A Whole New World

A lot has happened since I last got onto this blog.

We moved!  Derrell started a new job!  The kids grew and grew and grew!

It's Mother's Day tomorrow.  I'm grateful to be a mother.  I'm grateful my children have a wonderful dad.

Valentine's Day 2012

Ethan high up in our white pine tree, March 2012

Anna after just getting her ears pierced on her 12th birthday, 2012

Fun at the Beach

Recently, we went to the Outer Banks, North Carolina with friends.  We had fun at both the beaches we visited!  Naomi's most memorable event was being knocked off her feet by a wave.  She hadn't planned on getting in the water at the time, but the ocean had other thoughts.

Soundside

Oceanside

Fun with Bubbles

The girls decided to "grow" facial hair.  Or something like that.

Snow Fun

Five hours.

That's how long the kids stayed outside playing with the neighbors instead of going to school.

Snowball fights!  Guess who usually had the upper hand?

Just happy to be included.

Showing off his ammunition.

Her Indian name is Runs In Snow With Apple.

Playing Fox & Geese

I think this one should say, "And here we have a nice red minivan driving by for your viewing pleasure."

And what was Abigail doing this whole time?  Reading books, playing with lacing cards, and prancing around like all good three-year-old girls...

...in her swimsuit.

2010

Last year, we made predictions for 2010; things we wanted to happen.  The two littlest girls had gone to bed already.  They were:

Laura (6 yrs. 3mo. at the time)

1. Playing
2. Eat candy & cake
3. Uncle Danny will get a job near us

All of her's came true, even (miraculously) #3.  Danny & Tammy are just four (to seven, depending on traffic) hours away!

Anna (9yrs. 9mo.)

1. Going to have a dog-themed party
2. DisneyLand
3. Pass SOL's

She's still waiting to go to DisneyLand, but successfully completed the others.  (SOL's are the end of year Standards of Learning tests, like finals in college.  They start in 3rd grade here, and are a big deal.)

Ethan (11yrs. 1mo.)

1. Pass SOL's
2. Finish reading Lightning Thief and watch movie  (It is a requirement in our home to read the book before being allowed to watch the movie.)
3. Go to Utah alone on a plane with Anna

Again, two out of three is pretty good.  We didn't feel comfortable sending our kids alone out to reign terror on all the relatives...   Ethan is never without a book.  He finished reading The Lightning Thief, yes, and also about 20-30 other books.  I can't keep track anymore.

Derrell

1. Get dream job
2. Move
3. Go on a cruise

Well, those three HUGE predictions proved to be a little more than one year could handle.  Only the cruise actually happened.  The dream job looks like it may be a reality in 2011.  Check back in a year, and we'll report on that.  ;-)  As for moving, we're thinking that it will take us at least five to ten years to be able to make up for the loss in property value.  We don't dare put it on the wish list this year.

Me

1. Finish 14 year journey to Doctorate
2. Fly mom out to watch kids while we leave for a while
3. (removed because of its sensitive nature)

Thank you very much.  All three are fulfilled!


So, at the end of 2010, we decided to record our most memorable moments.  My mom, brother Matthew, and his cute pregnant wife Suzy were here to participate.

Abigail: My mom painted my fingernails and I loved going at the beach with a whistle.
Naomi: Played outside
Laura: Granna, Matt & Suzy coming to visit
Anna Moira: Having a dog-themed movie birthday party
Ethan: Spending time with family
Matthew: Found out I'm going to be a dad, and took lots of trips
Suzy: Found out I'm going to be a mom
Julie: Getting my husband back, and going on a cruise
Derrell: Graduating
Granna: Coming out here to visit two times  (she had to say that ;-)  )

Check Your Books at the Door

My friend has her children hand over their books as they walk in the door from school every day. WHAT!? you ask? Yes, it's true. The children are not allowed to read until their jobs, homework, and even sometimes playing with friends is done. She doesn't have to kick her kids off the TV or the Wii; she has to limit their reading time. I use to say that if you have to have a problem, then that's the one to have!

Until I entered her world.

Staying up two hours past bedtime...
Using the bathroom for 30+ minutes...
Setting up a camp chair in the sun because mom said "Go outside"...
Fibbing about how much homework is in the backpack...
Missing dinner and asking, "Why didn't you wait for me?"...

TO READ!

It's still not the worst problem in the world, but it can get annoying at times.

But here's the rub: I know how they feel. I would rather read than do the laundry or the dishes, too. And I stayed up until 3am one night last week to finish our bookclub book. Obviously, I'm being punished by having children take on my bad habits! :-)

Moderation in all things, right? I guess I need to adopt that as my motto.

MARCH

March started off with three commemorations: my birthday, AM's birthday, and our house's birthday! Four years ago we moved to the east coast. We still aren't quite used to the climate. I wonder if this will be the year I figure out how to garden.

The birthday girls:On my birthday nine years ago, I was doing all I could to relax and keep that baby in, so she could have her own birthday. (Of course, at that time we thought she was a he. We never did get a Caleb--unless you count our little nephew.) She cooperated, and was born at one in the morning!

