Spring break kick off...

Ah, Spring Break time!  We've all been looking forward to a break from school.  

On Saturday, Will wrestled again.  Will and I went over to South San Francisco Friday night and stayed in a hotel so he could get over to the tournament on time without having to wake up at the crack of dawn.  I stayed and watched him wrestle.  I was going to go home and have him get a ride with someone else but he only had three matches so I stayed.  

We spent the rest of our Saturday doing yard work.  We love having a yard...but so far it has been kind of a disaster out there and we don't get to spend much relaxing time out in the yard, yet!

Sunday was Sadie's 9th birthday.  Sadie wanted a Relative Race party...and since we are her relatives, we got invited!  Seriously, Sadie didn't want a friend party, she just wanted her cousins.  Such a sweet girl.  We split up into family teams and had to complete five tasks.  It was so fun and really funny.  First was the marshmallow toss.  The Dave Anderson family won that game easily.

Then we had to complete a puzzle, race to the location of the puzzle and take a family picture.  I think the Dave Anderson family beat us on that one too.

Then we had to build a lego house using all of the legos in a bag.  The house did not have to be functional or pretty...so we won that round.

Next, we had to drive a remote control car along a course.  One person did the front and back directions, the other left right.  Will and Wyatt were a pretty unstoppable team.

Last, we had to find Easter eggs that had been tossed over the fence by Aunt Angela, open the eggs and unscramble the word inside.  Then race back to Angela and give the answer (Sadie!).  I think we made it back first but only by a smidge.  Then all of our times were tallied for each event.  The Will Anderson family had won one more event than the Dave Anderson family but they had the shortest overall times so they were the winner!  That marshmallow toss really got us in the end.

Open house...in progress night...

The Elementary School did something groundbreaking and miraculous this year.  Instead of holding Open House in May, when everyone has one million things to do, they held it at the end of March.  They called it a work in progress night.  It was awesome!  Exactly like a regular Open House just at a much saner time of year.  We didn't have to rush from class to class or split up because there was another event scheduled the same night.  We got to walk through Adell and Colter's classrooms and take it all in.

Colter was first.  Will was running late from a meeting at work but he made it.  Colter enjoyed showing us around his classroom.  I enjoyed hearing him read so well!

Adell went next.  Her classroom was bustling.  The kids decided to give their parents a day-in-the-life of a third grader.  We had to take a timed math test and a spelling test.  It was great to see what she has been working on and learning.

Our little Adell was the Star Student this week so we got to see her poster.  By the end of the night, however, Adell was bummed.  She couldn't quite put her finger on it but I think it boiled down to: the evening didn't go as she had planned.  The times table test station was really busy and to save time, Will corrected our test instead of Adell...she wanted to do that.  The animal report section had her report missing!  Colter was distracting.  The room was busy.  She was bummed.  It was hard to see her sad.  Her classroom was amazing and we did enjoy seeing all the third-grade work she had been doing.  Life doesn't always go the way we expect...and that's ok. 

Rain and Sun...

Oh, rain.  

We love you.  

Really we do.  

We are thankful for you.  

We have missed you.  

We are so glad you've been around so much this winter.  

Really, you showed up so much...just when we needed you.  

You were there.  

For extended stays.  

You brought us so much healing and health.  

Have I mentioned how thankful we are for you?  

We are really just so, so, so, sooooo grateful.  

Now, is there anywhere else you should stop by?  

I mean, we don't need to be water hogs and keep you all to ourselves.  

Really, truly, if you feel like it is time to move on and help others, we understand.  

Really.  

We understand.  

You've been a peach.  

See you next winter!  

In the one-room school hiz-ouse...

Every child but Colter (yet) and Lorien (who wasn't at this school in 3rd grade) got to go on a field trip to a local one-room schoolhouse.  I've never chaperoned...honestly, I never chaperoned any field trips for the big kids.  I decided to chaperone this trip with Adell.  When I was in elementary school in 4th and 5th grade we had a similar experience to an old-timey village called Norlands.  In the 4th grade, we went for a couple of hours dressed as pioneers.  We walked through the village and observed people living the old-timey life.  Then in the 5th grade (the BEST grade) we got to go for a full day.  We got to be in the house and do all the daily work a girl of our age would have done.  The boys had to go out into the field and do the daily work of a boy in that time period.  I loved it!  I read lots of Little House on the Prairie and romanticized the crap out of that era.  So, I was pretty pumped to join Adell today.  

