Busy Busy Month

Wow. July has been BUSY.

First niece Marley's birthday, then mine, then Darrens, then my moms.

24 hour joint birthday trip to Seattle.

Oscar's in a saturday baseball class.

Threw a 40th Anniversary party for my parents.

Darren's traveled on business three weeks in a row. YUCK!!

Found out I'm pregnant - 9 weeks now!!! Yup that's right.... PREGNANT!!

In laws came for a great visit.

It was fun, but hoping for a less eventfull August!!

Personality Differences

So we have two sons. Same genetic pool. Same environment. Night & day different personalities. Last night we had blueberries for dessert.

Calvin squished his before eating them...

Oscar indivudually polished them & lined them up before eating them....

What a holiday...

Wow. Lots going on here on our holiday weekend.

First, my birthday party. I'm 36. Yes 36. Lots of fun. Ice cream cake. Yummy.

Then my parents took the boys for the rest of the weekend. They went lavender picking on a farm & had a FABULOUS time.

And Darren & I went on a 24 hour visit to Seattle Washington. Actually it was more like 22 hours to be exact but it was AWSOME. We went to Pikes Market, stayed in the W hotel, toured the Seattle Public Library (by Rem Koolhaas), and had dinner at Salty's while watching the sun set.

This was the view from our table at Salty's...

The corner of our hotel room. You can see how high we are...look at the buildings!!

And the library. SO COOL. It was an amazing building.

And now it is monday....

First Garden Ever...

I've never been able to grow much. Catus's, one jade plant. Violets only if they are started by my mother in law. I've been lucky w/ spices. This year - with the encourement of my friend Jen I planted 4 tomatos, 1 zucchini & 1 summer squash. Look what I found this am!!! I'm so proud!!

Messy Summer Fun

I have never been a popsicle person. Sort of like I never like to eat meat still on the bone or how I cut the corn off the cob before I eat it. I just don't like to get messy. Well now I have two sons. They like to get messy. My husband informed me that popsicles are a key part of a really hot day spent with little boys. So I made some. It was really fun. They boys loved them. Calvin in particular. He ate the rest of mine & Oscars after finishing his. Here are some shots....

Family Fun

So Darren's company summer "picnic" was today. It was at a place called "Bullwinkles family fun center". It was AWSOME. There was so much to do, so much going on.... 3 hours flew by. I've not had this much sensory overload since we were in San Diego attending stuff like Sea World

Darren & Oscar went on go-carts & that was a blast to watch. Oscar was so brave w/ the LOUD cars. He really acted like a little man driving along w/ his daddy.

Darren, Oscar & Calvin all went in the HUGE "kidropolis" structure.

We are not in Kansas anymore...

Used to be 2 hours of u-pick'ing & I'd have enough of one berry for the year. Then came kids.

We got all ready to go picking strawberries. Full sunscreen, lots of tubs for berries. Water, snacks, etc. We drive there. Things are going great. We are car #3. The field is empty. Calvin starts eating EVERTHING. Red berries, green berries, moldy berries, leaves, dirt.... Yikes. Oscar announces he has to go poopie. So we gather up everything & head back to the main barn. There are outhouses. Try helping a 3 year old go potty in an outhouse while not loosing the 1 year old. Oscar has a fear of toilets flushing automatically. Once I convinced this that wasn't going to happen - he realized that an outhouse means all the pee & poop is in a bucket of sorts under the seat. He starts to gag. Maybe 20 mintues later I get him to pee (not poop) & we return to the field. During the pee drama the greater metro area of mommies & thier toddlers have descended on the field & it is PACKED. A few minutes later I realize that berry picking w/ little kids is more of an OUTING than anything else. Here is the total amount of berries we returned home w/ after the morning at the farm. Fun? Yes. And we got enough berries for dessert. For one night.

Beach Time Fun!!

We all headed to Cannon Beach this weekend & had a great time. Mom & Dad generously allowed our chaos to come into thier tranquil beach condo for the fathers day weekend.

We played in the sand & water.

We flew kites.

Calvin & Oscar took turns putting on little "shows" for us in the condo.

All in all it was a fabulous trip.

Loss of Innocence...

