Still in the past.....

I am trying not to overwhelm you all with a mass of postings, I just really need to catch up.

We attended a birthday party in June where T got to play "What time is it Mrs. Fox?". The silly chickens ask the question and then take steps foward until the answer is "It's Dinner time!" where they then run away trying to not get tagged by the fox. T in the green dress is completely airborn (pretty normal actually).


N had a car that he worked on in a car show downtown and our friends K and E joined us. I think many of these shots capture the depth and structure of their relationship;)

I love this pic of the three of them!




T is really into holding hands which is great because L is really into not ever holding hands. (He is definately establishing his independence.)

I couldn't get them to look at the same time!

A day at our neighborhood park.

I am starting a club that will be called the EX-PC's (exhausted parents club). Membership is open to anyone who is exhausted (parents or non-parents). We will be meeting once a week at Catalyst coffee for some much needed caffiene and socialization.

I often get completely overwhelmed with the position of parent and I am sure that I am not alone. My life is further complicated by the lack of husband job stability and therefore income, having a health condition that makes any amount of energy difficult to achieve, and a whole slew of things. I know every parent has their own set of issues to overcome and there is no reason or need to search for equality in difficulty. Sometimes I observe other at home moms with expendable incomes and no comprehension of living with less. They tend to have more oportunities for alone time without the kids, which is vital to any parent trying to stay sane! Babysitters, Nannies, Double Jogging strollers, Trips and vacations, Gym memberships with childcare, and gas monies and cars for driving to and from activities. None-the-less they have a hard time squeezing in moments of solitude or adult conversations without interuption. Most certainly even these items that might be affordable carry with them the guilt that they are not with their children constantly. Any parent that is able to exist outside of the home for a minimum of an hour day, regardless of activity, will be refreshed with a new found sense of enjoyment out of their children. I am trying to remember this as I try to figure out what it is today that I want to do to refresh. Here I am at home and writing alone. This rare moment of quiet allows me to think and to reflect. Here is what I know: Women are amazing! Mothers are incredible! As a society we tend to underestimate and undervalue the job of giving birth and raising children. Finnally there is little real (non-judgmental, open, free, accepting, loving) support for mothers. Mothers are the greatest activists in the world and have the least amount of energy, time, and resources. This is why I am constantly amazed by the moms I know! I just have to remember to let their acomplishments serve to inspire not as something to judge myself by.

Lastly the greatest single feat a human can perform occured yesterday morning as K gave birth to a healthy baby girl! Once again I am amazed and inspired by her experience. Congratulations!

So they were giants!

I have been a bad little blogger and have missed some great photo sharing, fun having, events. We went to the Denver Art museum with our friend K and her friend M and had a spectacular time. I was truly surprised by the numerous activities there were for kids. This is definately a place that you have to visit more than once. Our original intent was a fun family outing while gathering data for a class project that I had due in a few weeks.

Of course Daddy had to get a little kid throwing in. L is not quite the acrobat that little T is but he is still so much lighter than she is.
We meant to go back this summer and I am bummed that I missed the quilt exhibit but there are just so many fun things to do around here (without spending gas money).

Some of you might remember Kimber and Mikes dog Strider (yes a name from Lord of the Rings). He happened to get sick about a week ago and it was discovered that he had a couple of large cancerous masses. He is such a cool dog and at only 4 years old we are hoping for the best for him.

Here's lookin' at you pup!

No Bears.

Our Red Feather Camping Trip


In June we headed up to Red Feather for a vacation. Thanks to cousin Scott we were able to locate a beautiful area in which to refresh our parched souls. It was soooo quiet and peaceful and we were happy to unleash our horde of wildness into the wilderness. We were hours from civilization and miles from any other human being. While mom's desire to see a bear up close and personal was not met, Dad was able to achieve a long time goal of pooping in the woods. Even daughter had previously met this acomplishment but for Dad this was a first time experience to not be near a structure designed for waste removal. (Sorry Dad but I just had to share;)) Here is our campsite.

















