My favorite, least favorite tradition...

One of our Christmas traditions is to have a "snowball" fight.  When we open presents we each have a paper bag where we keep the wrapping paper.  Later, we have a "snowball" fight with the wrapping paper crumpled into balls.

As we open presents, with the kids hoarding away more and more paper, I always start wondering to myself "Why do we keep all this paper again?  Is it really worth all the mess to have this mock snowball fight?"  My annoyance with the tradition mounts as days go by and those paper bags full of paper are tripped over and spilled.  When we came up with this tradition (I read about it in a Family Fun magazine) the plan was to have the snowball fight right after we opened presents Christmas morning.  However, an immediate snowball fight has never happened.  There have been years where the snowball fight was more of a New Years tradition than a Christmas tradition.  So those bags of paper end up spilled and picked up (by me) a dozen times before we ever get to the fun part.

The kids ask day after day, "Can we have the snowball fight today?" reminding me of the mess and my inability to follow through quickly.

But as soon as we start the actual snowball fight I change my mental tune.  The kids have so much fun whipping paper snowballs at each other.  They always foolishly think they have a shot at out throwing their father.  There is laughter and a healthy spirit of competition.  Moreover, a paper snowball fight is waaaaay warmer and easier to clean up than an actual snowball fight.


At the end of the fight we all work together to round up every bit of paper.  We rake the paper into a big pile and the kids make snow angles and bury each other in the "snow".

I love it...once we get around to doing it...

Colter William...

Oh my, Colter is seven months old already!  We are all so ga-ga over this kid.  Here are some of the fun things Colter is up to at seven months.

He is crawling on a professional level and has figured out how to find Momma in any room of the house.

He loves to play peek-a-boo and eat paper...in fact, he is a paper-seeking-missile.  No matter how clean I think I've made the floors he manages to pull paper out of no where and promptly choke on it.

The big kids love playing with Colter.  Clare and Adell are happy to include him in their games of baby, school and princesses (he is always a prince).  Lorien just loves to dote over him and Wyatt is trying to teach Colter how to rough house.

 Colter is the most charming baby I've ever met.  When we are out and about he spends most of his energy smiling and twinkling his eyes at all the ladies we meet.  He stops hurried shoppers in their tracks with a drool-filled grin and keeps the charm on until they have to pull themselves away.

He is super ticklish.  Under his arms, on his thighs, the bottom of his feet, his belly--everywhere!  He peels out the greatest baby giggles when we tickle him, it is hard not to tickle him too much.

He is a good eater and cheerios are his favorite solid food.

He is finally taking a pacifier...I am unreasonably proud of this fact.

Adell and Clare were sitting with Colter and Adell commented: "Look, it is like Colt is a camp-fire!"  

I know, the floor doesn't look super-clean but I spent a good 10 minutes crawling around picking up every scrap of paper...I don't know where he found this one?  Is he keeping paper in his pajamas?

All the kids like to try and give Colter shoulder-rides, much to the horror of responsible adults watching.

Clare is trying to get Colter to sit in a chair so she can play school with him.  

Christmas Eve...

It is four o'clock in the afternoon and three of our children are still in their pajamas.  The kids are leaving a note for Santa--on an old office white-board.  Can you tell our Dad works at a start-up?  They can hardly wait for tomorrow morning.  I don't know why, if you've read this blog you know they are seriously naughty children and only getting coal this year.

'Tis the season...

A Christmas tree was selected.

Said tree was trimmed.

Santa was seen--twice if you count the mannequin Santa standing outside a store downtown.

Gingerbread houses were made and devoured.

The nativity was preformed.

Christmas Carols were heard and sung.

Cards were sent out.

Bring it on Christmas.  We are ready.

Clare Sara...

A day in the leaves with Clare.

Old friends...

Our friends, Anne and Rory, from our days at Stanford came back to California for Thanksgiving.  Will and Rory were in business school together.  Rory stayed at Stanford to get a PhD and then took a professorship (is that the right word?) at the University of Texas in Austin.  When we started at Stanford Will and I had two children and Rory and Anne had one.  Now we have nine kids between the two of us, five boys and four girls.

