he's gonna be 3 in 2 weeks.
will someone get over here and potty train him?
stat.
highly specialized training required. preferably navy seals, army ranger, counter terrorism or any other experience in cracking the strongest of all resistance.
be advised: this job is not for sissies.
so the last time we went camping was 6 years ago.
this little precious angel was up all night and even though we put our tent far away from my sisters family, the woods are not sound proof and i'm sure we kept the whole forest up.
then, on day 2, it started raining.
and never stopped.
so we did what any logical person would do and packed up all our stuff and headed for our parents house. i'm sure they were thrilled to see our filthy faces.
after all, we brought a package of donuts with us.
and then after ella, there was bennett. then there was mason. and there was very little sleep mixed in there. so while camping occasionally came up as a thrilling adventure for our family, we always opted instead for our own beds and stay-at-home sanity.
but now that insanity has become the new norm we decided it was TIME!
time to head out and enjoy God's beautiful creation. (especially before this next little one comes and i never leave the house again.)
so we ventured to the mountains and had a fantastic time.
we saw the giant sequoias that have been firmly rooted for thousands of years. 
and yes, i'm certain these were far more fascinating to anthony and i than our children. they got excited about the ones you could walk inside and would say, "wow, cool..." but were way more interested in having a snack and hopefully seeing a moose. (which of course we did not.) 
but i must just say about these trees... God is pretty fantastic.
the details of his creation are simply amazing.
back at camp the kids kept busy making a "wood store" and for the life of me i can't figure out why they were surprised i wouldn't give them actual dollar bills for their wood. surely they know how cheap i am by now. 
we played tarzan
caused serious anxiety in dear old mommy
and enjoyed all kinds of big and little creations.
there was some creek playing, nature walks, bear fear and most of all... the joy of dirt. 
the clothes have come clean but the memories will last forever.
and didn't even get eaten by bears.
more to come after some serious baths and a few hundred loads of laundry.
so yes, its been awhile since i've posted.
other than mourning over the fact that i'm not having a girl, not much else is going on around here.
well, other than a mono patient being almost completely healed, fun trips to the beach, visits with dear family and just the typical i love living in southern california summer.
while anthony has been in costa rica, roughing it for the Lord, we got to have a visit with grammy and grandma darlene.
it was such a treat to have them here. (not like grammy is old news or anything) but it was especially nice to have gramma D make the trip.
i have such found memories with my gramma D. she's always been simply amazing. generous, giving, kind, joyful.
me and gramma D.
(and that cute girl coming out of the house is my cousin lisa. apparently, according to every adult relative we have, we couldn't be left alone in the same room as children or we'd practically kill each other. but we grew up to be best friends and totally love each other even though i can't get her to play another game of words with friends with me.)
we used to visit gramma back in nebraska and it never ceased to amaze me how hard working she was, running a farm and always having enough energy to put up with the gaggles of grandchildren invading her house for the summer.
making us lemonade dessert, not yelling at us when we picked all the petals off her roses...
the family. gramma D is second from the left. (i'm of course the adorable child on the left.)
(i'm not sure why she isn't smiling here. rare, because she was always smiling. even when she cooked all those elaborate meals for all of us and instituted that nonsense about never ever ever putting the saucepans on the table and always always always using a serving dish in order to wash dishes pretty much around the clock.)
and then she moved closer and we'd visit her in phoenix and she'd always open her home to us and even let me live with her for a year after college. i've never heard the woman complain. and it wasn't like her life was easy. she's been a caregiver to almost everyone close to her and has tragically buried too many of her own children. she has a true servant's heart and i admire her sacrifice, peace, and joy.
when i was first getting to know anthony, i was telling him how my grandma was pretty much a superhero and how she could do anything at all. and he's nodding to me and smiling because everything i said back then was completely mesmerizing. but he probably didn't really believe me but as if on cue, she walked around the corner with a chainsaw and said, "well, i gotta go take care of that tree out there that is starting to scrape the roof." he's never doubted me since.
i'm so glad my kids could experience their great grandma. and while i wish they knew the gramma from a few years ago, i'm sure they'll still find memories of her whistling at the birds and talking to every single person we see extremely delightful. 
and while they are still trying to sort out things like why are the puzzle pieces supposed to be upside down? and isn't grammy actually her daughter, not her nurse? and why am i supposed to raise my hand over my head when i cough? they still really enjoyed having her here.
she's a kid herself, as happy as can be.
and i must say, she makes getting old look like a whole lot of fun.
so the amazing women in my life went back to arizona and anthony returns tonight!
and while i'm thrilled about the fact that while many men out there travel frequently for work and are gone for excessive hours every week building corporations and generating revenue and my husband gets to go on missions trips and tell people about Jesus (!!!!), i'm absolutely ecstatic that he'll be home tonight and my boys will again have someone tossing them around and slamming into them with pillows.
because lets face it, there is just no substitute for daddy in the life of little boys. and based on the amount of screaming and restlessness going on here, they. have. missed. him.
boys.
have i've mentioned how thrilled i am about another boy?
its true. i really wanted you to be a girl.
but i've decided to love you anyway.sincerely,mommyps sleep is a good thing.
saturday started as a cozy morning with breakfast at the beach.
