"I'm not going to be a grower."

I wanted to stop by the herb festival on our way home from errands the other day. I was telling the boys about it and Eirik said, "Actually mom, I'm not at all interested. When I grow up, I don't want to be a grower. I want to be a doctor."
I said, "that's great, but we're still going to the herb festival."

Joren time- 2 1/2 years old

These past few months with Joren have been unbelievably precious and oh so trying too, as 2 year olds are. His personality has been coming alive and blossoming in such a fun way. I try to take Joren to story hour at the library while Eirik is at preschool every Wed. Joren is so fun at story hour. He gets so excited and is not the LEAST bit shy. He wants to hug and touch all the little kids. He likes to hold the little girls faces and kiss them. When the songs come on he runs to the middle and dances and jumps like crazy. He spreads his legs in this really wide stance to do his "spiderman" dance that is so cute. He has amazing balance and rhythm. He can really jump. Last week he was doing all his cool moves in the middle of the room while all 20 other kids were shyly dancing by their moms when someone tripped and fell on Joren and then another kids sat on Joren's head smashing his face into the ground. Joren is so tough. He cried for a bit, and then got right back into the middle to dance more with a giant red bump on his forhead.
He loves to climb. I can't get him to sit down for anything especially to eat. He sits on his high chair like this to eat all the time. It drives me crazy.

He is always balancing on something. People at the grocery store are always judging me. I sometimes want to put up a sign that says, "do YOU want to try to get him to stay sitting down?"

Again, standing up to eat-- always!

One of the funniest moments Paul and I laugh about sometimes is from probably about 8 months ago. It is kind of mean to write and Eirik might be mad at me one day for sharing, but here goes anyway. Eirik was bragging about how he could jump from his foot board onto his todler bed, (about a 6" drop). As he was "jumping" (actually stepping tentatively) we looked over at Joren who was seriously balancing on the arm of our spinning desk chair and we both just cracked up laughing. Paul goes, "Eirik, that's not very impressive, but JOren. WOW!" (Sorry Eirik, it was just so funny.)

Joren loves to be naked. He loves to take his clothes off, especially at inopportune times. The other day we had 4 little boy friends over and their dad for dinner. All six boys were exploring the forest behind the house when Joren shows up completely naked. Before I could grab him he ran to the neighbors yard yelling, "I'm naked, I'm naked! Of course, they were all outside grilling as I ran over to snatch my streaker. He loves to take his sock and shoes off and fill his socks with things like dirt or bark dust or coins or grapes. Yes, this boy knows how to make messes and it doesn't bother him a bit to be completely filthy. He hates to get dressed, hates to put on his diaper. He won't come when you call him and deliberately does things you ask him not to like "Joren, please put that lid on. Don't spill please!" "oh, you mean like this mama, ... glug glug glug.. . glug." Ugh! "but it so magically disappears under your quick cleaning towel mama."
He does this trick that slays us. I will tell him for the 1000th time not to do something and he will look at me with these big innocent eyes and repeat back what I have just said in the sweetest voice as if he has never heard you say it before. "Don't bite Eirik mama?" ARgh!

Greenfield Village: In the picture below Joren has just taken a break from trying to hug the chicken including laying down in the dust next to the chicken in order to get a hold of him. "Really? you ask. YES, REALLY!"

