Once Around the Park

This is a guest post by Mr. Graff, because Icie left her account logged in.  Ha!

Eh, this post is all pictures she probably would have posted, anyway.

Our littlest one is walking in short bursts now.  I haven't seen him just stand on his own yet.  He's always walking--almost running-- or climbing and reaching for something.  I hear the other day he climbed all the way up on top of the computer table to play with cords.  I wasn't there for that, but have seen him climb for washcloths, papers, books, etc.

Those talents sure do come in handy at the playground.

A little walking and climbing and he thinks he owns the place.

A little walking and climbing, indeed. 

Ahem.

Someone taught Thing Two here to walk to an edge and then leap into someone's arms.  (Sounds like something I'd do, but THIS one wasn't me.)  Now we have to be extremely watchful every time he's near an edge.  Or stairs.  I think his record now is six steps.

When it was time to go home, we went back the same way we came: Mom, Dad, and Rae walked, and Joe and Caleb rode in the stroller.  This looks like a cute picture, but Rae was bawling and begging to ride in the stroller.  He was happy to walk to the park and do sprints around the playground, but couldn't bear the thought of walking the three blocks home.

Maybe he'll sleep well tonight.

And for something completely different, I have oranges!  There are quite a few orange trees growing at our church building, and we've been encouraged to pick as many as we want.  As many oranges as there were going bad on the ground, I didn't feel bad at all picking a bagful.  

These oranges are still green and yellow when they're ripe.  They're sweet, sour, a little bitter, and very juicy.  I love them and eat them two or three at a time.  I've even tried them on pizza, with black pepper and olive oil.  Mmmm…

It's another thing on that list of things that I like but Icie thinks is weird.  It's a pretty long list.

Oh, and this weekend was General Conference.  Three new apostles were ordained.  Even with the difference in time zones, we streamed all four sessions.  (Women's and Priesthood sessions were at the church building.)  We even got to listen to some of the talks between wrangling kids!  It was pretty nice.

Raeford and the Rameumptom

"Okay. But why?" 

I hear this question around half a dozen times a day. It goes something like this, 

"Raeford, please put your dishes on the counter," I say. 

"Okay, but why?" he asks. 

"Because we need to keep our house clean." 

"Why?"
"Because a clean house helps us to stay healthy."
"Why?"
"Because when we are dirty, it is easier to get sick."
"Why?"
"Just put your dishes on the counter!" 

In Rae's defense, he is usually already doing what I asked him to do. He just drags his feet with a long string of whys. I appreciate that he says "okay" and usually does what I ask. It the endless whys afterwards that become difficult. 

Remember the Rameumptom? The wicked Zoramites climb up on the Rameumptom, a one-person tower, and loudly and publicly pray atrociously self-serving prayers. Then "…they returned to their homes, never speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the [Rameumptom]…" (my emphasis, Alma 31: 23)

I frequently have the line "never speaking of their God again" run through my brain. I wonder often if I am just as guilty of not talking about my God, except when I go to church. I want to teach my kids that God applies to everyday situations, so I happened on this solution: Because Jesus wants us to. 

So, back to the first example:

"Raeford, please put your dishes on the counter," I say.

"Okay, but why?" he asks. 

"Because we need to keep our house clean." 

"Why?" 

"Because Jesus wants us to be clean."

Done.

This resonates with Rae and stops his string of whys. Why don't we hit our brothers? Because Jesus wants us to be good. Why do we go to church? Because we love Jesus. Really, it works for just about everything. And it is so simple that Rae can understand it. 

So, now, the "Okay, but why?" isn't so hard for me. And I love when Rae looks at me with his big blue-gray eyes and asks, "Because Jesus wants me to be good?" 

Yes, sweetheart. It is because Jesus wants you to be good. And as I think about the answers that I give Rae, I feel the truth of what I am saying. We really do go to church because we love Jesus. We really do want to be good and clean because we want to be like Jesus. 

Why didn't I think of that before? 

