We have a mouse in the house

Luckily he left a trail of chewed-up apple skins straight to his hide out. I easily "took care of him."



I tickled him until he got the hiccups.

Little Mr. Independence

Jonah (aka JB, Jonut, Little B, Disaster) turned 18 months on June 30th. C.R.A.Z.Y.


I've been coming back to this post all week so I have a random collection of thoughts and things I love about this kid.

He is one that expresses his opinion and lets me know what he wants or doesn't want in the primitive form of screeching. For example, we tried to go for a walk the other day. He LOVES being outside and will spend hours playing in the backyard moving sticks and eating leaves. So I decided to have him walk himself around the block. Yet any time I go forward, he wants to go backward. Any time I want to turn a corner, he wants to turn the other way. He screeched when he wanted to hold the dog's leash. he screeched when the dog was too strong and didn't go where he wanted. He screeched when I tried to help him hold the leash so he wouldn't be dragged down the street. He screeched when the dog pulled him over and he landed flat on his face. He screeched again when I took the leash from him. I have to admit we only made it 200 yards before we turned around, both of us screeching and went home.

So yes, he has quite the independent streak in him. He has to feed himself, take the keys out to the car, walk the way he wants to go, close doors by himself, he would even push himself in the grocery cart if he could. There are times he screeches when I have my hands on the cart too, not quite putting it together I have to push in order for us to go.

Case in point, Lucas was riding bikes out front. Of course, Jonah wanted to ride too.


But then he still wasn't happy until Lucas completely let go of him so he could "ride" himself.


Unprompted, he started folding his arms during prayers and we get a resounding, "Yea!" whenever we finish.

Jonah is a climber and has perfected pushing the chair up to the counters or computer table, literally bringing his havoc to new heights.



Jonah loves babies, so I bought him a baby doll a few weeks ago. I know. Everyone has their different opinion about boys and dolls. Even the cashier at the store said, "Is this doll for you?! You're a boy. You don't play with dolls." Me, being me, I just smiled and thanked her for my receipt and then told her nicely to "Shut up." In my head. I don't care what anyone says, he loves his baby. He cuddles him, lays him down to go "night-night," and sings to him. He plays with his swords and balls lots more than his baby but I know he has a soft spot for him.

Jonah continues in his babbling. He says about 20 words including sounds effects to about 7-8 animals. My favorite being the lion because he always whispers the "roar." Why, I do not know.

Key to recent Jonah Speak
Pacifier: "choopie" (we call it chupe, Spanish)
Cock-a-doodle-doo: "Do-do-DOOO!"
Please: "Pea"
Pj's: "Peas"
Thank you: "Kankoo"
Anything he really likes: "Cool."
I want up on this couch: "Screech. Screech. Screech."

For months every time we asked him to say "Lucas," Jonah would respond "Doggie." Then after that, any time we asked him to say "Lucas" we would get just silence. Nothing. And then out of the blue he started saying "Gookey." And he sure loves his "Gookey." he wants to do everything his older brother does. Lucas is sitting on the floor, Jonah goes and sits on the floor. Lucas is reading a book, Jonah grabs his book and sits next to him.

Love this kid, even if he still prefers dog food to my cooking and keeps trying to change the password on my computer. We'll keep him.


Especially now that we've made it to Nursery!

Never a dull moment

You should hear him on the recorder.

Brotherly love

I came from a family of 3 girls and Aaron from 3 boys. You could say our sibling relationships growing up were a little different. My mother in law talks about growing up with all sisters as well and then, when having 3 rambunctious boys, calling her father and asking, "Is this normal!?" I've asked myself the same thing at times. It's just innate in a boy to chuckle at potty humor, turn everything into a sword and to wrestle. Not that we didn't wrestle all the time with my dad but we turned it all into pretty tumbling routines and fancy lifts. Not so with boys.

And I'm told it usually starts quite innocently...


...but turns into something else in no time flat.




Winner?
Or just hiding from Mom?

I tried to stop them and put them in time out...

But they didn't seem to mind too much.


It calmed down just as quickly as it began and these brothers, like all others, are closer for it.

Runaway Bride

Anyone remember that movie? With Julia Roberts who left 3 men at the alter and Richard Gere, the reporter, who comes to write a story about her only fall in love but then gets left at the alter himself? One of his explanations of why Julia runs from marriage is that she doesn't know herself, case in point The Eggs. He asks each of her ex-fiances how Julia likes her eggs and each one have a different answer. She liked them how they liked them. She herself didn't know how she even liked her eggs because she conformed to whomever she was with.

