December 2015

Our beautiful Hazel turned seven on December 1st. Per tradition, we had steak for dinner. This time it was especially delicious, because we bought half a cow! We've got a freezer full of fresh, grass-fed beef, and yes, you can definitely taste the difference. 

This lovely lady is rambunctious, helpful, sensitive, silly, creative, smart, and spiritual. She impresses me with her talents and personality. She always has been really cool and interesting and kind and good, and is only becoming more so as time passes. 

She got a simple sewing kit for one of her presents, with pre-cut material to make cute little stuffed animals. We had just finished reading Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox together during our beach trip, so she was excited to make the fox first, and yes, she did, in fact, name him Fantastic Mr. Fox. She's so cute!

 I decided I wanted to do an outing with a friend this year for a birthday celebration, instead of hosting groups of crazies at my house. So we brainstormed options, and Hazel chose to bring Jack and her best friend Mary to a pottery painting spot. The kids got to pick out their pottery piece and paint colors, and do all the painting themselves. Jack was very methodical and serious with his Christmas tree. Hazel was a lot more hasty and impatient with her peacock bank. She surprised me. She loves art, and I thought she'd put more time into her project, but she didn't seem to like the fact that every color needed three coats and time to dry. Maybe she was just excited to be having her "party," I don't know, but Todd and I determined she needs more opportunities to practice being patient. Sewing classes? Piano lessons? Something! It's a skill she could use some work with. The bank turned out pretty still, and she was happy with it, thankfully.

I like to interview the kids around their birthday to see what their favorites are and track how their interests change over the years. Here are Hazel's questions and answers this year:

Favorite color - purple

Favorite toy - Cheep-Cheep Bird and Cheeto the stuffed cheetah

Favorite movie - Despicable Me 2

Favorite animal - cheetah and owl

Favorite book - Junie B. Jones books (so true! She's devoured all of them.)

Favorite song - Crazy Frog

Best friend - Mary Tree

What do you like to do outside? Play on the swings and jump on the trampoline.

What do you like to sleep with? Soccer Ball (her stuffed penguin) and two pillows stacked together.

What do you want to be when you grow up? An artist

Favorite food - steak

Where is your favorite place to go? San Diego

What do you do really well? Art, reading, playing

Three words that describe you - artist, reader, eater (also true! She is always snacking.)

Favorite season - winter, because it snows

One food you really dislike - mashed potatoes

If you had one wish, it would be - to get a pet dog.

What makes you laugh? Potty talk.

What are you afraid of? I don't know.

What do you like to do with your family? Go on vacations 'cause that's when we get to spend the most time together.

What do you love to learn about? Writing.

We went Christmas tree hunting the first weekend in December. We are so desperately sad that we don't have vaulted ceilings, so we don't have anywhere to put a massive tree. But we love searching for one that's just right; well-shaped and fragrant and nice and green, with good, strong branches for all our ornaments. All the kids loved the hunt - it was fun to see Gemma getting into the tradition, and talking about it excitedly for days afterward.

I don't remember when I took this picture - some morning we chose to bike Hazel to school, maybe - but I just LOVE the way I caught Jack laughing. I'm sure Gemma was giggling, too, before I pulled out my phone to take a picture, so it's a bummer I didn't capture that, too. But, man, look how free he is! Awesome, I say.

play with Gemma
ride bike
read & write

Rapunzel Lego set
motor cat
surprises
own watch

Gemma is at a fun and hard stage. She's getting big, and she's still little. There's lots of cuddling and holding, and lots of pouting when she doesn't get her way. There's also lots of laughing and imaginative play and new independence and something new she's doing every few days.

Gemma rocks at hide and go seek. Sometimes games start up spontaneously, as in when I'm trying to get her to put on her socks and shoes so we can get out the door.

This is her stink-eye pirate face. She makes it every. single. time she starts crying, for reals or for pretend. Right eye squinting, left eye bulging, lips pouting. So funny! 

Hazel lost teeth left and right this month - literally! Three teeth gone in a matter of weeks, and another one not too long ago, so she's got gaping holes in her mouth right now. She still tries to eat apples whole, but admitted it's a lot easier to eat them if I slice them up.

The kids were invited to dress up like angels and shepherds for our Church Christmas party. I wasn't excited about it, but gratefully, Hazel was. She whipped up some great looking get-ups in a matter of minutes and had everyone excited about participating. She is great at stepping up to the leadership role in moments like that. 

The kids unwrapped their Christmas present from Todd and me a couple of weeks early. Once they had their puzzle taped together, they turned it over to learn that we were taking them to... Disneyland! 

It's not my favorite place on earth, but it was fun to be able to give that gift to my kiddos. We wore them out, but they had a great time. Hazel's favorite part was riding California Screamin'. Yeah, that was a blast. It was cute to hear her cute, short scream bursts every time the roller coaster started up or down a hill.