So we all know that we loose our innocence - at least most of it - on the path to adulthood. Well I think the process starts at about 3 1/2 years of age. A while back Oscar & I were having a conversation about the difference between fish (grilled, steamed, etc) and fishy (swimming happily in the water). I tried to tell him they were the same & he insisted that, "no we eat FISH, those (pointing to a live fish) are fishy." I'm sorry to say that this morning I think he started to connect the dots. I was reading Food Day & on the back page was a large color photo of a roaster - chicken all brown & ready to eat. Calvin, points & grunts... uhhhh. I say, "yes Calvin that is a chicken." Oscar stops what he is doing, turns & looks at the photo and pauses. Then he says, "did you say chicken, like bock bock chicken?" Yes I say. Long silence. Then he turns away & quietly returns to his play. Poor kid.

It's been a long week already

So last week both boys had colds. This week both boys have some sort of stomach virus that is causing frequent trips to the potty / diaper changes ( I know TMI...). So yucky!! The doctor said it should pass in 5-7 days. The great thing about kids is that they don't seem to know they should ACT sick. It is crazy how much energy they have even in this sickly state.

Here is Oscar dancing.

Calvin has had it a bit rougher in that he has the cold & stomach virus all at once. Here he is zoning out for "The Wiggles".
And yes I know TV before age 2 is bad. We did that w/ Oscar but haven't figured out how to let Oscar watch TV but keep Calvin away. On sick days I welcome a little help entertaining the boys. Especially since we've had to cancel all playdates / outings for fear of contaminating our friends. Pray for speedy recoveries!!

The up's and down's

Darren & I often debate about why women live longer than men. Many people speculate that it is the stress & hardship of working outside the home for a living that does the guys in about 5- 10 years ealier. We talk about the ups & downs of his life & then talk about the ups & downs of mine. We are all on a roller coaster. People who work for a living outside the home ride rollercoaster that does go up & down, but in a "oooo here we go up a hill" way, or "ahhhh here we go down a hill" way. Stay at home parents on the other hand are on the kind of roller coaster that goes up & down more like the kind people pay $20 a ride for and stand in line for 4 hours for. Then THEY get off & go home. Stay at home moms, live strapped into a seat on this kind of roller coaster. There are really high highs & lows that make you know exactly where the grey hair is coming from.

Tonight we drove to the west side for dinner w/ my parents. Calvin screamed the whole way there - the whole 42 mintues. The kind of scream kids get for the 40 seconds after a shot at the doctors. The whole way. Then, while we were there... you get this kind of moment & you forget the intensity of the lows because you are on top of the world:

Forget Keeping up with the Jones's....

So the saying goes, "trying to keep up with the Jones's". Forget that - the real goal is to keep up with the Jones's 13 old kid. Technology moves fast. In my lifetime alone we've gone from no home computers or cell phones to this. I remember in high school when pagers came out. Yikes. And now, we are so connected. Computer chips are in everything. I think my toaster even has one. So in the last few months I've started this blog. A facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1242738667 and a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/jenniferzlewis. Darren & I have made it a goal to be current. Current in as many things as possible. Music, fashion and technology. The goal is to not let the kids run circles around us leaving us in the dark... if for no other reason than to be capable of checking up on them. So here we are. Don't call me. Not sure where the phone is - send me a tweet instead. (only kidding - of course I know where the phone is.... ). Welcome to the 21st century kids!!

Arsenic Hour...

For those of you w/ kids you may know the hours between 4ish & 6ish pm are known as arsenic hour... although I prefer to call it "cosmopolitain hour" or "white wine coctail hour".

Here are two videos taken today during our "cosmo hour".

Hair Cut Day

Today was hair cut day. Oscar has so much fast growing beautiful hair that we go every 4 weeks. Calvin we do every other time. Calvin is still unsure of the whole experience but Oscar is a seasoned expert!!

If you give a Mom a muffin...

A friend of mine emailed this to me recently. So funny. (especially if you read "if you give a pig a pancake" to your kids regularly.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a Mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan dinner for tonight.

She will get out a package of chicken.
She will look for her cookbook (101 Things to Make Chicken).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her three year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.

And chances are......
If she has a cup of coffee......
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it