The Wallowas!

Here's one of the reasons we love the Wallowas so much!

It's a pretty low-key place smack in the middle of some gorgeous mountains and rivers.
With some really fun and unexpected shops.

The Casebolt kids were the first cousins to get there after us so Will and Jack headed straight for the river.

While the girls started working on some art.
This is the room the kids sleep in--it has five beds and they spend a lot of time jumping from bed to bed and snuggling under the covers eating popcorn and watching movies. It's kid heaven.

Ava and Jack love spending the weekend running wild with their cousins but every once in awhile they hook back up for a little sibling love.

They like to hit this park right at the base of the mountain.

Here's Ed giving Jack a ride back over the creek.

Kayte and Ava.

Checking out the river through the bridge. I love this shot of Jack and Will in the back--they spent the whole weekend with their little heads together like that.

Ava flying on the zip line.

Brooklyn hopped a ride on the banana.

Jack hitched a ride with Ed and Jem.

The big girls.

The boys found a snake and my brave Jack picked it right up (look really close-it's itsy)

We eat way too much yummy food--here's some happy kids chowing Stephen's huge breakfast.

The girls were busy working on all kinds of art projects: painting, drawing, and sculpture all weekend and on the last night they arranged an art show for us, complete with yummy hors d'ouvres on the deck:

Ed made a friend.

Cousins!!

Kayte, Ava, Madison, little Jem, Will, Jack, Sara, Brooklyn, Hudson, and Ben!

This was our 5th year at the Wallowas with the cousins and we love it! The first year we just had the 4 big kids and I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Jack and Paula was sick pregnant with Sara and we thought it was crazy then. Then the next year Sara was a couple months old and Brooklyn was a teeny newborn. The next year Paula and Susan were sick pregnant with the boys and then the year after, the boys were babies and I was just weeks from having Jemma. This was the first year of no morning sickness, no huge pregnant bellies, no newborns or crying babies. Just 10 crazy kids who love each other so much! We have finally made it to the other side and the view from here is very very sweet!

Thanks to my mom and dad who make this trip possible and who do way more than their share so the rest of us can hang out, shop, and relax. And who also write the questions for the Newylwed Game, our favorite tradition and a hard fought battle every year!

Hitting the road

We're headed for our favorite place in mountains--we go at least twice a year and in October all the cousins come too. Which is exactly as chaotic and fun as it sounds. Jack has been up since six, with his "pack-pack" full of balls and weapons and he has reminded me at least 12 times to pack his boots and he has also reminded me at least 12 times that Will is coming too and he is his very best friend in the whole world! By tomorrow it will feel a little crazy but the kids love love it!

Ava (three years ago!)
Jack at Jemma's age.

Back when there were only seven cousins!

That's tiny Brooklyn at about 3 weeks.

My Jack--he was so darn cute!

I miss Ava. First grade is too long.

Flu season has hit hard and I have been doing more than my usual share of subbing and today I got to sub in Ava's class for the first time! As the art teacher. I know. I told Ed I was nervous to teach art and he nicely said "you'll be fine" and then followed that up with "but I don't know why they asked you--you know nothing about art." Which is so true. I'm creative but not the least bit artistic and there is a very big difference. I draw only stick people and up until a bit ago I thought Ava was a terrible artist too. Then she went to school and now she does some really amazing things. Yet another reason why I would never homeschool. Anyway, Ava's class was the last of the day and I loved seeing her cute face all eager and ready to learn. She was just drawing away and then she raised her hand and I called on her and she said, "I love you." And I love that she is still at the age where she not only gets excited to have me in her classroom, she actually says it out loud.

Jack

Jack's a funny kid. If he's ever moping around looking bored, I'll say "Jack do you want to do some chores?" and he says "Chores? I love chores!" A few weeks ago I noticed his bed was made every morning when I got up and I just assumed Ava had been doing it until I caught him in the act, pulling the blankets tight and smoothing out the wrinkles. In fact his chore list has grown quite a bit; he takes out the garbage (including running the poopy diapers outside to the can), makes his bed, sorts the laundry and runs all the baskets around, empties the silverware out of the dishwasher, dusts the bedrooms, and the list goes on. But his favorite chore is setting the table, here's a picture of him folding the napkins around the forks like "baseball bats".

He's a hard worker just like his daddy!

******

Here's one more Jack funny I didn't want to forget. The day after the marathon we had this conversation:

Me: Jack, don't lean on my legs--they're really sore from running.

Jack: why, did you fall off the treadmill? (For the record that has never happened!)

Me: no, I just ran a long ways

Jack: did you run out of gas?? (what he says when he gets tired)

Me: yeah, I started running out of gas by the end.

Jack's face lit up: Did you have to turn on your turbo jets to finish?!

Family resemblance?

To say Jemma is a mama's girl is a serious understatement. If I'm not around she is a very happy camper for whoever she's with, but if she can see me (or hear me!), she wants to be with me. The only exception to the rule is if she's cuddling with her daddy in which case she'll stay put as long as she can keep her eyes on me! The one thing she does love to do with Ed is listen to music--the louder the better and she doesn't care if it's Metallica or Johnny Cash, she's happy.

One of those nights

I never like it when Ed's gone for the night but unlike when we just had little Ava, I am now capable of handling it like the grown-up I supposedly am. Last week we were trucking it out on our own here and we did great--no meltdowns (me or the kids), lots of fun and even some very productive closet-cleaning and reorganizing. But tonight for some reason, when he's only gone for a couple hours, everyone fell apart. I'm pretty sure Jem started it but she has a nasty cold so I'm not going to blame her but by dinner they were all a grumpy mess. Instead of sending them to bed (which I was tempted to do!) I remembered we had some chocolate chips in the cupboard (a very rare occurence here) so we made up a batch of pumpkin chocolate cookies (a fan favorite!), made a fire, and settled into the couch. They started giggling and hugging and were so darn cute I had to take a picture.

