Happy Birthdays and First Race

Happy Birthday Mom! Who I am I am because of you. Thank you for your example, your guidance, your advice and your never-ending love. You are an amazing, strong, tender, kind, smart, brave woman. And a fabulous Nana to boot! I love you!

And Happy Birthday to two other great women in my life, Emily and Heidi! Wow! April 28th must be a lucky day to be born!

Last night was Ben's first Landsharks meet. It was so fun (and absolutely FREEZING)! All the different schools in our district were gathered, wearing their different colored Landsharks shirts. The kids were so excited and were ready to run, even bundled up like eskimos! Ben had a great time and felt so good about his race, which is what it is all about. After a fabulous finishing kick, he placed fifth overall for kindergartners in our school district with a time of 2'05.05 for the 400m. He said, "I loved it, Mom! I listened to my coach and she said to not start too fast, so we still have energy for the end." Well, he definitely had that, enough energy to give me a big grin and a sweet wave as he flew past us. Nice work buddy! We loved watching you run!

On a sad note, our neighbor, Ian, passed away yesterday morning. I scrambled to make freezer dinners for the family, cooking all day in a feeble effort to do something, anything. How do you even fathom the loss of a child, especially one who has been in your life for 12 years? How do you bring comfort for something so unbearable? I felt like I was in this strange fog all day long. I can only imagine. I can only pray that I only ever have to imagine. Although I know he is free from pain, in a place much better than this, with a God who loves him beyond measure, it doesn't mean those left behind aren't full of grief and loss for a life not lived long enough. I wish there was more I could do besides bring food and pray for their comfort and peace. But that's what I've got, I guess. Thanks to everyone who has added their prayers to ours.

At Least There'll Be Radishes!

We were so excited when we went to water our little starts yesterday (Sunday) and found this! The radishes have sprouted already! Those plucky little plants! With the sprouting of our radishes and this lovely sight in our backyard flowerbed (finally!) Spring Fever was in the air!
Until we woke up to this Monday morning:*sigh* Oh well, at least we have the plants inside, and this time the weather couldn't stop our Saturday fun which was one of these for Mom, Zach and Ben with the Cub Scouts:
At the same time as Dad and Luke got to watch Josh do this:
And an afternoon of two of these for Ben:Along with another two of these for Zach:It was busy, but fun. You'd think the boys would be exhausted at the end of it. But no. Just Adam and I. If only I could bottle and sell that energy.... And the next four weekends are shaping up to be just like it! Hopefully all without the snow. I hope, I hope, I hope.

Bubbles in the Bath

I don't know a kid who doesn't L-O-V-E bubbles (or an adult for that matter-especially my mom, the bubbleaholic), and our kids are definitely included in that! However, I am a stinker mom, and don't allow bubbles in the house, just outside. But there is one special indoor place that bubbles are allowed...the tub! One of the things about a big family is that sometimes you get so caught up in the business of it all that all those things that brought so much joy to your oldest ones when they were little get forgotten by the time your littlest ones would enjoy those very same things. Like bubbles in the bath; I don't mean bubble bath, which even the big ones still enjoy often, but blowing big ol' bubbles for them while the kids are in the bath tub. But last night my memory was triggered by some bubbles that the boys brought home as a favor from a birthday party yesterday (maybe it's the pregnancy that is bringing back all these old memories, like Alzheimer's; I can't remember that the milk doesn't go in the cupboard, but I can remember things from five years ago!).

These little moments with the kids have meant so much to me over the past few days. Our neighbors that live across the street have a son who is 12-years-old who recently fought and won the battle against a tumor in his brain, only to discover that his chest is riddled with tumors. Needless to say, things are looking very badly right now. He may not survive this weekend. But miracles happen. We believe that, and his very strong Christian family believes as well. He was never expected to survive the first tumor either. But we also know that sometimes God has different plans for us then we have for ourselves. We have a constant prayer in our hearts for Ian and his family, for comfort, strength and healing...and if possible, another miracle. Please join us in this prayer, and take time to enjoy the little moments with your children. They are so precious and so fleeting.

