Fruits of Labor

Back in May, right after Mother's Day, (it's the best time to plant 'round these parts) Logan and I planted some sunflower seeds. I dug the hole. Logan tossed the seed in and covered it back up and then happily sprinkled water on top. I showed Logan a picture of what to expect and he just looked at me and simply said "Yeah."

Then about 3 weeks later we saw a glimpse of green with the seed still hanging on to a sweet little leaf. I told Logan he could carefully pull the seed off. And every day, several times a day actually, Logan ran outside to check on his beloved little flower. And as the days turned into weeks that flower grew taller and taller. Finally growing as tall as the planter. Then, without warning, that little flower grew to twice the height of it's laborer. And just yesterday, it bloomed. Revealing this:

I waited all summer for this moment. And so did Logan...and with any luck we will be harvesting our own seeds soon. Isn't God amazing? All that love and hard work surely paid off.

And God said "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so.

Road Trip

Yes. We are crazy.


I mean, who wouldn't be to drive 1,310 miles with a 1, 3, and 8 year old?


ooohhhh but was it ever worth it. Especially the part where we had to scalp PRCA Rodeo tickets.


More on that later.


First...a few words from The Man:


"Things I learned on my vacation:

• Driving from Indiana to Wyoming through Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota takes a long time.




• Making that trip with a one year old diva isn't as bad as I though it would be.




• There are plenty (more than 100 east to west and more than 60 west to east) of signs that point the way to Wall Drug.




• The Badlands literally took my breath away.




• The WYO Rodeo gets better every time I go.




• It's better to buy tickets in advance though..
  



• My little boys are daredevils when it comes to mountain climbing and water sliding.



• Dry heat really isn't as bad as the heat in Corn Country.



• As long as the trip was..I enjoyed it...and I'd be willing to do it again."
  
  

You mean this Diva?

Good thing we stopped twice.Still takes my breath away... It was a record breaking night at the Sheridan, WYO fairgrounds...
So, most years we have successfully walked up to the ticket booth on the final night of the Rodeo (it's the best night to go, dontcha know?) and bought general admission tickets. But for some reason I had an achy feeling in my stomach that we might want to grab our tickets a little early this time. 'Just in case.'

That afternoon I shimmied up to the Wyo Theater to buy 5 tickets. One for you, two for me, one for you, three for...

never mind.

I needed five tickets.

As I approached the theater I saw The Sign. It simply read "Rodeo Sold Out."

Yes.

I plopped down on downtown Main Street and had a real good cry. We drove exactly 6,956,459,231,120 miles for THE RODEO and now we weren't gonna see it. I cried some more. Then I stomped my feet and screamed. Then I started making frantic phone calls. Did anyone have tickets they didn't want?

Dumb question. Who on earth would not want their PRCA Sheridan WYO Rodeo tickets?


Then we sped up to the fairgrounds where we were simply told "sorry." Sorry? Sorry! I was sorry. Then a little man stopped me and whispered in my ear "you know there was a woman up here last night giving away her tickets."

He smiled and I smiled and walked away.

I had a plan.

We'd go eat dinner as planned. Then pile into the car and head to the fairgrounds. Where we would take a stab at scalping. And oh did it work. In fact, it worked so well that we ended up with eight tickets. We needed five. So we did some quick math and started selling tickets.

Yeah.

We got five PRCA Rodeo tickets for 5 bucks. A buck a ticket. No pun intended.

Ha! Take that Wyo Theater!

We saw the rodeo in all it's glory. We cheered. We yelled. We covered our eyes. We counted to 8 a whole bunch of times. And we answered the age old question that our 8 year old posed "What do they do to the horses and bulls to make them buck?" Well...it's funny you ask young Lukas. You see they use this rope thing and they tie it around that nice horse's, or bull's, ...what ever animal you want to make mad, waist and tie up their um, their..uh, private parts...and well um, wouldn't that kinda make you mad if we did that to you? He got the picture real quickly...

Then he ran and climbed a mountain. Glad that he didn't have a rope tied around his waist.

Then he decided to see if he could stand on his little brother's head. Obviously Logan is one tough cookie. He makes it look so easy...

Almost as easy as driving across the country.

A Little Fun in the Sun

I waited all year for this heat. And I just want you to know...

it's here.

Hotness.

