13 Years Ago Today...

It's hard to believe because I couldn't possibly be old enough that thirteen years ago at 6:47 in the evening, we became parents.

It might surprise you to know that I started off my career as a parent totally doped up on Morphine.

Not by MY choice, mind you, but because that was what the stupid hospital Jericho was born in decided to give me instead of an epidural like the humane hospitals over the river in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This photo was taken after that horrendous ordeal was over and I was home again with our precious little bundle in my arms.



Here is the birth announcement photo of our little Jer-Bear the night he was born.



As a little tyke, I babysat his older cousins, and it seemed he was always trying to emulate their sense of 'style'. He had a thing for 'spenders in those days. (right click to enlarge)



This was a little excursion taken around the time he first started school. That was a nickel fish-food dispenser that usually only put out about a 1/4 of a cup, but it was old and worn out, and he could work it to fill that entire cup for a nickel, which was half the fun of our little excursions there as far as he was concerned.



Jericho loved having water wars with his cousins on the trampoline (he's the one getting blasted with the hose). This was taken a couple of years ago before we moved out of that house.



And here he was today at the actual birthday dinner (not to be confused with his birthday party which comes next Sunday) which we had at the house.



*sniffs*

A teenager.

The sad part? It went like [snap] that.

The good part? He's a great kid...truly a joy to have as a son.

I love seeing his blossoming artistic talent. I went to art school, and didn't have half the talent he has...he can draw anything, and from memory, too.

He can also deadpan and throw in random humorous quotes from movies at JUST the right time and keep us laughing our heads off.

For instance, the weekend before Father's Day we took our church Youth Group on a weekend trip to Kn*tt's Berry Farm. To help cut down on the costs, everyone brought their own meals and we packed them into coolers.

Chef Jeff had cooked the night before and made some awesome Guy Fieri BBQ recipes from the latest edition of Sunset magazine. There was yummy chile-lime corn-on-the-cob, some fabulous spicy skirt steak (known as Carne Asada in our part of the country) and a jicama-cabbage slaw with dressing made with rice vinegar, lending it a spicy mexican-asian flair. Mmmmmelt-in-your-mouth-delicioso!

But I digress.

Jericho and his cousin were the last to belly up to the tailgate. When they got there, Jeff was dishing up their plates and held up some of that yummy chile-lime corn-on-the-cob, knowing how much Jericho had enjoyed it the night before.

Jericho, with perfect comedic timing, deadpans in an effected Spanish accent, "Get dat corn outta my faaaace", and flags it out of the way. (10 points to whoever knows what movie that quote was from and what actor said it, lol).

Now most dads might get angry if their smart-alecky, almost teenaged son tells them to get anything "outta their face", but knowing exactly what movie that was from and that it was all in good fun, Jeff started laughing hard. Clutch-your-tummy-and-stumble around-while-wheezing kind of laughter.

Jericho continually keeps us in stitches. Not only because he's funny, but because he has a ready laugh and an infectious giggle. It's hard not to laugh if he finds something funny.

He's a great big brother most of the time, too. (Judah DOES get into his 'stuff' a little more than most kid brothers, and finding dismantled lego sculptures you'd worked so hard to assemble can be a real bummer. I know, I was an oldest child, too.)

He's a bit of a night owl like I used to be (before Judah, lol). We joke that some nights he tucks US into bed.

We love that he routinely helps his grandma with her yard work, and that he takes pride in a job well done whatever task he's given. His work ethic is something I know he's seen modeled in spades by his dad. I love that he's already giving serious thought to what he wants to do with his life when he's grown up.

I think the things we love most about him are his fun-loving yet thoughtful personality and that he loves the Lord and it shows both in his conduct and in how he relates to other people.

Today, in honor of his entrance into his teens, I'd just like to say, "Jericho...I love you, maaaaaaan." ;)

While I already miss the baby, toddler and little kid stages of your life...we are proud of you and and are enjoying seeing you grow and mature into a young man, and look forward to all the plans the Lord has in store for your life.

May God richly bless your 13th year, Jericho!

Love,
Mom

A Father's Day Camping Trip & Celeb Sighting

Our Mini-Vacation began with warm weather and beautiful skies as we set out for lovely San Diego, California.



When we finally arrived, we'd no sooner set our tent than Judah curled up on the corner of the bedding saying ecstatically, "I just LOVE to go campeen!"



