Looking Forward

Sometimes I feel nostalgic as we reach the end of yet another year. I think back on the events of the past year and feel a touch of sadness for the growing up my family has done and how those days will never come again. I remember with fondness our many happy moments and think about the challenges we have faced and how we've grown through them. I see how much my children have grown and think back on how far we have all come. I can be a bit introspective as I think about moments I handled well and those where I fell short.

This year, however, I find myself looking forward rather than back. There are bold new changes coming in the church. I'm super excited about those. I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to implement those changes in my family and I hope that we will be able to take advantage of the new opportunities to strengthen our faith and our family. In the next year, Daniel will graduate from high school and head out into the real world. As a mother, I honestly have no idea how I'm going to respond to that. He is my first, after all. Both Nathan and Matthew will start at new schools in the next year and there is excitement and trepidation about both those situations. Malia will be the only one of my kidlets still on year round school so her off-track time will be mother-daughter time. There will be a lot of changes for our family in the next year and I'm sure that those changes will bring challenges as well as blessings. So I feel like I'm squaring my shoulders, taking a big breath, and facing the new year head on. Ready or not, here it comes.

The Aftermath

It took Matthew two days to build his ginormous truck. He didn’t do much else yesterday. He’s quite pleased with himself.

Malia has been riding her scooter all over the house since Christmas. Even Jolly got in on the fun.

It would appear their gifts were wisely chosen this year. Good job, Santa and Grandma!

Holiday at Home

Christmas morning always seems like a whirlwind of paper, presents, laughter, excitement. The afternoon generally feels like things slow way down, get lazy and kick back. This year was no exception.

Malia presented Santa with a rather interesting wish list this year. She requested a drone, a phone, chapter books, a ticket to Legoland, a very specific Lego set, a kiddie sewing kit and a horse. Santa definitely knows us and thankfully he did not bring her a phone or a horse. He did manage to track down the Lego set she had her eye on even though it was no longer being produced and Mrs. Santa helped him fill a sewing box with sewing supplies. The sewing kit was accompanied by a basic sewing skills book and a beginners’ cross stitch kit. Although Malia rushed through the unwrapping in her traditional whirlwind of excitement, she was happy about them all and is excited to start learning to use her sewing accoutrements.  Her experience gift for this year will be a ticket to see “The Nutcracker” at the ballet next Christmas. She’s pretty excited!

Matthew has grown up a lot this year so even though he was excited, he was trying hard to be manly about it. His wish list was a lot shorter. There was one certain Lego set he had a hankering for. But it was “big boy Lego,” one of the sets meant for adults, which also means it has many more pieces and a much bigger price tag. As such, he assumed it would not make an appearance beneath our tree because it was too expensive, but he lucked out because Santa decided he was worth the expenditure. And in my opinion (and hopefully Santa’s), his reaction to the gift made it completely worth the cost. Matthew also gets to go to Autorama in the spring. He has developed an intense interest in cars over the past year so a car show will be a perfect fit for him.

Santa brought Nathan a board game that he played with his cousins many times over the summer. I know he doesn’t look excited at all, but he really likes the game, I promise. Kevin and I have started focusing on the experience gifts for our older boys since the experiences they want are much more expensive, so from us he received the money to fund Summersong, a summer music workshop for teens that one of his cousins really enjoyed a few years back. It is an audition only weeklong event so if he auditions and isn’t accepted, we’ll come up with something else.

Once the early flurry of activity was over, Nathan’s new game was the first one we played. He really does like it. See what I mean? (Matthew photobombed this one like a total spaz. I just couldn’t crop him out. It makes me laugh!)

Daniel got a small Lego set from Santa. From us, he gets a trip to New Orleans. The high school band will be traveling to the home of jazz in April. It is a pricey trip so we figured funding it would be a great Christmas gift. He’s totally excited about the trip and doesn’t feel at all shafted by way of Christmas gifts. He’s just looking forward to a brand-new adventure!

