All My Fans...

C and I have discovered that we can skip the hour long build up and find out who was eliminated from American Idol by looking online. The best part is we can check at 10:00 P.M. Eastern time, 7:00 for us. Added bonus, no commercial interruptions, and since the boys really don't get to watch T.V. except for a little bit of American Idol, and some Olympics last month, this arrangement really works out.

Last night C and I were checking online to see who was eliminated from American Idol when C asserted, "Mama, I bet you could at least make it to Hollywood on American Idol." I laughed, "Oh, I don't think so." If you haven't heard me sing, you are fortunate. While I do enjoy both singing and dancing, I realize (unlike so many would be American Idol contestants) that it just isn't my thing. But C insisted, "You could, right K?" K who must also share C's finely tuned musical ear was eager to agree. So, I told C I was happy that two boys in the country would put me through to Hollywood. C was not ready to relent, and looked to Johan to swell the numbers of my fan club, "Papa, don't you think Mama could make it to Hollywood." Johan, who had been listening to the conversation with an amused smirk answered, "I would vote for Mama." The hint of sarcasm was not overlooked by C, but he really was truly appalled that I am not an American Idol.

I believe C hatched his American Idol dreams for me on Tuesday night. One of the contestants (Johan's favorite) on American Idol sang a Janis Joplin song that C has had the good fortune of hearing me sing on more than one occasion. He turned to me excitedly as Crystal began her second verse of "Bobby McGee," "Mama, you can sing this!"

And so it is that my fan club is at capacity, thank you C and K. I hope the club has the same membership when C is 16 and K is 14, with perhaps the addition of a little girl...A (?), who will be 7.

More Water Fowl

We have ducks! Last week while the boys were with Oma and Opa I was assigned the task of getting into Big R in the morning to purchase more ducks, after our failed attempt the previous week. I arrived a little before 10:00 only to discover that the ducks were nearly gone. Just 3 ducks remained from their entire shipment. So I claimed those three ducks, and handed custody over to Nikki whose boys were in town and were also eager for ducklings to take up residence in their garage. The ducks returned to our house on Friday as the O'Leary's were headed out of town and C and K were coming home.



Yesterday another shipment was due in at Big R and we were ready. This time we weren't taking any chances, we arrived just after they opened at 8:00. C and K each selected another duck for themselves, as well as one each for their friends the O'Leary boys and the Michaelis girls. We now have 8 ducklings in garage (unfortunately one of the first three ducks died sometime during its first night). Two of the ducks will go to the O'Leary's and two to the Michaelis' when they return from Hawaii. In about two months when they all have their feathers they will be reunited at the Homedale chicken co-op.



Here are some shots of the newest members of our flock.

Competition Anyone?

Saturday, March 13, the boys participated in the annual "Run for the Music." This is a one mile kids race that benefits the KU band. We have been gearing up for this race for weeks now. This is their third year running it, so they know what to expect and the excitement is free to mount. Weather and time permitting (and this is a liberal assessment, spring in Klamath Falls means snow, rain, sun, and wind -- sometimes all in the same day) in the days leading up to the big race the boys would ask me to drop them off about a mile from our house so they could run the rest of the way home as part of their training. This is an uphill mile, so it is a pretty good work out.

Race morning dawned clear, but icy cold. Containing the boys' excitement was difficult. I was still in the shower when the boys kept coming in asking if I thought these shorts, or these pants would be faster. They really wanted to wear "fast" shorts, but due to the temperature which would top out at 38 degrees on Saturday and wasn't quite past freezing in the morning I persuaded them to go for some "fast" sweatpants.

When we arrived, the boys were anxious to get themselves to the starting line. Both boys required some last minute bib number adjustments, but then they were off. I took my time getting to the starting line, chatting with friends, etc. When I got there my Oregon boys were really, really ready. They had both negotiated a position at the front of the pack. I took the time before the start to snap a few pictures, but the boys only begrudgingly participated. Perhaps they thought I was holding up the start? At last, with a blast of the trumpet, the racers were underway.

