A little late night reading

The Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein

    Once there was a tree..... and she loved a little boy.  And every day the boy would come and he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest.  He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples. And they would play hide-and-go-seek.  And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade. And the boy loved the tree.......very much.  And the tree was happy.

    But time went by.  And the boy grew older.  And the tree was often alone.  Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, "Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy."

    "I am too big to climb and play," said the boy.  "I want to buy things and have fun.  I want some money.  Can you give me some money?"
    "I'm sorry," said the tree, "but I have no money, I have only leaves and apples.  Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy." And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.  And the tree was happy.

    But the boy stayed away for a long time... and the tree was sad.  And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy and she said, "Come, Boy, climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy."

    "I am too busy to climb trees," said the boy. "I want a house to keep me warm.  I want a wife and I want children, and so I need a house.  Can you give me a house?"

    "I have no house," said the tree. "The forest is my house, but you may cut off my branches and build a house.  Then you will be happy." And the boy cut off her branches and carried them away to build his house.  And the tree was happy.

    But the boy stayed away for a long time. And when he came back, the tree was so happy she could hardly speak. "Come, Boy," she whispered, "Come and play."

    “I am too old and sad to play," said the boy. "I want a boat that can take me far away from here. Can you give me a boat?"

    "Cut down my trunk and make a boat," said the tree. "Then you can sail away...... and be happy." And so the boy cut down her trunk and made a boat and sailed away.  And the tree was happy.... but not really.  And after a long time the boy came back again.

    "I am sorry, Boy," said the tree, "but I have nothing left to give you.  My apples are gone."

    "My teeth are too weak for apples," said the boy.

    "My branches are gone," said the tree. "You cannot swing on them.”

    "I am too old to swing on branches," said the boy.

    "My trunk is gone," said the tree. "You cannot climb."

    "I am too tired to climb," said the boy.

    "I am sorry," sighed the tree. "I wish that I could give you something------ but I have nothing left. I am just an old stump."

   "I don't need very much now," said the boy. "just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired."

   "Well," said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, "Well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest." And the boy did.  And the tree was happy.

 

Another soggy Sunday

We have been having some serious rain here in Salem the past few weeks.  So much so in fact that many of the smaller streams and rivers around town have flood warnings in place.  I have driven past a few homes and business this week that are all sand bagged and ready to go!  I checked the creek behind our house and noticed it has overflowed its banks already! Luckily our house is high enough above the water level I think it would be next to impossible for the creek to flood enough to reach us.

With all the rain and high water, I was really looking forward to my water sampling this morning! Once I month I go out to a boat launch on the Willamette to take some water quality tests for the Willamette Riverkeepers, a non-profit who reports their data to the Oregon DEQ. If ever there was a great volunteer position, this is definitely the one! Spending a morning out on the quiet river watching eagles fly past is definitely a peaceful way to start the day (of course then I get to come home to a full on knights vs viking battle waging in my living room! haha)

When I got out to the river this morning the water level was very high.  There were five or six large trees that were whisked past as I ran my tests and there was so much sediment in the water I couldn't see more than three inches down!  It took me about an hour and a half to run two sets of tests on conductivity, water temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen content. Needless to say I was pretty well soaked by the time I was done!

Just a little wet

part of my test kit

Soccer and a rainy day party

Another Saturday morning soccer practice under our belts.  This has proven to be an enormous challenge for me.  All three boys have to be up, fed, dressed and buckled into their carseats, I have to be showered and presentable and I have to remember to pack the diaper bag, fill the boys water bottles and load up the stroller so we can be pulling out of our garage by 8:30am.  This is next to impossible for me lol  Luckily, we have somehow made it to practice every Saturday.

 Today we had the added bonus of an afternoon birthday party.  The boys had a blast and it was a great way to burn off some of that rainy day energy.  The party was just lovely with a fantastic spread of yummy home-made goodies and an unending supply of balloons. On the drive home the boys actually said they were sleepy!  I tried to push for an afternoon nap, but unfortunately the quiet ride home seemed to rejuvenate them and they hit the floor running!


It was easy to pick out the highlight of Little-Bug's day...he had the opportunity to play with a super-sweet elderly Labrador!  The moment he made eye contact he started to holler "HEh-YO! HEh-YO!!" and was squirming to be let down.  He followed that dog around all afternoon and she was so sweet with him!  She let Little-Bug pet her back and the top of her head, she sniffed his face, but she never licked and was very cautious not to bump into him...a world class pooch!