Joren loves to make us laugh. He likes movie quotes. He started saying, "Tut tut looks like rain" randomly one day. When he got laughs, he kept it up. He also picked up, "Well Hello Gorgeous!" from Alvin and the Chipmunks. He knows just when to say it too. Like when he's in trouble and I'm giving him a stern talk, he'll say, "Mama, you so cute." Or in his darling little charming high voice he will say, "You angry mama?" or "you happy mama?" Or if he's in trouble he'll say, "but I'm nice." in his little sing song voice. How do you get mad at a little charmer like that? He has been a little pill to put to bed too. For about 2 months he wants to go to bed around 10:30 or 11! When he gets tired he gets totally wired. He will come down the stairs after being put to bed 15 times and say, oh so sweetly and excited, "Mama, it's me Joren. I'm awake!! I want to hug you mama! :)"
He is incredibly sweet. He says "hug me mama" all day long and has started saying, "Your best mom," which really melts my heart. Both my boys picked up the habit of telling me how much they love me by comparing their love to big things like, "I love you more than a humpback whale." "I love you more than a gigantasaurus!" "Yeah, well I love more than a bascilasaurus!" "I love you more than the whole universe!" Then I say, "no way!" Then they say, "I love you more than you love me." and I say, "Not possible!" Paul started saying to them, "I have a secret. I bet you can't guess it. He's done it so much that before he even says "secret" both boys scream out, "I LOVE YOU!" The boys love this game.
Church is not fun with Joren. He is LOUD loud loud. We have talked about whispering a lot and, of course as we walk into the chapel Joren always says, "We be super quiet in church mama?" but he says it in his loudest voice! How can I get him to understand?!
You know how I said Joren is a pro at making mess after mess after mess? Well, the other night I put Joren to bed and later went tuck him in again and found that he had been holding an egg from the refrigerator in his hand to go to sleep with! An EGG!! people! And, that's how our days go.. MANY many messes one after another!
This week we went on a nature walk and discovered there were giant puddles along the road. Super fun for the kids, and a big mess for me. Do you think I could stop Joren from sitting in the puddles up to his armpits? No. I could not. The other day we went to the park where it had been raining the day before. Do you think Joren would find the biggest puddle, walk right to it and deliberately sit in it? Yes. When we went fishing at heritage park the other day I explained to Joren most carefully how to hold his new fishing pole so that it won't fall into the water and that if it dropped it would most likely be gone forever. Do you think he held on to his pole? No, he threw it right in. As I was trying to hold the dog, answer Eirik's insistence that the other fishing pole was now completely his and he didn't have to share now, and fish the fishing pole out of the water, what do you think Joren did? he took the container of worms we had just purchased and started to dump them into the pond. Do you think it was all I could do to keep Joren from going swimming? You guessed it! It was quite the perfect storm. Luckily Paul got off work and met us there and completely saved the day. Of course he was able to find the pole. Miracle! And then both boys snagged baby blue gills within moments of each other, and they got to pull them out and hold them and then throw them back in. Magic moments like that happen a lot when Paul is around.



Joren Joren, my sweet, sensational little two year old. I "wuv" you so much!

Baby name help

I was telling our OB our dilema with choosing a name for the baby. I told him that we really would like to pick another somewhat unusual name since Eirik and Joren are not typical and it seems weird to throw a common name at the third boy. We also want it to sound good with Eirik and Joren, so a norwegian sounding name is appropriate. It also can't be too close to Eirik, Joren or Tor Bjorn (the dog). As I was leaving the visit he came to the waiting room and said, "Hey, how about Torin?" I thought that was very funny because I Love the name Torin and I keep thinking of that name, but.. hello I have a Joren and a Tor. I can't name a baby Torin. I do feel like we have painted ourselves into a bit of a corner and I have spent HOURS obsessing about what to name #3. His middle name will be David. For a while we have been trying out the name Liam. Liam David sounds really good to me. Then I looked it up and it's the 4th most popular name in Canada and parts of Europe. So, I think that's out. Also, Paul only likes names that sound really strong like a warrior name so Liam sounds almost too breathy for him. He liked Lars for a while, but I'm not crazy about it. I think he's over it.
Anyway. It's been tough.

