At the Y(mca) somebody told Zeb they liked his shirt and he responded; "It's from a yard sale!".  It's been a wonderful yard sale summer and I'm sad that it's coming to an end.  Here's the Ikester in an entire yard sale outfit.  The slippers are Zeb's- but he loves to wear them.





































 I think Kent is going to be surprised with kiddos when he gets home.  At these ages they change so much in such short periods of time.  Ike has picked up a whole lot more words in the past few weeks!  Today I burped out loud after taking a drink and Ike walked up to me- put his hand over my mouth- and said: "excuse me".

So- I guess Kent misses us and my atrocious blogging isn't helping matters. I think Kent was hoping for everyday pictures and updates but I'm afraid I've severely disappointed. I was so good for awhile there- but having him gone has put me in a funk.  He, in fact, has done a far better job with his blogging.  So, here we are ralph :)

It's Sunday night and the most exciting news I have is my FIRST TOMATO! straight off the vine today. I'm going to eat it tomorrow.  I'm really proud of it- but I'm not sure if it was worth the effort.  It looks like I may get four or five more. Maybe when I harvest those,  the daily watering and arranging for babysitting while we went on vacation won't seem so outrageous.

oh- and the boys both went to bed at 6:15.  I really REALLY hope they don't wake up until morning.  No naps and a few crazy days just wiped them out. That means I'm pooped, too. Plus, I'm re-reading 'The Hunger Games' books so that I can read number three with a fresh memory of the earlier details. I want to finish one tonight and read two tomorrow because I'm next on the hold list at the library for #3.  I can't WAIT!  I forgot how much I LOVE the first one.

I'm not sure which uniform I like better.

Seeing his thick pants tucked into crazy big boots give me a little leg anxiety- but I like the hat and the overall G.I. Joe look.

and I really love the full 'blues' uniform- but I miss the ruggedness.

Either way- I miss you like crazy, Ralph!  Please don't have fun without me!

Zeb got this tool belt from gma Pat and will NOT take it off.  He's become quite the little handy man in the past few days.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the botanical gardens feeding ducks and running around with some friends and it was lovely.  The weather has been perfect lately. Nice, cool, and low humidity.  The weather has such control over me. It's ridiculous. I've got to learn to adjust to weather that I don't love! I have a feeling that at some point the air force will be sending us to some crazy hot places :)

Some days I'm absolutely sure that I'm NOT made for motherhood. Seriously.

But, there's something about having a job that makes me feel so much better. Even though it's a few hours a week and only 10 or twenty bucks, it just makes it easier. It makes me feel a little more important.

And it's especially nice to have a break when Kent is out being a tourist in Texas :) I miss him a lot.  Talking to him on the phone is terrible. I'd just rather have him home! Luckily the days there are great for him. He's loving what he's doing (pediatric clinic and infectious disease stuff) and he's meeting all sorts of fabulous people.  His nights and weekends have been worse than ours, though.  We've been super busy here- but he doesn't have much of anything going on once he's done with work.

 

It's crazy hot in San Antonio and he tells me that every time he walks outside, he thinks to himself; "Leisy could never live here!".  Our top two choices of places to go next are either there or Dayton. I'm really pushing for Dayton- but if he loves the program in Texas, I would be happy to go.  I can live anywhere happily for three years- and there is so much to do in Texas.  Plus, I think I'd make a really good Texan.

So Kent thinks he's all cool because today he spent the day at the Alamo and all over the great sites of downtown San Antonio.  I told him he had better not waste his days away doing nothing in an exciting city even if he was alone.  I demanded pictures and lots of stories as well  :)  Thanks, Kent!  You can check out his blog here if you're interested.

We've been keeping ourselves crazy busy doing all sorts of fun stuff, too.
We've made it one whole week and the worst of my worries is boredom.  I am going crazy bored without Kent, but I've found extra patience and the kids seem to be behaving even better than usual.
I'm putting in some extra miles to train for some races coming up the next few months and I'm picking up a new class to teach at the YMCA soon.
We've been swimming with the kiddos at the best pool in town!

