A Week At Home Goes Much Too Fast

Last Thursday we headed to Emmett after Ethan got out of school. I have to say, although the school days are a bit longer, only having school 4 days a week is one thing I enjoy about living in Orofino.

Jeff took Friday off and spent the day golfing with some friends...you still owe me, Kaskel. 

The boys & I met up with some friends at the city park for awhile, then that evening my parents along with my brother & sister-in-law entertained the boys while Jeff & I went out on an actual date. (THANK YOU!)We haven't quite found a babysitter up in the mountains, so dates without kids have been something of the past lately. 

Saturday morning Jeff got up early and...you guessed it...he went golfing! I took my niece's Senior Pictures, & thankfully Jeff made it back in time for the family trip to the reservoir...

The Captain

Charly!

I gladly held everyone's sunglasses while they skiied/kneeboarded/wakeboarded/etc.

Ryan slolamin'

Jeffrey Effrey

The Captain handed over the wheel for a turn showing his moves out on the water.

Ryan was not to be outdone...

On Sunday Jeff & I went to our old ward before he & Ethan headed back to the mountain with Pudge, since they have to work & go to school.

But I don't!

So I stayed in Emmett with Kamden & Owen, looking forward to a fun week with family & friends.

On Monday I took Owen to his 2-year check-up since I haven't found a pediatrician in the mountains, either. He is in the 72nd percentile for height, so he's a bit shorter than his brothers were at this age, and only the 14th percentile for weight.  He has thinned out since back in November of '09 when he was only 4 months old & in the 48th percentile.

That evening we went to a park and met with several of my mom's aunts & uncles, her cousins, some of my aunts, uncles, & cousins, my brother & sister-in-law, & my parents for a potluck get-together. I was busy chasing Kamden & Owen around, so I have no pictures, but the boys had fun playing.

Tuesday morning Owen found a creative seat while watching Sesame Street...

Then we rode to Boise with some friends where we had lunch at Red Robin...I'd forgotten what it was like to take my kids to an actual restaraunt. I think Kamden forgot how to act when he is in one. But we made it out alive, even though Kamden's shorts were covered in ranch dressing.

Callie treated us to an adventure at PoJo's, an indoor arcade with several rides.

The first stop was the carosel, which Kamden is still telling everyone about how he got to ride "Bambi". You have to look closely at the picture of him, the deer's antlers look like they are sticking out of Elisa's head.

Kennedy

Elisa & Kamden

Owen

Next stop was the rocket, but Owen was distracted by all of the other games, so he missed out on that one.

Instead he flew threw the skies with Snoopy & Woodstock. Mr.Bob would be proud, as he has a vast collection of 'Peanuts' memorabilia including but not limited to: a wall clock, outdoor flag, nightlight, and even two books entitled 'The Gospel According to Peanuts'.

There were a few rounds of Skee Ball, in which Owen chucked the balls everywhere but where he was supposed to. When he finally got the idea of where they needed to go, he stopped throwing them so hard and they almost always came rolling right back toward him.

Owen loves being a cowboy and was very excited to ride the bucking bronco.

"Wee-Ha, Mommy! Wee-Ha!"

Kamden & Elisa giggled & squealed as they bounced around on the bumper cars. The first time they rode they didn't quite have the hang of driving them, and they kept going around and around and around and around until I thought they were going to loose their lunch.

Even more than cowboys, Owen loves motorcycles or, as he calls them, "Motorsykes".

I would even go so far as to say that it is a small obsession of his, as he screams "MOTORSYKE!" every time he spots one while riding in the car. If he's throwing a fit, we just tell him to look out the window and watch for a motorsyke. So he was beyond thrilled when he saw this one...someone had to ride it.

There was a row of several different little rides including a donkey:

A Tonka Truck:

Another ride on the donkey:

And Owen's favorite, another motorsyke:

Several times I couldn't find Kamden, and he had taken off to this shooting game where you hunt dinosaurs. He liked it so much, he took Elisa along with him & couldn't tear his eyes from the screen, even for a quick picture.

There was also a little play area with tunnels & slides...

It was a great afternoon and we milked every last bit of excitment out of it...

Then it was home for a few hours before the boys stayed with Grandma & I headed off to catch up with some of the greatest ladies a gal could ever know.

I can't even explain how much I love them.

Much more than new shoes.

And Carol is moving to Utah, which is exciting & also sad, but I'm telling you, Kaskel, if you're reading this, I will be visiting your wife & we are having girl's day, so don't get any ideas about you & Jeff taking off to golf. Just sayin'.

On Wednesday I woke up with a thought in my head. A thought that I am certain was an answer to a prayer. Lately Kamden & I have been butting heads...and I don't mean literally like when he watches Bambi and talks me into playing 'Deers Fighting with Antlers' which is a game he invented that always leaves me with a headache. But it seems like he has been trying my patience at every opportunity and I'm feeling like a failure as a mother 99.9% of the time when it comes to our middle child. I don't know if it has anything to do with his birth order or if it's his personality or what, but it's been a rough few months, mostly since we moved. I've been beyond the end of my rope. I haven't known what to do and the only thing I could think of was to pray, because I'd done all I could think of and was getting nowhere.

So, Wednesday morning I woke up & realized that I never do anything with Kamden, just the two of us. Not that I make a special effort to spend time one-on-one with the other two, but I've taken Ethan school shopping on his own and had time with just Owen last school year when Ethan was in Kindergarten & Kamden went to Speech. This morning I realized that I had the opportunity to spend a day with Kamden, so my amazing mother again watched Owen while Kamden & I had ourselves a date.

I let him sleep in as late as he wanted, which turned out to be around 9:30. He, of course, asked if it was "Church Day" because this is his main concern every morning. He doesn't like getting dressed for church, he doesn't like going to church, he doesn't like talking about church, & he most certainly doesn't like getting out of bed on "Church Day". Just another trial on the list that leads to the aforementioned 99.9% feelings of failure...I assured him that it wasn't Church Day, that it was Wednesday, so he wanted to know what we do on Wednesday.

When I told him that we were going to go do something fun, just the two of us, his face lit up and he asked a little too enthusiastically, "Without Owen?!"

I told him that Owen was going to stay with Grandma and he jumped out of bed & got dressed faster than I've ever seen. He hurried me out the door for a change, which is usually a daily struggle to get him in clothes, shoes, and on our way.

Kamden doesn't believe that hamsters are real for some reason. Our first stop was a pet store where I showed him that they do exisit and that they are actually quite smelly, even if they are kind of cute.

We also watched a Chinchilla,

And a ferrett,

And several bearded dragon lizards,

He had a great time wandering around looking at fish, puppies, birds, turtles, and snakes.

Then we caught the 12:05 showing of...

Kamden thought several parts were just too scary so he tried to sneak out of the theater. A difficult task when there are only about 10 people in the room. But he was brave and decided to tough it out, having faith that Po would win in the end.

We headed back toward Emmett & played at the park for a bit before Kamden went along to the funeral home with me. My cousin's 2 month-old baby died of SIDS last week and the funeral is tomorrow, so I offered to take some pictures for them. Definately made me more grateful for my own children, even if they do frustrate me at times.

After the funeral, it's back to the mountain. I feel like I've been looking forward to this trip to Emmett for so long, and it went by so fast. But my parents are coming with us to spend the weekend while the fair goes on in Orofino, so it won't be as difficult to leave this time.

I'm so thankful for my family and friends, and that no matter where life takes me,

this always feels like home.