Pictures and thoughts

It is getting ridiculous how many weeks go by before I actually post some of the pictures that I take. Why must I always be compelled to write seven thousand words to explain them all? Not today, friends. I refuse to give in to my compulsions. Here's some great pictures with very brief explanations. And some with just a little briefer than usual explanations. Ok, some will be semi-brief to normal. Maybe normal to not-quite-long-winded. Dang it, somebody stop me.

Jake is still pretty passionate about cars. I should have taken a video of him touching each of these Hot Wheels individually and quoting their make and model (the year isn't usually specified on the box, which is frustrating for him.) But I guess a video of him naming 97 cars might have destroyed my attempt at brevity right from the start. How'm I doing so far? Right, sorry.

We took Ty to a Blazer game for his birthday. Ha! You see, I CAN do brief! Ok, more pictures, more explanations. Yes I realize Ty's birthday (and therefore the Blazer game) was a month and a half ago. It's still interesting, isn't it? Oh my goodness gracious sakes alive, did he absolutely L-O-V-E being at that game. Probably one of the highlights of his life. He was a bit overwhelmed at first, and sat on my lap for most of the game. But towards the end he started screaming like crazy when the Blazers made a shot. Every home game if the Blazers score over 100 points the whole crowd gets a ticket for a free chalupa from Taco Bell. After they hit a shot to make it 101, Ty yelled out at the top of his lungs, "CHALUPA TIME!!!" Oh, great memories.

A few weeks ago Dan's sister Jane and our niece Rebekah were up here. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There is not a cuter little girl on the planet. Seriously, look at this cuteness:
The boys and I went to the zoo with Jane and Bekah, and mother-in-law Ann and other sis-in-law Becca and the kids she nannies for, Claudia and Charlie (2 of the cutest kids who are not related to me) and friend Stacy and girlies Piper and Chloe. There had to have been an easier way to say all that. BUT, I'm too tired to edit it, so there you go. Here's the kiddos minus Charlie and Chloe who were sleeping in their strollers:Piper, Ty, Jake, Bekah, and little miss Claudia.

Ty pretending to be a monkey. At least I think/hope that's what he's doing.

This lioness charged us and actually jumped up with it's huge front paws on the glass. It actually made my heart skip a beat. But mostly made me wish my camera wasn't buried in my pocket at the time.

Enough zoo. Actually, enough blog. For now. The sun is starting to come out, and I've got places to go, people to see...laundry to move from the washer to the dryer. I know, you're jealous. I'll leave you with one more picture of precious Bek:
We left her alone for 1 minute and she found Ty's shorts and Jake's shoes and put them on all by herself.

C'mon, who doesn't want to be like those Stump boys? Speaking of those Stump boys, it is WAY too quiet in this house right now...

Two things

I'll give you two guesses...who decided the couch was a blank canvas on which to display his artistic abilities:



And now this muliple choice question: Is this price tag A. a typo, or B. evidence that I am the best bargain shopper in the history of the world?Yep, I wore this $1200 shirt to church on Sunday. And I'm pretty sure everybody thought I was a celebrity.

Do you like that I'm ignoring the fact that it's been over a month since I've blogged? I promise I'll give you more of an update (and tons more pictures) soon. Or relatively soon. I swear.

Tyler Daniel

I guess I should have known. Hindsight is 20/20, isn't that what they say? 4 years ago today, I should have known that my life was about to drastically change. Oh, I knew I was in for some change. Going from one child to 2. Changing 2 sets of diapers instead of 1. Needing to ask one child to wait as I dealt with the other. But I was about to have another boy. I knew how to have a boy. Things would go just about the same, right?

And then the monitor on my huge belly started to alarm. The nurse moved it around, then moved me around, then put an oxygen mask on my face. My heart started to pound. Tears welled up in my eyes. This baby was scaring me. Then things seemingly went back to normal, and because my epidural was working quite nicely, I sighed with relief. Soon it was time to do the "practice" push before they called my doctor in the room. I literally had barely started pushing when the nurse held her hands out and yelled, "STOP, stop, stop!" I looked up at Dan, who started laughing and made some comment about how he was going to just squirt right out across the room, and then I started laughing. The nurse quickly said, "Oh, DON'T make her laugh, seriously, he is coming out."

And thus began the flurry of activity, 800 nurses flying around the room, one standing at the foot of my bed, ready to catch a child should I dare laugh again. Then my doctor arrived, asked me to push, and 1/2 a push later I heard, "STOP." And then I heard, "okay, the cord is wrapped around his neck, I need some help here." And my heart stopped again. Don't scare me like this, child! Seconds later I heard him cry, and I saw his blue tinged little body (see his hands?) start to pink up while screaming on my chest, and I knew I was in love.

I just didn't realize then that this child would continue, sometimes daily, to scare the life out of me and then make me laugh within a minute.

My baby turns 4 today. Tyler Daniel. Ty. Beebs. Beebee. Beebs McTeebs. The one person I know who can bring out the most emotion in me. For better or worse; I've discovered that phrase applies to more than just a marriage.

Ty can move from the most defiant child in the universe to the most loving in 2.5 seconds flat. This kid doesn't do anything halfway. He is passionate about whatever it is that he's doing. He'll go from cheering wildly while watching a basketball game on TV, to focusing intently on his latest puzzle. Precisely coloring a picture, to giving a serious beating to his competitor on Wii boxing. He's either yelling at the top of his lungs, or whispering a secret in someone's ear. He softly pets the dog, then tries to push poor Felix down the stairs.