Earth Day All Summer Long

Well, that's the hope anyway. Yesterday, for Earth Day, besides spending copious amounts of time in the amazing warm sunshine we are having (and I don't exaggerate. the weather has been nice enough for water gun fights, sprinkler run-throughs, shorts and tees! could it be only four days ago that we had a big snow storm?), the boys and I got started on our summer garden. Our garden is part of the "Summer of Science" that we have planned. One of our experiments is to figure out what can grow here in Colorado Springs. I let the boys pick whatever they wanted to plant. Josh chose sweet peppers, artichokes and carrots. Ben wanted pumpkins, radishes and corn.And Zach picked cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuces (red leaf, green leaf and Bibb). I got some beans, peas and zucchini squash. We also got some nasturtiums, sweet peas and sunflowers. Josh helped in labeling the flowers. His writing is getting so good! Thanks, Miss Amy!We discussed that not all plants like to grow in the dry and hot climate, plus with short growing season of Colorado some things may not ripen before it starts to get too cold. So it will be interesting to see what will flourish (if you can truly say that about anything here) and what will dink. What we planted yesterday are just our starts. They are currently sitting on our dining room table, hopefully germinating, ready to be planted when we are more confident that the snow and frost is actually over, another interesting science lesson for the boys. Mothers' Day weekend we will move them out to our new large vegetable garden boxes that we are going to build all together and fill with soil in the next few weeks. The boys are each responsible for their own space, weeding (although we don't get a lot of weeds, since nothing grows without a lot of TLC here), watering, fertilizing (we are using an organic fertilizer, which is also part of our summer science lessons), etc. We will keep you updated on this particular experiment, and share more of our Summer of Science adventures once school is out at the end of May! Any gardening advice any of you may have is welcome, especially if you have successfully gardened in Colorado or any of the other arid states!

The Stories We Tell

Recently the kids have been REALLY enjoying old stories. Stories from when Adam and I were younger and when we were dating. And stories from when they were babies and growing up. It's been so fun to tell them! There are two this week that have prompted many laughs and multiple retells. They were not only fun because they got the kids laughing, but also because they set the mood for that warm fuzzy family togetherness feeling. They were memories that came out of the deep recesses of my mind, I hadn't thought of these moments for years! So I thought I would write them down, for my own dwindling memory's sake, and maybe to provide the boys some laughter in the future! They may not be the most exciting stories, they're just our stories, so you really don't have to read them, I just wanted them down before they were gone.

On Sunday for dinner I made a spicy szechuan chicken stir fry. If you want to get your boys to try a new spicy food, make it like a little competition. "I don't know guys...it's really hot! You are going to need lots of water and rice. You probably won't even be able to eat much." To which the competitive nature of boys responds, "Oh, yeah? Watch me!" So we were eating, cracking jokes about calling the fire department, the boys proving they could eat larger and larger bites without even a sip of water or grain of rice, comparing the time it took for the food to enter their mouths and the time when the spice actually hit, when I remembered a little story from the first year Adam and I were dating.

The Story of the Spicy Chili Pepper aka Why My Dad Loves Adam

Adam and I were meeting my parents for dinner one night at a Mexican restaurant. It was one of his earlier meetings with my parents, so he didn't know them all that well yet, and still had that "boyfriend hanging out with girlfriend's parents awkwardness" around them. While we were waiting for our food to be ready, munching our chips and salsa, my dad invited Adam to peruse the pepper bar with him. My dad, knowing many of the peppers, took some for himself and recommended some to Adam. When we sat back down my Dad told Adam to start with a certain pepper, for it was the best. Poor Adam. It was the spiciest thing ever! He took a bite, a big bite at that, so trusting, the fool. And, no joke, it was like watching one of those cartoons where the character gets something hot in his mouth. A fire red color crept up Adam's face from his throat, rising to his chin and continuing upward. I am sure we saw steam spouting from his ears when the redness got to ear level. And then, not kidding at all, as the red in his face hit his eye level they began to fill with watery tears! Seriously! And of course his water was gone from eating all the chips and salsa! He was dying...and my Dad was laughing his head off. The laughter spread to the rest of us, as we all pushed our water glasses in Adam's direction. After Adam put the fire out in his mouth, five glasses of water and four sugar packets later, he joined in the laughter. I think that's when my Dad decided that Adam was worthy of his daughter. He survived the habanero chili test and did it with style and could even laugh at himself in the end!

