Science Camp!

A note from Mommy: This week has been really hectic for us. Last weekend was the Northwest Homeschool Curriculum Fair at the Memorial Coliseum, then both boys started a week of Science camp at the Gilbert House. We also ended up with our adoptive home inspection from the State on Wednesday. Whew! All said and done, everything went OK. State adoption workers are disallowed from elevating the hopes of perspective adoptive families, but I believe we've got a shot. There are 2 other families wanting custody of Rayna, so our prayer is that she'll go wherever God sees fit. As much as we love her and as desperately as we want her, we will continue praying God's will, not ours. And for the strength to handle the decision that's handed to us. I can't even begin to imagine what our emotions will look like on the day her case goes to court. That will probably happen early next year. Please pray.
Anyway! I was also going to mention that these Gilbert House Mini-Science Camps were great! They're repeating the series throughout the summer...Check it out! Malachi did "Oooey Gooey Fun!" and Solomon did "Young Artist Adventures". They had a great time and were excited to learn some new things...

Making pretzels. Mmmmm...

Shaving cream, corn starch and food coloring make a great concoction for painting windows (outside sliding glass doors are easy to hose off), paper, or even little faces. It washes off really well and is cheap to make. They taught us the best recipes!

This play dough was made of flour, salt, water and Cool-Aid. It smelled incredible and most of the kids ate quite a bit. It smelled better then it tasted. Uhm....I mean... I assume it smelled better than it tasted. Yeah.

And here's one of Solomon. Finally. Poor Solly didn't get a whole lot of documentation because Kai's class was "parent participation", and I was expected to stay handy. I ran across the park to check in on Sol a few times, but he was usually too busy for pictures. This is the first time he allowed me to leave him in a class by himself. I said, "Are you going to be OK when Mommy leaves?" My oh-so-grown-up son responded, "Yeah, I finally figured out that you'll always come back." With a kiss and a wave I left my smiling boy.

IT'S HOT!!

A Note From Mommy: Here's my guys enjoying the 101 degree weather. Us Oregonians aren't used to this kind of heat and the afternoon found Sol and Kai wallowing in a self-made mud trench. With a bit of help from their ever-faithful rabbit, they excavated this pit and then filled it up to their waists with water. The funny thing is that we have a kiddie pool. Appearantly they're part hippo or something.

See this look? This is what happens when you choose Micah Lewis for your baby's daddy. The inevitable evil genious. Lord, help us all when he's 6'2 and 220lbs. As it stands right now, I think I could take him. Maybe.

What do you suppose the fudge/mud ratio is here? Are we looking at 50/50? Maybe 60/40? The world may never know.

All cleaned up and down for the count. For now :)

"We're Painting Like Papa!"

The best part of having kids? Why, the free back-breaking manual labor, of course! Aaaah. This lawn chair is so comfortable and my big glass of lemonade is really tasty. Who wants to rub more suntan lotion on Mommy?

Sharing the Wealth

We decided to go and feed the geese at Cascade Gateway Park. Jadis wanted to come, but spent the whole time watching her back for the ones who thought she smelled like a cracker. This is a dangerous spot to be a cracker.

I think this goose is terribly brave. I learned long ago not to take food from Malachi. It can get real ugly, real fast.

Zion's Race Car Party

We got to go to Zion's 4th birthday party! Here's Malachi and Cayman getting ready to race in their boxcars. Zion's Mommy made a bunch of them, then she set up cones and we had races with prizes! How cool is that?

GO, GO, GO!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZION!!

Boys to Men

A note from Mom: So. The boys needed new underpants. Simple enough, eh? Yeah. The neat thing about the boys is that they're beginning to develop their own ideas. About everything. Fun but annoying. You know, I'm not a boy. I know, SURPRISE! Not being a boy, I can only speculate about the needs of boys in the underpants department. I would think that it would be desirable to wear an undergarment of a supportive nature. Makes sense to me. Everything nice and, well, held together. Not flappin' whichever way the wind blows, you see. But, apparently, in male circles, there's a niceness to this idea of flappin' free. I discovered this idea also suited my boys.
They chose out these "boxer-briefs". So, we get them home and wash them up. What happened next was alarming to me: The change from the tidy-whities to the briefs brought an immediate change in posture. They began strutting. That's right, STRUTTING. Like proud little roosters. They began striking poses and shooting haughty glances to everyone in the vicinity. They were suddenly men. Next time, I'm underpants shopping without them.

"Take THAT, underoos! I have defeated you once and for all! May the age of plain and boring underpants die as I usher in the dawn of a NEW era for all the boys forced to wear them! Boys of the world: when your Mother asks, "Are you wearing clean underpants?" We shall reply, as one: "Yes! Our underpants are clean! And not only clean, but inspired! I AM PROUD TO BE WEARING UNDERPANTS!"

"I am SuperSol! Defeating tidy-whities, and bringing justice for all flamboyant boxer-briefs in the underpants kingdom! Leading the boys of the world to reject the norm of typical, dull underpants in favor of the fun, the ridiculous, the absurd, and the just plain ugly! Fashion conscious toddlers of the world - UNITE!!"