I mentioned Wii. Right now, Wii is Ty's reason for getting up in the morning. His reason for breathing. His little competitive spirit both excites me and terrifies me. Team sports are just around the corner for him. Hopefully we can channel that drive to win in a positive way. It's a little ridiculous to say that I think Wii has really helped him with that. Or, used to. See, I used to be able to beat him. I would let him win sometimes, and then frequently I'd win so that he would learn that even when you don't win you can still have fun playing. Unfortunately I can't always win anymore. Yes, a 4 year old is consistently beating me. And I'm not half bad. Just saying.

There is no way I could love my baby more. The times I've wanted to pull my hair out may just about equal the times I've laughed, but when he sits on my lap, kisses me, hugs me, or grins at me with that dimpled left cheek, I can't imagine living life without him. And not just the good parts. The whole Ty package. The high highs and the low lows. Ty wouldn't be Ty without the indescribable messes he creates, the mismatched shorts and tank tops on 30 degree days, the Dramamine dependence, the flashes of rage when I tell him the fruit snacks are gone, the manipulative "I'm too tired to go to bed," statements, the insistence on the red car cart behind all the blue ones at Fred Meyer, the fists of fury. He wouldn't be him if I didn't want to ring his neck on a daily basis. And he wouldn't be him if my heart didn't squeeze when he cuddles up next to me and tells me he loves me.

I'm so excited to see what God has in store for this kid. Whatever Ty does, he will do it well. I just pray that whatever he does won't involve the risk of bodily harm on a daily basis. At least it's already been confirmed multiple times (like here and here and many other times I've been too traumatized to blog about) that he's got a guardian angel who's quick on his toes.
Happy, happy birthday Tyler Daniel! You make my heart full.

We have a loser

...and no, it's not me, though I realize it's been almost 2 months since I've updated the blog. Think of me what you will, but I'm NOT a loser. Jake is. A tooth-loser that is. Sweet mother of mercy when did I get old enough to have a child who loses teeth?
Let's see, what else? January and February were good, thanks for asking. We've had plenty of busy days and lots on our plates and on our minds, thus the lack of blogging activity. Dan hasn't been coaching since mid-January, so he's home at 3:30 most days. The boys and I are loving it! But we've, mostly I'VE, been filling up our copious amounts of "free time" with all sorts of activities. Side-note: when I use words like copious, does it: a)make you think I'm superbly intelligent, b)irritate you, or c)cause you to think I'm ridiculous for being proud of the fact that I threw out the word copious in the midst of a totally normal sentence? Personally I go for option d): think about freshman honors English and how when I actually use those vocab words I learned so long ago, I feel like a real adult. You'll be excited to know that I've just decided to use more vocab words in the paragraphs to follow. Isn't this going to be fun?

Alright, sorry. I'll move on to more germane subjects. Though you know how when I get going I tend to be quite loquacious. No one can accuse me of being taciturn. I may be too garrulous in my posts, but at least they're not phlegmatic.

Okay, seriously now. Jake lost a tooth. He is officially, "the man" at preschool. His teacher told me that 2 of the girls follow him around everywhere, and that half the class wants to marry him. Lord help me on the day that girls start calling my house to talk to my boys.

Ty is as passionate about life as ever. He's currently obsessed with Wii Sports. My facebook status the other day was, "my 3 1/2 year old is getting seriously good at Wii. And trash talking. While he was legitimately beating me at baseball today, he shouted, 'You're going DOWN, baby!'" Cracks me up, that kid. And my Mr. Beebs is not going to be 3 1/2 much longer. His birthday is rapidly approaching. So are my gray hairs.

And us? Well, Dan and I have had approximately 65 people over for dinner in the past month. I've been working here and there. Last weekend I had a girls slumber party for our church youth group, which was AWESOME! We did all sorts of girly things like homemade facials and make-overs. I'm not used to so much girl related business in this house full of testosterone. Thanks, ladies, I hope you had half as much fun as I did!
We're still hosting a small group Bible study at our house every Tuesday night, which has been amazing. Super fun, but super challenging too. Love those people. Have I told you that our church is the best? Cause it is. Gresham Bible Church. Sunday's at 10:30. Go check out the website. And stop by sometime. We have free snacks and coffee every week. Jesus did say to "feed my sheep," right? Seriously though, church is a huge part of our lives, and we've been so blessed by the relationships we've made at GBC. And by the encouragement and conviction we get from our pastor Vergil, who can really preach it.

Oh, what else? We've got a lot more things scheduled in the next few weeks. A baby shower (shocker, I know), Ty's birthday parties (3 of them. For real.), hostessing more dinners and people. Being a good wife and a good parent and a good friend. You know. The busy and boring, the marvelous and mundane, but the always very rewarding same ole, same ole.

That may be it, friends. At least you know I'm going to post again on Ty's birthday. Shoot, I'd better start writing that pretty soon. Like maybe now.

Back to life, back to reality

Dang you, Maui, Hawaii. Dang your lack of responsibilities. Dang your carefree laziness. Dang your insistence on leisure. Dang your redefinition of productivity. Dang your blissful do-as-you-wish-when-you-wish-it-...ness. You've made me relax into a puddle of unconstrained slackericity. Slackerocity? Even now you're forcing me to make up words for my lack of motivation to do anything that doesn't involve laying in the sun. Well, my tan has faded, so I can no longer pretend I'm still in Maui when I look in the mirror. It's officially time to get back into real life. The daily grind. Same ol' same ol'.

