Our friends and fellow travel partners are going through some pretty awful stuff. Go here to read about it. We were able to travel to Ethiopia with this awesome couple and were even able to meet little Silas. He is the reason (for those of you who know us) we play the game “ambusa”. Ambusa means lion in amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, and we saw Silas and his daddy, Dave, playing it. Our kids love it, Silas loved it.

Just a fantastic little boy, a fantastic family. If you believe in praying, please pray for them. If it’s karma go do something good on his behalf, etc. Just do it, because this little boy lights up this world.

And after that, go give your kids an extra kiss as they sleep because my goodness they are precious little people.

We found ourselves at the lakehouse this weekend. I don’t exaggerate at all by saying it was the perfect weekend. Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect food (albeit too much), etc. Words do not do justice, so pictures will have to!

Zachary doing a flip on the wakeboard. Yes, I’m married to that man.

Trysten trying to ski. Would’ve made it but he let go when the boat got loud. Nice.

Preciousness.

Tariku getting ready to ski.

Tariku learning how to dive.

Ugh too much.

Our chocolate lab, Aristotle, LOVED the lakehouse but mostly the lake. Seriously loved the lake.

Papa John took Trysten out on the jet ski, which he loved.

That’s my eldest, I loathe the day he doesn’t fit in my arms so nicely.

And the youngest (middle is tough to tackle for a pic these days) who continues to impress with her cuteness.

Went on the tubes, normal speed and everything!

My brother, Marcus, doing a Superman on the wakeboard. Impress stuff that guy puts down on that little board. For frame of reference, when I wakeboard I jump about 2 inches off the water but I scream like I’m doing what he’s doing.

The ladies on the tube.

All of us on a paddle boat. The dogs even followed. Abe got tired and tried to climb into the boat but as you can see, there was little room for a 160lb great dane.

Dailah with Marcus and Lindsey.

She took her driving very seriously.

A chip off the ole’ block.

Again, takes her job as person-who-makes-sure-no one-burns-their-lips very seriously.

The boys on the tube.

And Abe, the great dane. Also a very intimidating presence at any house.

Sinus infections suck, and I would know because I get them a lot. But have no fear, today was not without it’s high points.

During dinner we were asking the kids the typical best/worst part of the day questions. Then Zach asks Trysten what his best/least favorite part of school is. His best? New puzzles. His worst?

The other day a kid breathed in his face and he had reeeeeally bad breath.

I was laughing so hard, because I can sympathize. I hate halitosis.

Zach asked if it was worse than the first day of school when he didn’t get breakfast (don’t ask, low point in motherhood that involved a lot of crying–Trysten and hotflawedmama–and lots of apologizing–hotflawedmama–.)

Yes, he said. Worse than that, but the first day came in a close second.

The kid really hates bad breath.

In other news, my habesha is loving preschool. Three days a week he eats lunch there because his class dismisses during one of my classes. So last Thursday I picked him up and didn’t know whether to be proud or horrified at what I saw.

There’s Tariku, just cleaning the tables with a little washcloth while the daycare teachers are putting the toddlers down for their naps. They were all in the same room, but they had left the clean up to my 4-year-old.

Don’t feel too bad for him, he LOVES having responsibilities. He was so excited to show me the great work he did on their tables and can he do it for us too?

Today I felt just sick enough to let him. I think “whistle while he works” will be his new nickname.

Zach and I believe in the YMCA’s mission and values. It’s why we both work for the Y and it’s also the ONLY reason we would volunteer to coach all three kids’ soccer teams. I only partially joke, we do enjoy it most of the time. Thankfully, Trysten’s team had a guy step forward and beg to be the head coach so we happily obliged.

Anyway, Saturday was a morning of soccer. Both boys did really well. I have no qualms about saying they are both pretty good little players. What Trysten lacks in aggression, Tariku more than makes up for. It’s amazing how different they are on the field, even at this young of an age. But here are some pictures to show you.

Dailah, on the other hand. Oy! In the Pre-K division of the Y’s soccer the kids practice for 30 minutes then have a game for 30 minutes. I disagree with this wholeheartedly. Dailah and Eli were loving the first 30 minutes (as was the rest of the team). Limitless energy, pleas to play the other team, etc. Then after 30 minutes it all wore off. This is how they started…excited about the whole thing.

Even now, preparing for the game. Saying the YMCA pledge, getting encouragement from a special coach.

And then this, what we call “the shiteth has hitheth the faneth”.

We have 2 weeks until our next game. I hope she bucks up by then. 🙂 Good times, good times.

Tonight was Tariku and Dailah’s soccer practices. Zach and I are coaching all 3 kids’ teams so we thought we might as well just go for a 2-in-1 today. It rained ALL DAY but the kids had been looking forward to it so much that we kept practice on. Only a few diehards came out but they managed to have lots of fun. Dailah was most excited, though it was hard to tell if it was because of her new pink gear or the actual season starting.

Once we got to the field, however, she was ticked and refused to go anywhere. Why you ask? Well because she didn’t want to get her shoes dirty. Let’s clarify, she didn’t want to get her soccer shoes dirty. This girl thing is a whole new world for me. I realize I am one, but never that particular species of girl. So this was her reaction to me telling her to walk.

But after ignoring her (as a strategy, of course). She came around to this in no time at all.

After some practice we just let the kids go crazy in the puddles. What fun is it to be a kid if you can’t even jump in puddles, right? Trysten in the biggest puddle he could find.

Look at the brothers holding hands. Precious.

Tariku’s turn.

Tariku and Eli with their tongues hanging out. Oh, cousins.

Elihu just went for it. Over and over, my nephew did love him some puddles. (Oliver, not so much, he just watched).