And then I put the little pink chub to bed and came back out to find these two had moved to another couch and snuggled in to read:

Ahh, the power of the chocolate chip!

Happy Happy Birthday...

to sweet Kayte!

Kayte was my first and much anticipated little niece (and the first grandbaby on both sides). I was 20 weeks pregnant with Ava and I remember every single detail about the day she was born: I remember driving to the hospital, what I was wearing (my first maternity jeans!), buying Joe a cafeteria breakfast and then Paula making him eat it in the waiting room, every short hour of the labor and then the super quick time it took to push her out (which, 19 weeks later, made me insanely mad at Paula when Ava took hours longer to come!), her first cry, oohing and ahhing over tiny Kayte, leaving the hospital to get some lunch and then thinking I have to get back there! But the one thing I remember the best was when I went to bed that night, Ava gave her first real hey-I'm-in-here kick, strong enough to move the covers, and I thought, she can't wait to meet her cousin! Now seven (seven!) years later they are such sweet friends and I think what a blessing!

Daddy's back.

Ed's been out of town since we got back from Portland and we do not like it at all. Jack especially needs his nightly dose of wrestling!

We've got pumpkin!

And nobody was more excited than Jack!

He helped me bake all night and he was so funny I screwed up part of the recipe and I said, "Jack, you're so darn cute that I can't concentrate!" and he says, with a sigh, "I know" pause "maybe you shouldn't look at me so I don't distract you!"

Tasting the goods.

Frosted and ready to go!

This one's for daddy...

We miss you!

If you're looking for Jemma Jane...

you'll probably find her right here. It's her favorite cozy spot.

The marathon

Pre-race smiles.

Look how dark it is!! And I think most of you know how I feel about being up while it is still dark!

We tried to talk them out of it, but Paula and Joe insisted on coming and they brought these cute little cheerleaders with them.
Thank goodness they came--it is a long way to go without seeing any familiar faces!

This is either mile 5 or 11--and that's my running buddy Michele in the blue top. Michele has run several marathons and had wanted to break 4:30 and she did it! Yay Michele!

It's a very surreal experience to start a run in the dark and watch the miles tick by and the sun come up and the hours tick by and just keep on running. You (hopefully) get into a very weird groove and it is unreal to check your watch and realize you have been running for four hours and your body just keeps going because the faster you get there, the sooner you can stop. Our training program had a long run of 20 miles and then the theory goes that the adrenaline will get you through the last 6 miles but 6 miles is a long ways so I was really nervous that it wouldn't actually work--I seriously imagined that I would hit mile 20 and just stop and keel over. But I passed the mile 20 sign and I did a quick check and thought my legs still work, my brain still works and I feel pretty good (relatively speaking, of course) and then I thought hey I might actually make it! I even tried to actually enjoy mile 26 since I don't plan on running that far ever again and when I finally crossed the finish line and people are just so excited for you and handing you all kinds of food and drinks and roses and medals and it was really just a great experience.

There's Ed, in black and gray, going strong (and waving to the kids) at mile 11.

The whole time we were training we both kept saying we would never do this again together--it's one thing when one person is doing 3 hour training runs on Saturday mornings, it's a whole different thing when you both have to squeeze them in! But I have to say that I am so glad we did this together--who else would understand what crazy things we did (and sacrificed) over the last three months? Plus we spent the entire 6 hours coming home talking about each different point in the race and who and what we saw and although we didn't actually run it together, we both noticed (and thought) exactly the same things. And we got to see and high-five each other one time on an out and back part of the course. The only bummer was that I didn't get to see him cross the line but I was watching my clock and I knew when he should finish and I was so excited for him even though I was still out there trucking along!

He got an awesome time and I am so proud of him!

All tuckered out. That marathon watching is hard work.

So I'm pretty sure that I won't run another marathon (I'd say 90% or maybe like 85...80?)--I finished, I'm happy with my time (especially if you minus the 8 minutes--yes, I timed it--that I spent waiting in line at the port-a-potties midrace--talk about frustrating!), and I had a good experience so why do it all over?

However, I am already talking Ed into doing it again next year! I would love to spend the weekend in Portland shopping (without worrying about getting tired), eating yummy food (without worrying about its protein levels), drinking alcohol and staying up late (all things I like to do on vacation!) and then cheering for Ed now that I know the course because, frankly, spectating looks like a lot more fun than actually running!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my mom!

Who drove all the way to Portland to watch us run and got up at the crack of dawn to spend her birthday chasing us around the course, handing out snacks, and then celebrated by eating at Red Robin (sadly not one of her top ten restaurants....not even top 20 I'm sure) and then driving 6 hours home. Which is exactly the kind of thing my mom (and dad!) have done my whole life. Which is why I am not going to post the picture of my mom wearing a balloon hat while the entire Red Robin staff sings to her.

(but I am going to save it just in case I need it some day!)

Happy Happy Birthday Mom!

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And also, a very happy birthday to little Finn who arrived many days later than expected but I am sure was well worth the wait!

We made it.

We ran it. We finished. And we feel surprisingly good.

More pictures eventually but here we are having our favorite post-race lunch at (where else?) Red Robin!

We're off!

This is a picture of Jack from this time last year when we took him to Portland for a work trip. Ava stayed home for school and he's talking to her on the phone. And sweet Jemma Jane was still in my (8 months pregnant) tummy. Now a year later, we're headed to the same city to run a marathon and this time Ava gets to come cheer us on while the other two stay here. What a year!