So here are the names we have considered over the months.. some more seriously than others.
If you would be willing to tell us your favorite and maybe least favorite- maybe top five, I would be so grateful. We are glad we listened when we almost named our first born Tor Bjorn. It's a much better name for a dog. So, we do like your opinions. We want it to be different, but we don't want everyone to hate it. ;)

Terje David (means Thor's spear)
Osten David (family name X2)
Anders David (family name x 2)
Teague David
Arden
Esben
Eason
Dieter
Breckin
Sten- means stone
Eldon
Elam (I think this is my favorite, but some of our best friends just named their kid that and it's totally their family name and we have sort of been their shadow lately and I would feel sort of lame taking their kids name too.) bummer.
Xsten- (family name) could be spelled Eksten
Rowan (although Joren and Rowan are pretty hard to tell apart)
Alec (although Eirik and Alec are too close)
Tyrus (Ty for short)

Paul likes: Hawkin, Ragnar, Sigurd
I still like Atlas, Aksel and Beau, but Paul will never go for these.

Feedback feedback feedback .. please! Let me hear your ideas!

Summer Sunshine

The first day of 80+ degrees and we pulled out the "Water Snake"! We've never had a hose of our own before.. at least since the boys have been old enough to remember. Joren was so scared at first, which surprised me since he is my total water boy, but Eirik really got into it. And for days since, all Joren has talked about is the "Water Snake!" I just love summer! And I love having a yard! Noah was over and every time he would come up to the deck to lay down he would say, "this is the best day ever!!"

Dr. Basil comes to town!

Basil Graduated! We were glad, not only that he graduated, but that he graduated in Cleveland so that we got to see him. We were just sad that his better half (no offense Base) couldn't come as she was greatly encumbered with child. (9 mo. preg).
We drove to Cleveland and while we had a bit of freetime, we went to Kirtland. What a cool place to visit. The rich history was so real and it the spirit was strong. The kids, however where not feeling the spirit, unless you count ants in your pants as "spirit". They were crazy and we took turns staying outside the houses running the boys while the others went inside to learn. It was a beautiful day to learn about Joseph Smith and the early saints.

And arent' these boys 'to die for' cute?






I took some graduation pictures of Basil and since someone was actually willing to take pictures of me with my boys, I let Basil play photographer for a while too. What great lighting right?

Too bad Eirik was asleep for our impromptu photo shoot.

We were lucky to have Basil's parents come join us for dinner on our back porch. Paul made Korean food. Delicious. They also took us out to dinner, a treat we will never refuse. :)

In case you were wondering.. my belly at 6 months is, I'm totally convinced, as big as it was when I delivered with Eirik. I have pictures from a week before Eirik was born and I'm pretty sure I'm that big now. I have 2 1/2 months left! I just don't know how I will expand that much more! This baby is such a mover. I don't remember the other boys being nearly this active. Paul said that maybe he will have very defined muscles when he comes out.
We are still obsessing over a name. A whole blog post about this is probably coming up. I need a poll.

The Toledo Zoo!! Ahhhh!

This was a fun day trip while cousin Dave was here. Paul and I invariably always spend the most time in the aquarium. I love the fish. I just could spend all day in there. They had new fish from the amazon that were exquisite.

Baby shower

I was so embarrassed when my girlfriends said they were going to throw me a shower for my third baby boy. I already have all the boy clothes I could need and all the baby things I could need, especially since Charyce gave me a new high chair (Thank you!!). So And, I was just really embarrassed this time about so much attention on me. The shower was the best I have ever been to. The food was sensational. 3 amazing salads, breads, breads breads, and lemon poppyseed cake and cheesecake. The drink was some delicious smoothie. The decorations were awesome. Orange burlap table runners, (that they gave to me so I am going to make curtain panels from them) fresh greens in earthenware vessels and .. yes you can see, birds on a twig. It was so cute. The girls knew I didn't need clothes so they made me a jar for $ contributions and then each person brought a 6" x 6" square of fabric and they made me a quilt. I love it so much. They just nailed my taste perfectly. I am doing the baby room around the quilt now. I am so glad I didn't have anything decided because the quilt totally inspired me, and it is so special because it's a little piece of all of my friends that were there.

Sara, the master mind behind the quilt.

um, yeah, what's up with my bangs? I got a haircut the day before and well... it wasn't quite working yet.

Thank you so much my dear friends!!

