Views From Ecola State Park

We weren't able to drive to Indian Beach as part of the road had caved in. These pictures are from the cliff at Ecola, the upper lookout. The first picture looks towards Indian Beach, where Mike and I were married.

Haystack Rock is in the distance.

We think this was an eagle. It's wingspan was just incredibly long and the bird had a huge, curved beak. His talons were gigantic. His head was also a different color than his body, but I'm not sure that eagles come in this color...so maybe it was a ginormous hawk?
Hey, at least Keats is consistent with the silly faces...

Haystack Rock

These are my favorite pictures of The Rock from this week.

Ciao

We're heading off to Cannon Beach this morning. Mike found out last night that we've been upgraded to a fancy beachfront room. :o) Apparently some things weren't working in the cottage we'd reserved. So this might be a very cool mini-vacation! Back Thursday...

Don't Wait! Buy, Buy, Buy NOW! ;o)

I went out to GI Joes today to buy some sneakers. I walked in the store and was bombarded with signs reading "70% off" or "Buy one pair of clearance shoes, get one free!" What is happening? Everywhere you go (well, everywhere I go) all the things you could want (probably not need though) are priced such that a shopaholic cannot walk away. I'm very glad that I am not one of those people who buys lots of junk that I don't need. I might pick things up at the store, but as I walk around I usually change my mind. I try to think about things first. Plus, Mike HATES junk...if something is getting used, he's fine with it. If something just sits around, however, he gets really annoyed. Understandably. So, in that way he's really changed the way I look at spending. BUT he has also made me very price-insensitive in other areas. Shoes, for one thing. Until I met Mike I would never have thought to spend $100 on shoes. Now that seems reasonable if they are something you need and will wear a lot. My feet have become accustomed to the feel of Keens, Doc Martens, and Dansko.

Anyway, my whole point is to say that if you need new shoes or winter jackets or something, I'd head to the stores asap. I saw jackets today that retail for $140 that were on clearance for $40. I admit I almost bought one of those...but then I remembered I prefer to buy my clothes at Goodwill if I can. Cheap clothes, expensive shoes. That's how I ride. Or should I say that's how I walk? :o)

Just a video of the boys playing with their new stuff. Please forgive Sully's appearance. He isn't as dirty as he looks. Well, maybe he IS but he just had a bath last night. Here he is seen with chocolate Chex on his face. Or crackers. Or something...whatever Mike gave him as a snack. ;o)

Also, please don't judge me by how dirty Sullivan's finger is in the close-up of his smashed finger. I was too terrified to wash his hand...didn't want to hurt his finger even more! Okay, in all honesty his fingers are usually pretty grubby. But normally I would have washed them at least for the picture. Lol.

I went to Target today and discovered they were having a 75% off sale on their toys. I guess they had such poor holiday sales that they are trying to sell things however they can. Anyway, I found a Batman laptop that was nine bucks. I almost bought one for Keats on Christmas but the fifty-dollar price tag seemed too steep. I bought the laptop for Easter or Valentine's Day but Mike was too excited to wait. When I showed it to Mike he told me that Keaton has been soooo nice to Sully lately (not necessarily true) and that he's been soooo helpful around the house lately (this one is true) and so we should give the laptop to Keats today. Sometimes Mike can act like a kid as much, or more than, the kids do! He is excited to try out the laptop, too.

Making a Batman face, I guess...

A forced smile. Can you tell I told him to "smile like you're actually happy you got the laptop!"? Lol.

We can also use the excuse that the laptop is educational. It teaches math & spelling & stuff like that.

We gave Sully a little dog that barks and wiggles when you pet his back. The dog came with a teeny, tiny little bottle of milk, and this picture captures Sully being domestic.

Keaton In Real Life

* Mom, how do I look? (Great! was my reply...) No! You need to say that I look splendid.


*I have an important job and I work every single day. (What do you do at your job?) I work on the computer in Daddy's office and do secret things that Sully can't touch. (How much do you get paid at your job?) I get paid 25 pounds! (apparently he's English.)

* Mom, why do some people wear their headphones around their neck like this? I wear them this way because I'm a man.


* How do Tigger and Pooh find their families? Do they have families? Why do they all have their own homes when they're just little kids like me?


* Hey Mom! Know what? Sully is going to be UNCLE to my kids...and I'm going to be uncle to his kids...

