summer recap...a really long one

Today is the LAST day of summer vacation (this post took me longer to write than I thought). Let me start over, yesterday was the LAST day of summer vacation. Here is what we did, or at least, what I can remember of our lazy days of summer.

Soccer Camp... It was a great camp and Jacob was given the Respect Award. I cried a little over that because, if he can't respect me, at least has the love for some strangers from Europe. Eddie had a blast and still goes around the house repeating "Crabby, crabby...let's get snappy!" from his favorite camp game. Eddie refused to participate the last day of camp because of a bad hair day. Seriously, I tried for two hours to convince him his hair wasn't crazy. Eddie said, "I don't want my coach to see me like this!".

Baseball...Pee wee coach pitch and T-ball. Never has three innings lasted so long. The boys loved it! Eddie knows which hand the mitt goes on now, most of the time. He played an entire game with one hand on his boy parts, running the bases and all. The whole city was laughing at me. Saren is ready for her turn to play and earn a treat.

Lots of swimming...lessons, wave pool, helper pool, the pirate pool, the slip and slide in the backyard, the sprinklers, the lake. We swam everywhere. The laundry was epic.

Bear Lake...Family Reunion...Bingham style. There was lots of swearing, inappropriate humor and witty banter combined with football and volleyball on the beach, boating and eating ridiculously good food. It was fun! And apparently I have no pictures.

Scofield Reservoir...Fishing, friends, boating, pina colada Starbursts.

Idaho Falls...Stopped to see Uncle Lee and Aunt Elaine, the Idaho Falls Temple, play in the park and to see the Body World exhibit. It was worth the admission just to put a healthy fear of smoking in my kids heads'. I'm not sure they were ready for the crosscut penis dissection, but they seemed too oblivious to be traumatized.

Bear World...Where else can you see Grizzly bears in the.......wild? (Ok, more specifically in a sparsely vegetated parking lot with corrugated metal tubes for shelter). These days, Bear World is also home to carnival rides which are awesome. The cubs were adorable, the petting zoo was fun and watching people pay $25.00 to throw powdered donuts at some of God's most beautiful, powerful creatures broke my heart a little, just like last time.

Eddie and Saren kill me in this next one.

West Yellowstone, Montana...We stayed in this little cabin. I was too scared to jog for fear of being eaten by a bear. Saren helped us shop for food and Jacob slept with a rifle at night for protection.

Yellowstone National Park...What is the one vacation destination you do not want to forget your expensive DSLR Camera? Yellowstone. All these pictures courtesy of Dave's iPhone. Even our nice camera can't do this amazing place justice, it was so beautiful!

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center... Jacob loved hiding food for the bears, and then watching them find it! It was a fun place for kids. Eddie peed in the playground before I could stop him. These are the things that stand out in my memory.

Here are a few of our great friends who made this trip so much fun.

(By the way, I'm not short, these ladies are all over 6 feet tall)!

Also happening this summer...

I tried unsuccessfully to potty train Saren...Here she is with her diaper duct taped in place when she refused to go in the potty or wear a diaper!

Jacob kissed a girl... and he liked it. This girl. I'm not writing this because I'm proud, just to document it for his future teasing. I heard him bragging about it to a friend, otherwise I'm not sure I ever would have known. They were watching "Princess and the Frog" at the time. Sorry Mark and Jill.

Grand Junction, Colorado...We visited some of our cute cousins, went on this cool hike and ate ice cream which Eddie famously described by saying "Too bad it's cold!"

The Living Planet Aquarium...This is fun, but remind me to wait until the real one is finished!

And also, please don't submit this photo to fail blog.

The Hogle Zoo...I can still smell the fun. Here are a couple of pics of us with animals that are not at all real.

Fishing...The boys both caught their first fish by themselves and quickly afterwards caught the fishing bug.

Lagoon...Which the kids call "Magoon" or "Da Goon". They loved it. I have pictures somewhere.

Going to a couple dozen playgrounds...

Play dates with lots of friends...

And riding a LOT of bikes. I know this because I parked them back in the garage several times a day for the last three months.

Dave and I are going to miss spending all our time with these three little maniacs.

He likes it! Hey Mikey!

Congratulations to one of my four little brothers, Mike and to his new bride Andrea. They were married last weekend. They are a beautiful couple!

It was fun to get the kids dressed up...

And then cringe as they rolled and jumped around in puddles of rain water...

It was sweet to spy on cute little moments like this...



And smile at wedding traditions like this...

We laughed at this...


We tried take a new family picture, and then settled for this...


but later took this amazing picture...


And some silly pictures like these.



It's always nice to see how much my kids love their cousins...


And each other...

It makes me proud to show off this little love of mine...

Seeing Mikey so grown up made me affectionately remember this...