When we decided to go on this camping trip for Jeff for Father's Day, in our last-minute preparation and packing I suggested we bring along our Cal-King memory foam mattress topper to make things in our tent a bit more tolerable.

Jeff was doubtful it would make much of a difference...probably because even folded into thirds and rolled up it is enormous and would take up a lot of room in the minivan getting it there. However, we'd do it again in a heartbeat, as it made for a VERY soft and comfy bed. I didn't feel any rocks at all, and I'm usually like The Princess and the Pea that way.

In fact, it was so perfect for camping that we're now relegating it to our camping gear for good, providing we find another method of rolling it up and keeping it that way. It's like a can of Pillsbury biscuits that way...it kind of explodes open and immediately begins to rise. Not exactly ideal when trying to change lanes on busy SoCal freeways.

Jeff didn't really mind though. In fact, he commented before leaving, "Wow, you packed light". Everything fit into the mini-van pretty well.

You see, I'm notorious for overpreparedness overpacking, and felt more than a little proud of myself for this 'accomplishment'.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of pretty good reasons for this illusion of my having packed lighter than usual. First, it turns out I forgot all our pillows.

Thankfully we had some folded up air mattresses packed into our camping gear which worked pretty well in a pinch, though the fact that they were vinyl and we had no pillowcases made things a bit sticky. But we didn't complain.

The following morning while getting ready for the day in the tent, I learned that the other reason we had room to spare in our suitcase was because I'd also forgotten to pack some very important clothing items...my stack of jeans. I might have complained a bit about that one.

While I ended up needing to wear the same pants for 3 days straight (which did not match two of my shirts, and resulted in me looking waaaay more frump than fab for the duration of our trip) at least they were clean pants. Thankfully the campground had it's very own laundromat.

Nobody but me seemed to notice, however, and we spent our days playing and enjoying our vacation to the fullest.

Here is Judah after a long first day of traveling and setting up camp with no nap. He was staring into the fire and getting very, very sleepy.



It was very relaxing.



Until the primal grunting started up.



Fires (and fireworks) always have that effect on the males in my family.

In the absence of explosives, Jericho is not without a hatchet or mallet (or both) in his hands at all times.

And he's just about as dangerous with it as Judah would be...though we found that putting him to work on something constructive (like chopping kindling) seemed to help prevent random nicks from being added to the campground's picnic tables keep him from doing anything too crazy.

Finally, the fire died down and Judah crawled into my lap and asked if we could give daddy his "pweasants".

He was so excited about our 'surprises' for daddy having 'helped' wrap them earlier, and I was proud of him for not letting the cat out of the bag.



So while dad was reorganizing things and locking up the van for the night, I dug them out of the boys luggage in the tent.



Daddy was happy with everything and though he gushed appropriately over the gifts.





I think he was most elated to finally just 'get away from it all' for a couple of days of R&R with the fam.



Early Friday morning (like 6 AM early) I was awakened by a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed little boy who was prying my eyes open, "Mama...wake up! We're campeen!" You would have thought it was Christmas, so great was his excitement. He obviously didn't want to waste any more time sleeping.



After our very early breakfast of Berry Shortcake, we spent some time swimming at the campground pools, enjoying the "ga-choosy" (as Judah called it) and then later exploring one of our favorite locales...Old Town San Diego.



Here were some beautiful plants I spotted there. This one was the color of a school bus.





Below was actually a high, old adobe wall that was covered over by bougainvillea, with this gorgeous lemon yellow flowering tree in front of it. The blooms looked like Azalea or Rhododendron, but the branches and leaves didn't seem quite right. (Mom? Any guesses as to what it is?)



This tree had these enormous 7 inch long blooms hanging all over it. The flowers were surprisingly sturdy.





Then we explored a new little area of Old Town we'd not noticed before, Heritage Park...and boy was I delighted.

It's set up on a hill behind Old Town, and consists of several beautiful Victorian era homes situated on a lovely, carefully manicured hill with lovely hedges, trees and flowerbeds, and the most incredible views from every angle looking out and looking into the park. Gorgeous.



At the center of this photo, you will see a Jacaranda tree in all it's fabulous purple glory.