We met them for breakfast one morning to catch up and share in each other's crazy.





And it was crazy...wonderfully crazy.

Lingo-Lounge...

On the day before school started this year, class lists were posted in the office windows at school.  We all anxiously trooped over to the elementary school to get the kids classroom assignments.  Promptly after reading her teacher's name, Lorien burst into tears.

She cried all afternoon and into the night.

When she could finally discuss her sorrow with me she explained:  "All summer long, on every dandelion, on every star on every-everything I wished I'd get into Mrs. Eplin's class for 5th grade.  And now I know wishes don't come true!"

Oh the horror.

Apparently, Mrs. Eplin is the creative writing expert at school.  She is a published author and gives her students plenty of time to express themselves through spoken and written word.  Alas, Lorien was placed in Mr. B's class...Mr. B. is the math expert at school.  He has a wall clock with all of the numbers replaced with mathematical symbols (for example, 3:00 is marked by the symbol for pi).

If you know our little Lorien, you might know that her heart beats for creative writing.  She has hundreds of stories started (and a few finished) on our computer.  She is always telling me about her most recent story idea and wants nothing more than to be a published author when she grows up.

If you know our little Lorien, you might also know that she loathes math.  Numbers are the bane of her existence.  She would rather eat pencil erasers than solve math equations...and she frequently does eat her pencil eraser instead of doing her math homework.  She struggles with many of the basic math facts making  her loathing even stronger.  Sigh.

You can see why being placed in Mr. B's class was not welcome news.  She has warmed up to Mr. B over the last few months.  Her math skills have improved even if her tolerance level for the subject has not.

Fortunately for Lorien and her word-filled heart Mrs. Eplin hosts a poetry reading night at a local Starbucks. Any 5th grader is allowed to read their own original work or a memorized poem by someone else.  It is a great opportunity for these kids to "preform" and share their ideas.  Lorien has been beside herself with anticipation for this evening.

So, Colter and I escorted our budding poet to Starbucks and hung out while she shared an original poem she had written a few days ago.  She was one of the most animated, well rehearsed and all around entertaining poets.  Moreover, her poem was brilliant.  (No, I am not biased in the least...)  You can see for yourself in the video below.

The nervous cheek-chew before her turn was up.

Waiting her turn, excited now.

A deep-breath to begin...

See, I told you so.

PAC 12 Championship...

Will got tickets to take our family to the PAC 12 Championship game yesterday--Stanford played UCLA for the title.  Uncle David also got tickets for himself and his boys but had a work commitment at the last minute so Evan and Andrew came with us.

The weather was pretty crummy but not as bad as it could have been.  Every so often the steady mist would increase to a heavy drizzle for a minute or two then return to mist.  Most of the time we could see the rain start to get heavier in the stadium lights across the way.  We'd all scramble for our ponchos and Will or I would tuck the baby under the plastic to keep him dry.  The kids spent four quarters screaming their guts out cheering for the home team--our team--Stanford.

Of course, Stanford won.

GO STANFORD!

Clockwise from top-right: Will keeping Colter dry under his poncho.  Clare and Andrew taking a break from cheering for a picture.  Evan and Wyatt after we rushed the field--showing their enthusiasm by getting naked and waving their shirts around.  Colter in a rain-free moment.  It looks like he has a bottom tooth in this picture but he does not.  

Our crew rushing the field after Stanford's win.  Lorien elected to stay at a friend's house instead of coming to the game.

Adell, trying to catch bits of confetti after the celebration on the field.  

Another shot of Wyatt and Evan getting their crazy on.  

Somebody make him stop.

Colter pulled himself up to standing today at the library.

Now I have to decide if I am going to knock him over if he does it again...

3 years old

Adell is three!









Here are 3 of our favorite things about our favorite three-year-old.

