Time Out for Me!

As any mother can attest, one of the hardest parts of having this job is that your life often becomes all consumed with the children and you start to see only the trees in the forest (which are sometimes covered in mold and spiders) instead of seeing the forest and the beauty of the world. I find myself in that place every once in a while and have days where I focus more on the 13 diapers I've changed and the 300 toys scattered around our tiny apartment, instead of focusing on my beautiful, happy, healthy, loving baby boys.
Gratefully I have a husband who understands this and encourages me to break free of the routine and monotony (even at the expense of him missing a treasured golf outing of his own). So a few weeks ago a friend and I took 2 days off. We called it a "mommy time out". We drove up to Philadelphia and spent the afternoon visiting the liberty bell, Benjamin Franklin's home (the foundation stones are amazing), Betsy Ross' home (I didn't realize that she was in so much danger making the flag since there were so many British troops in the town and she easily could have been put in jail had they found out), tasting Philly cheese steaks, and shopping at Market Street. It was a wonderful break and so relaxing. (Taylor gratiously watched not only Ethan and Isaac but also Catherine's daughter Kennedy so we could go- a million thanks to my wonderful husband!!!).
The next day was the real reason for our going all the way to Philly. Deseret Book sponsors seminars called Time Out for Women. They bring in inspirational speakers as well and singers/songwriters to teach, inspire, and uplift. And I have to say, it truly worked. Not only was I relaxed from being away from the kids for 2 days, but I was truly inspired to return and be a better mother.

I'll just share one thought that was particularly meaningful to me and hopefully it can inspire you other mothers out there. One of the presenters quoted Mathew 25:35-40 but changed it a little and hopefully you won't find it too sacriligous.
35 For I was an hungered, and ye got up 3 times in the middle of the night to nurse me: I was thirsty, and ye filled my sippy cup 15 times today: I was a stranger, and ye adopted me into your family.
36 Naked, and ye did 10 loads of laundry today: I was sick, and you stayed with me through the night: I was in prison, and you gave birth to me so that I could have a body and learn and love this life.
37 Then shall the mothers answer Him saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these your children, ye have done it unto me.

I have to admit that I often feel I should be doing more to serve the community and others around me and I don't always see the daily tasks required of raising my children as serving the Lord in any way, but I'm trying to more often now. I'm also trying to notice the sweet and simple moments more. Yesterday I gave Ethan the last of the sugar cookies we had baked and told him there weren't any more. Instead of running off and gobbling it all up, he stopped by Isaac sitting in his high chair, broke off a little piece, and said "here you go Isaac". I could chalk that up to Ethan being a quirky boy who doesn't really like sugar that much so it wasn't that big of a sacrifice for him, or I could count it as one of my cherished memories of him as a sweet, loving 3 year old boy. I'll choose to do the latter.

Cox Farms

We were completely amazed last year when we showed up to Cox Farm expecting a small hayride and a few slides and found a toddlers heaven on earth instead. Ethan literally ran from slide to slide and activity to hayride for 3 hours (and then he crashed in the car on the way home). I was so impressed that I convinced Taylor to come along with us this year (not hard to convince him to procrastinate his homework on a Friday afternoon). And it was so nice to have his help because it was a little chilly and Isaac prefered staying in the stroller so I stayed at the bottom of most of the slides/hills while Taylor dutifully took Ethan up and down and up and down and even rode a few himself!
Just one of the 30 or so slides.

Our good friends the Gilberts came along with us. That's little Kennedy's head at the back of the frog slide.

Ethan tried the rope swing too but mostly just face planted into the foam so I included Kennedy's picture instead. She's only 1 1/2 but she held on until her mom actually had to pry her loose!

I think this was everyone's favorite. They actually close it if it rains (tragic). That's Ethan next to Taylor and Isaac at the top.

And here's the bottom picture. Isaac really loves slides at our local playground but for whatever reason he was rather neutral about these. He was happier in the stroller and out of the wind.

