Friday Favorites

1. Saturday I made apricot jam with my mom and sister, Art. I've been eating it on toast all week-- well worth the effort, I must say.

2. We have spent a lot of time this week with my brother, Rib, and his family. It has been great to see them. 

3. Sunday night we went over to my folks' house to roast s'mores with the cousins. It was a lot of fun. 

4. On Monday, we went on a halk (hike/walk) with all of the family that was around. It was a lot of fun. The halk was just the right length for the little ones and the reward of playing in the falls at the end was perfect on such a hot day.

(I know it may seem like I gifted you with probably too many photos, but considering I took about 450 shots... well, I think I was being nice.)

5. My dad's birthday was on Wednesday so all of the adults went out to dinner to celebrate. The adults. No kids. Heavenly.

6. Some games were played in the evenings this week. I love playing games. 

7. I commissioned a friend to make a quilt for Edith. It came the other day and when Edith saw it I thought she might explode with excitement. She really loves it and I do, too. Can't get any better than that.

8. Rophone got off work early today (fantastic, of course) and we were able to go get some much needed shopping done. My new glasses and sunglasses came in, so we picked those up while we were there. I'm still getting used to them, but I really think I like them. And it is sooo nice to finally have sunglasses again (I tried them out even though it's rather overcast today-- it still helped). I took a rather unflattering photo of myself in the glasses, but you'll have to remain in the dark (ha, ha) about what the sunglasses look like. I'm too lazy to go get my purse.

Different

When people see my two boys, they often comment on how different they look from each other. It's true, they do. 

Those who know Bud and Big will also comment on how different their personalities are. That's true, too. So true. 


Big takes his obsessions very seriously-- basketball, drums, dinosaurs, big cats (with a little shark, alligator, and crocodile thrown in), and all things construction are his life's work. Bud loves art and music and tends to look at things from a slightly more whimsical angle. Although Big is actually the more laid back and easy to laugh of the two and Bud is more uptight.... Anyway, they're different.


The boys struggle every day in their attempts to play with one another. While they both have fantastic imaginations, they have pretty much completely opposite approaches to everything they do. Thank heavens Ginger is around to moderate the issues and help them find common ground.


A perfect example of how different the boys are occurred the other day as Big was commentating for himself as he played basketball:


Big (pretending to be someone else, of course): "..Paul Pierce grabs the rebound and takes the ball to the other end of the court.... he drives to the hoop and as he slams the ball through it goes..."


Bud (with complete glee in his voice): "...birdie, birdie, lemon squirty!"


Big (despairingly): "NooooooOoooo! A basketball does not do that!"


It made everyone laugh but Big. Clearly, there is no room for levity and imagination in the game of basketball. It's serious business. At least until later. Big can laugh about it now that we're not in the moment. Kind of like how I can laugh about how all of the kids have pooped on me. Not so funny at the time, but now I can ruefully smile and shake my head at the memories. Yup, probably exactly like that.

Friday Favorites: Two Week Edition

Some of you may have noticed that I missed posting my Friday Favorites last week-- sorry about that. I was out of town and I apologize if my missing post shook the foundations of your world too much. To make amends, I will now post a ginormous edition of Friday Favorites, covering all of the highlights of the last two weeks. Contain your excitement, here we go...


1. Pen spent the first 3 days of the last week of June at a dance camp. Spending 12+ hours a day dancing and bonding with her team made her really happy. And exhausted. It was great that she got to have the experience and I was happy for her.


2. I continued to get my butt kicked at boot camp. I can tell that I'm getting firmed up and in better shape. Exciting.


3. Rophone was able to take the day off on the Wednesday before we left for the family reunion to help organize and pack. It was fantastic! And almost unheard of. It seems like the day/night before most of our trips he is having to work long hours to finish a project so we can leave. It was so weird not knowing what he had packed for himself to wear since I'm usually the one who packs for him. I even found myself worrying about wether he had packed enough socks and underwear. I'm happy to say he did just fine. I think I'd like to give him that sort of independence again. 


4. The family reunion at the ranch was crazy but great. It was a lot of time outdoors in the sun at high altitude, so we were all pretty darn pooped by the end. Pooped, but happy. 


5. Monday was my birthday! The big 4-1. I'm not too stressed about my age since people still seem to express extreme shock and disbelief when I tell them how old I am. I guess if that ever changes then my attitude about the whole getting-old-thing might, too. I started the day off with some fabulous morning snuggles from the little kids (and Rophone, of course)...

and then later Rophone threw together a fabulous little party with the family that was in town. It was a fun celebration. Ginger and my dad picked up a few decorations that really made it feel more like my birthday.

Rophone and the kids gave me a copy of the book I made of my Challenge photos (sooo excited to finally have this!), Rib and Jazz Hands gave me some of my favorite hand lotion, Art and her family gave me a couple of my photos all framed and ready to hang, and my folks gave me a purse. Put that together with Martha taking me to lunch and gifting me with some earrings she made... it makes a girl feel loved.


