November 2015

 We're getting rain! For the past month or six weeks, we've consistently received rain one or two days a week. We've already had more rainfall than all of last winter. We are grateful for it. Hopefully, El Nino will make a real dent in our drought.

We had no school on Veteran's Day, so we drove down to Sunnyvale to hang out with Chrissy and Suzanne and their kids. It's crazy to see how big our crew is getting. It all started when Hazel was just Gemma's age ...

Gemma is obsessed with all things princess right now. She has several dresses that she wears around the house, and each one turns her into a different princess - Elsa, Rapunzel, and Ella (Cinderella) are her favorites. Each costume change, my identity also changes, from Prince Hans, to Flynn Rider, to Prince "Kitten."  I am always her "daddy." (i.e. boyfriend) If we are not acting the characters out ourselves, we are playing them with Barbie dolls. This is nonstop, literally all day long. Obsessed, I say.

We explored a new park one Saturday while Todd was at drill. I've been hearing about this legendary slide since we moved to Livermore, but hearing about it just does not do it justice. The thing is super long! The kids were all in love with it, and being adventurous in how fast or slow they went, or head first, or laying down backwards.

There is also a creek at the park, so when the kids needed a break from the slide, they went into exploring mode. They never even made it to the play structure, and we were there for a couple of hours. We will have to return - Mission Hills Park in Pleasanton.

Sometimes you've just gotta let the kids hang out naked. Movie nights, breakfast for dinner, and long bubble baths; this is the stuff life is made of when Todd is out of town. (He was gone for most of a week in the middle of the month - thank you, Army.)

Hide and seek is getting epic over here. Hazel has a million great ideas for hiding spots, and is so nice to hide Gemma before she runs off.  Gemma is really, really good at staying still and quiet for a long time - we're talking like 10 minutes. It took Todd quite a while to find her here in the playroom:

We had Thanksgiving dinner early at home, and I decided that I will never do that again. Thanksgiving is a potluck meal. Nothing is hard to make, but it's no fun to be in the kitchen all day long just to sit down for dinner with the kids like it's a regular night and have it all over with twenty minutes later. I was baking and cooking and washing dishes ALL DAY! For what? Potluck or bust, baby. If we don't join up with somebody else, I'm totally skipping it in the future.

We went to the movie theater to watch "The Good Dinosaur," which had looked so cute, but was a pretty big letdown. The last time we went to the theater was for Frozen. It's a big deal. Jack traded in his Halloween candy for his ticket, and Hazel spent $8 from her allowance bank to buy a ticket and not miss out. And it was not worth it. Bummer.

We spent the Thanksgiving long weekend at the beach in Watsonville. We rented a two-bedroom condo which was literally right on the sand. Here's our lodging, behind the kids:

We stayed for three nights, which was a new change for us. We generally have two-night getaways. The extra day made a positive difference. The whole trip was lovely. We relaxed and read a ton of books and played lots of games and did a lot of beach-combing. It was colder than we would have liked - at one point we were out there barefoot in puffy coats - but we had a sweet view from our condo, so we happily spent plenty of time indoors, watching the waves crash while we hung out there in front of the fireplace. We had the beach with us all day long, every day. Jack said he wished we lived there. He was so disappointed when we had to come home!

Hazel body boarded for a few minutes - just long enough to catch a wave - and then called it a day. It was pretty icy in the water!

During low tide, the water made these "islands" all over the beach. Hazel and Jack were in their own little world, walking along with their buckets, looking for shells and playing some make-believe game as they wandered far, far down the beach, at least a quarter mile, never looking back. They didn't even realize I was following them, they were so absorbed. I loved it!

We spent half a day at Point Lobos State Nature Preserve, hiking along the coast, looking at sea lions and otters, exploring the tide pools, and watching the sun set. That place is gorgeous! Todd and the kids found multiple abalone shells - the prized treasure of the tide pools!

This year was the first time our gratitude tree really took off and became a way to reflect on our blessings all month long. Hazel and Jack can both write now, and they were excited to come back to the tree in the days and weeks after our initial FHE lesson and add more leaves, listing things they were grateful for. This is one of my favorite traditions.

October 2015

Grammie and Poppa came to visit us in early October. We had a lot of fun with them! They brought yummy, flavorful apples from their trees and we made applesauce and caramel apples.

Grammie brought a bunch of wooden bric-a-brac with her, and then kids picked some out to paint. 

We loved having them come out and spend time with us.

We had a few days off from school, and used the opportunity to take a family trip. Right now, leaving and spending the night somewhere else is the best way I've found to get some concentrated, focused time n with Todd. Balancing work and home when you work at home is hard!

Anyway, we rented a cabin in Sonora, California. We spent a day at Calveras Big Trees State Park, hiking among the redwoods. Gemma loved the giant pinecones!