This year there were several family experience gifts as well. We will be going on vacation with my folks, my siblings and their families in June and part of our trip will be taking everyone horseback riding. So I guess, in a tiny way, Malia did get a horse for Christmas. 😉 Kevin, the boys and I also got tickets to see “Wicked.” We are all excited about that one!

Grandpa and Grandma joined us for the afternoon and dinner. Grandma has jumped on the experience gift bandwagon and gave Daniel and Nathan money to spend on their adventures this year. Matthew gets to shoot arrows with Grandpa and Grandma at some point. Since Malia isn’t really going on any adventures of her own this year, she got a scooter that lights up. She absolutely loves it and has been riding it around the house all afternoon!

I love these days when everyone is home all day, talking and playing together, enjoying each other’s company. In years to come, I may only get a few days a year to gather my crew around, so for now, I want to take advantage of as many of them as I can.

Merry Christmas to all! Hope your day was as full of family and joy as ours!

Seasonal Eats-Repeat (and a Family Gathering)

We started off our month of activities with Christmas tree pancake stacks and they were so fun that we decided to do a Christmas Eve repeat so the older boys could partake. For some reason I just can’t get a picture of all of them looking normal at the same time. On the flip side, getting universal crazy faces presents no challenge. No matter what they look like, the kids enjoyed the pancakes. They are fun to eat, being bite-sized and all!

Christmas Eve generally means dinner at my folks’ house followed by a dramatic reading of the nativity story. As all the cousins have grown up, there have been fewer and fewer kids who want to participate in the dressing up and acting it out portion of the nativity. We are at the point where it is really just Malia and Rachael’s two girls. With some talking, we did convince Matthew and Drew to be the wise men, but our cast was small this year. Sabrina was Mary with Sam as a very inquisitive baby Jesus.

Kate and Malia were the angels. Malia was a pretty wacky angel, all hyped up with Christmas anticipation, but was reformed just in time for her big moment.

The wise men were a bit more sedate than usual (we were really trying to keep everything appropriately reverent this year) and brought presents of gold, frankincense, myrrh and Fisher-Price (to prevent the baby from taste testing their other offerings).

The Christmas Eve excitement has toned down for the boys as they’ve gotten older, but it’s still running high with Malia. She’s wide awake and trying to convince herself that she can slumber so Santa can work his magic. She has been so high energy all day that I think that once she stops and closes her eyes, sleep will come…

Santa Goes to the Symphony

For the past several years, we have had season tickets to the symphony family series. It has been fun for the younger set, the ones not quite ready for the opera or the regular symphony. Although Matthew is at the point where he is losing interest in the stuff themed for little kids, Malia still enjoys it. There is always a Christmas presentation and today was the day. Malia is a lucky girl because she got to chat with Santa again today. For this event, Mrs. Claus got to tag along as well. She and Santa must be music lovers!

Seasonal Eats-Part III

Today held two separate holiday foods. I spent a good portion of the day making Chinese pretzels with my mom and my sister Rachael. Pretzels only happen once, maybe twice, a year. They are a bit labor intensive, but they are a treat looked forward to all year by many of my parents’ friends and neighbors. And the family, of course.

I actually haven’t made pretzels for years because they are too much work for a treat that Matthew can’t eat. But my mom has become a food allergy Rockstar and last year she figured out how to make egg free pretzels that are Matthew friendly. I’m so grateful! And Matthew loves them! He gets his own separate bucket of pretzels, something no one else gets. The rest of us have to share. 😉 Matthew needs to label his so that no one else dips in and he is deadly serious about the whole thing.

Our second festive food today was garlic bread made into a fancy Christmas star. I’m totally proud of myself. It looks amazing and is tasty too! It shouldn’t necessarily taste better because it looks amazing, but I kind of think it does!

So merry eating to all, and to all a good meal!

All is Bright!

