The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes...

...but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust

I like the idea of looking at life differently.
Apparently, so does Cole.
Here's how I caught him practicing the piano.




Hey, whatever it takes to get him to practice, right?

Only he that has traveled the road...

...knows where the holes are deep. -Chinese Proverb (Supposedly)

The tree planting continues.
We've got a lot of holes.
They're fun, and a little dangerous.

Did you think we were digging 6-foot-deep holes with a shovel? Hahahahahaha. Nope, tree planting is an excuse for the big boys to rent big toys.



The excavator came first so the big boys decided to dig the holes plotted out on the design. You can imagine what that meant for the little boys.



Hours of enjoyment.

Wednesday morning Josh and I were taking out the trash. Not as simple as it sounds. We have to load the garbage cans into the truck and drive them down the driveway, out the gate, and to the main road. We were trying to be proactive and decided to load some debris that was left by the shed. We backed the truck in, hauled up the trash, and jumped back in to get to "the curb." Josh cranked the wheel and rolled forward...right into a hole. WHAM!



I was in the passenger seat.
I wasn't wearing my seat belt.
I got whiplash from our 4-foot drop.

Luckily it was a smaller hole dug to access an electrical box. Double luckily (yes I just said that), we still had the Bobcat so Josh was able to tow the truck from the hole with ease. "El Jefe" was present, as always, to supervise.

It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful...

...but what you have in your heart. -unknown

This little man is in my heart,
because of what is in his pocket.



You long-time readers, aka my mom, might remember this post. I got such a kick out of Cole's treasures, I still wonder where the tiny light bulb came from! Anyway, it was equally heart-warming this morning when I uncovered Finn's pocket of sunshine.



INVENTORY OF FINN'S POCKET TREASURE:

1 Blue Bakugan
1 Plastic fire bomb for Medieval catapult
1 Female Lego head (just the head)
1 Bamboo shoot wrapped with duct tape(?)
9 One dollar bills (more money than I have)

What possesses a 4-year-old to pocket such a modge podge of items? What is the bamboo/duct tape stick, some kind of weapon? Nine dollars? Who's been to the house and is now $9 lighter?

I love this kid. I love his imagination and the machinations of his little brain. It's tiny glimpses of their unique spirits, like pocket treasure, that make it all worth while!

Someone's sitting in the shade today...

...because someone planted a tree a long time ago. -Warren Buffett

We are planting trees.
Not for anything as noble as giving a child, 20 years from now, a shade tree.
Josh is planting trees because, and I quote, "I like trees."

We literally live on the ugliest 13 acres of land in Colorado. That might be an exaggeration. Sure, we have a remarkable view and lush rolling hills, but the previous owners "focused" on the house. I say "focused" because the house is full of painstakingly-created painted murals and faux finishes. Finishes that have required massive amounts of roller coverage to remedy. I digress, the previous owners lived in their house and didn't spend much if any time cultivating the beauty of their land. We bought this piece of property to give our boys a place to, well, BE BOYS! That means a lot of outside time. So the boys, Pappy & Josh, have spent a lot of hours, sweat & soil planting trees. 60+ so far.

We bought a lot of trees for pennies last fall from a tree farm that was liquidating. Long story short, we heeled them in for the winter and now they need to get in the ground. Starting first with my favorite tree. It's a fat and stumpy Austrian pine. It is over 10 feet tall and Josh says it weighs "a-freakin'-lot." It's a technical term. Morgan graciously offered to help the boys plant. It was quite the production involving 2x4s, tow chains, a tire and Pappy's Blue Jay (FJ cruiser). Of course it was all supervised by el jefe(Cash).



Fingers crossed that "stumpy" takes root! I have big plans for him this holiday season!

He was North, my South, my East and West, my working week...

...my Sunday rest.-W.H. Auden

I hope your Sunday view is as wonderful as mine.

There's a sucker...

...born every minute. -P.T. Barnum

But is there a sucker POCKET in existence?
I don't think so.

There is now. Behold, Cash's own invention, aptly named the "sucker pocket."



This + yesterday's post= boys are gross.

