Happy B'Day Bapa

Today is my dad's birthday. I won't say how old he is, just that he is older than David John who turns 3 tomorrow. David John loves having a birthday so close to his Bapa's. All month we've been hearing the following from David John:
"I will tell you a joke."
"Okay..."
"Bapa's birthday in July like me! Bwahahahahahaha!"
Of course we start laughing because of his wild laughter and the fact that his statement is nowhere close to being a joke.
Last weekend, my parents were here just for one day to see the final performance of This Is Kirtland!
Because the performance was a matinee, and my parents had to leave right afterward we decided to have a little breakfast birthday party for Dad and David John on Saturday morning.
We served smoothies and zucchini bread (thanks Mom!) with candles in it. My Dad received photographs and drawings from the grandsons as well as some dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts. David John got a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack with coloring books and two DVDs inside. When he pulled out the first DVD, Hercules, he shouted "I got Percales!" When he pulled out the second DVD, We're Back, he said, "Oh, and spooky movie grownups watch!" Since then we have watched it and he decided it's not so scary or spooky.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the birthday breakfast. I sure love both July birthday boys.

Drawing Out the Best

David John has a very unique style of drawing people that I have been wanting to to preserve. I find that I really enjoy looking back at the drawings from the other boys that I've posted in the past. So, when David John announced, "Mommy I am going to draw you!" I was delighted. Surely, this would be the perfect opportunity to scan in the picture and post it on my blog. Before I show the picture, let me try to describe how David John draws his people so you will be able to tell what is what.
David John never draws a circumscribed head. He starts with two big eyes, hair (if you're lucky) and then draws a straight line underneath the eyes for a mouth. The arms are sometimes impossible to see because they protrude directly out of either side of the mouth and sometimes look like just one continuous line. The legs, likewise, grow directly downward out of the mouth. Can you picture it? I labeled the first drawing in case you can't quite envision it.
So, this is the drawing he proudly brought to me:

"Look, Mommy! I drew you! You are a monster with four legs and one arm!"
Lovely. I guess that must be my monster friend just behind me.
"Thank you, David John. Do you think you could draw a picture of Mommy when I am not a monster?"
"Okay."

A few minutes later he came back with this one:

"Here Mommy. You are big and fat and mean and angry!"
"Wow. Another great drawing! Can you draw one more where I am not a monster or big and fat and mean and angry?"
"*sigh* Okay, Mommy."

Finally, he brought me this picture:

"Look, Mommy, you are not a monster and you are not fat and not angry..."
"Oh, thank you David John! It's just right."
"...but that monster with four legs and the one with just eyes are going to eat you."
How does one respond to that?
My children so often leave me speechless.

Dreams of Spring

Like much of the country, we are experiencing a heat wave. It isn't even that bad here, we are only in the mid-to-high nineties and haven't broken 100. Still, all of this heat has me longing for those cooler Spring days we had just weeks ago. I thought I would post some of my favorite Spring pictures. Maybe mother nature will see them and decide to banish this summer heat in favor of spring-like weather.

What could be better than enjoying the butterflies and lilacs in your own yard?

Our neighbor rescued this little tent which was destined for the trash. My boys swept it out, then moved right in. They are excited to have a place where they can make up their own house rules.

Spring training, anyone?

Hey batter batter!

Nice bunt!

Uncle Sam (my brother, no political reference intended) turned these boys into warriors using cardboard and duct tape.

Swingin' at Grandpa's house.

I think he may be high-centered. A little help?

Elijah enjoyed making Benjamin's car balance on two wheels. Benjamin wasn't so sure if this was a good idea.

On one of our only hot spring days, Benjamin got his first experience with the kiddie pool. It was a big hit.

David John and Benjamin love the big chair swings at our favorite playground, Bexley Park.

It was nothing but blue skies and cool breezes at Gabriel and Elijah's last day of preschool picnic.

 See? Spring was so lovely. Now you'll excuse me while I go turn up the AC. Spring was cheaper too.....

