I love my canoe

My inflatable canoe has been one of the best gifts Tony has ever given me. Twice this week we went to the lake and enjoyed this late September Indian summer. On Wednesday we learned about barcos in Spanish preschool and carved zucchini boats. Max announced "I'm just like Lewis and Clark!" as he carved his canoe and was elated when his zucchini boat actually floated.

We have almost wrapped up our painting projects for both our house and our friend Mado's. The youth in the ward were great help (Wilson included). Marcos acted his age and found paint to play in on several annoying occasions.

Some school highlights: Eliza, my book obsessed girl, has qualified for special reading services. weird. Cooper, my excellent student and speller has flunked his first three spelling tests because the teacher can't read his writing. I say we get him a laptop. I got a call from the PE teacher that Wilson has not once since the beginning of school brought in PE clothes. They were in his backpack the whole time. hello?!

Another euphoric 36 mile bike ride yesterday. It was sweet of Tony to give me the day while he stayed home and ripped up carpet with the kids. My sexy husband said to me (with his bedhead hair and morning breath) as I was leaving, "Don't think about me while you ride or you'll crash on your bike." You know it baby.

Dad's Day Off / Call Night

I had a day off today, but I am on call over night in the hospital. I was on call over the past weekend. The work "on-call" means so many different things. For me, when it is a weekend, it basically means being busy most of the weekend with work. When it is a weekday it means I stay over night at the hospital most of the time.
Prior to being on call this evening,
I got to go jogging before the sunrise. It was so beautiful. The sky was clear, and it was a bit brisk. It was definately worth it. I came home and turned on the fireplace and read from Helaman chapter 14. It is incredible how specific Samuel the Lamanites prophecies were.
I got to make breakfast for the family (malt-o-meal and sausage). I enjoy making breakfast- because I enjoy eating breakfast.
I got to have scripture study with the children.
I got to go to Colfax to see my patients in the hospital - one of which I had to ship to Spokane because she was so sick.
When I came home, I got to put Marcos down for a nap. We read "Good Night, Gorilla."
I got to fix (fix may be a strong word) the garage doors, so they would close.
I got to play football with Cooper, Wilson, Brayden Winters, and Kaleb Kolb. Marcos loved being in the way - he was the roving linebacker. I had a good time.
I got to be the "all time" quarterback. We all had fun. From Wilson's wild trick plays, to Cooper's straight forward "let's run the ball, and Brayden you block for me"( with Cooper's speed and Brayden's size that worked well).
I also went over to Mado's to check out a leak that they have. I need to get a toilet seal in Colfax...maybe I can pick that up tomorro.

Mom, despite being sick, made dinner for us, and made some kind of chicken/tortilla casserole that was really good (without a recipe-she is amazing). The missionaries came over for dinner and we discussed some people that it might be good for them to visit. We have so many good people in our community. I had to run in to the hosptial to start the over-night ER coverage. We cover the ER at Whitman Hospital in Colfax on the weekdays.

When I arrived at the hospital, I realized that it was a Hospital Staff Meeting- and perfect timing, on my ER call night. I was able to attend the meeting (which is rare for me)

This has been an overall great day, except that I have to sleep at the hospital tonight. ):

49% of the votes

In a surprise move, Wilson decided to run for ASB vice president. His campaign motto and posters featured his little brothers with speech bubbles recommending "vote for my big brother!" In his speech, he detailed his prowess for taking care of little kids and communicating with adults. He even had Max and Marcos join him, hand in hand, as he confidently delivered his speech. In the end, he was beat out by Rachel who garnered 51% of the elementary school votes. What I counted as a success, was our dinnertime discussion of the day's events. Cooper and Eliza reported their fervent campaigning efforts on Wilson's behalf in their respective classrooms. It was one of those delicious instances of total family unity, when the best thing in the world is to be surrounded by people who are on your side. At least for dinnertime, Wilson basked in the glory of being a winner. He always has my vote.

Every Fall for the last two years I have been summoned for jury duty, but never selected for actual jury service. I was again summoned this week and confident in my history, I dropped my kids off with my visiting teacher and told her I'd be back in two hours. I must be a lucky girl because I was selected as the alternate jury member. I haven't sat that long for years and the defendant and his attorney used the same arguments as Korihor. It was disheartening for me to see all the resources (time, money) spent, but the alternative defies everything our country stands for. My sweet visiting teacher had my kids for over 8 hours, and even had dinner ready for me when I was done. The tender mercy was that the trial was only one day and the jury made their decision in less than 15 minutes. Despite my day (OK, week) being turned upside down, I'm glad for the experience.

When I told Max we were going to help our friends this morning he asked with horror, "Is it service day again!?" I must be doing something right.

My poor Marcos woke up at 5:00 this morning with what I later learned was a terrible ear infection. I guess there are worse things than an early morning pedicure while the sun rises and my baby splashes in a warm tub.

I rode to the lake today. The trees are turning colors and the shadows are softer. My flower baskets are dead and I could care less about the lawn. We had the absolute perfect ski on Tuesday afternoon; felt like carving through butter. Finally I am at peace--let the Fall come.

we are all different

Tony took Max to his first day of preschool this week. He got to observe firsthand Max's first (and I'm sure not last) encounter with racial ignorance. A little boy pointed to Max and announced, "he's different!" The poor teacher went into cardiac arrest attempting to explain to the little boy that we are all the same inside although we all have different hair and eyes. . . blah blah blah. "No, that's not it," said the little boy, "he's different." Then the poor teacher flew to the library to scour the shelves for children's books on racial diversity after which she threw out the daily lesson plans and spent the rest of the afternoon on how we are all the same, even if our skin is different. Max's reaction was to give the kid his famous "you are stupid" look and roll his eyes. He was way more annoyed by the children that were too loud than the ones pointing out his skin color.

