And The Living Is Easy

Summertime! Summer finally came to Seattle! Okay, so we've had some really beautiful weather throughout May, but the first two weeks of June were rough. Not entirely surprising, as it has been this way at least for the last two summers as well, but rough, nonetheless, when you can't wait to get to outside activities and kids start getting cabin fever, etc. So, to honor the gorgeous 70-something degree weather we had today (have I mentioned how much I adore summer in Seattle... seriously... gorgeous, but I digress...), we went for a hike/beach trip at Discovery. The boys were troopers and did mostly the entire thing by themselves (Caleb had to be carried once or twice just for a few minutes). And mom was a trooper, too! Re-injured toe and all. (Yes, a couple of days ago, I slammed my newly healed broken toe into a large metal hand weight that had been left in the middle of the floor, hiding under a blanket... living room forts are dangerous things). Anyway...

Not to mention, it was low tide, and I did the ultimately momly thing and trudged out through the muck and seaweed to look at cool things with my kids, touch detached crab claws, open up empty clam shells, and show them the difference between clams, oysters, mussels, and abalone shells. That's right, I AM patting myself on the back right now. It was one of those rare moments when somewhere in the back of my brain, all the seemingly useless trivia that I have stored up from years of animal planet, discovery channel, and various other facty tidbit shows and books all came together and I was able to sound really smart and amazing to my 4 and 2 year olds. Go, mom! Although, mom DID forget to bring a camera and consequently has no pictures to document said event. Oh well, you can't win 'em all, I suppose. And now I am off to sew a zillion tiny ties for Father's Day Keychains... Good times.

The Prayer of a Two Year Old...Boy.

Warning...totally inappropriate, and potentially sacreligious, content ahead.

My two-year old is obsessed with bums. Bummy heads, bummy bums, bum anything. Sometimes he just calls people bums for fun. They were at a friends house playing one night, and when I came to pick them up and I told him to say bye to his friends, he shouted, "Bye, bums!" (to a chorus of snickers and laughter, of course... everything seems cute when you're two, right?)

I don't think I realized the extent of the obsession until tonight's prayer before bed. Caleb has taken to saying his own prayers "by himself" before bedtime. Liam's often include being thankful for the house, the street, the parks, the parking lot, and all the people, and anything else he can think of in that moment. Caleb, apparently taking somewhat of a cue from Liam, said a prayer that went something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I love to eat my food. (pause)

I love to eat...(pause, at which point he clearly lost his train of thought...I hope)

All the people's bums and parts and everything.

Yep. My little angel.

Just One Of Those Days

Thought I'd be a good mom today and take my kids to the zoo...spent the whole time being frustrated and playing "mean mommy". Thought I'd have some comfort food, but can't eat much of anything due to a sore mouth (my own fault from too many potato chips this week - lame!). Watching Cash Cab and realizing that I didn't know any of the answers...even the $25 ones. Talk about feeling not so smart... *sigh* Here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Trying to catch up

Most of my recent posts are outdated already, but I am frantically trying to catch up on what has been happening of note lately. So today, it's Caleb's chin and stitches.

In April, Caleb fell while climbing on the retaining wall and split open his chin...on a Sunday evening about an hour after his doctor's office closed. It was a pretty bad gash and wouldn't stop bleeding, so after a brief moment to calm him down and look up online where the nearest emergency room was, we headed out. Horrific experience with my 2 year old crying and shouting "Don't hold me down, dad! I have to get up! Don't hold me, Dad!" By the time they were done with his four stitches, he was like a cornered animal...didn't want anyone to touch him or hold him or get near him. Cried his way out to the car, clutching his juice cup (which he would not drink...probably didn't trust me anymore, so didn't know what I put in it, poor guy).

The following night, he tripped on the stairs and hit his chin again. It pulled the wound a little more open, but not enough that we were going to put him through that again. We figured a little more noticeable scar would not harm him in life. The first of many, I'm sure...