North Dakota, Here We Come

So, I think we may have finally signed the last piece of paperwork sometime last week to make our appointment as a physician in the clinic in Dickinson, ND officially official. Yes folks, in 2013 we will be moving to the Peace Garden State. Now, you may be asking yourself "What is a peace garden?" or maybe "What?!? Are they crazy!?! Isn't it like freezing up there? I have seen the movie Fargo and people died in that movie. Their deaths may or may not have been weather related..."
Don't worry, I will attempt to answer all of your North Dakota-related questions in one handy post, and I will even include some pictures.
Q: How did you guys even find out about a job in North Dakota?
I admit that when we got an email about a job that seemed pretty amazing but didn't list the location I was a little worried about what they were hiding. Usually, this means the job is in the middle of nowhere Alaska or in the deserts of east Texas or the swamps of southern Alabama or something. So, actually, when I heard it was in North Dakota I didn't think anything of it except, "I don't know anything about North Dakota."
After some brief research and looking at pictures I knew two things. 1. North Dakota is the "Peace Garden State" and 2. North Dakotans like to hunt. The clinic sent us pictures of the area meant to entice. There were pictures of beautiful vistas, but also a lot of pictures of dead pheasants.
Q: So, what, you were won over by pictures of dead pheasants? (And really, what IS a peace garden?)
Although the dead pheasants were impressive, it took more than that to win our hearts. They flew us out for an interview at the beginning of May. My parents graciously agreed to watch all four boys while Marc and I went to check it out. (The Peace Garden is a 2,000 plus acre garden that crosses the Canadian border and is maintained by both sides as a symbol of international peace. It is supposed to be pretty cool, and I think it is currently the only way you can visit Canada without a passport. We did not get to visit it on our trip.)
Anyway, we flew into the capitol city, Bismarck. It was a charming airport with just one terminal and four gates. Bismarck is home to just 61,000 people. From there it was a 90 mile drive due west to reach our destination of Dickinson, ND. The drive was lovely and fast and surprising. At one point we said "Holy cow!" and then started laughing because we had spotted Salem Sue:

http://www.realnd.com/salemsueindex.htm

Yes, that is a giant holstein cow. She is 38 feet tall. Like Texas, we got the feeling that things are bigger in North Dakota. Also on our drive we could see one of seven giant steel sculptures that line the "Enchanted Highway". It was really beautiful and quite impressive, entitled "Geese in Flight".

http://www.enchantedhighway.net/

It is listed in Guinness as "world's largest metal sculpture" and weighs in at almost 79 tons. Anyway, as I was saying we had a lovely drive into Dickinson and were met with friendly hospitality. We toured facilities, ate out for every meal, were put up in a lovely town house and were given an awesome gift basket which included some amazing chocolates. Frankly, I think it was the chocolates that won me over. Forget about the great people, awesome schools and incredible community center. They know the way to a woman's heart.

Q: Do North Dakotans have an accent?
Yes, yes they do. It sounds like a mix between Canadian and Minnesotan accents, which makes sense seeing as they border on Canada and Minnesota. Also they use charming phrases like, "Oh, it's about a horse a piece."
Q: Isn't North Dakota far away from... well, everywhere?
Oh, no. Any resident can tell you. "Oh, Dickinson is close to everywhere. It's only 8 hours to Minneapolis, 4 hours to Mount Rushmore, 7 hours to Yellowstone, and 8 hours to Winnipeg! We're just in the middle of everything."
Q: Is there anything to, uh, do? There?
Actually yes. We drove to the badlands which are part of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. They really are close, only thirty minutes away and they are breathtaking. I have a couple of pictures but they just don't do the colors justice. The badlands are populated by roaming bison and running herds of wild ponies. We didn't see the ponies on our trip, but we absolutely saw bison. We also visited Medora, ND home of the Medora Musical. They have some great shops and we sampled some awesome homemade taffy and drooled over some stylin' cowboy boots. Anyway, here are the pictures:

That last one is buffalo chips. We failed to get a picture of the bison, but we have proof he was there!

So, yes there are a lot of outdoorsy kind of opportunities. Also, the city map lists the following on their Dickinson points of interest: Patterson Lake, Dakota Dinosaur Museum, Joachim Regional Museum, Ukranian Cultural Institute, Roughrider Outdoor Arena, oh and also Super Walmart. 

Q: Are you sure?

We are sure that this is where we are supposed to go next and we are looking forward to the adventure. The staff of the clinic Marc will be working for are thrilled to be getting him. They even sent us flowers on our anniversary. We hope our friends and family will also be adventurous and come visit when we move to the "Gateway to the West".

Chalk It Up to Toddlers

I took these pictures to document the phenomenon of kids eating strange things even though they often won't eat the perfectly good and delicious food you offer them at meal and snack times. On this particular day, David John and Benjamin thought it might be tasty to sample a wide variety of chalks.
Here is what your mouth might look like if you tried, say, blue chalk:

And here is Benjamin offering a delectable purple:

This is his terrible face when I tried to fish a large chunk of purple out of his mouth:

Finally, David John, even though he cried heartily after the blue chalk incident, just couldn't help himself and also tried the yellow:

This made we wonder, "Is this Pica?", "Are they suffering from acidic stomachs?" Maybe I should start offering Tums with every meal...

Unde-FEAT-ed

Wow, do I ever have a ton of posts that I have planned and failed to actually write. Anyway, way back in in the beginning of April, we took our boys to a local, seasonal attraction called the IX Indoor Amusement Park. It is just what it sounds like, an amusement park inside. There were lots of rides, giant inflatables, over-priced food and games, free shows, a complete lack of waterfountains so that they could gouge you by charging $5 for a bottle of water... you know, an amusement park. Regrettably, we only got a few good pictures:

Despite our poor picture-taking prowess while there, the boys had a fabulous time. We sat through a very small portion of the big cat show (lame!) but we watched all of the Cirque Shanghai show (cool!). The Cirque show left an indelible impression as demonstrated by our boys and their acrobat-inspired feats over the next several days. During the show they saw things like this...

http://fivepuddles.com/category/acrobats/

...and then I walked into the kitchen to find them doing this:

At least they were using a spotter, right?