They also had a 20 minute "haunted" hayride that Ethan loved for the first 5 minutes until the scary alien in the picture to the right came out. Then he sat a little closer to his dad.

And what farm would be complete without animals to pet and feed. They actually let you feed the goats feed inside of ice cream cones- which the animals loved. Ethan prefered petting to feeding. The goats did not.

And one more slide just for fun. Again both kids crashed on the drive home and slept 2 hours after that once we got home. Yeah for big hills with slides (and a good husband who went up and down them so I didn't have to!)

Binky Boy

So Isaac has developed this crazy habit. He refuses to drink a bottle unless he's holding a binky in his hand as well. As soon as he has both, he's good to go. Of course then he can barely hold up a full bottle and struggles with it the whole time but he'll never drink until he has both. And if a second binky is anywhere nearby, he insists on holding one in each hand and then tries to hold the bottle up with his fists. Very comical.

Clapping

Yep, that's my new trick! (he started clapping strangely enough at exactly 9 months to the day) (please ignore all the crumbs on the table).

Palmyra Sites

While we were staying with my brother and sister-in-law, they took us over to see the sights around Palmyra. We stopped at the Grandin Press first. This was the place the Book of Mormon was printed for the first time. They still have the original wood floors that you can walk across and I have to confess I cringed every time Ethan bounced or ran. The sister missionary that did our tour was so kind and patient with Ethan and his cousins and they were completely enthralled.

Us looking at a 1st edition of the Book or Mormom. She actually told us that some random guy had walked in a month before and handed them the book explaining that his father had recently passed away and in going through his local attic, they found the book and thought the visitor center might want it. (Taylor's comment was "wow, he could have made thousands on ebay but oh well!")
It was really amazing to see how hard it used to be to print books. So much work and time. It's amazing anyone cared enough to actually do it!

After the Granden Press we were off to see both the log and frame homes that the Smith family lived in. Again it was amazing to hear all the stories and see how cramped everything was. I did come away inspired by Lucy Mack Smith who said when she left her frame home to head to Kirtland "may the Lord bless me to not once look backward to the comforts of that home, but forward in faith and following the Lord's commands". Okay so that's more of a paraphase, but anyways it was inspiring to me that she was willing to leave everything because the Lord needed her to. We also visited the Sacred Grove (not so spiritual with 2 toddlers and 2 babies) and the Hill Cumorah. It was a great trip- one we'll definitely have to repeat again in a few years when the kids can understand and appreciate a little more.

Isaac Walking

Well, the big development around the apartment these days is Isaac taking the initiative to start walking. We applaud his efforts and wish him a happy landing for the next few weeks. The timing works out perfectly, he may even be able to walk by Halloween. Here's a little sampling of our attempts to record this historic event:

Rochester Children's Museum

Because this weekend trip was mostly about sightseeing for Taylor and I, I caved when Taylor asked if we could stop at the children's museum so Ethan could play. It truly is an amazing museum and worth every penny. This was the second time we've been and we didn't even repeat anything we'd seen before and still have 1/2 the museum left to see. We met my brother Jim, Sister-in-law Necia and their kids Madeline, Nathan (Ethan calls him A-than), and Robert. who just live 20 minutes east of Rochester. The kids were so excited to be there that they ran from activity to activity.
In front of the Berenstain Bears Room from Left to Right:
Madeline, Ethan, Taylor with Isaac, Jim with Robert, and Nathan. Ethan and Nathan are 6 months apart (my mother really appreciates how similar their names are, their other cousin born just 4 months before Ethan is named Ammon). Robert is also just 3 months older than Isaac.
Ethan and Taylor racing cars- Isaac wanted a piece of the action.
At one point Ethan found this giant chess game and came running up to me yelling "I need my daddy!" He promptly dragged him off here to play with him. I guess he's seen Taylor play too much online chess!
Isaac just happy to be out of the car and able to crawl around.
Let's all be serious here though, when Taylor asked if we could stop for Ethan to play, he was secretly stopping for himself. It was harder to drag him out of the museum than to drag the kids out. He played and played and loved every minute. This contraption above makes music if you put the balls in the holes, turn the wheel as Nathan is doing, and then they drop onto chimes and make songs. Taylor spent a full half hour here. Isaac was happy to grab an errant ball every now and then. So much for sanitary conditions!

