Ezra finished reading his first 20 books – that we kept track of – yesterday! Now he and his dad are going to go to Exodus Books on Saturday to order his very first Bible. He will be 6 in September. Congratulations Ezra!

Phinehas, 11 months old, enjoyed sitting on the grass eating cheerios (of course) and snack handouts from other spectators. Where? Ezra’s first t-ball game, Wednesday night. Fun facts about Phinehas: when he wants my attention he crawls over and leans his head into my shins until I pick him up. He has also acquired the skills clapping and waving which he usually demonstrates in sequence.

In the dugout:

At bat. The game is played disappointingly free of outs. If, miraculously, the ball beats the batter to first base – they tag him – then let him keep running. Michael was rather irritated to hear that, and I have to say, it makes the game even more boring to watch than it would otherwise be.. ahem.

Ah, spring.

Ezra was thrilled with his new ensemble. And after the game there were snacks and drinks: what more could he desire?

Judah had an odd stomach ailment, with a tummy-ache Friday and Saturday, and actual vomiting on Saturday. Even at the worst though, he just seemed to feel kind of low, never miserable, but the upshot was that our busy Sunday, including hosting a large church group (Parish) at our house Sunday afternoon, was torpedoed. Instead we tag-teamed church (Michael took Ezra and Monica to Sunday School at 9:30 AM, then raced back between SS and the service and I attended the 11:00 service with the two kids). As a result, our day was unexpectedly low-key and restful: since Phinehas was at home with Daddy, and Monica went to the nursery during church, I was able to listen to (almost) THE ENTIRE SERMON uninterrupted!

***** Monica came and asked me to read “Sam-I-Sam” (Green Eggs and Ham),which I did, then I realized that Phinehas needed his morning diaper change, so I did that too. Then Monica wanted breakfast.. ***

After church, since I didn’t have a fussy tired baby, and since the kids occupied themselves, I actually stayed in the fellowship hall after the meal for longer than usual.

*** Monica was done with breakfast and I went and got her down from her highchair***

When we got home, Phinehas had just woken up for a nap, and Monica went down for  brief one before Michael took Ezra and Monica, again, to the Parish meeting, which had been relocated to a different house. That left me home with Phinehas (who was VERY happy to have me back) and Judah (who was feeling pretty good). Judah played the Wii for a while, then the three of us went for a leisurely walk in the spring sunshine.

 I even got some scrapbooking done! It’s was supposed to be my tax season project, you see, and since there was only one day of tax season left, I thought perhaps I should at least try it one time! Judah got inspired by my project and begged me to let him take pictures, so he wandered around the house and took 40-some pictures that he then wanted to print out. We came to an acceptable compromise on how many pages he could print out (3 – plain paper, not photo paper), and he got some practice in weeding out photos and making decisions on the sizes and number to print, all good mental tasks.

My other people came home after 6:00, and Michael played ping-pong on the Wii with the boys for a little while, and I made myself an omelette with sauteed mushrooms, kalamata olives, gouda, and garlic-herb brie. Before we knew it, it was 8:00 – bedtime for the kids! Of course, they don’t go to bed all by themselves, and it was closer to 8:30 by the time they were actually all disposed of. When the house was (mostly) quiet, Michael and I played Angry Birds on our phones in bed and visited for a pleasant, long while. 

*** Monica needed bathroom assistance, and Judah is coming up and down and telling me which toys he wants to get rid of, and I am telling him which toys he actually still plays with and may not get rid of, and he is going down and coming up again to tell  me about other toys he wants to get rid of and how he wants to renovate his room and move shelves around. He’s just supposed to be cleaning his room, not moving furniture around, of course… then Ezra has questions about how to make his bed****

Anyhooo…. I wouldn’t want to have sick children every Sunday of course, but it certainly is a nice break in the routine, from time to time! Especially when the children are not very sick and are merely being kept home to keep from infecting others, if indeed it was an infectious illness in the first place, and it’s a beautiful day fit for afternoon walks! So, hurrah for the occasional sick Sunday!