While most of our pre-Christmas activities are during the day for the kids who don’t have school, every year I try to toss in a few for the whole family. This year I saw an ad for a holiday event that I’d never heard of. It looked fun so I added it to the list. It was called “Christmas in Color” and is basically a bit lot covered in Christmas lights that flash in time to music creating a giant light show that you drive your car through. It took about half an hour to drive through the course and was quite entertaining. I’m don’t know that it is something we will do every year, but we enjoyed ourselves!

Fancy Footwork

It is recital time again for Malia. She is still enjoying dance lessons and while I still think that tap comes easier to her, she enjoys tap and ballet and is doing well in both. However, she always looks so serious during recital time. All the concentration comes out on her face and she forgets to smile! But that’s ok. She is having a good time. And one of the highlights for dance this year? Her ballet costume has flip sequins, which are all the rage with the younger set right now.

Seasonal Eats-Part II (Plus a Bonus)

I love fun food. Halloween always has some themed food fun, and I also really enjoy tossing some festive eats into our Christmas activity advent. Todays’ activity was making Grinch kabobs. Malia was the only one who was interested in assembling the kabobs, but everyone enjoyed eating them.

My other activity for today was crafting a Christmas present for Daniel. He is currently a senior in high school which means that this Christmas is the last one where we can know with any certainty exactly where he will be. I wanted to give him a little something that he can take wherever he goes, something that will remind him of home. Being the total spaz that I am, I decided on something a bit less conventional, something that is a reflection of our family traditions. I made him a Christmas tree ornament…shaped like an eyeball. A giant eyeball is one of those random family funnies that has been around since Nathan was tiny. I made multiple eyeballs so that each of my children can have a somewhat gruesome reminder of who they are and where they came from when they leave our humble home. Hopefully whomever they choose to marry will have a slightly twisted sense of humor so they don’t freak out about having an eyeball on the Christmas tree!

I can’t wait for the big reveal!

Christmas Chemistry

Today’s activity was making slime. It was made festive by using red glitter glue and a drop of peppermint extract for aroma. Malia had a lovely time playing with it. She’s definitely all girl though, molding a boy and a girl who are in love. That is a first for me. The boys never really made pictures with their slime. They just squished it, tossed it, made it ooze, etc. So girly, glittery slime. Fun times for my little lady.

Big News!

There was some big news from the church today. It was announced that all 11-year-olds turning twelve in the next year will advance to their new quorums and classes on January 1. In conjunction with that, this same group of kids will be able to receive and do baptisms at the temple also starting January 1. This is big for the church as a whole, but it is enormous at our house. Matthew is eleven and is already counting down to his twelfth birthday. He decided months ago that he doesn’t want a birthday party with friends this year. Instead, he wants to invite all his siblings and cousins who are old enough to go to the temple together. After reading the media release myself, I made Matthew sit down with the iPad and read it as well. Guess how he responded? With enormous excitement and enthusiasm, of course!

Nathan is also super excited. He is mentally older than most the boys his age, has been since he was about nine. Today’s announcement means he will advance to the Priests quorum six months sooner and he is thrilled about the chance to move up to join the older young men sooner. Malia will start attending activity days in January and while she has absolutely no idea what that means (I really don’t either, having only boys ahead of her), she is excited for the new year.

There have been a lot of changes in the church over the past few months. To me, it feels like we are all being stepped up in preparation to live a higher law. The church is always growing, changing, and the rapidity of the recent changes makes me feel like we’re being prepared for whatever is to come. I know we are living in the last days and feel like all this is meant to strengthen and buoy up my family (and myself, or course) for the future. This is an exciting time to be alive, occasionally nerve wracking as well, but very exciting.

