My New Hearts Desire!

Yesterday the boys and I skipped school and drove 4.5 hrs to Eugene Oregon and then back for a total of 9hrs in the car before the day was through.  Why you might ask?  To test ride this beauty!

This is not just a Triple Tandem bike.  This is a triple tandem bike that can break down into 2 suitcases for
- easy storage
- easy car travel
- easy plane travel
- easy train travel
- easy elephant travel
- easy camel travel

See where I am going with this?  This bad boy is going to open up the door to possibility.  For 3 years I have been biking with both boys attached to me.  Xander in a seat on my handle bars and Soren in a trailing bike.  It was awesome.  I got a work out, we could go fast, and I wasnt' constantly scared someone was going to biff it, landing in the street and die, or not stop fast enough and get hit by a car, or miscalculate their speed and fly into the lake - all things which have been near misses for us.  Last summer was the first time they were not connected to me.  I loved seeing them ride on their own and was ecstatic when they lost the training wheels.  However after 10 minutes I quickly realized the bummers about "family bike rides" - predominantly the speed of the bike and fear of dismembering limbs.  And so one day I let myself fantasize what type of bike I would like.  I had decided a triple tandem that breaks down would have to be it.  But who makes those. I mean really?  But I flipped my lap top open and in 20 second googled "folding triple tandem" and got a hit.  WHAT?!  They actually make these?  Although expensive it is not fiscally impossible.  And although the store is far, still close enough to try out.  OH MY GOODNESS!  My heart started racing and my mind started running.  "I think I need this" was my conclusion.  I have been working extra shifts and talking to people who knew me about it.  And although this bike made everyone laugh, they all concluded, "yes, I think you need that."

So, yesterday, we did it.  We rented 6 movies from Redbox, set up the portable DVD player, hit he store for snacks and made the drive.  Xander was pitifully sick.  He coughed for the first 5 hours straight and at one point had a fever.  But, if we were at home, he would probably be watching TV all day anyway, so why not in the car I rationalized.  We went on a 45 minutes bike ride to see what the bike was like.  The boys were so close to me I could hear them each talking.  I loved their happy chatter and conversations we had.  I could feel the "turbo boost" they would give when they pedaled hard.  Several times Xander lost his footing on the pedals and we devise a system to work as a team to help him.  I was officially IN LOVE.  I adore activities that require people to work well together as a team.  My favorite sports are team sports.  Anything that encourages that in my family with an air of adventure makes my heart start to flutter.   True the bike is like a semi when it turns and you can feel sideways wobbles, but that is the cost of any tandem.  The bike itself is sturdy and strong, even at the joints. It is well made.

And soooooo.......we bought it on the spot.  Along with mud flaps, a rear cargo rack and adjustable pedels for a better fit for Xander.  Come April (it is custom build and we got a discount if we wait several months) we will be biking in style.  I am already day dreaming of biking and camping Hawaii, no driving Fridays, and dropping and picking up the boys from school with the most awesome ride ever.  I hope people will see us all over town riding this thing and say to themselves, "oh there goes that one biking family.....with all their groceries.  I even day dream how to carry lumber home with it. I mean seriously, isn't that so cool?  Okay so Home Depot runs maybe extreme, but a girl can dream right?  I hope to build many many memories with my boys and this thing.  Thank you Bike Friday!  I can't wait for April!!

Breakfast Bites

While we were eating our waffles this morning this event occurred.

Quinae:  "Xander take that thumb tac out of your mouth.  I don't like that!"
Xander:  "Why?"
Quinae: "Because if you swallow that it could poke a hole in your intestines and spill poop all inside your body, making you very sick and you might even die."
Xander (mater of factly stating): "But then I will get to see Jesus."
Quinae (chuckling):  "Yeah, then you will get to see Jesus.  But you won't get to see your Mom, Dad and brother again for along time.  Pro's and con's ya know."
Soren: "Yeah and they don't have toys, or even video games in heaven.......but they might have food." (a residual point from a previous conversation a few days ago.)

Ah, I love these conversations.  You should note that 15 minutes earlier when they sat up for breakfast, the boys got into a fist fight, punching, slapping, hitting and pushing.  I think someone took someones toy, or maybe chair.  I can't seem to keep all the reasons for the countless fist fights and name calling that is done in our house.  Soren can de-escalate pretty quickly, but once Xander is in that mood it is pretty darn hard to flip him, but I had success with this method (an idea given to me from a friend who did this with her girls when they were little).