I realized when it comes to design, I am Julia. I walk into someone's home and love their retro feel and clean lines. That same day I go into someone else's house and love their kitchy, old world feel. Some days I love lots of bold colors and funky patterns, and other days I adore calming neutrals. Some days I really go for the classic drama of dark woods and other times lots of white call to me.

When I decided to redo my dining room, almost a year ago, I found myself stuck. Completely. I didn't know what I liked. How do I redo a room when I have decorating ADD? So I went out to search for rooms that struck me. I started collecting pictures just from other blogs and other homes sites, and I began to see a pattern.

I really love whites and light and blues these days. I love the neutrals with splashes of fun color. My house right now has been so dark...dark woods, dark furniture, dark accents. But in our home, even with the sun out, we don't get much direct sunlight through the windows. So maybe it's the dark grey winters that have gotten to me or maybe just my tastes have changed, but I need light and white and to get rid of so much dark. We started by painting our dining room a great white, suggested by my dear friend and decorating guru, Cher. And it's taken off from there. Light is beginning to take over our home and I love it! I have also realized I LOVE thrift stores and garage sales. I love going through junk and finding things I can make new again. Really calls to me these days. But it also makes the redecorating process slow as I search for just the right thingy to put on the wall. I have a few projects I will post but some are still a work in progress. It's become and hobby and a bit of a passion to learn how to refinish furniture, sew slipcovers and spray paint anything. We'll see where it takes our little home. Stay tuned.

Newport has a beach?

I guess I was so focused on the marathon that it didn't quite register that Newport was yes, on the coast and yes, there would be a beach and yes, the weather might not be cold and rainy like it is in Seattle. Therefore on the first day when the weather was beautiful and perfect we were found on the beach with no sunscreen, beach toys, swimsuits or towels. But we truly enjoyed ourselves anyway in the sun and surf.

Well, maybe not all of us....



But he was a good sport and didn't seem worse for the wear.



He just spent the rest of the afternoon waddling around like a jawa.

The afternoons on the coast were wonderful and relaxing (except for Jonah's constant need to explore the outermost recesses of the shore, the farther away from our little "camp" the better)and it was the perfect little getaway before and after the race.

And I'll be better beach-prepared for next year's marathon. Right, Aaron?... Aaron??

26.2

This last weekend we traveled down to Newport, Oregon to run what would be Aaron's 4th marathon. Granted it had been more than 13 years since his previous marathon but Logan, 1/4 of the DitWills, convinced Aaron to sign up along with his brother Brent and his wife Deena. The weather in Newport was perfect, the company was great and the scenery was beautiful.



We got up around at 5:45am so we could be ready to leave at 6:20am. We walked to the start and the race began at 7am sharp. Off they ran.

We caught them again about 2 miles into the race when they looped around near our hotel. Logan is in the blue and Brent is in the red. Deena was not far behind.

Lucas, Jonah and I strolled back to the hotel, had a hot breakfast of waffles and fruit, and watched a little TV. The boys wrestled while I dried my hair.


And they were still running.

We showered for the day, got dressed and cleaned up the room. Lucas packed up the car for me and I checked out of the hotel. We drove to the rental house to catch up with Julia and their kiddos.

They were still running.

Julia and I chatted about her new calling and my dining room renovation, played with the kids, chatted some more and ate some chocolate.

And they were still running.

We rounded up the kids, crammed the strollers into the cars, packed snacks and drinks for the finish line and then we drove off to figure out where this finish line was.

And yes, they were still running.

We parked, packed the six kids into strollers and back packs, hiked the quarter mile to the finish and then sat and still waited for 45 minutes before our first runner came down the hill.

Logan came, then Brent, then Aaron and then Deena.

So proud of them!

Aaron wore the first race t-shirt he ever got (though he didn't even run in that race - he was a volunteer) from November 23, 1989. This 21 year old relic has been with him on every marathon. He was extermely proud that he must've been wearing the oldest piece of clothing in the race.

Running a marathon has always been on my life list, something I've always wanted do just to be able to say I did it. But after seeing the runners this weekend (before, after and during the race), I had a realization. I don't like running. I get bored and running gets tedious. And I have never felt what people call a "runner's high." So I really don't want to run a marathon. With the months of training let alone the grueling actual event that makes you want to die... No, I am self actualized enough to just prematurely check that one off my list and not feel guilty in the least. Life is too short and I am comfortable in the fact that my boots were made for walking, not running.

But my lack of desire to run makes me all the more proud of my running fool.

Remember my last post...

...and all the wonderful talents and abilities that I just love to watch develop?

Well, learning to climb on the table is NOT one of them.