Hallo-Giving FFWD to Christmas- Recap. . .

Wow!  I can't believe that I did not post once in October or November.  Let's recap:
October:  Pumpkin Patch(nearly sold out), bronchitis, flu, Halloween.

November:  NYC Marathon Trip of a Lifetime = In reality, 50 hours to get from Fort Jones to JFK and come home.  Turkey Trot (350+ people!), Thankful hearts on Thanksgiving.

October was very full every weekend with visitors to the pumpkin patch.  The season ended on the last Saturday, with me excusing myself from a customer to vomit all over the bathroom.  I started to feel better around two in the morning, when Bradley started upchucking.  THANK GOODNESS, we had made the decision to close for Sunday, prior to both of us being barely able to pick our heads up off of the cool bathroom floor.  Thank goodness also for wonderful grandparents!

This Halloween Carter was Captain Hook, Miles was Peter Pan, and I was Tinkerbell.  (Yes, 4th grade teachers get to dress up, and yes it took TWO adult tinkerbell costumes plus about eight yards of material to compose a tinkerbell costume presentable enough for an elementary Halloween parade.)  Carter was not only dressed to the nines, but also in full character as well.  Trick-or-Treating was a lot of fun, and we are still enjoying the last few pieces of candy.

November started off with recovering from the flu and bronchitis, only to have Hurricane Sandy hit, six days prior to the NYC Marathon.  Runners were  ENCOURAGED by Mayor Bloomberg and the race director to come, so I trudged on with my mom.  However, it was about an hour into the first plane ride (first class- thank you Mileage Plus), that I could tell I should not tell ANYONE I was running the marathon as it was a very controversial subject.  Upon landing at JFK, the devastation was immediately evident.  The airport was not running under normal conditions and instead of taking the AirTran I had to ride a bus to the other terminal, before I met up with mom.  As we waited for a taxi, I witnessed as many people being put into taxis as possible, not necessarily the number of seatbelts, due to the gas being rationed.  I literally had my hand on the taxi door, with the address on the tip of my tongue, when my phone buzzed.  It was Bradley calling to say his Grandma Ann ( who watches the news 24/7) saw that it was cancelled.  I decided to just come home.  A lot of people were surprised I went, and other surprised I just didn't make a weekend of it.  I still went because I was encouraged to go, and I just went home because I didn't feel that I needed to take any more resources away from the city than I needed to.  I did not want to boot someone who had lost their home out of the hotel room, and I didn't want to use the fuel to even get into the city.  I feel that if you weren't a resident of the city, you really didn't need to be there.  It was heartbreaking, but there is always next year.  Mom and I had a nice (read overpriced airport meal) dinner, drinks, and retired to our COLD cots in Terminal Two.  Rising early the next morning we traveled home.

Thankful for these kiddos and the wonderful play area my dad built!

The annual Turkey Trot that I organize was a huge success.  We had people as young as three and as "aged" as 94 run or walk, three or six miles.  Thanksgiving was held at my mother-in-law's home and was delicious, picturesque, just perfect.  My mom was there too and we all had a very nice meal.  Despite all of the loss we have endured this year, there is so much to be thankful for.  I am blessed to be married to a wonderful man and father, have two healthy and FUN kids, live near my mom and in-laws, have a great job that I enjoy, see my sister often, and the opportunity to make a difference every day in the world around me.

Someday they will be taller than these tomato plants their daddy grows.  .  .

I really enjoy the holiday season, but even more so when I am "ahead" of the game.  I nearly have all of my shopping done, the house is decorated (minus the tree which will be picked out tomorrow in the woods), the cards are ready to be mailed, and the kids are excited!  I know that it's not even the first of December yet, but I know this season only comes around once a year, and kids are only young for so long.