One of our favorite parts of the show was the series of bike tricks ending with twelve girls on one bike.

http://chicagotheaterbeat.com/2012/06/03/review-cirque-shanghai-year-of-the-dragon-navy-pier/

 I found Elijah and David John doing some interesting things on their trikes, but at least they weren't trying to fit multiple riders.

Finally, Gabriel was obviously impressed by the silks:

http://timeoutchicagokids.com/things-to-do/promotions/49669/cirque-shanghai-extreme-discount-tickets

He rigged up his own aparatus in the back yard using an old jump rope. He would then climb up the little slide, swing out on the jump rope and kick the slide out of the way. I don't think the pictures completely do it justice. It looked dangerous. Most mothers would have probably put a stop to this insanity, but I have been desensitized to physical endangerment. With four boys, it happens.

As you can see, my boys are fearless and a little wild. Those of you who know our family well know that they can all climb just about anything. Even Benjamin at 14 months can climb into and out of his highchair independently and has successfully climbed onto the fourth shelf up on our tall bookcase. I'm not sure if there is a daredevil gene, but I think they all have it. Talking about their recent feats of testosterone awesomeness reminds me of a conversation I had with the twins a while back:

"Mom, we, um, accidentally drew on the wall."

"Okay... can you show me where you 'accidentally' drew on the wall?"

They took me by the hand and led me to the doorway into our kitchen. There were crayon marks on the underside of the door frame. Lots of them. In three different colors. They cannot reach the top part of the door frame, even with a chair. This means that they "accidentally" shimmied up the door jamb, while "accidentally" having a crayon in their mouths, and when they reached the top, they held on with their legs and then "accidentally" took the crayon out of their mouth and scribbled.

I can't even remember how I responded other than awe at their ingenuity and shimmying skills. Climbing up the walls is an old trick, and one that they use to scare uninitiated babysitters. Just last night, Benjamin pulled one over on the sitters by climbing on top of the kitchen table and dumping milk everywhere. If had to guess, I'd say the score is probably Ricks Boys: 10, Babysitters: 0. 

I'm not always sure where they get their crazy ideas and I can't always find logic in their actions but I guess as long as they are little boys, they will remain undefeated.

In My Prime

Today, I turned 29. I would like to think that this age is what people are referring to when they say "your prime" since it is the last prime number under thirty. Of course, when I turn 37 I will likely argue that 37 is your prime since it's the last prime number under forty. Anyway, turning 29 has been somewhat of an interesting experience. A few days before my birthday I started getting senior citizen phone calls. "Senior Citizen, you too can have peace of mind with your very own personal Life Alert system!" "Did you know you might be eligible for a motorized chair with no out-of-pocket expense?" These calls made me a little nervous. Was my body going to promptly fall apart as soon as I turned 29? So far, the answer is "no". I have survived an entire day of being 29 without serious physical incident. I did trip once today, but it did not end in a broken hip nor did I utter the words "I've fallen and I can't get up."
Since it was my birthday, I decided that I was not cooking breakfast and that I may as well spoil myself with a day of really terrible eating. After all, based on those phone calls, I was expecting to keel over at any minute anyway. So, I did the unthinkable and took all of my boys to McDonalds for breakfast. I don't know what it is but I have a guilty pleasure relationship with McDonald's sausage egg mcmuffins. I eat one about once a year. Mmmmm. So, there we were at our neighborhood McDonalds; the four boys with their yogurt parfaits and chocolate milks and me with my mcmuffin and orange juice. I noticed a gentlemen looking over at us. Finally, he approached our table and we had the following conversation:
"Miss, I am sorry to bother you, but I keep lookin' over here and I just can't wrap my head around it. You don't look a day over twenty and are all these kids yours?"
"Yes sir, they are all mine."
"I am sorry to pry, but can you just tell me how old you are? It's kind of making me crazy."
"Sure, I am actually twenty-nine."
"Well, you go ahead girl! You just got one o' them faces. You like Dick Clark or something. You just timeless. You have a good day now."
"Thank you! I hope you have a great day also."
I wasn't sure exactly what to think about this interaction. I was flattered that I looked like I was 20, but wasn't sure if I wanted to be like Dick Clark. I have nothing against the guy, but he's, you know, a man and I am not. However, after a quick review of Dick Clark photographs, thank you IMDB, I see what this guy meant. Dick Clark really aged well. I think even if I look exactly like him as an 82 year-old that would be pretty good. I am choosing to take the whole conversation as one big compliment. Thank you, random local McDonalds customer. You've helped me to believe that perhaps I am not becoming a senior citizen after all. I can now enjoy this next year of being in my prime.