what is

it's 5:04.

normally, this is the time when little boys around here are herded away

from afternoon activities toward dinner (or are already pacing the kitchen like starving hyenas). but not tonight. finally, there's a break in the rain, and i'm licking these moments up like the last bits of cake. they're outside, making their own mud dinners, soups, and crazy concoctions. i can see a beer bottle, the ash bucket, a tool belt, and a nice pile of urgently green weeds. they're happy. i'm happy. and whenever the inside calls to them, there are warm cookies

waiting to lure them to the tub.

dinner can wait.

friend party, finally!

are they here yet? what about now? now? NOW?????

last weekend, we finally had a "friend party" for leif...his actual birthday was only two months ago. sickness, busy-ness, post holiday no-more-celebrating-anything-ness...it all contributed to a little delay in the festivities. but, we finally arrived at just the right time, and (crazy, high-energy, six-year-old) fun was had by all. oh yah.

there were cool dino headbands,

balloon craziness...followed by nerve blasting balloon popping,

a little gift envy (oh, that one's so hard for me...),

and an awesome, daddy-designed dino cake!

oh, and yes...a pinata. giving an old ax handle to the above mentioned crazy six year olds? what a great idea! but, it was fate -- leif discovered it hanging from the ceiling at the local discount store. no way that thing wasn't coming home with us.

we didn't escape without a little snow and a lot of wind (i guess a january birthday just kinda sticks with ya), but we did make it outside for the pinata. just on account of that, i'm chalking the whole thing up as a success.

thrifty friends

once upon a time, there was a little boy who fell in love with a stuffed animal at the drug store. he went there from time to time with his brothers and mama, usually to pick up prescriptions...not exactly joy to a child. his favorite isles were filled with colorful gifts, seasonal knick-knacks, and of course, toys. this particular creature hung with his friends at the end of the row, attracting the eye and begging for a cozy home. "put it on your list," the mama would gently say, noting how much the little boy coveted the creature while simultaneously thinking it didn't quite fit her idea of the perfect toy. several months went by, and always the same little guy called out to her son. satin wings in his favorite color, blue. one day, justified by the coupon in hand, the mama marched into the store prepared, finally, to bring the winged temptation home for her son's fourth birthday. enter "zlock", member of the webkinz gang...a "zumbuddy" to be specific. much to the mama's delight, this was no passing fancy for her son. he was thrilled to find him among his birthday gifts and has slept with him, loved him, and toted him on adventures ever since.

this adoration did not escape his observant older brother, who began to long for a little friend of the same species. oh, my! the collection fever had gripped them! now the family, it seemed, needed another zumbuddy.

*sigh*.

fast forward to today and a much needed thrift store fix. the mama brought the oldest boy along with her for a treasure hunting adventure. fabric scraps, books, yarn...the normal odds and ends began to gather in their cart. but alas, you will never believe who gazed upon them from the piles of well-loved stuffed beasts...yes, a zumbuddy, please and thank you. and not just any zumbuddy, but the exact one, zana, the oldest boy had chosen to place on his list when his zumbuddy envy bloomed.

well, hit me with a daisy. that's the magic of thrift stores, i tell you. and now the two zumbuddies are sitting happily between their adoptive daddies, wrapped snugly in their newly made "sweater" bags.

but that's another story.

snow, sleds, sweet potatoes & star wars

on a whim today (thank you, joe, for your spontaneity...sometimes i just can't muster the energy), we headed up to the snow. nowhere special, just a roadside pile of the white stuff with just enough of a slope to keep the littles tickled. the timing was just right: warm sunshine & sam and eric falling asleep on the way. leif and joe got started first, while i took some pictures. woke up eric next so he wouldn't miss out, and the four of us got to play for a good while longer. sam finally woke up just in time for a stomp through the snow on mama's back. he was perfectly content, but i just had to go ahead and plop us both on a sled...even though that's not his favorite thing...i know, cruel. he giggled the first time, despite his initial protests, but the second time down was just too much for him. someday. anyway, we finished off the trip with a little snowfort construction while sam recovered with joe in the van.

