June Cleaver Nirvana

Mommy, can we go somewhere?
Let's visit the big happy blue box, IKEA:


I think I should have brought a towel:



Let's go home together:
Choose your own adventure at Lotus' Place.

I took this picture standing on my driveway.

I love my trees. They are absolutely beautiful. It a mini-forest. In the spring and summer the foliage is so thick it obscures all views of neighbors. It feels very treehousish.

I took this picture standing on my driveway.

I love my creek. It is absolutely beautiful. It is a mini-river. There is always a bit of water that saunters and meanders around the side of the house and through the backyard. It feels very moatish.

I took this picture standing on my driveway.

I love my boys. They also love the trees and the creek. They fleece the trees of their leaves creating mini-boats for the mini-river. They experience the creek. Not from the driveway basking in its beauty, but a bit closer. Close enough to fall in. Close enough to fall in daily. It feels very adventurish.

I took this picture standing on my driveway.

I love my trees, creek and boys. I think I will go do laundry now because I took this picture standing on my driveway...

We took a train ride back in time...
to log cabin village.
We watched a blacksmith
and ran along tree covered paths.
I wouldn't trade my washing machine for this...
but would love an herb drying cabin in my backyard.
We watched the waterwheel splash
which made the mill work.



Fast forward a century and a bit to Lunar golf.





Who knows what today holds...


Join our tour guide Sarcastic Mom for some more journeys along the time-space-place continuum.

Boys peer at dog through dry cleaner's window (bonus reflection material: 2/3 of me and 1/3 of the minivan).

This morning, it was just the sweetest moment for me. I walked out of my bedroom into the living room and encountered this brotherly love:I grabbed a camera quickly because I know that these moments don't last...



In fact, within 30 seconds that beautiful moment had degraded to this:
Which became a mommy enforced moment(or 5):

Post note: I just figured out that I could get the pictures...so this post has been revised for your viewing pleasure:

Getting what you pay for is a funny thing. When you get a bargain and beat the system you are sitting in butter (obscure Wings reference), most of the time it equalizes and then there are times when things go awry...

Disclaimer: I am about to throw Sears Portrait Studio under the bus. I have had a long lasting friendship with them starting with monthly pictures for the first year of life for each of the boys, plus yearly Christmas quilt pictures, plus the random "necessary" portraits. I know their system, bring my own props, direct the shoot and walk away with oodles of sheets of pictures for crazy-cheap prices.

Yesterday my mom and I took the boys into Sears Portrait Studio to do the annual Christmas quilt picture . When we arrived the studio was deserted (why I do this in January) with just one photographer who appeared a bit bothered that we had actually showed up for the appointment, let alone a few minutes early. I explained to her that I brought the quilt and how they had attached it for a background for the last 6 years, etc. She took it and started what turned out to be a 15 minute process of setting up the quilt. When I jumped in to help she was not very responsive so I stepped back and let her do it. Finally, she got the older boys kneeling behind a chair the baby was to sit in. The baby freaked and we spent 5 minutes bribing, cajoling, tricking the baby into the chair. Then one, two, three I pop the binky out of the baby's mouth for the picture and....nothing...no picture. No series of flashes capturing anything! So, I say, "I am going to pull the binky out so you can get a picture." Meanwhile, she is fussing at the older boys for moving (they have been amazing little statues for 8 minutes kneeling). One, two, three...out goes the binky...pause..."OK, we are ready!" I shout...one flash:

Get everyone settled once again...one, two, three out comes binky...pause...crickets...and finally...flash:

By this point the older boys are legitimately complaining and needing to move to a more comfortable position. I ask if we can switch poses. She grudgingly states that this is the only way she can get a portrait 5x7 like I requested. Hmmm...that is weird, I guess all portrait 5x7 pictures in the entire universe of 3 boys have two on their knees and one in a small, white wicker chair in front of them. I calmly suggest that they all sit. She says that won't work. She gets a phone call. I see several red blocks, set them up, get two boys sitting and one standing and when she comes in I announce, "we are ready!" She gets behind the camera...one, two, three...I pop the binky....nothing...nothing...one flash:

The boys are off in 3 different directions. I say, "OK, we are finished". She says, "I have to get individual pictures". I say, "I am not going to buy individual pictures". She proceeds to get set up for individual pictures. First boy...sitting by himself...almost in tears...she is strongly stating, "smile! I can't take the picture until you smile!" It was so ugly that my mom stepped in and said, "here lets take a picture on grandma's lap" so she got positioned and flash:

Whew...on to boy two on grandma's lap...boy two is so upset by now that he is fidgeting and grandma is gently rocking him..."stop moving! I can't take the picture if you move like that"...boy still upset, grandma gently rocking to soothe boy..."stop moving!" "Take the picture!" I yell...and flash:

That is enough! I say, "we are done". Grandma takes the boys and heads to the mall play area. The photographer starts to chase them. I say, "what are you doing?" She says, "MA'AM, I CAN'T EVEN SHOW YOU THESE PICTURES UNTIL I HAVE 6". We have been there for 30 minutes and she only has 5 shots. I say loudly, "TAKE MY PICTURE NOW!" And so she poses me sideways to the camera, looking over my shoulder and with both thumbs in the back pocket of my mommy jean capris. It was the most surreal, ridiculous situation.