I knew once I blogged about it, the bubble would burst. So I apologize to the 2 people who might have actually believed I'd be typing furiously right after we stepped off the plane a week and a half ago. For the rest of you who are just now checking this in the month of February, you know me too well.

I am, of course, exaggerating how little I did in Hawaii, and how devastated I was to come home. Actually, I'll be honest. I'm not really exaggerating how little I did, but the part about dreading being home is completely false. As much as I loved soaking in the vitamin D, I really did miss home and was happy to come back to it. But you didn't blog surf over here to read about Oregon. And I didn't sit down 26 interrupted times to type about Gresham. So here's a brief (laugh...out loud please) synopsis of our Christmas vacation:

Really and truly, I did nothing. And I brought home proof. #1 is my tan that has since washed away in the rain. #2 is some extra body fat. My dad, who is very fit and healthy, said he gained 8 pounds in Hawaii. I may have gained a few (dozen) more than that. Give or take. I'm pretty sure I drank 8 pounds of passion-orange-guava juice alone. Oh how I miss thee, POG. You and your 10% fruit juice, 90% high fructose corn syrup/deliciousness. I also had a few pounds of macadamia nut pancakes. Mmmmmm. I'm salivating. Course that's maybe because I've only eaten a hot dog today that I bought while shopping at Target because I forgot to have lunch and was on the verge of passing out. Sorry, little Gresham interjection. Where was I? Maui. Oh yes, food. Cheeseburger in Paradise. Teryaki steak, carrot cake muffins, Hula pie, cashew chicken stir fry, BBQ steak and twice baked potatoes, pecan monkey bread, tropical smoothies. Oh and did I mention POG and mac pancakes?

Those delicious delights - the calories burned from jumping into the pool when I got too hot from laying out = enough of a fat layer to keep me warm for the rest of an Oregon winter...or 5. Now while I was winning grand prize in the eating and lounging around competition, my boys were burning calories like it was going out of style. They swam for hours. Not even a joke. Water wings are probably the best invention since POG. And you know how I feel about POG. Ty was leaping head first into the deep end of the pool. The kid couldn't love the water more. Unless maybe he had gills.
Jake got used to a mask and snorkel in the pool and then he went out into the ocean with Dan and my dad and a pair of kid flippers, and made his mama proud. He snorkeled like a pro, out for an hour with the fishies and even a pack of turtles. A pod of turtles? A herd? Doesn't matter, Dan says they were surrounded by 10 turtles and Jake was loving every second of it. Good gracious, that little man in his Hawaiian print swim trunks, his Quicksilver rashguard shirt and a snorkel coming out of his mouth. Dude with a capital D.

And how amazing is this picture. Face to face with a sea turtle. I bet most 5 year olds don't have a pic like this one.

I just realized I'm going to have to do a gazillion picture collages just to show you the tip of the iceberg. Dang you again, Maui. So much time and effort into your blog. I'm just going to insert a video here because I've already drug this out too long. Oh no, I have so much more to go. This was the boys first time flying, and I knew they'd love it. For the first 5 minutes or so. It was long, but they both did so well. Only one mishap when Ty dumped out my bag to look for a toy, and ended up dumping out the goldfish crackers all over the floor as well. Here's Ty and his first take-off. You can also hear Jake, who was sitting right in front of us with my dad, in the background.

And here's some pictures. Make up your own captions, would'ya? I'm really worded out all of a sudden.

Did I say I was worded out? I'm a disgrace to the Alcorn blood. Looking through the pictures, including some I've borrowed from my photographically gifted father, I realized I forgot to tell you one major thing. We went whale watching. And ooooooh did we watch some whales. One came just a few feet from our boat and Dan caught the end of it on a bumpy video, but this ginormous beast poked his head out of the water and proceeded to show us his entire back and slap his tail at the end of his production. Quite the show off. It was pretty impressive. The boys loved the whole experience. And I loved the fact that I remembered Ty's Dramamine. I even slipped some to Jake. And Dan. The whole morning was vomit free and fabulous. It was an experience we will surely never forget.

I have to admit that it felt very weird on Christmas day. I've never been away from home on Christmas, and of course never in a place that was 80+ degrees. But the kids sure didn't miss cuddling up by the fire and sipping hot chocolate. They had a blast jumping into the pool and dodging waves on the beach.

And here are just some more pictures. It's past ridiculous how much time I've spent on this blog. I should have broken it up. YIKES.

This is Ty, looking through a plastic cut out on a floaty toy. It was taken by my dad with an underwater camera when he was...under the water. Love it.

And here's more random goodness. Including a few of me, just so you know I was really there. I knew you were wondering. One of these pics includes Jake's new BFF, Dillon. An 11 year old who was a real sweetheart to Jake and his undying devotion. There was hardly a minute that went by without a mention of the famous Dillon and his cool goggles and awesome skateboard. Dillon, you will be missed.

And Maui, you too will be missed. But life goes on here in Gresham. I'm not going to tell you about it for quite a long time, of course. If you read through this whole thing (and watched the videos) all in one sitting...you're probably either really trying to avoid doing something important, or you're my mother-in-law. Love you, Ann!

My word count on this blog alone should satisfy the rest of you readers for a few weeks. More like months. I'm going to bed.

Mele Kalikimaka to all

Sorry I didn't get to update you before we left. That just means you'll REALLY get a blog-full when we return. Until then, Mele Kalikimaka, friends. Warmest Christmas wishes......get it? In all seriousness, the Stump family wishes everyone a truly special time with family and friends this season as you celebrate the birth of our Savior. Happy birthday Jesus!

