The Naked Visitor

Yesterday Mr. Deem had the day off.  After we put the kids down for their afternoon naps...we went to work on our more-ambitious-than-we-can-ever-really-complete, "To do" list. We settled down in the homeschool room to unpack books.

After a bit, I heard Grant foolin' around in his room and went to check on him.

"Mom can I get up now?" 

"Um. No.You haven't even fallen asleep yet! Wait a little bit longer. Get some sleep."

I left him and felt confident in my son's ability to be normal.

Oh silly me. After all...I'm his mother!

About 20 minutes later, our neighbor knocked on the door. 

With our youngest son. 

He was wearing green sandals. 

A blue striped t-shirt. 

And that's about it.

Mr. Deem thanked her profusely. Muttered something like, "Well THIS is embarrassing." And, brought the little escapee back in the house. My husband sat the runaway on his robot bedsheets--intending to give him a stern talking to, and a good beating. But, it was at least 10 minutes before he could talk straight-faced to the naked, rueful, cheesily grinning 3-year-old.

You see...aparently, the neighbors had watched our son stand on his bed--naked, and attempt to push up the window that lies at the foot of said bed. From the mouth of our son, he states that his first attempt to leave was sucessful. However, after getting out the window and to the yard, he got scared and ran back in. Then, he put on his sandals.  Pulling on pants never seemed to cross his mind. He grabbed a shirt, crawled through the 8-inch opening that had been made, and left again. 

Then, he ran, "Yike dis!" (Imagine a 3-year-old with little fists in the air, and bent arms doing a running motion.) "Den I cwossed the street. BUT! I yooked both ways, yike dis, and dis, and dis!" (Imagine same 3-year-old looking left then right, then left again.) THEN, he supposedly crossed the street to our neighbors, and put his face to the window of their front door, until they opened it. When the mommy neighbor asked him if his parent's knew he was not at home...he ran from her. He says she ran after him, and then, "Yet (let) me hold her hand."

Lord. Thank-you that some bad guy didn't get my son. Thank-you that Jason was home to get him in trouble for running away while I laughed in the other room. Thank-you for good neighbors. And, thank-you for this little, bare-butted, adorable, funny child.

p.s. I don't actually advocate nakedness. It's just something new that seems to have come on Grant's radar. That is: changing clothes, taking them off, putting some back on, but maybe not all. Hopefully the neighbors aren't too scarred.

Oregon Wedding

Off to Oregon!

"Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home. " Bill Cosby~

Going home...

Lincoln, Kennedy, Grant, Reagan, and I are off to Oregon for my sister's wedding. I'm so excited for Ray to meet the rest of my family!  Jason and Jack will be staying in Louisiana. So, I'm hoping their time together is filled with special projects and lots of smiles.

* The pictures of the valley and Wallowa Lake were taken last year, from our friend's Cessna. They totally blessed Jason and I with a flight to Wallowa and back. And, also the kids got a bunch of rides around the valley. It just made me love where we lived even more~

Getting the most out of work-out videos...

So I haven't really touched my, 30-Day Shred DVD. Working-out inside is painful. However, someone does seem to get a lot of use out of the video. Grant asks EVERY DAY, "Mom, I need to do my work-out video. Tan you pwease put it in now?" I guess my money wasn't spent in vain:

Getting ready

Windmill

JUMPING JACKS!!

Rotating those hips...

Knees...

This is a push up.

Reagan and Lincoln join.

Pumpin' Iron.

The end.

*The bump on the couch is Jason. He was sick that day.

When It's Bloody Hot Outside...

Start buying Otter Pops in bulk.

Or just come inside.