6. Oh, and we got home from the family reunion and I had an email letting me know that Rophone was one of 10 closest guesses on how many coins were in an estimation jar, thus winning him me a $100 account credit at one of my favorite stores. Awesome.


7. We had a great family gathering for the 4th of July. I took a lot of great photos, so I'll probably have to do a separate post on it. Even though the OCD in me is a little bothered by the fact that the posts will be out of order, I just don't have time right now. I'll learn to be flexible and you will, too.


8. Rophone had an entire week off and just returned to work yesterday. I loved being with him for so many days straight. 


9. My sisters, Martha and Art, helped me pick out some glasses and sunglasses yesterday. I can't wait until they come in. I'll post pictures when they do.


10. I took Bud and Ginger to the eye doctor today and neither of them need glasses. Bud let me take a picture of him in some 'practice glasses', though. It made my day. I love that he can joke around and find humor in the same types of things I do.

11. Martha organized a potluck picnic in the park for family and friends tonight. It was great to see old friends that I don't see nearly often enough. I think I'll have to remedy that. 


Phew! A great two weeks, I think! 

Being Dudes

Last Thursday we headed out to a dude ranch for a family reunion with 66 other members of my Mom's side of the family. With our 7 that brought the total up to 73. Not a small gathering by any means. And something like 34 of the number were age 4 and under. Can you say crazy? Sooo much fun, though.


Here we are all loaded up and ready to head out:

I don't really know how to write this post without it becoming overly lengthy. Like, 'Iliad' lengthy. And I'm not sure which pictures to include for the same reason. There was so much to do-- trail rides, a swimming hole, archery, a bucking barrel, pony rides for the kids, a playground, line dancing, tubing down the river (no pictures, but so relaxing-- my favorite part), family lawn games, skits, DBW Memorial Bingo Game, hayrides, a hike, ping pong, a family rodeo including pole bending, barrel racing, roping, horse apple toss, mutton busting and calf riding (This was a whole ton of fun until my brother punctured his lung with a less than graceful dismount from a bucking calf. Spoilsport.)


Not to mention that we had to fit in meals for all and naps for Edith. Craziness. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, too. Maybe it's best if I just dive in...


Pretty much the first thing that happened after we arrived was that Bud got taken out in the gravel parking lot by a goat. A nice long scrape on the elbow helped reinforce his fear of animals. Perfect start. Not to mention that a couple of his most feared animal, dogs, were running around untethered. This should be good. 

The younger kids got a chance to ride ponies not long after we arrived. Even Bud was really looking forward to it. Until he smelled them, that is. When he did that, he decided to bow out. He could be seen doing this every so often while we were at the ranch:

Bud spent a lot of the first few days indoors, playing games with a few of his like-minded cousins. I think that at one point I didn't even see him for 5 hours! I know he had a blast, though, and eventually got over his fears. He participated in the lawn games and even line-danced! Way to go, Bud.


Big and Edith loved every minute of what being at the ranch meant. They are true outdoor kids and loved that they were able to be outside all day, every day. Tiring, but fun. You can tell by the look on her face that Edith wasn't too sure about the whole horse-riding thing at first. And I love how the wind gave her a sweet combover. 

By the end of our stay, Edith absolutely loved riding on the horses (not that her expression changed much) and when asked what her favorite part of the trip is she will reply in her cute little voice, "Ponies!" or "Horhies!" So cute.

Big had been eagerly awaiting riding a horse for weeks. Months, even. No trepidation or uncertainty on his part, that's for sure. He ended up riding the horse up and down the road a total of 15 times while we were there. I'm sure it would have been a lot more if there had been more times available for our family. Big is definitely a born horseman. He even rode a leg in the family rodeo where he had to ride a horse while carrying a ladle full of water and then dump the water into a bucket. What a stud.

Big and Edith went straight from riding the horses to canoeing. Edith wasn't so sure about that one, either. The look she gets on her face when she's uncertain cracks me up.

I didn't get to see the girls much, especially Ginger. They went on a ton of trail rides and hung out with cousins. I did manage to see Pen on the hike (Can I just say I love my new infant carrier?!?) and on one of the tubing runs, which was nice, but they were pretty much on their own for the majority of the time. We crossed paths during meals and skits and bingo games, but I really didn't have time to do more than holler out sunscreen reminders that were answered with big sighs and eye rolls. There was the scary moment when Pen danced with a cowboy, but I have a feeling it won't be the last time. Maybe the last with a cowboy, I guess...


Hmmm... I'm beginning to ramble. Maybe it's best if I just finish out the post with pictures.

Oh, and a cowboy boot is not a good sucker shape to give to a baby.

The only thing clean to wear as we were leaving were my pajamas, so you know some fun was had!

We had such a blast. All of us. I can't wait until the next time!


P.S. The brother who punctured his lung is fine. And hopefully smarter. ; )