Legal Adult

As of last Monday, I am the parent of a legal adult. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I mean, inside my brain I still feel the same way I did at twenty-five (although I would hope I’m wiser now that I was then). So how can I have a child that old? Nevertheless, it’s a fact. Daniel has hit eighteen. Last week Monday, I got the first of what will probably be quite a few notifications that I can no longer manage his healthcare information without his consent. He gave his consent, of course, but from here on out, there will be a lot to learn for him as well as for Kevin and I. Our goal as parents has always been to raise capable, self-sufficient human beings and in the next couple of years, we’ll see if we have successfully attained that goal. If nothing else, I’m pretty sure Daniel wouldn’t starve to death or die of the plague, so here’s hoping. 😉

With age comes ease in planning a birthday party and for Daniel’s shindig this year, all I had to do was provide food. I bought pizza and ice cream, talked Daniel through making brownies, then made new brownies when we realized this is one of the few recipes I’ve encountered that totally bombs when made with egg replacer and that some serious cooking chemistry needed to happen (my subsequent experiment in egg-free brownies turned out pretty well). He took care of everything else, even most of the clean-up.

We sang to him at my parents’ house last Sunday and even that was nearly prep free. He felt no need to have a fancy decorated cake and chose one based on flavor-the Swedish swirl cake has been one of his favorites for years.

I’m very grateful that our experimental child (Isn’t the first one always the guinea pig?) is turning out so well. He has learned, and is still learning, many skills that he will need as he steps out into the world on his own. He is beginning to make plans for the future and has, in fact, already been accepted to and received an academic scholarship for his first-choice university. He has worked hard in school and that is paying off for him now. I’m equal parts excited and anxious about what the next few years will bring for Daniel. He is also equal parts excited and anxious, as well he should be. This marks the beginning of a season of change for all of us and hopefully he will still want to counsel with and include us in his future life plans. Ready or not, here comes adulthood.

Second Party of the Year

Apparently, it has become a known fact that Daniel and Nathan are very musically inclined. Not only are they both participating in the Christmas sacrament meeting in multiple capacities, but they were asked to perform for the ward Christmas party as well. This year the party was a breakfast with a short program at the end during which Daniel and Nathan played a couple of numbers. They were happy to give their time, Daniel just had to rush out afterward to make it to a band event.

Malia was thrilled to be able to have a tete-a-tete with Santa during the party. She is fully aware that there is no possible way that he is giving her a horse for Christmas, but she had to toss in the request anyway. She had several other things on her wish list, things that are probably more likely to show up in her stocking. We’ll have to wait and see what Santa decides to bring!

After moving from Murray, the infrequency of ward parties out here has been a change. The Christmas party and the July block party are the only two parties the ward has each year. I kind of miss the camaraderie and sense of belonging the more frequent parties fostered, but I think my kids enjoy the parties and hopefully they will have fond memories of these ward events like I do of the frequent gatherings I attended growing up.

Luck of the Draw

Today was the yearly geography bee at the elementary school. After winning last year, Matthew studied hard and was intent on doing well again. However, sometimes the outcome of these things completely depends on which questions you get asked. As I watched Matthew, I could tell me knew the answers to most of the questions the other kids were asked. Unfortunately, when his turn rolled around, the questions presented had him completely stumped. He was eliminated after about three rounds.

He was enormously disappointed. I don’t blame him. It’s never easy to perform poorly when you feel you have prepared well, and it’s even harder when it all comes down to simple luck…or lack thereof. We stopped at Smith’s on our way home so he could do some emotional eating. While I don’t condone eating your feelings all the time, sometimes a big dish of (dairy free) ice cream is just what the doctor ordered.

Seasonal Eats-Part I

This is the time of year when I pull out our Christmas activity advent to keep the younger kids entertained while they are off track. Matthew is not all that excited about it this year, saying he might participate in some of the activities if he feels like it, but I’m pretty sure he will right in the thick of things when food is involved. And today was our inaugural food activity for the month: Christmas tree pancake stacks. Yum!

I Hope I Get It

This has been a very stressful week for both Nathan and Matthew. Nathan had auditions for “The Sound of Music” at the high school. Matthew had auditions for “The Wizard of Oz” at the elementary school. With all the preparations, auditions, call backs, and waiting, it was a nerve-wracking week for the two of them.

