Crazy Cow!

We just got home from Elijah's first ever school play. It was SO cute! There were several stories told- Little Miss Muffet, Jack & Jill, Peter Pan, but best of all?- Jack & the Beanstalk. That story had the craziest cow you've ever seen. Well, it wasn't supposed to be crazy, but he wasn't about to let that stop him! That little cow of mine (instead of crawling) ran, and slid to a stop on his knees by Jack's side THEN, after being sold, the play moved on. But who was everyone still watching? The cow! He was rolling onto his back, shaking his legs up in the air, having a grand ol' time. He "stole the show" as they say. I felt kind of bad at first, but it made everyone laugh, and he had a good time. He definitely made it memorable :) --pictures to be posted soon!

It's all gone :(

So I finally gave in... sort of. I'm still not thrilled about it, but the boys finally got a haircut. It's been a long time. I love the boys' hair long, and it's been growing for quite some time now. Despite the fact that Travis hates long hair on guys, and wanted it cut short, he gave in to it, because it was what they wanted. Elijah hated having his hair cut, so he wanted to let it grow out (YAY!). Rogue wants to do everything his big brother does, so he wanted his long, too (double YAY!). That is, until Sunday. We were getting ready for church, and I was combing Elijah's hair. His hair was a little tangled from sleeping, and he didn't like having to comb out the tangles. So, he decides to let someone cut his hair for "4 minutes". I'm okay with that, just cut a little off- I can still spike it- sounds good, hon. But, I'm sure you already scrolled down to see the pictures, and you're thinking, "that's not a little bit- that's a lot!" And you would be right. We go to my parents' house, and he sees a picture of himself with super short hair, and decides that is what he wants. Curses! Why did that picture have to be on the fridge? So, that's how the picture below came about. And Rogue? Well, like I said, he has to do everything his big brother does....

Heaven is....

Heaven is coming home in the afternoon after a long, tiring morning to find all three kids fast asleep in the car. It's perfect, because that means I can take them all in, lay them down, lay myself down and get a much needed nap. Oh wait! Immediately after snapping a picture of them, Alex wakes up. Before I can get her out, her crying wakes up Rogue. As I quickly take Alex into the house, I'm thinking "Great 2 awake. Now I'll never get my nap. Well, at least one's still asleep. That's still a little bit a break. It's still ok." But, NO. I come back out to the car to retrieve Rogue, only to find that his crying awoke Elijah too. Dang it! I guess that little bit of heaven will have to be put on hold for another day.... So, all 3 kids are awake and inside the house. But guess what? Alex fell back to sleep while I was getting Rogue and Elijah out of the car. One back down. Rogue is still groggy, so I set him down on the couch. A couple of minutes later, I turn around to find he had fallen back to sleep as well. Two down. Now, Elijah- no way he's going back to sleep. So we go upstairs, pull out his favorite new game and sit down together and laugh and play for the next hour... I guess I still got my little bit of heaven after all. :)

what was with yesterday? it started out great- the boys were listening, they weren't fighting, i got some cleaning done, and played lots of games with the boys. i also i had someone come over to paint murals in my kids' rooms, and they turned out great. i was thinking to myself, "this is a great day. this would be so easy if all of my days could be like this." but once rogue woke up from his nap, the day turned. he didn't wake up grumpy, but he woke up minutes before someone came over for a meeting with me. he wanted me, and for me to get him things, and i couldn't because i was busy with the meeting. i had tried to time the nap and the meeting to avoid this, but she came really late, and he woke up a little early. then, of course, alex woke up, and was hungry, and messy, and the boys were fighting, and they wouldn't stay upstairs, and they were hungry too.... then once the meeting was finally over (and lasted longer than i had anticipated) i had to play catch up and get everyone everything they needed and wanted, which can never be done quickly enough to make everyone happy. that darn meeting turned my day from great to terrible in no time flat. the remainder of the day followed suit, and i was glad to finally relax once the kids were in bed. how did a day that started out so good end up so bad? i guess the more kids you have, the more the day needs to be structured and planned out in order for things to run smoothly. oh well, today's another day, and here's hoping for a good one....

Travis cannot keep a secret for the life of him. Christmas & birthdays just kill him, and he usually ends up giving gifts early. Only 2 exceptions come to mind. One was his proposal (and it was great, but a story for another day), and the other was a surprise vacation he planned for this weekend. We had discussed possibly spending the weekend at the beach, but instead, he planned a weekend further south. Friday afternoon, we traveled on down, and ended up at a hotel in Roseburg. We spent the afternoon playing at a great park, throwing rocks in the river (a favorite for the kids), grabbing a bite to eat, and heading back to the hotel for a dip in the pool. Already, the kids were having a great time, but the best was yet to come. The next day we packed up and drove a couple more miles to Winston- home of the Wildlife Safari! We have been there once before, about 2 1/2 years ago, and it was great. For those of you who don't know, it's like a drive-thru zoo. The animals are in huge pastures, that have a dirt road right through the middle of them. The feed sheds are right next to the road to entice the animals for visitors. Often, the animals will cross the road right in front of you. Last time, we had a giraffe walk across directly in front of our car. This year, a cheetah did. Just to name a few, we saw giraffes, lions, bears, ostriches, zebras, buffalo, bison, brown bears, black bears, tigers, cheetahs, emus, elephants, monkeys.... It's amazing. I definitely recommend it to anyone! After the drive-thru, we parked the car, and did the walk-thru area. There, we saw snakes, owls, ducks, leemers, more monkeys, flamingos, rode a train through the park- twice, watched an elephant show and to top it all off- the guys all RODE an elephant! It was a great time. Afterward, we headed up to Eugene. By the time we got there, Rogue had already passed out for the night, and Elijah & I took another dip in the hotel pool before going to bed. The next day, we hit up an awesome play area @ the mall before the waterpark opened up. Once it did, we took one of Travis's "shortcuts" to get there real fast- HA! Anyway, once we finally got there, we had a great time. Elijah is a little scared of the water, so he pretty much stuck to the kiddy pools, but Rogue is the daredevil. He LOVED the wavepool. He'd get knocked down, thrown around, and get right back up for more. But the one I was most impressed with was Alex. That was a long time to spend in the water for a little baby girl, but she loved it too. It was a wonderful fun-filled family weekend. I think we're going to be making a lot more trips down to that waterpark, and hopefully we can make it back to Wildlife Safari again soon. I often think that the one thing I wish Travis and I had done more of before having kids was to do some more traveling, but I just love these trips with the whole family. Of course, kids will be kids, and there were difficult times but overall, vacations with them is so much better than vacations by ourselves. Seeing them have so many new experiences, so much fun, and be so happy is what makes the vacations so perfect.