The Bloodletting

I took Sullivan to the doctor last night for his finger. The swelling was increasing, as was the bruising, and it seemed like the pain medicine wasn't helping much. So, I called just to ask about pain meds and was told to bring him in because with an injury like his the doctor would most likely need to drain the blood from under Sully's nail.

And they did. Drain the blood, that is. It wasn't as horrible as it sounds. I was nauseated just thinking about what they were going to do to Sully, but it turns out that this was only in the top five of most traumatic-mommy-moments:

1) Cannon;

2) Mike and Keats were playing at the school and Mike came running into the house asking if Keats was here, absolute panic on his face. Turns out Keats was hiding from Mike at the school and had no idea that we were so panicked. He has been duly informed to never, ever, ever, ever, EVER do that again. Ever.;

3) Sully had a chest x-ray in the ER a year ago...so horrifying I cannot even think about it. Let me just tell you that they put Sullivan in the most horrible contraption ever created and made ME stand in front of him while he was strapped in there so that I could "comfort" him...which basically meant he could look at me in horror while I let the mean ER people torture him;

4) The removal of eye tubes with Keats. I was so unprepared for that one! Had no idea that Mike and I would be playing the part of "restraints" while they pulled the tubes out of a completely awake & alert eighteen-month-old Keats;

5) The Bloodletting. When the doc came into the exam room, Sully simply held out his finger and said "ouchie." It was immediately determined that there was a disproportionate blood-to-fingernail-bed ratio and that either the fingernail bed needed to expand about 200% or the blood needed to come out. So, the blood came out. I distracted Sully with the alphabet while the doc just put a needle under the nail and basically poked a bunch of holes; he also aspirated some of the blood. Most of the blood was just pushed out though. The quantity wasn't amazing unless you consider where it was residing. The doctor did say there was a significant amount of blood all things considered. And that was it. The blood came out, Sully pointed out every letter on the magazine I put in front of him (his recitation of the alphabet greatly impressed the doc, by the way!). He got some antibiotic ointment, a plain old brown brandage, and a Cars movie sticker.

After we came home, Sully definitely favored the finger a lot more than he did before the bloodletting. You wouldn't believe how much better the finger looks this morning! The fingernail is now just sorta gray, as opposed to black, and the swelling has decreased somewhat. The doc says without a doubt the entire fingernail will fall off, most likely before the new nail grows in. He suggested we keep the finger gooped up with ointment and covered with a bandage in an attempt to keep the holes open. Oh, and we're to give two warm baths daily...Sully loves baths so this will be a treat for him.

Yesterday afternoon, I took Sully for a walk down to the creek. He enjoyed throwing leaves into the water. He was insisting that he saw fish...but that was his imagination. Might be some crawdads in there but nothing more than a tadpole would be close to looking like a fish.

Keats at his preschool playground yesterday.

Kids Club Visit

Keaton said the whisk was his "power" which is how he's figured out to get away with using weapons. I don't let him use "weapons" when I'm around...
I have a difficult time catching them (on camera) inside the bounce house. This is the best I could do.

I'm thinking "The Graduate" meets "Easy Rider".

A Power Ranger that is apparently "the bad guy" and my little graduate putting something in the microwave.

Random cute pose.

It is difficult, to say the least, to think of anything witty or worthwhile to say so recently after pretending to be a fire-breathing-dragon and seeing how far I am able to spit fire towards the ceiling. Especially since I, according to Keats, never won the contests. So here is what has happened in the past 24 hours.

Sully's subtle way of letting me know he is ready for dinner:

The boys "helping" me make some muffins.
Last night, Keaton accidentally slammed Sully's finger in their dresser drawer. In Keaton's defense, we have to slam the drawers every night because that makes them stick and keeps Sully from throwing all of their belongings on the floor.

Keaton felt terrible. He kept making sure I knew it was an accident. We spent as much time consoling Keats as we did consoling Sully!

No New Pics...

Sorry, no new pics for the relatives. ;o)

I worked today and came home to my usual rock star status. Keaton was actually more excited than Sully was....Keats kept asking if I'd missed him while I was at work. I'd tell him that of course I missed him and he replied "I missed you too. ALLLLLLL day I missed you!" He's not usually that excited to see me so I was pleasantly surprised.

We all hung out in the boys' room for a while. Both boys kept coming up to me and jumping right on top of me saying "kiss" or "huuuuuuugs" or "Mommy!" I love that.