(Mikey, remember when you would come into my room me at night if you had a nightmare? You were my little buddy).

And being all together as a family made me fondly remember this...

(not our sweaters and my puffy adolescent face, but my family)!

And, of course, weddings always make me grateful for this day, and especially this guy.

It was a beautiful wedding. Congratulations Mike and Andrea. We love you guys!

adventures in adoption...

This week, in an unexpected occurrence, we drove to pick up Jacob and Saren's birth mom, Maggie, and brought her to our home for several days while we figured out how to help her return to her family in California.

I'm not pretending that our relationship isn't challenging at times, or even a little overwhelming on occasion for me. But, like all things related to adoption, I try to focus on the blessings, which are what adoption is all about. And this is what I am thankful for about this week with Maggie.

Being reminded of all the beautiful traits, innate gestures, favorite foods and expressions she has passed on to my children.

Spending time with Roby, my kids beautiful Marshallese cousin, who is so handsome, sweet, confident, smart, fun, caring and who we all adore.

Confusing our friends at church who didn't even blink as we arrived with not TWO but THREE boys who are exactly 42" tall.

Sharing an awesome meal with Maggie and Roby, made by my parents, and learning how much they both love flat iron steak!

Watching our good friends and family welcome her with open arms, huge smiles and lots of genuine love! Thank you Mom and Dad, Jared, Kenny, Amber and Jill especially.

Seeing Saren bond with Maggie, say her name and smile into her eyes. I could tell Maggie loved every second of it.

Pitching to Maggie while she cranked softballs around the outfield at our local ballpark.

Sharing my iPod headphones with Maggie on a long car ride and jamming to the same tunes.

Maggie getting to see what a little athlete Jacob is, and watching her face take it all in as he played Pee Wee Baseball.

Freaking people out by publicly spending time with my children's birth mother. People just don't know what to say.

Playing kickball in our backyard with Maggie and good friends.

"Helping" Maggie to iron her hair straight.

Learning that Maggie LOVES the Lifetime network.

Things I did not love about this week, waiting for an hour in a HOT Greyhound Bus Stop while Eddie took pictures of homeless people and Saren picked up a strangers iPod.

I'm the first to admit that our family life is a little bit complicated at times, and I know open adoptions aren't for everyone or every situation. But, whenever I get stressed about if I am navigating this crazy situation in just the right way, I think about my children and what all of this means for them. And they seem to be thriving. Any small inconvenience, stress or challenge birth parents might present to my life and Dave's life are a tiny price to pay if those caring interactions between ALL their parents help my kids in even a small way. Any opportunity my children get, to learn how much they are loved, who they are and how amazing and divinely orchestrated their adoption was is, I hope, a chance to help them be more confident, more self-assured, and have more gratitude and faith.

And I do love Maggie, with all of my heart. As well as Jenny, Eddie's birth Mom. I want the most beautiful life for both of them, because that is what they have given me. A beautiful life with a beautiful family.

Tonight I am grateful to have Maggie and Roby safely home, to have my sweetie, Dave, who is the only guy I ever want around in a crisis, and to have my perfect babies sleeping in our home, dreaming of what they will break and pillage in the morning.

move over Gumby...

This week, my four year old, Eddie managed to squeeze a little, plastic food basket onto himself in a painful backpack style. Also, this may be one of my favorite pictures ever.

He immediately came to me for help. And I did help him, after chasing him around the house with the camera for a few quick pictures while cracking up. This only annoyed him a little bit.

I cringed for five minutes while we struggled to free Eddie from his plastic slammer. I was sure his little shoulder was going to dislocate while I carefully tugged and twisted his arms in every direction, his scapulae sprayed out like a pterodactyl while he grunted and occasionally giggled.

We finally freed him, at which point Eddie thought seriously about putting the basket back on his body. I quickly distracted him with a snack.

As a footnote, I keep thinking how appropriate it is that Eddie is nicknamed Eddie Spaghetti. If you have ever had the pleasure to pick him up/sit him down or physically manipulate him in any way you know that this kid is very NOODLEY. Insanely flexible, floppy and strong at the same time. He is impossible.

Being four has not made Eddie any more calm. He CANNOT walk, he runs or jumps or rolls everywhere. And most likely, if he has to walk down the hallway at our home, he will hit the floor 20 times and knock into two or three walls before he makes it from point A to point B. I constantly wonder if we should make him wear a helmet. Last time we went swimming, the lifeguard actually went to rescue Eddie a few times, as he flailed about the water, when he was actually just standing and playing. But, Eddie is all over the place, and I can understand how he might look a little out of control to someone who wasn't his Mom. It's close to impossible to get a picture of this kid where he is not in perpetual motion.

