Christmas shenanigans

This is how we do it.

Celebrate the Christmas season.

Get a tree, usually right after Thanksgiving (check).

                                                    

Play a variety of games (check) 

Here we are playing dreidel for the first time.  Wyatt has been asking to play since he learned how in Kindergarten.  It has taken me five years to find chocolate gold coins and actually play.  As we were playing this round, I learned (via Wikipedia) that you can play with anything: pennies, candy...even raisins.  Adell learned about the dreidel game in Kindergarten from a Jewish classmate.

                                                   

Deliver 12 Days of Christmas stuff to our Secret Santa families (check x 12)

                                                   

Make gingerbread houses (check)

Every other year I make real gingerbread or use gram crackers.  This year I made gingerbread...and just like the other years I made it...this year I swore (with real swear words) that I would never do it again.  It is so much work.

                                                    

Participate in the nativity and have an awesome Christmas eve party with Dave and Angela's family (double check)

                                  

Do the Christmas day thing (check)

                                                    

                                                    

Enjoy the wonder of Christmas and feel the love and joy in our family (check--a million times check)

                                                    

The one time a year I dress up to make small talk.

Ah, the annual work holiday party.  Yeesh, this thing gives me a whopping case of the stress outs.  I usually have to secure the babysitter, find something appropriate to wear, get myself looking presentable and get myself over to the party location.  THEN I get to spend a couple of hours making small talk and feeling like a jerk when I cannot remember who I've met previously and who I haven't.

Basically, it is awesome.  

Will gives a great run down of how the company is doing.  I always like hearing that.  However, this past year has been full of more challenges than successes so I wasn't super psyched to hear the speech this year.  He still did a great job with the speech and hopefully 2016 will be full of more successes than challenges.

                                             

After Will gives his speech there is usually a few fun games and white elephant style gift exchanges led by Dave.  One of the games was to pass your phone around the table and take a selfie with everyone's phone.  These were the pictures on my phone:

   

You can see, we sat with some awesome people.

We did some more small talk and then danced for a while.  It was a lovely party.  

               

I love to see the temple

Lorien and Wyatt had a birthday earlier this month.  Every year, they have the gaul to get another year older.  

For their birthday, Grandma Judy sent the kids some ancestor's names so Lorien and Wyatt could take the names to the temple.  Wyatt turned 12 so this would be his first trip to the temple.

When I was growing up our closest temple was in Washington DC.  It was a whole day's drive down and then a whole day at the temple and a third day to drive home.  Needless to say, temple trips didn't happen more than once a year.  I think my kids are pretty lucky to have the temple just 30 minutes away.  

Grandma Judy came out to visit this week so we made plans to go to the temple with the kids.  Uncle Alan, Aunt Heather, Aunt Emily and Uncle Kenny also came to the temple.  It was a really sweet family event.  Uncle David and Aunt Angela watched all of the other kids so we could all go.  I am sure we will repay the favor in a few months when Evan turns 12.                                               

                                                

                                                               

Homecoming...

One of my oldest nephews came home from his mission to New Zealand last weekend.  Wyatt had his championship soccer game at 1:30 Saturday afternoon.  We watched, cheered, played and coached (depending on who you were) until the game was over.  Wyatt's team won (yay!) and we had a little trophy ceremony...then it was straight into the packed van for a drive to Utah.  

We rolled into town very early Sunday morning (good thing they had late church) and showed up for Keaton's homecoming.  Keaton gave a great talk.  He shared some excellent stories and his testimony.  I was so glad my kids got to see him and hear his testimony.  

After the homecoming part at church we went back to my brother's house.  My kids think Uncle Chris is pretty cool.  They think his house is one of the funnest places on earth...they are right.  Uncle Chris let the kids play video games and then busted out his WWII jeep.  

Uncle Christ took the boys out for a drive...and then ended up letting each boy "drive" the jeep, including Colter.

Keaton was a trooper and played fun rough house games with the kids.  Colter got some excellent cousin time.  My other brother, Caleb, drove down from Idaho with his five boys.  Caleb's youngest two boys are Colter's age.  He played the most with Sam, they kept racing a little truck across the living room floor. 

                      

We had to leave the next morning.  Will had a breakfast meeting in Salt Lake and as soon as he was finished we hit the road.  It was a very short trip but very much worth it.  We loved seeing family and on the drive home we drove through snow!  So...a pretty great trip!

