evidence of our craftiness

How is it possible that I can all at once feel like I have nothing to blog about, and at the same time be too busy to blog. Guess we must be doing something. This morning I paused to analyze what we were doing and if any of it was blog-worthy, and this is what I saw (believe me it is hard for me to publish these underbelly-pictures, but it's real life, right?):




A huge mess! And if you look closely, lots of crafting going on. I don't know what's gotten into the boys, and I can say it definitely did not come from me. I can be crafty in my own way but have not of late at all and certainly didn't teach them how to make shoe-box trucks or cut-out snowflakes or in any way give them the idea or encouragement. Every morning we find the family room littered in small little white cut-outs. Yesterday Oliver suggested he wanted to make a car like he'd seen on Nickelodeon but I sort of disregarded and before I knew it he'd found a shoe-box, convinced Scott to help him attach some lego-wheels, and pulled out the paints himself to decorate it.


Here's the other thing the boys are into:

Anyone recognize these from their childhood? We call them "bead things" and they keep the boys entertained for hours. Occasionally Oliver will get tired of counting or following the pattern and get really frustrated. There is a constant line-up in the laundry room waiting to be ironed and a constant chorus can be heard throughout the day, "Mom, can you iron my bead thing?" What the heck are you supposed to do with them when they're finished? Everyone who comes over (including their friends, our grownup friends, Grandma&Grandpa, Aunts & boyfriends) is requested and expected to sit down and make one of their own (and impressively they pretty much all oblige). We bought two big tubs, and every day I was watching the levels go down and the colors run out and actually thought I saw an end in sight. But thanks to Grandma Z for suggesting the obvious solution to the kids that we just "buy more". A lightbulb went on and they looked to me to say "Mom, can we?" and I tried to come up with reasons and excuses deterrents but today found myself in line at Joann's (my 40% off mailer coupon in hand) buying 6000 replacement beads of assorted colors, plus a few new shapes and a new design idea book. So it goes on (literally as I write there are 4 boys ages 5,8,9 & 10 all congregated around the dining room table working on them).

I've worked a bit to get us into the Halloween spirit. Thanks to Dan for the bushel of apples (any suggestions of what to do with these perfectly delicious tart crisp apples other than fall decorations?) which make fun centerpieces.



Oliver and June are settled on their costumes (easy ones this year!) but Brenden's still undecided. I'm working hard to convince him to be this guy. I think I'm close. He's also considering being an ipod. I could do that. Surely it would be easier than Herbie!

What else have we been up to?? We had so much fun having Grandma & Grandpa Z here and miss them terribly. The time always seems to fly by, but I appreciate so much their willingness (read: insistence) to help with the dishes, take the kids on outings, and help out however they can. We had fun celebrating Mom's birthday (read about it here) but unfortunately didn't really get many (any?) pictures of their time here.

I've hiked the 'Y' a few times -- once with the kids and then again with a friend so early in the morning it's still dark outside. I was surprised at how steep it was, but the view from the top (and the burn in your thighs) is worth it.

Scott's been working hard to figure out how to be a scoutmaster (he's camping right now, in fact) and I've been working hard to learn all about cub scouts as we've been re-organizing our whole program (and somehow I've ended up in charge). June's not too fond of the nursery at church, so looks like the transition's going to take a bit of work.



We've been following local, national, and other significant political campaigns. In particular wishing we were still registered to vote in CA so we could VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8. (I hate that somehow these days support of conservative values is interpreted as being racist; and support of traditional families is interpreted as bigoted.)


We've found 2 huge tarantulas at our house recently. So that's fun. One of them I saw on the sidewalk one night and panicked and since Scott wasn't home to take care of it I ran next door to the bishop's house. He captured it and gave it to the boy across the street (who was collecting bugs for his jr. high science class). Then this one Scott discovered crawling up our driveway trying to squeeze under the closed garage door. (I cannot stress enough how completely terrified Scott is of spiders of ALL varieties.) He lured it into a cardboard box and then taped it tightly shut and put it in the trash can. (Sound familiar Paul?) People say they aren't native here and get brought in on constructions trucks and that they're actually quite harmless. Whatever. Have you ever seen a spider with a shadow?!?!


The other day Scott was home in the morning with Oliver, and they were suddenly inspired to go out and build a new bike ramp. Turns out Scott had all the supplies on hand and is always happy for an excuse to use his tools. The boys have gotten a lot more brave and can do some serious jumps over it now.


Oh man this is way too long. I keep adding more because I don't know how to end it. How about this?

FIN