I am so glad you can see the pleasant "mommy about to make the 6 o'clock news with violent attack on photographer at local department store" expression on my face. She had her 6 shots. I bought the one 5x7 of the first shot taken to proudly display next Christmas.


Thanks to Scary Mommy for adding a Mr. Linky reason for me to link to this...one of my favorite posts.

My mother-in-law gave me this Christmas quilt at my baby shower when I was pregnant with Ryan. I love it. Every year I have dragged the boys to Sears for portraits in front of it. This is last year's picture. We haven't taken the historic picture yet this year because I avoid the studio and its complete choas during this time of year--early January is so peaceful! I have them framed in identical 5x7 frames that I set out during the holidays. They are my absolute favorite things to unpack when decorating for Christmas. None of the pictures are perfect portraits, but when placed together they tell a story about a family expanding, embracing and trying to sit still.

Here is an approved pictures from the carriage ride party . Thanks to Little Faces Photography, my eyes are not fully closed in this one. I even have one of the carriage and horses that looks like a carriage and horses that I would totally post if I could figure out how to post more than one picture at a time without having crazy spatial problems. By the way, blog-Stedman had to work that night and was not just being paparazzi-shy.

So, Jodi volunteered cottage cheese loaf for the potluck and I am bringing my grandma's famous garbanzo taffy. I just have a little advice that you might want to skip the food and head right for the beverages.

I have decided to stop living on the edge. As a declaration to the world to that effect, I filled up my gas tank on Monday when the gauge wasn't even within 3/16 of the "E" position. It occurred to me that it wouldn't be much fun, very safe or even super responsible of me to run out of gas with a minivan full of kids. It is not that I chose to be this way. I was born and reared this way. I feel fully confident throwing my dad under the bus for this one, especially since he was the hero of my last story. My dad, and I am not exaggerating in this area, has never filled up a gas tank that is not already running on fumes. I remember car trips across the country (these stories will be saved for other blogs when I have ALOT more time) in which my mom lead us in fervent prayer that a gas station could miraculously appear in the middle of West Texas, West Nebraska, Southern Oregon, anywhere in Utah or seriously northern California. The only time in my whole life that I have run out of gas was when I borrowed my dad's car and COULDN'T EVEN MAKE IT THE 2 MILES TO THE GAS STATION! I don't even need a big bill and a couch to figure this one out...it is not my fault! Fast forward to blog-Stedman's side of the story. Blog-Stedman fills up the car any time that it is around the 1/2 full mark (which prior to kids I just felt was the hugest waste of time). So whenever he drives my car he ends up filling it up because of course it is 1/2 full or lower, much lower. This drives him literally insane and while that is entertaining (and I save myself a trip to the pump) it isn't nice or responsible. I have figured out with this simple step toward adulthood I get a bonus of improving my marriage. Here's to spending less then $50 every time I fill up!

I have been working on my Christmas cards for 132 days now (that may be a slight exaggeration in physical time, but not mental time which totally counts!)...it is NEVER going to end. The problem is that I am trying to coordinate/consolidate/collate/perpetuate/ridiculate my list to one concise and comprehensive list. When this is completed angels will sing, nutcrackers will dance and hell will have frozen over. I know enough about creating printed label lists to be doing my cards by hand from 4 different lists and the envelopes of cards I receive. Hint, hint: get your card to me early and receive your card in time for Christmas! In my dreams, after the holiday season I will have entered everyone's complete information, including email address and phone number into my phone which can be sync'd for label prep. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm hanging onto the dream...

We tried an experiment today: four boys (ages 4,4,5 and 6) with a yoga teacher for one hour--sounds impossible? It was fabulous! I have never seen such quiet, well-behaved, attentive, downright zen kids and I am happy to report that 2 of them were mine--yeah! She started out with breathing training and then they played like they were all kinds of animals. You can see their spiderman pose to the right. One funny thing is that the kids took really naturally to child's pose--hmmmm. Ryan was really good at following directions and really showed great concentration. Reid (who is not very coordinated in karate) looked like he had been doing yoga for years. He caught on very quickly to the poses and was making up his own poses by the end.

I was trying not to take pictures with a flash because I didn't want to disturb such serenity. Next time I need a video camera! The boys were dressed to go to karate afterward, but they had so much fun and were totally worn-out afterward so we will do our karate another day. The picture to the left is of 4 boys perfectly posed.

We are trying to find a time to do a weekly class because I think the breathing control, flexibility and balance training and moments of quiet are pretty big things to little boys.

Getting a picture of three boys is like herding cats. I try every few weeks hoping that someday we will get one that has good expressions on EACH boy's face. This, of course, is part of the fantasy world in which I live. I chose this one because they are all standing in the same vicinity, looking at the camera and the expressions are pretty characteristic of their unique personalities. I will someday learn to paste this URL into my profile, but for now....baby steps to the elevator...I am just thrilled that it shows up anywhere.

Might I mention that tonight is the scarriest night of the year? When you have 3 children that regularly wake up at 5:30 am and then toss in a time change that ADDS an hour it is a recipe for mommy getting up at do I dare say 4:30? I think I better get to bed. Halloween doesn't scare me, but daylight savings time is quite frightening.