February 2023

 Todd and I met with the elementary school principal and asked for Gemma to be moved to a different teacher. She had been coming home with too many reports of her teacher yelling and having a lack of classroom management. On top of some major disorganization we've experienced throughout the school year, that propelled Todd and me into action. We were pleased with how seriously Principal Angelo took our concerns, and we have been grateful for the positive differences we have seen in Gemma's new classroom. We only wish we had moved her sooner. 

Jack continues to adore everything Asian. His latest obsession is boba, a drink made with little gelatinous balls you can suck up through a chubby straw. He invited Juno over to help him make a homemade batch, and then everyone was curious about a side-by-side comparison with a store bought type, so we headed over to Boba & More. 

I was impressed with the shop. There was plenty of entertainment and fun decor - ping pong, air hockey, Pac Man, sidewalk chalk walls, and a side shop of K-Pop paraphernalia. The drink ... let's just say I'll give all my future boba to Jack. 

Jack had his first piano recital since switching to Beth Tomlin. He did such a great job! I loved watching him sway on the piano bench, feeling the emotion in his pieces. He does a great job practicing consistently and working on the details of his music. His technique has improved quite a bit this year. 

We went to a Piano Guys concert in San Jose. (Santa gave us the tickets.) It was a late night, but it was totally worth it. They were fun and the music was awesome. 

We went to see Aunt Erika's new house in Alameda. We watched funny youtube videos, 

"Activewear, activewear. buying activewear in my activewear." 

"Work those thighs; sanitize!" 

And everyone was enamored with Erika's Nicholas Cage reversible sequin pillow. 

Todd took Gemma and Jack skiing while I worked on a Relief Society lesson I was asked to teach and Hazel had a social Saturday full of youth breakfast, a friends' birthday party, and a youth dance.

My lesson was on equal marriage partnerships, and I was excited for the opportunity to talk about Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father giving us the best model to follow. 

We went to see Juno's latest bunny batch. 

We had a nice Valentine's Day. Todd even met me for lunch in the middle of his work day! Everyone gave each other love notes and seemed to treat each other especially well. 

I then kickstarted what I hope to be 100 days of eating low carb. I am doing a terrific job of sacrificing bread and pasta. It is a lot harder for me to say no thanks to cookies. Overall, I'm eating lots better and feeling less puffy. 

Jack has enjoyed being on the school volleyball team. He's made friends with several of the other boys, grown in confidence, and shown a lot of responsibility. We're glad he had the opportunity to try it out. 

Jack is still putting his crocheting skills to good use. He made this darling koala for his music teacher and spearheaded a birthday poster-signing campaign, too. 

We hosted the Turri's up at our cabin over President's Day weekend. Ollie got sick just before, so he stayed home with Jason, but we had Kalin up with Verona, Brady, and Carson. It was a wild time. I think we underestimated how untamed those kids are. The sun was out, so it was gorgeous. Hazel and Jack drove them on snowmobiles all around the neighborhood, and there was plenty of sledding to be had. I'm glad it was so easy to be outside for most of the visit. 

After the Turri's left Monday morning, we took the opportunity to go for a family snowmobile ride up beyond Lake Alpine. It was a quiet, calming, restorative time to get us all back in balance after the Turri wildness. 

Livermore High had an Expo Night. We got all sorts of questions answered about their programs and classes so we could determine what classes to register for Hazel for next year. 

We had the George's up to the cabin the next weekend. The weather was far less cooperative - slippery roads and grey skies - but the company was easy to be around. The kids played constantly, Katie and I fit in several fun games, and Todd and Ryan had plenty to talk about. 

The highlight may have been finding this massive sledding track someone else had laboriously created with snowshoes, and pulling the kids back up to the top again and again on sleds pulled by the snowmobiles. 

There has been so. much. snow. this winter! This is the front of our cabin. 

Hazel has been taking an art class through the community. This beauty is the first project she has brought home, acrylic on canvas. She has put in a lot of work practicing hands! 

Gemma researched the Gabrielino tribe for a school report, and she made a tule grass skirt to present with her presentation. She was proud to be able to do it almost all independently. 

My favorite tree down the trail is in blossom. It smells amazing! I love passing it. It makes me so happy. 

January 2023

We were all out running errands together or something (I don't remember what) when it was time for Jack's piano lesson over Christmas break. The rest of us went for a hike in the nearby hills while we waited. We were all (some less excitedly than others, hem hem, Hazel) sporting our new packable puffers. Gemma found a newt on the trail. It was windy, and rainy, and muddy, so slightly undesirable conditions, but it was a delight to be in the green hills anyway. 

