I heart Summer.

Hey there! Already we find ourselves mid-Summer...relaxed, tanned, sticky dirty with the fun of the day. Come inside, won't you?

 My living room and "sewing studio". Ha. 
I have many projects in the works and my little sewing corner in Matt's office just wasn't working so I expanded into the living room. Consequently, both my bigs have requested and received multiple sewing lessons. It's been fun. Not much sewing happens when my babe is awake - he just wants to be right in the middle of whatever I'm doing and it's darn near impossible to sew with a cutie on my lap. I squeeze it in when I can. :)

This is how three boys fit into a 12 x 12 bedroom: bunk beds and a toddler-sized bed. Sawyer has half the drawers in the dresser and the twins share the other half. Each boy has a basket with wheels, stored under the bottom bunk bed, to keep their personal treasures. It works for now! And, no, their room is not always this clean. :) But seriously, it has to stay pretty clean or the 3 growing boys will not fit in it.

 T-Ball! We survived enjoyed a busy season of t-ball. M and S were on a team together and Sawyer had his own team. They all improved a great deal from the first game to the last. (That first game was painful.) 

T-ball revealed the competitive nature in Sawdog. We would have to pull him off the field every now and then so his teammates could have a turn catching the ball. T-ball also inspired a love of baseball caps in our middle child. He puts one on first thing and watches morning cartoons in his hat and unders.

 An adventurous (and rare) morning of peaceful playing amongst all three bigs. This is their "spy" get-up. I incorrectly called them explorers. Duh.

 Sweet and sunny Gunnie relaxing on the front porch.

 Independence Day found us celebrating with friends at the Oberly's BBQ, swimming, eating, and blowing up all kinds of fireworks and miscellaneous yard toys.

 "Purple Smoke Bomb in Camp Kettle"...by Mason.

 There are so many wonderful boys in my life! Consequently, much food is consumed around this table - many times a day.

Mmmmmm - scrumptious boy eating (and wearing) an ice cream sandwich.

T-ball.

The week after school let out, the three older boys (and friends) attended Vacation Bible School: Kingdom Rock. They had a fabulous time and it helped Mama ease into summer vacation.

 Watching my boys praise Jesus...my cup runneth over!

 

 Sawyer Eames is quite the character. There is nothing "reserved" about him - an endearing quality. Matt took him into the mountains to set a tree stand and this is before, during, and after the adventure. (*That's a SpiderMan band-aid near his ear - not blood.)

This handsome trout-slayer is busy, busy with work this summer. (God continues to sustain and grow our home-building business.) Not one to let a Bozeman summer go untapped, he's also been golfing, fishing, scouting, shooting his bow and camping with one, two, or three of his boys tagging along.

Okay, that about sums up the flourish of activity in our summer thus far. Happy Summer-ing!

HIghlight reel

 Here are some highlights from April, May and part of June. Oi.

::April::

Mason and Smith turned 6! Per their usual, they both requested brownies rather than cake. We celebrated at Chuck E Cheese first (no pics of that) and then finished up at Ma & Pa Myers' for dessert, fire, and presents.

The men enjoying the new fire-pit at my folks'. The pics don't show it, but Ma and Pa Sky, Ma and Pa Myers, the Wilsons, one Bedford, and all the Perrines joined us in celebrating Mason and Smith...and braved Chuck E Cheese on a Saturday night. Thanks all!

 In a surprising twist, our boys are really into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Most of their gifts were TMNT themed. Here I am feeling extremely jealous of Mason's nun-chucks. They were first introduced to the Turtles by Matt, who felt Ninjago (lego ninjas) were silly and mutant ninja turtles were awesome. Obviously.

This little-big one continues to bring us much joy and laughter and sweetness. It's good to have a "baby" around. Wherever we go, he makes friends quickly - grabbing onto stranger's legs, petting large dogs, sitting with anyone with snacks at the park, stealing random water bottles for a drink. Last week, there was a kind mama sitting on the floor nursing her baby while her toddler played nearby at the toy store. Gunner just toddled right over to her and sat in her lap...for a while. People say, "Oh, he thinks I'm you (Me)"...nope, he just loves everyone. And he makes eye contact right away - which is unusual for a 16 month-old. His blue-eyes-like-his-mama are an unexpected, but much loved, gift from my gracious God. 

::May::

May was both unusually hot and cold. I found kid-sized work gloves and it was the best $5 I've ever spent. There's something about work gloves that inspires my boys to work - digging, building, collecting, sweeping, destroying. You know what they say about idle hands...

The warmer weather inspired many games of basketball. Love how the twins set up chairs for spectating.

Gunner George ate and enjoyed many a Nutella-covered banana.

