Ah.... life as a 4 year old.

This is an Elijah update.  Might be fun for Grandparents and those interested in 4 year olds, but possibly pretty boring for anyone else?!?  Who knows?   :)

The question I hear the most from our friends is "How is Elijah adjusting?"  These people obviously know Elijah well.  Change is not his thing.  As a matter of fact, when I dropped him off at preschool this morning, his teacher pulled him aside to prepare him for the fact that she bought a new rug for the classroom.  As he ventured inside she told me "As soon as I bought the rug, I thought of Elijah.  He's not very good with change."  I was happy to see that she is in tune with our precious 4 year old.  :)

Moving has been tough for Elijah, but he is actually doing really well these days.   He talks about our Colorado house and his Colorado friends, but has lately ventured out and is trying to make friends in Oregon.  A big step for him and I'm so very proud of him.

Here are some of the things he has been up to, starting with some photos taken in January.

He REALLY wanted a shovel for Christmas and thankfully Santa came through on that.  He loves to shovel the driveway, BY HIMSELF.  I think it might hurt more than it helps.  But it does keep him busy for a while. 

No idea what is going on here.  Something must be pretty interesting. 

Chillin' with G.

Great.  Milk bubbles.  I know Marty took the photo, so I blame him for encouraging it. 

Check out the sweet bike we were checking out.  We could add a seat in the back for Gavin.  Elijah LOVED it.

Until we get something different.... he is in the trailer for longer bike rides.  A little small for him, but it works.

Patiently, allowing G to check out his structure.  He LOVES to build things and literally builds a new "house" daily.  Literally.  His favorite word regarding the houses is "stabilize".  He got that word from his dad.  The goal is that if you do a good enough job "stabilizing", Gavin will not be able to destroy it.  He even made up a song about it (it is in the video at the end).   Side note is that he also made up a song about Mommy.  It goes something like this "Kids play toys and leave them out.... Mommy's job is to clean them up.... <Repeat above words about 7,000 times>"  Love that song. 

Moving on from photos and we have a collection of Elijah stories over the past week or two.  I'm typing them mostly for myself so I remember them.... but maybe others will enjoy them too.

Story #1 Markers:
Scene:  I'm in the bedroom folding laundry.  Gavin is napping, Elijah is playing.
Elijah:  "Mommy, are these markers washable?"
Me: "Yes, why?"
E: "Uhmmm.... I accidentally colored on the floor."
M: "Accidentally or on purpose."
E: "Uhmmm.... on purpose."
I go out to the kitchen to see about a 2 foot area colored in a lovely blue.  Needless to say, the markers, crayons, coloring books, and paints spent a week locked in a cupboard.  


Story #2: Hair
Scene: Driving home from preschool.  We had been to the park the day prior and E had played with a little boy with a blonde mohawk.
Me:  "Did you play with any new friends today?"
E: (excitedly) "Yes!  I made a new friend, Amanda.  We need to have a play date with her!"
Me: "Okay, can you show me who she is so I can meet her Mommy and set that up."
E:  "Well, she has hair."
Me: (giggling) "All kids have hair, that doesn't really narrow it down much."
E:  "Not that one kid at the park.  He had crest hair."
M: "Crest hair?  Where did you hear the word crest?  Who taught you that? What does that mean that he has crest hair?"  (I'm knowing full well that he is describing the kid with the mohawk and am thinking - wow, a crest, that is a great way for a 4 year old to describe a mohawk and who taught him that word?)
E:  "No mom, CRUST.  Like PIZZA CRUST.  He had CRUST hair."
This made me laugh out loud and proceed to call Marty to share the story.  He describes it not as crest hair, but the kid with the mohawk has hair like a pizza crust.  Creative.