Today we hit Costco, the land of great bargains; burgeoning quantities; and buying things you really don't need at all. I can't go to Costco without a piece of Costco pizza, even if it is nowhere near time to eat. I've always been this way, ever since Costco started selling pizza at their little food stands. And you have to remember I grew up in Bellevue, one city away from Kirkland, the home of the first ever Costco! These Costco food cafes have been around for me for awhile. I just love their pizza! However, today I didn't need to feel guilty about eating pizza at a random time in the day, since we finished our shopping right at lunchtime, perfect! The deal with the boys is if they get hotdogs, they can get a churro to split, but not if they get pizza (keeps the cost down...always looking for ways to spend less money on lunch for all!). So they all agreed on hotdogs, and Ben and Josh decided they only wanted half, so they split one, which prompted this memory:

The Story of Our Own Little Jack Sprat's Wife and His Brother

There are two things you need to know about Ben for this story to make sense and one important thing about Zach. One, Ben has always loved meat, but rarely gets excited about other foods. And two, Ben was about Luke's size at age two, barely over 20 pounds, if that, skinny as a beanpole and not tall. As for Zach, while he has become an incredibly un-picky eater (hurrah!), at one point in his life he only ate foods that were made with wheat products, like pasta, cereal and breads. So one day I took Ben and Zach to Costco, and of course we had to make the requisite food stop. I got them each a hot dog, back in those wild and crazy days where I didn't even think to have them split, and it's a good thing. Ben scarfed down his hotdog sans bun, and Zach proceeded to eat his entire bun, leaving the hotdog on the silver foil. When they finished I realized that they were both still hungry, but I was never going to get them to eat the other part with their opposing pickinesses, so I gave Ben the other hotdog and Zach the other bun, and voila! Two happy, full kids! And yep, teensy tiny Ben ate all but about an inch of the second hotdog. Have you seen those hotdogs?! They're like eight inches long and not thin! To this day, I don't know how a kid his size could pack all that in! They may not be the best stories in the world, but they are the stories that make us us. This is why I wish I had kept a journal (but sadly, I only did sporadically). I love sharing them with the kids, and hope I never forget some of these little stories that are part of our family fabric. That's why I had to write these ones down while they were in my head. They've brought a lot of happiness this week!

The Snowiest Month

I've been told that April is usually one of the snowiest months here in the Springs. While last year it didn't live up to that title, we only had two little snowfalls after we moved here, if memory serves, April is certainly doing all it can to claim that prize this year! While we had many sunny, warmish days and no snow in January and February, this month has held snowfall, followed by a few lovely spring-like days, only to be followed again by another snow.
It's hard to get excited about snow in April, as we are all gripped by Spring Fever and the hope of warm days, green plants, flip-flops, and t-shirts ahead (hooray! the laundry will finally start to diminish to summer-load size!), but we desperately need the moisture, and it's difficult to NOT think a snow storm is cool and impossible to NOT have fun in the snow, even if it is April.

We were bombarded by a three-day storm that swooped in Thursday early afternoon, starting during Ben's running club practice. You should have seen those poor kids curl up like pill bugs as the hail started to fall! Then they clustered together like emperor penguins. Then they ran for the school building like wildebeests running from a pack of hunting lionesses! It was like watching the Discovery Channel! Fortunately Ben was pretty well covered up because it was cold when I dropped him off, but many of the kids had come directly from school and were not dressed for the afternoon storm. We had hail and thunder and lightning all afternoon, which the boys and I excitedly watched from the couch in the living room, and later that night it turned into a nice wet snow.

Friday it snowed most of the day with times of heavier snowfall, but mostly a lot of light snow. By mid-afternoon Adam decided to come home. We had about six inches, and it was really starting to come down. However, within an hour of his arrival, we ended up with a nice little sun break, during which Adam and the boys took off for the nearby, amazing sled hill to meet up with our friends, the Pucketts. The hill is not on or near the road, so I don't need to worry about the kids crashing into parked or moving cars, the way I am sure my parents always worried when my sis and I were kids. My sister even slid right underneath a parked car once! Don't worry, she was alright.