We danced on top of this beast.

We saw some deer ahead on the trail. The kids snuck up on them, but they didn't ever run away. It was so cool to stand so close to them and just watch them for a while, without them running away!

Another day on our trip was spent at Columbia - Gold Country! Todd was so excited for the kids to experience gold panning. It was pretty fake where we were at, though. Good results! Not so authentic. He wants to give it another go at a river or something, but I haven't got that kind of time!

Halloween seemed to last forever this year! We had our ward party two weeks before the big day, and I think that was a big part of it. So the costumes and candy just dragged on for weeks!

I couldn't believe Gemma held still long enough for us to wrap her up as a toilet paper mummy! 

Luckily, this year's costumes were pretty simple. The kids wanted to be Lego Elves - from this set of toys they love to play with. A monochromatic outfit, some scotch tape on their ears, and botta bing, botta boom, they were elves!

We went to a local pumpkin patch for FHE and had the place pretty much to ourselves because - as we found out - they were about to close! We stuck around after the announcement until an employee came and shooed us out. The kids loved the haystack maze, and we all really enjoyed playing in the corn box!

Hazel's been reading, reading, all the time, everywhere you look. Almost every night after we put the kids to bed, we hear her turning pages. She brings books to school to read after she finishes her work. Sometimes she's so riveted to the page that she brings a book out with her to read while she eats breakfast. She is blowing through our Junie B. Jones collection. She's started a series called The Critter Club. I'd love more suggestions for simple chapter books!

Gemma and I went with Jack's preschool class on a field trip to a pumpkin patch and my heart was breaking all morning. He just seems so old suddenly. I don't want to send him to kindergarten next year!

My little wild thing is getting huge, too. Not fair!

I went with my friends Maggie and Karrie to a corn maze. It was fun! I hadn't been to one in years.

Jack loved hammering pegs into a pumpkin at his preschool Halloween party. He may not be a rough and tumble, fight and destroy, kind of boy, but he definitely loves tools in any shape or form.

We saved carving jack-o'-lanterns until Halloween day a) so they wouldn't mold on the porch, and b) because we didn't have a good time for the whole family to be together to work on it until that day. Turns out, we still didn't have the whole family together for it - we did them during Gemma's nap! Oh well.

The kids loved trick-or-treating. We stated in our own neighborhood this year, and just went around to the homes within walking distance of our house. Literally, only about one out of every 8 houses were even giving out candy, but every single one who was told the kids to take several pieces, if not a handful or two. We probably hit 15, maybe 20 houses, and their pumpkin baskets were filled to the brim. Gemma was running all over tarnation, she loved being out in costume, in the dark, so much! 

Guys, that is just way too much candy! How can you stand to let your kids eat it all? We let them each pick out six pieces, then packed the rest up. Hazel and Gemma traded theirs in for a toy, and Jack turned his in for a movie theater ticket. Am I a Halloween scrooge, or a genius?

September 2015

Jack started Pre-K the first week of September.  He is back at the same school he attended last year, Hoot Hoot Preschool with Miss Diana, but going three days a week instead of two. Three of the kids in his class moved up with him, and two are new, so it was a good mix of familiar with a chance to reach out and make new friends as well. When I picked him up his first day, his teacher pulled me aside and asked in an astounded voice, "When did Jack learn to read?" She tested him on fluency a week or two later and said he is reading at a 3rd grade level. I believe it. This boy picks up books whenever he has down time, and reads over my shoulder as well. He is just very, very interested in learning. He is trying to keep up with Hazel's first grade math homework as well. 

Jack gave his first talk in primary this month. He was asked to share his testimony on prayer. At home, I asked him what he knew about prayer and wrote it down. Jack read it independently at the microphone while I sat in the audience and videotaped it. He was clear and confident. When he sat down next to me, I asked him if he had been nervous, and he rolled his eyes at me and said no. 

Hazel lost one of her front teeth - the week before school pictures! How classic is that for a first grader? Her lisp is priceless. Luckily, she is good natured about laughing along with me about it. 

Hazel and Gemma traded bedrooms, so Hazel has her own room now. It vacillates between chaos and perfect organization. She loves to straighten things up in a major overhaul, but for the most part, this little lady is a pack rat and a junk collector. It's been good for her to have no one else to blame for the mess, so she can learn to take more responsibility for it. She has a secret stash of books and flashlights in her room and reads to herself after we put her to bed every night. She thinks we don't know, as she quickly hides the light under her blanket and closes her eyes every time we walk past her room. I can't bear to stop her, as I think reading is just about the best pastime possible. 