When Eddie was a newborn, he made me feel like a rookie parent. Had I forgotten how to hold a baby? I wasn't sure, but I couldn't figure out how to hold this little guy. He was constantly pulling his head away from me and stiffening his little body. Later we found out he had painful reflux, and medications helped a little. But Eddie has always been impossible to contain. You cannot hold him without head butt to the chin. You cannot hug him without a forehead to the sternum, and you cannot walk past him without a getting poked in the eye by some flailing extremity. Dave and I used to talk about inventing a straight jacket for babies, and naming it "The Eddie". I think it could be huge.

I love this little maniac. When he figures out what to with all his crazy energy, he is going to take something by storm.

name fail...

Last night, I had to laugh while watching "The Voice". In a random, but related thought, isn't it funny how Adam Levine has become more charming and even hotter and you don't mind him being such a player anymore, and Christina has just become alarmingly irritating! She grates on my nerves like I couldn't have fathomed. I look at her and all I see is cleavage, makeup and lots of nacho hair! Wow! Anyway, this post is not to rant about Adam or Christina or Cee Lo or even about Blake Shelton's adorable gray hair and self deprecating wit. This post is about....

"Javier Cologne"!

Last night I was laughing and telling Dave that Javier's name is so sexy sounding it must be made up, right..."Javier Cologne"! This is how Carson Daly pronounces the name, "Javier Cologne"! But when Javier's name appeared below him on the screen, I read that his name is actually "Javier COLON"! That's right, not "cologne", the French word that connotates masculinity, appeal and allure...but rather, COLON....as in COLONoscopy! As in COLON obstruction and COLON cleanse. A little ironic that cologne is also called "eau de toilette" or "toilet water" in this minor name debacle.

I know I am immature, but I found this hilarious! "Javier COLON" just doesn't have the same ring to it. I'm pretty sure you can legally change the spelling of your last name, and I just want to put it out there...Javier, just go ahead and DO IT. If you are going to call yourself "Mr. Cologne", make it legal. In the meantime, I will giggle every time your name appears on my TV and I hear someone try to make it sound sexy.

WARNING...annoying Mom blog (awesome stuff Eddie has been saying)

Eddie is just too funny. It's hard to explain if you haven't lived with him, but I never know what is going to come out of his mouth. He is hilarious. Check out the "snorkel" he built for his bath the other night.

Other funny Eddie stuff...

Eddie in his whitey tighties..."I'm VERY naked right now".

I asked Eddie to find a frisbee and put it in the car as were heading out of town with our dog. He said "Mom, I'm not really good at finding frisbees....but YOU are!". His Daddy's son, I think so!

Eddie's new favorite expression, "I'm on it!". Me - "Who can pick up these bath toys?", Eddie -"I'm on it!" or "Dinners ready, come downstairs!" "I'm on it!".

Eddie's constant complaint about Price "It's too windy outside for kids!".

I overheard Eddie yelling at Saren the other day, "Hey! Nobody is supposed to grab anybody else's penises!". BTW, I had to google plural use of penis to figure out how to spell that.

We play a game, after bath time, where the boys crawl out of their bath towels pretending to be some kind of animal emerging from their cave. The other day, Jacob came out of his towel growling, and nodded when I asked if he was a bear. Then, Eddie making some crazy chirping noise starts to come out of his towel and I asked, "Is it another bear?" Eddie's response "No! I'm an evil sperm whale!". What?

My favorite start to a conversation with Eddie is his overused expression, "Mom...we talk?". He says this a lot, but the next sentence caught me off guard once. "I've been a little lonely". Awwww, funny and cute and sad all at the same time.

And, when writing a letter to his cousin Kyle, who is on an LDS Mission, Eddie only wanted to say..."Dear Kyle, Come home Kyle."! I don't think you are supposed to say that to missionaries.

graduation...

"Summer break" was officially here two weeks ago when my kids finished Kindergarten and Preschool. Today was the first day all summer, with temperatures in the 80's, and as soon as we go swimming, I think Jacob will finally believe me that it's here.

During Kindergarten graduation, Jacob was adorable, sang like he meant it and smiled through his whole program!

The second the program was over, he ran up to me, gave me a big hug and said "Let's go!". He loved school, but loves playing even more. Miss Tawna has been an awesome teacher.

Jacob has been is speech therapy for 3 years now. He is learning so much and getting better all the time. Thanks to his wonderful therapists and aides who makes him feel so special.

Eddie was a little shy, but still managed to get his rock and roll on for his little Preschool Program.

The boys had a great year. I'm so thankful for their amazingly energetic teachers, who they loved. Miss Raquelle and Miss Kelly are about the cutest teachers I can imagine.

And I'll be thankful, most days, to have a little more time to be together without such a busy schedule. On the other days, I'll be hiding in the bathroom, trying to ignore three little sets of fists pounding on the door and asking me what I'm doing.