Christmas Eve Traditions!

We went over to Dave and Angela's house for Christmas Eve celebrations with Uncle John and Aunt Betty Jo too.  We had a great time playing games, opening presents, and eating treats.  Per another separate tradition, I misinterpreted something in a text and ended up making an idiot of myself.  But that happens all the time...not just at Christmas.  

Adell wanted to be in charge of a few of the games.  She made up a holiday Pictionary where the person drawing had to be blindfolded.  She also made the saran wrap ball for the unwrapping of goodies and treats.  She loved making the games and explaining the fun we would all have.

Unfortunately, Lorien ended up getting the barfs this morning.  So she stayed home from the festivities and we left a little early (skipping white elephant and the nativity).  We got home in time to track Santa for a bit on NORAD, watch a Christmas movie, leave out cookies and milk and get to bed!

Heres hoping we haven't been too naughty this year and Santa will stop at our house!

Never Ending Barfing...

Oh dear, this was one for the books...or the blog for sure.  Well, it started this morning around 4:00.  Clare came in to tell us Adell had a tummy ache.  I thought it was just gas so I got up and gave Adell a gas-x and some water.  20 minutes later she was barfing in the toilet.  20 minutes after her, Clare started barfing.  Will and I got the girls settled as best we could with buckets by their beds and crawled back into our beds.  20 minutes later the girls were barfing again and I needed to go downstairs for an extra bucket.  As I came up the stairs I met Colter and Will in the bathroom with Colter barfing in the toilet.  I thought: "I hope everyone wakes up barfing now...we can just get this over with."  

Sure enough, an hour or so later Wyatt got up and started barfing.  He set himself up in the downstairs bathroom and stayed there all night.  The rest of the night/morning was spent up and down catching barf and praying that Lorien wouldn't wake up barfing (she has finals this week).  And so it continued into the day, with someone barfing every 20 minutes until about noon.  It was rough!

Thankfully, mercifully, blessedly, Lorien is not sick yet.  Hopefully, she can make it through finals and then get sick...if she has to get sick.  

For now, we are all camped out in the family room, watching TV and trying to eat simple foods that are easy to barf up.  

Pray for us.

It got better over the next few days.  Less barf, still feeling crummy.  Most of the kids were able to go back to school for the last day of the week.  Except for Colter, who had the barfs come back later in the week.  Not fun. 

December 16th...I've got a lot going on...

First up: the Ward Christmas Party!  The Relief Society was in charge of pulling the party together this year.  The previous presidency signed up to do it and then go released...bummer for us.  However, we rallied and pulled off a lovely "Breakfast with Santa" party.  Thankfully, we got to wear our pjs for the party!

Beth Thompson, Brigitta Hair, Abbey Gillespie, Kara Porter and ME!

Will was gone...I cannot remember where now?  A wrestling tournament or for work?  So I was on my own for the fun.  Lorien helped out by wrangling kids and then being the helper elf for Santa.

December 16th is also my Dad AND my brother, Ebin's, birthdays.  So I had to wish them a very happy day today via facebook. 

We ended the day with Clare and Adell's Merry Little Christmas Show.  Clare and Adell have been practicing their routines for weeks and were ready for the show.  Adell got to be in the same number as her cousin, Sadie.  They made a heart with their hands at the end.

Adell also got to play Mary in the manger scene.  It was lovely.

Clare was a sparkly jazz dancer.  She has so much character and spirit when she dances.  I love watching her spunk.

Great job girls!

Last Holiday Tradition Sharing in Kindergarten...

In Kindergarten here parents can come into the classroom around the holidays and share a family tradition.  When Clare was in Kindergarten, I started making these golden-noodle-wreath ornaments with the kids.  Wyatt and Lorien had made a similar ornament in Kindergarten at Orion when we lived in Redwood City.  I decided I wanted an ornament for each kid (I'm sure I've talked about this before) so I signed up for a holiday tradition sharing.  I decided to show the kids our measuring tree and make an ornament.  

