December's Post

Yes, I am behind and this isn't much. But, I couldn't let my Halloween post stay up through Christmas. So, Happy Holidays to all of you! What a wonderful time of year.

Halloween '09

And here they are...Halloween 2009: Jacob was THRILLED to be a BYU football player and can't stop wearing the costume around the house...Allison was just pleased to have whiskers and a nose drawn on her bunny face...and Gideon was the cutest little monkey waddling around with his tail dragging along...

How many football poses can this guy strike??

He would not let go of his bag the whole night.

Let the trading begin!

Got the pumpkins carved just in time. Jacob designed and carved most of his--he even made it a vampire cape.

Here's a Halloween treat that turned out so great for our adult Halloween party: "Spooky Fingers." (Wish I had taken the wrap off to take the picture!)

Hope your Halloween was a great one!

Little Kid, Big Kid

There's something magical about the 18 month stage. We suddenly have a little boy on our hands and he's growing up fast. It's both exciting and annoying to have Gideon gain independence: I love that he'll go and get everyone's shoes and put them in front of our feet when he knows we're leaving. I get pretty annoyed when he pushes a chair up to the computer desk and climbs up its shelves to pull down decorations multiple times per day. Etc.

Gideon got his first official haircut last week:

What a cute kid. He loved the clippers massaging his head. Proof he's our 3rd child: I cut his hair with no one watching, no fanfare; he was lucky I remembered to take his picture. I didn't save a lock of hair for his baby book--well ok, so later I did when I found a piece a day later and I figured it was a sign because I was feeling guilty that I had thrown it all away. Do we really need to save their hair?? Anyway.

Here was my inspiration for wanting to cut his hair:

I do believe we have a curly boy. It was looking pretty crazy on our little family vacation last week and I was ready to do something about it.

Moving on...
So, for some reason we've decided that it works well to move our kids out of the crib on the early side. Gideon has been sleeping on his mattress on the floor for over a month now and is doing great! I was reluctant to have Tom take the crib down immediately, but it is gone now and we've got a big kid sleeping in his 'bed' now. I am always surprised to peek in during his naps to see that even if he was playing when I left the room, he did get on his bed to curl up and sleep.

We love this little growing boy!

One Week Down!

Our Kindergarten Kid!!

We've officially entered into the "school years," but this time as parents. Crazy. Jacob kept saying he was "excited but a little bit nervous" every time he was asked about starting school. It didn't really hit me until the week before school started about how sad I was. I've had this little crew of 3 following me around everywhere for so long--how could we break up this little posse? When we went to see the class lists posted and I saw Jacob's name linked up with a teacher and room number I almost lost it. It's official; he's off to bigger and better things.

No worries about crying on the actual day--it was way too CHAOTIC! They've upped the class sizes to 28 kids so there were parents and kids everywhere! Jacob allowed a kiss and hug and then waved us off to our orientation meeting.

We actually had an AMAZING, QUIET day that day: I let Allison be in charge (for the first time in her life, since Jacob always takes over!) so, she requested an ice cream party (at 10 am!) and we did it. We also had a tea party and played Connect Four. I put Gideon down for a nap, read a stack of books with Allison and she fell asleep! I had over an hour to myself--wow, wouldn't it be great if everyday was this way...

He made it through the day! And boy was it a long day--it's full-day Kindergarten here and that's a hard adjustment for these little kids.

Jacob had a really great first week. He (and I) love his teacher, he loves what they are learning, and he's working hard to make friends. I feel like he has grown up so much these past couple of days and I feel like time is just going to fly by...

My much-anticipated post

Around Christmastime last year, we welcomed a FREE piano into our home. *Thank you again, Liddells!!* No, Tom & I are not really pianists, mostly semi-repentant former piano lesson rebels. We like to plunk out notes to sing along with, as well as pull out some fairly easy songs to work up our skills. I can really wail on some of my old piano recital numbers, which bring back the memories.

(before)

So, did I mention this was a FREE piano and that it is maybe 80 years old and well-loved?? It had some "love" marks all over it, complete with a heart carved into the music stand. I would look at it everyday and think, "I could refinish that piano, no problem." And so, one day, without really thinking about the consequences, I began sanding a very visible spot to see what would happen. Thus began 3 months of sanding, scraping, scraping & sanding, figuring out Home Depot, staining & finishing. And then applying more finish. I only ruined one electric sander, which mysteriously stopped working mid-way through the project *thank you Dad for the extra sander you happened to leave with us so I could continue uninterrupted* Anyway, the kids LOVED spending several Saturday mornings at the park with Tom so I could get the dirty work done. I have composed this post in my mind a hundred times as I slaved away. Not because I am an amazing blogger, but just because I knew when it was time to write about it, it would mean I was DONE. And, I am proud to announce that it is DONE and beautiful!!

