Shumway family reunion

Wallace Ranch

"Mama, hold this."

Jonah's 2nd grade field trip

Jonah's 2nd grade class took a field trip to Pioneer Arizona in Phoenix. I gave him a $5 disposable film camera to take with him and was anticipating what pictures he would come up with. It looks to me that he enjoyed the journey and the destination, from the extra early arrival at school to the 5-hr bus ride (Do I sense some flirting?) and the unique perspectives on the subject matter in his photos of the museum. I wished I was with him, but it looks like he did okay on his own after all.

Sycamore Falls

Before the last of the snow melts, we rushed out to see what was left of the waterfalls at Sycamore Falls. Not knowing to expect a sudden, unobstructed drop off into a huge canyon (the pictures really don't do the depth any justice), my sense of acrophobia kicked in and I wouldn't let boys go near the edge without being tied securely to a tree first and no squirrely dogs allowed within the vicinity. Eden was not invited to this portion of the hike either and apparently used this time to train Sirius for the circus.

We hiked a little further down the trail and found some nice, cool, safer pools in which the boys could play and the dogs could drink. 

Now We Are Six*

Isaak is my lover boy. Sure, he's got a flip side, but out of nowhere he'll yell across the house,
"Mama? Mama!"

"What Ikey?"

"Love you."

for no apparent reason. 

He's also promised me he was just going to turn 6 and then he'd stop growing up. I've heard that one before, but I took his word for it, for now. So, we went to the valley to celebrate with his cousins for the weekend. We all got together for a donut cake breakfast, then I took Isaak and his bestest friend, Ethan, to Amazing Jakes. I'll be honest, it wasn't amazing. He was on the verge of a meltdown the entire time we were there. He wasn't big enough to drive the race cars, his bumper car wouldn't go, the golf club wouldn't swing, the arcade game card eventually ran out, and I can't believe he didn't win the giant panda with that claw! 

We eventually did make it out of there and onto a meal with some nutritional value. The switch flipped and with a mouthful of turkey sandwich he says,
 "Mama,"

"Uh huh."

"best Mom ever."

And then it was worth it.

Happy birthday, Baby Boy Blue. 

*When I was one, I had just begun. When I was two, I was nearly new. When I was three, I was hardly me. When I was four, I was not much more. When I was five, I was just alive. But now I am six, I am as clever as clever. So I think I'll be six now and forever. -A.A. Milne

why we live here

The kids and I took a little day trip to remind ourselves why we moved to northern Arizona. It's Spring Break this week, but Joe and I have to work so we are trying to make up for it with little explorations in our spare time. The weather could not have been more obliging today and all 3 kids did a pretty good job of not making me regret the decision to take them there on my own.

All five of us also took a trip to Sunset Crater on Saturday, as well.  All I had was my cell phone for pix, but it was nice to be out in the warm(ish) sunshine. The boys of course see zombies in everything and Edie managed to hike the whole one mile loop on her own two feet.

love, love, love

We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow this morning. Added to that pink pancakes with homemade syrup and fresh squeezed strawberries, oranges, and Ray LaMontagne. That's how Valentine's Day should always begin, I think. Now the boys are off to school to share the love via Valentine, Daddy's off making the dough, and Edie and I are preparing for tonight...

within you- ray lamontagne

TWO fast

My baby is disappearing. I know it's cliché, but it seems like she was just born, yet also like she's been here all along. She is definitely the icing on our family cake and I feel so lucky that our family turned out so perfectly. I couldn't have planned it any better myself.

We had a fun little celebration with Oma and Opa who came to share a woodland lunch. The boys gathered nuts and twigs while Daddy built a door for our resident gnome. Eden enjoyed all the attention and looked so adorable in the gnome hat a friend crocheted for her.

Happy birthday, my sweet girl! I don't see anything terrible about two...so far. "Gnome sayin'?"                                             

unofficial winter visited us last night

technically, this is our second snow storm. while the first one was exciting, it didn't stick. what good's a snow storm if you can't sled or make snow angels or learn to shovel snow or eat icicles or build snow forts and snowmen and throw snowballs and then come in for hot cocoa. hmm? 

white winter hymnal-fleet foxes

Halloweenie

If you know of our love for Halloween, you'd be very disappointed in our efforts this year. They kind of coincide with the "high-quality" cell phone pictures which were all we could muster. We barely pulled some decor together the week prior along with very simple costumes: 

Jonah's entomologist costume was perfectly fitting for his current obsession with bugs, especially since a praying mantis ensemble is not within my skill set. He came up with the idea himself and pulled it together with what he could find around the house. He was happy, I was off the hook.

