Road Trippin', Part 1

Our friends Ryan and Maggie live in North Dakota, and they have three beautiful kids. Their youngest was born shortly after Audrey (but has already passed her up in diaper size! Thanks for the box of size 1's, Maggie!!), so we decided to visit them on our way out to the Black Hills in order to introduce the two newest family members. I'm so glad we went! We haven't seen them in much too long, and they are such great people. Mara gives Max a run for his money, which is good for him... usually he's the instigator, but Mara has a mind of her own!

Of course, I forgot to get out the camera until the last day of our trip... seems that Audrey has taken its place in my arms and in my mind. Maybe when she's a little older I'll start taking pictures again! But with or without a photo log, we had a fun time playing, eating, chatting, generally doing all those things old friends (and new friends!) do when they're together. The weekend went way too fast, and it was off to the Black Hills on Sunday. Ryan and Maggie- what say we come back again before the kids are in college?

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus (unforeseen use for a Moby)

And a shepherd joins in

All the kids in one picture, and only one is crying! Amazing!

Leaf Rubbings

We've been getting back into the artsy spirit around here as Audrey has begun to take longer naps at a stretch. It's much easier to complete a craft when the baby is sound asleep, and it feels really good to get in the groove again! The past week we've done at least one craft or art project each day. The one I want to share with you combines nature, texture, cutting, and drawing; it was all-around fun and successful!

First, I sent Max outside to collect a handful of leaves of his choice. He brought them back in and we taped them on the table, veins up. We placed a white piece of paper over the leaves and rubbed it with the broad side of peeled crayons (which were left over from our crayon "snow" globe). The leaves left beautiful imprints on the paper in all different colors! Then Max got a new white paper and drew a tree trunk on it. He cut out his rubbed leaves and taped them onto the trunk to finish the tree. He was so proud of his finished product, and it now holds a place of honor taped to our window. I think the greatest part was that he did the entire project by himself... I just told him the steps and helped make tape rolls. The rest was up to him!

Looney Tunes

Mommy-brain, memory lapse, The Crazies, losing my mind... I refer to it by many different names. But there is no mistaking it, I am "not all there" lately. I've written about this before, but I think it's getting worse. I've entered the name-confusion stage of motherhood... and from what I've been told, this stage is probably here to stay. If you were a stranger and heard me talking to my children, you'd probably think I was crazy for naming my kids "Loomax", "Aud-er-Lucian", "Maudrey", "LouAudraMax", or the most common one lately, "Whateveryournameis".

But it doesn't stop with names. I have been blanking out on words like nobody's business. I feel like Porky Pig, constantly coming up with substitutions for words I can't remember. If no substitution is readily available, I describe the object whose name is eluding me ("Today we went to... the place with the trees and swings and sand that the kids like to play at.") or if I'm totally desperate I just give up completely ("Honey, where did you put the thing? What, you don't know what I mean? The thing!") When this used to happen, I could cover it up because Max wasn't old enough to really notice if there were extra long pauses between my words. But now, if I forget a word in the middle of the sentence, he notices.

"Max, please pick up your markers and put them in the... um..."

After a short wait, Max echoes, "um...." and if it still doesn't come to me, "In the what, Mom?"

Finally, the word will return. "Put them in the drawer, please."

And then as he follows the long-awaited instruction, he innocently asks, "Why did it take you so long to say that?"

I don't know, honey. Mommy's going crazy.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with these little buggers

Getting Back to Nature

Family picture: one unforeseen perk of having Megan living with us!

It is amazing to me that it's already August and we seem to have spent such little time outside! Generally we do hike more in the fall, but June and July usually get plenty of attention too. I've been a bit of a baby with all of the heat and humidity this year, and carrying around a personal sweat box (i.e. baby) doesn't help the situation. So unless we're near water, our outside time has consisted mostly of me opening the door, kicking the boys out into the backyard, and returning to my air conditioned living room with Audrey. Sad, I know.