I've been sharing the tradition for each child's class since.  Today was my very last one!  It was a little bitter sweet...  Mostly, I am happy it worked, I have a Kindergarten ornament for each kid!  

Also, a family from New Zealand came in and taught the class how to do the Haka for their holiday share.  Colter showed it to me after school and it was awesome!

C-C-C-Cold!

I need to remember that the first few weeks of December are the coldest times of the year here in Northern California.  It is not negative or single digit degrees or anything but the temperatures get down to freezing.  If we got any moisture we could get snow!  However, in addition to being the coldest, they are also very dry.  I always save warm clothes for Christmas presents...and by the time Christmas rolls around, the freezing is gone.  Maybe I need to make warm coats a Thanksgiving present?

On our partial walks to school (from the parked car to the school) Colter, Adell and I like to admire the frost covered grass and leaves.  Adell found this cool leaf with fuzzy, frosted spikes on it.

Adell's Baptism...

Adell was baptized yesterday!  It is a big deal.  When you turn eight you can choose to be baptized or not.  If you choose to get baptized, you officially become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you agree to try and be like Jesus.  You also get the gift of the Holy Ghost to be with you always.  

Adell has watched her older siblings get baptized and was ready for her turn.  

It was a lovely ceremony and we were happy to see her first grade teacher, Mrs. Aplanalp there as well as two of Adell's classmates (Aviva Feder and Maggie Rossini).  It was a special day for Adell.

I had planned to buy Adell's white dress online and save myself a little work as the holiday season was kicking off.  But Tuesday Adell told me she would like her dress to be homemade like Lorien and Clare's dresses were. 

Sigh.

I couldn't say no.  So I made my way to the fabric store and got to work.  Thankfully, I've made this dress two times before and it turned out PERFECTLY!  Adell got to wear a different dress in the water.  In fact she was the first one to get to wear a dress in our stake.  Usually, kids wear a jumpsuit.  She felt pretty special. 

Happy baptism day Adell!  We love you!

Oh, this is a sweet memory I want to document.  Adell is in a primary class with four other boys (Wes Edgren, Seth Shelton, Wyatt Macdonald and Ezra Crockett).  She is the only girl and those boys can be rowdy.  She used to have a girl with her, Julia, but when the ward was split last November, Julia's family ended up in the other ward.  Then a new family moved into our ward...but their child Adell's age was a boy!  So she has been tuffing out every Sunday with a class full of boys.  Moreover, Adell was going to be the last one baptized this year in her primary class.  One Sunday, Ketura Shelton (Seth's mom) was subbing in their primary class.  Ketura said on Adell's baptism all of the boys should bring Adell a single rose for putting up with them in primary every Sunday.  Adell remembered this suggestion.  As her baptism date drew closer she would ask me if I thought the boys would bring her roses?  I told her not to get her hopes up.  That was something a kind mom would remember...not an eight year old boy.

Well, on her baptism day none of her primary classmates were able to attend.  The time got moved up and it was a Saturday in December...too many other things were going on.  However, the next day at church Seth Shelton gave Adell a full bouquet of pale pink roses!  She was so stunned and happy.  She had to give a talk in primary that day.  As she came back to her seat from her talk, Seth handed her the roses.  I turned to see Seth smooth his hair like a cool guy and Adell's bright red, grinning face.  It pleased her to no end to be given roses.  It was beyond sweet.  She picked her favorite rose and insisted on holding it for our family photos later.  Cute girl.   

Starting Christmas Traditions...

