September 2016

We bought three boxes of apples on Labor Day and canned applesauce all afternoon and into the evening, till Todd said, "enough!" and we left a box for another day... Later in the month, Larry and Ellen came to visit and brought three bushels of peaches, which we proceeded to can, until we ran out of steam (48 jars later).  That left loose ends to take care another day, when we canned six or seven more jars of applesauce and sliced and froze the rest of the peaches. Phew! Our poor pantry shelves can't take all this food preservation! We are canning animals over here! (As in, we are animals, not as in we are preserving animals to eat later, ha!)

Gemma started preschool the day after Labor Day. She was so, so psyched! Huge grins, lots of gratitude, tons of excitement. She feels so big. She keeps talking about how big she is and how soon she is going to be as big as Jack, and then as big as Hazel, and then she will be a mommy! I asked her how many kids she wanted a few days ago, and she said, "all of them," which I thought was a wise answer: all of the kids you are meant to have. Then she said, "I will have Jack, and I will have Hazel, and I will get to sleep with Daddy!" Such a sweetheart. She makes me grin all the time.

The next week, Gemma started dance class, which she is also exuberantly in love with. She gets to wear ballet shoes and dance to pretty music in a room filled with mirrors, and I just can't take my eyes off her the entire hour. She is always beaming with joy. It's the cutest thing. 

I might as well finish up with Gemma here. She has also outgrown her balance bike, so we put training wheels on the 14 inch bike and she's been practicing in the cul-de-sac. She was frustrated at first that she can't go as fast now, but she's been putting in a lot of effort, and before we know it, she'll be zooming past people on the path once again. 

I've been volunteering in Hazel's and Jack's classrooms while Gemma's at preschool on Tuesdays.  I love being in their classes, watching them interact with their friends and teachers. They both get so excited to have me in there. I love that when I give my time, they feel my love. They both have just excellent teachers this year and are thriving. 

Hazel's piano teacher is calling her a "natural" and praising how quickly she is learning and how well she seems to understand the concepts of music. I don't know if she's really musically talented or just plain smart, but either way, I love that she hears herself praised and deserves it. It's good for her self-esteem and is quite powerful coming from an outside source. She's also crazy about reading, is testing at an upper 4th grade level right now (early second grade). Haz always carries a book or two with her. It's thrilling for me to see how much she loves to read. I even caught her reading while she played some memorized music on the piano a few days ago. I had to laugh and take a picture. 

We've been working on a family goal of being peacemakers in our house. There's been too much contention the last few months, so we've had a few FHE lessons on peacemaking, and we've got signs all over the house to remind us to be kind. Hazel painted this lovely family portrait that states, "All I want for Christmas is a happy family." She's been a great leader in our efforts to love one another. (Not to say she's not causing any contention - but she is definitely spearheading our efforts to remember our goal.) 

Hazel and Jack are a few weeks into soccer classes. Both seem to have a lot of fun, and finish the time sweaty and tired, so they're meeting our aim: to exercise and have a good time. I thought I took pictures the first day, but evidently not, so I'll have to make sure to get some this Saturday. Keep an eye out in my October post! 

We drove down to Sunnyvale to have dinner with Chrissy and Suzanne and their families the Sunday before my birthday. It was so good to see them. I brought my birthday cake so they could help me eat it. Todd got me a pedicure and a massage at a spa for my birthday. It's so nice to be treated to a luxurious experience every now and then. 

Croce had their fun run and I helped tally up the kids' laps. I thought Jack would want me to walk with him, but he was totally confused and embarrassed and told me he thought I was going to hang out on the sidelines. I guess he doesn't remember walking laps the last two years as we cheered Hazel on. Anyway, after that, I'd cheer him on every time he came through and shout his name and run for a high five, and he would look away all embarrassed and try really hard not to smile. Funny shy boy. He made it six laps, so two miles! Hazel rocked it, as usual, running almost nonstop even though she was feeling a little sick, and pulled in eight laps. 

Jack's favorite parts of school are "special art projects" and "busy bee writing club." He is rocking it at writing! I'm so happy about this. I wasn't sure what the kid was going to do walking into kindergarten already reading chapter books and kind of shy. He's discovering all sorts of new talents and is very excited about it. He can't decide when he grows up if he will be a scientist, a writer, or an artist. He loves it all! He's writing this epic, pages long story about our family reunion in Utah. Mrs. Allen has been pleading with him to finish it up and start a new project, but he just keeps going and going. Here's a sample page, for your reading pleasure: 

He is getting all sorts of creative, suddenly. Like, hey, how about some cat ears and whiskers? He taped pieces of elastic string to his cheeks!<3 p="">

He's been saving up his allowance and finally had enough money to buy a much-talked-about dinosaur kit, in which he wears adorable goggles and digs up bones. It also came with a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur skeleton, which is now displayed on his dresser. The archeological bones, however .... proved quite daunting and have been sitting on my kitchen counter for longer than I'd like. 