I'll close with Carter's list for Santa:

1.  Fireman dress-up costume
2. Batman Cave with "guys"
3.  Buzz Lightyear Car

Carter interpreted his brother's list, note the similarities:
1.  Policeman dress-up costume
2.  Batman elevator
3.  Buzz Lightyear Truck

The Simple Life

I know what you're thinking, oh a garbageman, a teacher, two kids, living in the country, growing pumpkins, rocking chairs on the front porch - the simple life right?  I think life has just gotten crazier and crazier since fall has begun.  Every night we are harvesting for tomorrow's customers, invoicing, caring for kids, TRAINING FOR THE NYC MARATHON WITH 40 MILE WEEKS, making meals, lunches, grading papers, or helping my mom with her projects.  Plus we have this little thing called a PUMPKIN PATCH to get ready for.  The pumpkins are beautiful, and we are ready, but there are just so many little simple details, to prepare for a monthlong extravaganza.

In an effort to simplify our budget we recently downsized from a fully-loaded Ford Explorer, to a base-model Honda Civic.  I decided to prep our children by explaining that our new car was a "simple car".  I told them that it had no DVD player, or heated seats, or sunroof, or "sniff-sniff" - backup beepers.  It was simple and FUN I told them.  Honestly, we got the new car because it gets a bad-ass 40MPG.  Anywho, at Eileen's Carter told Kacey and Eileen all about his new simple car.  Kacey asked him why it was simple and he said, "Well, because you can go a really long ways, on a little bit of gas, and that's.  .  . simple".  Honestly, the kids don't miss the DVD player and I haven't hit anything yet, so possibly, it is a simpler concept than I anticipated.

Miles is keeping it simple too.  His database of words has really expanded, but nothing more than two syllables.  He likes to keep a direct line of conversation, and honestly, all he needs are those baby blues and a little grin to get his message across.

Carter has also made our future plans simpler by hand selecting both his and his brother's future brides. It seems that Carter has chosen Macey for himself and Clara for his brother.  That makes life in the long-run simpler right?

Bradley made hunting season simple by shooting a massive 5x5 mountain buck (technically I was told you could hang a ring from a 6th, but he is modest), on the FIRST morning of rifle season.

As for me, I'm just simply tired.  Here are a few pics of our not-so-simple, but simply beautiful life.

Fear Factor - Isbell Style

Where has our summer gone?  I can't believe that school starts in two weeks and that I am starting to go into the classroom tomorrow.  It is all bittersweet!  I love, love, love, staying home with my kiddos and doing EVERYTHING with them, but I also adore my job and am excited for a new class of 4th graders!  Before I started this post I glanced through my summer photo album on my computer.  It has been a FULL summer.  Trip to Portland, race series (with Carter running too), more races, camping, fishing, berry picking, dinners with friends, swim lessons, gymnastics, harvesting produce of our own, running and/or bike riding daily with kids, fair, Farmers' Markets, dinners on the patio, trips to the river, just to name a few.

At this point, you're probably just wanting me to take the blog in the direction of the title.  I have actually never watched this show FEAR FACTOR, but I think I have the jist of it being a TV show where people are asked to do things normally not deemed appropriate.  Two of these incidents take place on our patio where we like to enjoy the majority of our dinners.  For one, Miles is super messy and it makes clean-up much easier, and two mommy and daddy like to enjoy their beverages as the kids run around on the lawn and play.  One evening we had gotten home from the Fort Jones Farmers' Market.  We had attended the market with both kids, and it was very hot.  As payment, Bradley bought the boys some ice cream and as we sat down on the patio and all enjoyed our treats.  Miles decided to go play on one of his Little Tikes cars.  All of the sudden we heard him screaming and witnessed hornets attacking his mouth.  The pictures below don't do him justice, but he had never gotten stung before and he swelled up quite nicely.  I decided to take him to the ER just because he had never been stung before.  I gave him some Benadryl before we left and it turned out he was just fine, but it was scary.  The car ended up in the dumpster, but no worries, there is another one.

About a week later we were enjoying some grilled meat and sticky rice on the patio.  As usual, Miles had a trail of food around him.  I watched him bend down to pick up some sticky rice (we do actually keep a very clean patio) and put it in his mouth.  I suddenly realized that what he had just ingested did not look like sticky rice.  I calmly chased him down, and did the finger swipe (which he adamantly tried to fight), only to swipe out a WHOLE FROG that was still alive.  The little bugger would have eaten the whole thing, had I not used my cat like reflexes to dissuade him.  GROSS!  The worst part is that we don't have a picture of the frog.