Last year, I felt robbed.  Our school district changed the instructional calendar so first semester finals come right before the winter/Christmas break.  It sounds good for kids to not have to study over winter break and just be able to relax...but I did not like it.  My biggest complaint had been that I wanted July and August for summer vacation.  It's silly, but I'd rather be in school in June and out for all of August.  No point...just what I would prefer.  Now, I hate the change for what it does to my holiday lead up.  Because of finals, there is no time for family traditions.  Every evening is promised to end of term concerts, projects, studying or tests.  It stinks.  Last year we didn't get to do most of our usual holiday traditions.  We didn't see the lights at the temple.  We didn't take in any theater or ballet performances.  We didn't do our 12 days of Christmas Secret Santa.  We didn't drive around looking at Winter Wonderlands (house lights in our neighborhood).  We didn't see the Creche exhibit in Palo Alto.  We didn't...we didn't...we didn't.  I kept saying "as soon as school is out..."  but then school was out and two days later it was Christmas.  There was no time for traditions.  I hated it and it made me sad.  Additionally, I wasn't prepared for Christmas.  I kept thinking there would be time once the kids were out of school...but Christmas was there!  So I was rushed for shopping and felt stressed and annoyed.  

This year, I knew finals were not changing.  I knew we'd have kid concerts and projects to attend to every night.  I was determined to be ready early.  So, I've been shopping and planning and trying to be ready.  We still wont be able to do most of our traditions because finals take precedent...but hopefully, I wont be so stressed and annoyed.   

We got started the second weekend after Thanksgiving.  The first weekend was Adell's birthday so we needed to give that its proper due.  

First we got the tree!  

We decorated the tree and put the measuring tree up.  All of the kids picked out an ornament they were satisfied with (except Adell) so we figured we'd get the actual measuring done!  Last year, it happened in February! 

We measured the kids middle out, so we started with Clare. 

Then Adell:

Then Wyatt:
And for the first time in his life, he was the tallest ornament on the tree!

Then Colter:

And finally Lorien:

Where we discovered that Wyatt was no longer the tallest ornament on the tree...but he and Lorien were the exact same height!  Exciting news.  If we had waited until February, maybe Wyatt would have been taller. 

Lorien tried to get a kids only photo of tree decorating but Colter wouldn't cooperate.  So she photo shopped him in.

Our tree is lovely and I have confidence in my Christmas Matrix.  I will be able to get everyone's presents and enjoy the holidays before Christmas actually gets here. 

First College Tours...

I cannot believe college is even on my radar for a child of mine!  I seriously feel like I am still college age and should be touring these places for myself.  Where did the time go?

A couple of months ago Will and I did some research into the art departments at some of the colleges in California.  We found out that (no surprise) some of the top programs were at UCLA and USC.  Will did some more research and found out when each school was having art department specific tours and info days.  He was a super star and booked the tours and our flights for the end of November.  We did not consult Lorien.

She has been resistant to the idea of going to college in California.  She wants to go FAR away from home and experience something different.  She thinks Southern California is too close to home and too predictable.  I have an Aunt who lives in Huntington Beach and we've been to Disneyland a few times.  So she thinks she knows Southern California too well.  

We told Lorien about the tours and she agreed to come along (like she had a choice).  We left our other kids in the care of Dave and Angela and headed south with our oldest daughter.  I cannot think of a time Will and I have had so much one on one time with a kid.  The youngest kid always gets a lot of one on one time with older siblings in school...but not for days and a night.  

First, we waited in an eternal rental car line.  Sometimes the most affordable rental car is the one that costs the most in time.  By the time we got the car and headed up to UCLA we figured we could have left our house at the same time that morning in our own car and made the drive to UCLA in the same amount of time.  This was particularly frustrating for Will, but I was happy we flew down.  

UCLA was cool.  I loved it!  We found out that UCLA has played Harvard more times in TV and movies more often than Harvard actually has.  We also learned about how small the campus is geographically (you can cross campus in 15 minutes if you are walking with purpose).  We also learned that as long as you meet the minimums for admission into a UC school, the art department will advocate for your acceptance if you impress with your portfolio.  All good information.

After our UCLA tour Lorien muttered: "I'm lowkey convinced to come to a school in Southern California."  Turns out she was going along with the trip to indulge her parents.  She was convinced she would hate everything about every school we looked at in Southern California.  After one school, she was hooked.