Story #3:  New Words
Background:  All day long Elijah likes to ask "What does that word mean?"  To the point that it makes me crazy sometimes, but he does now have a pretty big vocabulary.  This day we are hanging out, eating lunch.
Elijah "Mommy, what does TUR-QU-LIZE mean?"
I then go through a series of questions attempting to figure out what he is trying to say.  "Who said that word?"  "Where did you hear it?"  "Say it in a sentence" (which was the wrong thing to say b/c I was then trying to explain to a 4 year old what a sentence was).  At this point, Elijah is annoyed and frustrated and just keeps saying louder "TUR-QU-LIZE, that is the word!"
Finally, amidst his frustration he says.  "Miss Pam says it!  All the time!  When she is holding up the color blue.  I don't understand!!!!"
Me:  "Oh, turquoise.  It's a color.  A light blue/green color."
Problem solved. 


Story #4:  Daddy teaches Elijah inappropriate things.
Story of our lives.  Marty teaches Elijah things that are kind of funny, but not the most appropriate.  So, as I making lunch one day and Elijah is coloring at the table.  He screams out:
E:  "Mommy, come here really quick!"
M: "What do you need Elijah?"
E: (in a panicking voice)  "I need you here quick!  To pull my finger!  I have to toot."
Thank you, Marty.


And last of all!  We have a video of E from December & January!  Enjoy!!!!

Wacky Wednesday #8: Bikes

Our family LOVES to bike.  Prior to Gavin's birth, we could go numerous days in the summer without driving our cars.  No, not because we didn't leave the house, but because we would bike everywhere.  Love it.

The weather has been super warm here the past couple days and we have been looking into our new challenge - how can I get around with both the kids on my bike?  Elijah isn't old enough the he can ride on the main roads here with me and I am not at all strong enough to pull both the kids in the trailer behind my bike up the big hill to our house.  Wait, who am I kidding, I am probably not even strong enough to pull them on a flat surface.

On the recommendation of a preschool parent who said we had some great (wacky) bike options, we checked them out last weekend.  Crazy, wacky stuff.

My favorite part about this one is by far the picture.  Is that gal really going to get on and ride that bike?  Anyways, inside that bucket, there are two bench seats with seat belts.  I kid you not.

The next bike we saw was this thing. This is not going to help us out with our current goal of getting the kids around town on my bike, but it sure is wacky.

This last one is pretty amazing. It is hard to tell from the photo, but the baby seat actually goes back far enough that there is room for a 4 year old to sit in front of the baby seat.  Then there are handle bars for the 4 year old to hang on to that come up from under the bike seat.  This photo doesn't show it, but there are foot rests for Elijah.  It is actually a kit that can be attached to any regular old bike.  Elijah and I actually rode around on it and it rides great.  I have seen half a dozen of them around town now - something I had NEVER seen in Colorado.  Wacky stuff. 

Gavin

I have been meaning to write an update on each of the boys for a couple of weeks now and I never seem to get around to it.  I think it is mostly because there is just so much to say about each of them!  The last 8 weeks have been transformational for Gavin.  He has gone from just being able to sit in one spot to being able to army crawl, then pull up to standing, then to fully crawling, and most recently to walking along the edge of the couch and chairs!  He is a busy guy and so much fun.  

The best run - down of his achievements is going to come by way of photos and video, so here you go!

This was at Grandma & Grandpa's house in Iowa.  He LOVES balls.  Especially when he can put them into something.    Here he is playing with Sophie, my friend Megan's daughter. 

The first week of January.  Just starting to figure out standing up on the slippery hardwood floor. 

We've entered the "it's too quiet.... where is Gavin?" phase.  The cloth diapers used to be able to hang dry with no problems.  Now it is a fun game for Gavin.  He LOVES to go over and pull them all off the drying rack.  When I catch him he always has the same silly grin on his face.... like "I know I'm not supposed to be doing this...."

Playing in the dishwasher.   Every baby's dream.

Helping Elijah open a Christmas gift from Uncle Jarrod.  Gavin really just wanted to eat the foam peanuts, but it was really fun to see him standing up and "helping" Elijah. 