Here's the gang, ready to sled (Ben, Adam, Cory, Zach, Jason, Joel, Josh)!! Missing is Lisa, who is taking the picture, and Luke and I, since Luke decided to take a three hour nap that day. But hey! You don't wake a sleeping baby, especially one who gets as crabby as a woken-too-early Luke!

If there is snow and speed, Ben loves it!

Josh and Dad, chased happily by Ruby.

Josh was having so much fun, he didn't even complain about having to hike back up the hill!

For Christmas, when he turned four, Zach got a little plastic snowboard from Adam's brother, Ryan. It's not in any way a fancy thing, but he loves trying it out. He is actually really quite the good beginner boarder.

It's a pretty steep hill, but he did great keeping his balance and controlling the board down the hill.

But stopping could use some work. Never you fear, even though he had a couple of good face plants, he got right up, shook it off and went for another run. Ruby had the time of her life. Snow plus Finn (the Puckett's male golden) made her the happiest pup on the face of the planet!

For our little daredevil, Ben, sledding was not enough. So he built a jump. In the picture he's catching some air! Adam promised to help him make one next time, so A could use the tricks he developed over years of ski school jump-building in high school to really get some height!

Saturday arrived with much more snow! It's hard to say how much we got over the three days total, because the temperature hovered right around freezing the whole weekend, so there was some melting from time to time. But I'd say it was over 12 inches. Our friends the Maloys came over for some sledding, but Saturday's snow included a ton of wind. We didn't realize how bad it was going to be until we got to the sled hill, which is at the top of a bluff with no wind protection. It had to be blowing at a constant flow of 40mph up the hill!

Adam, Vern, Zach and Spencer tried a few runs, in spite of the wind. Twice they fell off the sled at the bottom, which was then blown back up the hill without its rider! Adam said his went at least halfway back up without him, and Vern was almost taken out as he slid down and Spencer's sled flew up! You can't really tell how hard the wind is blowing in the picture, but it was hard enough to push even the adults around a little!
The littler kids were quite unhappy and quickly ran back to the car. Jen and I bailed pretty quickly too. Here's Ben, happy to be in the warm safety of the car.
So we bagged the sledding plan, and headed back to the house for some hot cocoa and snow fort building. One of the nice things about spring Colorado snow...it is actually wet enough to pack! Usually it is so powdery, it just falls apart. Adam, Ben and Vern built a huge snow fort using block molds given to us by our neighbor whose sons no longer used them. It was a very impressive fort!

Here they are prepping for the ambush. I think they added another layer of snow bricks after this picture was taken. They even stockpiled the fort with extra snow for making snowballs!
Then they called Zach and Spence out to see it...AMBUSH!!!

Well, how do you answer that?? You build a second fort, of course!! And prepare for the ultimate snowball battle!!! The second fort was a bit more hasty, a little weaker, not so high, and not nearly as pretty, but it worked well enough for the battle. Well, until it started to fall apart.

Luke insisted on coming outside, but the snow was still coming down and the wind was still REALLY strong, even in the protection of our backyard, and he was not so happy about his decision to come out. He is not a fan of the wind. So after five minutes of angry crying, back inside he went!Zach was also reluctant to be outside, he wanted to stay inside and play the Wii. But because I am mean, I made him stay out with us. He was mad the whole time we built the fort, notice his angry glare in the picture. But once the snow battle began he started to have fun...
...BATTLE!! Now he's getting into it!

The poor Maloys ended up with the lamer fort. I think Ben felt he had some claim on the big one since he was the only kid building it. But they are die-hard, no complaining about lame forts from them! They even ended up sacrificing themselves by running out from behind the walls of their defenses to attack!

So we had a great snow weekend! I definitely can't complain too much about the April snow. And it is already busily melting; by Tuesday we are expecting temperatures close to 70. Even though it was great fun, I hope we are done with the snow until at least October. Bring on Spring! Hear that weather?! Done! Although I hear you can't really count on the snow actually being over for the season until Mother's Day. Mother's Day?!!