The month that was November

Just a warning: this will not be the best blog post you've ever read. I don't think you'll laugh til you cry, or be moved to tears in any way, but at least you'll get a little update, right? Maybe I'll even edit this post later so it's more interesting...oh forget it, read on.

A few quotes I don't want to forget:

Quick background on this one. After Jake's soccer practice a long time ago the boys were complaining about being hungry. They hadn't eaten a big dinner, so I stopped at Burger King and became Mom of the Year when I bought them 2 "burger shots" to share. You've seen those annoying commercials, haven't you? "Oooh, look at those cute little burgers!" I said quick background, didn't I. Ha! Anyway, at the grocery store before Thanksgiving they have those really tiny pumpkins you can use for decoration in the produce section. Jake pointed at them and practically yelled, "Mom, look at those cute little pumpkins...they're like pumpkin shots!"

And since we're talking about grocery store quotes, and produce departments...when Ty looked at a huge pile of yams he stated, "Ew, Mama, those look like slugs." Indeed.

Thanksgiving was awesome. I don't even want to think about how many carbohydrates I shoved into my stomach. It wouldn't have been so bad if I'd stopped at one turkey dinner. I had 3. Not 3 helpings, 3 different dinners. Alcorn's at noon, Stumps at 4:30, and another full meal at around 2 in the morning. That was at work, I'm not that much of a food addict that I'd get out of bed in the middle of the night to feast again. 3 delicious dinners. Lucky? Sure. Now tipping the scales? Definitely. Perfect, right before Hawaii.

Oooh, does anybody not know that my parents are taking our whole family to Hawaii for Christmas? Aloooooha. That's why one of the Christmas songs on my playlist is Mele Kalikimaka. Just so you know that song will be the only one playing on my blog from December 17-28. So if you need your Bing Crosby Christmas fix, I'm your girl. And no, my parents are not looking to adopt any more children before December 17th, sorry.

Anyway, back to the quotes. Both the boys have had the most ginormous appetites lately. Just a small picture of what's to come, I'm sure. Jake was eating pancakes the other morning, and halfway through his third (large) one, he groaned and said, "Whoa Mom, it's like Man vs. Food."

Two nights ago we celebrated my mom's birthday. We had a great time over at my sister's house, eating dinner and the famous chocolate log cake that's her fave, and hanging out as a family. Later on my mom was opening presents and Jake, Ty, and cousin Matt were surrounding her, telling her what each present was. A few presents were wrapped by Matt (5 years old) and filled with little treasures he wanted to pass on. The first one she opened contained a small cut out of the state of Tennessee. Jake quickly announced, "well, that's not much of a present." My sons, always oozing with sensitivity.

Okay, moving away from quotable quotes now. Of course the month of November wouldn't have been complete without throwing another baby shower. This time I had help from my friend Emily, God bless her. We had a great time showering one of my BFF's Natalie and chatting and laughing. There is always tons of laughter when you're near Natalie, she and her hubby are a tag team duo of comedic genius. Love them. Here's yet another diaper cake for Natalie and baby boy (who is going to show his sweet little face any day now!) I'm thinking about setting up a website to sell my diaper cakes. I could feed my family for months with the amount of money those things go for online. They are not that difficult my friends. If I, craft-dud extraordinaire, can do it...
By the way, I am not even remotely serious about the website, so don't go Googling "diaper cakes by Ang" anytime soon. Or ever.

I promise I'll blog about Hawaii before June. Maybe I'll even sneak in one more before we leave. That's a big fat maybe.

Whaaaaat?

Yes, please don't faint. I'm posting two times in the same week. You can thank my BFF Megan who has started a recipe exchange. Mmmm, I love me some good new recipes. This time it's a main dish...and let me just tell you that this main dish is now MY main dish. Mexican Chicken Lasagna. It's like sour cream chicken enchiladas except for more amazing because it has Doritos on top. Holy delicious. It does take a bit of time to do, preparing the chicken and all the layering, but it's soooooo worth it.

I found it in one of those little recipe books you find at the checkstand at the grocery store. I wish I had a scanner to show you how marvelous this looks. Maybe I'll make it soon and post a picture. And you know what, I'm also going to post another main dish recipe because I've shared this other one with a lot of people already. Yep, two for the price of one, all here at the Stump blog.

Mexican Chicken Lasagna

12 lasagna noodles
2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) cream of chicken soup
8 oz sour cream
1/4 cup milk
3 cups cooked cubed chicken
1 can (4 oz) green chilies
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 can (2 1/4 oz) sliced black olives
1 cup (8-10) green onions, chopped
3 cups Mexican cheese blend (cheddar and jack)
1 cup crushed nacho cheese tortilla chips

Heat oven to 350. Cook lasagna noodles and drain. While noodles are cooking, mix next 7 ingredients (soup to garlic powder) in large bowl. In a greased 9x13 pan, layer chicken mixture, olives, green onions and cheese like you would a lasagna, starting with a small amount of the chicken mixture at the bottom before adding noodles. Save largest layer of cheese for the top. Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes or until bubbly and hot in center. Add crushed chips and cook another 5 minutes until chips get slightly brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Here's the freebie (you can tell we like Mexican food and Nacho Cheese Doritos around here): Nacho pie

I promise I do cook healthier options sometimes. But if you're looking for mm'mm good, these are winners. Now it's YOUR turn! Even if you're not in Megan's recipe exchange, I'd love to see your favorites! Leave me a comment with your recipe or a link to it.