The schoolhouse was a little different than my elementary field trip experience.  The kid's teacher was in the very last class to go through the one-room schoolhouse when she was in third grade.  It was cool to learn from her.  The kids got to write with ink and a quill pen.  They had to "make their manners" every time they answered a question, with meant they had to stand up and curtsey or bow before answering.  The teacher was not super strict and I think that was good.  Even pretending to be in that era, I don't see the point of scaring kids with treats of the switch and yelling.  It was a different time. 

The teacher said the kids were one of the best-behaved group she had taught in a while.  Maybe she says that to everyone...but we felt special anyway. 

Officially a TEENAGER!

It happened today...at 4:15 exactly...Clare turned 13!  I think she has been an emotional teenager for a couple of years now.  Her physical age just caught up.  She had school and dance so it was a weekday birthday.  She requested chicken alfredo and green beans for dinner (yum!).  She got Berkinstocks (who is this kid?) and some makeup supplies.  She was happy.  Life is good.  

On your birthday Clare, I just want you to know how much I love you.  I think you're amazing.  I am so proud of you for doing dance team this year...even with a hurt shoulder!  I love to watch you practice your dance moves all around the house.  I love to hear you chime in with the dance girls chatter on carpool.  I love how hard you try in school and how pleased you are when you get good grades.  You are smart and capable.  I love you my Clare Bear. 

Back in the wrestling saddle...

We knew it would happen, right?  We knew, if Will started coaching wrestling again it wouldn't be long before he would want to wrestle himself.  He just doesn't like to stay on the sidelines.  He likes being in the action.  

So no surprise, surprise, Will is wrestling again for this club season.  He had a tournament today and I took Adell and Colter down to watch him wrestle in San Jose.  Colter has never seen Will wrestle (outside of the roughhousing kind they do together every day) and Adell was a six-month-old baby last time Will wrestled...so it was really a whole new experience for both of them.

The kids got to see Will kick some butt and get really sweaty.  They were curious and wanted to ask him lots of questions between matches.

They also wanted to try out the rock climbing wall in the gymnasium.  They got to do everything they wanted.

It is fun to watch Will wrestle again.  I understand the sport a little bit better so I know what is happening (kind of).  He is in amazing physical shape and that is fun to see (wink-wink).  It is cool to see him do something I think is so crazy!  Return to such a physically demanding sport after nearly a ten-year break, to lose a bunch of weight to be able to wrestle, to train and sweat and hurt all for the love of competition.  I don't think he does it all just for the love of competition or the sport, he has lots of reasons but he does love wrestling.  He wants to DO the things he loves, not just watch them.  Way to go, Will, we are so proud. 

A weird, cool, happy thing happened for me this day I took the littles down to see Will wrestle.  We had to drive about 45 minutes south to San Jose, parking was unavailable and we had to park in the residential neighborhoods a few blocks away.  We had to make our way from the car to the high school where the tournament was.  It was no big deal.  I felt confident and sure I could do all of those things.  As the day progressed it came to light that Will's car was not going to have enough charge (he drives an all-electric Honda Clarity) to get back home.  I offered to take the car to a charging station and let it charge while we grabbed a bite to eat.  So Will found a charging station, we made our way there (it was not easily located) and then found a Panda Express nearby for lunch/dinner.  Here was the weird, cool, happy thing:  I did it all with zero freak out.  I navigated the streets in a strange city.  The kids squawked and chirped in the back seat.  We parked and got the car charging.  We walked through the city and crossed an eight-lane street (basically a freeway) to get to the restaurant.  We enjoyed a stress-free meal.  We made our way back and delivered the car to Will so he could come home at the end of the tournament. 

Why was this such a big deal?  Because it is something I did all the time with the big kids when they were little except I was a total basket case.  I was internally FREAKING OUT every second of the adventure.  Driving in a new city = possible car crash because I'd be distracted by the squawking children in the back.  Walking along city streets = possible death of my children for wandering into the road.  Ordering food out = relief tempered by guilt for spending money wastefully.  It was a roller coaster of emotions with only steep dives and loopdy-loops.  It was only stressful and infuriating.  When we were done with these adventures I would cry and swear I was never leaving the house again.  It was awful. 

But that's ok.  I was doing the best I could with the tools I had at the time.  I still took my kids out and we still did fun things.  I was a basket case and that's ok.  I love me for doing all of that and being that way.  But I'm different now...and that's ok too.  I love the old me and the new me.  I enjoyed feeling love and pride for my old self and my new self.  I snapped a selfie to remember how the old me would have felt like dying in this moment but the new me was just fine.  And both mes get stuff done, take kids on adventures, and rock motherhood the best way we know how.  Good job me, I love you.