Sunday hike

We are trying to make our Sundays more of a family day.  We always stay at home together...but most of the time we are all off in our separate corners of the house, doing our own things.

We decided every Sunday we would have:

A family meal

A family activity 

and a little alone time

This Sunday we let Lorien lead the way on a little walk/hike.  We walked around our neighborhood then Lorien showed us where this hill was with a killer view.  Getting home ended up taking much longer than we anticipated but watching the sunset with killer views in every direction was totally worth it.

HALLOWEEN!!!

Sigh.

It is a "make" Halloween costumes year.  

I love and hate these years.  I love homemade costumes.  They are unique, cute and last much longer than store bought ones.  I hate them because making all these costumes is stressful and hard...also it always ends up costing more money than I planned.

This year, all three girls wanted to be some kind of princess!  So THREE princess dresses were in my sewing future.  

We bought the fabric early (like the day before I left for Boston early).  But I didn't start sewing until late.  So I was sewing costumes right down to the line.  

                                                 

Luckily for Lorien, she had a church dance early in the month and wanted to wear her costume.  So her dress got put together early.  I am a pro at a little girl princess dress.  I've made a dozen or more.  But I've never made a grown-up girl sized princess dress.  It was daunting but turned out really cute.  I was super proud of it.  Lorien looked like the perfect Glinda.  

                                                 

Wyatt wanted to be a caveman.  His costume was the easiest.  Just sewing a couple of straight lines on some furry fabric.  A while ago he found a cow's thigh bone on one of our hikes out in the hills.  He used the bone as his caveman club.  It was cool--in a gruesome way.

                                                

Clare wanted to be the live action version of Cinderella.  Her dress wasn't too hard to put together...although I wish I bought twice as much tuel to really fluff her skirt up.

                                                

Adell was a darling Rapunzel.  That wig took some figuring out.  I watched a tutorial on another crafty mom's blog.  She made it look easy.  However, I didn't account for the weight all of that hair was going to add.  Adell had a hard time keeping it on.  She looked cute all the same.

And because I am a glutton for punishment, I tried to make myself a Wicked Witch of the West dress.  It was hard.  It did not turn out nicely.  The top was huge and weird.  I couldn't get the zipper in.  I looked a wicked mess.  But it's Halloween so who cares?

And Colter!  I did not make Colter's costume.  I saw this little construction worker outfit on sale at the fabric store and snatched it up!  He was super happy to be an "auction worker guy".

The kids got plenty of Halloween related use out of their costumes.  They wore them to school, to the church Halloween party (is that an oxymoron--church Halloween party?), and for trick-or-treating Halloween night.  So all of the sewing work was totally worth it.  They were also very proud of their costumes--which always makes me feel nice.  

                                                

A house right next to the middle school goes all out with Halloween decorations.  We drive by that house twice a day, every day...and every time at least one of the kids says "We HAVE to trick-or-treat at that house!"  This year we made it to the house.  It was creepy and cool.  The kids loved it.

                                                                                          Happy Halloween!

EARTHQUAKES!

                                   

For the last week or more we have been having lots of little earthquakes...like hundreds of them.  I don't feel most of them.  They are usually less than 3 magnitude and they happen all day and all night.  The kids have started to notice them--and like them.  

One day, Will was working from home.  Every so often he would call out to me "did you feel that one?"  Most of the time my answer was "no".  He was sitting in a quiet room with fewer distractions while I was bustling around with kids clamoring for my attention.  Each earthquake was really small and only lasted a second or two.  Late in the afternoon, when all the kids were home from school, we heard a big boom sound and the whole house started shaking.  I was standing next to Lorien near the tall book shelf in the living room.  All of a sudden as the house was shaking I shouted and shoved Lorien "get away from the book shelf!" Then I remembered that I have several other children and maybe I should try and keep them safe too.  This all ran through my mind in a second and by the time I had those thoughts (and shoved Lorien) the earthquake was over.  It ended up being a 3.5.  That same night, around 10:00 pm, we had another big shaker.  But over all, they were pretty small and all were uneventful. 

We all learned that you can hear an earthquake before it hits.  There is usually a big or small booming sound.  The times I heard the quake before it happened I thought it was a kid closing a door or something.  But knowing that just ended up causing unnecessary paranoia.  Now, everytime I hear a booming sound (a kid actually closes a door, the garbage truck goes by etc) I get jumpy--expecting the ground to start shaking.