This year, our birthdays fell on a Friday and Saturday: perfect! My honey pampered me on Friday (even took the day off work!!), and we pampered AM on Saturday. We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore in the morning. It was really fun. Then we came home and rested a bit before partying some more in the evening. (We had gotten up early and the birthday girl got car sick.) She requested lasagna, garlic bread and root beer for her birthday dinner. Quote from our nine-year-old: I really liked the presents. I loved my dinner. I especially liked the root beer. It was sooo good! I also went to the aquarium which I saw many animals, and I also got sick which that wasn't good."

Here are some photos of her day:




The professional photo at the top of this post was taken a week before her birthday. It is very appropriate--she's an avid reader!

Two weeks ago:
The Snowman that turned into a Chair. (I don't think I ever wanted a snow chair when I was a kid!)

AE begged to go outside
with her cracker.
It shortly became
"Ritz a la mode".

Today:

And tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 70 degrees.

The weather is one of the nicest things about this area. We get some cold and snow, but nothing like the negative 40 temperatures of Anchorage, Alaska where a friend lives. The summer can be uncomfortable, but nothing like Melbourne, Australia where a friend is experiencing 115 degree weather presently. For the most part it is quite mild.

OK, I better be more specific. The weather is one of the nicest things to me about this area. It is WAY too warm for my hubby's tastes most of the time, but I think he's part bear. (hee, hee)

The Season

The kids participated in Lowe's Build & Grow workshop on Saturday. They built gingerbread houses, and had a ball!


Dad was planning to join us, but I insisted he just stay home (with the baby) and relax. He should have come. It was designed for children in grades 1 through 5, but I figured LL would be fine since she's in K, and I could help NE.

It was a little too advanced for a five year old, and WAY too difficult for a preschooler.

Maybe if we lived on a farm, and the kids were accustomed to building chicken coops and fences and out-houses, then they would have been fine. But, we live a life of luxury with our indoor plumbing and central heating system. Gratefully, some friends of ours were there, too, and they helped us out.

I'm really impressed with Lowe's. The kids each got their own work apron, safety goggles, and hammer, plus a certificate and patch to be sewn on the apron. These workshops are free! I think the kids will participate again--with both parents.


We have one deciduous tree in our yard. It has skinny leaves that sometimes slip right through the tines of the rake and the blades of the lawn mower. It doesn't really bother us, though. Where we get our "fun" is from our neighbor's trees. Last year we filled over 30 garbage bags with their leaves. (We live on just less than one-fifth of an acre, so I think that's pretty significant.) This year, we decided the time had come to purchase a leaf blower. Now, we just blow them back into our neighbor's yard. Just kidding! We really have the best neighbors ever!





We've had a little snow, which is rare for December here, but mostly we've had amazingly mild weather. Today it got up to 66 degrees! It felt like spring. Supposed to be freezing again tomorrow.

Catching Up

I've been neglecting the blog world lately due to an extra busy schedule, but I think I might just be back...

A couple weeks ago, I got to go to my family's Annual Girls Weekend. It was a blast! So great to get acquainted with our new sister-in-law, and reacquainted with the others. I didn't realize just how much I'd missed them until I was there. The last time I was able to attend was when ED was a baby. He will turn "the big one-oh" (as he calls it) on Saturday.

I remember my dad making a big deal of my 10th birthday. Double digits! I felt so important, and quite grown up. So, I've wanted to pass that along. We don't do friends parties every year, but turning double digits deserves a little more recognition. ED decided on a bowling party. It's going to be more expensive than other options, but it won't be at our house, and that fact alone makes it worth the extra expense! (And actually, it's quite a bit less expensive than other "fun" places.) The boys will eat pizza, play arcade games, and bowl, of course. All we have to do is show up with the cake and pay our money; the bowling alley will set up & clean up! ED's excited (and so am I, obviously)!

So, we made it through Halloween, but just barely. It's not the favorite holiday of the adults in our household. But, alas, we choose to go through pain for our children. For a couple years, I've wanted all the kids to dress up as bugs. This year the girls obliged. ED chose to be an exterminator. We modified the astronaut outfit to make him into Killer Small. All the girls had spots and antennae and wings. They were very cute! Unfortunately, you'll have to use your imagination because we didn't get any pictures.

This year, we painted our pumpkins.

















Even AE got into it. She was very intent. Of course, she tasted the paint, and ended up looking like a she got a really bad makeover with extra red lipstick!
In just a few minutes, the activity turned from meticulous painting to smothering the pumpkins in paint with both hands.

Family Hike

There is a park near us that has over 200 acres of mostly forested gorgeousness. We went exploring as a family for a couple hours the other day. It was a lot of fun! The kids all got along really well and went to bed happily exhausted that night. The weather was amazing for mid-October. Nearly all of us had shed our jackets within the first few minutes.

AM decided to wear her camo pants because then she'd blend in. Obviously, her older brother has rubbed off on her.