It got blasted hot again for a week, so we found the time to go swimming. Everyone loved it. It was 100 outside and we had the pool to ourselves. Apparently, everyone else decided it was too hot to swim. 

Todd took the girls out on a daddy/daughter ward campout in someone's backyard, and Jack and I had a nice date. We went to Croce to get free ice cream for participating in the fun run (man, was he excited to eat ice cream dished up by his teacher and principal!) and played Candyland and Battleship at home. 

I took the van in to a repair shop to have the body work done from my little accident in July. It was awful carting the kids around in a little rental car for three days, but it's been nice to have the van look new again and not make me feel guilty every time I step in the garage.

Todd's been working like a madman, long days and most Saturdays, too. We can't believe it's been two years and we're still not in love with his job. There are pros, but the cons are heavy. Also, he got called to be Young Men's President. Not sure how he's going to manage to find the time to do it right, but we'll do the best we can.

Sayonara, September!

Alaska!

The week before school started, we took a trip to Sitka, Alaska. Todd's business partner, Tom, has a cabin on an island out there, a 15 minute boat ride from the mainland, which is where we stayed. We were worried we wouldn't be able to safely handle the kids and the boat alone, so we brought Todd's parents, Larry and Ellen, along. 

Our huge suitcase, full of rain boots and all mine and Todd's clothes, and our nice camera, and Todd's laptop, didn't make it on the plane, and we were all pretty worried about that, but it came in on the next flight, several hours later, so it turned out okay after all. While we waited, we bought the kids lifejackets, and ate some delicious pizza at a place called the Mean Queen, and snagged a bunch of groceries to take to the cabin, and stopped at a place called Whale Park, with binoculars to look out and hopefully see some whales. At least four different types cross through each year.

The path from the dock to the cabin was lined in wild blueberry bushes. We all loved snacking as we walked through, but especially the kids. They went out many times to pick berries and came back with red mouths. 

Our first full day in Sitka, we visited the Alaska Raptor Center, where they take in bald eagles and owls and other big birds that have been injured. If they can be returned to the wild, they are; otherwise, they can stay at the Raptor Center permanently . There were a ton of bald eagles to observe through a one-way mirror, and we heard a presentation about a snowy owl, and saw lots of other birds on the grounds. 

Then we took a walk on a path near the center, which welcomed us with a warning sign that we were entering brown bear habitat and should proceed with caution. We did, in fact, see spots off the path where the plants had been smashed to the ground on the way to the river, which was chock full of salmon. No actual bear sightings, but I was nervous whenever my kids turned a bend in the path and were out of view. 

Todd tried his hand at reaching into the water to grab a salmon, but wasn't quite fast enough. Evidently, you need claws to do so successfully. 

That afternoon we went to Fortress of the Bear, a spot created to save orphaned bear cubs. They were at full capacity with eight now-grown bears, five brown bears and three black bears. It is one of those places that underwhelms when you walk in, but as we sat and just observed the bears, it was actually really cool and hard to leave. The bears have been there so long, their caretakers have taught them some basic sign language to use at feeding time, like "more" and "all done." 

Day three I stayed at the cabin with Gemma while everyone else woke up early and went out on the water to fish for salmon. They were gone for a long time, but didn't have much fishing success. The water was choppy and it was hard on the kids, and they wouldn't have done well going out to the real fishing grounds, so they hung close by. While they were out, they were lucky enough to see a pod of humpback whales! I'm glad I missed a day on the boat, but I am so sad I didn't see the whales. I'm glad Hazel and Jack got to have that cool experience.

That afternoon we went on a hike to Heart Lake. It was only 1.3 miles, but it had plenty of switchbacks and was just about the perfect challenge level for our kiddos. The scenery was lovely, and the kids and Ellen had fun watching for banana slugs. Jack ended up holding about ten at once. It was quite the challenge getting all that slime off his hands afterwards!

Our fourth day was pretty rainy, but we all had boots and rain jackets and we didn't want to miss out on the fun, so we were still out and about. We saw some (disappointing) Russian dancers in the morning and then checked out the Sitka Science Center, which had a great touch pool for the kids to explore, as well as a salmon hatchery that was interesting.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Sitka National Historic Park/Totem Park, which had a really great museum, a nice hike with multiple native Alaskan totem poles on display, and a fun rock beach, which would have been awesome for tide pooling at low tide in the sun.