The race would encompass two extended laps of the KU track. C was in third place overall, second in his age division, as he completed the first lap. You could see the pain and determination written all over his face. His lungs were burning from the cold, but he wouldn't be giving up. I don't know where K was in the pack, but when he finished his first lap, he was clutching his side and his red cheeks betrayed the pain in his lungs from the icy cold air.

Near the finish line C was pushing hard, but had fallen back just a bit. He finished 4th overall and 2nd in his age division. K finished well before I expected him to. I was still busy snapping finish-line photos of C when I realized K was already in the finishing chute. So unfortunately I don't have pictures of his final sprint to post. But from the red faces I am assured that both boys worked very hard and tried their best.

K finished 8th overall and 1st in his age division! Congratulations boys, you are both great competitors. Here is a shot of K modeling his 1st place medal.

At the awards ceremony K claimed his medal and later won a cool Captain America wall sticker in the drawing. C won 3 free ice cream cones from Baskin Robbins in the drawing. A pretty good morning.

Growing Our Flock

Although the thermometer doesn't reflect it, the calendar tells us that spring is on its way. All year we have talked about adding more chickens to our flock, and both boys have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of spring, and warmer weather so that we might safely add chicks to our small chicken co-op. The marquee sign outside Big-R announced this week, "WE HAVE CHICKS!" So the boys quickly concluded that the time has come...

We headed down to Big-R this weekend with the intention of picking up a couple of ducks. Unfortunately Nikki had been misinformed, we'll have to wait until next Wednesday for the ducklings. In the meantime, Big-R did have an incubator. We bought an incubator so that we can attempt to hatch some of our own eggs. I am quite hopeful about the chicken eggs. However, due to some unfortunate losses early in the winter we no longer have any male ducks. I tried to explain to the boys that the duck eggs are not fertilized and therefore will not hatch. They would hear little of my "junk science." K insisted that one of the ducks that I believe to be a female is in fact a male, as he witnessed it trying to jump on one of the other ducks just like "Lightning" (our deceased male duck) used to do. He may be onto something, could there be another male? Time will tell...

Tonight we put 2 duck eggs and 10 chicken eggs into the incubator.



Here is a shot of our new incubator. Oh yes, it is made entirely of styrofoam, and oh yes it cost about $60...

In a couple of days we can "candle" them. By putting a tiny hole in a shoe box and placing the egg on the hole, then shining a bright light at the egg we should be able to tell whether anything is growing inside our incubating eggs. If the light shines through in a uniform manner, no chick. But, if the light is obscured, and there is some opaque matter inside the egg, look out... If all goes well in 21 days the eggs will hatch! I have two extremely excited boys right now. All evening they were running into the room where the incubator is, checking temperatures, and reporting to me the minuscule progress of the egg turner. So minuscule that the package warned that the turner moves so slowly that it may be undetectable to the human eye.

I am still a little hung up on the 21 days... I have been pregnant for months now, and still have 87 days to go! Oh yeah and, these chickens just set their babies down in a pile of dirty straw and hope some other mother will come sit on them for a while!

Green Belt

Tonight the boys tested for their green belts in Tae Kwon Do. I really, really like Master Church, the owner of the do jung. He demands excellence and respect from all of his students. Master Church means business. At one point a student slouched while he was answering questions during the oral portion of the test, Master Church was extremely displeased. He launched into a mini-tirade about how casual kids are. Later when he asked another student about what chores he does at home and the student answered that he cleans his room, Master Church stopped the testing. He wanted everyone to know that cleaning your room is not a chore it is a privilege; because you are lucky to have a room. He wanted to be clear that a chore is something that is done to help the family and make mom/dad's life easier. The testing procedure is a great, albeit stressful experience, for the kids. They have to perform individually in front of all their peers and the spectating adults. In addition to knowing their poonse, they have to know vocabulary, and some tae kwon do history/concepts.