Saturday we arrived and set up camp. After exploring and enjoying the peace a quite we retired. Warning to parents....children 5 and under do not sleep when camping and therefore neither do you! Sunday was spent with Mom nursing a migraine all day while trying to enjoy our trip. We were able to drive into Red Feather to purchase a fishing license for T. (She is the only one with a fishing pole.) We tested out one lake before deciding to move to a quieter area.
We swam, enjoyed playing with T's remote control boat, and even caught 1 fish. After returning to our campsite we explored and I was able to nap briefly to try and heal my head. Sun, heat, activity, and no sleep contributed to a whopper of a migraine.

That night we all slept........ ahhhhhh. Monday we went on a hike at a nearby area. T decided to become a "forest scientist" so she could fix the visibly ailing pine forest. After a short hike we returned to the campsite to pack up. Of course it decided to rain while we were taking down the tent. A wet tent is not so much fun to work with:) This provided some needed cooling and the kids were excited to have a little rain and thunder (natures fireworks).

Our camping site. Daughter took the pic of Dad, Mom, and son. L was ready for nap time but we pushed on to capture these moments.

Our family vacation 2008. Can't wait to go again!!!!!!!!!!!

Team Hoyt

Watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPSUrR3ipQc

Brief

The kids and I are in Kansas spreading around the fun and the flu! We arrived in the midst of a nasty flu bug that Landis didn't develop until about 30 miles away from Pratt. Too late to turn back. The bug has run its course through Landis, me, Grandma Lee, Papa Ken, and now Aunt Katie and cousin Paxon. We are hoping the the remaining two uninfected individuals (Uncle Joe, and Teilee) will continue to avoid the nasty illness.
Meanwhile we have encountered several severe tornadic thunder storms and I am definitely not used to the anxiety. We had one twister that went through Cairo which was about 5 miles or so from Grandma Lee and Papas house. While the kids and I were visiting Katie, Joe, and Paxon, Mom and Dad had another tornado that was just South of them a few miles. .....and this isn't even tornado season!
Since last week we spent a majority of our time recovering from this stomach bug we are finally getting to really enjoy this beautiful Kansas experience. We have been able to catch some wild animals. A couple of box turtles that we captured got into a territorial fight before we set them free. Teilee and Landis have loved getting their hands onto a couple of toads. We have seen some snakes, crawdads, lots of beautiful birds. Teilee has enjoyed feeding the cats, dogs, and chickens. I promise to write more later of our fun time here.

My little angel!

People seldom are able to grasp the enormity of work that a work at home mom performs everyday. It is emotionally taxing and physically draining with little reward. I am sure that many people would gasp at that statement, after all isn't being with your kids rewarding, doesn't their love make it all worth while, and isn't being at home with kids an amazing thing that I should relish and feel privileged to achieve? That is true on some level, but on the largest level it is only a sacrifice that I make for my children. Developmentally having one primary caregiver, preferably the mother, is what is best for a child. Children will grow up just fine regardless, but often there is a potential that is missed (similar to not breastfeeding). My point being that I do not stay at home for personal benefit. It has been a difficult choice that we made for the benefit of our children.

Today has been an example of the difficulty in trying to express how much I do in a day. I often say to people that all I do is follow Landis around and clean up his messes. Meanwhile the messes of Teilee, myself, and Nick often miss any attention at all. This is why when a person visits they will find our house ashamedly in constant disarray. Often people will wonder why I can't keep my house in order, after all I AM at home all day. I have been guilty of that judgment before, particularly before I had two kids! I wonder what irresponsible people would leave keys in the door, or a credit card laying in the grass out front, or 7 loads of clean laundry unfolded on the dirty floor in the living room (which by the way I folded and put away despite the random hair and pieces of food attached to them). These are all sins I witnessed another mom commit and I wondered what was wrong with her. Now every one of them has been an offense I have been guilty of! I considered listing all of the messes I cleaned up today, all of the fires I extinguished while simultaneously entertaining and caring for two small children. I decided to show you instead. This picture is from two days ago, however it is only 3 days worth of laundry. I do about 2 loads a day (despite wearing the same pants for a week). If I don't keep up than this is what I end up with:

Today the Landis bell rang at 5:30 am I rose and nursed him and proceeded to start our day. Feeding the kids is always priority number one. This morning we were a little short of acceptable food to salve their empty bellies. That was the first challenge which turned into a problem as it was difficult to maneuver in the kitchen. Both sides of the sink, the counter, and the dishwasher were full of dirty dishes. We had run out of detergent and so I removed everything piled it ten dishes deep on the counter and went to work. When an acceptable amount had been washed and set to dry in the dishwasher I was able to access food and water from the sink (previously made impossible by the towering mess).