I do a babysitting swap with my friend Maggie each week so she and I can take the opportunity to volunteer in our school kid's classes. We do it while Jack is at preschool, so it's just a fun time for our two-year-olds to play together. Last week at my house, Grace was playing with the baby stroller pretty much the whole time, which made Gemma want it, of course. Our general line in our family in those situations is, "Can I play with it when you're done?" and then the other person passes the item on as soon as they're ready to play with something else. It almost always works fine. But Grace isn't in on the deal, and was not giving up the stroller for the life of her. I was so impressed when, an hour into this, Gemma calmly asked on her own, "Can we push it together?" and Grace happily agreed. The two of them took the stroller for a walk around the kitchen island for the next ten minutes, singing a chanty I made up right then about how "working together is awesome!" 

I don't have a carpool this year, so every morning, I get up at 6:30, exercise, then wake up all three kids and get them dressed and fed and out the door. It was pretty rough for the first couple of weeks of school, but we're in the rhythm now, and I don't mind it much. Jack and Gemma and I usually meet up with some friends on the playground for 15 minutes or so after school starts. We all really look forward to that. 

Todd's been working like a maniac most of the month, waking up at 5am almost every day and almost always working some more after the kids are in bed. The evenings he doesn't get back to work, he often falls asleep on the couch. One night, he fell asleep at 7:30 - while I was still reading stories to the kids. Hazel tucked him in. He got up a couple of hours later and went straight to bed. Poor guy. Between his very busy job, flying helicopters, and being Scoutmaster at church, he's pretty maxed out. 

It was my birthday on the 21st. I had a nice, relaxing day, complete with lunch with friends, the afternoon at a pool, and take-out for dinner. The family "surprised" me with the rain jacket I had picked out at REI a couple of days before. The following weekend, I had a massage and pedicure.

Speaking of massages, I think we've found a way to motivate me to stop eating treats so all my exercise can pay off and I can lose 15 pounds. Todd promised me that once I reach my goal weight, I can go to the spa for a professional massage every single month that I maintain that weight. What the what?! That glorious vision has made it easy for me to rank the worth of a pastry this week. Wish me luck in my endeavor!

Can I just say that I live in a beautiful place? I was biking with Jack and Gemma in the trailer and had to stop to take a picture of the sky, it was so beautiful. I'm grateful for a body that can see and appreciate the glories of God's creations.

August 2015

We met up with our friends the Naseath's at our favorite old beach, Manresa (south of Santa Cruz) the first Saturday in August. We picked up wetsuits for Hazel and Jack on the way. We've been debating whether or not to spend the money on wetsuits for them for about two years now; we finally decided to do it (because the water is cold! and they'll have more fun in the water with them!) and lucked out by driving right by an O'Neil outlet while we were looking for a spot to buy them. We got both their suits for less than the price of one new one - totally justifying it in our eyes. And it was lots of fun. We stayed for hours.

Hazel has such a wonderful vision for creating things. She built a ton of houses and sets this summer - a school in the backyard, a house for their stuffed puppies, and, pictured below, a throne room for Princess Gemma. I have a hard time living with the boxes all over, but I love her creative spirit.

The kids love to go geo-caching with Todd. We take a nice family walk in some gorgeous location, then go off the path on a treasure hunt to trade our junk for someone else's.

I'm still into green smoothies. They're mostly spinach and fruit, and it's still a hit or miss battle to get the kids to drink them as well, but I love how easy they make it for me to get in my proper daily fruit and vegetable servings.

We went camping in Big Basin for a couple of nights. We camped here three summers ago, and loved how the tent cabins provide a warmer, softer place to sleep. The kids had a fabulous time playing in the huge redwoods. The scale made it quite natural for them to pretend to be elves almost the whole time. Their names: Farrin, Sapphire, and Naida. It was so fun to be in make-believe world all day long.

Our primary group took a trip over to the Oakland Temple the last week of summer. We toured the Visitor's Center, watched a video, listened to a storyteller on the grounds while we ate lunch, and walked up to the temple to touch the walls and feel the spirit of that sacred building.

I took the kids to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. They saw a whole room of owls and hawks. There was a great horned owl perched right next to the window at their eye level. It was pretty cool.

Hazel and Jack have been saving every penny of their allowance all summer, trying to earn enough money to purchase a Lego Elf set with their combined earnings. They helped me clean out the playroom and sat on the curb for several hours, hawking old toys for a nickel apiece, trying to speed up the process. They made a couple of bucks.

Hazel started first grade last week. Her best friend Mary is in her class, which is such a blessing. It has helped the whole transition be almost painless. Hazel still wishes she had her kindergarten teacher, but she's in good hands. I can't wait to start working in the classroom so I can get a better picture of what her day is like.

We have a traditional first day of school giant cookie, which she eats while she tells me every single detail of her day.

Our garden is sadly limping along. Everything died except for the tomatoes. Thank goodness for our lovely garden tomatoes! Those plants still look dried out and limp, but they are producing some delicious garden candy nonetheless. We're hoping for better results across the board on our next attempt.