These trees grow well in the coastal climate of Southern California and were blooming in profusion all over San Diego. It is a wonder to me that their blooming season doesn't get the same press in SoCal that the cherry blossoms do in other areas of the country, because it really is a sight to behold. I couldn't feast my eyes on them enough.







Then there was this cute little privately owned home behind the Whaley Museum.



Look at that pink hydrangea to the right of the house, and the morning glories in the high hedge...and the lace curtains and shuttered windows...and the gas lamps in the yard. So quaint and...peaceful. Totally loved that little place.

The home is actually a lot bigger than it looks...the shrubs around it are enormous and kind of dwarf the 2 story building.

Naturally, after traipsing all over the place all day long, Judah was particularly tired that evening, and could barely hold his eyes open while daddy was cooking steaks over the fire.

After eating, he asked to go to bed. I wasn't sure whether it was tiredness or the novelty of getting to sleep in the tent once again that drew him more.

But after only a couple of minutes of his being in there alone, he peeked out and asked, "Mama, when are you comeen to beddy-byes?" I was glad to know he had a healthy fear of this strange new place. We wouldn't want him out wandering around the grounds (or along the ocean) at night while we were sleeping.



It happened that this was also Jeff's and my Anniversary (16 years) weekend.

Jericho was our photog for the occasion, and though I didn't post it, we totally grossed him out by kissing in one of the photos, lol. He was all, "Eeeew...you guys are sick" but kind of smirking instead of being downright disgusted.



Our camping trip was specifically for Father's Day, so we had agreed to postpone our Anniversary celebration for a few days.

Except for the card I'd gotten for Jeff and my wanting the photos to mark the occasion, our anniversary passed with nary a mention. Jeff had forgotten a card for me, and this after hinting broadly for days prior that our anniversary was coming up.

I was a little bummed by that, and I guess you could say I got a taste of how people feel whose birthdays fall too close to Christmas or Easter and their celebrations (if any) usually end up getting 'glossed over' in favor of the big Holiday. Me no likey.

Saturday morning I was awakened early due to a couple of noisy gulls in the neighboring campsite. I peeked out our tent window and saw that they'd gotten into the neighbors trash bag and had made quite a mess.

I laid back to try to go back to sleep when I heard the flapping of wings and looked up to see this on top of our tent, dipping from the weight of the bird.



I woke up the kids to see the gull waddling around on the roof of our tent, then smacked the walls of the tent which startled the bird who flapped away in a huff.

Moments later we heard a big 'splat!', and looked up to see seagull poo where the feet had been, immediately followed by gulls cackling together on a nearby picnic table.

It sounded very much like they were laughing, and I'm pretty sure they were conversing amongst themselves, "That's what you get for scaring me off your tent, lady!" (And once again, for reasons unknown, in my minds eye the gulls talk like Joe Peschi, lol.)

The kids got a real kick out of the whole Seagull scenario. Me, not so much. Especially after realizing the tent cover would have to go through our washing machine once we got home. Eeew!
Anyway, we broke camp and in record time had everything packed up. We then spent a good part of our final day of vacation at one of our other favorite places in San Diego...Sea World.

Of course I couldn't let an opportunity pass where I could take more pictures of beautiful blooming things...especially with so many lovely specimens there.

This one reminded me of my Prom dress from 1989.







Just look at what we found nesting in one of the hanging baskets near the Flamingo exhibit.



Though it ended up to be a really misty, dreary day, one of the highlights was that Jericho and Dad rode Atlantis. This is huge, because when that ride first opened, Jericho was too terrified to ride on it. He has officially overcome his roller-coaster fears, and now loves them.

They're the ones in the yellow and orange parkas in the front seat.







Naturally we also saw a couple of the shows and many more underwater exhibits.

It was a wonderful end to our vacation.

I would be remiss, however, if I didn't tell you about our little brush with fame earlier that morning.

Before heading for Sea World, we stopped off at the "best breakfast in San Diego" (according to some locals that worked at the campground).



Jeff and the boys loved the food, but I don't remember much about that because I was too busy trying to get nonchalant pictures of a celebrity who was seated at the table beyond them.

Unobtrusive, casual snapshots, mind you. It simply wouldn't do to have her think I was taking photos to sell to the tabloids or to put up on my blog or something crazy like that.Heh, heh.

You could even say that I went so far as to exploit my children in my efforts, making them think I wanted pictures of them when really I was just using them to get a picture of her. Is that wrong?