I love this little kiddie wading pool at the JCC/YMCA. Even Ike can walk around and play.  Here he is with his pal, August.

We also spent one afternoon playing games at Chuck-e-cheese with pals. We still haven't burned through our plethora of tokens from our last adventure there.

And we've spent some time painting the sidewalk and swimming at our friends' house!

Ike loved it, too. He's so funny right now. He burped earlier today- then giggled.  I looked at him sternly and he held up his little hand to his mouth and said "scuse me".  It was really funny.

This morning we went to the Maumee summer city parade.  Nothing better than free suckers and lots of big trucks and floats.

We also walked around the booths and got all sorts of free goodies!  The boys got a little tired and concerned once the rain started coming down.  Here's Zeb urging me to get to the car instead of stop and take pictures.

soooo stinking good.

I have read a gazillion books lately and some of them have been AMAZING.  I guess that's one good thing to having Kent gone- I am getting in a lot of late night reading!  if you haven't signed up for goodreads yet- you are crazy.  Such an amazing place to find good books.  My favorites right now are; 'The Invisible Wall', 'Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet', and 'Tallgrass'.

And last night I made Baklava. Thanks to the internet and suggestions from a true greek (thanks, yaya!) it turned out AMAZINGLY.  All last week I searched Toledo for some great baklava to share at book club. Our book is 'Persepolis', an Iranian  memoir, and I wanted to do a middle eastern theme.  Hummus, pita, baklava, etc., but baklava is SO expensive.  I love the stuff so I decided to just make my own.  It was far easier than I ever anticipated and was really delicious. 

If you decide to make it- increase the sauce by 1.5 times and cut the butter in half.  Plus I melted the butter and put it in my 'I can't believe it's not butter" spray container and that made it SO easy.  And my phyllo dough came in two 8 oz smaller wraps and that helped!

Recipe

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
4. Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

I heard shrieking from the back room and found this.  He was totally stuck and I just happened to have my camera available :)

 

It's so hard to get this monkey to sleep at night!  this is just after 8PM and check out how bright his room is!  Plus- he and zeb love to giggle and play at night. Zeb is such a little turkey and regularly helps Ike smuggle toys into his crib.

pictures.

The lighting in the airport was terrible for picture taking- and I didn't do anything to compensate- so pardon the fuzzy shots!

I love that we got special military passes to walk Kent to the gate! the kids loved seeing the airplanes taxi out and it was nice to spend some more time with kent.  I did feel guilty, though, because I think people thought that Kent was leaving his 'poor wife and kids' for a crazy long time to some far away place.

Best part of the morning was definitely the play zone.

Here are the monkeys saying goodbye.  Ike was just mad that we pulled him away from the toys!  Kent's plane is right behind the kiddos- and once he boarded he had a window seat and could wave to us.  Zeb kept yelling "bye, dad! see you later, papa!"  Ike had no idea what we were waving at.

I love this picture for two reasons.
1. I thought it was Zeb initially! these boys look a lot alike! and,
2. Ike's little kisses are so funny right now! and he doesn't say gross and wipe his face afterward like Zeb does.

Kent's all settled in now- and is getting pretty good treatment. He got free food on the flights! Once in Texas-  he reported directly to the base from the airport and is going to get started bright and early tomorrow morning.
Miss and love you, ralph!