Nathan got called back, as a sophomore, to read for Captain von Trapp, a fact that put him in an unfortunate situation with some of the upperclassmen. He went to call backs, ended up reading for nearly all the male leads, and then got sent home long before most of the other kids. As such, he was pretty stressed. He was certain that it meant he was not going to be cast. I had to remind him that two years ago, when he auditioned for “The Lion King,” that he was also sent home early because the teachers already knew where they were going to cast him. That reminder didn’t help at all, of course, and he became a nail biter for the week.

Auditions for the 6th grade “Wizard of Oz” production were on Tuesday and Thursday. Matthew auditioned on Tuesday since we had Nathan’s piano recital early yesterday evening which meant that he had to wait for all the rest of the kids to audition before the cast list was posted. This is the first time he’s auditioned for a show and between the nerves before the audition and the anxiety riddled wait post-audition, he was pretty high strung all week. He told us that he made the teachers laugh while he was reading. Evoking an appropriate laugh from those casting is generally a good thing but although we told him that, it didn’t do much to settle his nerves.

Today was the big day-cast lists were posted. Nathan was cast as Max Detweiller, a part that is actually quite a bit bigger in the stage production than in the movie. He is really pleased and so are we. It’s a great coup to be cast as a sophomore and means the teachers are aware of just how capable he is. Matthew was cast as the Scarecrow, which is exactly what he wanted. He is really excited to be part of his very first show. Hopefully he will enjoy the experience.

I’ve done my share of auditions and completely understand how stressful they can be. I’m so proud of both Nathan and Matthew and how they are willing to put themselves on the line to share their talents with others. I know that my family and I have been blessed with many talents and I’m a firm believer that sharing those talents, using them in righteous ways, can bring joy to us and others. I often miss my past performance opportunities and while I’m hopeful that there will be more opportunities for me in the future, for now I’m enjoying watching my children shine.

He’s Doing the Mambo!

We have very eclectic tastes in music. Our iTunes library has a little bit of everything from plain chant to Weird Al Yankovic to Queen. Our Christmas playlist reflects our massive range of music preferences and contains selections that range from the sublime to the ridiculous. One of those songs that falls in the ridiculous range is a catchy little number by The Bobs called “Mambo, Santa, Mambo.” It was added to our collection last Christmas and has already become one of our upbeat favorites. We were listening to our holiday mix while we were in the car earlier and this song came up. When we hit the chorus, Malia declared, “On Christmas Eve if I hear Santa and he’s mamboing to this song I will freak out!”

Yup. Pretty sure we’ve messed up all our kids. But as I tell them all the time, normal is boring, right?!

Still the Perfect Birthday Present

It’s the time of year when we pull out our Christmas decorations and decorate the house…and the playhouse.

Party All Week Long!

This has been a full week. Wednesday was pie night. Thursday was Thanksgiving and the greatly anticipated consumption of the previously mentioned pie at my folks’ house. Yesterday Kevin and I went out to dinner and then to a Christmas concert by a choir that Kevin’s sister Connie sings with. And today was the annual post-Thanksgiving shindig with Kevin’s family. Every year we gather for a pot luck lunch, play games and do puzzles, and have a short musical program where any and all that so desire can share their talents. It’s always super fun and an event we all look forward to. Tonight, Kevin and Matthew are at the BYU/Utah football game…in the snow…and the crazy cold. The rest of us are hanging out in the warmth of home. Tomorrow we start decorating for Christmas. What a great week!

Hip, Hip Hooray! It’s Annual Pie Day!

Today was the yearly Thanksgiving Eve pie making marathon. It was a notable occasion because for the first time ever, we had four generations of female family members in attendance. The only ones missing were my niece Sage and her two darling daughters. I’m so grateful that these traditions are becoming beloved for the younger generations. Family ties are priceless and I’m glad that I can actually say that my sisters are also my friends. I’m equally grateful that Malia counts her cousins among her best friends.

And it was also a productive night. Yum! Pie!

My personal contributions to the pie smorgasbord this year were a cranberry orange custard pie (one that I tried last year and really enjoyed) and a pecan cream pie. I can hardly wait to try it tomorrow!