Judah probably wondered what I thought was so adorable about him holding blackberry jam, lol.



Here's the photo I took of Jericho to even things out and to make it look like I was just an overzealous scrapbooker type documenting every minute of my children's lives.



That's her! There in the orange blouse. Look closely...can you tell who it is?



Here she is looking my direction (I must not have been quite so unobtrusive as I thought), but this one turned out a bit blurry. Jeff was a good sport, helping to stage the photos I sought.



This would have been a great photo, but the blond boy in her party kept getting in the way, and things were beginning to unravel at my own table where Judah was quickly tiring of having his picture taken. (The nerve of them, lol.)

At last, while waiting in line to pay, I finally got a clear shot of her, but by then the man in her party was beginning to get a bit suspicious of my lurking about with a camera, legitimate subjects or not, and so we skedaddled. Didn't want to get roughed up by her entourage.

Here she is, folks.



I'll give you a hint...she sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables in her recent television debut, causing quite a sensation in the UK and all over the internet.

I'd heard she was vacationing to recover from exhaustion, and thought perhaps this was where she'd elected to go...

Okay, so it's not really her...but I'm telling you, she looked JUST LIKE her in person.

Even acted and had a ready laugh like her. The only thing missing was her distinctive Scottish accent and the dark eyebrows. Well that and the fact that the little boy was calling her "grandma"...

All that trouble for nothing, lol.

I'm afraid I would make a poor Papparazzi.

Cheap Thrills

An old pair of glasses. Free.

A close-up of Jeff's eyes printed out on label paper I already had, and affixed to the glasses then carefully trimmed with an xacto knife. Free.

Goofy glasses good for a half-hour's worth of hilarity and family giggles. Worth a million.

Passing the fun along to nieces in a care package...priceless.

We can't help it. It's genetic. ;)

Rites of Passage

One of the funny things about having children spaced 9 years apart is that odd little scenarios take place that I'm not sure happen with other families.

In families where there are stair-step children (like the one I grew up in) certain normal childhood happenings become common knowledge, because the younger children see the older children go through it, and know that in time they, too, will experience that very same right of passage.

For example, big brother recently lost a molar. I knew he'd been wiggling that tooth back and forth to no avail earlier that afternoon. (In our family, we're notoriously late for losing baby teeth.)

Later, when Jericho came to show the gap in his gums to me, Judah heard me ask him, "Oh, did you finally lose that tooth?", and was instantly all ears.

"You wosed a toof?" he asked, astonished, staring up at his brother in wide-eyed wonder.

This concept was completely foreign to his little 3 1/2 year old self, and fascinated, he had to see for himself both the molar and where it had been in Jericho's mouth.

Then he had to tag along as brother went into the bathroom to swish his mouth out in the sink.

When he saw the bloody water swirling down the sink he became even more fascinated.

Jericho, who is used to his little 'tag along' following him around, dropped his tooth (which still had some blood inside of it) in the drawer in the bathroom for safekeeping until later that night. You know, to put it under his pillow for the whole 'tooth fairy' schtick (even though he's a little old for that tradition, lol).

Naturally, Judah couldn't let things go at that. He asked a dozen questions. "Why? Why do people wose dere teef?" "Why?" "Why did you put your toof in da dwoor?" "Are you gonna weave your toof dere?" "Why?" "Why?" "Why?"

Then he heard about the tooth fairy.

"You git money for da toof?" he asked in amazement. Clearly, it was almost too much to take in.

The questions began again. "Wots of money or witto money?" "How does da money git in yeow piwwow?"

He's also strangely fascinated with that molar (though I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree where dental issues are concerned) and has been found in the bathroom a couple of times, drawer open just staring at it in abject fascination, poking it with his index finger...when he had no other real reason to be in there.

He'd be playing with his toys on the living room floor, and suddenly jump up and go into the bathroom...except that instead of sliding his little step-stool over to the toilet as usual, he'd stop in front of the vanity and open the drawer to stare at that tooth.

Sometimes I wonder what is going through that boys mind.

It was the same deal as when a mean neighborhood raven took out a small pigeon in our yard a while back.

After those birds were done consuming their grisly meal, the boys just had to go over and gawk at the remains (mostly just the wings and ribcage and a few scattered feathers). Oh and the bashed-in brain.