This picture was taken after I had washed the acceptable amount of dishes that made it possible to function in the kitchen. Yes, counters are still full to brimming with dishes.

While washing dishes, feeding kids, and starting a load of laundry I changed a diaper that unfortunately couldn't be cleaned by wiping. This sort of diaper combined with a sensitive bum requires that the crying child be placed in the bathtub so that the area can be showered off.

In the middle of this Teilee proceeds to tell me that there was cat hair in the living room. "Of course there is we have three cats", was my thought but I went to check (with Landis in towel). Yep cat hair alright, expelled from a stomach of a cat. Thanks to cat number 3 there are hair balls on the floor and on my comforter slung over the couch. (Yeah! More Laundry)! I cleaned and went back to work in the kitchen. Meanwhile I had suggested to Teilee that she could help out by going and getting dressed (with Landis in tow). Eventually Teilee came out dressed and ready to play, awesome! After about 10 min. I was thinking to myself how quiet Landis was when he popped his head around the corner saying "Gum, Gum" and showing his hands to me. All over them and his clothes was a substance that I immediately thought was poop. I thought, "Oh, no he must have gone diaper digging" and then I got a closer look and realized that it was fish food.

Teilee's fish had ran out of food and Nick had purchased a brand new container yesterday. Now the entire contents of that new bottle were mixed with a little water (enough to make it a goopy mess) and flung all over her dresser, books, floor, and Landis. This picture I took after I had cleaned it slightly. In order to vacuum this up Teilee quickly helped me to pick up. While we were picking up Landis took all of her colored pencils and threw them all over the dinning room. Teilee attended to that new mess while Landis 'assisted' me with vacuuming.

Once that was done I went back to the living room only to discover that Landis had pulled all of their toys out of their play kitchen and cat number 3 had deposited another wet hairy gift on the couch. Now it is 10:00 and I still haven't eaten or gotten dressed or taken a breath.

I go out and lay on the couch. My 'bruised' rib is so painful today I am doubting the accuracy of the diagnosis. Surely there is a handle bar protruding from my breast or maybe a bone peeking from beneath my skin. While I am laying down for all of two minutes Teilee informs me that a straggler of the colored pencil clan has milk on it. Well I find this:

In order to clean up the milk spill I have to run to the bathroom to fetch more rags as the kitchen now needs to be restocked. Pushing open the door to the bathroom I find Landis perched in the sink in the middle of this mess of q-tips, drawer contents, hairbands, and cotton balls on the floor.

After tossing a rag on the milk I took a deep breath (and some pictures), made myself some breakfast, got dressed and decided that there wasn't a possible snowballs chance in hell that anyone could possibly grasped what I had gone through this morning unless I typed it on my blog and included pictures. I am exhausted having worked my butt off and haven't even been able to keep up with the holy terror of a toddler Landis. Thank goodness Teilee has been somewhat helpful today. Although she did leave me a mess of magazines strewn about the living room, that will be much simpler to clean. Despite the messes I still have managed to cuddle with Teilee, nurse Landis several times, read books to both kids, and serve food. I work hard at my job and many days I just can't keep up. I don't achieve much of anything, but I am here and that is what matters. My kids are great kids, they pitch in on cleaning, play well together, share toys and books, and generally are well behaved. However, if I can't keep up with them, my house doesn't stand a chance! Oh yeah...while my attention was diverted with blogging this was my gift from Landis:

Thanks for the raisins Landis!

Oh yeah I have two tests and two papers to turn in within 4 days. I am a little stressed!

Pretty

My bruise today. Does anyone else see Jesus in there? Maybe I could sell a picture of it on ebay....hum....