Alone for the night

I'm having a highly unusual night. My boys all went on a Father/ Son campout tonight. They left around 5:00 and I have had the last 9 hours to myself. I honestly can't remember the last time I have been alone for this long. It doesn't really count when you are staying up until all hours of the night to get some "alone" time when everyone is still in the house. This is different. It's a nice glimpse, for a moment, into what it might be like to not have a family and 3 babies (I'm counting the dog) that need me at every moment. Just for a moment I get to pretend to feel what many people in the world feel like. You mean I get to cook Whatever I want for dinner? You mean I get to leave the dishes out if I want and stay up as late as I want and watch whatever I want and DO whatever I want... in my own house?? And I can watch a romantic comedy and no one will make fun of me? I can turn off the air conditioning and no one will complain? I can listen to loud music and no one will wake up and make me put them back to bed? And the best one; You mean I can sleep in????!!
When Paul got home from work I had almost all of the camping gear packed. Paul gave me a sort of smirk and said, "are you a little anxious for us to take off?" hmmm? um, just a little.

It's a gorgeous spring/ summer night. Ideal temperature in every way. Our yard is absolutely stunning. It's too picturesque to believe I really get to live here. I'm still pinching myself every day.

We have 15 chibunkun fish in our little pond in the backyard.

My 2 new 4' x 4' gardens are actually growing. It's been a bit of a test of my faith to plant seeds in a garden for the first time and try to really believe and expect that they will grow in to actual plants that produce food. I have sweet pea vines and lettuce and pumpkin and watermelon and squash all growing from seed. I think there are carrots too, but they are a little too small to tell. The rest I bought pre-started. I couldn't take chances on tomatoes. I'm too excited for more tomatoes and peppers. My salsa and canned tomato soup were amazing last season and I can't wait for more.


I also have lots of potted herbs. I bought lemon verbena this year because it reminds me of my Aunt Julie who inspired me to have an herb garden. I loved walking around her garden while she pinched off herbs for me to have and to smell all the way home in the car.
By our pond we seriously have a FIELD of Lily of the VAlley. When I used to work in the floral shop this stuff would sell for $10 for 5 stems and I must have 1000's of stems. I feel like a princess living here.
So I have had a night to myself. How have I spent it you ask? Well, I could have gone out to eat with no kids, or gone shopping or ... anything, but here's how I spent it. I got a Red Box, and not one Paul would have ever watched with me. I built some hedges around my new watermelon seedlings and took some pictures of the yard. I finished up the present I made for my sisters new baby who will be born any minute (and took a picture of it.)

I'm counting on my sister not checking my blog until she receives her package. (Amy, I hope you are surprised by the mail first!) Welcome Emily Claire!

I skipped dinner completely and I painted all evening. I'm working on this fun pieced together canvas that my friend gave to me in college that I have had forever. I mod-podged newsprint down over the canvas to give it a lot of texture and then I am painting it, sanding it and trying my first crackle finish. (My attempt #1 tonight didn't produce the crackle results I am expecting.) The archway will have a mother hen with her little chicks and gilded moth designs in the frame. The floral pattern is really going bonkers at the moment, so don't judge too harshly yet.

When I started to mess up the painting with the "too bright" flowers and Tor started to chew on me, we went out and took a long bike ride. Tor kept up and kept me "company". We rode through our lovely neighborhood watching the hundreds of birds and squirrels and rabbits and I felt kind of lonely and missed my family. It's such a rare feeling I sort of liked reveling in "lonely" for a minute. I would live life so much more slowly if I didn't have kids. They just require that you are 1 step ahead all of the time or you are in a complete disaster... which I am in most of the time anyway. After the bike ride, I tried to keep painting, but mostly I just stared and thought, "how am I going to fix this." Then I watched my movie and made a bowl of spaghetti and wished it was Thai noodles instead. I took Tor out a few minutes ago. It was dark and someone was walking by in front of our house. Tor barked at him protectivly. He Never barks and I have never had a dog try to protect me before. It made me feel close to him in a whole new way. I think he might actually like me, and maybe we might even end up being friends instead of just dog and caretaker. He has grown so fast. He is only 4.5 months old and he is over 45 lbs. He is much bigger than Joren now, but that does not intimidate Joren in the least. Joren pushes Tor around, pulls his hair, sits on him and loves to grab him around the middle in a big hug while saying, "your so cute Tor, You're so cute". I love to watch them interact. It baffles me that Joren is so unafraid of such a big creature. At his age I would have been terrified, as many of the girls are that come over to play at our house. Some of these pics of Tor and Joren are a few months old. He's much bigger now. :) Big Hug

