Free Range on Fairview

Here he is being such a sweet and interested little boy, just looking for army men in his bean bin...  and later I get this Lincoln, such a little ham. 

Mommy's dinner. Once you have some, your life might be changed forever. I've been thinking of making ice cream nachos since last October when a speaker at MOPS mentioned having them as a special treat. They have grain, dairy, fruit, umm.. ok so it's not a completely balanced meal but I finally surprised the boys with them last night for dinner. Shane was out of town so we didn't have to worry about ruining his diet (although I think going to the Seahawks game didn't do his diet any favors) and it was a special day, but we didn't have a main ingredient: ice cream. Since he had the van we decided to walk to Johnny's, a little store in our town, to get ice cream. Unfortunately the quick walk took an hour and 15 minutes because I couldn't push the stroller through the field so Lincoln walked there and back in flip flops. The ice cream was half way melted by the time we got home but we got some exercise, saw a snake and some other cool things along the...

Yikes, it has been so smokey here in the Ellensburg valley that yesterday they actually deemed the air quality "hazardous"! So many forest fires were started from a lightening storm but they just haven't been able to contain them all. Luckily we are no where near danger from the fires, just the darn smoke. The elementary school has had indoor recess for about 8 days straight because of poor air quality but it is starting to get ridiculous! I've let the boys play out back a couple of days not really thinking of the consequences but slowly we Dylan complained of a sore throat a couple of times and Shane and I both kept getting head aches I realized how serious this could actually be. Luckily we have air conditioning so we don't have to open the windows (yes it is still getting in the upper 80+ this late into September which is unusual for us) but they boys are getting restless. So what's a mom to do when her boys are just dying of boredom? Why let them build a...

Tuesday, Sept. 4th at 9:30 I put the baby down for a nap and started a couple of chores while the boys were watching tv on the last morning of summer. Oh how I love PBS kids shows, especially the new show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood which is a cartoon based on my beloved Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. I was bringing some clothes into the boys room to hang up when I saw Lincoln sort of trip over a toy and fall down. Unfortunately it was right next to the edge of our slate fireplace hearth. My worst fears coming to reality I heard a little cry and then the silence before a little kid starts bawling. You know that pause in crying where they can't make a sound because they aren't even breathing. So I ran over and scooped him up and saw a 1/4" wide, 1/4" deep, 1/2" long chunk missing right above Lincoln's left eyebrow. It bled but didn't soak more than two toilet paper wads. I wasn't worried about a concussion or brain damage because he didn't hit ...

Well almost. I always have the baby with us, but I've been trying to be a little more intentional with how I give each boy attention. Dylan is my sensitive one. He likes the build up of us going out on a date, just the two of us together. Last year we went to a basketball game at the high school and it was pretty fun to hear him talk about it the day before and even during. Lincoln is in the "look at me, watch me," phase so just giving him my attention and time means more to him than taking him anywhere. I realized that after I thought it would be so cute to go to a coffee shop and sit for a little date. He had his chocolate milk and I even found a cool toy and figured I would have at least a few minutes to sit and talk about our day while I tried to feed the baby and take a break from errands. Unfortunately he had other ideas and ended up trying to share a couch with a college student working on his computer, check out all the different table and finally go in the corne...

As I pull out my hair, I am realizing that my boys have not really mastered independent play yet. Sure Lincoln is 2 so he's pretty small, but Dylan still requires my help coming up with ideas to do, or how to spend his time if he's not watching tv (which he did a lot more of this summer than I'd like to admit). Lincoln also requires help to accomplish a lot of tasks and to not let things get out of control (such as half of the water beads ending up smashed rather than just played with) so I'm on call a lot. This can be tricky to figure out between feeding the baby, making dinner, cleaning, organizing MOPS stuff and who knows what else. I stepped down from planning my 10 year high school reunion next summer because I just felt like I was spreading myself too thin to raise my boys well and be a good wife.  So we play. We are not one of those families that shuttles from one activity to another. One, it can be way expensive to pay for lessons, classes, sports, membership...

And another summer comes to an end. We had a great time enjoying a new baby, seeing family, camping, playing outside, making snow cones and vacationing. Dylan said he wasn't ready for school to start as summer ended, but now that he is knee deep back in school he is so excited to be there and glad it is back in session. He loves his new teacher, Mrs. Taylor, and thinks she is the best 2nd grade teacher around. Lincoln also started school last week, but at home with me and he's not quite sure why he doesn't get to go with his big brother on the bus, or sit in a classroom. All in good time my son!  The first three pictures are from the welcome back night, the day before school actually began. Dylan got to see his classroom, bring his back pack, set up his desk how he wanted it, and meet his teacher. Lincoln also decided that he would bring his back pack and we almost as excited as Dylan was. I'm not sure how to break it to him... Getting ready to go. They bot...

So I've decided to start Lincoln doing preschool at home. He's not going to be sitting at a desk for hours or filling out work sheets, but we are going to have a little more structure in his day and start working on some preschool type activities, mainly because he wants to. He can count up to eleven, sort of. Most of the time he skips 9. I don't think he knows how to count but he can repeat the sequence up to there, and he likes to say 14 a lot too. He is also starting to show interest in how books work, learning how to use items for their intended purpose (a spatula to flip food, blocks to stack, cars to drive, etc) and doing different stations so I decided that I might as well make learning intentional. He is a completely different personality than Dylan so my teaching ideas will have to be shifted around from what worked with him. Lincoln is a mover. He is high energy and into attention grabbing, hands on lessons. Here are some of the stations and ideas that we've ...

Some of these things may or may not ever be explained. Does lip gloss go better on the lips or all over the face? How long can this curious george book keep Lincoln entertained on the potty? If you look closely just below the bowl and to the right a little there is a dirty footprint on my counter. Can you tell who's size 9 that is?  Why was the sky covered with this weird smoke and the sun was red? A 25,000+ acre fire pretty close to our town.  How in the world did I get my kids to eat every bite of their veggie lasagna that doesn't even have noodles in it? Grilled eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, even clearance organic ricotta. I love this look, his playful engaged face. And the final mystery of the summer, who does this little boy look like? I guess he looks like Warner but it amazes me how his facial expressions can change in just the few seconds between pictures. His little hair line is also starting to come in so he's not quite so bald a...