Another week later, I challenged my fear of heights to participate in the first annual Mt. Shasta Volcano Mud Run.  This was a 3.2 mile course that climbed over 1,600 feet in about .75 miles with 10 obstacles along the way.  I was extremely nervous at the start because I don't have the best coordination and I really have a fear of heights, but I ended up LOVING the race and placing 2nd woman overall out of about 150 or so women.  ( I honestly think I was first overall and that the 2nd heat timing system was screwy, as do others, but whatever).

I guess the moral of the story is that fear is individualized and defeatable.  Miles had no fear of eating a frog and Carter won't even try to touch one.  I had a fear of heights and conquered it with a competitive tone ringing in my ears.

Here's to the next two weeks of summer, may they continue to give us wonderful family memories.

July. . . Where did it go?

4th of July fun!

Where has the month gone?  4th of July, YMCA races, gymnastics, more swim lessons, Lake Siskiyou,  camping at Trinity, Mt. A 5K, 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy, berry patch picking, and an upcoming trip to Portland.  Plus the regular duties of yardwork, selling produce, keeping up with the weeds in the garden and the pumpkin patch, laundry, and feeding three HUNGRY men.  I guess it has been a busy month.

Enjoying some raspberries at the local berry patch.

Miles talks a lot right now, but seems to eat even more.  The good news is that there doesn't seem to be anything he won't eat, the bad news is that the cost of groceries continues to rise.  He has quite a sense of humor, but is also very stubborn.  We tried camping as a family for one night at Trinity and he did not enjoy being out of his normal crib routine, so he decided to piss off all of the campers in the campground by screaming all night.  Miles doesn't seem to mind watching his brother's various activities during the week.  I think his favorite is swim lessons because he gets to get wet too.

Carter really enjoyed his gymnastics class and has gained a lot more confidence in his second round of swim lessons.  He did the backfloat today totally solo for almost a minute!  He will jump into the water and swim back to the edge unattended, regardless of the depth.  Although I would like to think of him as the next Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps in the presence of the upcoming Olympic Games, I do think   it has a heck of a lot to do with his amazing teacher Ms. Laura.  Another highlight for the month for Carter included running in a mile race with Nene and Miles.  I do a Tuesday night race series and Carter did the mile last year, and decided to do it again this year.  He took a few minutes off of last year's time.  He absolutely loves it!  Carter also loves Nene's jetski!  What fun he had at the lake riding with all of us!

Some of my favorite memories this month are those of the boys displaying their helpful nature.  One morning I told them I had to do the recycling.  I took both of them outside as well as the outside bin and  garage recycling bins.  Thinking I would have to make a few trips up to the barn, I was pleasantly surprised as Carter offered to carry one bin, and Miles took an empty CRV bottle from the other bin and they both headed up to the barn.  Another morning as we were harvesting from the garden, Carter jumped on his John Deere tractor, put some baskets in the back, and started helping me haul strawberries.  Just this last week, Carter was watching his dad unload some gravel by shovel to do some patch work in the driveway and he hurriedly ran away, coming back with his own shoveling and proclaiming, "Daddy, I want to help too!"

The YMCA race series.

In an age when technology and instant gratification, seem to outweigh common sense, it is my hope that I can raise two boys who are able to pursue whatever dreams their hearts desire, who know that their parents support them wholeheartedly.  I also hope to raise children who intrinsically desire to make the world around them a better place, and put service above self.

There's a FIRST time for everything!

Thanks to the Berenstain Bears, I was in the know of a seemingly simple, but genuinely complex principle of life at an early age: There's a first time for everything.  If you really think about this simplistic concept it gathers substance in application.  Just think - there was a FIRST time that someone ate a raisin, a FIRST time someone wrote a letter.  This weekend was a weekend of firsts in the Isbell household.