Big Ol' Fat Rain

"We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night..." (Forrest Gump,1994)

 Rain in Louisiana is of a different caliber than I've ever seen. Not that I haven't seen my share of rain. In Portland, there is a definite rainy season. It's usually accompanied by kind of dreary overcasts, and sloshy mud until the rain dries up. In La Grande, it's about the same--only you have more black ice after a good rain. In Idaho, well I'm getting foggy, but my childhood memories of Idaho are this: good lightning shows once in a while. Rains infrequently, and is overcast less than over in Oregon. And, when it rained--we ran out to play IN the rain. It was great.

The storms in Louisiana are amazing. It's so hot and humid that sometimes the rain coming down is like God throwing water on a frying pan. There is often steam. And...the amount of rain that comes down is no joke. It's like someone is dumping buckets of water down on the South. Instead of individual drops. I also love the thunder and lightning that accompanies the rain here. However, it scares the daylights out of me to let the kids play in the rain. Getting hit by lightning seems like a viable way to get cooked. When the clouds have stopped their downpour...the rain in Louisiana is no overstayed guest. The moisture dries up quicker than you can say,C'est la vie. You can watch the roads get back to their scorching selves, and little raindrops evaporate like magic into the humid Louisiana air.

                                                                   

                                                                    

These three are from back in May, when we first moved in:

 

 

 

Date Night

Friday night we went on a date! Lincoln took a picture for us before we all loaded up in the van. Like our Narnia lamp?  The church our neighbors invited us to a while back, happened to be having a, "Kids Night Out." Babies to grade-schoolers were entertained, watched and FED from 6pm to 9pm. Now, that's what I call ministry! Especially in a military town--there are so many families like us; who are new to the area, far from family, and without regular babysitters.

Our friends, the Holts, took Jason and I out to Cecil's Cajun Cafe. It was really good. And it was so nice that they paid. We are broke, broke, broke. We were very blessed by the whole night. It seemed like God was just giving us a brightly wrapped gift. For no good reason.  Afterward, the Holts checked on our little kids for us, while they picked up their son. At that point we still had 2 hours of free babysitting!

"Let's walk around town!" I said. 

Jason's shoulders hunched: "Okay. Um, just like...walk around? For no reason? In the humidity?"

"Yes."

So we walked around downtown DeRidder. Checked out the courthouse. Peered in the windows of the museum. Wandered back to the courthouse and sat on the steps. And...sat. Watched people walk into Cecil's. Sat some more. Watched a black squirrel scurry around, eying us suspiciously. Talked about how much we missed Oregon. Talk got drowned out by THE loudest cicada we'd ever heard! Then we talked about the crazy bugs in Louisiana. Then... we ... sat.

I looked at Jason, and tried to say telepathically, "Let's go for an adventure!!!" 

He looked at me and said un-telepathically, "Um, so, are you ready to go pick up the babies now?"

Me: "But, we still have an hour and a half of FREE babysitting!"

Jason: "I know. But...there's nothing to do. And, I miss the kids."

-------------------------------------------------

  I'm battling the realization of how boring we actually are.

I'm so thankful for the ways God provides for us. For the babysitting. For the older boys getting to go to a bounce house and eat pizza. For caring nursery attendants for Reagan and Grant. For fun pre-school activities for Ked. For friends that are willing to foot the bill for dinner.  For a husband who will walk around a small town in Lousiana, just to make me happy. 

I'm not sure what I thought we'd end up doing. Spontaneously break into dance on the courthouse steps? Meet old friends and talk about the good old days? Watch the sunset and reminisce about the first time we met? 

How about walk around aimlessly, watch squirrels and listen to a REALLY loud cicada? 

 

Yeah. I guess that will do.

Good Ole' Sabine Bread

Back in the day, my parent's raised and homeschooled lotsa kids. (They are still raising and homeschooling lotsa kids!) When you are home with an outnumbering quantity of children; it's not only natural, but also in everyone's best interest that you seek out other families with similar lots in life. One of the handfuls of special families we met along the way, still influences how I want to raise my own kids today. 

They had five children at the time. The oldest 3 were girls, and the youngest 2 were boys.  As their good Norwegian heritage allowed--they had mastered the art of the long goodbye:

"Are you sure you don't want another cup of coffee?" Always, always, always, offer one more cup. I love it.