Here is K doing his poonse.

C doing his poonse.

And I am loving this...here are two videos of the boys breaking boards!

The boys' efforts were successful. Here are the two newly minted green belts.

9 Years

9 years ago Johan and I became parents, and we have been truly blessed everyday since. C amazes us everyday. We constantly marvel at how we didn't know we were missing anything pre-C, but we can not imagine a world without him. He is our baby, and he is now 9 years old!

C's big birthday was similar to K's. Instead of Dutch pancakes, C choose fluffy pancakes. After pancakes C opened his gifts. Like K he got a new air gun. Instead of Risk, we all got to play Axis and Allies. If you don't have 12 hours to spare, this is not the game for you. If you or some one you know likes to play this game, please let me know. Let's get them together with C. This is absolutely C's type of game. It has war, strategy, tiny little tanks and soldiers, some historical basis, head to head dice rolling, and it requires intensity. Unfortunately none of us had very good poker faces today. About an hour into the game C looked around and said, "I think we should stop, I don't think you are having fun." He was right, but Johan and I tried to encourage him. "It's your day, you choose what we do!" K gave us up though. He was not enthralled and he wasn't going to allow Johan and I to carry on the charade that we were obviously not even very good at.

Here are some shots of C opening his presents. Here he is with his new air gun.

Here he is opening a treasure hunt game from Nana.

Clothes from Nana...

This is actually the first present that he went for. He thought it was Axis and Allies, and he was right.

So the boys started on their X-Box time. Johan started ripping out carpet in the basement, because Reuben was coming to install some new tile. C didn't want to go out for lunch, his tastes are more epicurean, he requested macaroni and cheese. Good thing we stayed home because we were there when these balloons from Oma and Opa arrived.

Next we had to take care of a few things at the center, then I took the boys to Borders so they could spend their gift cards from Nana.

After some running around to gather the necessary tile supplies, K and I went to Fred Meyer so K could choose a last minute gift for C. Then we raced back to the center to get C and Johan. At the last minute C decided he would rather go to the movies than the climbing gym. So we were off to see The Rock starring in "Tooth Fairy." The boys enjoyed it, Johan and I tolerated it.

After "Tooth Fairy," we had dinner at Abby's Pizza. Damien was in town bringing us another load of cabinets for the center, so he joined us for dinner. After pizza we headed home for ice cream cake, and a little more X-box time. Johan and Damian finished ripping out the rest of the carpet in the basement then headed over to the center to unload. I stayed home to tuck in my 9 year old baby. And the birthday season comes to a close, until Oma and Opa arrive this weekend, for birthday redux.

I can't believe that 9 years have raced past. Oh, I pray that these boys know how much they are loved, and that they grow up to be good men who love the Lord.

Portland

This weekend we took the boys to Portland. We used their birthdays as an excuse to take them to the city for a trip to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) throw in some pizza and fun hotel pool time, it all adds up to a great weekend for two boys. Fortunately, our good friends the Edwards were also headed to Portland for the weekend. So the boys got to have their friends M, A, A, R, and S (yes they have 5 kids) at the hotel with them. We were able to get adjoining rooms. A bonus because Jeff and Teresa had a military function to attend on Saturday night and Johan and I were the babysitters.

I think everyone who knows the Edwards has a great story to tell about their third child/second son, "A." I had a few of my own, but this weekend I got to add another to my collection of "A" stories. We were staying at the Embassy Suites, Johan and I were taking our time at breakfast with Jeff and Teresa, the kids had all wandered off and were checking out the fish in the water. One of the hotel staff gave "A" some fish food. He was thrilled to have this big responsibility all to himself. He was off to the feed the fish. Not two minutes later "A's" older sister, also "A," came around the corner to announce, "'A' Fell in the water." Immediately following this, "A," rounds the same corner completely soaked. He must have gone in head first, he wasn't just wading in the pond, he had been swimming! Classic "A." Unfortunately we were not quick enough to capture the moment on film.