Spring Fun in the Springs

There has been so much big stuff going on recently, I haven't had time to report on the little things. So here are some other fun things the Chaos has been involved in the past few weeks.

A direct quote from Adam: "We aren't doing Spring sports in Colorado Springs anymore!" Yes, Spring soccer has begun...kind of. Three weeks into the season Zach and Ben have each had only two practices total (each having two day per week practice schedules), and Josh has had none. There have been a total of five games scheduled for Z and B, two for J, but only one game for Z and one for B has actually occurred. Why you ask? CRAZY COLORADO WEATHER...and of course, the bad weather days (rain, snow, freezing wind), rather than the 70 degree days that we have also had, always seems to hit on soccer practice and game days. Although it has been a wacky season so far, the boys are loving it!

The Ward Talent Show! Last Friday, our activities committee, headed up by my friend, Heidi, pulled off another great ward event. It was so fun to see all the different talents our ward members have! The Chaos didn't get too involved this time around, however, I was greatly chastened by Zach for not signing him up (I know I mentioned it to him back when it was first announced). So I am sure we will have a greater presence in the show next year...Zach's already making plans! Adam was our sole representative. He was suckered into a performance of "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees, done by the Bishopric, for which he is the Executive Secretary. And when I say he was not thrilled about it, that is an understatement. Adam is not comfortable on a stage being wacky, that's never been his forte; he's not shy, but his sense of humor (that I love and always has me wiping tears of laughter) is more subtle. If you could see him up close, the cute embarrassed blush he gets that rises up his neck was in full force the entire song, along with his crooked "this is awkward for me" smile. I think he would have been more comfortable hiding in a ski cap and sunglasses, like our dear Bishop is in the picture! So cute...sorry honey!
The wives of the bishopric were invited to sit on the stage as we were serenaded by these men of ours. It was pretty funny, although, knowing Adam as I do, I could feel his discomfort from where I sat! We wives and the audience loved it though, so it was all good! It's never a bad thing to step out of your comfort zone from time to time.

We always said the boys had to pick one sport per season, but we signed Ben up for the Landsharks Run Club Spring Track Series even though he had already committed to soccer. Crazy over-scheduling of kids...I know, I know! But he has been so eager to join a running group, and this one is held twice a week at his school after hours. There are three meets per season, and the goal is to beat your own record each time, not to beat the other runners. But I have to say, Ben is quick...he's got a pair of wheels on those short, skinny legs! And his long stride is so natural, it's beautiful to watch. Here's Ben with his brand new New Balance runners. He loves them! And I love having him take up a sport that is so dear to my own heart.

We've been busy enough that Monday afternoon I found Josh sacked out on the couch. We were watching our favorite History Channel show How The Earth Was Made, and zonk! He's a kid who definitely needs his sleep, and is usually out within five minutes of lights-out at night, but I can't remember the last time he did something like fall asleep during the day without being ill! It was so sweet, and so sad that we had to wake him up after a short cat nap since we still wanted him to go to bed that night.

While he doesn't get to participate in sports, Luke is doing his best to keep up with his brothers in all things. If they can do it he can. Which leads to a lot of frustration for him, and for me. But he reimburses me greatly for the moments of frustration, with more than enough moments where he is just so darn cute (those are Ben's Build-A-Bear turtle's sunglasses)...like this:

And to add to all the fun, we threw post-dinner schedules out the window, and headed to Maggie Moo's last night after dinner for Free Scoop Night! I think the dark chocolate flavor will definitely be one of my cravings this pregnancy...so good! Great! Now I need some.

As I sit here, giant hail balls are pelting the windows. The sound of the hail hitting the house is competing with the constantly rolling thunder. It is SO LOUD! And sweet Ben is a little nervous about me being on the computer with the lightning. So I should get off quickly. We are in for another winter storm tonight (should it still be called a "winter" storm when it is actually spring?), into tomorrow, tomorrow night and Saturday morning. My poor tulips! Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Hmmm...I know what I'm gonna do...go get some Maggie Moo's dark chocolate ice cream before it gets too bad!