Naptime Roosters for Sick People

 

Sickness struck the McMurray household last Friday, and then Saturday, and then Monday. Phil has undiagnosed bronchitis, Deacon and I are just plain weak and feeble, and Bryce is sniffly (if only it was his immune system that was catching). Keeping three guys contentedly inside (when they all prefer to be outside) is no easy task. Thankfully, in addition to holiday food, movies, and general Advent festivities there is always the chance that dad will create some fun.

The upside of Phil being sick, is that I can dash off on errands during the day sans enfants (and really errands when you're childless are a drag, but solitary errands when you're a mom are a dream--an outing if you will). Wednesday I got to have morning coffee with an out of town friend (so fun!), and then this afternoon I plugged away on my to-buy list.

Today, just as I'd lunched, wiped, changed, medicined, and tucked-in the little ones, Phil bellowed, "Roosters!" He then proceeded to rescue Bryce and Deacon from the confines of their naps. All the while, I pretended to have no idea that anything was amiss and got ready for my outing. When I finally appeared at the door this is what I found: three sickies and two roosters (two with one shot that is). Since I'm horribly allergic to feathers (yes, having chickens isn't exactly sensible of me) immediately following the pics, the boys were scrubbed down with lye and dipped in sheep dip--then back to nap, and then au revoir por moi!

Thanksgiving Weekend Buck

 

Over the freezing creek, through the brush, to fetch our downed-buck we went. As you can see we had plenty of plastic fire power. Deacon poked him in the eye--to make sure he was dead? Or maybe that's just Deacon's trademark greeting.

The boys trudged through the brush, and wanted to try out their snow boots in the stream (but Mom & Dad were no fun and ferried them across instead). Bryce climbed up a steep ditch all by himself, and Deacon tried to--very hardy little men indeed.

And oh yes, the list of "things that have been in Lauren's trunk" is ever growing.

Mule Deer

 

Yea! Phil and the boys are enjoying themselves; the mule deer not so much.

This is Phil's first mule deer kill, and this is the first year Phil has purchased a mule deer tag. (And he probably wouldn't tell you that, but I'm proud of him, so I'm gonna tell ya!) He got up at 4 am, drove, hiked, hiked, hiked, lost 47 layers of skin off his feet and ankles, and then hiked some more. In the midst of all the hiking he got his mule deer, and the boys got to help with their first skinning (oh those childhood landmarks).

On the mend

 

While Deacon was confined indoors yesterday (and I think for the rest of the week there will no outside play for him), Bryce over-bundled himself up and went on a solo elk hunt, tucking his riffle into the back of his hot wheels.

Not to be outdone, Deacon hidey-holed himself under a red tote. But that's not all, you can sort of see a little train at the left. He was chugging the train about the interior of the tote, and thereby spinning himself in circles. It explained why the tote was traveling over the carpet. Cutie patooties.

Guns & Drums

 

What could possibly add to the pleasure of watching an elk hunting show with your (plastic) riffle by your side? Your drum (the sippy cup is a given).

I don't think I've shared info on one of the boys' favorite activities: watching elk-hunting shows. Deacon refers to these as, "Watch the deers!" To watch the deers [elk] one must first have a plastic riffle or shotgun (personal preference).

WSU Grizzly Bears

Bryce and Deacon were such great tag-a-longs today, cheerful as ever throughout all our tedious errands. As one errand took us to Pullman (oh the horrors of an eight mile drive), we stopped to see the WSU research grizzly bears. What a great day for it. Four large bears were out: two romping in the field, one napping, and one in clear view playing in a water tub; plus four frolicking baby bears. After a short time gazing at the bears in awe, Bryce and Deacon remembered that they'd thought to bring their trusty "guns" along. Both raced to the car and out came the plastic yellow/orange/green shotgun and the brown plastic riffle. I quickly wondered whether or not a good mother would let her children pretend to shoot research bears. At that point Bryce turned to me and said, "We've got to tell Daddy about shooting these bears." (Alas, I was camera-less, and I'm too daft to figure out how to transfer a photo from my cell phone to the computer.)
Thankfully we were the only visitors there, and none of the researchers shooed us off.

Shower Shotgun

Monday night our friend Kelly hosted a lovely shower for us, and this week I caught some great action shots of the kiddos modeling new clothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing compares the shared joy between the boys and Phil at the pair of nerf shotguns they received from Stephen & Susan. Above is Bryce moments after opening his shotgun. Bryce & Deacon slept with their guns, and brought them to breakfast the next morning--these are the faces I got in response to "smile".