After "A" dried out we all headed for OMSI. A great place for kids. The boys loved the Chemistry lab.

OMSI had a great exhibit about the Apollo missions to the moon. The highlight was this contraption.

The kids got to sit and pedal on these recumbent cycles that were all mounted together and spun around in a circle. The exhibit demonstrated how astronauts must first generate some G forces in order to get an effective workout in space.

After OMSI we took the boys through downtown quickly. Then it was back to the hotel for our babysitting duties. Johan and I were a bit nervous about taking on seven kids, but it worked out beautifully. All the kids were great. We took them swimming, then had some pizza, ordered an on-demand movie and then everyone fell asleep. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the kids swimming. This pool was filled with kids. We brought seven, and with my pregnant belly I am sure the other guests thought we were a bit off. There were a ton of kids swimming, I had to feel bad for the couple that thought they were headed to the hot tub for a quiet romantic evening. Not this time. There were easily 15 kids swimming, shooting water guns, and throwing diving rings.

We headed home on Sunday. Birthday Season Part II was a success.

When was the last time?

I can not remember the last time I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. Today C was literally counting hours and minutes until his birthday. He knows that he was born at 3:52 AM and was eagerly anticipating the moment of his birth. By dinner he was barely able to contain himself. The energy was literally oozing out of him.

We have bouncy balls that the boys use as chairs for home school (I read that boys need to move, and the moving chairs help them focus their energy). Tonight, on his bouncy chair, he was in complete motion. Bouncing up and down singing, "Tomorrow is my birthday, tomorrow is my birthday, tomorrow is my birthday...."

When I tucked the boys in I made the mistake of telling C that it would feel like his birthday is coming faster if he falls asleep quickly. Unfortunately this resulted in tremendous pressure to fall asleep, which of course never works. The more he told himself he wanted to sleep the worse things became. By 10:30 he was so frustrated, and anxious about falling asleep that his heart was racing. He had been in and out of bed every 10 minutes for two hours. C insisted, "I don't want to be tired on my birthday." But nothing was working for him, even his feet and legs had apparently mutinied, "Every time I fall asleep, my feet and legs hurt or tingle." We tried everything from stretching, to counting sleep, to mentally rehearsing his tae kwon do moves. I even tried some mental manipulation; me telling him to try not to fall asleep. Finally Johan decided to go lay with him. Minutes later C is out of bed and Johan is sound asleep with C's pillow and blankets.

So I asked him to come sit next to me. His body relented sometime while I was typing this post. At last my very nearly nine year old baby is sleeping next to me on the sofa. Goodnight birthday boy. We love you.

Cone Head

There is something inherently funny about a dog with a cone on his head. Can you look at a dog with a cone on his head and not chuckle? At least a little bit? When I picked Max up from his stay at the "Doggie Hotel" I was amused to discover that he had his very own "Cone Head." This particular cone is technically called an Elizabethan Collar. While he was staying at the kennel we had the vet look at a sore that had appeared on Max's back. It turned out to be a benign fatty cyst. His second, and apparently likely not his last. One fatty cyst means a dog may be prone to more (this animal is getting more and more expensive)... The vet commented that Max seemed to like his cone, he was wagging his tail in a big way back in his kennel with his cone. I noted that, "He's a standard poodle, they can't help but like accessories."

Here is a shot of max sporting his new accessory.

And a shot of Princess, our extremely skittish cat, checking him out.

Princess is very leery of new people, new situations, new furniture, new anything, but she loves Max. However, she is not a fan of the new cone, she usually loves Max and will cuddle up to him as often as he will tolerate it, but right now she doesn't know what to think. This picture doesn't do her heightened level of alarm justice...

A couple more shots of Max.

I don't have any video to add, but it is hilarious to watch him maneuver with his Elizabethan collar. When your head is suddenly more broad than your shoulders negotiating through doorways, down hallways, etc. is really quite challenging. Drinking and eating with your cone on is also quite difficult, although rather entertaining for spectators.