Yesterday we had doctor’s appointments for Ezra and Phinehas, with flu shots for us all (except Phinehas). My mom always likes to know how much the babies weigh, so I figured I’d just post their percentiles here for all to see, in case anyone else is interested as well!

Ezra, 5 year Well-Child Check (Taller than average and solid)

• Height: 3 feet 8.5 inches, 76.35 percentile
• Weight: 49 pounds, 12 ounces, 90.90 percentile 

Phinehas, 5 month Well-Child Check (Very long and moderately heavy with a tiny  head)

• Height: 2 feet, 4 inches, (off the charts at 96.86 percentile)
• Weight: 17 pounds 6.5 ounces, 65.27 percentile
• Head Circumference 16.73 inches, 2822 percentile

With every one of my babies I have been anxious to have them start moving. “Come on! Roll over! You can do it!” I say. Many of them have teased me, moving to the point of having shifted their gravity over to the side – then changing their minds at the last moment and flopping back on to their tummy or their back and looking a little alarmed at what they almost did. Phinehas is no different. He rolled over from his tummy to his back at 2 weeks old and did it off and on again for at least a month after that. Then stopped. Hasn’t done it since. I’ve decided that it’s because he prefers being on his tummy. Why roll over when where you’re going is not as good as where you are? But yesterday he rolled the opposite direction – from his back, to the preferred tummy posion – looking a little surprised – and I rejoiced! Even though now I have to keep an eye on him more closely for… oh, the next 2 or 3 years.

I haven’t been posting much lately, and I blame it on Facebook. It is simply too easy to post all I really have to say in 1-2 sentences on Facebook, thus getting off my chest whatever I feel I need to share with the online world! Plus, as a mother to 4, 6 and under, having recently added a small baby to my already busy life, I find that I just don’t have as many consecutive minutes to post thoughts, deep or otherwise on my blog. So here’s what’s been going on in our lives since my most recent post, courtesy of Facebook: 

Elaine Emily Lortz…

….needs another day of rest. 8/9/2010

….Because I had dough and chicken I thought it’d be fun to bake a garlic chicken pizza on the grill on my pizza stone. Discovered that I was out of dried basil, the pizza fell apart as I tried to slide it off the pizza peel, the crust got burned, and the pizza stone cracked. Other than that, it was great. 8/8/2010

 

….feels like the widow of Zarapheth this morning – I used up nearly all of my flour, shortening, and plastic wrap(!) to make a couple of pie shells! 8/3/2010

….decided to go to Honeycomb Kids tomorrow, but doesn’t have bread to make sandwiches for the picnic lunch. So I’m making some. I just mixed it up, but won’t bake it ’til it starts to cool tonight…7/29/2010

….Swimming lessons, reading with Ezra, picked obvious garbage in storeroom and collapsed boxes. Some dishes. Making progress, but now it’s time for iced coffee and a break! 7/26/2010

….why do my blog posts take so long to be imported to Facebook? 7/22/2010

….Picked 7.5 pounds of raspberries with my four kiddos today. 7.5 weeks postpartum. Woo-hoo! 7/21/2010

….decided yesterday to do swim lessons for both boys. Starting today. Aaaahhh! 7/20/2010

….Little Phinehas got his first cold last night. So pitiful. 7/19/2010

….is looking up pork loin fillets on the internet for cooking ideas… 7/13/2010

….just got home from a trip to Tri-Cities to attend Samuel Lewis Casbon and Valerie M Casbon ‘s wedding! The food was fabulous, and it’s such fun to see people dance who actually know how! So thankful to have been able to be there! 7/11/2010

In more recent news: tonight I fried onion rings for the first time ever. Discovered that thicker batter, rather than making thick, crispy onion rings, makes soft doughy onion rings.  So keep it thin, and it’s pretty delicious. Though it makes a terrible mess and is of course, extremely unhealthy. Well, nothing’s perfect!