Standing on this toy is especially brave because it is on wheels.  Therefore, it moves.  We still sometimes have tears, but he is getting more used to it. 

First official day of CRAWLING!  (January 7, 2011)

He stands up on EVERYTHING.  It seems to be his primary goal everyday. 

Using a spoon in the dishwasher to ease his teething pain.  He is resourceful. 

Crawling OVER things is really fun and a new challenge. 

More adventures in standing.  Notice the socks on the floor.  They cause problems with slipping when standing, so if I don't take them off first, he usually gets them off.  He also has a thing with trying to take off other people's socks (especially Elijah's or other kids).  AND he enjoys carrying his socks around with him.  I never know where I am going to find one of Gavin's socks.   (Recently it was the kitchen cupboard).

Watching Elijah in the bath.  He LOVES the water and does not think it is a very good idea that I always take him out of the bathtub first.  He will stand there and watch Elijah until he also gets out. 

Closing doors.  Another fun past-time.  He gets really upset when he closes the door all the way and it latches.  Then he is kind of stuck.  

He has taken to drinking out of a cup.  He went a couple days where he would barely take his bottle at all and all he wanted was the glass I was drinking out of.  So, we introduced him to a cup and he really likes it.  :)

Gavin's first minor injury.  He got that this morning.  

His latest game is to plop down to his bottom from standing.  He did that this morning while standing on the floor next to our bed.  His face had an encounter with the wooden bed frame.

The video is a collection of things from December-January.  There are a couple clips of him first beginning to army crawl, dropping balls in the toy, doing "so big" & waving "bye bye", first pulling himself to standing (note how he does the funny breathing thing - he does that when he is really concentrating), dancing to music in his highchair, and another one of him standing and "talking".  Probably a bit long for the average viewer, but I have a feeling there are some grandparents and a few others who will enjoy it!  (Nikki & Lorne - hope you guys are able to view it too!)  :)

Wacky Wednesday #7: Fred Meyer

From our first week of moving to OR, I kept hearing people talk about Fred Meyer.  My only reference

to Fred Meyer is a jewelry store, in the mall, in Colorado.  It happens to be the jewelry store where Marty & I both got our wedding bands. 

While I was waiting in the ridiculous Black Friday line at Target, I was told that Fred Meyer is kind of like Wal-Mart.  So, I am envisioning a smaller version of Wal-Mart.  A local chain, maybe like a slightly larger Walgreens or something.  Since I have 2 small boys with me most of the time, I haven't been that quick to check out new places, but this week we ventured into Fred Meyer.

I think this particular Fred Meyer store might be the biggest store I have ever been in.  You pick up a map when you walk in the door.  It has an entire grocery store (Kroger line - like King Soopers in CO), a Tully's coffee in the middle, a bank, a play land (which is supervised - and I can leave Elijah there for up to 1 hour while I shop), shoes, furniture (think couches), sporting goods, toys, clothing..... basically I'm not sure there is anything they don't carry.  It is HUGE.  It was overwhelming.  OH, and there is a also a Fred Meyer Jewelry Store in the middle. 

Suddenly though, it feels a bit like we bought our wedding rings at a giant Wal-Mart.  I just took us 7 years to realize it.

Bummer.

A Night Out!

Last week Marty had gotten an invite from his man, Vito (a guy who works at a company that supplies parts to Marty's company) to go to a fancy schmanzy dinner/fundraiser event.  Vito's company sponsored a table or two and apparently has some extra tickets.  Sweet.  However, I quickly exhausted our short list of babysitters and didn't think it was going to happen.

Yesterday, at 3p, I got confirmation from Marty that we indeed had a babysitter and could go to the fancy schmanzy event that started at 5:30p.  Yikes.