Tom Sawyer Island

Jack enjoyed several of the rides (notably, all fairly calm ones - Golden Zephyr, Soarin' Over California, Little Mermaid) and also thought it was pretty great to meet Tinker Bell and Silvermist.

Gemma, of course, absolutely loved meeting all of the princesses.

Everyone enjoyed playing with the snow at Olaf's winter village. We need to try to get them out to see some real snow in the mountains somewhere this winter... They all think it's so cool. 

It was a little chilly for most of our visit, but warmed up quite nicely our last morning. We spent some time at the pool before we checked out of the hotel. We definitely need to get them in the water more often; I feel like Jack has forgotten everything he learned in swimming lessons over the summer!

The kids loved the bunk bed trundle in the hotel room. It was pretty sweet. 

Jack found a paper and pen and wrote Todd and me this note as soon as we got home - literally as we were unloading the van.

"Thank you for going to Disneyland." 

All the kids were playing Pixie Hollow for the next several days after we got home.

We baked gingerbread boys and girls on Christmas Eve, decorating several for Santa. Then we watched the Church's recent Nativity movie and read Luke 2 and sang some Christmas hymns before sending the kids off to bed.

Translation: "Here is a tool for the elves. Love Hazel." She is always thinking of the people everyone else forgets about. Also, her doll Melody made cookies as well.

Christmas morning! Look at my cuties. 

Santa gave Hazel a desk (and a purple chair! and a purple lamp! and a purple desk organizer!). She's been yearning for a desk for a long, long time. She needs a creative space of her own. So far, she loves it!

Santa gave Jack a LeapPad 3. He was stoked! He's been having tons of fun on it, and it's adorable to see him hanging out, playing on his screen with his earphones on. We've been using it as motivation to eat his dinner during dinnertime (!!!). But two weeks later, we kinda wish Santa would have put the money towards some really cool apps for the iPad we already have and just let the kids play on it more often. The LeapPad is not quite as cool as we wish it was.

Santa gave Gemma some more match cars and a sweet ramp they can ride on. Nursery has something similar and she's always playing on it.

Aunt Beany gave the kids a marble run. Boy, has that been a hit! Hazel and Jack both tinker with it every day and make a new setup for it. They love it!

Todd and I have been capitalizing on the fact that Hazel and Jack both read - and read - and read to themselves and have started up a new family tradition: Silent Reading Time! If we announce it, they accept it, and we can sit down and read our own novels for a good solid half an hour or more without any of the kids asking us to read to them. We all just sit and quietly read, as the soft sound of turning pages fills my heart with unspeakable joy.

After three weeks with no school (we pulled them out early for Disneyland), Hazel finally admitted she missed it and was bored at home all day. She was pretty excited about my idea to play school, and set it all up. Little did she know I was going to use the opportunity to help her brush up on her reading and math skills we haven't worked on at all during the break. Ha ha! The kids worked at their "desks" for about an hour, then we went outside to ride bikes for "recess."

Gemma successfully potty trained over the Christmas break! With no schedules, and lots of rain in the forecast, and she was definitely interested, it was the perfect time to give it a try. I hated the first two days and was truly just about to quit and try again in a few months, but luckily, Todd guilted me into giving it another day. And it took! By day four, she was solid. She hasn't had a single accident in the two weeks since. It was the perfect time for her. So crazy, no more diapers - we're moving into a new phase of parenthood!

I gave Gemma driving lessons a few days ago. Usually, she sits between Hazel's legs while she drives the kid jeep, but this day, Jack and Hazel had run into the neighbor's house, and Gemma was pushing buttons left and right, and I decided to try to coach her, and she started to get the hang of it! She's so big - panties and driving, all in the same week! Ha.

We hosted a New Year's Eve sleepover with our best friends from Sunnyvale, the Hopes and the Dixes. What a blast! We had a potluck dinner and a potluck breakfast, and in between there was plenty of games and running around and laughing and catching up with our California "family." I couldn't stop feeling grateful we had a space big enough to get us all together under one roof.

So, I thought we could tell the kids it was midnight at 9:00, bang some pots and pans and put them to bed, hang out with the adults for a game or two, and go to bed ourselves about 10:30. Um, not quite. I guess we do have quite a few kids who can tell time now. Long story short, we had the kids in bed by 10, but a few of them did, in fact, stay up until midnight. We adults stalled, waiting for them to conk out, then got caught up in the fun of being together and stayed up way too long - I think it was 1:30 - talking and laughing and having a total blast. And we felt the hangover for the next several days! But it was totally worth it. I see a new tradition in our future...

The next day we went out for a bit of geo-caching before everyone hit the road. The kids seemed to have a great time treasure hunting, but holy cow, it was freezing! We California weenies were dying - it was definitely in the 40s, and windy, too. Look at Todd's hunched up shoulders! By the way, that's the exact same pose he graced us with in all our wedding pictures, too. The man's too skinny for the cold!

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?