The process was interesting--going from excitement to see the old scrapes disappear, to the realization that this was way too big a project for little ol' me and I might just have a half-finished project in my living room forever, to feeling how smooth it was becoming, to start seeing the end product as the stain soaked in, to absolute frustration when I realized that putting the finish on is an art--a talent I don't yet have. When I was "done" I was so upset because the finish ended up drippy and uneven and in my mind it was a huge mess.

(sanding in process)

Enter Tom. He stayed away from my project, happy to see me throwing myself into a physical, hard labor job. He eagerly supported me and helped occupy the kids when I was working. But in the end he stepped in and saved me, researching what could be done and offering to help. So, we lightly sanded one more time and he added one more coat of finish, making it look ten times better. And then we both put it back together and stepped back to admire our handiwork. I sure can see every mistake and I know it doesn't look like a professional job--but I do know there's a lot of sweat and love put into our piano and it's perfect for us.

(Here it is!!)

I have no desire to do another refinishing job in the near future, no matter how badly our kitchen table needs it. I truly admire all of the woodwork I've noticed in the past couple of months and I am in awe of whoever applied the finish and made it so smooth! All I know is that the next time I'm at a garage sale or somewhere and I think that I'll just buy something and "just refinish it" I will think again. For now, I'll use my energies on enjoying our "new" piano and working up some new recital pieces. And our kids need to be prepared: piano lessons are definitely in their future.

Oh Allison!

My kids have heard and repeated with me the phrase "scissors are only for paper" a million times. I have them well trained to never cut anything except their little art projects. Or so I thought...


Allison & Jacob came out of their Quiet Time on a Sunday afternoon and I was shocked to find what little "art project" they had been working on together. Allison's hair was gone!! This picture doesn't do justice to the real life masterpiece--hair wildly chopped in front and both sides. I was so sad to pick up a PILE of beautiful curls left all over her bed. She told me she did it because she wanted to be a boy. And then I was even more discouraged to realize that I had actually planted the idea for her to do this! I remembered a conversation we had just after church:

Jacob and Gideon were playing around the living room and Allison was trying to join in. Jacob kept saying she couldn't because she wasn't a boy--she wasn't in the "Boy's Club." She came to complain to me and I joked that we should cut her hair so she could be a boy. She got really excited and said she could wear boy clothes and be in their club because she didn't want to be a girl anyway. I then took the opportunity to have a "wonderful teaching moment" about how she will always be a girl and she's supposed to be a girl and I love her as a girl... It was such a great teaching moment that it didn't register there would be a problem, even when the kids took scissors and newspaper ads with them into their room to cut out interesting things as Jacob likes to do. I asked Allison if she needed her own papers to cut and she said she only had one thing she wanted to cut and didn't need papers. Oops. I should have seen this coming!

Well anyway, we were able to rush to the "ward hairstylist" Mandy the next morning for an emergency haircut. She did a great job with what she had to work with. I really think this must be the ultimate test for a hairstylist to try to make a child's haircut mess work.

I secretly really like her haircut! Or at least the style of it. You can still tell there are some funny-looking chunks missing, but whatever. It's something I never would have chosen to do, but it is pretty cute--when it's done. It can look crazy when it's left alone (which is, unfortunately, most of the time). And she could care less what she looks like, which is just how it should be for a 3 year old. She was pretty disappointed, however, to not have turned into a boy.

The Summer Vacation Post

Ok, watch out, here comes the run-down on our trip to Utah. Be forewarned that this will contain a lot of pictures and details you didn't want to know. I've been debating if I should do the short version or the detailed account and I guess I'll do some of both. So, let's join Gideon in the backseat, trying to find anything to do (or eat) to keep him from going crazy on the long trek from SoCal to SLC...
We met up with the Hacking cousins at my parents' house. Jacob was in heaven with the 3 boys and unfortunately Allison was the only girl. She held her own though and these guys had a great time together!

We spent one day at This is the Place Heritage Park. There are a lot of shops and buildings to go in and learn about early Utah pioneer life.

We rode a big train...

ponies,

a little train...

a handcart pulled by Grandpa...

plus we made candles, punched leather, went inside teepees, in a petting zoo, etc. It was a lot of fun, it was educational and boy was it hot!

We went on a morning hike up Ensign Peak overlooking the beautiful Salt Lake Valley.

First ride on a slip-n-slide with the Hacking cousins--Jacob was getting pretty good by the end!

Next, a tour through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. What a privilege it was to be there during the Open House.

We spent one day with Tom's best friend from high school and his family, the Allgrunns. We went swimming and the kids had a blast with these spitting frog fountains.