Ma and Pa Myers came up for a visit - we have such great families. And really, what Grammie could stay away from these rosy-cheeked little cherubs?

 

Me and my littles enjoyed the last few days of our routine while the bigs were at school: cartoons, errands, naps, Target/Costco, etc. 

::June::

 The last day of school! We met Naomi and her crew at the Hawaiian Ice stand for a last-day-of-school treat.

 I am approaching summer with both joy and trepidation. I am excited for my boys to soak up all the awesomeness of summer, especially now that the bigs are school-bound. However, having all four boys home all day, every day, is...well, a lot. We'll find a rhythm that works, no doubt, and I'll start enjoying a glass of wine earlier and earlier. ha.

I am still mindful of being in the pictures rather than always just taking them. I think I've improved in this area. (See here.)

Lots of other stuff happened in the past few months, like basketball, t-ball, no broken bones, Gunner's official asthma diagnosis, a camping trip. Hopefully, I'll be here in this space again soon!

Padre Island

Back in November, Matt and I decided we would take a family vacation trip. Naturally, we thought DisneyLand would be our destination and I bought a Disney travel guide. Half-way through the very helpful and thorough guide, the authors remarked that when surveyed, 4 to 6 year-old Disney-going children felt the pool at their hotel was the highlight of the trip. Boom. 

I shared this with Matt, we laughed, talked and concurred that all we really needed for our vacation trip was sun and water. My dad, a native Californian, suggested we look to the Atlantic Ocean for warm water, rather than enduring the frigid waters of the Pacific coast. So, after Googling all sorts of things and checking our Reward Miles eligibility, I picked Padre Island, Texas as our destination.

We had three relatively short flights to get us (all of us except Gunner - he stayed with the Grammies) to the Gulf Coast. The boys did a great job flying and making connections and using the "weird" airplane bathrooms. Since we had Smith in a cast with a walker, we got all sorts of kind attention and wheelchair rides and shuttles. Thank goodness!

The moving sidewalks were an enduring source of entertainment. Each time we exited a plane into a new airport, Sawyer would say, "What?! This is the same place!"

Smitty was a trooper - scooting and hopping through airports and narrow aisles and long corridors.

We rented a small but comfy condo within a 1/4 mile of Whitecap Beach. White sand, warm water, palm trees, 80 degree temperatures...yes! We went right to the beach that first night and splashed in the waves. What a thrill to witness our boys' first encounter with the ocean. Even Smitty said, "Mom, this is the best day EVER!"

We crammed in as much fun as we could - miniature golf, Chuck E Cheese, beach time, pool time, doughnut runs, frozen yogurt dates, - adventures at every turn! These boys was tired.

 

Mini golf. 

(I excused myself from the mini-golf adventure to visit TJ Maxx and sip an iced latte at Barnes and Noble.)

Any down time at the condo, my monkeys were monkeying around outside looking for "Catty". Catty was their name for any furry black caterpillar they found and befriended. Sawyer also killed a few Catties - retribution against his brothers, I suppose. 

 

Man of many faces.

Some afternoons we would split up - the older boys and I would head to the beach and Matt and Sawyer would stay back and play in the pool at the condo complex. (Matt neglected to apply sunscreen and got a terrible sunburn the first full day of the trip. From then on he avoided the sun whenever possible. Ahem. Also, that first day Sawyer, in his eagerness to enjoy the ocean, swallowed more salty seawater than is advisable and managed to get sand in every nook and cranny of himself. He opted for the pool whenever possible.)

Armed with an adult-sized cast cover, large elastic hair bands and medical tape, we water-proofed Smitty's cast as best we could. He and Mason built many sand constructions (not castles) and tested the strength of their buildings against the waves. This "work" kept them {mostly} peace-ably occupied for hours. Yes, hours. I sat close by, soaking up the sun, nibbling Twizzlers and - drum roll please - READING A BOOK. Glorious.

We journeyed north to Corpus Christi to explore the Texas State Aquarium. It was small but cool.

We packed a lunch to eat at the aquarium picnic area. It's no wonder I call them monkeys, right?

We got to hand-feed the stingrays. Such interesting creatures.

Blue wonder.

Another full day.

Proof that I was there! (photo by Mason)

We hunted for "creatures" in the low, marshy areas. We saw many hermit crabs and sea snails, long-legged sea birds, pelicans, and only a few hard-shell crab.

Classic Sawyer.
 He's giving Matt a tutorial on how to pick up a crab and then ends up falling in the water. We had to dash back to the condo to change his clothes before dinner.

Our accommodations. Thank goodness our condo was on the ground floor. Poor Smith had to hobble, or wait to be carried, up and down the entry steps.

