December 2014

 December First was Hazel's sixth birthday.  It was also her first day back at school after Thanksgiving break.  She looked like a ragamuffin because I said she could wear anything she wanted to school and she chose her old, fluorescent preschool t-shirt.  She also did not want me to do anything with her hair other than brush it.  She talked her teacher into giving her a tooth necklace even though she didn't lose her tooth at school (it came out on Thanksgiving) and she seemed to have a very happy day.  We gave her a rainbow loom and beading supplies to make necklaces.

We had a birthday party with friends the following afternoon.  She and all her buddies were very hyper.  I've resolved to limit the guest list to just two or three friends in the future.

Here are Hazel's answers to some questions I asked her about her favorites:

Favorite color: purple
Favorite toy: stuffed cheetah
Favorite movie: Little Rascals
Favorite book: Half Magic, "mostly all the books"
Favorite song: Crazy Frog, Let's Get Down to Business (from Mulan), anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks
Best Friend: Sierra (lives across the culdesac)
Likes to do outside: make potions, jump on the trampoline
What do you like to sleep with: all my stuffed animals
What do you want to be when you grow up? veterinarian
Favorite food: steak
Where is your favorite place to go? Disneyland and Lake Powell
What do you do really well: draw
Three words that describe me: fast, artistic, care about people
Favorite season: winter, when it snows
One food I really dislike is: I hate hate hate hate those disgusting soups!
If I had one wish it would be: to have a doll trailer for Melody (her doll)
What makes you laugh: when Jack does the booty dance
What are you afraid of: bad dreams
What do you like to do with your family? go on (one-on-one) dates
What do you love to learn about: floods, cheetahs, chipmunks

We sure are glad to have this spunky lady in our family!

We cut down our own Christmas tree again this year, but we were all a bit lackluster about it, because we don't have vaulted ceilings and couldn't get a very tall tree.

We spent one night driving around, finding all the local Christmas light displays to check out.

Another day we went to the beach at Half Moon Bay.  This might be the first time we've been to the beach in December.  I couldn't believe how green the area was!  It was gorgeous. We played in the sand, hunted for shells, ate at "The Fish Restaurant," and watched people fish for crabs off a pier.

The kids have loved having Hazel home from school for the break.  The three of them have done a great job of playing all together.  Most of my pictures from this month were of the three of them together.  It makes my heart happy to see them all happy in a group.

A few days before school let out, Hazel's teacher told me, "Your daughter doesn't know it yet, but she can read and write."  I was so excited! Hazel gets mad and doesn't want to work at it, but she's on the verge.  I pulled out some beginning reader books and have started making her read them to me.  She hates it, but it's thrilling for me to hear her read.  She does love to pull out books she has memorized and read to Gemma and Jack.  She just needs a bit more practice and confidence, and she'll take off.  

On Christmas Eve, we made gingerbread cookies.  We decided to do that instead of houses, and I loved it!  It was so much easier and plenty of fun.  That night, we had a devotional, read Luke 2, watched a Nativity video, sang some carols.

Christmas morning, Hazel's six months of pining for a doll trailer met a glorious end.  Look at that face! How could Santa not give her what she'd been begging for since summer?

December 26th was Todd's birthday.  I thought I was making all his wildest dreams come true by sending him off to Home Depot to pick out the tool of his choice, but all I did was stress him out.  He spent over an hour online before ultimately deciding he could get more for less on Amazon, and he had to wait more than a week to actually see his gift.  But he now has a very manly miter saw and router, and plans to build shoe storage and doll beds in the very near future.

During the break, we spent a day at the Oakland Zoo, then took the kids to the temple while we were close by.

Tonight, for New Year's Eve, we plan to pop popcorn, play games, watch movies, and change the clocks to so that it looks like midnight at 9:00.  We'll bang some pots and pans, then send the kiddos off to bed.

November 2014

November in a nutshell:

We had family pictures taken.

Todd and I celebrated our 10th anniversary.  We went indoor go kart racing, something we did once back when we were dating.  We're planning a trip, but can't decide how big or small to make it.

A friend gave us a kid jeep they didn't have room for.  It's been a big hit, and a perfect fit for the culdesac.  Jack, especially, loves it.

We had a visit from our best friends from Sunnyvale (Chrissy, Suzanne, and Olivia, and kids).  The kiddos played great together; lots of Legos and creating things out of wood scraps in the backyard.

I gave Gemma her first haircut.  I didn't touch the front, which is still all short and in her eyes, but I trimmed the mullet into a nice A-line.  I love how it looks.

 We drove to Utah for Thanksgiving and stayed a little over a week, spending some time with each of our parents, as well as crashing with the cousins in Lehi for a couple of days.  We had too good of a visit; it has left Todd and me both quite homesick and wishing we lived closer to family.  That's what we get for coming before the snow hits!