Suddenly Zeb decided he doesn't want to go to the kid zone at the gym EVER again. Yesterday he wailed and pleaded and sobbed that I not leave him. All while I was supposed to be STARTING my class  (the one I teach!). grrr.  It didn't help that he was giving especially nasty looks to and growling (seriously) at the kid zone workers.
I asked him to show me the nastiest face he could to try and recreate the mood. Here's what I got.  It's close.

and this kid. what am I going to do with him?  we had a near ER visit thanks to his shenanigans.  He decided to jump off the kitchen table (yeah- he gets up there a lot and I can't exactly hide all six chairs all the time) and got a RIDICULOUSLY large and gaping blood gushing gash in his mouth.  It must have been his razor sharp vampire teeth.  The on call doc said that since he's so young and it's in his mouth- the options are very limited.  Just give him liquids and soft foods for awhile.  And pain killers.  and that means that last night he was awake and screaming from 1 to 4:30 AM. Seriously- SCREAMING bloody murder.  He didn't nap yesterday either.  I would post a picture of the gash- but every time I look at it I get all queasy. It makes me so sad to know he's got such a large wound that we can't do anything about!

I'm not sure why the kids saw fit to create this lovely environment just a few days before I become temporarily  single.  Maybe they are trying to get me to send them with Kent.  Okay. I relent.  Kiddos- you can go with your dad.

In all their monstrousness- they are such wonderful children. They love me despite my faults. They don't roll their eyes at me when I get a little crazy (yet!).  They don't judge me for my imperfections.  If I can't have Kent for awhile- at least I'll have them.

 For familyhomeevening this week kent decided to teach the rugrats how to do some extra chores so that while he's away they can pick up some of the slack. And really- they are making the messes and should be the ones cleaning the house anyway.  Windows are by far the chore of choice.  I wish I could get this excited about housework. Zeb regularly asks to do dishes, mop floors, wash windows, vacuum, and dust.

 

Check out Ike's excitement over this dumptruck. What a funny funny boy.  I can't believe how happy this kid is despite all of the injuries he gets.  He'll surely be the kid who chops off a finger and breaks the bones in this family.  Thank heavens we've got a pediatrician in the works.

He has a well-check visit tomorrow and I'm slightly concerned that his bumps, bruises, gashes, and scrapes are going to raise some questions! At least they are all in VERY conspicuous locales.

 

 Here are some shots of these two out a few weeks ago at another fhe.  We went to a park down the street and they were FAR more interested in the huge puddles than in the playground equipment.

Ike found the slickest part of the puddles and slammed to the ground at least three times- each time whacking the back of his head on the cement.  He's such a trooper, though. He demanded to get right back in and play with Zeb after each fall.

 Today Kent takes his second set of boards!  He's testing from 8 AM until 4 or 5 tonight!  I'm so glad he's the one in medical school and not me. I don't do nine hour tests that cover everything you've ever learned in medical school plus everything they didn't teach you and you had to teach yourself!  Good luck, mуж!
Love you.

And in case you are wondering why Kent's wearing a lime green t-shirt- it's our softball shirt. I was on the right of the picture- but I looked terrible.  My eyes were half closed and I appeared evil so I cut myself out.  Last night was our last game of the season.  The little rugrats are going to miss our weekly late night out to the baseball park!

When Ike gets in trouble- instead of sending him to timeout- I flick him in the forehead with my middle finger.  You can tell he's been getting in trouble A LOT lately. 

I'm TOTALLY joking. This kid refuses to put his hands out in front of him when he falls so he takes the brunt of every tumble to the forehead. It's a protruding giant goose egg that won't ever disappear. It looks like we abuse him.

Tonight when we walked down to the swingset at our place- Ike went with Kent to lock up the pool and fell AGAIN on the cement. Luckily this time he landed on the side of his head so instead of causing this one to grow- he just added another.  I'll get a picture tomorrow.  Hopefully it doesn't swell and bruise.

Zeb insisted on wearing his galoshes and they greatly impeded his sliding speed. He was barely moving in this picture.  Sorry my pics are a little blurry.

But he figured out that when he picked up the boots- he could get going a lot faster.

Church switched to one o'clock last week and so far I'm in heaven. It definitely has it's downsides- and I'm sure I'll get sick of it fast- but for now I'm enjoying every free minute we have before church. 