House picked up, kids fed, only problem is that I don't really own much for fancy stuff.  As in, I have a black dress I wore on our honeymoon (7 years ago) and I have clothes I used to wear to work prior to being pregnant/having kids (so 5 years ago) and one shirt I recently bought on a whim recognizing that I don't have any dressy clothes.  Well, that will have to work. *Side note is: I. hate. shopping. I need to get over that.* After I was over the obvious fashion crisis (with some help from a dear friend in CO who advised me on current styles), the (new) babysitter was here!

*Quick Elijah story on honesty*
Babysitter walks in and Elijah announces "My mommy's pants are all too tight.  She needs to go to the gym more and not eat so much ice cream."

I chuckled a bit.... he is right and he had been present for the trying to figure out just what I was going to wear.  It's never pretty when it is an event like this.

Elijah then confirms "I'm not joking.  They really are and my mommy needs to go to the gym.  Mommy, why don't you just not eat ice cream anymore?"

I agreed with him - as I said, he is right and I LOVE his honesty.  However, at some point for the sake of others, I think we need to teach that kid to filter stuff. :)
*End of Elijah story.  Love that kid*

At the event, Vito took us around to meet a whole bunch of people whose names I will not remember.  At one point he says something like "oh, have you guys met Mark Rypien?"  This name means nothing to me, but he is a Super Bowl MVP.  Apparently I wasn't paying much attention to football in 1991.  So, we went ahead and chatted it up with Mark for a minute or two.

Mark Rypien - Super Bowl MVP & the only NFL MVP I've ever met.

Drew Bledsoe also happened to be there, but we didn't do any chatting with him.

The event was great.  Food was amazing and the silent auction items they had were also AMAZING.  We bid on a couple things, but didn't end up taking anything home.  The event raised over $100,000 for a local charity.  Having been involved with fundraising events through the non-profit I worked for in CO, I was completely floored.  It was pretty sweet.

Overall a fun night out in the NW, all thanks to Vito.  :)

Wacky Wednesday #6: The Wursts, Part 2

I never did manage to post about the 2nd day of processing the beef in my parents basement..... and since I know that all 3 of my followers have been dying to see a picture of a cow's tongue, here it is.

My dad.  Holding a cooked cow's tongue.

The meat cooking on the stovetop in the basement.

Day 2 of processing the cow is all about making the Rinderwurst.  Never heard of it?  Well, you're not alone.   A quick google search shows that it's not real popular among the recipe networking sites of the day.  I found numerous sites where people remember the German dish from their childhood, but can't seem to find a recipe for it.  So, you've got the inside scoop here.  :)

I am by far NOT an expert.  I showed up after being absent for more than a decade, played upstairs with the kids, and came downstairs every once in a while to take some photos and get the down low on what was going on.

The process started early in the morning with the 'leftover' meat from the day before cooking on the stovetop in those big pots (shown above).  The meat cooks for 5 hours-ish and then the extended family shows up to work on making the wurst.

Everyone gets a pan with cooked meat in it.  The job is to then pick apart the good meat from the yucky stuff (fat, etc).  I do have memories of participating in this in high school.  The rule is that if you don't want it in your rinderwurst, don't put it in the 'good' pile.

Family folk picking apart the meat.

What you're left with is these bowls full of the good stuff.

Then the good meat is put through the grinder.... along with things like the kidneys.  (By the way, Marty and my friend Megan who came for a visit, did taste the kidneys.  Really.)

Then you have big tubs of cooked meat that look like this.

Then a whole bunch of oatmeal gets cooked in these giant pots.

Uncle Ron & my mom making the oatmeal.  Lots of oatmeal.

And now it is ready to be mixed up with the giant wooden paddles.

I guess I may have missed one important detail.  What exactly is in Rinderwurst you may ask?  It is the aforementioned cooked meat which is then ground up with onion.  Cooked oatmeal is then added, as well as the spices (allspice, salt & pepper).  Like most recipes that have been around for many generations, there aren't any exact measurements.

The finished product!  (Along with some BV - the Iowa drink of choice).