1) She says some pretty adorable stuff.
         She calls the way she runs: ma-guskie-jack-a-lope-style.  I don't know where she came up with the name...but when she runs she comically pumps her arms and kicks her legs out to the side.
         When she wants to have you sit next to her she says: "You can come and sit ba-next-ta' me."
         Some time this spring Adell learned how to tell people that she was 2 and 1/2 years old--but she would be 3 on November 25th (carefully holding up 2 and then 3 fingers).  She she says "Novemburrr twenty-fifff", adorable.
          We are trying to teach the children not to fight by reading scriptures about being peacemakers and loving one another.  One week Wyatt and Adell were having a little fight.  Adell came running into Daddy to tattle-tale: "Daddy, Wyatt is doing disputings and he is doing disputings to me!"
2) She loves going to Nursery on Sunday and Play group on Monday.  She cannot wait to start school (in 3 years...)
3) She has really found a love of coloring and drawing.  She draws people, butterflies and rainbows.  She colors (very carefully!) in coloring books.  We all love to see her latest creations.

Happy birthday my darling baby--er--big girl!

I'll take what I can get.

I miss New England foliage.  We get changing colors here in California and they are pretty but they make me homesick.  I want to take an easy hike up Mt. Douglas and look out over the changing landscape.  Around here most of the deciduous trees are planted in people's yards.  So, we see more Autumn colors on our drive to school than we do on our hikes in the hills.

I'm not complaining.  I'll take it.





I'll admit to using some color filters when taking these pictures. Do they hold a candle to Maine's fall foliage--no. But they bring a smile to my face and make me grateful for the changing seasons.

Six months old

Happy 1/2 a year, Colter!  

First hair cut

Before

After

With the exception if Adell, all of our kids were born with a full head of hair. First hair cut time comes around fast for our babies. At six months old it was Colter's turn in the barber shop chair.

He was very well behaved. I think that had something to do with the four siblings crowded around, cooing and cheering for him.

I took a little video if the proceedings. I love the look of delight that passes over Colter's face as he looks from one sibling to another.  The last 7 seconds or so are my favorite.

He is one adored little guy.

Who doesn't want a college education?

We took all five kids to the movies today. We went to two different theaters only to find shows sold out. By the time we found an open showing we had missed the matinee price by 20 minutes.

Bummer.

Now we have to decide which child doesn't get to go to college.
On the upside, the movie was excellent! We saw Wreck-it Ralph--even Adell was completely entertained. All kidding aside, movies are expensive these days. It is a super special treat when we take all the kids to a show. We only go as a reward after reaching a big family goal. This movie was well worth the theater price and the hard work to accomplish our goal. I'd recommend it to anyone.

In the Principal's office...

Adell kindly took these pictures of me and Colter during our summons to the Principal's office last week.

Word is getting around about Wyatt's gun-related-suspension.

It is awesome.

Happy Birthday My Dears...

Oh dear, Lorien and Wyatt turned another year older today.

Lorien and Wyatt after finishing a cross country meet.  "Participant" ribbons--yay!

I just cannot wrap my mind around how old they are getting.  Their "turning a year older" every year is driving me bonkers.  Why can't they take two years to get a year older?

I love them both so much!  For my own musings later on, here are some facts about Lorien and Wyatt right now:

Lorien is a fantastic reader, writer and artist.  She loves to make up stories and draw illustrations for them.
She is totally stoked to be participating in the school spelling bee...and practices every day.
She desperately wants a Kindle Fire.
She is best of friends with her siblings one second, and worst enemies the next.
She is confident and outgoing.
Lorien is fantastically oblivious to her maturing frame.


Wyatt is way into Legos and electronic games of all kinds.
He really understands Math.
He likes to play chess.
He improved his soccer skills considerably this season (his team made it into the playoffs!).
He can be painfully shy one second and the class clown the next.
Wyatt can be the best brother a girl could ever ask for.  He always laughs at Lorien's jokes, builds Clare's forts and plays the Prince for Adell.

Baby yoga...

This is Colter's newest trick. It's some thing between a push up and downward dog. Obviously, he is trying to impress both of his parents.

I just want to keep him from crawling. A crawling baby means I have to keep my floors clean...

Election Day Woes...

Wyatt got suspended for bringing a gun to school today...

What?  You thought I was talking about politics with that blog title?

Oh no, my little troubles are way more important than a national election.  Now lets get back to talking about me.