Quinae:  "There will be no breakfast unless you apologies....... and hug each other."  I was in the mood for a show.  Soren quickly did so in a sweet manor.  Xander literally crossed his arms turned his back to us and said, "Hmmmf"  Ah, the show I was waiting for.
Quinae:  "That is fine Xander. You don't need to do it.  Only do it if you want to eat breakfast." Some snorting and grunting then came out of Xander followed by a teeth clenching and the words barely escaping his lips, "Sorry Soren."  I would normally not except this, but seeing how it was a multi step process, with the harder of the 2 steps still needing to be done, I let it slide."
Quinae:  "Okay, now hug him."
Xander:  "I am not hugging him."
Quinae:  "Good.  More waffles for me."
More grunting and flexing of the muscles in frustration continues.  Then a quick jump off the stool and hugging of Soren's stool leg followed.
Quinae:  "The stool is not Soren."  More protests and a pitiful lean onto Soren was claimed to be a hug.
Quinae:  "That was weak.  Okay now I want you to both give each other 3 compliments to each other, taking turns."  Now I was enjoying the power hungry boys gives a mom at breakfast time.
Soren quickly begins. "Xander I like your hair.....and your shirt.  That is 2 Mom."
Xander:  "I like your teeth."
Quinae:  "Uh, okay now you have to do one about something you think they are good at.
Soren:  "I like it when you made my Christmas list."
Quinae:  "What?  That didn't happen.  Did you make his Christmas list Xander?"
Xander:  "Yeah!"  He then proceeded to show me his transcription of Soren's Christmas list.  He then felt so proud of himself and how nice he was."
Xander: "I like it when you clean the bathroom for me."
Quinae:  "What?  That didn't happen.  Soren did you clean the bathroom for Xander?"
Soren: "Yeah.  Once I did."
Quinae:  "Wow, okay, um, last one.  I want you to say why you like having the other one as a brother."
Soren:  "Xander I like when your so crazy."  Then Soren acts out how crazy Xander is, which looks like he is having a seizure.
Quinae:  "No, no, no, lets not promote craziness, do another one."
Soren:  "Xander I like when we read books together."
Xander:  "I like playing legos with you.......when your nice." He adds as a jab.

Ohhhhh!  The love I was looking for - attained!  It is a Christmas miracle!  Hot waffles for everyone!  Okay some were less hot, but I did flip Xander's switch.  The rest of the morning he planned things he could do for people for Christmas.  If only he could remain in this mode longer.  I must become a master Xander "switch flipper."

Princess's!

Disney Princess on Ice was in town and I wanted to go.  I dont' have any girls and may never and gosh darn it, I wasn't going to feel sad about never getting to do cute little girl things just because I didn't have any.  So, I purchased 2 tickets and called up my cute 5yo niece Brynlee and invited her on a special Aunt/niece outing.  We were both psyched!  My boys took it pretty well, in fact they helped me pick out my outfit to wear to the princess event.  If I was going to make this night magical, I wanted to do it right.  So, off to Value village we went and we found just the right princes dress.....okay so maybe it was a bit small, but it had spandex and for the price I wasn't going to pass it up.  Soren even spied me perfect matching shoes.  I have never worn shoes like this before........actually the dress was new territory too.  So I was looking good before I set off to get Brynlee.  She too was in her princess dress and off we went.  Of course I was the only adult dressed up like a princess at this thing, but that just made me giggle.  The show was actually way better then I thought it would be.  Brynlee is the youngest of 4 and the whole night she was so confused why she got to go to this alone with me.  She kept reviewing why I took her without her siblings or my kids.  It was kind of funny.  It was tons of fun spending an enchanting evening with my niece and to get some of my girl needs met.  Thanks Brynlee!!

Happy Halloween!!

This year we went trick or treating with my sister Janea in Maple Valley.  Her neighborhood goes all out with decorations and it is really fun.  Kids litter the streets and it feels like a carnival.  The only problem is it is easy to loose your excited child who is running form house to house in the dark of the night.  

 Xander was a ninja on the left and Soren is a scare dude - grim reaper-ish on the right.  Brynlee was a fairy and Dallin was - not really anything.......a very basic knight I guess.  He was a bit grumpy to dress up that night.

 Kamry went trick or treating with her friends, but I suppliked her this dress.  You will see me wearing it in a future post - so stay tuned.  The miricle of spandex!!