 What do you do with it now?  When it is fresh we eat it spread on crackers.  The rest of it is packaged into roughly one pound packages and is cooked up and served for breakfast (think sausage.... like as a side with pancakes & eggs).

Megan trying the Rinderwurst.  Marty was done trying things and didn't give this one a try.

Wacky Wednesday #5: TAXES

Taxes.  Super interesting, huh?

There is no sales tax in Oregon.  If I got a buy a shirt that costs $9.99..... when I go to the cash register, that is what is actually costs.  It's pretty fun. YAH no sales tax.

That is all for this week's Wacky Wednesday.

Apple-Blueberry-Explosives?!? & Disney vs. DIA

We made it back in our wonderful state of Oregon on Sunday!  Not without plenty of adventure though.  :)

Baby food jars = 4 oz.  Not 3.4 oz like the TSA guidelines for liquids, but the are considered a liquid and are allowable to take through security.  It just may require additional screening.

I need to preface this by saying I am completely and totally fine with additional screening.  No big deal.  I don't understand why the additional 0.6 oz makes a big difference, but I am *hopeful* there is some in depth complicated scientific reason and not just a random number that someone at the TSA came up with.

We have flown 3 times recently with baby food.  Each time the tops of the jars needed to be swiped and my hands need to be swiped and run through some machine to ensure they are not dangerous.  However, when leaving Iowa we got the FULL additional screening.

The security guy wanted to open up EACH jar of baby food to test it.  I told him 'no'.  We had enough food for 3 meals in there and opening them all was not going to happen.  (Again, I'm not upset, it just cracks me up....).  So, they did the swiping my hands & testing them thing.

Then, we were separated.  Marty & Elijah were put in one 'holding' area; Gavin and I were in a second.  Each of us were patted down (Gavin & Elijah included) and all of our belongings were searched.  As in, take out all the items in each carry on bag, the diaper bag, etc and visually inspect it.  It was all totally fine and probably took 15 minutes or so.  Which did make it so we made it to our flight right as we were boarding, but still totally fine.  I did ask the guy searching all of my belongings how the extra 0.6 ounces made us a big security risk (in a very nice way), but he didn't have an answer.

Anyone know why 3.4 oz in the magic number?  So strange.

Part 2:  Disney vs. DIA


We ended up with an extended layover at Denver International Airport.  It kept getting more extended as the day went on.  BUT what a better place to be than an airport!  Really, if you are not in a hurry to get somewhere.... an airport is just as cool if not cooler to a 4 year old boy than what Disney World is.  At least our 4 year old.  Pretty similar too - once you are there you have a wide variety of overpriced food, but all the rides are paid for.

Highlights for Elijah:
- Riding the train, elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks an unlimited number of times
- Watching the airplanes take off and land
- Watching a new movie on my computer
- Eating overpriced french fries
- Building with new LEGOS we brought along
- Mommy & Daddy's undivided attention when we took him "exploring"
- Throwing a ping pong ball up the empty down escalator and watching it bounce back down

Highlights for the rest of the family:
- We weren't in a hurry and had a TON of fun things to check out with Elijah.  It was great!
- Marty found some football on TV and got to relax while Elijah watched a movie
- They serve beer.  Good beer.  New Belgium beer.
- Gavin climbed all over our carry ons and could pull himself up on the chairs.  So fun.
- Chasing around a ping pong ball in an empty area for Gavin.  Really?  Doesn't get much better than that.
- Gavin LOVED watching all the action outside.  Planes taking off and landing, luggage carts running around.  Good stuff.

A few photos of the day (I honestly didn't manage to take many.... we were pretty busy "exploring" a good portion of the time).

Nap on flight #1.  He was NOT in a snuggling mood that day.

He is mastering pulling himself to standing AND is soooo proud of himself. 

Naptime.  Only lasted about 30 minutes when someone walked by with a crying baby.  :(