I look awesome, I know.  A couple of other side notes:  Adell's flip flop was about to snap.  We fixed it with a bandaid so she could walk to Panda Express.  We were all so impressed with our ability to cross a road with eight lanes of traffic.  Colter and Adell were wowed that people were allowed to walk on these types of roads.  It felt big and scary but we did it. 

On having children...

I am typing this in April and cannot remember the dream.  The night before this post is dated (March 20th) I had a weird dream.  Most of the time my dreams are just the ramblings of my unconscious mind sorting out events and thoughts from the day.  They have zero meaning.  They are only there for rest and rejuvenation.   Every so often, I'll wake from a dream and feel like it was important.  Either my mind is wrestling with something, I am worried about something, or I am getting some guidance from God.  I usually know when a dream was important when I wake up.  I feel different.  Instead of feeling like: that was weird. I feel like: that was important.  I don't know how to describe it.  I just want to say it doesn't happen very often and MOST of my dreams aren't important at all.  

Anyway, I wish I could remember this dream. I woke up feeling like it was important; moreover, I felt like I needed to spend more deliberate time with my kids.  I'm with them all day...all the time...but lots of the time I am distracted.  I do chores, listen to books, and check my phone.  Man, I wish I could remember the dream now.  I woke up feeling like I need to pay attention to my kids more when I'm with them.  Nothing crazy.  I still need to do other stuff but I need to be more deliberate about putting other stuff down and focusing on them for a few minutes.  So that is what I tried to do today.  Here are some of the things I observed:

This picture is actually from Tuesday, the day before.  Colter after swim lessons at splash.

Clare had her big birthday breakfast with friends this morning.  We had 14 girls over before the 9:00am start at middle school.  They chatted and laughed and ate waffles.  Clare has been in this school district since she started school.  Many of these girls have been her classmates since she was in Kindergarten.  I loved seeing how they have grown up.  I loved listening to their conversations while I cooked in the kitchen.  I loved hearing their laughter and kindness to each other.  Clare has had really good friends while we've lived here.  There have been ups and downs but mostly ups.  I am so thankful for Clare and her friends.

I sat with Colter while he ate his lunch after Kindergarten pick up.  We talked about his day and the things he likes.  I watched him get his own glass of water.  I remembered getting millions of glasses of water for my kids over the years.  I remembered being small and having the kitchen counters reach my armpits when I reached for my own glass of water as a child.

When I picked Adell up I took her to McDonald's to grab an ice cream cone through the drive-through.  We talked about her day and her friends.  She has some friend drama, it weighs on her heavily.  She doesn't have an easy time feeling like she is always liked and included.  It is hard sometimes.  We talk a lot about being in charge of our own emotions and letting others be in charge of their emotions.  We talk about standing up for ourselves, even when we think we might get in trouble.  We talk about her teachers and how they all love her!  We talk and talk and talk.

Right after picking up Adell I got a message from Lorien saying she needed a ride home.  Little did I know, she needed a ride for herself, a friend, Wyatt and a gigantic canvas!  Little did she know, I didn't have the minivan--just Will's car.  Will had taken the van for a work road trip.  That gigantic canvas was not going to fit in the car.  We tried the trunk with the seats folded down, we tried to slide it in through the side doors...no dice.

Finally, I came up with the clever idea of putting the canvas on the roof and all of us holding on to it through the open windows.  Wyatt closed his hand in the door on the first try.  Poor kid.  We situated the canvas, opened the windows, held on and left the high school.  Thankfully, I could take the back roads all the way home sticking to 25 mph roads only.  It was scary and funny and mildly embarrassing.  We all felt like everyone was staring at us (they were not).  We all felt like we kept passing everyone we knew (we did not).  I stressed about the police catching us (they did not).  I'm not sure what law we were breaking but I thought for sure we were (we were not--I think now).  I was also supremely confident we would be the subject of a shameful nextdoor post (we were not).

After much laughter and only a couple of scary canvas-near-blow-offs we made it home.  My left hand had gone white and numb.  It was awesome.  Yankee ingenuity right there.

Lorien and her friend did a touch-up dye job on the hair of another friend.  This boy and five of his friends came over one day last week and Lorien bleached his hair.   Apparently, the bleaching process is wildly painful.  Poor kid.  He had to leave the house and walk around the block to try and distract himself from the pain.  Now he knows, beauty is pain. 

Lorien cannot stand the little kids to be around her and her friends when they are over.  She cannot stand the little kids at any time but she can hide out in her room.  When her friends are here they want to be in the common areas of the house...with no little children.  I don't think her friends mind the siblings so much but Lorien cannot stand them.  I managed to pull the little kids upstairs for a good long time to make collages and decorate a baking powder can for a piggy bank.  It was a great craft.  Colter and Adell ended up staying up in my room for another hour or so cutting and pasting.  Colter was all about finding pictures of multi-million dollar homes to decorate his pages.  He has a very skewed sense of real estate prices thanks to living in the Bay Area.