No matter what was going on when we arrived in their home, coffee was offered, as well as a seat at the table. Guests were honored. (Even us youngun' who weren't offered coffee.) Throughout the years we were in contact with this family, they invited Swiss exchange students into their home. One that we fell in love with (Sabine) taught us hoards of kids to make the Swiss Daily Bread. It's quick, easy, and really great as a, daily bread. We call it, "Sabine Bread" in honor of the precious woman who passed along the recipe.

Lincoln made it for the first time last night. It brought back buckets of memories from my childhood. Enjoy~

Sabine Bread

 2 and 2/3 Cup Water

1 T. Sugar

1 T. Salt

1 T. Yeast (or one packet)

6 Cups Flour (give or take)

 Mix.

He's so cute. I got a little distracted by his adorableness and didn't count his cups of flour. The dough was pretty sticky, and I ended up adding about 1 cup more of flour. Not sure if I have the recipe wrong, Lincoln's calculations were off, or if it was just our flour. Anyway...it turned out GREAT, so no biggie.

Let double.

Form into three snakes and braid.

Coat with 1 egg white, if you want it to be pretty.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. I think our loaf took 30 minutes. But, I forgot to set the timer, so I'm not sure. It should be golden on top, and sound hollow when tapped. (The usual...)

Perfection. Pull that bad boy out and let cool. We didn't wait too long...it was dinnertime, and we were hungry. Ate it piping hot! So very good.

* If you don't want one big monster loaf, you can also divide the dough in half and make two smaller loaves.

Parachute Man

Last night, I looked out the kitchen window to see Lincoln jumping and throwing his parachute man.

  

Just kind of made me...

                                                                     

 really...

                                                         

 happy.

                                                  

The Not So Dynamic Duo

I have always suspected that my husband and I had rare talents. It is now confirmed that we both have a genetic predisposition for procrastination. We are golden at getting absolutely NOTHING done in the others' presence. Except finding, making or caring for babies. We are good at those things.

Sunday, Jason and I vowed that Monday night would be the night we would tackle the school room. Books, board games, costumes, crayons, papers, toys and who knows what else. They have all managed to jump out of their storage boxes and scatter themselves on the floor. Since we moved in--that space has been beyond me. You cannot walk into the room without stepping on something. This results in me often closing the door...so I don't have to think about it.

So Monday, I mentally prepared for the school room task. "Gonna do it. Gonna do it. PICK UP THE MESS!!!" (I'm not very creative when it comes to mantras.) We said only 30 minutes. That's how long we would devote to sorting and cleaning. Jason came home from work. I rushed the boys to a dentist appointment. Hurried back home and we all ate a quick dinner. Time for our task!

"Are you ready to clean, honey?" Mr. Deem asked. 

"YOU BET!" said I.

"But first I'm gonna make some bread real quick, so we can have it for lunch tomorrow."

Husband, "Yeah, and I was really hoping to show the boys some more wrestling moves, and watch some U.F.C. with them..."

Somehow, I spent three hours in the kitchen. And, he spent three hours rolling on the floor with the boys, helping them nurse smacks to the face, knees to the stomach, and the age old...foot to the crotch.

After the kids were tucked into bed, we both marveled at how we STILL hadn't made it to the school room.

Jason: "So, maybe we should go spend like 15 minutes in there tonight. No big deal."

Sarah:  "Good idea..."



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Jason: "Oh, just an F.Y. I., I realized we still hadn't watch the voting-off show of last week's, So You Think You Can Dance, and I know you wanted to see it. So, if you want to watch it tonight, we could." 

Sarah:  "Even better idea!"

Naptime

Kennedy has been putting all kinds of things to bed lately. Giant stuffed penguins, dollies, and yes...toothbrushes.

I guess if she has to take a nap--everybody has to.