Niagara Falls

Also on our list of things to see before going back west, was Niagara Falls which neither of us had seen before. We found an amazing deal online for a room with a view overlooking the waterfall so we jumped on it. If you're going, just a heads up that customs takes FOREVER and you need birth certificates for all your kids. We got there and found out that our room was so cheap because, while it did overlook the falls, there were trees in the way. Woops! If it sounds too good to be true... There was also a lobby on the 14th floor so we could get a better view. You can see the American falls on the left and the Horseshoe falls on the right (partially).
We walked down to the falls and were amazed by how big they really are. Every time the wind changed directions at all(and it wasn't that windy)we'd get totally soaked by "rain". Ethan loved all the puddles on the sidewalks and we could barely keep him from climbing over the railings he wanted to get so close (Isaac just wanted to climb out of his stroller).

And you really can get pretty close, withing 5 or 6 feet of where the huge dropoff of the horseshoe is. Sorry, no pics of Taylor since he was so thrilled to have control of the camera.
They light the falls up every night. And because we were there on a Friday, there were also fireworks over the falls. Sorry no pics because we watched them from our room. That was a nice benefit because Isaac got to go to sleep.

Sunrise from our hotel room- see how much mist there was just from the wind!

The next morning we got up to do the one tour I really wanted to do- ride the Maid of the Mist right up next to the waterfalls.
Isaac hated the whole thing, especially having a poncho on his head. Ethan loved it- couldn't get enough. As we got up closer to the falls, the rain was amazingly intense and he kept laughing and leaning over the side of the boat- don't worry I was holding on to him. Isaac meanwhile spent the ride behind all the poncho people you see in the photograph as far indoors as he could possibly get screaming the whole time. Thanks Tay for taking him.


It truly is an amazing wonder of nature and we'd go again in a heartbeat!

Back in Joyschool

One of the things I love most about DC is that so many of our friends are here. This is our 7th year here and it just feels like home. The same is true for Ethan. All summer he kept asking for different ones of his friends and kept telling us he wanted to go "to DC" as he calls it. He absolutely loves it here and I know a big part of that is his little preschool that he goes to. You can click on the link to the left that says Joyschool and read all the weekly updates, but I just had to make a post of my own since he loves it so much.
The first unit this year was learning about their bodies. The first day Ethan came home, threw both of his arms out wide and asked us "do you like my body?" In between fits of laughing we answered that we did. He has been so excited to tell us all about the amazing things he can do with his body and about his 5 senses. He truly is learning a lot and having a great time doing it. When it was my turn to teach one of the fun activities we did was finger painting with pudding. It's always so interesting to see how each of the 4 kids have such differing personalities. One child was very bothered that we would paint with the pudding until I told him he could eat it too. Then life was okay. Ethan was not the least bit interested in eating or really painting, but enjoyed making a mess. The only girl in the group was very careful and created actually a really good picture, and the last boy in the group was so scientific about the whole thing that I couldn't stop laughing. We have a blast and they do too.

We love Joy School!

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Whoo- I hope I got that whole thing right. Since coming back to DC, we've been trying to complete our list of "things to do before we go back west permanently". So one sunny morning we drove up to NE DC where this cathedral is. It was completely amazing and awe inspiring. Two years ago when we were in France we spent a considerable amount of time touring all the cathedrals. This one was very similar except it's new enough that you can actually see all the paintings really well and it's not completely dark inside.

It's huge! And amazingly, not that many tourists or patrons- it was a Saturday.
All the paintings amaze me and make me wish our churches had more decoration. It would be much more entertaining- sometimes! Plus I think beauty can be inspiring and bring the spirit.