Cars

For Father's Day Mommy, Nana, Kai-Kai and I took Daddy to see "Cars" at the theater. Even though the day was supposed to be about Daddy, we all really enjoyed ourselves...

Nana bought us the official "Cars" t-shirts! We also got the action figures - Lightning McQueen for me, and Kai got Mater (it's like "tamater", without the "ta").

Kai spent the first part of the movie pointing at the screen in amazement - we both highly recommend it!

OMSI

So, I took my family to OMSI today and it was really neat! They had so many fun things to do, and we ate lunch beside the waterfront. Just in case anyone doesn't know, if you buy a membership to The Gilbert House Children's Museum, you get unlimited free entrance into OMSI. Also, The Aviation Museum and almost every other museum in the country for that matter. We're really getting Nana's money out of the family membership she gave us for Easter...

It's love at first sight between Malachi and the roach. My brother's a buggy kid to begin with, but this? He'd never gotten to pet one this large before. You know why I'm not in the picture? Because I'm stationed safely behind Mom and Dad. Can we, like, move along now? Seriously, folks. Hissing insects are so not OK.

OMSI Employee: "For the last time, kid, no! No, you may not take the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach home with you!"
Malachi: "Aaaaw! C'mon! No one will ask after him! If they do, just say he got smashed or something!"

Kai says, "You better watchout Mama!"

This room was full of information about plant and water systems. They even had a bunch of carnivorous plants. We tried our hand at designing and constructing a dam. Or at least Kai did. I'm reluctant to have dirty hands, so I let my brother try it first. "Hey, Kai-Kai! How's the water feel?"

My favorite exhibit was the water science one - this was just a part of it! They even provided a smock and a pair of boots so that we could play uninhibited and stay nice and dry underneath. We spent loads of time here.

"Hey there, fella - nice hairdo!"

Daddy, brother and I put on a puppet show!

Here's us and our Mama. I was thinking that we wore her out, but once we all got into the car, it was brother and I that were snoring within seconds!

Pantless Prisoner

A Note from Mommy: Check out this shot!!
Kai had gone and took Solly's special garden tool for the last time. Solly had had it. Detainment was needed. He concluded that Brier's enclosure would serve nicely. He proceeded to keep guard, complaining all the while. We got everything resolved and apologies and hugs were exchanged (after I got pictures, of course :) Funny, though:
Notice that Malachi thinks the whole situation is very amusing.
Also, notice he is pantless. Yet again. I can't keep pants on the kid!!

We went to Silverton Hospital to see where Daddy works and what he does there. He showed us all of the equipment he uses to take X-Rays of people and we met the friends he works with. Then we went to the cafeteria for lunch. We also stopped by the Birthing Center where both Kai and I were born and said "hi" to the nurses. They let us see a birthing room and peek in the window of the nursery where the newborn babies sometimes nap while their parents rest.

After that, we went to Silverton Park to play on the playground! There were merri-go-rounds!

And bridges to cross.

And rocks to conquer.

And time for just being together and enjoying our time as brothers. We've always loved eachother and been close, but something about the long days of playing outside this summer is turning us into best friends. That, and Malachi's passage from being 2 years old into a "big" boy. He went from my baby brother into someone who I can play with and actually have a conversation with. It's neat.

Then we hiked down the path and found a wonderful place to explore. We spent quite a lot of time looking around quietly. I guess we're getting to the age where we can appreciate the tranquility and beauty of nature without interrupting or terrorizing it. It's a milestone.

We rested our feet in the river and enjoyed the peacefulness of the water and the birds chirping.

What a relaxing time!

June Moon

It's such a fine, warm day! Perfect for showing the neighbors your package.

Xtreme Makeover: Malachi Edition Part 2

So, I've finally finished the bathroom that my son deemed in need of a new look so many months ago. My problem was that I was strangely attached to my shower curtain and was reluctant to get rid of it. This forced me to try to mesh it with the new theme - chickens (the boys helped my decide on this). It was a real noodle scratcher until I found an online wallpaper store with eleventeen billion patterns and styles.

We ended up finding this one that matched my shower curtain fairly well and had (what else?) chickens! Then Nana scored me some lace curtains in a specialty shop in Solvang, CA which had (can we guess?) chickens!

Here's a before shot taken after Malachi had begun his self-motivated bathroom makeover. All the walls were plaid, and although we really liked the way it looked, it seemed that we were always fighting for adequate lighting...

...and the finished product. It's hard to tell, but the walls are pink. It looks lighter and much bigger than it did. Its a shame you can't see the shower curtain - it ties the colors together nicely. And notice that I put the boarder where Kai can't get to it...Mommy's learning.

And the Award for "Best Profile" goes to...

*********Kai-Kee-Bear!*********

"Pwincess"

Just snapped a few cute ones of the girl. Her foster mom told me that I'd been "indoctrinating" her. Seems she has taken to calling herself, "pwincess". One of her first clearly spoken words!

Would you look at those eyes? Are those not the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen? I challenge anyone to find a pair of beauties the likes of those.