When I came downstairs I could hear laughter from the teenagers and Bob Ross from the TV.  All four kids (Lorien, Wyatt and Lorien's two friends) had hauled out unused canvases and decided to paint along with Bob Ross.  Their pictures were so cool!  I loved seeing what they were creating.  I was so impressed with how well they were all following Bob Ross and how well their paintings were turning out.  One of Lorien's friends had to leave before they were finished. I have the three finished paintings hanging in the family room.  I love them!

Being a parent is weird and hard and rewarding.  I remember how much I struggled when the big kids were little.  I remember how overwhelming every little thing was.  It is so nice to be a little older, a little more experienced, a little calmer now.  It is so nice to see how these kids have grown up so far.  To see how my mistakes have helped and hurt them.  To see they are growing into fantastic human beings.  It is nice to see the younger kids come along and see how my mistakes are shaping them.  Parenthood is a wild journey.  I'm glad to be on it...

Anniversary Escape...

Our nineteenth anniversary is today.  Nineteen years!  Wowzer.  We managed to slip away for a few days, down to San Diego.  It was so nice to be just the two of us.  It is nice to be just the seven of us or any combination of our family members.  I'm not saying one is better than the other, it is just nice, whatever grouping we have has its positives!  Let me tell you about the nice things about being just me and Will.  

First up, kissing.  Will is the only person in our family who lets me kiss him any time I want to.  It is awesome and we kissed a lot over the weekend.  A LOT!

Second, doing activities where you don't have to worry about anyone's personal safety but your own.  We flew down to San Diego Friday night and had dinner.  Saturday Will rented bikes and we cruised along the beach for miles and miles.  We didn't have to worry about kids getting lost, run over or too far ahead.  I've never taken a bike along the beach and always wanted to.  It seems like such a California thing to do.  It was so much fun and now I want to take the kids on a beach bike ride too!

Third, eating at nice restaurants with yummy/weird food.  Will and I love to eat out (who doesn't?).  Taking the kids is nice but costly and some of them only eat pasta or chicken nuggets.  It is a bitter pill to swallow, paying restaurant prices for nearly free food you have at home.  Anyway, we went to a couple of really lovely restaurants in San Diego and at some really fun food.  Some standouts: a crab cake and escargot.  Will was the only one who ate the snails...I had one but that was it.

Fun fact, in high school I took two years of French.  As part of the class, we learned how to make a couple of French food items, including escargot.  We were graded on whether or not we ate the escargot.  As a somewhat picky eater, I was NOT going to eat a snail.  So, while we were making the escargot, I crumbled up a bit of bread, put it in the little pot and quickly covered it with a mound of butter.  I paid attention to where I placed that particular pot on the baking tray and made sure that was my pot when we had to down a snail.  I cheated the system and got my passing grade.  By the way, escargot is just snails in a mountain of garlic butter.  Anyone who says they like escargot doesn't like snails at all, they like butter...that's it.  It's the same with lobster.  You eat lobster with a stick of butter, people don't like lobster...they like butter.  Anyway, I did eat one snail off of Will's plate...so I guess I earned my grade...just 20+ years late. 

Fourth, getting to do whatever we want!  On our last morning, Will went for a workout and I slept in.  It was lovely.  No one needed breakfast or us to break up a fight.  We just got to relax.  It was awesome!

On our last day, we signed up for a harbor tour in kyacks.  It was a little chilly but sunny.  We saw kelp forests and caves.  It was really cool like neat...and cool like cold.  I thought the kids would have enjoyed that activity too.  Then it was back to the airport and home.  It was such a nice getaway.  Many thanks to Lorien for holding down the fort Friday night.  More thanks to Alan and Heather for holding down the fort Saturday night and Sunday. 

Happy anniversary Will.  You make me smile every day.  I am so glad we get to be together forever and get to go on adventures.  I love you!

Paving and dodge ball...

The town is repaving our street.  It's been noisy.  I wished Colter was a three year old again.  He would have LOVED these trucks.  Now Colter really loves YouTube and YouTube is never going to drive down our street.  On this afternoon, Adell managed to pull him away from YouTube for a while to watch the paving.  The hills are green and gorgeous.  They made a beautiful picture.  

Wyatt played doge ball at church tonight.  Our ward (his team) won the night!  They lost their first three games and then won every game after that...winners!