Mmm, and now that I'm salivating all over my compter, I believe it's time for a snack.

It's about time

Sorry folks. My sad little twice-a-month blogging has turned into skipping a full month. It's a little overwhelming to start trying to record "October" in one sitting, and also trying to make it somewhat interesting for you to read. Here's hopin' you'll understand why the computer hasn't been my priority:

On Friday October 2 our nephews Matt and Jack came to stay with us for the weekend. I posted on my facebook account, "looking forward to the chaos of a weekend with 4 boys...age 5 and under. Jake and Ty are pumped for slumber parties with their cousins!" and then after the boys went home on Sunday evening I posted, "I love my nephews, but I'm pretty sure that this weekend God audibly confirmed our decision to stop at 2 boys." The kids had a blast together, the older 3 sleeping sideways on a blow-up bed in J&T's room. Buuuuuut I'm definitely not cut out for the part of Michelle Duggar on "18 Kids and Counting."

The next night we hosted over 20 people for Monday night football. I cleaned the house. I cooked dinner. But other people brought side dishes and we really had a great time. We have some amazing friends. We're really blessed!

So speaking of blessed, I got a fever that Wednesday afternoon, the 7th. But then felt much better and fever-free on Thursday so I made the worst decision of 2009 and went to work from 3pm-3:30am. Everyone and their second cousin were leaving their beds, sitting in a jam packed ER waiting room for 4 hours just to hear an official diagnosis of H1N1 influenza. Piggy flu. This is what a lot of staff looked like on that night:And we tell people not to worry, it's not that big of a deal. Let me just go put on a ridiculous piece of headgear connected to a battery powered belt to be 100% certain you can't breathe on my face, and I'm sure that will make you feel more calm.

I didn't actually leave work until almost 4am, and by the time I was walking out to my car, I knew my fever was returning. I should have brought a space suit home to protect my family. Friday night my status was, "I don't think I have swine flu, because according to the media I should be nearer to death. On second thought, death doesn't sound too bad right now."

I'm very confident that we did in fact get the H1N1 flu. I say "we" because Jake got a fever 2 days later, and Ty got a fever 2 days after that. Dan slept downstairs on the futon for 8 nights. Seriously. Eight. Good thing it's comfy. He's still healthy. Knock on wood. The kids recovered, but I got a sinus infection on top of it all, so it took me a course of antibiotics longer. Could I dare to hope that we'll stay healthy the rest of the season?

One heart-warming story from that miserable 2 weeks happened on a night that Ty was sleeping in my bed. He kept waking up thrashing around, crying and burning with a fever, and dripping snot all over my bed. Heart warming already, I know. This kid is a terribly wild sleeper to begin with; he was doing 360's all night. And I still had a fever and hadn't breathed through my nose in what felt like years. I was, needless to say, having a hard time sleeping. I had finally just started to drift off to sleep when Ty kicked me in the face. Twice. Rapid-fire style. I wasn't at the peak of patience when I pushed his feet toward the end of the bed and shoved his head back onto his pillow. I had a nightlight on (Dan gets nervous sometimes) and so I could see Ty crack open one eye. "Love you, Mama." And then the snores returned. He may have been in a feverish stupor, but I couldn't help but smile.

October post-sickness was good. It was really good in fact. Still busy of course. We hosted more football, we started a small group Bible study with our church that meets at our house. I just can't say enough how much I l-o-v-e that group. It's been awesome to get to know some new people. Our church rules. What else? I threw another baby shower to show off the mastery of my creative diaper-caking once again. For your viewing pleasure:
Gracious, could I be close to finishing? October 31st. It started with Jake's last soccer game, where he closed out the season by scoring his most athletic and picture-perfect goal ever. He took the ball all the way down the field to the goal. It's ridiculous how proud it made me feel. Then we had a pizza party with his team where he got a soccer medal (one of his most prized possessions to date).

Then we changed into Halloween mode. What excitement! The build up to any holiday is a lot more fun with kids. We carved pumpkins and Jake actually threw up with his hand full of pumpkin guts. He took a big whiff and couldn't stop gagging, which ended poorly for my kitchen floor. Ty was up to his elbows in goo and couldn't get enough of it. Which also ended poorly for the floor, but I guess I did need to mop anyway. My Nascar driver and Spiderman on Halloween night, showing us the fastest route to the most candy (sorry, I didn't get a lot of great pix): Dan wanted to paste a sign on Jake's back that his costume was not dad-approved. Dan hates Nascar. "It's not a sport...you just drive around in circles. How athletic is turning left?" Anyway, Jake is and always has been obsessed with cars, and because my parents know some people involved with Nascar, they've encouraged the passion inside my son. I think, regardless of the "is Nascar a sport" debate, that they both looked awesome. They had a blast trick-or-treating in downtown Gresham and a little bit around our neighborhood. We had dinner at my sister's house, and just generally had a great day.

Oh my goodness sakes. I might be done. I've almost worked up a sweat here. I know it's the 7th of November, but I only promised October, people. Here's my pledge to you, and to myself, not to go months between posts. And here's a picture of Ty's actual face not covered by a mask. And because post-bathtime is when I love this child the most. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a nap.

Little of this, little of that

Sorry for those of you who've seen 28 different new blog templates. I think I've officially decided on this one. For now. I think. Like it?

Alright, where were we? September 15, okay. What has happened since September 15? It's funny, I'm completely thankful I haven't been in a baby/potty training toddler fog for a long time, but I feel like I'm starting a new fog. A Fall Fog if you will. A Furiously Fast Fall Fog. Does anyone else love alliteration as much as I? Maybe not. ANYway. Busy bees we are. Oh the urge to start alliterating again...

