First Hike

Last weekend, Ben got the itch to get out of the city. Truth be told, I just kind of wanted to stay around the house and do yard work (we finally had nice weather!), but in the end, he was right—it was fabulous to get away. We compromised and went to Hagg Lake, which is only about 40 minutes from our house, so that I could have the afternoon at home.

We started out by getting the boys Krispie Cream donuts. They had earned them as a reward for working on obedience (first time, no whining, saying “yes mama.”) Over the past month I had been letting them earn a little ball into a jar when they obeyed correctly. It was a pretty fun way to reinforce obedience. We’re going to work on a new “habit” this month for a treat again.

So, the kids got a sugar high on the way—but no worries, they burned TONS of calories throughout the day! It was really fun to see how good Seth and Sam did on a hike. They were really cautious, looking out for branches and watching for holes in the ground. I really enjoyed observing them carefully navigate through the woods, following their daddy. We look forward to many more hikes this summer!

The morning was perfect: we hiked, played in the water, ate a picnic lunch and played in the water some more. And Ben was right, it was wonderful to get away from the city!

Sam, Seth

Sam, Seth (handsome boys!)

  Handsome Daddy!

Having fun in the water. I can’t believe how much braver they are playing in the water this year!

Easter 2012

A couple days before Easter we decided to go to Dufur and celebrate with Ben’s family (and they were gracious enough to host us last minute!) Ben’s work gives them Good Friday off, so we even had three days together.

Diane and I decided to do Easter baskets and egg hiding on Saturday morning because church service was really early on Easter. We couldn’t decide which was more fun: hiding eggs in really easy spots for Seth and Sam, or hiding them in hard spots for Caleb and Levi. It was a blast to watch them all searching around the house for their eggs. I love Diane’s tradition of giving money in the eggs and so did Seth and Sam! They thought it was very cool to have quarters to bring home and put in their piggy bank. I had gotten a couple things for the boys’ baskets (play dough tools, little fans that the boys always covet on shopping trips, Easter books, and my favorite Easter candy: mini eggs).

We stayed Saturday night at Nate and Holly’s in Maupin and then all attended their churches sunrise service on Sunday morning. It was earlier than Seth and Sam are used to waking up, so afterwards they quickly dyed eggs and then took an early, long nap. The timing of their nap was perfect, because afterwards we headed into Holly’s parents’ house for Sunday dinner at 1 o’clock. Jim and Nancy Love are wonderful hosts, served up an amazing spread, and I think enjoyed having surrogate grandkids for the day. Nancy let the boys play with play dough in her kitchen (using their new tools!) and then had an amazing Easter egg hunt for them (she filled the eggs with lots of fun little trinkets; their favorite of, course being the whistles…which was definitely not my favorite). It was a wonderful weekend filled with family all celebrating the Risen Christ together.

 

Seth, Sam

 

I love this picture of the boys…they were trying to figure out how to put their arms around each other and kept getting it backwards.

FYI, these fans only lasted about a week—not exactly quality

MINI EGGS! (I think I ate most of them :) Grandma is a great teacher!

The boys dressed in their Easter finest (Sam, Seth). They just woke up from a nap, so that’s why they look so cranky

Easter egg hunt at the Love’s house

Sam, Seth

  A decent family picture for the Morris’ (well, at least Ben and I)

My favorite edited photo of the boys on the Easter egg hunt

Catching up

My blogging this past month has suffered terribly. There have been many reasons; some quite valid, others quite silly:

• Ben went to Japan for a work trip and my dad came and stayed with us for the week.
• In honor of Ben being gone, I decided I needed something fun to do, so I decided to re-read the Twilight books which I became obsessed with finishing. Embarrassing, I know. I then I went over and borrowed all the movies from my 14 year old neighbor girl. Even more embarrassing. (Yes, this is the silly reason for not blogging.)
• The amazing sunshine the past few days has been magical. We’ve spent every possible moment outside. I’m trying to catch up on gardening, therefore my house is suffering.
• Beyond the fact I haven’t been spending much time cleaning, the outside play creates even more messes. And a TON of laundry. Each boy went through 3 pairs of shorts yesterday.
• Any time I’m spent cleaning has been sterilizing areas that we’ve found mouse poop in. Yuck. We’re having a bit of a rodent problem in our house—it’s so disgusting! Last night I discovered that somehow they are getting into our guest bathroom cupboards and shredding some of the blankets I have in there…and they destroyed the boys’ NICU blankets. I was so angry and officially declared war on the little mongrels.