Hazel lost her first tooth on Thanksgiving Day.  She was thrilled about it.

October 2014

 The best part of October for us was the long weekend we spent up at Lassen Volcanic Park on a family vacation.  No work, no cell phone coverage, no schedules, no distractions, just pure, unadulterated Family Time.  We stayed in a cabin in the woods - basically a two-bedroom apartment in the mountains.  It was awesome!

We brought the kids' bikes, and with no toys and no TV or books or any reason, really, to stay inside, they played out in the woods constantly.  There was a very shallow stream that ran through the back, and Hazel especially loved collecting moss and water skeeters and playing near the water.  Everyone got very, very dirty each day, then took a warm bath and slept in a real bed.  Paradise!

Todd and I took the kids on a walk through a lava tube...

and on a hike that showcased geothermal elements.  A mini Yellowstone.

My very favorite part of the trip was watching my three kids hike together, hand in hand, for over ten minutes without anyone letting go.  We had some serious family bonding, people!  

One night we made s'mores over a campfire.  The next we popped popcorn and told ghost stories and ran around with glow bracelets on.

 Todd and I blew through three novels (one each, plus one to read together).  It was bliss.  The kids kept staying they wished we lived there all the time.  Our last night, as we got ready for bed, Hazel said she wished she could turn back time and we could experience our family trip all over again.  It was that good.

We didn't go to a pumpkin patch as a family because Hazel and Jack were both going with their schools on field trips.  I feel a little ripped off.  I feel bad that I don't have a single picture of Hazel at a pumpkin patch!  It's been a serious tradition every year!  I did go with Jack's group, though, and I'm glad I did, because he totally loved it.

We carved pumpkins too early, and they went rotten after about a week.  Then we carved pumpkins again and they turned moldy after only two days.  What gives?!  Do I seriously have to dip those things in bleach to preserve them?  

Gemma is getting more and more vivacious each day.  Common words we use to describe her include  sassy, feisty, and wild thing.  She's talking more and more. Two of her most popular catch phrases right now are "stink bomb" (what we call poopy diapers) and "crazy frog' (requesting a song the kids think the Minions sing and love to listen to over and over again).  She loves to read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See" over and over again.  She wants to clip all her own buckles and pull up her own pants and brush her own teeth and is very, very insistent that "Gemma do it," or "My turn!" 

Jack is getting more social and less cuddly (sob!) and spends hours, literally hours, playing with Barbie dolls, changing their clothes and requesting new hairstyles for them.  He is extremely literate-aware right now, spotting letters sight words everywhere.  Speaking of which, he's memorizing the sight words Hazel's learning in school.  They're going to learn how to read together, it looks like.  

He's starting to write his name, too!  And finally, he's interested in coloring.  

Hazel is doing great work in school.  She gets some peer pressure from a kid at her table to race through their work and be the first one done, but she usually exhibits self-control and tries to make all her work look her best.  Her teacher encourages them to add details to old work if they have extra time, and some of her papers come home with pretty elaborate coloring jobs.  She was awarded Student of the Month for Respect.  I'm thrilled that Hazel's showing her best self at school, because her best self is a pretty incredible kid, and her worst self is kind of a pain in the neck.  I'm glad she saves that stuff for home.

Hazel's best friends with a girl in he class named Ashley.  She's always drawing pictures for her and making her little gifts.  Last week, she got hold of a bag of buttons I had in my sewing supplies and started stringing necklaces.  She wore one to school, Ashley complimented her on it, Hazel promised to make her one.  That afternoon at home, she not only took ten minutes to string up a button necklace, but she then proceeded to look for a box to put it in, wrapped in in gift wrap, and made Ashley a card with her very own, original version of the "Roses are red" poem about Ashley being her best friend.  It was all a bit over the top.  That's Hazel for you.  She's got a big heart and she loves to create.

She's also quite an artist.  She made this game board for me to use at our church Halloween party.  Cute, huh?

Partners in crime

 I spent every spare moment I had in October - and I literally mean every nap time and evening I could - sewing bat costumes for the entire family.  Hazel had the idea to be a vampire bat, Jack wanted to copy her, she was mad he was copying her, she felt better when we negotiated that all five of us would be bats, and what could have been a manageable project turned into a bit of a nightmare. Fifty bucks and twenty hours later, they were finally done.  Totally not worth it.  They'd better wear those dang costumes again sometime!  (I doubt Todd and I will be wearing ours; that's a little weird.)

It was cute and fun for the ward party and for truck or treating, though.  Here's my only real "action shot."

I made the kids put their costumes back on this morning so I could get some more pictures.  It's not quite the same in PJs, but it'll do.

The day after Halloween, we negotiated with the kids. They picked out five or six of their best pieces of candy, and turned over the rest in exchange for new Legos.  Win-win.