A little quiet coloring

Today was what we call a "home day" in our house.  That's the kids' term for days when we go literally, no where.  I suppose the fact that my boys notice the rarity of a day without playdates, preschool or errands suggests that we are a pretty busy crew.  Not too surprised there :)  The boys enjoy the occasional "home day."  They stay in their pajamas as long as they like, they create elaborate forts and games, sometimes they even get to eat their lunch on a picnic blanket in the living room.  Yep, home days can be pretty neat for a preschooler.

One thing I am especially proud of is my boys' vocabularies.  Granted, Little-Bug has very limited verbal skills at this point, but I just love listening to the way Big-Bug and Middle-Bug put their thoughts into words.  When Big-Bug gets off with a warning for a "first offense" and responds "Thanks for giving me another chance mom." or when the boys greet their daddy at the door after work and say "Hi dad! Will you be our star command!"  or my recent favorite "What the heck! Oh my gosh!  I can't believe Little-Bug was able to turn off the computer!" Sometimes they just seem so old to me when I hear them speak :)  That said....home days tend to test the limits of my listening capabilities.  One chatty (almost) five year old and one chatty three year old can be a little hard to take for 12 uninterrupted hours.  That's right, lets not forget the fact that neither of them take naps anymore, and haven't for over a year (Big-Bug even longer.)

Today I finally hit my word limit and decided to distract the chatty guys with a little quiet coloring.  I set them up at the table with coloring books, construction paper and a huge stash of crayons.  I tucked Little-Bug in for a nap, and sat myself down at the table with a cup of tea to watch my little artists work away.  Relaxing break for everyone, right?  Wrong.  Why, why oh WHY do coloring books have captions in them?  Big-Bug spent his coloring time flipping through a "jumbo" coloring book at lightening speed asking me to read every caption on every. single. page.  "Mom, mom, mom.  What does this say? Why are they getting in a space ship? What planet are they flying to? What will they find there? Did they find that car there? Look Mom! Mom, mom, mom, look they found a car? Was that already there? Did they bring it with them? Which way are they supposed to go? Mom, mom, mom, what am I supposed to on this page???"   COLOR IT!!!

Surprisingly enough, "quiet coloring" actually turned out the be the chattiest time of the entire day.  By the end I had resorted to default "I don't know I, what do you think" responses, to which he replied "Mom, you always say that." Busted!

Thank you concert gods!

Oh  my, the concert gods have heard my pleas.  I kid you not, yesterday afternoon while I was waiting to pick Ian up from school, my phone alerted me that I had a new email in my inbox.  I opened it up on my snazzy android phone and what do you think it was? A tour announcement from the James Blunt website!  Does he have a stop in the northwest you ask? Why yes he does!!

I instantly sent out a message to my awesome sister and my two awesome cousins with the date, and place and we are officially set!  This will be our third James Blunt Concert together, I think it is turning into a nice little tradition.  This time I vow not to wear my purple coat (long story.)  May can't come fast enough!!

Little James

Getting our stubs signed

All the lost souls tour :)

The concert itch

It has been almost two years since I have been to a concert!  I have been thinking about this more and more lately and I can't WAIT for someone I like to pass through town.  The frustrating thing is, every band site I have visited over the past few weeks shows absolutely NOTHING for tour dates.  I know summer is a ways off, but come one guys!  How about a fall tour!  Somebody? Anybody?!?

Coffee!

Big-Bug has show and tell at school today and he is so excited. He picked out this robot police action figure with a helicopter as a special treat after his dentist appointment last week (he was SUCH a champ!  super helpful and pleasant to the staff there, I had been really nervous! lol)  and he is bringing that in for show and tell today.  He keeps asking me to put it in his backpack for him, he can't wait to leave and he still has two more hours to wait! lol

Tonight is mom's night out with some of the playgroup moms.  I am REALLY looking forward to getting out, this has been one of those weeks for whatever reason.  Just exhausting!  Maybe it's the start of the new school term (my last ever!) or maybe it was the irritation of having to replace our water heater...who knows.  All I do know is 7pm can't come fast enough!  Coffee and girl talk awaits!!