Early on the 4th of July, we set out as a family to run in a 5K in Centerville. Tom & I ran it together and kept each other going. We seriously could feel the difference in altitude as we tried to breathe our way through the course! We were grateful to have a cheering section at this race, consisting of my parents and Tom's mom. Then we ran a kids run with Jacob & Allison. Even though it was a rather disappointing, extremely short course, they had a fun time "trying to win." We enjoyed the parade afterward. I believe this was the kids' first parade and they got really good at scrambling for candy. I loved to see them waving to the parade entries.

Then a gathering at the Omers' place. Here are 7 of the 9 grandkids.

They had a fun time running through the sprinklers!

There was an extended family gathering at Grandpa Omer's house, where we could see the nearby fireworks display from the driveway. We got to see a lot of Tom's family and do sparklers for the 1st time!

I love Jacob's face as he watched the fireworks!

Here we come to the end of our trip and I'll just mention a few other experiences that didn't get photos: Tom's dad now works in the new Church History building on Temple Square, so he took us on a tour of the building. We even got to go in the cold archives. We then went to the Conference Center and saw the International Art Competition display that was amazing! We went swimming again at the cool kids' pool with a waterslide, pirate ship water playground, squirting guns, etc. We played racquetball with Tom's dad and brother and had a Mary Kay party with my sisters-in-law late one night. This really was a packed vacation, but we did have time to relax and enjoy being home and with family. Utah is a beautiful and fun place to visit so we're glad we have many excuses to go often!!

I wouldn't normally take pictures on a rest stop, but these guys were being so cute! We usually get out and literally RUN races to get some exercise. I loved seeing Gideon being helped along the "course" by his older siblings. And I love that Tom was "racing" alongside them. They all got excited high 5's after they all won.

Oh, I guess it's time to be done with the trip! Even with all the good food and fun in the car, sometimes you've just gotta scream until you're home. It's all a part of the Summer Family Vacation!

When a hummingbird feeder ceases to be fun

Yeah, I think this photo speaks for itself. I don't know why this invasion has occurred, but we'll be taking this down as soon as the activity dies down a bit.

In other nature news, we've had babies here! I got a hanging planter of flowers and some birds scoped it out as a perfect place to make a nest. I was surprised to find 4 eggs in a little nest when I went to water one day. Then one hatched!

I am sad to say I think we lost all but one. There is an egg off to the side, but it's cracked--don't know what happened to it or the other eggs. But it sure has been cool to see this little guy grow up. It happens so fast and it's been fascinating to watch!

A Day Off

A couple of weeks ago, we all took a day off (meaning Tom got off work; none of the rest of us had anything else scheduled that day) and went on an excursion to... the Santa Barbara Zoo!!! It was a WONDERFUL day. I LOVE going otherwise busy places during the week. We had this place to ourselves--well, and the animals were there, too.

Doesn't Tom look cute with his no-glasses look? And Gideon is really thinking about those flamingos. Look at the beautiful setting of this zoo--so lush and green. I loved all of the trees. It just felt like a great place for the animals.

There's a really cool play area there, something I've never seen before. There was this hill covered in a sort of astro turf. I thought it was pretty weird, until a kid came and showed us its potential. You can slide down it! Jacob was going down face first, upside down, rolling, etc. Someone had some cardboard like a sled to get some speed. Gideon had a great time climbing a little and then sliding down. Very cool.

I love that Gideon was actually looking at some of the exhibits. It was fun to see him react a little to the animals. And I loved watching this alligator not move. They really just don't move, no matter how much you expect them to.

We headed to this new section called "Condor Country," only to find out it had opened up THE DAY BEFORE! It was gorgeous!! You can look at these majestic birds and see the breathtaking views of Santa Barbara at the same time. Just look at that and then imagine it in person.

I was so happy to see the lions awake and get a close up on them. The male was grooming the female--it was a touching little scene.


Two thumbs up for the Santa Barbara Zoo! It was just the right size--very do-able for a family with small kids. And several thumbs up for a day off with Tom!

Resolved.

One of my New Years resolutions this year was to prepare one of my drawings to be sold. I picked the deadline of "before Mother's Day" to have something presented for sale. Well, I recently did it--I posted 3 illustrations on etsy! Now, I realize this is probably the easiest, least taxing way there is to try to sell something, but it was a big deal for me to get ready for posting and I began there. And who knows if anyone will even see them amongst the thousands of incredible works there--I'm just happy I took my first step into the land of online selling. Right now I am listing through my friend's shop, who sells darling Scrabble tile necklaces. Maybe someday I'll have my own website, but baby steps... The shop is called five cherries so you can check out my accomplishment (and I also drew the banner for the shop).

I'm calling this my "Play With Me" series, which encourages moms to stop and PLAY with their kids. I have posted 2 of these before, but here they are framed. Enjoy...

This is my latest work. It turned out pretty fun!