Our little lady played along which also turned out pretty darn cute. That padded booty just bounced up and down the streets as quick as her striped legs would take her. Her overzealous brothers knocked her over more than once, resulting in a fat, bloody lip, but that did not deter her. She'd wait patiently at the door then slam it open and help herself inside before you could say, "Trick-or-Treat."

Isaak couldn't quite decide which costume to choose and donned 3 different costumes before we reached November 1st. Lucky for him he has access to years of brothers and cousins past costumes. Along with his new aversion to public displays of affection, he's also decided he no longer smiles for pictures in front of his friends. He still smiles and kisses me at home, but don't tell anybody. He's got a kindergarten sized rep. to protect.

"just livin' the dream"

 

the boys were counting down the days until school started. not for a love of academics, but for large, yellow modes of transportation. i had a fear of letting my children ride the bus and cried the first time they turned that corner. 

that fear has now been quashed by a love of convenience. most days isaak is purposely chasing the bus like peter parker and i am receiving my daily visitors all at once, but i still get a little teary when i can find the time.

Jonah has been tortured by bus-less charter schools in the past and is now getting all he ever hoped for: "me and my bus buddy sit across from each other, but we each get our own seat until the bus fills up. so we put our feet up and say, 'just livin' the dream, man. just livin' the dream.'"

what makes you this happy?

my boys-taken by trees

los lobos

 

LOS, as in dos ! as in, both of my boys started their first day at a new school. my ikey has been violently thrown into all day kindergarten. the principal said i could pick him up at lunch time if i preferred, but she also said then he would miss most of his socializing time and all of his specials. that's code for, "you'd be screwing up everything, mom!" right?  i do think i detected a hint of annoyance in his teacher's voice, as well.

fine.

unfortunately, i think isaak is going to do okay all day without me. when i walked him into his classroom he refused to kiss me goodbye in front of his class. really? who is teaching him this independence nonsense? i blame television. the disney channel, even if we don't have it. it's so cliche. perhaps so is thinking i could grasp onto one more year of my little boys. 

jonah also let me know this was not going to be the case. he was upset that i insisted on driving him to school in the first place. when i walked him to his second grade classroom, he tried to pretend he didn't see me snapping pictures of him from the hallway.

fine.  

don't worry, boys! i'll be here...

by your side-beachwood sparks

metamorphisis

{click collage to enlarge}

the first day in our new home, the boys found 3 caterpillars scurrying across our front lawn. they crawled up and down the boys' arms and over the summits of their knuckles, eventually landing in a giant jar on our kitchen counter. by the next morning they had already affixed themselves to the top of the jar and onto the stick the boys so aptly provided for their environmental comfort, beginning preparations for transformation. their bodies began to curl and by the next day their heads had dropped off (yeah, OFF) and they had become full-blown chrysalises within a couple of hours. about two weeks later...

i had no idea they worked so quickly! unfortunately, i think metamorphisis in our new environment is going to take me a bit longer. however, i'm going to take this as a good omen and a sign of positive things to come.

butterfly wings-owl city

we'll collect the moments one by one

{click collage to enlarge}

at last, we made our way up the mountain to join joe in our quest. he's been working at his new job for a couple of months now, and we finally found a suitable place for all of us to live. making flagstaff our home has long since been a dream of ours and last march the stars aligned and joe was given the opportunity to make it happen. we knew it would be risky and that we'd have to make sacrifices, but decided it would be worth it. one big step closer to finding and creating our forever home.

mushaboom-feist

i try and i try and i try

it's been a busy, busy week, month, year...and a half. turns out, i just can't keep up with 3 kids. first it was, newborns are just hard. now it's, she's a toddler and she's compulsively tearing apart my house and pooping on the carpet! still love her, but add to the list that my computer was being very stubborn and now you know why i just can't get around to this blog like i want. the good news is, husband is a genius and fixed my computer! so, i finally got around to finishing and posting Eden's birth day video like i wanted to here.

i still can't watch this video without crying and it's not just because my belly looks like whale blubber or because the dr. was NOT kidding about "lots of pulling and tugging." [*cringe*] on that note, it is a weensy bit graphic in places, being that it is a C-section, but still PG thanks to the overhead lighting washing out the actual focal point. FYI.

glósóli - sigur rós

"...Jesus in the Easter Pageant?"

we were on our way home and the boys said they wanted to drive past the temple since we were in the neighborhood. the boys anticipated the glowing white building coming into their window view, yelling, "i see it!" as it appeared.

the easter pageant was also playing and the boys could see "the white guys" on stage in their robes. "that's Jesus," i told them. "they're putting on a play called the easter pageant."

"why is Jesus in the easter pageant?" isaak earnestly wanted to know, since easter is obviously about bunnies.

jumping at the chance for a teachable moment, i said, "just like santa claus at christmas, easter is not just about the easter bunny. easter is about when jesus died," i began. but aside from telling them official terms like crucify, atonement and resurrection, jonah pretty much had it covered.