Then the role-playing began. Soon I was covered in spider webs, courtesy of Spiderman, of course. Then Sullivan turned into the Green Goblin and chased Keats around the house. I know that Sully had zero idea what they were playing but he was laughing hysterically the entire time. Then we all turned into some creature or another, as assigned by Keats, and he proceeded to "make" us each an ice cream cone.

I am eating one right now....raspberry with caramel sauce. Mmmm. I'm not going to be the one to tell Keats but mine sorta tastes like air...next time I'll ask for more sauce. ;o)

Now we're waiting for Sullivan's pjs to dry. We ran out. He's growing like a weed and we seem to be short on his size of pjs. Oh well, they never go to sleep until ten or so anyway. I'm going to have to hit the Carter's section of Costco soon, though...don't want to do laundry every day of my life.

So.

That's today.

Last night, Mike and the boys were lounging on the couch. There was an altercation of some sort and Mike ended up saying "I think Sully might be a bigger boy than you are, Keats." Keaton's reply was "He's not bigger! I'm five!!" Sully caught on to that last statement and ran around yelling "I'M FIVE! I'M FIVE", much to Keaton's chagrin. So, Keaton's response was to yell "You are NOT five! You are TWO! I'M FIVE!!!" to which Sully replied, "I'M FIVE! I'M FIVE!!". And on and on and on it went. Sully had no idea what he was saying but he was thoroughly enjoying the rise he got out of Keats, so he continued. It was actually pretty funny. Loud, but funny just the same.

The night before last, the boys were having a hard time going to sleep. Sullivan had emptied ALL their drawers onto the floor and we had picked them up. I then tucked each boy back into bed. This was probably around 9:30 or so. A little after ten p.m. I hear some sort of rustling in their room. It almost sounded like someone straightening their covers or something like that. I heard it a few more times, and finally around 10:30 I went to see what was going on.

What saw made me laugh so hard I had to leave the room.

Sullivan had pulled out one of the large drawers that fit under the bunk beds. In it he placed all of his stuffed animals (around eight of them), his three pillows, his sheet & blanket, and his two knit blankets. He was lying in the drawer, feet hanging over the edge, casually swinging his legs outide the drawer, eyes wide open, binky in his mouth & "baby" clutched in his grip.

Of all the times I needed a camera...wouldn't you know I didn't have one nearby.

Keaton was, of course, sound asleep, which is why I had to leave the area to laugh. I can still go into fits of giggles just picturing Sully lying there in the drawer. I wish I knew what was going through his mind when he set up shop in there.

:o)

All I Did Was Take A Potty Break...

Yay!

This just happened a little while ago today....

Congress officially declares Obama next president

Banana As Art

How the banana looked when I served it to Sully.
How Sully arranged the banana before he consumed it.

His second banana of the day. Notice the interesting way he ate it. And this was precicely all he ate of this particular banana. Wouldn't you love to know what was going through his mind....

My Brother

I so rarely get to see pictures of my brother and his family. It is always a shock at how much the kids change since there is so much time between photos. I guess that is what happens when a family member lives thousands of miles away. I have not seen my brother in the flesh since 1992. Can you believe that? When the boys are old enough for the trip, Mike & I will definitely go visit my brother and family in Holland....one thing I wish we had done before having kids!

From left: Kenny (who goes by Ken now but I just cannot call my brother Ken. He is Kenny and always will be!), my sister-in-law Lydia, Mike (age 18 and apparently very tall as my brother, as I recollect, is over 6 feet tall and Lydia is almost 6 feet tall), Kayleigh (age 11), and Cindy (age 21). I hope I have all the ages right! I met Cindy and Mike as babies; the last time I saw Cindy she was about 2-1/2 and Mike was three-months-old. I have never met Kayleigh.
My brother and SIL. Great photo!

Common Sense

Escape To The Playground

These pictures are a little junky because they are from my phone camera. But they will have to do.

Yesterday afternoon, Mike suggested we all get out of the house for a while. What you may not realize is how rare a statement that is from Mike. He usually says something like "I'd rather gouge my eyes out with scissors than go to ________" Perhaps a slight exaggeration there but you get the idea. ;o)

So we loaded up the troops and headed to the carousel park downtown. The weather was nice and sunny but soooo cold. I couldn't stand being out there very long so we played for about ten minutes before we headed inside to ride the horses. I love the look of wonderment on Sullivan's face as he rides the ponies. So sweet. Of course I didn't catch a picture of the look, however, so you'll have to use your imagination.