Also, son #2, Ezra, is at his Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a few days. They came down for the weekend and took him home with them on Sunday. Tomorrow I’ll drive up and meet my mom halfway at Maryhill Museum to get him back. Judah especially will be pleased to have him back, I think. And my mental arithmatic will be back to normal… it messes me up a little to only have to account for 3 kids!

And last but not least, tonight I mopped my kitchen/dining room floor!!! Hooray! Let’s not try to guess how long it’s been since I did that last, shall we?…

It’s hard to think of Ezra without describing him largely in contrasts to Judah. Their personality differences are as drastic as their physical differences. Judah is very loud; Ezra not so much. Judah is very intense: Ezra not so much. Judah is easily scolded; Ezra not so much. Judah is inclined to hysterics; Ezra not so much. Judah loves to play board/card games; Ezra just watches. They are still best playmates, however. Especially in outdoor activities, Ezra seems follow Judah’s lead, and they enjoy their dirt/mud pit in the backyard (running water in it to make it a river, building dams, digging deaper, etc), riding their bikes up and down our road, and discovering treasures on our hillside. Although Judah loves to be a big brother to Monica, Ezra is more specifically her playmate. Ezra doesn’t like to play most board or card games. While Judah will play them and be heartbroken when he loses (but want to play again), Ezra merely decides not to play if he probably won’t win. He likes to watch Judah play board games himself (with a running commentary, of course) and also to watch Judah draw battles. Lately he has started drawing more himself, as well – also battles, with little stick figures with shields and stairstepped battlefields – with airplanes and helicoptors flying overhead.

In the last month or so, Ezra surprised me by deciding that he wanted to learn how to read! He started asking me if we could “read words” together, and I was pleased to discover that he’s actually pretty good at blending sounds together. He only needs to read a word a few times before he starts to recognize it. And the motivation to do this is largely coming from him. He was quite put out with me last week on Thursday when I forgot to do his reading with him. Part of the problem was that I did school with Judah, and made sure to have a book-reading time with Monica, but spaced his reading lesson until too late – so he felt left out, poor guy. But he was also disappointed when I told him that we were on break from school this week – and relieved when I told him we could still do reading together if he wanted to.(which we did this morning) Such a strange child! Speaking of strange, the other day he asked me if he could eat something. Feeling lazier even than usual, I offered to let him eat some of his own candy, which he can get down by himself. That didn’t serve so I offered chips (which we don’t normally have around, but did that day, easily accessible and usually appealing!). He came back to me a few minutes later and said, “Mom, can I have something to eat other than candy or chips?” I stared at him in disbelief and falteringly offered… an apple? “Yeah!” And I did then actually get up and cut it up for him – some requests are hard to ignore!

Every year at Christmas time I struggle to write a Christmas letter that describes our whole year – generally I have a hard time remembering past the previous month or so, let alone what happened in the last 12. I thought I’d help myself out by writing a mini-Christmas letter NOW in May, so that I will at least remember, if not include the first half of the year!

Michael – Busy, but not overwhelmed. The first three months of our year generally can best be described by “Tax Season,” an evocative term for those who’ve worked in the public accounting industry, though most other people think of it as an annoying few hours they have to spend preparing their tax returns or taking their taxes to be prepared before the April 15 deadline. I am pleased to report that this year’s Tax Season was our best one yet! Michael didn’t work nearly as many hours as in some previous years, and was able to maintain a somewhat family-friendly schedule through 2/3rds of the season. He celebrated April 16 (a mandatory holiday in CPA land) by taking the boys to a morning dress rehearsal of the Oregon Symphony – to my surprise, they stayed for the entire 2.5 hours. Amazing! Since then he’s been catching up on his volunteer activities, reconnecting with his tennis-playing friends and making important career decisions. Don’t worry, he’s not neglecting me – the bigger I grow (with child) the more help he’s been, doing dishes, watching the kids so I can rest, running errands, cleaning house and not complaining as dinner gets progressively later and later every day, and the laundry returns again clean more in terms of weeks than days, it seems. For Mother’s Day he and the boys washed my van, (yay) and gave me Sees chocolates.