No more crazy rushing out of the house in a frenzy. No more waiting for hours AFTER church to break our fast. No more waking up early to try and get showered and ready before Kent has to leave for pre church meetings. 

Hello crockpot roast and nicely risen rolls when we get home from church. Hello Sunday morning strolls at the park. Hello sleeping in and having cream cheese and nutella filled fresh strawberry crepes for breakfast. 

I'm in love with late church.  So are these kids- for now :)

It's ten o'clock and I feel like this is the first time I've had time to sit down and blog since Monday.  Our evenings have been especially full this week (2 softball games and cooking group) and I've just been ready for bed by the time we've made it home.  

Plus- I've been on a reading frenzy.  I go through these intense crazy reading intervals where I read 2-3 full novels or 4-5 teen books a week and I'm on one right now. Since Sunday I've read 'Persepolis' and 'When Crickets Cry' and I'm halfway through 'Olive Kitteridge'. I've got quite the stack to keep moving through as well.

                                                                                                                                 

I decided to go out on a limb for book club this month and I ended up choosing 'Persepolis'. It's a graphic novel (comic book style) and I'd never read one until now. I was hesitiant- but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.  I was surprised at how easily I just got into it. I was worried about the flow- but I finished it in one sitting and forgot it was a comic pretty quickly.  The topic (Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic revolution) was really interesting and new to me as well.    

Besides being busy at night- our days have been filled with normal business. Park, gym, library, grocery store, etc.   I haven't been nearly as good at documenting our day to day activities as I used to be- but here are some random shots from the week.

I got this yellow exercise band free in the mail awhile back and Zeb loves it. He plays with it constantly. He 'couples' things to each other with it, he and Ike throw each other around with it, and he even does exercises with it.

He especially enjoys tying it to chairs/railings/bars, etc

And here's my summer ragamuffin. The humidity makes dirt and sand stick to these kids like glue.  His obsession with bananas is right up there with black beans.  At the grocery store he goes APE when we pass them. He screams and shouts 'nannas!!!!!'.  I've learned to always bring one with me from home so that he doesn't freak out while waiting to eat one after checkout.

And here's contemplative Zeb. He's so emotional right now. It's like toddler PMS- only way worse. I can't even imagine having girls if this is what my boy is like. Today I just wanted to spank some sense into his tears!

Apparently only Ike has been doing anything picture worthy since last wednesday.  I seriously don't think I have any pictures of Zeb doing anything the last five days.  

The date of Kent's departure is nearing- so we've been trying to do lots of fun stuff. Fun stuff = spending lots of time at the park and lots of time at Sonic during Happy Hour.

All summer long I've been craving a Lime Rickey.  It's this crazy delicious drink I loved growing up and they only sell it at Arctic Circle (hamburger place in Utah).  While in Utah I went to get one- only to discover they don't have diet sprite at Arctic Circle and I don't believe in drinking my calories. I'll eat them in any form, however.  Turns out sonic can do the lime rickey 'diet' style and I think I've had at least five since I found out a couple of weeks ago.  Ike loves the ice cream cone and zeb loves the slushies.  Too bad we have to drive fifteen minutes to get to Sonic!

And here's another picture of Ike. He's crazy.  Things in the boys bedrrom got too quiet and when I went to check in on the rugrats- I found ike here. He hadn't actually turned on the water (but if you look at his dirty face and feet you'd see that he really needed to) but was preparing to brush his teeth.  He scaled the toilet and cabinet to get into the sink. He's also climbed/toppled out of his crib twice this week.  Looks like we may be investing in a crib tent because he's going to be sleeping in it for at least another year!

Ike has also become a talking machine the past few weeks. His language is exploding and he says EVERYthing that Zeb says- but in a higher pitched voice. It's really funny to hear a little echo in the back seat as we drive around. He loves to say 'wow' and 'cool'.