I am not sure where to start telling this story?  Should I start with the phone call from the principal and the horrified-heart-pounding drive over to school to collect my criminal son?  Should I start with the facts of how he ended up going to school with a gun in his back pack in the first place?

I just don't know.

I guess I start from the very beginning.

When two people love each other very much they decide to get married.  After being married for a little while they some times discover differences in opinion regarding second amendment rights and how to teach children about those rights.  Then they actually have children and those differences come up in discussion and gift choices--all the time.

A while ago Will bought Wyatt a toy gun.  It isn't a B-B gun, or an air-soft gun but it does look kind of real and shoots little plastic pellets.

I was not thrilled.

I worried about him shooting his eye out.  I worried about him playing with the toy in the sight of other adults and those other adults calling the police because a kid was playing with a gun.  I worried about our smaller children swallowing a fist full of plastic pellets thinking they were sprinkles.

I worried about a lot of stuff.

Last weekend we had all the cousins over to play.  Wyatt and Evan decided to go out into the hills near our house.  There is a cool rope swing and plenty of dirt out there (an 8 year old boys dream).  They wanted to take the toy gun.

I worried.

Will had a talk with them making sure they understood the rules:

No pointing the gun at each other.  If other kids are playing out in the hills you cannot bring the gun out.  No shooting people.  Then I made them carry the gun in a back pack so on one would see the gun...  (This whole ordeal may have been my fault...)

They went to the hills.  They safely played with the toy gun.  They came home.

Good.

Fast forward three days...I am sitting at home and I get a call from school.  It is the Principal and she starts by saying "This is the craziest thing I've ever encountered being a Principal."

Great.

Then she tells me Wyatt brought a toy gun to school and could I please come in to discuss the problem.

Sure.

I get Colter changed into his cutest baby clothes and make Adell put an adorable dress-up dress on over her clothes.  (See Principal we are a cute, innocent family...please don't expel my son.)  We are already "that family" we have five kids and 90 percent of the time we all look like we crawled out of a ditch some where.

On the drive over to school I am remembering every extreme school punishment I've ever read or heard about.  Children being expelled for bringing pocket knives to school, children being suspended for bringing a tiny Lego toy gun to school, and on and on.  I am stressing out about how to protect Wyatt's reputation and not cry all over the Principal's office as soon as I walk through the door.

Inside the Principal's office I get the whole story.  Wyatt discovered the gun in his back pack at lunch time.  He knew well enough to keep the gun in his back pack and NOT take it out.  He did start telling his friends: "Hey guys, I accidentally brought my gun to school..."  and then it became a game of Telephone.  Other kids heard there was a gun at school.  Finally, a different boy was accused of bringing a gun to school.  When Wyatt heard this he went to his teacher and told her about the gun.  She sent both boys to the Principal.

So, Wyatt did almost every thing right.  It wasn't his fault the gun was in his back pack.  I made him put it there and no one remembered to take it out when he and his cousin got back from the hills.  He didn't bring the toy to school to threaten or harass any one.  He should have kept the news of his mistake to himself or told his teacher right away.

Oh well.

Because other kids had heard some one brought a gun to school there had to be punishment.  So, Wyatt is suspended from school for one day.  I don't think this is a terrible punishment.  He gets to stay home with me and the little kids.  I wont let him watch TV or play video games but still...he gets to skip school.  If he does not have another weapons related incident this year the suspension will be cleared from his record.

Awesome.

I will say, I really appreciate our school's Principal.  I think she easily could have taken this to the extreme.  She could have insisted on expelling Wyatt.  The district has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to weapons.  Needless to say, I am very thankful for her understanding.  I hope she is still Principal when Colter brings a toy weapon to school...

Will emailed me this picture, one of his co-workers made it after hearing the story.

At least they think it is funny...

Boo!

Halloween happened here.

I made it to the school parade this year, last year I was busy barfing my guts out (thanks Colter). The kids were adorable in their costumes and the high school band was rockin'.

We are all safe and sound after hitting up the neighbors for free candy.

Halloween is the best--don't you think so?