Then we went out to dinner. Quite brave of Mike and I after the plate-throwing incident, huh? We made sure to sit far from other diners. Actually, we ate at Thompson's Brewery and, since it is inside a very old Victorian house, we were able to find a little nook in which to hide lest the plate-throwing commence. You will be happy to learn that it did not. This could be because there were no heavy bread plates handed out as well as the fact that the boys' dinners came on wicker plates covered with paper. ;o) People at Thompson's are certainly prepared for the Sullivan's of the world.

So, here are some random pics from the playground.

Sully in the sunshine
Sliiiiiiiide

Nice view, huh?

Cutie pie

'Nother cutie pie

Sunny Days

Yesterday morning I was driving the boys to the indoor playpark. It was a sunny day, just a few clouds hanging around. Keaton received a book on astronomy from Santa. We've been looking through it and he has been very interested in the sun and how huge it is compared to the planets. He is also aware that it is now winter. Our conversation, as close as I can remember it:

K: Why is the sun out? Did the earth (erf) do something wrong?
Me: What do you mean?
K: Is the erf in trouble?
Me: No. What do you mean?
K: Why is the sun so bright today?
Me: Because there aren't clouds in the sky to block the sun.
K: But it isn't summer.
Me: You're right. The sun doesn't only shine in the summer; when it shines in the winter it just isn't as warm as the summer.
K: So, it's winter, the sun is shining, but we're not in trouble?
Me: You are such an Oregonian.
K: I wish the sun would get out of my eyes. I wish the sun would disappear.
Me: But without the sun we couldn't live on the earth. We need the sun for warmth and energy.
K: You mean without the sun all the people would die?
Me: Yes.
K: And all the trees and flowers would die?
Me: Yep.
K: So there would be no more trees, no more toothpaste, no more baths, no more friends, no more indoor parks, no more Bionicles to put together....Maybe the sun should stay out today.
Me: I totally agree.

Keatonism

Last night I was putting some Desitin on Sully, just after the boys' bath. Keaton was watching intently. He said it was pretty funny that the Desitin made Sullivan's bottom look white. Next, he asked how the "white stuff" soaks into skin. I told him that it doesn't soak in as much as it protects his skin.

This statement was met with a stare. A look on Keaton's face that almost allowed sight of the gears moving in his head. Then he said, "Oh, so like how I protect my Bionicles from Sully and how you and Daddy protect kids."

Exactly :o)

E&M

Erin & Mason were here for Christmas vacation. They stopped by today before heading back to Phoenix. I begged them to pose for the camera, act like they liked each other, and smile. Lol. Erin cooperated very well, as you can see, but Mason was rebellious. Cute pictures though.

Mason has grown an amazing amount since the summer. He is now much taller than I am. Again, this is not difficult to do, but the speed with which he has grown is mind boggling. No wonder he has become so skinny: there is no way to eat enough to fuel that kind of growth without having a calorie deficit!

Welcome Baby Alex!

My blood & spit sister, Sharrie, gave birth to a baby boy yesterday afternoon. Alex Douglas Fyfe was born just after two p.m. on New Year's Eve. He was 8 lbs 2.5 ounces and 19 inches long. I met Baby Alex today and he is so cute! Not good for birth control, I'll tell you that! His weight felt so good in my arms...perfect...and he made these sweet little grunts & squeaks. That is something that I forget until I see another newborn. They are so sweet. He has dark hair, complete with side-burns. His hair & skin are so soft. Makes me want another baby! Or a few more. I wonder if Mike would rather have more kids or more kittens? Maybe we'll get another kitten soon.

Lol.

Welcome to the world, baby boy! I promise to take a gazillion pictures of you, and big sister Kenna, so prepare yourself for lots of flashes!

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was pretty fun for us. Some friends came over with their two little boys, ages 5-1/2 and newly-turned-one-year. The boys played together remarkably well until 10:30 or so. A few problems but that is totally expected. I am so surprised, and happy, that they were able to keep it together since that meant the parents could all stay up & talk. ;o) This is only the second time our boys have been able to stay up with other kids; usually these things end in tantrums or fighting/whining....something along those lines. We had a great time.

Best picture of the night. The boys were having so much fun wrestling and jumping on the couch!

Wrestling match.
More wrestling match.

Keaton riding around in the Tonka truck.

The boys frosted their own cupcakes...or, truthfully, Sully just ate the frosting and then crumbled the cupcake all over the table/floor. ;o)