Even Dailah had a change of heart and joined in the fun.

Yup, holding hands. May have been prompted. 🙂

Tried to get a good one of all of them.

But this is what most the shots looked like; which is still cute.

The wonder non-twins continue to have so much fun with each other. At a particular low point during practice I look over to see them holding themselves and pretending to urinate on the field. I’m sure you’re as impressed with that as I was.

Just a random picture of the kids watching cartoons in our bed. They did this all themselves.

Tariku was beyond excited. As in, here was excited, and he was out of sight. Way past. So cute. I’ve literally been counting the days down for him because he’s been so crazed about it. I think he built it up quite high and was slightly disappointed it was a mere 2.5 hours today. But man, was he excited.

Little harder than I thought to let him go. We walked into his room and saw his teacher. He walked right up to her, extended his little hand and said, “Hi, I’m Tariku, nice to meet you.” That’s no joke. His teacher looks at me, grabs him in a hug and says, “Well it’s a little early to have favorites but my goodness!”

I know, he’s just that cute. To know him is to love him. And that I do.

So every day, for 2.5 hours I’m a mom to just one child. I kept turning around today looking for the others. Very weird feeling. I miss both boys when they’re not here. Truth be told, I’ve enjoyed my one-on-one time with Dailah as well. Enough of the words, bring on the pictures, you say?

The flag he made when he met his first preschool teacher. The whole family is represented on there somewhere and he spelled his name at the top. Do you notice it looks like he combined some english and some amharic there? I was quite impressed.

And Dailah’s reaction to Tariku leaving her. She screamed “Chooo chee” (that’s what she calls him) for about 5 minutes after we dropped him off. Poor thing is so very attached to her older brother.

This is what I’m distracted about, water. Always, water. The beginning of Water for Christmas season is creeping upon us. My water posts will become more frequent. Our obsession with giving the world clean water will reach new heights. We’re at the precipice and we’ll be asking you to jump with us. Into a world full of clean water for everyone. So watch this video, please PLEASE watch this video. charity: water is who we partner with at Water for Christmas. It’s who you’ll partner with us when you join us this year. So watch the video and if you have a September birthday, like many people I love dearly, consider joining.

Pssst..check out one of the last ways they mention helping…

The story of charity: water – The 2009 September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

Did you see it? “Dance”. Ok, that was somewhat selfish but what are you going to do? Either way, there will be so many ways to help this season (and all year ’round). So stay tuned. Start praying, start thinking, start brainstorming how you’re going to allow water to flow through your family and friends. I look forward to hearing what you come up with!

This Friday we headed to the Iowa State Fair. Good times. I’m distracted, so that’s about all I have for you in words. But the pictures!

So much food, so little time. First stop was porkchops on a stick and beer.

If there’s something to climb on within 10 feet, this kid is on it.

It does sometimes get ridiculous how spoiled she is with love from her brothers.

See?

Always fans of tattoos.

My babies, oh my babies!

Yup, there were these too. Didn’t try them because even I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

This too. One of my mom’s favorite but the name threw me off completely.

Quite excited about the whole thing.

Ok, so I enjoy taking close ups of this face.

See?

Iowa State Fair…famous for cows made of butter.

Obligatory brother shot.

The big yellow slide, a success for everyone but Ms. Dailah.

1st grade. Ugh. It only gets worse, doesn’t it? 🙂 I actually think this was more difficult than Kindergarten. It was probably because he’s going to a new school, getting on a big yellow bus. New kids, knowing no one. I hardly slept last night worrying about it. He’s such a fragile one, this one. I don’t want kids to beat it out of him, or rather, I’m sure it’ll happen I just don’t want it to happen yet. My baby boy.

Anyway, Zach asked if he wanted to ride the bus the first day or have him (daddy) take Trysten. He opted for the bus. That’s how excited he was about it. In fact, he said, “Well, that’s a tough choice. I love daddy but I really want to go on the bus.” Pretty cute.

Lest I start balling over the computer I’ll commence to the pictures.

First, unpack your backpack last night.

In his class.

Happy for his brother.

Rodger Craig, apparently a good football player once went to Trysten’s new school. And no, in case you were wondering, this is not one of the reasons we chose it. 🙂

She packed her own backpack in hopes she could just sneak in.

And today. First day of school, waiting for the bus.

Getting on the bus. So excited. Thankfully I was hiding behind the camera so he couldn’t see a tear slip out. Sniff, sniff.

Tomorrow Zach and I are officially celebrating our 7th anniversary. So hard to believe. I still remember when we were kids (literally, we were just 20) making this huge decision. We had decided to get married, had most of the wedding details planned.

We rented a house in Iowa City where we’d start our lives together. Me, sitting on my couch wallowing knee deep in unfamiliar hormones, waiting for Zach to return from baseball. He walks in, just a quick look in my direction before heading to the kitchen. I was a bit “sassy” we’ll say, and he comes in with a rose to say sorry for being a little late. My hormones said something negative. He tells me to smell the flower, my hormones snap, “I know what a rose smells like.” Zach says, “Just please smell the flower.” As I put my nose in, my eyes see a beautiful solitaire engagement ring. My beloved surprised me.

Every day since I met the man has forced me to fall harder for him. When I say that he has made me a better person, I really don’t do what he’s done for me justice. I know the person I was before him and it’s not the person I am now, praise God!

He’s hilarious, he’s so intelligent, he’s the most handsome person and he chose me. Can you believe that? Against all odds, the guy chose me. I’m one lucky lady.

If the last 7 years are any indication, the next 70 will go by in a breeze. I have no doubts that I’ll love him more that day than even today which is incredibly difficult to imagine. Happy anniversary my love!