Aloha!

It's been a long summer, and some of the stress is not gone, but we are back together again, and in Hawaii! 

Crowded beaches? Hardly! 

We still have not sold our condo. The drain under the condo is damaged and needs to be dug out and fixed. Because the drain is damaged, water seeps into the house. Because the water is in the house with no one living there, there is mold. Insurance won't cover it, because it's the condo's responsibility, so we are waiting. 

And waiting. 

We flew here on Tuesday with 13 hours of traveling, 4 time zones, 3 kids, and 2 layovers (Dallas and Los Angeles). And all our baggage: 5 huge checked bags, 3 car seats, 3 backpacks (diapers in one, food in another, and toys in the last), 1 double stroller, and 1 umbrella stroller. It was a zoo. I have no idea how it worked, but it did---our kids were pretty awesome. Everyone got fed and changed and entertained. And about 9 pm MST, they all fell asleep on the plane. We had the entire back row to ourselves, six seats, and with various configurations we all slept. 

Apartments in Hawaii go like fresh malasadas*. Fast. Mr. Graff camped out with a co-worker for almost a month and spent the entire month looking and applying for apartments. It was disheartening. And when it looked like we would be living in a tent on the beach, we got the call that we had a place to live! 

I love it. 

I met the house all in boxes with just necessities unpacked. It's perfect. Mr. Graff left a message in a bottle on my nightstand. Rather appropriate for living on an island. 

We are in another two bedroom, one bathroom apartment like we lived in our entire marriage. (Five years, woot!) This apartment reminds me of our first married student apartment in Provo that we named the "Birds' Nest". 

It is mainland-small, about 800 square feet, but feels palatial in Hawaii. I love the cinder block walls. I love the galley kitchen that looks out into the dining room. I love the washer and dryer next to the bedrooms so I can chuck dirty clothes in the washer instead of the hamper. I like the tiny lanai where I'm going to put a container garden. I like the southern exposure in my living and dining area and the cross breezes through the house. 

Like Rae told me, "I like it; it's kinda beautiful." 

Hawaii fits us, at least for now. 

ALOHA!

*Malasadas, which you have to say with appropriate appreication, are hole-less donuts served, usually, out of food trucks. Sometimes filled, traditionally coated with sugar, these pastries are revered by the kama'aina (locals). My little keikis like them, too. 

All About Caleb

Let me tell you about my sunshine: his name is Caleb. 

He'll be 8 months old this week! 

He is curious. 

He has the best smile. 

He eats everything. I intercepted his attempt at dog poop---go me. And I find all kinds of treasures in his mouth throughout the day. 

He likes his tools. (Watch out, Rae!)

He loves everybody. 

Yup, he eats everything. 

I kept waiting for the balloon turtle to pop...

He has four teeth, two top (which are the most recent) and two bottom. And two more coming in soon. 

He loves playing under the table. 

Sometimes, he gets high centered. 

And sometimes, Mom helps him only after taking a picture. 

This is about as serious as his face gets. He spends a lot his day laughing. 

He loves street festivals, but... 

still needs his beauty naps. 

The Japanese tourists all took pictures of his cuteness. We even got stopped on the street by a photographer who wanted a picture of Caleb. 

Caleb is a pass-a-long baby. One of those babies that everyone wants to hold and makes everyone feel better by being around. 

He's started growling, and it is impressive. But, you can't take the growl seriously when he laughs at himself seconds later. 

Caleb hero worships Rae and loves Joe and Captain. Captain licks Caleb's face, and Caleb follows Captain everywhere. They share teething things. 

Caleb started crawling a few weeks ago, and he has an "Igor" crawl. He tucks one knee up and crawls with a lilt, so he can sit at the earliest convenience. He's not quite figured out how to roll, so if he lands on his back, he's a stuck turtle. He's fast when he sees someone open a door (the fridge, the back door, the dishwasher, the front door, the door to the basement...) and he's right there ready to leap. 