Do I complain about it occasionally? Sure. However, I'd much rather been blazing hot than freezing cold.

The end.

How do we deal with the hotness? Let me count the ways:

Start with a good water gun fight. Preferably, with your clothes on.

Then throw in a little cannonball slide:

Do a little pool sitting: Then...

Go find an old, black, plastic, tarp.

And do this: And this:And this:
But maybe not this: First of all, I realize Logan needs either a) betting fitting shorts or b) to learn to pull up his pants. Now that we got that outta the way lets analyze what's going on here. Logan is trying to get outta the way as fast as is possible when standing on a wet, soapy, slippery, tarp. And Matt has Logan in his sights, knowing a crash is inevitable. You can see it in his eyes. Classic moment.

I can say with confidence that everyone is okay.

Except for Jessica's hip, Jonathan's neck, and Joe's sternum.

Hot, Sweaty, Tired.

And they still have time to fight over something.Lukas was recovering. Trying to cool off. Rest. It was a hot day in Kentucky. And there had been lots of playing with lots of cousins...cousins that were 3 or 10 times removed. I'm not real clear on all that stuff. But there were some blood lines.Logan's a bulldozer. Even though he's a mere five years younger than his brother, he definitely has the upper hand. If he wants it. This clearly does not sit well with the oldest brother.
Lukas still has the tongue. It always makes him feel better to just stick it out there. In the end, I'm not sure who won.

Oh wait, yes I am.

I won.

Because I got to eat two pieces of Honey Bun Cake while these two little honey buns got to have it out with each other.My heart be still...and my mouth stop drooling!

"Throw 'em in the Tub!"

Bath time is still just as fun as it was when I mentioned it here: http://lepagefamilystuff.blogspot.com/2010/01/boys-will-be-boys.html

However, we have added a body:

And deleted, if you will, a body.

We recently decided that it was probably in the best interest of our oldest, and our other tricycle motors, that he outta be bathing on his own...

But that don't mean he doesn't try to still get in on the fun from time to time:

Oh yes. He has a tongue. I think he wants you to understand this fact. Of all the pictures we have of young Lukas, 99% of them show you his tongue. And of course,

Monkey See Monkey do:Logan has a tongue too. And a foot. At least one foot.And Landry just thinks it's all pretty comical. But she does want you to know she's working on her teeth. See those four bottom pearly whites? She has a few up on top too...

Sleeping Patterns

I'm just gonna open this post with a statement:

Our boys share a room.

When we moved into the four bedroom house we gave Lukas the option of either having his own room, or sharing a room with his little brother. If he choose to share, then we could have a play room. He took no time to think on this choice. He simply choose to share a room.

"YAY! "I shouted internally. "We can have a place to throw all the toys. A place I can close the door on and not have to stare at and always have the urge to run in and clean up."

But come on. Who am I kidding. Even with the door closed it drives me insane and I constantly have this itch to go in and "just put some things away". For every thing there is a place.

And, apparently, the boys both think their place is on the left side of the bed.Clearly, Logan is winning this battle. But Lukas won't let up.

Let me make another statement. The boys each have their own bed. Lukas has the top bunk. Logan, the bottom. Just look at all that sleeping room they have. Maybe, just maybe, they love each other so much that they have to sleep practically on top of each other. Or maybe Logan decided it was warmer over there? Either way, how can this 1) be comfortable and 2) condone good sleep?

But who am I to intrude on a such a quite, peaceful moment between brothers? Did I mention it was a quiet moment? Both boys in the same room within slapping distance of each other and there was no slapping or whining or quarreling. Nope. Not gonna ruin that rare, quiet moment. Did I mention it was quiet? And that there was no whining? Sigh. They DO like each other! ...I think....

Then there's this:Would ya just look at all that hair!? Sleeping beauty.

Long Time

Has it really been 2 months? Funny how that happens. The time it just slips through our fingers.

Before I know it we'll be empty nesters.

wwwaaaaahhhhh!

So, in my effort to slow down time I am going to make it more of a priority to blog more often. Think it'll work? eh? Probably not. But what it will do is give me a little peace of mind. You see, Lukas has like a bajillion scrapbooks chronicling his little life from the moment he was no longer in the womb until the day his brother was no longer in the womb. It all went down hill from there. I tried. I really did. Logan has exactly one fourth of a scrapbook. Landry? Well, she has exactly none of a scrapbook. I sure hope my two youngest offspring don't hold this against me.

