Far Behind

Is summer really over?? can it be? What will it be like now that we arent suffering from heat and smoke? oh wait, we still have the smoke and the afternoons are mid 70s-80's. yes, this is really how our Fall begins.

The summer came and went and will be forever etched in my mind. pictures and happy times were not plentiful but we tried to enjoy the moments of the summer that we did spend together and enjoyed watching our children grow.

Gabriele has turned the corner on his baby days and now is turning into a little dude. He has a budding vocabulary, knows how to flush and pee, throws tantrums and balls and loves to make us all laugh. He was nothing like he was in July and in a way I miss that so much. Things will be fun and we look forward to all the adventures that come along with a little little boy.

Francesca is also turning some corners. It seems that every half way mark in age allows her to be human again. The f-ing fours made us wonder what had happened to our daughter and how we could give her back to the aliens. Now that she is four and a half she can be reasoned with and is agreeable. really...All the changes from this summer have taken a toll on her but she seems to have come around again. She scored her first goal in soccer and has been doing great creating and drawing and writing. I guess that the 4's  can be fun!

Lou was in AK with his father fishing this month and hijacked the camera. no recent pictures but here are a few that got left behind. I'll start taking pictures again this week and get everyone updated!

Shifting the Sun

A poem by Diana Der-Hovanessian courtesy of Alicia Stickney

When your father dies, say the Irish,

you lose your umbrella against bad weather.

May his sun be your light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Welsh,

you sink a foot deeper into the earth.

May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Canadians,

you run out of excuses.

May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Native Americans,

he comes back as the thunder

May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the British,

you join his club you vowed you wouldn't.

May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Armenians,

your sun shifts forever

and you walk in his light.

Missing you dad, but looking forward to shifting the sun and inheriting your light.

Jon van den Steen Arthur June 27, 1943-August 16, 2012

(sorry all I have on my computer is a silly picture, but its nice to remember him as being this way)

more pictures

these were left behind but post worthy...

see, murf did have fun. He is hunting chipmunks which are much more cunning than our squirrels at home

a watch pot never boils...

Big Boy Seat

camping dance

"on top of my pasta, all covered with cheese..." you get it, right?

peek-a-boo with tree

tree picture, again

"oh man, I love to get covered in sap!"

Shooting star- the wildflowers were beautiful

Moving on

The last post seems like a season ago. Our lives have changed that much in a month. You never know how life will surprise you and take the normal away.it just happened. Everything is different and I have no idea what normal is anymore, or at least my normal is gone. My dad, Jon, is sick. He had a heart attack June 13th and he is still in the hospital. He had a triple bypass procedure to fix his heart and today the dr put a pacemaker in today. Dad is doing better, slowly. Everyday there is a surprise or an event. No more simple and it makes me hold my breath. I went there, Tacoma WA, for 12 days. Gabe went with me.

I came home on a wednesday and by Saturday Gabe came down with hand foot and mouth disease. For the next weeks I stayed home with a sick baby. At the end of the week we've had enough and needed a break. Everyone was healthy and it was safe to rest.

<<SORRY BUT I HAD TROUBLE EDITING THE PICTURES AND SOME ARE DOUBLED OR OUT OF ORDER>>



"Youre not going to eat that, are you??"

"You did it, you put it in your mouth..."



House make over



We took the family to Branham Lake in the mountains outside of sheridan, mt. It was everything that we needed to recall rate and function again-the alpine lake, wildflowers, fish jumping, sleeping on the earth and being together without any distractions.



Tree lover 1





Tree lover 2




So happy to be camping!!



"Hello-this is me, is this you?"



Happy to be outside



'milo' and Gabe are forming a nice sleep bond-finally!




Then we came home and the next day I got a call that my dads heart stopped and we were all on a plane again to see dad. When we got there, they were able to get him back. Another successful procedure towards having dad back-another chance for Jon. Gabe turned 1 while we were visiting and we got to have my dad see him on his birthday and took him to the zoo. All of our plans were out the window but we did get to enjoy a simple day together celebrating life and a great start to a little boys life.

 



We made it through the first year!!

 

Happy Birthday To You!

 


More cake




Not interested in the cake-interested in the implement



finally having some cake

Cousins




Gabe with Papa Don



checking each other out




Frannie with Papa Don




Brave Girl





Beach time with Cousins


  

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up-up-up Gabe likes to be UP on things!



just

Life lately has been about life-no plans just doing and going about the days. We've had snow, rain/hail/thunderstorms, sunny days and grey days. It seemed best to go about them casually and see what happens.

Memorial Day was spent, you guess it, at home. simple. no plans, no stress no goals. We got the house in order and put the chicks out in the coop. We are having the house painted (finally) and that is taking a lot of our time and money but needs to be done if we ever want to move. We also are trying to get Gabe to sleep all night. I know-bad Mom-but there have been conditions that were out of my control that dictated his sleep and I just went along with his needs to survive. Now, 10 months later and not surviving so well, Lou and I are trying to get our sleep back. It isnt working so well yet but we are trying...Frannie was a lot better at sleeping and teething and drinking from a bottle than this little guy but he sure is sweet and happy!

Frannie is a big kid! Her mind and body have made the leap from baby-toddler-preschooler-big kid! She is so creative and imaginative and funny. Four is the hardest age for her so far but the most explosive. We are reading to her for the second time The Trumpet of the Swan by EB WHITE and she stopped the reading to tell me that Louis cant talk b/c he came out of his egg too early...see exploding! Her mind and body are growing and developing so much right now that I cant take it all in. I went in the play room the other morning and saw this on the white board.

When I asked Frannie about, I expected an elaborate story about how the house faiery did it but she said that she did it and that it was a spider with egg sacs. she said that you can tell that it is a spider and not a jelly fish b/c it has eight legs!! My heart exploded with pride-my four year old knows that a spider has 8 eight legs!! I guess we need to keep the new info coming and take advantage of this learning period. Sorry Gabe, you'll just have to run around the house naked some more.

Gabe has this top teeth in now and is eating up a storm. He also runs around with his walker and goes up stairs, opens doors and gets into everything, flushes the toilet, screams and throws balls, etc...how will I manage once he turns 1? I need to start getting some sleep or it is the end of me...boys!