We left Gemma with a friend and the rest of us took Jack to the temple for his first time doing baptisms. He brought family names with him - he is so ready! We took a walk around the rooftop gardens as well - he wanted the full experience. It was nice to be there with Jack and Hazel. Since the temple protocols encourage you to bring someone who can do the baptizing, most of the time Todd has gone with Hazel while I have stayed home with the other kids. I'm looking forward to Gemma being 12 so we can all five go together. 

We've been getting significantly more rain this winter than usual. One of the side effects of that is that the kids have been bringing Ginger inside to snuggle and he has been happy to stay put. He spent an entire movie on Jack's lap, and then he got spoiled with a triple kid massage. It's moments like that that make me *almost* wish he were an indoor-outdoor cat. 

We made a trip to the library. This stack in Hazel's arms is very typical. She'll consistently read all that in a week, easy. 

Jack's birthday fell over the break as well. He invited a couple boys from school over for pizza and games, none of which I took pictures of. Then Juno stopped by with a popping boba for Jack - he was so excited! He's got a fetish for many things Asian/Japanese lately: boba, mochi, koi, bonsai, sushi ... He keeps hoping he'll get called to serve his mission in Japan. 

His big gift from us was a lifetime membership to Rosetta Stone so he can study Spanish (and Japanese!). 

At the end of the week (and the school break) Todd and Jack hosted the young men up at the cabin. They had gorgeous weather. There was lots of sledding, as well as some snowmobiling and some games played. 

No picture for this one, but the ward wasted no time on Jack. The first week he passed the sacrament as a deacon, he also gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. He did a great job sharing thoughts about the benefits of joining the youth program and what he was looking forward to. 

I told you Ginger has been spending a lot of time indoors, snuggling. He and Gemma took a nap together. It was darling. 

Jack tried out for the school volleyball team. With an A team and a B team, it seemed unlikely that many 6th graders would be accepted at all, so we were a little surprised and very excited for him when he made it. 

It was Gemma's turn for a Harry Potter-themed birthday party. We sorted the kids into houses with food coloring in their soda cups; played the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean game and laughed while everyone chewed and spit out vomit, dirty sock, and dirt-flavoried candy; used wands and the Wingardium Leviosa spell to keep balloons in the air; and adapted Quiddich to be played with our zipline and pool noodles. 

We brought our friends the Andrus family up to the cabin with us for the long holiday weekend. Gemma and Renee shared an actual birthday on Saturday, so we had another cake up there. The plan was for Renee and me to snow shoe and relax while the kids and the dads went skiing, and to go down to Murpheys and back for church. That sort of worked, but no one was prepared for the four and a half feet of snow that dumped on us nonstop from Friday night to Monday afternoon. The kids managed to fit in some sledding, some snow wrestling, and even some leaps off of giant snow piles. We spent an astronomical amount of time shoveling, whether to clear a path to the house or to pull a vehicle into or out of a parking space. It was legendary, in the exhausting, traumatic kind of way that made us crave blue skies and drag our feet about returning to the cabin for the next few weekends. 

All that snow translated into flooding back home in Livermore. We missed all the fun! Apparently, neighbors were paddle boarding through the streets and the creek was a raging river. 

Jack and Hazel had an orchestra concert (Jack's first). In addition to the songs they play as a class, the teacher gives the kids an opportunity to sign up for solos or duets if they would like. My kids blew everyone out of the water with their rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean they've been working on for months and months. It was definitely false advertising for the school music program! 

It's prime hiking time! The hills are gorgeous. The only caveat is that we've been getting so much more rain than usual this winter that the trails have often been muddy. But when conditions are just right, you'd better believe I'm out there! Katie is always up for going with me. 

Jack has been attending a math club after school once a week. Their goal was to study and prepare for a district-wide middle school competition. Jack gave up a Saturday morning to calculate, analyze, and compute as rapidly as humanly possible. His team earned 2nd place for 6th grade, and he ranked 4th place individually for his grade. He's always loved math. I love that he's found a way to turn that interest into a sport. 

And as if that weren't enough achievement for one month, Jack then got fourth place school-wide, and second place for 6th grade, in the school spelling bee - without even studying! He will move on to the district bee next month. (I will try to take a more compelling photograph then.)

Hazel has started attending regional youth dances. I volunteered to drive a vanfull of kids from our ward since the dance was being hosted by Chrissy Dix's stake in Fremont. While the kids partied, Chrissy and I chatted with face masks on and did a nice, stretch session of yoga. It was worth the late night for everyone! I loved hearing how excited all the kids were, both before and after the dance. Lucas George claimed it was the best night of his life! Everyone was sweaty and happy. It brought back lots of great memories of my good ol' days.