Now that I am finally blogging. :) I have some pictures of our new house to put up. For some reason I love this crazy ugly tablecloth. I found it for free at a garage sale still in its original wrapper. It just makes me so happy!
This is the studio. I have so many plans for how i want to decorate this amazing room, but it will just have to wait a bit longer. I am going to get a big "tree" branch that will go floor to ceiling; mount it in a big pot with plaster and then attach fabric leaves and some birds. I want it to go across the ceiling. I would love the walls to be white and the ceiling beams to be painted to look like walnut wood beams. I think I could faux them to make them look real. Then the ceiling needs to be some great color, maybe with a touch of luster glaze in it.. possibly very pale turquoise? Of course, the art leaves much to be desired.. I have lots of plans. And I have to stop coveting rugs. I still have a puppy that is not potty trained and I spend hours dreaming about rugs. For this room it would be really cool to have a yellow and grey striped rug, or that great West Elm one.. I do love my new green lamp and that afghan I found for $2 at a thrift store. Those crazy turquoise chinese urns are going to get a paint job. I want them more green with some drippy rust and ochre colors coming through. Unfortunately the pillow with the yellow flower that I made got destroyed by Tor. Darn him! Also, my favorite green bamboo table that i spend hours refinishing ... destroyed... and my favorite secretary chair! ARGGHHH!
These doors on the other side of the studio look out at the garden and patio. I think I am going to stain the unfinished doors walnut.
This is a picture of my boys room. Since this picture I did buy a rug and I cut down the stools and painted them red so they fit under the table. This table is where we have preschool a couple of times a week. My boys love preschool and so do I. We have a wall where we hang all of our artwork for the month. (on the left of the picture). At the end of the month I staple all of our work into a book for each child. The kids love learning a scripture of the week, the days of the week song, learning about the weather, seasons, months of the year and crossing days off the calendar. We also do articles of faith and the pledge of allegiance. Then we have a lesson and a craft of some kind. It's my favorite thing to do with the kids. I'm really just too controlling and like to be in charge and preschool is a time of day when I get my way. :) Oh yes, the kids are wearing diapers on their heads. Hey, I can't control everything. :)

I have had such big plans for this cute "farm" room. It bums me out because I have cut corners on cost so much that it's just not turning out as cute as I imagined it. And I kind of chose the wrong yellow for the walls, which really makes me mad since I'm supposed to be great at picking out paint colors. I just wish it were more gold like hay. I decided to buy the $100 square braided rug from Target since it was huge and the right colors and looked "farmhouse.. ish" but what I really wanted was a green shag rug that felt like grass. Ikea has one, but I just couldn't talk myself into it because it was just a bit too fluorescent and shiny. And it was $100 more. I think the furniture would be better in dark rustic brown and I would do a chair rail with bead board and the black iron hardware. The doors would be made to look like red barn wood with white X's on them. I want to get round metal rings to hang on the wall like hitching posts for the boys' hobby horses. Anyway.. can you tell it's 2:00 AM? These are the things my mind obsesses about when I should be in bed... well who am I kidding? This is the kind of thing I obsess about ALL the time! Sometimes I just wish I could turn it off.

I'm impressed if you read through this whole post. You must really like me. :) Thanks for being my company on my night "alone." :) It was sure a fun one.