I do have this blog. The blog picked up where Lukas's scrapbooks ended...

Then you'll notice that the blog kinda dwindled down after our youngest left the womb.

shhheeesh!

I am seeing a trend here. Good thing there won't be any more babies leaving my womb!

Anyways. Here are the babies that have left my womb:And really, if it were not for them then what would I have to scrap and blog about? Kind of a catch 22. No babies? Not too much to blog about. But then I get babies (and lots to blog about) and then I don't have time to blog about the things I have (babies) to blog about!

Ohhhh but I wouldn't change a thing. Look at those three gifts. I'd gladly give up everything for them. Even the scrapbooking and blogging. But I'm gonna try my best to be better at making time for blogging. Just so they have something they can look back at. And so I can have something to look back at when they are begging me to drop them off two blocks away from the school so their friends won't see their mama! Sweet babies. MUWAH!

Eight.

Yep. That pretty much sums up the expression on my face as it dawned on me that my baby was turning 8. EIGHT!? You mean eight years has gone by since that night I sat and watched "Sweet Home Alabama" and quietly timed contractions? Eight years has gone by since we loaded up, with the dog in the car because mama said "surely it's false labor", and drove to the hospital without my packed and staged 'hospital bag'? Is it really possible that it's been eight years and I can still hear Jimmy yelling from the hallway of the hospital "Luke the Drifter!"? Eight years since I called my daddy in the middle of the night and told him he was about to be a grandpa but "don't worry and just stay in bed and get some sleep" and against my advice he was there in a heartbeat. He was first to hold you, you know. Well, right after I held you anyways.and because it was "false labor" the camera failed to make it to your birth. so all the pictures we have of you as a newborn are of you as young as the ripe old age of 24 hours.

Eight years. And it's all still so vivid in my mind. I'm certain it always will be. Because that's just the way Lukas is. So impressionable. Leaves a mark on your heart.

Happy 8th birthday to my firstborn. Can't wait to see what the next eight bring.

oh my goodness I just realized that when the next 8 rolls around you will be wanting your driver licence! Help me Rhonda!

La La Girl

Happy very first birthday to our sweet little princess!

What a whirlwind the last twelve months have been. But a good kind of whirlwind!

You have been such a blessing. And everything we imagined a little girl would be.Your smile makes my heart smile.Your growing up is so bittersweet. I have loved when my babies were babies. But in the same breath, I have loved watching your milestones and can't wait to watch you turn into a little girl!A whole entire year has gone by in a flash. I still remember this day one year ago.

Anxiously awaiting.

Ready for bows, dresses and pink. And pig tails.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17

BooYah!

...and that's what three years does to a baby.

Logan, I am sorry that this post is two weeks late. Rest assured we did not celebrate your birthday two weeks late. This year your birthday fell on a Saturday so we got to celebrate you on your actual birthday. YAY!

We celebrated in true Logan fashion. Right at the train station. The Linden Train Museum, actually. But it's a real train station and trains still fly, literally, by. We saw two go by and you were a bit scared. But that's our Logan. All big and tough until it gets loud. Then you run and hide. LaLa Girl got in on the train action too.

An of course "Bub" was there to help celebrate. He is the reason, after all, that you love trains as much as you do.

A little chocolate cupcake that you requested.You insisted on carrying the balloon bouquet all around the train station.

Turning three is exhausting.

If you need proof just look at this:

What is THAT?

No. It's not a bunch of winterized trees.

Ta Da!

May I introduce you to the newest member of the LePage family? His name is Norman. Or Spencer. Or Harry. Depends on which longtime LePage family member you ask. Regardless, he's here. And he's a big boy too! mi abuela and her four bebes. It's possible this dude weighs more than all her 'real' bebes put together. Seriously. You should have heard the noises coming from the front yard as Jess and I were rolling the snowman parts around. Good thing we had two strapping LePage men to muscle the pieces together.

I sure hope NormanSpencerHarry can withstand the impending storm that's a brewin' out to the west. Supposed to be a nasty one they say. Whoever 'they' are. If it's as bad as 'they' say it it will be, then we outta be seein' some snow drifts taller than our beloved snowman in the next day or two.

And I'm just gonna end on this note:

All because two people fell in love.