But this weekend the temperatures were perfect for some hiking! We took advantage of the beautiful mid-70's both Saturday and Sunday evenings, one day to the "hiking woods" (as Max has coined the path by our house) and one day to Minnehaha Falls. There was lots of rock throwing, stick dragging, puddle jumping and general mess-making, and Audrey slept peacefully in the Moby for the majority of both hikes. 

Lucian is definitely not the boundless ball of energy that his brother is, but he still held his own. When the walk got a little long, he hitched a ride on Daddy's shoulders or Megan's back, but he did most of the work himself, trotting along on those little legs as much as he could manage. As for me, I think this is the most exercise I've gotten since before I knew I was pregnant! It feels good to get out and get moving again. Who knows, maybe next I'll start running with Megan and Paul!

Well... let's take things one step at a time.

Look at that balance! 

Lucian did it all by himself!

Three's Company

When I've got a scene like this in my sights, I just can't stop snapping away! Who'd have thought taking a picture of all three would be easier than just the two? I guess maybe they have a better understanding of "sit still" when their precious little sister is depending on them for her safety. Protectors already! 

Not much else to say... just enjoy the sights! I sure do.

A Child of the Light

I'm sorry for the long silence on the airwaves; summer gets so busy, and with the addition of our beautiful little girl, I've been finding it very hard to set aside time to blog. But I'm not giving up, so bear with me! Posts may be few and far between until we get our lives back on a schedule, but keep checking and hold me accountable! This is an important outlet for me.

July was an exciting month, with visitors from all directions! To our great excitement, Grandma Yantes and Liam were able to find a ride to our house on Tuesday before Audrey's baptism and stayed until Monday morning! Monica and Glenn came on Wednesday, and Grandpa Yantes arrived Friday afternoon. What a fun full house!

It was a pretty low-key visit until Saturday, since I was still pretty wiped out as a new mom of three. We did some shopping, some playing, but mostly lots of visiting and catching up. Lucian and Liam were inseparable...whether Liam liked it or not! (I think he did, but even if he got tired of his tagalong, he was such a fun uncle all week!)

Then we kicked into gear for the Baptism preparations. Thank goodness I have easygoing and forgiving in-laws... I get a little wound up when I have to prep for a big event. Everyone was so helpful and we were ready to go in plenty of time for the Baptism itself.

We all attended 5:00 Mass at St. Joe's together, then we met Fr. Creagan afterward for the beautiful ceremony. My grandma commented that it was the longest Baptism she'd ever attended... and I'm sure she's right. Fr. Creagan doesn't cut any corners. It was perfect. Audrey is now a member of Christ's Church, and she is loving it! She was a fussy, cranky mess until the moment the rite was over, and then she suddenly became calm and sweet... Holy Spirit, anyone?

But everyone will say that the most entertaining part of the evening was the show put on by my two sons. Thankfully Fr. Creagan has a great sense of humor (and sense of family) so he didn't mind the boys ripping paper and throwing confetti while he was blessing our family in front of the altar. Yes, they were actually throwing confetti. Leave it to kids to really understand the joy of the occasion!

We had everyone back to our house for a late dinner and celebration, and the boys got to stay up long past their bedtime (that actually became a theme for the rest of the visit... we're finally coming back down from a week of little sleep). It was so wonderful to share this special day with so many special people! Thank you especially to Monica and Glenn for taking on the task of being Audrey's Godparents- we have high expectations of our children's Godparents, and we know you're up to the challenge!

The rest of the visit consisted of a trip to the Mall of America, a trip to Nelson's in Stillwater for the most massive portion of ice cream I have ever ordered (see what I'm holding in the picture below? That's the child size), and lots of other fun excursions. I say this every time, but the trip seemed much to short. Monica and Glenn returned home on Wednesday, and our home suddenly seemed so quiet. We miss everyone so much, but we are so blessed that they made the trip to welcome our little girl into the Family!