Elly – Pregnant and starting to not love it so much. Yes, indeed. I am at this current moment, over 8.5 months pregnant, with the count ’til my due date down into days (10), rather than weeks. Naturally I am hoping that the baby decides to make his appearance sooner rather than later. Not so much for my sake (though it’s getting that way) but because we still want to go to Family Camp, which is about 3 weeks after my due date, and naturally, having the baby 2 weeks before would be less than ideal (3 weeks  is pushing it as it is).  Other than growing progressively larger, I’ve been making progressively more bread in my spiffy new Bosch mixer, which I love, and which can make 6 loaves of bread at a time. I still haven’t found the perfect mostly whole wheat bread recipe, but nobody seems to object to my practicing a lot!

I was going to do a whole family update, but if I wait to finish it to post it, I might never finish it, so maybe I’ll do a bit by bit approach and write more tomorrow – or the next day. Have a good week everyone!

It’s a season of change around here. Aside from Tax Season being over, a big change and adjustment in and of itself, we’re also seeing lots of little milestones in our kids  lives the past week or so:

• Judah  has finished reading the 20 books we set as his goal for him to get his own Bible. (An Army bible, he would be quick to tell you with his name and a cross on it)
• Ezra’s starting to learn how to read. His progress has really surprised me – he seems to have his father’s excellent memory. Because he remembers the words he’s read on site, he doesn’t get as much practice blending as maybe he should, but does seem to be able to blend short words together surprisingly well.
• Both boys moved downstairs last week into Rosanne’s old room.
• Monica has been potty-training since last Friday and is doing very well – much to the whole family’s delight! (the boys are almost as enthused as I am and take great joy in encouraging the process) She’s 23 months old.
• Last night Monica moved out of her crib into the bottom bunk in the boys’ old room. She was gung ho for the change, then changed her mind last minute, but was eventually convinced to stay in her new bed and slept pretty well all night.
• Judah’s two bottom front teeth are loose.
• Last night Michael took the boys on a REALLY long walk after dinner, and Ezra kept up the whole time – he’s definitely outgrown his baby chub and turning into a sturdy little boy.

All my babies are growing up! It’s a good thing I’m due with our third little boy in 4 weeks, or I’d be inclined to feel rather sentimental about all this!

We made it home from Tri-Cities today with no (as a gentleman at church put it) “unauthorized stops in Rufus [Oregon].” This is referring of course to the last time I drove home from Tri-Cities all by myself with three small children in the car – when my tire blew just past the John Day Dam. Anyway, I am pleased to report that there were no disasters of any sort, our trip was relatively quick, and entirely uneventful! It was rainy the whole way, but only worrisome in the Cascade Locks area, where there were largish puddles on the road and lower visibility.  You’re almost guaranteed rain in Cascade Locks – I feel sorry for the poor residents!

I spent one day with my friend Meghan. The boys had a ball playing with her boys, as usual, and Monica was quite delighted to be able to spend time with Meghan’s baby boy, Fox.

Simply delighted

The boys had a good time playing with the scooters Grandma and Grandpa got for visiting grandchildren. Monica even got in on the action. Judah is a good big brother!

And, in spite of my sister-in-law’s illness, we were able to see my niece and nephews on Thursday night. My sister KD has been turning out mittens, hats and booties by the bucketful in the past 3 days, and she produced this cute hat, as sported by my youngest nephew, Thane.

Thane was largely unimpressed, but that’s what one expects from a boy. Especially a 4 month old boy!