On the 19th the boys and I went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Dan was at the Huskies game in Seattle watching them beat USC which was certainly more entertaining for him than watching elephants stand on each other. But for the kids...oh, HEAVEN on earth. They just had the greatest time. And I had the greatest time too, because we went with friends who got hooked up with a suite at the Rose Garden. Our very own personal bathroom, which in itself is probably worth the cost of renting the suite for an entire year. Free popcorn and pop and a waitress who brought us our hearts desire for a small fee. Or a ridiculous fee, whatever. The fact that an Oscar Mayer wiener costs about as much as my grocery budget for the week didn't even phase me we were having so much fun. And since we didn't have to pay for anything else...bring it on Oscar.I "borrowed" some of these pictures from our friend Hannah who is an amazing photographer. Hopefully if I tell you how awesome she is she won't care that I stole her pictures off Facebook and didn't tell her. Now of course she didn't have her great camera and wasn't actually doing a photo shoot, so don't judge her on the fact that you can't clearly see the drops of drool coming out of Ty's mouth as he fell asleep on me 10 minutes before the show ended. If you live in the Portland area, and ever need some seriously incredible pictures, check out Hannah's website.

What else?

Ty started to stick his head under the trunk of the car as Dan was closing it the other day. Good thing he hadn't gotten his entire neck in there, because Dan doesn't do anything daintily. He's got a humongous goose egg on his scalp, but no broken skin, so we saved another trip to the ER. He's had goose eggs a-plenty, but I'm actually thankful for the terror in his eyes as the trunk bounced off his head and he burst into tears. Nothing like the good healthy fear of decapitation to make a mother proud. Or at least a little less worried that he'll be wearing a full body cast before age 4.

I know I've only covered 2 of the last 15 days, but this FFFF is really getting to me. I'll let you know if I remember anything else noteworthy. I'll just leave you this quote from yesterday.

While driving home from running errands, Ty states: "Hey Mama, that was pre-tty doggone awesome at the craft store."

I guess I really am depriving you of some amazing stories. Picking out ribbon for another diaper cake at the craft store. Epic. Oh, if Ty could only capture his adventures on his own blog. Now that would be a good read.

A creative title isn't happening for me

Two weeks between posts really isn't too bad, is it? Okay, sorry. It's September people...the storm right after the 3 month calm here at the Stump household. Dan's back at school teaching and coaching football and coming home thoroughly exhausted. Jake's back to preschool (for those of you who didn't see my Facebook status, he reminded me on his "first" day of preschool that it was not really his first day because he went to preschool last year. He's a professional preschooler. My bad.) But he's got a new teacher this year, and is in a class with his cuz Matt and friend Julia. He's loving every second of it. Except for the academic part, but we'll get there. Let's see, what else has been happening? Oh, I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I've been quite the little baby shower hostess lately. Actually, this last one I threw had nothing to do with the word little. (Not you, Kels, you know I'm not referring to you.) A few other ladies and I threw a shower at my house last Sunday after church for our pastor's wife Kelsey. And I never got the official count but I believe there were about 934 women in my living room at one point. This picture does not even show the standing room only in the kitchen. Y.I.K.E.S. But it was really a lot of fun, and since I had nothing to do with the food, it didn't stress me to the point of needing medication.
And I got to practice on my one and only creative baby shower decoration/gift, the diaper cake. Each one I've made makes me feel a little bit more like a crafty genius. I should have my own show on HGTV. Alright, diaper-caking is the limit of my creativity, and once again has been ripped off from someone else. Just let me have my moment, okay?
I love our church. Love our pastor, and LOVE his wife. And love the awesome friends that we've made at Gresham Bible. Goooooo, GBC! I also love this picture. Friend and fellow youth group leader Rachel on the left, and Kelsey on the right.

What else? Oh, Jake has started playing soccer this year. And soccer is pretty much the greatest thing a 5 year old boy with endless energy could possibly imagine. His coach goes to our church as well, and deserves lots and lots of crowns in heaven for his patience with my son and his 1 second attention span. Jake had a game last night and scored his first goal. It was kind of an accident, and he didn't even realize the ball had hit his foot and went through the goal until his entire cheering section started hooting and hollering. I've never been so proud...and neither had he once he realized what had happened. I don't really have a clever segue into the next topic, except for using the word segue which makes me feel pretty brilliant. Anyway, here's a few quotes I don't want to forget so I'm inserting them here:

I told Ty to find his shoes before we were about to go somewhere. I was around the corner and I heard him saying, "Where's my shoes? Where's my shoes? Where's my...OOOOH, here they are. I got them Mama. I got 'em. Don't worry, here they are." I come around the corner and he's staring at me, completely serious look on his face with Dan's size 12 shoes flopping around on his feet. It wasn't until I burst out laughing that a huge grin broke out on his face. 3 1/2 year old deadpan comic. Cracks me up.

Next quote happened when we were walking across the grocery store parking lot yesterday, and Jake pulls on my arm and starts dancing around grabbing his foot. We're in the middle of traffic that's waiting for us to cross, and I'm starting to get irritated and dragging him faster.
Me: "Jake, come on. We need to hurry up."
Jake: "Mom, wait, I'm having issues."

I also don't think I have a clever ending in me, so I'll just wrap things up by saying...life is good here at the Stump household. Busy, but good.

Except for a few moments here and there, we're pretty issue-free.