He can't sit still. Even when he is being fed, he's kicking his legs and looking at everything going on, trying to take it all in. He needs people. Not necessarily to hold him, but he needs action, needs to see what is going on and be a part of it. 

He's my sunshine! 

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

This is a guest post, by Mr. Graff.

So.

Before we road-tripped down to Grandma's house (no, not that Grandma.  Or that one, either! This is the other Grandma…) Icie and I scrambled to finish all of the big projects around the house and then pack what we needed for a few days at the beach and what Icie and the boys needed for a few weeks at Grandma's (yes, the other, other Grandma this time).

I only had so many hours of leave I could use, so I drove home on Wednesday morning.  (Icie and the boys flew out late Thursday evening.)  I got home and got to work on a lot of the smaller projects around the house.  I didn't even think to unpack until much later.

My favorite of the smaller projects would probably be the yard work.  I raked, mulched, weeded and planted.  I won't have time to set up a real garden (and it probably wouldn't be a good selling point, and I wouldn't be around to harvest anything), but the realtor suggested a little container garden for a splash of color, so I went and bought some flower pots, soil, and flowers.  Here I have a calladium and some impatiens.  And a potato.  (Apparently a little piece from last year survived the winter and is pushing up again.  It's growing so nicely!  I'll probably have to pull it up, though, so the garden looks more presentable.  *Sigh*)

My garden

I've installed toe-kicks, caulked, cleaned up outside, patched and painted walls, shampooed carpets, straightened and cleaned everywhere, and made sure the bed was always made and the dishes were always clean (or, at least, out of sight).  And last night, I put in carpet transitions.

If you wanted to make a pretty scrapbook out of flooring materials, carpet transitions would be the metal ribbon you'd use along the edges of the carpet.  It holds everything down and makes a neat edge that people won't trip over.  We've known that we needed to put in new carpet transitions since we re-did the tile in the entryway, kitchen, and bathroom.  It's pretty straightforward to install, too.  You just nail or screw it in place, then there are hooks along the bottom to hold the carpet in place and a metal lip that bends down.

A carpet transition, end view

We still ran into a couple problems.  The first problem is that our sub-floor is concrete.  The second is that the type of carpet transition we were using is somehow obscure enough to not have any kind of tutorials online or in any book that I've been able to find.  I got concrete nails, then a bigger hammer, then concrete patch, then three or four different kinds of concrete screws and new bits for our power drill.  I talked to experts at home improvement stores and handymen at church and the project just kept getting stalled.  Finally, I went out and rented the big artillery: an impact drill!  (And yet another variety of concrete screw, to match the drill bit.)  

The impact drill worked just fine on our concrete floor.  I marked and pre-drilled the holes, then used a regular screwdriver to screw down the carpet transitions.  Once I realized how little time I had before the drill had to be returned (I rented it for four hours, but the store closed sooner than that!), I started scrambling.  I went just far enough to know that I'd drilled the holes correctly and the carpet transitions would go in all right and then skip ahead to the next one.  I got the drill back just in time, then stayed up late finishing the process and cleaning everything up.  It is kind of nice that the last step in the process is pounding on the transitions with a rubber mallet.  (Hey, you have to make sure the metal lip is smooth and flush.  Really sure.)

Ruff ruff, man-grunt.

Icie thought I'd cook a ton of weird food while she was gone.  Maybe I would have, if I'd had more time to cook and less need to clean the kitchen immediately.  Really, I haven't cooked much at all.  Today was Rae's birthday though, and I needed something to celebrate.  I'd been wanting to try British steamed pudding for a while (it's basically a cake that's steamed instead of baked), and not only did I find a recipe with apples and raisins (Rae's favorites!), I found a way to steam the pudding in a slow-cooker instead of in a pot on the stove.  I spent just a couple minutes mixing things last night, and woke to a nice, spiced pudding for breakfast.  I topped it with some caramel ice cream because why not!  The flavor went well with the pudding, and cake and ice cream is traditional for birthdays, and this is a birthday party!  Think of the children.  In…Colorado…

Coming out of the slow cooker

All dished up.  I think I'll skip the apple butter next time.

