Family evolution

After dinner last night, we actually cleared off the table and had ourselves a good ol' round of Apples to Apples.

The game itself, if you aren't familiar, isn't really that important. My point is this: this process that began 10 years ago with waking every two hours, breast feeding, diaper changing and mini-van buying has finally produced one of my most cherish family experiences - playing a board game with all my kids.

Granted,  Leo had to be on Omar's team, Spencer on mine. But we all played the whole game, laughing frequently and enjoying everyone's company. There was classic Sheldon outrage at feeling cheated. There was Leo laughing and the word "underwear." We all had a blast.

It was just. Simply. Lovely.

New Running Buddy

I have a new partner in my weekend running. He's a little slower than me, and we had to walk every ~1/3 to 1/2 mile, but our run together was by far my favorite of the season, if not my life.

Almost-10 Max managed to carry himself all 4.2 miles around Cedar Lake with me Sunday. During the course of the run, I told him we had gone 2 miles. His response? "Wow, I really thought that felt more like 1.5."

Like he has any idea what 1.5 feels like.

At the end, he said that it was really fun and he wants to do it again.

Let the next generation of crazy begin...

Up North

What happens when you take 19 people to the cabin? A whole lot. 

There was the crab boil...

  

 There was the endless tubing...

 Campfires and happy children all around...

And general monkey-business...

Too bad nobody had any fun at all....

Up They Go

I will regret this when they tell me they are moving to Joshua Tree to live in a yert instead of going to college, but we did have a complete blast....

Calvin on his way to the top

That little monkey on the right is 3yr old Leo

Spencer also heading to the top of the largest wall

Max

Cousins also loving it

Thank you Vertical Endeavors for your incredible (huge!) facility and no age limit. Leo felt like he and his 14-year-old eldest cousin were equals. The boys can't wait to do it again, though Calvin said that night (while rubbing his pecs) "Rock climbing has made my body feel all weird..." Welcome to soreness, my son. There will be more of that in your future.

Leo Talk

The word most frequently uttered by the 3year old? Uhm-ba.

Not uhm... uhm-ba.

Has something to tell you? Sounds a little something like this:

"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy.... uhm-ba, I, uhm-ba, was trying to, uhm-ba, do the, uhm-ba, uhm-ba thing. Can you, uhm-ba, come help me?

It has recently evolved to include calling me mom-ba.

I told him I was going to start calling him Leo-ba, which he didn't like at all. He has other little Leo-ism that you feel you should correct as a proper parent, but are so cute you kinda wish he would keep them.

He thinks the word "us" is "wus." Example: "Are the Sellke's going to join wus?"

Or another classic, begainst. "What team are my brothers playing begaisnt tonight?" Sounds kinda British.

"Our" is "were." "Are were cousins here yet?"

Sometimes I have no idea what he is saying until I put it through my mental Leo translator. I know some day he will speak like the rest of us, and hopefully do it with a degree of eloquence. But for now, I just chuckle at the sweet way he is trying his best-ba.

Soda

Our dear neighbors recently decided to kick the soda habit, so they purchased one of those carbonate-your-own-water spritzers thingamajigs at Bed Bath and Beyond. Just take regular ol' tap water, squirt it three times with this doo-hickey and BAM! Seltzer water. Omar couldn't get enough of this idea. Before long, they had a bottle with my husband's name on it because he went over there so often to get some.

So, being the wise wife that I am, I realized this was a birthday present that could not have come easier. Check it off the list. Bought, given, done! Wife of the Year.

He hasn't used it once. It's been 5 weeks, and it's like I single-handedly crushed his desire for soda water all together. He doesn't go to the neighbors to get any. He doesn't make his own. Its dead to him.

So tonight I decided I would at least make some soda for the kids. The kit came with a few syrup packets that make actual flavored soda and, in the end, even the sugary ones are still ~1/3 the sugar of real soda. Calvin, Spencer and Max were dancing around like it was Christmas morning because I am MAKING THEM SODA! I mean, for an ogre of a mother like me, this is truly unprecedented.

Now, you will notice I didn't mention Max. Somehow, some way, my eldest has come to NOT like soda. What kid doesn't like soda? He doesn't dig carbonation. Birthday party with soda? This one gets a glass of water.

Weird.

But, basking in the adoration of the little three, I bust out some homemade root beer (if you can really call anything "homemade" when part of it comes out of a squeeze bottle). There are hoots and hollers of joy. Lots of "Oooh, mom! It's GOOD!!" And with that, I kicked them outside so Omar and I could enjoy a moment's peace to eat our dinner and chat. Those moments are so few that we grab them when we can, to catch up, realize why we started this whole crazy adventure together in the first place.

4 minutes later, the littlest enters.

"Mom, I think I'm gonna barf."

Me? "No you aren't honey. I think you just need to burp. You aren't used to soda."

(And this is when a story's end becomes so blatantly obvious simply because I am blogging about it. It wouldn't really be worth writing about if we didn't all know how this is going to end....)

BLLLLLLLLAUUUUURRTTTTT!!!!

I'll have you know that I finished my dinner.

Make that THREE people in this house that now want nothing to do with the soda maker...

7 years ago

At this time in 2005, I was in a room with a very sore incision, trying to pretend morphine didn't knock me completely off my rocker, basking in the glory of no longer being pregnant and having two new beautiful babies in my life.

There were times that I didn't believe I would make it to this post, but you really can't argue that 7 year old boys just aren't little any more. They aren't babies. They are people who can be trusted to help out with things, people who can go to the park with their brother and be safe out of sight.

Cal, you are a boy with great conviction, focus and intelligence. You give me a run for my money when we both think we know better, but you are so clearly going to do well in this world. You will pick out a goal and work to it with laser-like focus. You love to figure out how things work and solve puzzles. Your fully belly laugh can bring your dad and I to giggles. I love you.

Spence, you have shown both your dad and I this year that, with focus and determination, you are a deeply observant, whip smart young man. Your ability to see a frog, turtle, butterfly or caterpillar in a thick of green is uncanny. And your eye with a camera is already impressive to even your photographer grandfather. You want to do good, and I think you are even starting to believe that you can. I love you.