Self-Governing

Liam put himself down for a nap at noon today. Told me he was hungry at 11:30, ate his lunch, then announced he was going upstairs to take a rest. When I went up to check on him, the lights were out, the curtains drawn (as best he could), and he was snoring peacefully. Huh. Now if only Caleb would be so open to rest time.

The "After"

And "after":

I'm a so thrilled with the way it all turned out! It's totally us, and I think we managed a nice blend of Andrew's desire for modern and my desire for a little more traditional. The tub is amazing and the boys love it. And having two sink has done wonders for the fighting over who's turn it is to brush and wash. All along I have said that as soon as it's done, I will not remodel anything for a long time... and now, all I can think about is what I would do in the downstairs bath... hmm... :)

The Before

Everyone always says you are supposed to take pictures of a room before you renovate/redecorate, etc. right? Well, when you don't actually plan to renovate you don't exactly do that. So, since our bathroom reno was "spur of the moment", shall we say? I realized that I have no pictures of the "before". So, I sorted through my photos, found the few that had, combined them with a few of the partial demolition (which shows the tub and shower tile still intact), and took a few of the downstairs bathroom, which had the same vanity, light fixture style, etc. to get a sense of the before...and here they are:

The downstairs bathroom

The half demo-ed upstairs

The story...

The bathroom saga begins.

So, this is going to be a long one. I'm writing it down for me, so that I can find it funny someday. Here is how it all happened:

The boys are no longer napping so we were trying upstairs play time while mommy does her stuff, also known as "mommy time". (We are no longer doing this due to the events of the day in question). The boys were upstairs playing and I was on the computer and watching some TV. I heard someone washing their hands and listened carefully to make sure the water went off. it did. Or so I thought it did. I heard them playing in the bathroom, which is not that unusual because they love to play skateboards in the empty tub, so I didn't give it much thought. I heard the water go on another time or two but figured someone had use the bathroom and was washing their hands. And I listened each time to make sure it went off, and it did. Turns out it didn't! They were apparently turning it just low enough so that it sounded like it was off. They're devious! They are 4 and 2 and they are already devious! Anyway...I digress.

As I was sitting downstairs, I heard the sound of dripping behind me, so I turned to look at the window and realized that there was water steadily dripping from the top of the window box. Considering that their bathroom is upstairs in the middle of the house, and the window is on the outside wall of the downstairs...let's just say I was more than alarmed. I rushed upstairs to fins them both sitting naked on the countertop in a flooded bathroom. They had plugged the sink and turned the water low enough to be not be heard but to fill the sink. And they

were splashing...everywhere. And throwing water at each other and the walls. There was water covering the entire floor, and pouring down the heating vent (which, as it turns out, is how to travelled to the various places it did). After a total freak out, and naked boys in their bedroom timeout, and several large soaking bath towels later, I calmed down enough to call Andrew and figure out what to do. By the time I started calling "restoration" places, it was well into the evening. So, cleanup did not even start until almost 9pm. The cleanup guys started their assessment, moved some furniture, put in some fans and scheduled to come do demo the following day. Three days of fans and destruction, days of having half a family room, and weeks of construction ensued, and I'm getting typing tired, so now I will just post some pictures:

Our Half a Family Room

The other half of the room

A Good Time

Took the kids to the park today for "scootering". They had a wonderful time. I tried not to think about all the things at home that I was not getting done. It's hard to care, though, when your two year old says such adorable things as he does. I was sitting on the bench and he would "scoot" over to me and climb up and sit down for a minute or two. Then he would climb down and say "I had a good time with you, Mom, but now I have to go scoot." Love that kid.

Incidentally, their favorite bedtime story is about a little boy "scooting". Well, at least it starts out that way. Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie. Such a cute book!

Memory Loss

So, at the Home Depot today to return a few things and pick up a few things (now that the bathroom is done)...got some things returned, but neglected to even look for the few things I needed for the bathroom (a tightening screw, and some other watchamacallits). That's right... no list, no memory. Sheesh. But, at least the boys are in the backyard enjoying all the beautiful sunshine today. :)