"Hey Mr. DJ...

...put a record on." Evidently I've decided to begin all my blog posts with song lyrics. And songs I don't even like. Oh well. The Mr. DJ I'm referring to is actually my very own personal DJ. Daniel John that is. He never did go by DJ, but I'm thinking it's about time. After all, he is 29. Today. Happy birthday Deej! Today is not only his birthday, it is also unfortunately his first day back to work after having the summer off. The unfortunately is for the back to work part, not the having the summer off part. Just clarifying.

I am so incredibly blessed to be married to this man. Let me brag about him for a few minutes. I love him. I love hanging out with him. I love discussing the past, present and future with him. I love parenting by his side. I love his high pitched laugh and the tears that roll down his face when he really gets going. I love watching him wrestle with our boys. I love how much Jake and Ty clearly adore him. I love that he is way more sensitive than people think. I love how watching a football game can ease all his sorrows. I love that he can do 12 sports-related things at one time, but that I know he'd drop all of them in a second if his family needed him to. I love that he is never afraid to speak up for what is right. I love that he is a faithful and encouraging friend.

I love that for all his manly man-ness his favorite thing in the world to do is cuddle with his boys. (Side note--Ty is a complete Mama's boy and usually only wants to be on my lap. Dan asked him to come cuddle with him earlier this summer and Ty replied, "No Dad, it's not Father's Day." So today, Dan's birthday, is one of 2 days we've convinced him are Daddy Cuddle Days. I'm quite sure it's not the birthday rib-eye Dan will be rushing home for at the end of the day today.)
But the thing I love the most about him is his love for God. As in most homes, the husband and father really does set the tone. Because Dan is focused not on himself, but on what God is calling him to do and to be, life is really good around here. I'm so proud of who God has made him. And so excited to see what the future holds for our family as we follow his lead.

Happy birthday, dude! I love you.

This, that and the other

Oops, I did it again. Please suppress the urge to sing the Brittany Spears song, that was not my intention. What did I do again? Neglect the blog. Sorry, blog. Instead of making excuses, I'll just post a few random pictures and call it good. Is that okay? Anyone care? Anyone still actually check this blog for updates? Well, this is for both of you, then.

Here's what happens when Ty sits in the front of the shopping cart next to my purse. Well, first of all he found the camera which I'm pretty sure was still in there from my reunion a few weeks ago. No photos of that, sorry to say. Or happy to say...whatever. Anyway, I turned around after picking out some broccoli and this is what I see:

And this is what happens after I snap a picture of Ty. No child left behind (left out?), that's my motto.

And no mother left out, that's Ty's motto. Yes, Ty did take this photo and I didn't crop it. Not bad for a 3 year old, huh? Then again he clearly has an experienced model in front of the lens.

And this is what happens when fall approaches: I hand our house over to 10 well-prepared men and their laptops and football season can officially begin. Fantasy Football Draft Day. Yes, it is capitalized in this house. If it were up to Dan, this would be a national holiday. You have to know that Dan was downright giddy from sunrise to sunset (and well into the night.) I've never seen him more excited about any given day, and that includes his own birthday, Christmas, and possibly even snow days when school is cancelled. If you're a teacher (or a student for that matter) you can appreciate the magnitude of this statement. Yes, that piece of paper is the entire length of my dining room. And yes, it is still there and will remain so until I can convince Dan that the pictures of our children should go back in its place.

I sincerely hope this update leaves you satisfied. And I sincerely wouldn't blame you if you've given up on me completely. Until next month, er, next time.

Jake-amus Prime

WHEW. Deep breath. Party's over. Even though Jake turned 5 on Monday (August 3rd), his official Transformers birthday party was last night, and I woke up this morning with the reality that my first born is 5. FIVE. Five years ago I was home with a tiny 6 lb 7 ounce baby feeling overly emotional but knowing that this little boy was going to change my life forever. And indeed he has. Jacob Gary has been my delight. He slept through the night at 2 months old and never looked back. He is just an easy-going kid. He has always been a people person, and yet loves to play independently (and now with his brother of course.) He is the funniest little dude. The other day he was telling my mom a story and was using his fingers to show where everyone was at the time. "So here's Ty, (pointer finger) and here's Mom..." but then he looked up after a minute and said, "but Gram, these are actually just my fingers." OH. Good clarification, thanks.

He has always had a love for cars, and still does, but recently he's gotten into "good guys vs. bad guys" or more specifically Autobots vs. Decepticons. He will stand in front of the TV with anything he can make into a weapon (like the remote control) and fight the bad guys, jumping and turning and shooting. The animated Transformers TV shows are his favorite, but he also loves to watch Prince Caspian and will fast forward through the whole thing until the end battle scene. Is he all boy or what?

I'm so looking forward to watching him play soccer this year, and having him in preschool for one more year before he rides away on the school bus. I'm also looking forward to finding out if he'll broaden his horizons at lunch time past a PB&J or mac'n'cheese. I love how expressive he is, and how the sheer joy on his face can brighten any mood I'm in. I also don't think anyone loves his brother more than Jake, and that he will share even the most treasured toys with Ty more often than not.

I love that he will still come and sit on my lap and tell me he loves me at random times. I love that he says please and thank you and gives out compliments freely. I got my hair cut the other day and I walked in to the house and he came running down the stairs yelling, "MAMA!" and when he saw my new cut he said, "Oooo, Mama, you're hair looks studly!" I've never had a better compliment than studly hair, thanks baby.


