A Whole Lot to Say These Days....

Oh, the conversations they have! I walked into the room today to Seth and Sam having this conversation:
Seth: "I older now."
Sam: "I older now too!"
Seth: "I go football camp now."
Sam: "I go basketball now."
Seth: "I older. I drive car."
Sam: "I older. I drive the truck."
Boy, they grow up fast, huh :)

How about this one: as we were driving back from watching Ben play a basketball game (which, sigh, I did not bring my camera for. No, not to take pictures of Ben, but of Seth and Sam as they strolled into the gym wearing their basketball jersey's and carrying their little basketballs. They looked so adorable!)
Sam: "I play basketball. I all fwetty (sweaty) now. I workin hard."
A little later after a lot of talk from both boys about being fwetty and workin' hard:
Seth: "I stinky pits now. I need to take a shower!"

I could probably write a whole book alone on comments while potty training twin boys, but many are a bit too much info for a blog. However, I will share this little antic (picture that the boys are usually sitting on their little toilets right next to each other, trying at the same time):
Sammy to Seth: "Seth, you no look at my weener. Privacy."
(This is coming from the boy that earlier had examined his brothers bottom to see if there was any poop there. And the same boy that exclaimed, "Peek-a-boo weener" to Seth as Seth sat down on the toilet. Sorry buddy, privacy is not going to come easily between you two!)

I am having so much fun with the boys at this age and am really trying to savor their love and innocence! Sometimes I almost feel guilty because having twins at this age is so wonderful being that they have a constant playmate (then I remember what I went through raising them as babies, and I think: I've earned this!). I'm able to be so independent each day, because they are always up to something together: pretending, running, jumping, playing cars, talking, arguing, reading and so so much laughter. I wish I could bottle up the sound of them laughing together to replay in my mind forever.

Thank you God for trusting me with twin boys!

The following pictures are from a HOT but blissful Sunday afternoon of boys in their undies practicing football by running through a water obstacle course (the pool and the sprinkler) and hiking the ball to their daddy so he could throw it and they could retrieve it.



Sam





Seth



Papa's Fishing Boat

Last weekend we made the drive to my hometown of Lakeview, Oregon. Six hours in the car on the way there, I thought, "This isn't too bad. Why do I always dramatize it in my mind as being so awful with kids?" However, as we made the same six hour drive three days later, I thought, "This is horrible. I can't do this. I hate everyone in the car. Why are they so annoying. Make it stop."

Regardless of the long car ride, we had a wonderful time in Lakeview which included visiting with family, hot tubbing, admiring my dad's garden, feasting on my mom's cooking, resting, watching some high school volleyball (talk about nostalgia), and a fabulous little trip out to a lake to use my dad's fishing boat. It was Seth and Sam's first time on a boat, and they loved it.

Papa and his grandsons: Sam, Seth

What a beautiful day.and yes, I almost had a heart attack
when I saw the boys leaning over to touch the water

After taking a quick jaunt in the boat, we stopped for a picnic lunch. On the path, my mom spotted a frog and the boys had a blast trying to catch it. Ben also taught Seth and Sam how to throw pine cones against trees, and they of course had to throw rocks in the water. We even had time to admire a pelican and then take some family pictures.

Love this pic of Sammy!

Not very often you see a pelican!

Grandma with Sam, Papa with Seth

Dad then insisted that I take a ride in the boat, with Ben in charge of the motor. I really don't like water, boats, and being in the middle of lakes, especially with someone (my husband) who is not experienced driving a boat. I relented, though, and after initially getting stuck in a bunch of weeds and having to row us out, we had a relaxing spin across the lake. Ben let both boys "drive" and they thought they were very cool.

To Do or Not to Do, That is the Question

What I could/should be doing right now:
-Cleaning up the kitchen
-Vacuuming the living room
-Cleaning up the endless spots on our carpet
-Picking up all the clothes on the boys' floor
-Unloading the dishwasher
-Emptying the clipping from the lawn mower that I forgot to do this morning
-Watering my flowers
-Weeding
-Preparing some baby packages to send
-Research how to take care of my fruit trees for next year



What I want to do right now:
-Finish my sewing project
-Scrapbook (I'm caught up to 2007 now!)
-Read/take a nap in the sunshine
-Organize our videos of the boys

So, with all these things to do, of course blogging is the best choice, right? Working on a blog about our roadtrip to Lakeview....I know you're excited :)

Labor Day Weekend: Rockaway Beach

Our neighbors have a beach house that they let us stay in for free once a year for watering their yard while they are gone. A pretty good trade off if you ask me. We just happened to pick the nicest weekend at the Oregon Coast all year. We're talking 80 degrees and no wind. People were in binkini's (not me, no worries!)

Because of the excellent weather report, we left on Friday evening after Ben got home from work, so we had 2 entire days to just have vacation. On the way to Rockaway, we stopped at Camp 18, and had an enormous and wonderful dinner. Saturday morning we woke up and the weather report was actually accurate: it was beautiful! We were at the beach by 9, and had SO much fun! Seth and Sam loved playing in the water and ran into and from the waves.

This is the house we stay in. Check out the wallpaper and see if you can guess what era it was decorated in :)

Seth, Sam: how cute are they? So hip!
 (thanks to our friend giving us all her son's cool clothes!)

