Rocks

Okay, Jack loves rocks. Not just, "Oh, wow rocks are really cool!" He loves rocks. He sleeps with them at night. He stashes them all over the house, yard, garage, car. He carries them in pants pockets, sends them through the wash. At Grampa's cabin he started throwing them in the river. What a fun idea, throwing them!! Yeah right! Now wants to throw them at everything - kitchen cabinets while I am on the phone with the Children's Hospital, pretty little girls in the commons at church, random pieces of furniture, house plants.




















So yesterday, Janie is flushing the toilet. Jack leans over to watch and spills three or four rocks into the camode. Janie stops holding the flusher handle down, and we take three seconds to stare at the water. Toilet paper is gone. Rocks rolled out of sight. Mom forgets all about it.

Last night I hear a rattling sound when I flush. Does this mean everything is okay? Is it the don't worry about it unless he flushes something bigger than a toothbrush rule? Or never fear, it's not flooding rule? And, if there are already rocks down there will a toothbrush fit? Oh, and, if you are wondering, yes, he is still fully uninterested in pooping in the toilet! Why stoop that low when you can flush rocks?!

Peppermint Creamy

Don't ya just wish you could enjoy a warm drink like that? With the crisp weather I've been serving Peppermint Creamy. It is basically warm milk with a couple pumps of peppermint syrup. The kids love it, and it doesn't stain! Yay from the laundry-is-not-my-favorite corner.

Chores

Anyone else remember doing chores? These little chickadees seem to enjoy it! I say, in our house if you want to eat, you have to work. Today the kids cleaned our sinks for their chore. I assigned the kitchen sink to Janie and the bathroom one to Jack. Later, they were both elbow-deep in the kitchen.













Jack pilfered a soft-bristled baby brush as a scrubber, and Jane doled out generous pumps of dish soap.



















Janie loves to be bossy, but like all oldest children know, it's only because she wants things done right! :) Haha, I'm an oldest too.



















In Janie's words: "I like cleaning the sink, and I love it."

Now, she's cleaning out the kitchen cupboards.
WaHoo, she just found tea for a tea party!

Janie and Dad

Janie loves her dad.

Lucy's Patch

So, I guess you're all probably wondering what Lulu looks like with a patch on.















Isn't shee cute?! I plan on smiling like this the next time I sneeze and accidentally let a little toot. Why is it that kids always think that's so funny? Okay, I do too.



















When Jack isn't poking Lulu in the eye trying to re-adhere the patch, he is covering her with stickers. Sometimes when she cries I say, "I know, I know, I know, honey." Jack has picked this up and yells, "I know that, I know that, Lulu," any time she makes a slightly distressed coo. His other public displays of affection include climbing into Lulu's cradle on top of her, picking her nose, sucking on her fingers, and giving her lots of kisses.



















Lulu handles it pretty well.

Lentil and Bean

Please welcome Lentil and Bean, the newest reason to take as many baths and showers as possible in a 24 hour period.

Lentil is the pink one with a big fat nose for sniffing and a little squiggle tail. Bean is the green one with the big bulgie eyes and a little dimple. They mostly like to make children wild and track water all through the house.

Apple-O

Hooray Greenbluff!!
Last year they ate them core and all.
This year they ate 'em off the ground.



















Yay everybody.



















That one had a worm hole!














Ra-Ra-Ra!




















Giddy up!

Carousel

Last time we rode the Carousel I was a bulging eight months pregnant with Jack. Janie gripped the golden pole with sweaty two year old hands while I tried not to knock her off our little pony with an enormous belly. Just getting on we practically defied gravity.















This time I relaxed as antique horses did all but stampede if you judged by the kids' squeals. Baby Lucy sucked little thumbie. Daddy snapped pictures and leaned way far out as the carousel spun.














You probably can't tell from the picture, but Jane and Jack thought sure the ducks in the background were going to eat them. Wait, correction: Brave Emma Jane just informed me that she actually wasn't scared of that.

Tin Cup

This September we had the distinct privilege of visiting my Grampa in Montana. He sure is a spry young man for 87. We talked life and politics and left better than we came.

What a blessing.














The kids and I were really winded keeping up with him on the morning walk!














I used to swing between these same trees when I was a little girl.
Made me think of all the precious things we pass on to our children.
One day, like Grampa, we look back and have a legacy.
What a heritage we have!

Cataract

October seventh is the day doctors discovered a congenital cataract in our Lucy's right eye. Turns out it can cause complete and permanent blindness in that eye!

When vision is obscured in our developmental years the brain actually turns off sight in that eye. Even if the eye is fixed later in life the brain continues to reject that eye and persist in blindness. Basically, you're totally blind, permanently. In essence all the neural connection associated with the weak eye were trimmed away making vision impossible.

Cataract means clouded lens. If you look closely (click on the picture), you can actually see a small smudge in the right pupil. A portion of the cataract is opaque surrounded by what they call scattering.

Doctors have had us patch her strong eye in order to force her to use the weak one as well as possible. This weekend when we visited Seattle Children's Hospital for the second time the weak eye had improved a bit. Yay! Weirdly, now the other eye was almost totally blind! The doctors seemed really surprised that I was so vigilant with patching. Apparently, there is usually not good follow through on the parents part. They assured us that vision would return. Even yesterday I could see her starting to track more with that eye. Relief! Can you imagine, in only ten days time a baby will go blind if they do not see anything?! We are backing off to only patching half time for six weeks. A little piece of reassurance for me has been Proverbs 20:12 "The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both."

Janie and Jack

Welcome, Emma Jane and Jack Gordon!

WaHoo, bath time!!

Baths, showers, sprinklers, pools, puddles, it is all fair game here! And, yes, Jack will hog the shower and splash in your eyes, may or may not close the curtain, and Janie shampoos children, babies, and small pets for free.

Baby Lulu

Here is sweet little dumplin' number three, Lucy Anna.
This is her first bath back in May.

Daddy took the picture while she cooed and clasped her hands
and turned her head side to side.

Love that baby!






















Three months later.
Little sweetie pie.

So, I guess I'm a Blogger Now

Janie and I are trying to blog. In her words. "To blog? What does blog mean?" Still not sure. Okay, publish post, let's see what this does... Tada!!