Those who know me know that I like to keep things clean and organized.  Carter is very similar to me.  He gets agitated when things are not put away and does not like his hands to be sticky.  Miles on the other hand.  .  .  not so much.  While I was frantically trying to finish up some ten-year reunion stuff on the computer before heading to the nearest (read 90 miles away) copy store, I noticed that Miles was super quiet.  Ignoring my inner good-mother telling me to simply turn around, I pushed forward in my task.  As I relished in the completed task I turned to find Miles headfirst in the garbage can, covered in a sticky mess of strawberries, strawberry yogurt, and coffee grounds.  Not only was he covered in them, but it was all in his mouth as well.  For the FIRST time, in my life when encountered by a mess, I did not hit it head on armed with cleaning solutions but instead I began to cry.  Lesson learned - finishing tasks in motherhood, is equivalent to the "haste makes waste" proverb.

Moving on with the day Bradley and I drove the boys up to Medford.  Our goal was to finish up some reunion errands, hit Costco, possibly Target, and find something for me to wear to our ten year reunion.  Those who know me well also know that I don't relish in my sense of fashion, and in fact REFUSE to buy anything retail that is not on sale.  (I do however often make exceptions in the realm of exercise apparel.)  I am not a fashionista - I am exceptionally challenged when it comes to doing my hair, but I can run pretty damn fast, so I tend to focus more on my running shorts.  That being said, I decided to up my game plan for my reunion.  Despite the fact I can still fit in it, I don't think people want to see me in the same outfit I wore to graduation.  Fighting my urge to scour the 70% off racks at Target for a dress, I headed into a boutique shop, lured there by huge SALE signs on the outside of the impressive facade.

Upon entering the store I was immediately intimidated by the very cute and put together sales clerk, who I know was eyeing me up and down and was not seemingly impressed by my clearance GAP chic outfit.  I held my head high and asked for her help in purchasing a dress to wear to our reunion.  She immediately wanted to know the venue, and I just couldn't bring myself to tell her it was on top of City Hall in a town with a population of less than 300 people.  I can't imagine what she should have brought out.  Instead I told her , "um indoors".  Now she thought of me as mentally and fashionally challenged. Regardless, I went forward with my "first" and began to try on dresses in the lavish rooms. After getting help from Bradley and the boys we decided on a nice number that was very flattering, but she suggested I try these things call "spanks" so that I didn't have lines.  SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH IS YOU ARE EASILY EMBARRASSED.  Okay, so I try on a small pair (on top of my underwear), decided to go the next size, take those off, LOVE how I look in the second pair and am now feeling uber confident in my ability to seem fashionably savvy.  I take off the second pair - and suddenly realize that my "AUNT FLO" decided to make a visit while I was wearing these ridiculously expensive underwear.  Now not only did I have to buy BOTH pairs, but I also had to explain to the nosy clerk WHY I needed to buy both.  Too many firsts to list here, but you get the picture.  As I result, I ended up crying the rest of the way around Medford, fueled impart by embarrassment, hormones, and buyer's remorse.

The last first of the weekend occurred today during our family trip to Kangaroo Lake.  Carter caught his first fish!  He was so excited about catching the fish, but didn't want to touch it.  He decided to release it back into the lake.  A few moments later he had another first when he fell face first into the frigid mountain lake.  Fortunately, he had had a week of swim lessons under his belt and Bradley was right there.

Without firsts I guess there wouldn't be lasts.  Because I went into a chic store and surrendered my vulnerability towards high end fashion, I will NEVER try on expensive underwear again.  Because Carter fell into the lake for the first time, I will NEVER let him go fishing without a huge life jacket on until he is at least 19 years of age, no matter how shallow the water.  Total joke there, but some mother might go there, there's a first time for everything.  .  .

Schoooool's OUT FOR Summah!

Can you interpret my signing antics in the title?  I am a bit excited to nestle into home life with my two beautiful (read busy, busy, busy) boys, for the summer.  Although I LOVE my job, anyone who taught 50 weeks out of a year, AND was a mom, AND had a small side business, AND just lost their dad, may have to be institutionalized.

We started off of our summer by planting 2,500 pumpkin plants in the pumpkin patch.  Last year went really well, and we're hoping for another successful season.  As usual, Carter was a super helper and insisted on wearing gloves and kneepads like all of our other helpers.  Instead of taking over nine hours this year, we hired a few people, and had a few more volunteer and narrowed the time down to only four hours.  This year we have 20 varieties of pumpkins, even some pink colored ones!  Last year dad was a HUGE help on planting day and it was hard not to think of him during our horticultural efforts.