The next day we headed north to the little coast town of Manzanita and totally fell in love with it! We definately want to rent a beach house there someday (ok, maybe buy and renovate, but that's a lofty dream, we'll start with renting)! It's a very calm and beautiful beach, and the town has great little shops. We continued our tradition of stopping at a candy shop to get the boys a treat. Seth and Sam walked around the store oogling and dreaming stating, "Ah...I need this." Ha ha, they've heard me grocery shopping apparently. They each got "thuckers" and proceded to smear them all over themselves. FYI: sucker stickiness and sand mix real well together.



We tried to teach the boys how to put their arms around each other.
Not the best at it yet.





Sam, Seth

After loving to play in the water on the first morning, the boys decided that the ocean was way too cold and didn't want to go near it again. Bummer. However, we found pools of water next to the jetty where the water had warmed up under the sun. They weren't very deep, so the boys could jump into, run through, and thoroughly soak themselves. They had a blast and I have to say, this is one of my favorite series of pictures I've ever taken! It was hard to post just four because there are so many cute ones:

 On our way back to the car, Ben and I were walking ahead of Seth and Sam. We looked back to find them engrossed in some sort of conversation we couldn't hear. The following pictures I adore: they show how wonderful Seth and Sam's friendship and brotherhood has become.

On the mission they apparently had decided on

Which included pointing and laughing at the grass

We're so thankful for the wonderful vacation we were blessed with! There is something about just being away from our own house that brings us together as a family. We have nothing to do besides just be together, play, talk, laugh, and make memories.

As a side note: Ben and I both did something a little crazy on this trip. First of all, Ben packed our 42" inch flat screen tv, because the tv at the beach house wasn't working. He HAD to watch the Ducks game on a good television. Yikes. But, to counter his craziness, I decided that I didn't want to watch the Ducks game, but would instead drive a good hour and twenty minutes (one way) to the Lincoln City outlets. Was it worth 2 hours and 40 minutes alone in the car through dark and curvy roads for two pairs of short and a shirt? Probably not. But, sometimes you have to be a little crazy on vacation, right?

Why I Love Being a Homemaker

A recent conversation Ben had with one of his bosses really made me thankful for my job.

Rarely will Ben leave much later than 5 o'clock to commute home. Unless he has a meeting with Hans Christian. Then, it's always scheduled late, and Hans Christian is always running late, and then the meeting takes longer than expected...thus making Ben come home late (yes, HC is usually on my "list"). Last week, Ben arrived home at 6, thanks to Hans Christian. As he came into the kitchen for a hug and a kiss, he told me, "You're going to appreciate this conversation I had with Hans Christian." Apparently the reason Hans Christian ended the meeting so soon (5:40, soon?) was because his wife was making dinner, a rare occasion in his household. When Ben told him that I make dinner every night for him, Hans Christian was amazed. Then Ben told him that I make his breakfast and lunch too. Laughingly Hans Christian stated, "Now you're going to tell me that she does your ironing as well." "Yep," Ben replied with a proud smile. Hans Christian shook his head in amazement.

Truth be told. I hate ironing. And I'm not a huge fan of packing Ben's lunch. But I've been doing it much more cheerfully this week--and with a lot of pride too. Ben was so proud to tell his boss what I do for him and I love him by being the keeper of his home. How awesome is that?

Here's a short list of why I love being a homemaker:
-Summer days with no agendas and no schedules.
-Tan little boys running around the yard every afternoon in nothing but undies, alternating between playing in the pool and the dirt pile, thus making them extremely dirty.
-Looking through cooking magazines to plan a new meal for dinner.
-Having multiple projects started in the morning and slowly wrapping them up before Ben gets home.
-Hundreds of kisses and hugs from my boys.
-Trying to decide what to do during nap time: read, scrapbook, clean, garden, cook, blog...
-Going to OMSI on a week day with very few people there.
-Going for a run in the park, only to find loads of blackberries and proceeding to pick 3 bucket fulls.
-Going over to a neighbors house with a cup of coffee in hand to visit, because you know she's missing her kids that just left for their first day of school.
-Being rested and joyful for my husband when he comes home from work.
-Making lists of things to do, but not being stressed about having the time to get them done.
-Listening to my kids chatter, laugh, and ok, sometimes fight in the background as I work on a project.
-Not feeling frantic or stressed about time.
-Having time to finally scrapbook: yep, I'm caught up to 2007, aren't you proud of me!

Oh, the list could go on and on. No, being a full-time stay at home mommy isn't all roses. But it's close. With the right perspective that is.

"What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and work flow." Martin Luther

A New Home for Nate and Holly

After celebrating Ben's birthday with my family, we were able to finish the weekend with Ben's brother Nathan and his wife Holly helping them move into their brand new home. For the past 3 and a half years they have been living in a very old, very rundown, and very small (one bedroom) house in Maupin, Oregon. Which meant that it was very hard for us to visit them, especially once we had the boys. God rewarded their patience with a stellar price on some land and a year later they have a brand new home! While we spent the weekend oohing and awwing their new house, Nate and Holly were just so thrilled to host us and have enough room for everyone. It was wonderful to share in their joy!

(In all the excitement of the weekend, I didn't get a good picture of the outside of the house, darn it!)

Uncle NayNay teaching the boys about fishing

The boys favorite passtime: throwing rocks into water.
Nate and Holly's house is to the left.

The boys love Gracie

Seth

Sam