*post edit* we ended up having over 200 mini quakes over the space of two or three weeks.  They were all centered around and in our neighborhood.  It was weird and kind of cool.  It made me get our emergency kits together and go over some disaster preparedness stuff with the kids.  

One and only(s)

With three kids playing soccer this fall we decided to pass on our usual season passes for Stanford Football.  Our Saturdays were devoted to watching Wyatt, Clare and Adell play soccer.  To quote Will: "I'd rather watch our own children play sports than watch someone else's children."  Also, with only one soccer player last year we were only able to make it to a few Stanford games.  

We did check the schedule and find the one night/weekday game and bought tickets for that game.  So, our one and only Stanford football game was last week.  Stanford vs. UCLA.  

Stanford won...because we were there.  We had a great time.

                                                 

The other one and only that happened last week was a field trip for Adell.  I never, ever, ever go on field trips with my kids.  My biggest reason is it is hard to figure out what to do with all the other little kids I have at home.  Also, I hate riding on a school bus.  I rode a bus to and from school every day of my school-aged life.  I've thrown up on school buses...on field trips.  It is not cool.  I do not need to barf on a school bus as an adult.  

Alas, my refusal to chaperone field trips makes my children very sad.  I've not been able to be in Adell's classroom (like I was with the older kids) so to make it up to her...I went on a field trip.  

I rode on the bus (no puking).  I watched other people's children run all over the place.  I carried four pumpkins around.  I chaperoned like crazy.  

Field trip accomplished.

                                                  

                                                 

I am probably never going to do that again.

Monterey

After my mental health vacation to Boston our whole family took a little vacation to Monterey.  I flew into Oakland Saturday afternoon, Will and the kids picked me up and we drove straight down to Monterey.  I haven't been home in almost a week--which is nice if home is making you lose your marbles.  

It was a perfect weekend to stay at a beach house.  We are lucky enough to know the family that owns this little beach house and they offered to let us stay there for the weekend of General Conference.  

                                             

We spent chunks of the day watching conference and eating candy.  The kids get to pick out a handful of meaningful words (Prophet, gospel, scriptures, etc) and every time they hear those words they got to put down a tally mark.  At the end of the talks they got to collect candy and treats for each tally mark.  Bribery is a great way to get kids to pay attention at church.  Amen.

Between sessions of conference we slipped down to the beach.  The house was literally one block from the ocean.  The front yard was beach sand.  For this beach-bum it was so very cool.

                                                

                                                                       

Sunday evening we took a special trip out to the dunes.  We had to drive for a bit, park in an abandoned military facility, cross the freeway on a closed overpass and hike down to the beach...but it was worth it.  

                                                 

                                                

                                                

                                                 

We ended up staying in Monterey for one extra day.  Lorien went back home with Uncle David and his family.  She had school obligations she didn't want to skip.  The rest of us spent the day at the aquarium.  I've only been to this aquarium twice.  It is huge, cool and expensive.  The first time we went it happened to be "locals day" and the place was packed!  It was not a very satisfying experience.  This trip was way better!  The kids got to see (and sometimes touch) everything.  We got to ask questions of the guides and ooh and awe over the wonders of the ocean.

                                                 

                                                 

I learned this cool thing about anchovies and sardines...really any kind of fish that travel in large schools.  These fish swim all around in swirling masses of thousands of fish.  Everyone knows they do this primarily because there is strength in numbers.  But plenty of us wonder, how do all of those fish swim around with out smacking into each other all the time?  Or, how do they know how to change direction at the exact same time?  

Turns out, scientists have discovered an organ inside the gills of these kinds of fish.  The organ can detect even the slightest change in water pressure or current.  So if one fish slightly moves it's head, every fish around "feels" it and they all move too.  (This may be the crappiest explanation ever...go ahead a google it for better information...)  

Anyway, I thought that was cool.  AND, I realized, my children have this exact ability!  I swear, they know how to move around my legs and body as I try to make my way around.  By some strange sixth sense, (or organ in their gills) they know exactly where I am going to be a millisecond before I do and how to get there.  I am constantly moving around with children swarming around me--and constantly trying not to step on them.  

It is amazing.

Thankfully, this sense seems to wear off.  Because adults do not do this.  I have high hopes for my children and my future ability to walk around without a kid being right under my feet all the time. 

                                                 

The whole trip ended up being one of those few family vacations where it was easy, fun and relaxing.