And as Mysteriously as They Appeared, They Were Gone

Leaving behind only deafening silence, a few nails, and this...




Proving that the roofers/sombrero/scissors shenanigans my children claimed to witness was in fact, not an urban legend, but truth.

Adventures in roofing

I knew the roofers were starting on our new roof today. I mentally prepared for a lot of noise.

And that's about all I prepared for.

What I didn't see coming was the loud Spanish singing and yelling as they joyfully pushed one another on our tree swing. Or the hour long nap one of them would take in our hammock. Or the game of football that would take place in our yard. All of this before. they began. the roof.

(these were taken from my bedroom window, so there are quality issues)


football game
swinging friends
Nighty night.

I was actually starting to feel bad that I wasn't outside in an apron mingling and setting up tables of drinks and hors d'œuvres . I like to be a generous hostess. And this was clearly a party.

We left for the pool exactly 4 hours after they arrived. No one had gotten on the roof yet. However all twelve of them were running around the yard yelling wildly as they tried to catch a little rat snake. I felt like they had things under control.

Don't get me wrong. They had some serious stuff done when we got home. And they are growing on me. I mean, they are brave, no doubt. Our roof is STEEP. I can appreciate that.

I also appreciate that they all got behind my car and pushed it out of a ditch so I could go on about my day. Also that they clapped enthusiastically for Tyler from outside the window while he practiced his drums inside. I even appreciate that one of them took a nap on my park bench, because no one ever uses that park bench anymore and I think it's a cryin' shame. I appreciate how polite they were when they rang my doorbell and asked me to flip the switch on the breaker that tripped.

And I even appreciate that they probably tripped it with the two (2) microwaves they have plugged in on my front porch.

Because I think we all can agree that cold sandwiches are so

totally

passé.

.

So. Party in the Klaassen yard. Tomorrow. 8 am. Who's in?

Why my floors are clean

Ok. That was an exaggeration. They aren't clean. But if they were? It would be because my kids feet. are never. on. the ground.

I feel like I'm always looking up at them or ducking under them or dodging their flying legs.

Is your home a jungle gym?

Our Colorado vacation

We spent a week in Colorado relaxing, hiking, fishing, and just hanging out together. Here are a few of the pictures from our vacation. Way more pictures than writing. Because my brain seems to be on writing hiatus.

Our cabin.

...wait...maybe it's not on hiatus, that was a really catchy caption.
A manly morning chat on the deck.

The view from our deck.

We took a 5 hour hike in the Pike National Forest one day. There was gold in this stream. Real gold! It was dust so it made the stream all blingy.

We hiked to the top of a mountain where the continental divide looked like a painted backdrop.

Playing in the Pike National Forest.

Two mornings we woke up to snow!

Breckenridge-ing.

We did some fishing, but didn't catch anything. But it was a perfect, peaceful, fun time anyway. And ew...what if we would have caught something?

Cole didn't take the fishing failure too well.

Although I'm sure he had NOTHING to do with the fact that the fish weren't biting.

We had lots of great cabin time at night. Games and snacks and fires in the fireplace...

S'mores!

And there was dancing. Lots of dancing.

Although this would appear to be two boys who have run into each other and crashed to the ground, it is actually some savvy breakdancing. Word.

And there was white water rafting. It was scary. Really scary. The water was 36 degrees.

See I told ya it was scary.

That's it! Thanks for playing and have a lovely evening.

Fleeting

Bedtime at our house is usually David’s thing. I’ve gotten in snuggles and had valuable time with the kids during the day, and am running out of fuel 12 hours into the project. He hasn't gotten to see much of them and they love the extra time with him. It works.

Tonight David had been mowing and came in to take a shower around bedtime. Cole had just gotten out of the bath and was ready for his tuck-in. He was a little put out that David wasn’t ready for him.

“Will you lay with me?” he asks me.

“Honey, just go get in bed, Daddy will be there in just a little bit,” I respond without making eye contact. I’m already out of mommy-mode and have settled comfortably in Deleise’s-computer-time-mode.

His lack of response and sound of his little feet traipsing up the stairs snap me out of my screen trance. I tiptoe behind his trail and nestle myself next to him in his bed.

“Mommy, do you spell line L-I-N-E?” he asks me as I breathe in the smell of his freshly shampooed hair. “That’s right.” I confirm.

We stare out the window at the leaves blowing on the tree, his radio playing softly in the background. He tucks his body into a little ball and nuzzles against me letting out a content sigh. He feels tiny. His soft, damp curls touch my cheek. I can see his profile in the dim light and my heart flutters as I notice he looks just like he did when he was a baby. The sudden urgency of his fleeting smallness hits me like a train.

We snuggle in silence except for the occasional random thoughts he verbalizes.

The whole experience was uneventful, but somehow at the same time, completely profound.

And I can't believe I almost missed it.

Magic!

I found out about Picnik from Anna Meadows and it is so much fun!

I took this picture with my phone of Riley and Cole playing in the yard today. Blech. Blah. Boring. Just a bad photo all around.

After a few minutes on Picnik, I made this!

Isn't that cool? Try it. It is really fun and easy!

I thought that if I started a post...

maybe something coherent would come out. But... not... happen.

So until I can form an intelligible sentence, I thought I'd just spill some pictures from our last week-and-a-half-ish onto your screen. Thank you for still checking my blog. Both of you. And God bless America. Amen.

Lets see...

We did school (hey, we did) at the lake one day with our friends.

We went to the Arts Festival where we spent our entire life savings on some amazing art called Strawberries Newport, Baklava, snow cones, and banana pudding.

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The kids got to go to The Lion King with their grandparents.

Here is what Cole looked like for the first 42 seconds of the night. Apparently he has an aversion to looking totally off-the-hook-fo-shizzle-awesome, so the tie, along with my hopes and dreams, died.

They stayed up until midnight, then got up at 5:30 a.m. to work the Devon waterstop at the marathon. But look at the happiness. Sleep Shmeep.

Oh, and word has it that the back of Cole's head at the marathon is now on a Devon billboard on Broadway extension. How 'bout that?

.

Then...

.

Cole decided to do school in the rain. I know. But let's try to focus on how cute he is.

We spent an alarming amount of time doing this...

We went here...

And touched a real moon rock...

Tyler made this...

And my mom made this...

Oh, and I got a new app on my phone that does this.

Aaaaaaand that's about all I've got. Tune in next time for an exciting discussion possibly on the weather, the recession, or the swine flu. See ya then.

14 years ago today...

This amazing human being entered the world.
Instantly he filled an empty place in my heart that I never even knew I had.

My first baby.

It was the first time I had experienced part of me living in someone else. And I was in awe. I still am.

Garrett, I am completely nuts about you. I am thankful for your selflessness and your sense of humor. For how you lead your siblings, and put others before yourself. I’m thankful for how patient you are with me and my computer inadequacies. And for how seriously you take your role as a follower of Christ. You are a gift and a blessing. Happy birthday. I love you more than you can possibly imagine!