That evening, on the boat ride back to the cabin, in the pouring rain, we saw a couple of sea lions eating fish in the water. We stopped and watched for a long time. It was unreal, being so immersed in nature. All the trees, the plants, the animals, it was all just super serene and beautiful and most definitely relaxing. 

Our last night, I finally got to see the sun set (the other nights I was laying with the kids, trying to get them to sleep all at once in one big, open room). The cabin has a gorgeous view, and it was always relaxing to just sit and look out. We saw an otter out by the deck one day. That was cool.

Our last morning was spent cleaning the cabin, then taking one last hike. We also drove to the end of the 12 miles of road, sightseeing.

Our daily commute: Bundle up for the 15 minute boat ride. Jack would link his arm through mine, Gemma would sit on my lap, and Hazel would spread her arms out into the wind and laugh as she got hit with sea spray.

Hazel said, "I loved when we got on the boat and when I got to feel the wind. And the bear preserve and the raptor place. And the cabin, how it had that secret door to put notes in." Yeah, the kids had a blast playing at the cabin, too.

Jack said he loved "the bear preserve park and the bird one. It had a bunch of bald eagles. And the sea lions." I think his favorite was probably the touch pools at the science center. He did not want to leave!

Gemma said, "I like the ocean a lot." She actually hated being on the boat. Her favorite was probably really the berry picking. She was crazy for that!

Todd and I both agreed that the hiking was the best part of the trip, and we feel we only tapped the surface of what was available. We are looking forward to a return trip in the future, so we can keep exploring beautiful Sitka!

July and August 2016

We tried out a hike at Mount Diablo to an area called Rock City. It had cool sandstone formations the kids enjoyed climbing on, and we did some geocaching while we were there.

We usually go to Half Moon Bay for the 4th of July parade every year, and recently, Todd and I had been talking about taking the kids to a hotel overnight to swim in the pool and make a fun memory. We decided to combine the two, and stayed a couple of nights in Half Moon Bay over the holiday weekend. We had lots of fun swimming in the pool multiple times over the visit, saw the great parade, and even discovered a great new beach to explore. We traumatized Hazel, though, by stepping out to get some cookies from the lobby when we thought they were all asleep. She got up and looked for us and totally freaked out that we weren't there. There was major drama falling asleep that night! I felt so bad.

Todd's been working a lot this summer, late evenings and a lot of Saturdays. I've had to man up and learn how to use the grill.

We went with our ward's primary group to visit the Oakland temple grounds and visitor's center. I scraped the car next to me as I pulled into my parking spot. It was a sad day for me, and for our van. 

We drove to Utah over Pioneer Day weekend (drove there Thursday and back Monday) to attend my family's first official reunion. We slept the first night at Todd's parents' house in Midway and had a short visit with them. Missy brought some of her girls over and Gramps was there. We stayed until late morning, then drove north.

 We had a couple of days with all my siblings and their spouses and the kids and my parents all together. It was the first time we've had the entire crew gathered since I was pregnant with Hazel.

We visited all my grandparents, made good food, did karaoke, played bocce ball and four-square and ping pong, went swimming, did a little family history, went to church together, and ate some great meals. And Todd put on an epic fireworks show for us/the neighborhood.

Todd and I canned peaches for the first time and they are so delicious! The only problem is we wish we had a ton more! We learned some things that worked well, and some things to try differently the next time. We will definitely continue doing it!

My kids are at a fun stage right now: 3, 5, and 7. They are little enough to cuddle and big enough to play on their own and get dressed and express their ideas. They make me happy.

Hazel and Jack started school on August 22nd. Gemma wants to get going too, but has to wait until after Labor Day for preschool. She still totally wore a backpack when we walked to school. Adorable. 

Jack has the same fabulous teacher Hazel had for kindergarten, Mrs. Allen. He is loving it! He hurries to be near the front of the line, and he sits front and center on the rug, and he has only happy things to report each day so far. I'm really excited for him to be at school. He just loves to learn so much and I know he is in good hands with Mrs. Allen.

Hazel had a solid first week of second grade. I am really excited that she's giving school another chance and has an open mind about her new teacher, Mrs. Bernal. She's already been making her teacher gifts and exchanging phone numbers with new friends. Last year was disappointing. I've been telling Hazel all summer that second grade is going to be better - and the first week of school was a hit! I'm excited and optimistic and think she's going to have a great experience with her teacher this year.

We had our traditional giant cookies after school the first day, and the kids told me all about their day. I wish I could get that much detail out of them on other days without the sugar bribe.