Proud of Our Veterans

Our elementary school does a Veteran’s Day assembly every year. They have the kids invite any veterans or active military members they know, the kids sing songs, talk about what Veteran’s Day is, share stories about the military members in their families and honor all those who have or are serving in any branch of the military. This year when the kids were asked to volunteer if they wanted to speak about a family member in the armed forces, Malia volunteered. I thought she was kidding until the note came home because it didn’t seem like something she would want to do. I was obviously wrong, and she called her Aunt Connie and Uncle Arrin whose son Zach is currently in the Marines and stationed in Okinawa. Although I know she was very nervous, she did a great job. I’m so proud that she recognizes what an important job her cousin is doing and was willing to share a bit about him with the entire school and all the family members who came to the assembly.

Matthew was part of the scout troop that posted the flags (he was actually the one calling the colors) and went to the assembly with me even though he has been at home sick for the past two days. He felt strongly about fulfilling the commitment he had made and really wanted to be there. He didn’t stay for the remainder of the school day, but hopefully he will be on the up and up tomorrow.

I’m so proud of Matthew and Malia, not just because of their willingness to work hard when they commit to things, but because they honor those people who serve in the armed forces. I’m so grateful for and respect those that have served and are still willing to serve and I’m terribly glad my kids are learning that same gratitude and respect.

No Tricks, Just Treats!

As I’ve said before, I think Halloween is fun. I mean, you get to dress up, have a themed dinner, run around the neighborhood way past your bedtime and then there is the candy…loads of candy. As an adult I don’t really participate in most of those things, but I really enjoy getting the kiddies ready to participate. This year’s dinner consisted of mummy calzones, the traditional brain J-ello and a new favorite, Franken-kiwi. Everybody loved those. 😊

Malia decided that this was the year she was going mermaid. She picked out the pattern and the fabrics and even told me that she needed wavy hair because that’s what kind of hair mermaids have. My sis Rachael gave me a crafting tip and I glued shells onto bobby pins to make Malia’s coiffure as accurate as possible. I think the whole thing worked together very well and even more importantly, Malia loved it.

Last year I had to talk really hard to even get Matthew to dress up. I think he felt like dressing up was a little boy thing and he very much wanted to outgrow the little and move on to the big boy. This year I didn’t need to do any convincing. He wanted to be Dr. Strange. After consulting a number of internet photos, we looked at many different patterns to find just the right style for his cape and vest, he selected just the right fabric, and we shopped women’s boots for his footwear since he isn’t in men’s sizes yet and little boy boots have a tendency to be covered with pictures of superheroes, turtles, etc. A trip to the DI and a perusal of Amazon for an accurate Eye of Agamotto completed his look. We were both pleased with the results.

After marching around the neighborhood for a while, Malia came home and dumped out her bag of booty for the yearly ritual of sorting out the stuff that will kill her. For the first time ever, I had a child end up with more in the “safe” pile. I was pleasantly surprised, and Malia was thrilled, of course. I suspect the reason for the shift is the fact that this year our elementary went nut free. The only place in the school where nuts are allowed is in the lunchroom. All the classrooms are nut free. The school has done some educating and as a food allergy mom, I’ve done quite a bit of educating as well. I think the end result is that more people are aware of how the labeling works, how many seemingly innocuous foods are dangerous for kids with nut allergies, and just how many people are affected by food allergies. But no matter the reason, I had one happy mermaid on my hands.

And then, all hyped up on sugar, my topless mermaid dashed to open the door for those who were still scouring the neighborhood in search of treats. I’m not sure why she decided to alter her costume from its original G-rating, but at least she had a flesh colored leotard underneath!

Matthew was less interested in the candy (which is pretty normal for him) and just wandered around the neighborhood with his friends. But I’m glad he took advantage of his last year of trick or treating to enjoy himself rather than trying to grow up so fast. He has no idea just how quickly time passes and in future years, I think he’ll be glad he embraced this one last bit of childhood. Plus, he was really pleased with how his costume turned out and he was the only Dr. Strange in the whole school!