Well, that about sums it up. Except for my final reason: I’ve been trying to learn my Photoshop software and start editing my photos more. I’m enjoying this, but it also adds to the time each blog takes. Time I often don’t have.

So, here’s to me catching up on documenting our memories on the blog. Hopefully I’ll have a couple postings this week on Easter, a little adventure we took this weekend, and eventually one on the kitchen renovation (that is pretty much complete!). But until then: here’s a couple pictures.

We didn’t have the pool blown up yet for yesterday’s 80 degree weather, so I just filled up an 18 gallon tote and “Ta da!” hours of play! (Seth, Sam)

And here’s my dad with the boys in the Blazer jersey’s he bought them. They had such a great time with their Papa here for the week!

Wordless Wednesday

There is endless fun to be had with Mr. Potato Head. Here’s Wesley, Sam, and Seth trying to wear the glasses.

Oh Those Imaginations

It used to be that rugs were used to wipe our feet on. Then, I started using them to hide all the stains on the carpet. Then Seth and Sam started wrapping themselves in them pretending to be Moses in a basket on the river. But the latest use has been my favorite: a leaf blower. Why not?

Seth in green jersey, Sam in blue

Can you guess what they are doing in these next pictures?

Seth in blue hat, Sam in yellow Construction work, using their baskets as dust masks. Of course.

And in these next pictures they are driving to their basketball games, in warm-up gear, with their bags packed. I heard them discussing that they needed to run errands first so they needed to take separate cars, and would meet up at the gym. Silly boys.

Don’t you love Sammy’s smile? He’s laughing with his brother. I love those boys! Seth boy

For The Love of Jerseys

I’ve briefly mentioned how much Seth and Sam love jersey’s. They’re crazy about them! This should give you a good picture of how serious they are about their basketball gear. Every morning for the last week or so, the boys have gotten themselves dressed in normal clothes (sweats and a shirt) per my request. Then, about 10 minutes later I will notice that things are quiet and they are missing. Where do I find them? Stripped to their undies and putting on their “basketball clothes” because they “have a game.” Basketball clothes include a jersey and mesh shorts. If that isn’t enough, now they are “packing” (putting into their Easter basket) their warm up sweats and sweatshirts for the “drive to the game.” Go ahead and count: yep, by 9:30 in the morning each boy has gotten out 3 outfits. Yes, it does drive me bonkers. It also means that we do a lot of clothes changing throughout the day, because it’s not exactly shorts and tank top weather. Oh well, if this is their “thing” who am I to stand in the way?

In fact, I love them so much I am helping them in this jersey madness. Not only did I pick up a couple bargain jerseys at recent clothing resales, but when my parents were asking about birthday ideas for the boys, I suggested Blazers jerseys for each of them. Being the awesome grandparents they are, my dad quickly ordered not only cool black Blazer jersey’s, but also customized them with their names and numbers (Ben’s and Caleb’s numbers). And then, not being able to wait until their birthday, they sent us the jersey’s for a surprise for Seth and Sam’s Easter baskets. Aren’t they the cutest things ever? Of course after they arrived, they were ecstatic and in awe that they their names and numbers on them. They got to wear them two days in a row, and when I put my foot down for the third day they had big breakdowns. Same scenario this morning when I told Sam that “no he can’t get the jersey out of the dirty clothes” and “yes we have to wash it” and finally “if you can’t handle NOT wearing it every day, mama might just have to keep it for awhile.” It’s a good battle to fight, though, because these jerseys are awesome! While out doing errands with the boys wearing them, they get lots of compliments and “Go Blazers!” cheers. One gentlemen told the boys, “Nice shirts.” Their reply? “They’re not shirts, they’re jerseys!”

  

Sammy is on the left, Seth on the right.