We left LA and drove down to Huntington Beach to have dinner with my Aunt Colleen and Uncle Richard and spend the night at their house.  Traffic was a killer!  I will not enjoy that if Lorien decides to go to school in the LA area.  I guess she wont have to drive much but I might have to drive a lot to see her down there. 

The next morning we did a self guided explore of UC Irvine.  They also have a top rated art department.  Lorien loved the campus, it is very new and modern.  It feels like out door IKEA.  The housing was really adorable.  We learned that UC Irvine does not have the same level of art department advocacy as UCLA.  You just have to get into the UC system on your own merits. 

Finally, we toured USC (boo).  Their campus was beautiful!  New buildings and classic architecture combined in a beautiful way.  They just finished a big addition and the campus is an exciting place.  It is also in the heart of LA and has a unique feeling because of that. 

Will got to check out USC Heisman trophies...and even touch them.  Dream come true.  Too bad we hate USC...especially for football. 

Lorien, however, fell in love with USC.  She loved their art department the most of all.  We had a regular college tour and then a sit down with an art department person and a tour of the art department with her.  We learned that yelling "Fight on!" to everyone around you is socially acceptable.  We learned that USC works with industry leaders in every department and internships in industry (concept art for animation) are plentiful.  We also learned that USC is not actually part of the UC system...they are a private university...and it costs an arm and a leg to go to school there. 

Still, the art department was amazing.  Lorien was so excited after touring the department.  She loved seeing other student's work and feeling supported in going off on interesting and unusual creative routes with her art.  It was great!

Lorien was a little dejected by price.  Seriously, I don't know how universities charge so much for school these days.  Still, she was inspired by how cool college could be.  She will find her place, it might be at UCLA or USC or UC Irvine.  It was nice to see her motivated. 

The weirdest thing was to be off with just one kid for a couple of days.  It was so nice to not have to worry about where the other kids were, if they were lost, playing in a water fountain or about to get run over while we crossed a street.  It was nice to not be asked random questions when I wanted to listen to the tour guide.  Mostly, it was weird to not have to worry about so many other people.  With Lorien as our only child we were ultra concerned about her comfort.  We pressed her to take sips of water, to put on a jacket or to pick where she wanted to eat.  With no other children to distract us she got the full power of our parenting...and were are concerned parents.  I wonder if she enjoyed it...or got sick of it...quick. 

I am so glad we went on the tours.  I hope we will get to take her to see some more over the next year or so. 

*post edit* After our tours we knew Lorien needed to figure out her foreign language situation.  The plan was to take a year of Japanese through the local community college.  A semester of a language at a community college counts as a full year of a language in high school.  So a single year at DVC would get Lorien her two years of language for graduation and acceptance into most universities.  It has been a year since she took her first semester of Japanese.  Her love of all things Japanese has waned and trying to get back into a second term of Japanese after a year off sounded daunting.  She was considering starting new with a different language at the community college level.  So, when we got home I kept telling her to make an appointment with her school councilor to get it sorted out...she kept forgetting.  Finally, last week (December 14th) she met with Mrs. Levy-Wendt.  Now, I love Mrs. Levy-Wendt.  She has been an awesome councilor for Lorien.  She is kind and supportive and tells it like it is when needed.  She encouraged Lorien to peruse Japanese and made sure all of the appropriate paperwork was in place with the school for Lorien to get credit.  She also helped Lorien through a difficult social situation last Valentine's day.  She is awesome! 

Anyway!  In the meeting Mrs. Levy-Wendt told Lorien that the language credit had changed.  As of a few weeks ago, if you took a semester of some (difficult) languages at the community college level, that semester counted for TWO YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT!  Seriously!  How lucky is my kid?  I guess, they reviewed the classes and what is covered in one semester at DVC is equivalent to two years at high school.  Additionally, they just changed the requirement but they grandfathered in kids who took DVC classes last year (Lorien).  Oh, and you had to get a C or better in the class...Lorien squeaked out a C!  Pretty freaking amazing, if you ask me!  We feel so happy and lucky.  All that driving up to DVC last year (in traffic) was totally worth it.  Totally!