J: "yeah, and christmas is about when Jesus was born."
I: "but how did Jesus die?" isaak asked.
J: "some bad guys killed him."
I: "what did they do to him?"
J: "they took some wood and put nails through his feet and his hands."
I: "that's how they connect him to the wood, but what did they do to him?"
J: "they didn't use tape because it's not strong enough."
Isaak, shaking his head. "no." of course not.
M:  "the bad guys hurt him and then they left him on the cross for a long time. they would not give him any food or water and the people who loved him were not allowed to help him."
J: "Jesus has special powers and could have stopped the bad guys, but he didn't because he wanted to die for us."

and his sunday school teachers had no idea he was even listening, i'll bet. we continued to discuss the atonement and the resurrection until sleep overpowered their curiosities. then there was silence and peace after a long, busy, emotional, chaotic day.

holy happy birthday, bastman!

isaak has been anxiously awaiting his birthday party this year. the morning of, he busted into my room before 6am and just started bouncing up and down beside my bed. when i managed to open my eyes he just said, "it's my party day!" and continued to bounce. nevermind that he woke up the baby and everyone else, the kid was excited.

 

Isaak was adamant that he was inviting boys only with a few special exceptions. [see invites HERE] he had almost all of his local boy cousins, plus some neighbors and friends. what he didn't know was that a special guest was going to stop by as well...

we ran into quite a few obstacles in the final planning stages of this party. birthday party eve we were up until the wee hours of morning putting finishing touches on capes , t-shirts, etc.. then the next morning joe went to pick up the 5-foot "super hero" from the deli and they said they had no record of my order that i had made a week prior. they ended up throwing together 5 1-foot long sandwiches on the fly, but it didn't quite have the same effect for isaak. i don't blame him. [not to mention that's the 2nd time they've done that to me. that's 0 for 2.  they're lucky i sent the nice one to pick it up. mm hmm.]

and let's not forget when i went to frost Isaak's birthday cake and found only three-quarters of it left. i guess the birthday boy couldn't wait. he got into big trouble from daddy, who thought mama was going to lose her marbles. i actually thought it was kind of funny and fitting. what's the fun in being the birthday boy if you can't literally have your cake and eat it too. besides, it wasn't anything a little store bought cupcakes and color mist couldn't fix.

overall, the party was a super success. isaak had lots of fun with his friends and favorite super hero, Batman. they bounced and bounced from morning 'til night, hardly making time for any of the other games i had planned. the bounce house was definitely worth having-especially since isaak has been wishing for one in his nightly prayers for almost a year now. [still working on what "please bless" actually means.]   the kids were all as exhausted as the grown-ups, which means a job well done.

"Ikey, why the sad face?"
"it's not sad. this is the face that Batman makes."

at the end o' my rainbow

the impish, wee leprechaun paid us another visit this lucky, lucky day. my own wee ones have come to expect him each year. i woke up to isaak at 5 AM who had already found the pot of gold and was helping himself. not to worry, jonah still had much to discover when he came to. our leprechaun had left a path of destruction and rainbows all over the house concealing little gifts. and that's just this morning. scones and corned beef still to come.

 

1 jonah and slim pickins 2 sample mischief 3 the leprechaun trap daddy and the boys set up in their room last night.  4 "we're rich, mama!" 5 "they're always after me lucky charms!" 6 i love that i was able to catch their reaction when they found this rainbow, their hand gestures say it all. 7 from over the rainbow 8 of course this is what St. Patrick himself and leprechauns everywhere eat for breakfast! 9 yep, he got to the milk, too. isaak is NOT going to have green milk taint his marshmallow goodness. "no way."

young love

my oldest son [7 yrs.] has his first crush. he just now came into my office saying he can't sleep because he was thinking about somebody. 

a few months ago i didn't even know he liked girls his own age. i thought i was his one and only. so i asked him if he had a girlfriend. he said,"no."

"why not?" i asked.

"because i don't know how."

"but you like somebody?"

"yes. her name starts with a B and ends with an elle."

"is she cute?"

"i don't know."

"is she nice to you?"

"she never even talked to me before."

when his nosy mother rummaged through his valentine box from school and pointed out that B--elle had given him a valentine that says "Love You" on it, my introverted little boy just looked at the table with a tiny smile on the corner of his mouth, then looked back up with a straight face and said, "K." 

 

the back of the valentine was factory printed with

"To:" [left blank] and

"From:" which was very sincerely signed with "B--elle" in the best 1st grade handwriting you've ever seen.

i think he totally has a chance.

she's mine-brett dennen