My friend Mystie finally had her baby boy Thursday night, to my delight (more to hers, I’m sure). He was 10 days late and I didn’t think I’d be able to see him at all, but he finally made his appearance last night so we stopped for a showing this morning on our way out of town. He’s a cutie!

It was a good week! But it’s very nice to be home and to see my husband – it’s his birthday today after all!

*Note: these are movies I saw for the first time in 2009, not that necessarily came out in 2009.

In no particular order:

• SlumDog Millionaire – an almost-fairy-tale set in India. The Brother’s Grim kind of fairy tale where eyes are gouged out and innocents are used and abused. Not for children. But uplifting and mind-opening nonetheless.
• Up – a poignant children’s movie. Makes one a little misty sometimes, but provides food for thought. And the kids liked it.
• Monsters Inc. – this is an old one that came out after I stopped watching kids movies with my family and before I had kids of my own. Cute and fun and the little girl “Boo” looked kind of like Monica in pigtails.
• Grand Turino – Not for children. An insane amount of language, brutality, violence.  But a good redemption through self-sacrifice story. Our pastor recommended it (with cautions).
• Julie and Julia – Mmmmm. Makes me want to cook. Reminds me again of what an incredible actress Meryl Streep is. Fun to see Amy Adams again, too.
• StarTrek – So I’m a Star Trek nerd. We all know that. But lots of other people liked this one, too!
• Duplicity – fun. I love Julia Roberts. It was a fairly clever heist movie.
• Night at the Museum – another old one I hadn’t seen. Lots of fun and familiar actors (Dick VanDyke, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson)
• In Good Company – enjoyable. The predicament of a middle-aged manager, whose wife is unexpectedly pregnant, suddenly finding himself with a 27 year old boss – who falls for his daughter – well, it’s funny and poignant.  
• The Nanny Diaries – an antidote to wishing you were a fabulously wealthy New York aristocratic type. A window into another world.

Movies I saw that didn’t meet my expectations:

• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – too lewd. So over the top that one felt guilty enjoying it – possibly a good portrayal of the emptiness of the theoretically perfect free and single life. (wouldn’t know – never experienced it!)
• District 9 – OK, but why?

Movies I saw and DID NOT like:

• What Happens in Vegas – the way to build a successful marriage is to do what you want to do without regard to what your spouse wants. No wonder marriage is in such a sad state in America.

There should be more on the previous list, but I can’t remember them right now.

And finally, movies that I like to watch from time to time, not necessarily every year:

• White Christmas
• Star Trek IV (the one with the whales)
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Hitch
• Stranger than Fiction
• The original Star Wars trilogy
• The Mask of Zorro
• Jane Austen flicks, especially BBCs Pride and Prejudice and Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility.

I haven’t had much luck yet with having my kids listen to tapes in lieu of read-alouds. They just seem to tune them out. I’ve gotten Redwall, Little House in the Big Woods and others out of the library on cassette tapes (yes, we still own a couple of old-fashioned tape players – Thanks Mom!) and put them on when they go to bed or while we’re on long car trips. But they don’t respond to the stories at all. They don’t talk about them later, or theorize about what-might-have-happened-if, etc. like they do about the books I read to them.  It’s been rather disappointing.

But!! The other day I got The House At Pooh Corner out and they love it!  What seems to have delighted them the most however, is Pooh’s first poem in the book. After bed the other night, I heard peels of giggles coming from their room at intervals and this is why:

The more it

SNOWS-tiddley-pom

The more it

GOES-tiddely-pom

The more it

GOES-tiddely-pom

On

Snowing.

And nobody

KNOWS-tiddely-pom,

How cold my

TOES-tiddely-pom

How cold my

TOES-tiddely-pom

Are

Growing.

To me, it’s just a pleasant, short, simple poem – only really funny because of Pooh and Piglet’s interaction regarding it. But not the boys: they try to recite it themselves, and always ask for the side that has “the funny part” on it. For some inexplicable reason, A.A. Milne really hit their funny bone with this one! Go Figure.