when we got home, leif started peeling sweet potatoes for fries. after a day of sledding, fries are ok for dinner, right? the coolest part was that leif actually ate them...bless you, magical kid-assisted food prep...why do i hardly ever remember this trick?

the boys occupied themselves by parading as jedis, complete with fully equipped tool belts. for those of you (blissfully) unaware, please note eric's black-gloved hand, an unfortunate result of a duel with count dooku.

so there you go. how we keep ourselves entertained when the snow just keeps on coming.

babies for sam

little sam is very into babies right now. for some time now, he's claimed a cabbage patch doll from our collection as his special baby, which he calls "fren" (friend). this doll has been a member of our home since my baby shower for leif, when a good friend gave the doll to us because her own son had loved a similar one so much. poor fren has been floating, unattached, around our home ever since. no one ever quite attached to him, until now. i'm so glad he's finally getting some good toy love.

in fact, sam's love for both fren and a neighbor's visiting dolly motivated me to try to make a little doll for him for christmas, inspired by erin's cutey babe. i got a pattern and some supplies, and began the satisfying-in-a-strange-feeling-way-like-you're-creating-a-person work of making a doll.

this little baby is a bit misshapen here and there, but sam was ok with his lumps and bumps, so it's all good. he was not completely ready for christmas, so he arrived with a hat and a blanket to hide his lack of hair (and creepy thread bits coming out of the back of his head) and clothes.

when i get around to growing this baby a good head of hair and dressing him properly, i'll have to take some more pictures to share. meanwhile, i believe he's upstairs, dressed in one of eric's socks.

at any rate, sam now has two baby friends to keep him company. and thanks to grandma diana, he's also got a handy sling to tote them around wherever he goes.

kitty play

"mommy, if i say 'cheerios', that means i just want plain cheerios, and if i say 'cheerios with milk', that means i want cheerios with milk." and so it begins. plain cheerios are best served to three and one year old boys in a shallow bowl, on the floor, where proper kitties eat their food. if the kitty headbands are available, that is even better. meowing is optional, but extremely cute.

you have to start somewhere...

where have we been? well, ever since leif began soccer in july, life has been on fast forward. we went from soccer practices and games to a beach vacation on the oregon coast. after stopping at home for a couple of days to regroup, i took the boys on another adventure to our former hometown in washington. we swooped back home in just enough time to start school, and life just hasn't been the same since. toss in a couple of visits from the grandparents and starting up doodlebugs again (after a brief summer hiatus) and there's a lot less time for blogging. some of it's due to pure time crunch, some a deliberate abandonment of the computer, truthfully. there are just so many stories to tell and challenges to unravel.

normally, when i feel overwhelmed, we head to the woods. so that's what i'll do tonight.

we'll go back to july and a lovely visit to a nearby pond. while the younger boys snoozed in the car, leif and i hopped out to explore. we found a butterfly on the gravel where a forest service rig had pulled out & "rescued" him by putting him on a nearby plant to "recover". leif delighted in the close observations, and i delighted in his sensitivity and gentleness. when sam woke up, leif was excited to share with him.

eric soon joined us, and after a snack, was ready to go. i don't think i'll ever tire of watching these little ones from behind. there's something about it that makes me feel like i'm peeking in on their adventures...witnessing their escapades more from their perspective or from that of an outsider, rather than a director. someone once asked me if taking so many pictures makes me feel like i'm missing the moment. but for me, it's quite the opposite. it makes me more present.

sam carried that little flower all the way around the pond with him and kept it nearby when he started something new at the water's edge. this was a perfect little sopping spot to stick in sticks and dabble toes.

the big boys use this spot for racing "pods" (leaves). they follow them along the little seep to see who wins. sometimes they crash them up demolition derby style to see which leaves can still race despite all the holes and tatters. it's serious business, i tell you.