Where most girls would go look their fill but then say things like, "Ewwww, gross!" and back away, my boys are over there poking at it with a stick, inspecting. "Dude...it's got maggots crawling out of it."

Don't know if I'll ever get used to this girly-mom-raising-manly-boys thang.

The Frumps Attend A Wedding

This has been kind of a crazy-busy week for us. Saturday I attended a baby shower for one couple, and a wedding for another.

Our little family all attended the wedding together. It was a very enjoyable occasion.

Now my husband works with the groom. We've been to the grooms house before, and he's been to ours, and our boys really enjoy he and his new bride.

During the reception, Judah noticed the just-married couple coming towards our table as they were greeting all their guests and called out their names, ecstatic to see his "fwends".

The bride loves small children and interacting with them, and they all respond well to her. I suspect Judah has had a bit of a 'crush' on her since meeting her that first time for this reason, but as they drew closer to our table, he suddenly got very shy. Uncharacteristically so.

Our friend looked beautiful in her dress, and I knew that Judah thought so, too, so I said, "She looks very pretty in her wedding dress, doesn't she?" He nodded, hand in front of his mouth barely making eye contact with her, and when he did, his lashes batted bashfully.

I thought it was so cute...even a young child noticing the exceptional, resplendent beauty of a bride.

After the reception, I rounded up the boys to ride home with me because daddy stayed to help clean up.

I found my boys on the grassy area out back where all the children had congregated to play. I saw an older teenaged girl out there with Jericho supervising their young charges...three little boys all in the 3-4 year old range who had far too much energy for the confines of the reception hall, and called to my boys that it was time to go.

On the way home, Jericho was riding shotgun and said somewhat sarcastically (though perhaps with a touch of awe in his voice) announced, "I was hit on by this older girl at the reception."

Surprised I said, "What do you mean?" The only girl I had seen out there looked at least 18 or 19.

He explained that there was this older girl in a reddish dress, "that probably should have had more clothing up there if you know what I mean", and she asked him, 'So how old are you?'. He told her he'd be 13 at the end of the month. She's like, 'No way...I'm turning 15' and then asked his name and a few other innocuous things that convinced him she was very interested in him. Overly so.

That cougar! That's my little boy she was preying on!

And then I realized that this was it. He's NOT so little a boy any more...he's growing up.

In fact, in just a couple of weeks he is going to be a full-fledged teenager.

And I suddenly got that same little lurch in my stomach that you get when slowly climbing towards the highest peak on a roller-coaster, just before you go shrieking down the hill on the other side, white-knuckled and breathless...except that this crazy ride is the one we call the teenage years. That crazy loop-de-loop filled ride that every parent must go through ready or not.

And I've gotta say, I don't feel ready for it.

I don't DO roller coasters well. I usually chicken out at the gate and turn back.

But this time...I can't. I'm committed. I'm already locked into the seat. He's going to be a junior higher this next school year!

**curls up in fetal position to moan**

Just then Jericho's voice broke into my spinning thoughts, "She was waaaay too old to be hitting on a kid my age. Sheesh." Clearly, he was disgusted.

And this mama breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Reprieve granted, if only for a short season.

Singing in the Bathroom

I recently 'splurged' and purchased my first ever ringtone.

I got kind of tired of being out and about, hearing my phone ring and going to answer it only to realize it was some person behind me in line at the grocery store...someone among many who used the exact same pre-programmed tune I did.

So when I found out that one of my favorite groups, Barlow Girl, had one available for their song "Never Alone", I bought it.

A couple of mornings ago I received my first call since getting said ringtone, and after the call ended I was off to take a shower, humming the tune the entire way down the hall.

By the time I stepped into my own personal Karaoke hall bathroom, I was belting out the tune and thinking I sounded pretty good.

Because everyone knows that accoustics in the bathroom are best.

Ahem. Anyway, so I finally reached the chorus of the song when I saw that my bathroom window was open. *blushes*

Right at that moment in the song, there is this significant pause that went a little like this:

"And I'm ne-e-e-e-e-ever....."

As if in answer, from outside I hear a very loud, "Me-e-e-e-e-eh-meh?"

Took me down a couple of pegs to realize that the young neighbor goat thought I sounded like his beloved Nanny.

I'm trying not to take offense at that.