The lesson I learned from this experience was that neither Max nor his racially unaware friend benefited from the spontanteous diversity lesson. They really didn't care. In my opinion the correct response was to give the little boy a resounding, "Yep, he looks different. Now, let's eat our delicious carbohydrate packed school lunch of corn, rolls, tater tots and rice " By overreacting, or even bringing attention to the statement, we give the situation more emotion than it deserves. Max invited the same little boy over to play the next day and they spent a full hour playing "Daddy and Little Boy." Tommy was the Dad and Max was his son and I heard the cutest dialogue between the two of them indicating a complete lack of racial awareness. In the future, I hope I don't confuse simple statements of fact ("he's different" ) for instances of intolerance. That said, this is my rule of thumb for children. I think adults should know better.

Today at church a good hearted, but socially insensitive man, apologized to me for possible offenses he may have given. I don't remember having been offended by him, but I did agree, that even for me, some of his jokes cross the line. I told him to make fun of my kids all he wants, as individuals. What bothers me are jokes about my kids as part of racial stereotypes. I guess that is my line. If you cross the line be prepared for Max's withering "you are stupid" gaze and eye roll. That will teach you.

FOOTBALL EXPERIMENT: A NEW FAMILY TRADITION
Wilson and Cooper endured 9 hours of driving to Seattle, 4 hours of game time, and in the end had a good time. The was a first time for the two older boys of the Lundberg household to experience the excitement of BYU FOOTBALL. BYU was playing the Washington Huskies. We even got to sit next to our good friends the Hainsworths who graciously had provided our tickets. THANKS!!!!
Cooper and His TREATS
Cooper of course left our seats no less than 9 times to get treats, hot dogs, water, and bathroom breaks. This was no small tasks seeing that we were in the nose bleed seats. He even went down to the bottom tier of the stadium, and walked all the way back to the seats to purchase his cherished nachos.
Dad the FANATIC
On the other end of the spectrum was Dad. Dad was in his seat 20 minutes prior to kickoff and this was just not soon enough. He sat in his seat through the whole game and through halftime. He only ate a small piece of pretzel. He did not want to miss a single play. In fact, Dad had a fever, a cough, and his whole body ached, but this did not get in the way of BYU FOOTBALL. He is a true blue BYU FANatic.
MOM: THE SOCIALITE
Mom, being the polar opposite of dad, went jogging during the first quarter of the game and MISSED THE KICKOFF. She was happy to sit and chat with her good friend Andrea Hainsworth. Periodically, they would ask how the game was going. She even joined in the cougar fight song at the appropriate time, surprising though it may seem. Mom the social coordinator, always looking for improvement in her social activities, wondered why dad got so uptight about not being to the game soon enough.

Wilson, taking it all in
Wilson enjoyed the game, the food, his ipod, and sitting with his good friend Eli Hainsworth. He was helpful when Cooper needed a partner to carry the food, and he was stellar when Cooper needed a partner to eat the food. Wilson did not easily get excited, he just took it all in. He was steady and consistent.

Prior to the game we went to Pike's market to purchase some fish. Wilson and Cooper were facinated at the fish toss, and the huge group of people watching. Betina and Kenneth Workman gave us their 120$ voucher for some Pike's market fish, in preparation for a big fish fry. We thought that might bring home quite a bit of fish.....but that was just not the case. 1 King Salmon was 150$. We added a Dungeness crab for another 20$. So we will have some fish and a whole lot of side dishes. The timing of the stop was a bit to close to game time for Dad, so needless to say, he was a bit chippy to get going.

We also had the blessing of having Susan Gubler watch Eliza, Max, and Marcos while we went to Seattle. We could not have done it without Susan. Eliza even got to go to the fair for Maggie's Smith's birthday party. Thank you Susan!

Overall, it was a great experience.

cute things four year olds say

"Mom lift me up to that bar so I can do a hic-up"

"We need a car that drives underwater, for Pete's sake."

"Do skunks fart?"

These are just the ones I can remember. With the the kids at school and some delicious one on one, I am discovering Max to be a mighty witty and clever boy.

back to school

The first day of school has marked the end of a wonderful summer. The children's excitement is in stark contrast to my mood of mourning. I'm not done playing yet. I want more of the carefree days at the pool and the lake when all we eat are popsicles and all we wear are swimming suits. I still want to sleep on top of my sheets with the windows wide open and the fan twirling at the speed of sound. I want to stay up late watching stars and reading books. Maybe we still have a couple weekends of Indian Summer and I'll get it all out of my system. Maybe, but I doubt it.

There were two sad little boys today who watched the big kids head off to school. Hopefully this will be a chance for the Max and Marcos to become best buddies. Max starts preschool next week and is very excited.

We had a nice Labor day yesterday. Cam and Jill, Jeff, Brian and Kelly (Stacey had to work) and Dad came for dinner. The guys golfed all afternoon and then we had a yummy dinner and did some blackberry picking. Another bonus of a big family is instant party. The cousins make instant entertainment as well.

Tony and Wilson enjoyed their fly fishing trip with the scouts last weekend. Amazingly, Tony made it home without a single injury. Cooper was green with envy when he heard about all the fish they caught. He can't wait for his turn. I'm curious to know whether anyone has done a study on the number of divorces that are a result of the scouting program. It got close for us, but I learned three very important pieces of information for maintaining marital bliss in conjunction with the scouting program. First, never assist in the packing process for scout trips. Second never, ever, ever add cheerios to trail mix. Third, picking out the cheerios is a time consuming chore, but is worth the ensuing result of the scouts finally LEAVING.