 Sadie was a hag - a scary one at that.  Way to work it Sadie.  She went to a party and skipped the tricker treating all together.  She is getting all grown up!!

The boys got a load of candy of coarse. I was so mixed on trick or treating. I wanted them to enjoy the holiday but didn't want to take pounds of candy home.  At the end of the night I offered to pay the boys 2$ per pound of candy they had.  Soren had almost 4 pounds and Xander almost 3 pounds (he did a lot of eating while trick or treating.)  Anyway they took the deal.  So before we left Janea's house, the last trick or treater we told them they were our 100th customer and we gave them all the candy I just bought off the boys.  Now it is another mothers problem.  Muha ha ha ha ha!  The next day I took the kids to value village where they could get the biggest bang for their buck.  They each were able to buy 3 toys and they were feeling so good about their decision to sell their candy.  They never regretted it. It was awesome!!

Soren turns 7!

Happy Birthday Soren!!

Soren is a LEGO man.  He can spend all day playing legos, with people or without.  So when his birthday was coming we knew just the type of party to throw - a lego party.  We started off the party with building some lego race cars and then racing them down the track.  Our birthday boy creamed everyone - I was actually surprised.  How fitting.  Then we placed bit the part of on lego man, followed by a lego tower relay race.  We finished it off with cake, ice cream and presents.  It was a great party.

Ryan was working so it was me vs 10 kids - hence the lack of pictures.  It wasn't suppose to be that big but kids brought their siblings so we had a solid party.

Soren got to celebrate his birthday all month long.  It started out in the beginning of the month with a special day with Grandma and Grandpa Harris.  Then a special day with his family on his actual birthday.  A week later a party with his friends and then a week after that he had a special sleepover at Grandma Thompson's all by himself.  What a way to kick off your 7th year.  That boy is loved.

 Soren help design the top of the cake. It was a lego guy war.  There were bad guys who were hiding behind rocks and set booby traps to get the good guy - the one with wings.

 I think all his gifts were legos or lego related

His new lego table I built

He is such a sweet, boy.  He is always soft and gentle with younger kids and girls.  He is quick to hug and give a kiss to his family.  At Christmas time he was holding up mistle to over everyone.  Then he got upset when Xander wouldn't kiss him- he has never wanted to kiss Xander before.  "how come Xander will kiss you mom and not me!"  He protested.  He probably won't like this story when he is older - he he he he.  He is amazing at anything spacial.  He just knows how to put things together and how things work.  When I ask him where he learned that he says, "I just know." - Just like my brother Zaron.  We love you Soren!  We are so lucky you are in our family!!

Recycling

Soren is a great recycler.  Not in the traditional sense.  He is a very green recycler - no carbon emissions when he recycles.  Let me give you some examples.

While eating corn on the cob one night, Soren says, "Mom don't throw that away.  I want to recycle that."

Q  "How are you going to recycle a already eaten corn on the cob?"

S "I am going to put in the ground, let the worms eat it, then they are going to poop and flowers will grow big."

S "Mom, don't throw that away!  I am going to recycle that."  Soren exclaims as I almost throw away a milk jug.

S "Mom, can I have this?"  He asks while pulling out of the recycling bin cardboard and glass bottles.

He will go into the shop and find pieces of wood that is left over from old project and cut in odd shapes and turn them into things.  I think he might be the most amazing cloud shape finder in the whole world if given a chance.  Soren can see something our of everything.

Enchanting Grandparent Part 3

If anyone is enchanting, it is Grandma Connie.  This is Ryan's Mom.  She is a very skilled retired 2nd Grade teacher who can mold kids in the palm of her hands.  There have been times of going over to Connie's house that I have returned thinking, "I did not know my kids could do that!"  I remember one time when she helped out with Soren's birthday party and the 6 wild children were getting a little out of hand with their foam weapons (hey it is Soren's party, of course there are weapons).  Without raising her voice or trying longer then 45 seconds, she had them all playing in a controlled safe fashion.  She is the master at Love and Logic.

Connie isn't just an enchanting Grandparent to the boys but an enchanting parent to us. She spoils us often with watching our boys at times, all day long, once a week.  When we go on family trips she lets us sleep in and takes care of our early risers.  We are sooooo spoiled.  You are the best Connie!  Thanks for everything!!

I am trying to find a picture but all my pictures are messed up so TBC......