Being a brother...

...is better than being a superhero.-unknown

It's true.

I love looking out the window seeing the brothers working together, make-believing together or simply giggling together. When the brothers are giggling together it is music to my ears.

Yesterday, I could hear a lot of giggling happening in the bathroom. I was folding laundry in my room and smiling to myself as I listened to their little conversation. I turned around as they raced by my open door and noticed that Finn was hiding something in his shirt. My mom radar instantly zeroed in on the shape of the hidden object and began ticking off possible contraband. I can't believe my radar didn't go off sooner. I should've known something was up. I mean, they had been playing happily and quietly together for two hours. That's centuries in sibling rivalry time.

I took off after them. They are fast when they know they are doing something naughty and were already to the front porch before I hobbled (remember my gimpy toe?) to the door.

ME: Fiiiiiinnnnnn. What's in your shirt?
Finn: I can't remember.
ME: Would a spanking refresh your memory?
Finn: It's a bubble wand. (Removes bubble wand).
ME: You know you can't have bubbles in the house.
Finn: It's not bubbles. It's PEE-WATER in the bubble wand.
ME: WHAT?????
Finn: I peed in it and added water and dirt.
ME: Please tell me you aren't drinking it or making Cash drink it!
Finn: Nope. Momo's flowers are drinking it. We are fertilizing them.




Boys are gross.
But at least they were getting along.
I let them make pee water until dinner, I am tired.
Don't judge.

It's only a matter of inches...

...but skipping gets me just that much closer to Heaven. -unknown

I broke my toe.
I broke it skipping.
*Pause for gratuitous laughter*




Here's what happened. My BFF called. She's like a living breathing SSRI. No joke. After we hung up I felt infinitely lighter, so light I decided to skip down the hallway. Skip skip skippy skip skip wam! Left ring finger toe (I don't know what it's called) into the door jamb. It hurts. What's worse, there is nothing I can do about it. The doc says it should take 6-weeks to heal. 6 WEEKS! That's 2/3rd of my half-marathon training schedule. I don't know what hurts more, the broken toe or not being able to pound the pavement?

Never thought I would be sad that I can't go running.

"When a teacher calls a boy by his entire name...

...it means trouble." - Mark Twain

I love summer. *sigh*
Back to school. *double sigh*

Cole is officially in the second grade. How did that happen?

I am such a terrible mother too because I have been complaining incessantly about it! First, I decided to be proactive and order an EduKit. What was I thinking? Sure, I saved roughly $10-$15 in school supplies but I was denied one of my favorite rites, back-to-school shopping. Who doesn't love smelling boxes of bright and shiny crayons? Who doesn't savor running their fingertips over the cold coils of spiral notebooks? Second complaint, Cole gets on the bus at 8:25am and does not get off the bus until 4:48pm. That's such a long day for the little man. His brothers miss him terribly, who is supposed to parent now that Cole is back in school? ;-)
Third, last time I checked, I finished second grade, graduated high school and have a bachelor's degree. Why do I have to do homework? You know what I am talking about. This crazy math! It's the way they are teaching it, I have to study the method for hours just to realize they are trying to teach the kids to add 3-digit-numbers. It's just the first day...I miss Kindergarten. I love learning, I hate schooling.

Rant over.

Cole loves school. He will never hear his full name called by his teacher because he is a GOOD BOY. He told his teacher he loves every little thing about school. He couldn't possibly pick a favorite subject because he adores them all. Cole is that weird breed that prefers non-fiction reading to fiction. He begs me to come up with word problems for him and he desperately wants to be put in Spanish lessons.

I guess I remember loving school at that age too. Crap. I need to just let summer go.

I did get to take Cole back-to-school clothes shopping. He amazes me because he has his own style. I guess you could call it 80s-snow/skateboarder chic. Please note the Shaun White shoes and turquoise blue rims. Currently his two favorite possessions.




After a year-long hiatus from blogging I felt I needed a new start. What better time to start a new blog then at the start of a new school
year? I am not going to attempt to catch my tens of readers up. I may post some highlights...yawn...I've been there done that, do you really care that much?