We had just been so busy though that I decided to stay home yesterday and hope for the best. We did leave to go drop off a catalog to someone here in town and stopped by the river on the way home. We had never stopped there, so I thought it would be a nice thing to do for a little bit. It was beautiful! There are no tables or play equipment, just the river and it's beauty. The road is close by so Gavin could remark on the trucks that went over the bridge, but I sure loved the water. Gavin had a great time throwing rocks in and Justin had a good time sitting on a rock and finding things to put in his mouth. The temperature was perfect, and then we headed home to catch all of our naps. Justin took 2 naps and I was able to sleep during one of them. It was a good day.

In the evening we hung out in the front yard and touched base with the neighbors. Today it's supposed to be almost 90! Our house is very cold, so it's nice in the summer. We recently had a heat pump installed so we even have air conditioning if we want it. Such luxury :-) Cole's sister has coordinated with all of us to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, so that will help during the heat of the day. Another good day.

I'm sorry to rub it in girls, but this is really the best place to live! Right now I'm sitting on our front porch and listening to the birds tweet. Well, I can hear them when Gavin isn't demanding something and Cole isn't sneezing his head off from his allergies. Right at the moment, all is right.

Ha, just after I wrote that I had to make a snack for Gavin, then shortly after that I had to put him in time out. I guess it can't be perfect all of the time...

Summer Safety

A friend of mine has a very honest and frequently refreshing blog (look to the left and it's "Erica"). It is good to read with an open mind and remember that we all have opinions and the beauty of this world is that we can all express them freely. Even if I don't always completely agree, I sure love to read what she has to say. I like to spend time with her more, but reading her blog is next best.

She is having a giveaway of some helpful summer items and if you go to the blog entry and leave a comment, you can be entered too! The deadline is June 19th, so hurry up! If you miss it, it's still worth a read... http://www.momsjournal.org/20080612/summer-saftey-swimmers-giveaway/

Comfy?

Hmmm, that's Gavin trying to sleep in his laundry basket. He is awake and sucking his thumb with Blankie up to his nose. I can see that he has his white pillow in there too. Thank goodness the basket is mesh!

More camping pictures

We took a lot of pictures!