the saga continues...

may the force be with you, or rather, with me as i absorb all that is star wars and do my best to impersonate whatever character i am assigned. i've been told i do a fair padame. my skills and enthusiasm pale in comparison to leif and eric who spend hours bringing star wars (they've seen bits and pieces of the movies) to life. their favorite activity revolves around a star wars podracing video game that joe plays while they watch. their focused observations have led to amazing lego replicas, pages and pages of drawings (inspired by the "art gallery" on the video game), and very energetic races where they become pods themselves, racing through the house and around the property. more recently, they've used fir cones as pods because they're so fun to break up into bits as they crash. they've even got the sound effects down to a science, "chorting" their way through the rotation of characters, acting out the mannerisms, voices, and postures of the myriad alien racers. leif made the books above as manuals to help me as i muddle through trying to remember who's who. each page includes a pilot, his pod, and his name. must have been very entertaining, because he's made several volumes, each with different characters....even some new ones they've created, like ronjode scary...um hmmm....

building (or repairing?) podracers (yes, that's an english soldier, but never mind that part...if you can sit, you can race pods).

the pilots "pause" their race for a quick pit stop.

at the starting line...getting set to be driven across the floor as the "announcer" gives play-by-plays of the action, while also trying to keep the "baby monster" at bay.

presenting the king, the queen, and sir sam

when i wandered into the living room yesterday, i found leif and eric playing king and queen.
they were happily seated upon their "frones", complete with name tags made by king leif. of course, i jumped right into this one (much more personally appealing that the recent podracing craze). my offers to help design crowns and pin royal capes were readily accepted. speaking in an english accent helped convince the reigning king (leif) and queen (eric -- happily, by his own choosing) that "sir sam" (see his fuzzy head in the last shot?) was a delightful part of the royal gathering, not a pesky crawling animal meant to be banished from the kingdom as quickly as possible. i even got a bit of exercise in when i became the horse, gallantly trotting the boys through their imaginary landscapes on my uplifted shins. soon, the crowns came off, and somehow the frone room became a library with a sippy cup bar code scanner. and they all lived happily ever after.

um, yes...cemeteries...

for some time now, leif has been keenly interested in cemeteries. not sure when it all started...i'll have to ask joe and get back to you. we've had a few walks and picnics through them before, and leif has become quite fascinated. we talk about the names, the dates, and explain how things were different "back then"...especially with regard to health, diseases, medicine, life expectancy, and even the death of young children (he noticed the headstones with the little lambs right away). we take cues from the kiddos on how much/what information they're asking for, and we marvel at their insights and perceptions. leif has made many drawings of them (i'll have to photograph some of those and post them later), and now, we have some 3-D representations, too.

about a week ago, joe took leif to the cemetary for a little walk, and he came back ready to build his own with blocks, complete with "engraved" headstones. he and eric worked on it lots over the course of a few days, and it eventually had to be moved off the floor, away from the "baby monster", who innocently enjoys destroying the big boys' creations. the shot above includes a protective knight "statue" and a caged chick from the neighboring farm.

we giggled at the interesting names (leif and eric think it's hilarious when we read their "words" back to them), and i found this one especially notable..."madma"...hmmmm

the theme continued this past weekend with an outdoor version, using rocks for headstones, placed neatly in rows. i'm not sure exactly why leif finds cemeteries so interesting, he hasn't verbalized that part clearly. maybe he's attracted to the decorative aspects, the shapes, letters, and designs of the headstones and structures he sees there. or is it the feelings of love, history, story, and loss you get when you visit. whatever the reason, it's an intriguing little passion of his.

outside is the key

when we've been invaded by the grumpies, whinies, fighties, screamies, and other assorted ickies, there is a magical remedy...if i can just keep it together long enough to get everyone ready. OUTSIDE! fresh air, sunshine, and the amazing imaginary games that materialize out there somehow make everything good again. yes.

birdies nesting.

bird food.

a happy sunshine wrestle.