Adventures at Grandma's

My goal for the week was to take pictures of each boy, each day. 

It worked great. 

Until Rae and Joe got sick. 

But, I'm getting ahead of myself... 

We went to the park a couple of blocks away. Caleb rode in the umbrella stroller; Joe pushed it; I corrected the steering, and Rae led the way. It worked alright. 

We did forget the sunscreen, so Caleb got a little more brown. 

The playground is all gravel. Small, little gravel that's fun to pick up and play with. 

Rae, Joe, and Caleb liked filling Caleb's stroller with gravel. 

Joe liked climbing up and down the red stairs. He works hard at learning how to climb stairs. Joe biffed it down Grandma's stairs this week and got a few bruises on his back, but was okay. So, I learned that if I ever go upstairs, I have to carry Joe back down the stairs. (Joe's my little shadow and he needs to follow me everywhere.) Even though he tumbled down the stairs, Joe is resilient. He keeps trying to figure out how to climb stairs, particularly the front step and the back step. He can climb up the stairs, though! 

Rae also biffed it down the staircase. I heard that one. It sounded like somersaults with, "ah!" thump, "ow!" thump, "oh!" thump, all the way down. Minor scratches, and he bounced back. Though now he does say he wants to be carried down the stairs... No way, buckeroo. I nearly biffed it down the stairs carrying Joe and Caleb.  

Stairs... it's a new thing for us. 

I've also learned how to get to the library. You get to the library one way and have to get home another way. So, I followed my in-laws there and then made up my way home. I only got lost three or four times. 

Can you see all three boys?  

Rae woke up and told me that he needed a hair cut! Score big. We usually don't cut his hair until it's necessary because he acts like it's so traumatic.  Now, I know. I just need to wait until his hair is in his face and he will ask me for a haircut. He didn't want clippers, so Grandma used the scissors on him. 

The tablet is playing Curious George, atop the chicken coop. 

About this point in the hair cut, Rae thought he was done. Ha! 

Joe loves this armchair. Grandma also has a plastic yellow, little chair that I keep in my room. Joe will grab a blanket and climb into the chair. And out of the chair. Back in. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In....

I told Rae that he had to be touching the shopping cart or holding my hand. 

Hence, the shopping luge. 

It's serious. 

Rae told me to take his picture...

And here I took it because... of the crossed legs. And the pillow. And the drink. And the snacks. 

The boy has got it all set up. 

Grandpa got a trailer to take Isaac's stuff up to his new digs. So the boys loved climbing in it. Rae liked the orange ties on the side. The ties have a clip on one end and Rae pretended to scale mountains with the rope and hook. 

Yes, Rae's in his unders. And they're wet. 

Let me explain... No, let me sum up: Grandma. 

Grandma bought sponges. So we could cut them up and put them in a bowl of water. And then throw them at each other. And ambush Grandpa. Well... the ambushing didn't happen, but Rae liked throwing the sponges. So he got wet... so he needed to get naked. 

And Joe... well, pants are overrated. 

Cal's the best dressed of the bunch. 

Scaling the couch...like a boss.  

Caleb's waking up three times at night... STILL. I am grateful that he wasn't doing this as much when we were remodeling. Then add Rae, who climbed into bed with me and puked all over. It made for a long night. But, during the day, it was totally nice because Rae felt so miserable, he was inert. 

Count your blessings where you can get them. 

So, in a miracle of miracles all three of my boys slept at the same time during the day, so I could sleep in a ball on the short couch. 

Then Joe got sick, and we are still working through that one: no church for us this week. We like to share, but we don't like to share germs. 

So, Sunday morning nap for Caleb: 

And a Sunday morning ride for Rae: 

Hoping for a Healthy week! 

Up next, a quick guest post by Mr. Graff!