LL told her dad that if he saw any bugs, he needed to "die" them before they bit her. Then, because she just finished learning about fire safety at school, she told me (secretly in my ear) that she hopes our house doesn't "get fired" while we are gone. There are times I want to give our house the pink slip, but I'm pretty sure that's not what our five year old was talking about...

We came home with one of our backpacks filled with garbage the kids picked up along the way. ED even found a beer can. Oh, goody.

Family outings are great!
Exercise is great!
Autumn time is great!
Being secluded in nature is great!

Happy Fall!

Tropical Storm Hanna

When the storm was heading our way, we were planning for 60 mph winds and power outages for at least 24 hours. Gratefully it stayed east of us, so all we got was a bunch of really warm rain. Not much wind to speak of and no lightning. So, we let the kids play in the downpour. They had a blast!! I hope they made some lasting childhood memories.

Splashing in the "stream". There is only water there when it rains.

Woops! I forgot to flip these last two. Tilt your head. Interestingly, after messing around with his hair in the rain, ED thinks he looks pretty good with a Mohawk. So, he did it on purpose for school yesterday and today. At least it's not a mile high and shaved on the sides. Actually, we think he looks pretty cool, too!

One more thanks

How could I forget to mention:
Thanks to David and Adria for some of the best laughs of the vacation! I'll just leave it at that because much more could be uncomfortable... :-)

Mini Report

Our road trip was a success! Yes, you read that right. Six full days of traveling really wasn't that bad. Tiring, yes, but not horrible. When we've talked about our vacation, we speak of wonderful family and friends and outings. If being stuck in the car for 70+ hours is what it takes to make such great memories, then so be it!

Thanks to Danny & Tammy for their work with the reunion. We had a blast! Wish we could have spent more time at your place. Thanks to my mom for doing loads and loads of laundry, and for lending us the master bedroom, and for making our stay so comfortable, and for loving us until our hearts (and eyes) overflowed. Thanks to Craig & Stacy and Brian & Deborah for adopting our son for a day. He had even more fun this time at Lagoon! Thanks to Marianne & Eric for coming to visit us in Springville so our kids could sleep. It would have been great to see all the changes to your house, but was greater to see you when we couldn't come to you. Thanks to LaDonna and Royce for the best pit stop of the trip; what a marvelous meal and uplifting company! We are sorry we missed the volleyball player!

We are so grateful we were able to see family. We strengthened relationships, and had a down right good time! The kids got reacquainted with their cousins.
It was hard to leave.

We were fortunate to visit with some dear friends.
There are a few friends that we regret we were unable to see.

Unfortunately, my camera batteries were dead for most of the Small gathering. I don't have nearly enough pictures of that side of the family! We are so thankful to Lyle and Sara for hosting us for a bit on our way back home. After the go-go-go in Utah, it was so therapeutic to just "land" for a couple days. The go-go-go is fun, of course, but quite tiring.

Whilst butchering, I mean pruning, their front tree, Lyle and Derrell
came across a huge caterpillar, and called us all out to inspect.

Surprises along the way:

~West Virginia is GORGEOUS! Mountains (the eastern US sort of mtns, which are hills compared to the Rockies) covered with trees. When we weren't near a city--which was most of the time in that state--there was practically no dirt to be seen. Green. Green. Green. Gorgeous. I wish I had a good picture to do it justice, but alas, if you haven't been there, you'll have to use your imagination with this shot.
~Kentucky ain't that bad, either.

~There are tributes to Lincoln in every state we traveled through: counties, roads, schools, etc. Not too surprising, I guess, but interesting, nonetheless.

~Kansas mysteriously gets wider every time Derrell drives through it. I'm sure it is filled with wonderful people and nice things, but we didn't see either. I think West Virginia shipped all their bare dirt to Kansas. Maybe we should live there to learn to appreciate it.

~When you (Derrell) really want to get somewhere, you can travel for 22 hours straight with a car full of people questioning your (Derrell's) sanity.


~Daddy's hat and Mommy's camera make for a highly entertained 3 yr old. I think this activity lasted almost an hour! Pose, peek-a-boo, pose, pretend to sleep, pose, giggle, pose, hide, pose...


~Those big wind turbines are really, really big up close! Especially exciting for ED who did a report on them last year.





~ED's family pie-eating contest (to fulfill a requirement for his Bear in Cub Scouts) was more fun than even he imagined! It has been said that this may just become a regular event at future gatherings. Here's the whole messy group.

~Time went by much too quickly. I don't know why that surprises me. It shouldn't. But there are so many activities that we wanted to do. We wish we could have gotten to Utah sooner to climb to the Y. We wish we could have found the time to take our children to the Mount Timpanogos temple where we were married. We wish we could have seen Glenn's business. We wish we could have had more energy to go to a midnight movie, or something else just as crazy. We wanted to go back up to Danny & Tammy's, but the schedule was all mixed up. We wish we could have traveled just a few more hours to see the O'Rullians and the Marrotts and my grandparents, too. We can't believe we weren't able to connect with Maren. We missed seeing the Neymans and Patrick & Erin and Marissa. It would have been great to see Brian and Deborah's new house. There isn't enough time for all the good things, is there? I think we'll just have to return as soon as possible.