Happy Sunday

Sundays can be hard, because we leave for church at around 10:30, and often don't get home until after 2:30. This makes it pretty impossible for Sebastian to get a nap. When this kid doesn't nap he can get pretty ornery. This week he was running around, being a little stinker, and earned himself a timeout. His timeouts are only two minutes long, but by the time it was over, he was fast asleep. 

Big Brother

Every night we have the same routine. The kids get into their pajamas and brush their teeth, and then we meet on the couch to read a story together, read some scripture, and say a prayer as a family. Then we give hugs, take one last drink of water, one last potty break, and it's off to bed. Some nights bedtime seems to last for hours. This is particularly true when Sebastian chooses to yell during the scripture reading, dance around during the prayer, and run screaming when Lizzy tries to hug him. So basically every night.
Last Saturday, Isaac wasn't home for bedtime, and I had already had a long day. I told Sebastian, "We're going to pray now, and if you don't kneel down with us right now, you're going to miss it. We're not waiting for you this time." He laughed and ran away, so we prayed without him. We had barely said the amen, when Sebastian came running back, crying, "Me too! I pray too!" He was extremely upset that we prayed without him, but I just shrugged and said, "Sorry, Buddy. You missed it." I walked away as he threw himself sobbing to the ground, and I honestly didn't feel that bad for him. Like I said, I'd had a long day. Luckily for him, he has a big brother with much more compassion.
Barak ran over to Sebastian and knelt down. "I'll pray with you," he said. He then very gently helped his little brother say a prayer. This made Sebastian completely happy, and he gave his brother a big hug.
Witnessing such a tender moment between my children brought me more joy than I can express. I am so grateful that my children have each other. I am a big believer in the importance of siblings.
Barak has proven many times over that he is a great big brother. Henry was not more than two weeks old when I heard Barak teach him this very important lesson. "Watch this, Henry," he said, snuggled up close to us on the couch. "Here's my finger. Here's my nose. Here's a booger. There it goes!" The little poem comes with hand motions, but I'll leave those to your imagination.

Normal stuff

Last Sunday after church I suddenly woke up nose to nose with my two-year-old. "Moooooooommy. What mommy doin'? Mooooooommy." Somehow both my husband and I had fallen asleep on the couch, leaving the four children loose in the house. I stumbled into the kitchen to get Sebastian a drink of water and discovered half a pint of blueberries rolling around on the floor. "Why are there berries all over the floor?" I asked the two older children.

 Lizzy shrugged and said, "Oh, We were trying to juggle them."

"Yeah," Barak added. "We kept dropping them." No kidding. I instructed them to clean up their mess, and was met with a stream of complaints. 

"I don't want to sweep them up!"

"It's not fair!"

"Why do WE have to do this?!"

As I strove to remain calm and loving in the face of such absurd questions and supervised their clean up, I overheard Sebastian making a lot of noise in the living room. "What are you doing, Sebastian?" I called to him.

"I playing baseball!" he answered proudly. I was a bit distracted at the time, but I could tell his version of baseball was strictly an outside game. "Knock it off," I said. 

"Okay, Mommy," he said and ran off to his room to make a different mess. 

Twenty minutes later, when Isaac woke up, I thought I had things pretty well under control. The blueberries were off the kitchen floor, the kids weren't trying to kill each other and I had almost figured out what to have for dinner. That's when Isaac discovered the broken window. I guess if you throw a baseball against it  enough times a window will break, even if it doesn't give you your mom's undivided attention. 

Later, I told this story to my mom, and I could hear her smile over the phone. "Aw, your first broken window!" she said. It was in that moment, that I realized two things:

• I have four kids. THREE of them are boys.
• When people with grown-up kids say things like, "Enjoy them while they're little; kids grow up so fast!" they are LYING.

Henry

On Friday, July 12, Henry Roland Washburn was born. He made his appearance at 3:34 pm, and he weighed 9 lbs 10 oz. We've been home for over a week now, and he has been a very sweet baby. 

 We are all very happy.

July 4th

I am very grateful to live in the United States. Whatever flaws we may have, I think it's a pretty darn good country. This year we celebrated in the usual way. We camped out in my parents' backyard, swam in the pool, barbecued, and set off some fireworks. 

The parade is a highlight every year, and this year was no disappointment. These pictures do not do show how very crowded it was along the parade route. We were lucky that my sisters had staked out a spot the night before, and then went out and guarded it starting at 6 am. 

They throw massive amounts of candy at this parade, as well as a few other things. Isaac's one goal for the parade is always to catch a pepperoni stick from the Reser's guys. My sisters have learned to be less embarrassed by his antics. (He kind of has a loud voice and can be very persistent...)

My Super Family

Every year my family spends a weekend up at Silver Falls. I think we all look forward to a couple of days of solid fun. This year, we were sitting around the campground, when something extraordinary happened. All of a sudden, my sister's cell phone rang and she announced, "It's headquarters guys! We have a mission!" My parents and sisters scattered, running into their cabins and leaving the rest of us sitting in bewilderment. When they returned, they confirmed one of my long-held suspicions. I come from a family of super heroes.

Let me introduce them to you. This is my dad, aka ColaMan.

Here is my mom, leading the super cheer. You might also know her as the Gingham Granny. 

My brother, Tactical Man. 

I didn't get a good picture of Tactical Man's wife, the Cajun Crusher, but here she is snapping a picture of her husband. They make a great pair.

My sister: Phosphorus. 

My sister: Methane

My sister: Sulphur.

You really don't want to mess the three of them when they get together.The PhosphorusMethaneSulphur combination is dangerous one.

Also dangerous, my sister Super Caffeinated Girl. She'll definitely give you the jitters.

My sister: Psychic Girl. She may be PG, but watch out bad guys! 

Due to the serious nature of the mission, Isaac, the kids and I were recruited to join the family business. We were provided capes and quickly assigned names. I think Barak decided Isaac should be Speed to the Flight. 

Lizzy is Bug Girl. 

Barak went with the classic title of Batman. 

And here is Super Junior. He may look small, but he is very capable of getting what he wants.

The call from headquarters was in regards to some kidnapped gnomes. Once we were organized, we quickly set out on the trail to find and rescue them.

Bug girl had to consult some of her allies (ants) and ask for directions. 

Silver Falls was pretty crowded that weekend, and we had many people stop and ask us about our quest. We had little time to spare for these conversations, but a certain park ranger confiscated  ColaMan's water gun and asked us a series of question. Bug Girl stepped forward to speak on our behalf and was able to confirm that we are in fact, Beaver fans. That solved the problem, and we were back on our way! (It's a good thing he didn't ask Methane or Psychic Girl. Things might not have been smoothed over so quickly.)

After much searching, we found the first baby gnome!

A little farther up the trail we rescued the second gnome!

At last, all three baby gnomes were located, and our mission was a success!

Rejoicing ensued.

All in all, it was a good day's work. 

Can you tell we had a good time? 

More evidence that Isaac is an awesome dad

We were all in the backyard, when Sebastian started digging around in a big patch of dirt. Isaac noticed, turned on the hose, and proceeded to spend an hour playing in the mud with his kids. I love that man.