Birthday Boys

October 7 was Eli's birthday and October 11 was Evan's. So we've had lots of fun celebrating.

Nana and Papa were here, so we had a party with the boys' nearest (physically) relatives- 3rd cousin Dominik, 2nd cousins twice removed Candice and Karen, 1st cousin thrice removed Sue, and Great-Great Uncle Henry. (Or something like that.)

Evan helped me arrange the centerpiece. (That would be a pond with a guy fishing and a campsite.) Notice the three happy heads with story from Nana in the background.

Here is Cousin Dominik:

And a favorite babysitter, Candice:

And, ta-daa! The cake!

I Eat My Words

This is so embarrassing, so don't ask why I'm posting it:

Tonight we biked to the beach. (No, it's not hot out, but today was warm and by the looks of the forecast, I don't think we'll be seeing temperatures like this for another 7 months or so. Wow. Writing that almost made me panic.) Anyway, back to the beach...

So we were enjoying the sand and the view, while Eli did a wee bit of exploring in the trees. Then he walked out of the trees carrying a crumpled piece of fabric. What?! It was his very own shirt! That we haven't seen for weeks! That he found in the bush at the beach!

Good grief! And I always get annoyed and slightly amazed when I see other random pieces of clothing forgotten at the beach. I say, "How can you forget your shoes?!" Well, apparently one day awhile back, Eli discarded his shirt and we left without it. I eat my words.

Oh. You thought that was the end of the story? Well, after Eli picked the slugs off of his discarded shirt, I took it and started walking away. But then my eyes spied a bit of blue. What?! It looks like...could it be?... I pick it up and turn it right side out... It's Evan's t-shirt that has been missing for weeks!

I will never again make fun of the people who abandon various articles of clothing at the beach. For now I am one of them. (Technically, my sons are two of them, but as their mother I must take responsibility.)

Tonight

Scenes from an hour ago...
Thanks to Mom for our beautifully-painted basement bathroom.
Here Kendall does something important (I just don't know what):


Evan gives himself a swirly:

Eli tries out the new toilet:

Eli and Evan arguing about something. (Apparently, Eli was refusing to pick something up.)

Evan: I'm gonna tell Mom and she's gonna say, "Pick it up."
Eli: No she won't. She'll say it's not big deal. Trust me. I've lived with her longer than you have.
Evan: Yeah. 2 years and 4 days.

(Hmm... Reminds me of something Nathalie used to tell her younger siblings...)

Fishing

Perhaps our last warm day on the boat...
Nothing like some brotherly teamwork:

Under the Stars

We slept out on the deck Saturday night. I finally talked Kendall into it. Can you believe I had to talk Mr. Bushman into that? Well, it's true. I even got him to help me drag our mattress out there. He just wanted to use the leaky air mattress so that we could easily go back inside in the middle of the night if needed. No turning back, I say!

It was so warm on Saturday. (It was up around 80, by Monday, the high was 54. Awesome.) I was all excited about sleeping out under the stars and huge moon. Of course, as we were getting ready, we heard howling. No joke. Coyotes or something. It was creepy. Kendall said we'd be fine sleeping out there. (I made him sleep by the stairway not guarded by the dog.) It was also creepy when the dog barked and growled a couple times during the night.

Eli decided he didn't approve of the whole idea a few minutes after being in his sleeping bag and went inside to sleep. Evan complained, but decided to stay outside and slept late in the morning.

The night was sort of miserable, sort of awesome. I didn't sleep well, but thoroughly enjoyed being outside while I laid there awake. It was worth it.

Still at it...

Kendall finished up the apartment plumbing. (Yay Kendall!)
Here he solders. (Notice the spray bottle to avoid the accidental burning down of our house.)


Proof that we're making progress.

Some days I just need to look at a list like this to remind myself of how far we've come. And this list will soon be covered up as the the stud it is written on should have drywall over it within a day or two!