(that is, if you actually count doughnuts as breakfast and not just some fancy, sugar filled, fried dessert they just so happen to serve in the morning...)
we watched surfers, dolphins, beach tractors.
all with cozy, cloudy, perfect weather.
the kids dug and splashed and ran their little legs off.
ella and bennett made a new friend and they dug pools and made houses and made me slightly concerned that my little mono girl was possibly overdoing it. but to see this huge smile on her face... i just decided to let her have her fun. 
and then, there was the huge wave that crashed into the kids. all fun and games until it carried mason away, underwater and all, while i'm grabbing for him and his shirt is getting ripped out of my hands and my feet get stuck in a hole and i can't reach him and i'm panicking because i can just see part of his swimsuit while all of him is rolling away in the water and my legs won't move fast enough...
and then ella's new friend's daddy came to the rescue and snatched mason up before he was washed out to sea. (he also just so happens to be ryan shappelle from 24, and also stars in naughty shows like sopranos and nurse jackie that i've never seen. but nevertheless, he spent most of the day with us and was super nice and will forever be my hero for saving my son's life.)
my "subtle picture" of our new friend, lifesaver, CTU director...
anyhow, it was horrible and dramatic and i stopped shaking by dinner.
mason, as exasperating as you can be sometimes, i would have been horribly devastated if you drowned.
so glad you lived to wake me up 3 times last night...
thanks to many wonderful people in our lives, ella has been sufficiently spoiled.
care packages, visitors, and even a gift card for when she's feeling up for some ice cream.there is something special about people loving on your kids.
so... thanks, people.
and as a result of all the crafty gifts she has received, she's been all about art lately. this weekend, while the germ-free part of the family was at church, ella said, "i have art class all set up for us."there is something therapeutic about leaving the dirty dishes to sit and draw with your 6 year old. 
and i must say, there is an advantage to having just experienced the misery known as the first trimester.
compassion.the feeling of not wanting to do a single thing, like get off the couch, brush my teeth, or smile at my children, is still very fresh in mind. that is why i have no problem saying, "sure, you can watch another movie. no, you don't need to clean up your room. why, of course you can have oreos for breakfast."
there were days just a couple months ago i wasn't sure i was going to make it. all i could do was count down the minutes to naptime. i'd get mason to sleep, allow the older two to do whatever quiet thing they could find and remind them they may not come out of their room unless the house is on fire...
and i'd slip into a coma.and then it never failed. the sweet voice of my precious middle born child would penetrate my much needed sleep."mommy..."
i didn't even let him finish. i figured he'd be crying if his arm were severed.
"GET. OUT."
"but mommy -"
"get out now, bennett. and don't come back in."i'd fall back asleep. then he'd come back and whisper. (like that is so much better.)
"mommy, can we have fruit snacks?"
"mommy, i'm really sorry to wake you up again, but ella was just touching my legos.""mommy, i don't want to wake you up but i have to go to the bathroom and is it ok if i flush the toilet or is that too loud?"
"mommy. i'm really sorry to wake you up again. but... mommy, ella called me a peabody!"
oh. dear. God. help me.
its pretty safe to say that the first trimester was not my most effective stage of motherhood. hopefully that thing about children being resilient is true.
anyhow, back to ella. she's doing ok. she insists she's totally fine. never mind the temperature. the persistent irritability, the exhausted look always on her face. but hopefully she'll be completely recovered sometime in the next couple weeks.
the joy of having a little brother is that there is always an opportunity to tease him.
no matter how many years pass, certain things never get old. like teasing him about his big head, warning him about the green bean casserole every thanksgiving, that early morning he ran home shirtless and shoeless in the winter after the truck ran out of gas...
and one of our favorites... getting mono.
from kissing a girl named "monica."naturally, renamed "mono-ca."could the girl have a more perfect name?
only an older sister can take such an unfortunate period of misery in a little brother's life and turn it into something to laugh about.clearly, i wasn't around much when he was suffering. i think i was at college. or just not paying attention to him. i was a teenager. i was self absorbed.this leads me to my revelation of how heartless i was.
ella has been sick for awhile. really sick. fever, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite (this is a big one. if the 104 on the thermometer didn't tell me anything the refusal of fruit snacks spoke volumes) then her lymph nodes started swelling to such a degree they were actually visible.
this freaks a mom out.we of course went to the doctor. he ordered blood work. ella was a champ. i had to drag the whole clan with us and the boys did amazing too... waiting for an eternity, standing against the wall and "not moving a single inch or else!" while ella got poked and prodded.and then we discovered she has mono. which is really sad of course, but welcome news when your paranoia has considered far worse options.
i called anthony and told him. naturally, how can he not respond with, "but she hasn't even been around mono-ca." (see, it will just always be funny)
but watching her misery, laying around, not wanting to eat, looking so sad... i actually feel a little sorry for chad after all these years.
maybe i do have heart after all.
so chad, even though you probably aren't reading this, sorry for making fun of you.and mostly, sorry for continuing to make fun of you. because even though i now feel bad about the suffering you went through, i'm probably not going to stop.
because even though i love you, you are my favorite family member to pick on.
that should make you feel good, right?
better be a girl.
its not that i completely despise soccer season.
i think its pretty cool.
she did awesome and scored the first goal of the season! here's the picture:
oh yeah, that's right. i was with my five year old's little bladder in the bathrooms and totally missed it.
bennett also had his first game and loved it. 
good times for our little family.