Flying home, the very kind pilot invited the boys to explore the cockpit pre-flight. What a thrill!

We had a grand ol' time on Padre Island. We gained funny stories, happy memories, suntans and a much-needed break from the routine.  We enjoyed Easter dinner at AppleBees, of all places. Would we go back? Probably not. Been there done that and Texas is no Hawaii. But it made for a fantastic family vacation trip.

Fractures, facial hair and other tomfoolery

I hate to be so cliche...but, honestly, where does the time go?!?! Sheesh. Here we are in April and my last post 2 months old. Well anyway, here is our latest:

This little one, who is not so little, brings such joy to our family. His good nature, liberal smile, and mischievous sense of humor are loved by all. He's recently discovered the toilet. Ahem. Many a treasure has been dropped into the toilet bowl recently.

 

 Mustaches are always fun.

 Nutella Mustaches are fun AND delicious!

Matt thinks mustaches are fun, too. He went to a barber and had his burly beard coiffed into this burly mustache. I tolerated the mustache for a solid week and then asked, politely, for it to be removed.  

Light-up glasses (thanks, Grammie Laurie), cape and purple boomerang.
Sawyer: Mom, I'm WordGirl!
Me: Uhh, how about you're WordBOY?
Sawyer: Oh, yeah...right.
 

We dined and played at Fuddrucker's for Gunner George's 1st Birthday. Our baby is one?!? Wha?!? His birthday fell right in the middle of all his sick spells (see below) and this mama couldn't pull a party together. I shed some tears about this but Gunner didn't seem to mind.

 

In the past few months, we've spent many hours at our {much loved} doctor's office. Sigh. Sawyer snapped this pic with the ipad while we waited for the doc...again.

Gunner caught a cold that led to a terrible cough that led to bronchitis and a terrible regime of steroids, antibiotics, and nebulizer treatments. Boo. A few weeks later, he caught another cold that led to a terrible cough that led to bronchitis and a terrible regime of steroids, antibiotics, and nebulizer treatments. We were almost hospitalized this time due to his low oxygen levels and labored breathing. Boo. So, we now own the nebulizer machine and our doc told us Gunner is "asthmatic" but wouldn't go so far as to say that he HAS asthma. Boo. 

We took him to our church elders and they prayed over our little G. We asked for healing but also for strength and wisdom in dealing with the diagnosis. We trust God's perfect plan for G's life, with or without asthma. And don't let this picture fool you into thinking Gunnie enjoys his treatments...quite the contrary. It's a two person job: one person to hold his flailing limbs and the other person to hold the mask to his mouth and nose. Fun!

Two days after G's asthma scare, this little punkie was playing with Smith on my bed and was "accidentally" pushed off onto the wood floor. This boy of mine is tough so I knew by his cries that he was more than bruised by the fall. And, sure enough, a trip to the doctor and an x-ray revealed a broken collar bone. I've never experienced a broken collar bone but I'm told it's horribly painful. He wore the sling day and night for 3 weeks and healed remarkably fast.

A typical morning. Four little buzzed-heads eating breakfast while watching cartoons. These simple, ordinary moments are what it's all about folks. Sure, there are firsts, and birthdays, and broken bones, games and graduations, and extraordinary moments of accomplishment. But, the seemingly mundane thousands of moments are the stuff of life, the daily opportunities to practice love, patience, self-denial, and relationship. I'm still learning this lesson. But, I  recognize that it's one worth learning...and mastering.

Mason and Smith attended their first round of ski lessons and really enjoyed it. Here's to a winter activity that is outdoors and energy-burning!

One night, while Matt and I were attending our couple's Bible study, Smitty fractured his tibia wrestling with Mason. Apparently, the baby-sitter testified, he whacked his leg on the wood leg of our couch and she heard a loud crack. As there was no swelling or bruising (or bleeding), we weren't sure it was broken had him sleep on it and kept him home from school the next day. Midday, he still wasn't able to put any weight on his injured leg so I took him in. The x-ray revealed a fractured tibia, of course. At this point, I asked our clinic if they offered a frequency reward program. No dice. (Notice Smiggy's tongue in the pic. Hee hee.)

Six to eight weeks in a cast and a walker for this handsome fella. 

Since Smith wasn't able to finish his last ski lesson, Matt took Sawdog up to Bridger to ski for the first time. No surprise, he took right to it and was disappointed at the slow pace of the kiddie hill. I foresee more broken bones in his future. :)

We hooked the Burley to Mason's bike so he and Smitty could ride around outside. His cast doesn't bend, obviously, so his leg just stuck straight out. Makin' memories!

So, I think I covered all the main points - phew, long post! Check back "soon" (relative term) for pics and stories from our trip to Padre Island, Texas.