The boys and I also have been enjoying the nice play area that dad built for them every day too.  As I look around our home, it's hard not be reminded of his presence very often.  Carter randomly speaks of him every day too.  It always ends with, "But I just don't want my Biyah to go to heaven!".  He often asks questions that make me think (I am not crazy here) that he sees Biyah or he senses more than we do.  Today he asked who the lady is with Biyah in Heaven.  I told him that it's probably dad's mom.  He also told me today out of the blue that dad is holding Baby Paul in Heaven.  It's a hard thing to answer those questions, but it also brings comfort in knowing that Carter won't forget him.

This summer we have our garden to tend to, the Farmers' Markets to sell at, and our local stores who we will stock up with fresh, sustainably grown produce.  We also intend on doing some swim lessons, music lesson, library days, and play dates.  With nothing else left to say, I will end with a few pictures to start off summer!

Rodeos and the flu!

It's been almost a month since dad has passed, but it seems like forever ago.  Some days are harder than others, but not a day goes by that I am not reminded of all of the wonderful things he did for us.  Carter has pictures of the two of them in his room and also sleeps with a blanket covered with pictures of the two of them.  Mom stays busy and we try to include her in everything we are doing.  Going back to work has been great, I mean if you're going to be sad, the best place in the world to cheer you up is an elementary school in spring.

We recently had the annual Scott Valley Pleasure Park Rodeo here in Scott Valley.  Bradley and I never came from real "rodeo going" folk.  My dad always entered the horses in the parade, I think one year I organized an entry of kids when I was a kid, but anywho neither Bradley nor I went to the actual rodeo.  This year broke the mold.  The Thursday before the rodeo Carter was introduced to the idea of riding a sheep from his beloved Eileeny.  I picked him up from her house and he excitedly told me how me was going to the "ro day o" and going to ride a sheep with his cowboy hat and boots.  Like most things Carter gets excited about, I knew that I was doomed.  Over the next few days we tried everything: threats of shots, promises of blood, intimidating and PG - 13 youtube videos of young mutton busters suffering terrible fates.  Nothing phased the kid.  He was DETERMINED.  The day of the "ro day o" Carter enthusiastically tried to convince his twin buddies to join him.  He even skipped breakfast at Bob's to go sign up.

Sadly, being the non- rodeo goers that we are, we missed the cutoff time.  Not to be dream-killers we waited behind the chutes with an undeterred mutton-buster.  Meanwhile, the beginning symptoms of the flu were plaguing our family and my mom had locked herself out of her home being as how it was the first time she had ever slept alone in the house in 29 odd years.  Right before Carter was about to have his debut, Miles decided to leave a huge blowout all over Ne-ne's arm.  Quickly spot-cleaning our unhygenic mess, mom and I headed for the chutes with cameras in tow and a very cranky one year old.

Technically, Carter didn't have a number to mutton bust but we were told that out of the 30 who are usually signed up, at least half back out.  I have a thing against people who run races without registering and I felt that Karma was going to get me if I didn't properly register my young cowboy, but as soon as a chute opened up and Carter was offered a spot, ready or not here he went.  He held onto the sheep until he hit the first bump and then he let go.  Honestly, it was further than a lot of kids made it.  I was just proud of him for wanting to do something new and intimidating, and following through with it.  It didn't matter that neither he nor his parents had any experience, it was something he wanted to do and he followed through.  He even earned a gold dollar for his efforts.  Although I did feel bad about this recognition, seeing as how he wasn't officially registered, but I think we have a future of rodeos ahead of us as he proclaimed when he wiped his tears "Next year I'm going to ride a bull!"

Once the excitement of the rodeo wore off, the flu hit the men in our bunch full throttle.  One afternoon I think I was covered in equal amounts of diarrhea and vomit.  Carter and Miles synchronistically pooped and puked for a solid week.  Knock on wood, I haven't gotten it yet.  I'd like to think Dad has my back.