Happy 5th birthday. I will love you forever, Jake-amus Prime. Thanks for changing my life in the best of ways.

Cali part 2

Okay, after we kissed and hugged and refrained from beating the living daylights out of Ty, (you must read the last blog if you haven't yet) we went to Curtis and Jane's church, then off to San Francisco to see the sights. What a fabulous city! We had such a great time (after I got carsick on the way and threw up in Jane's Taco Bell cup and chewed on some of Ty's Dramamine). We saw the sea lions at Pier 39 and took pictures of Alcatraz and I got some new sunglasses that didn't have a scratch down the middle of the left eye. You can tell that didn't bother me for 11+ hours the day before. Then we had some ridiculous chocolate sundae's in Ghirardelli Square, holy delicious.After San Francisco we went back to Jane and Curtis' place where they had a surprise waiting. They found a Power Wheels truck at a garage sale for $5 (for real) and after getting a new battery for it, it became Jake's favorite part of the trip. He drove that thing around the parking lot, up on the sidewalks surrounding their condo, he drove it to the pool when they got to go swimming, and wanted to drive it home to Oregon. Jane's "big pool" aka not our kiddie pool that fills to about the boys shins, was pretty awesome with the new water wings I bought them. Talk about the highlight of Ty's existence. Jake loves the water too, but Ty is part marine wildlife, I'm quite sure of it. The next day started out with me being sure Ty was officially in our room, in the flesh, and then packing up to leave for the beach. Just outside Monterey is an adorable little community called Pajero Dunes, and it was simply the greatest. This house was RIGHT on the ocean, and had the most luxuriously comfy bed I've ever slept in. I'm thinking the sheets may have cost more than our mortgage payment. We got to put the kids to bed and stay up late playing games with Jane and Curtis, and it was really the best. Have I mentioned the fact that I love my in-laws? Sisters, brother, mother, father. Every last one of them is just wonderful. It was only about every other sentence that we tried to get Jane and Curtis to move to Gresham. One more picture of my cuter than cute niece. She'd just gotten her two little ponytails taken out before she fell asleep. Don't you just want to squeeze her? This vacation within our vacation was really wonderful. We even saw a sea lion on the beach, just feet away from us. And roasted marshmallows in the fire pit right outside their beach house. And the kids and Dan and "Uncle Curti" jumped the frigid waves and came back with teeth chattering. It is still the West Coast, people, let's be honest.
Another little Ty special happened when I found him out on the front porch of the house, peeing through the very narrow slats on the deck, the spray dangerously close to the walking path between houses. Shorts pulled down to his ankles, the contrast between his tan lower back and stark white nakedness was pretty doggone amusing. Just how many times have I scolded that child while trying to hold back a smile?

When we came home from the beach, Dan's other sisters Becca and Jenny and Becca's boyfriend Jared were waiting for us, and soon Gram and Pops Stump arrived. The whole Stump family together. I could just feel the love bursting out of my mother-in-law Ann. We had an early birthday celebration for Jake and baby Bec (don't you worry, I'm not forgetting about Jake's bday blog, his party is on the 6th so I'm waiting for pictures). And then we went to check into another hotel to get some good sleep before going to Great America the next day.

Too bad good sleep was not going to happen at this hotel. First of all, we were checking in at around 9pm, an hour past the kids bedtime. They were running on fumes, as were we. Of course they didn't actually have the room with 2 queen beds that we had reserved (have you ever seen that Seinfeld..."I know why we have reservations." "I don't think you do. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to HOLD the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.") Anyway, very long story we ended up with a king bed and a couch that had a pull-out bed which was about the size of one of my legs, but both kids ended up sleeping on it after waiting for them to bring us some sheets and blankets. Again, very long story of us hearing our next door neighbors yelling at their crying child and having the crying child bang against the walls and their door. It was not terribly soothing, but ended eventually.

What you're really waiting for is this: GREAT AMERICA. Ann and John watched the kids while us adult kids got to go to the park. Do you know when the last time was that I went on a roller coaster? Long long ago. I realized that as we were hanging upside down on the Invertigo. Listen to the blurb they write about it:

Invertigo: Face fear - and your friends, as you race through loops and boomerangs, and then back again! First you're pulled up 138 feet above the ground. Then, speed down the lift, and shoot up into a "boomerang," a 180-degree turn with double inverted side-winders. Exploding out of the boomerang, head into a 72-foot-high vertical loop before rocketing to the top of the second 138-foot lift. You'll have just enough time to catch your breath before you do the whole thing again in the opposite direction.

They also didn't mention that if you face your brother in-law-Curtis, you just may get spit on as he's dangling above you. Did I mention he's a youth pastor? The always-gonna-think-spitting-in-people's-faces-is-funny type of guy. You just have to love him.

Great America was awesome. The longest wait we had was about 10 minutes and it was to ride Psycho Mouse which was...well look at the title folks. Because we went on so many coasters in so little time, we decided to cut out early and head back to San Fran for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the top of Macy's in Union Square. Good decision. Mmmmmm. And they were even celebrating national cheesecake eating day or something like that, so the slices of cheesecake were half off. Mmmmmm. Snickers Cheesecake. I'm actually starting to salivate thinking about how delicious it was.

The next morning it was time for us to head home. So I'll wrap it up. We made it home. Utterly exhausted. But completely happy. There, was that to the point or what?

Thank you Curtis and Jane! Crazy stories included, we really could not have had a better vacation. In fact, if it didn't have crazy stories, it wouldn't truly have been a Stump Family Adventure. We'll do it again soon, I promise!