The Merry Band of Fife

Allegra in Heaven

2012-02-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

Allegra is a born performer and loves the spotlight. That made her big adventure last Friday with the Maple Grove choir a dream come true for her. Papa was kind enough to take her (James was working) to the Idaho Stampede (in the NBA development league) basketball game, where she and her choirmates sang the national anthem prior to the game. They enjoyed all the festivities, including food, and she game home with lots of tales to tell and a whole bunch of signatures on her Stampede calender (from a random assortment of folks including players, the mascot, a cheerleader, her music teacher, and someone who was working as a vendor that night who attends our church LOL). It's hard to tell, but she's in the middle row, close to center, with the yellow headband.

High Chair Time Fun

2012-02-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

As I was looking over my pictures figuring out what my next post should be, I realized that my current batch of pictures have a theme. Elle acting up (or out, as the case may be) in her high chair. I have mixed feelings about that little plastic chair LOL. On one hand, I HATE cleaning out the food that gets stuck and crusted in the little cracks and crevices (and admittedly, it's not as clean as it should be and I pawn that chore off on James frequently). I also will enjoy regaining that corner as a spot for an extra dining chair (so it can be pulled out of storage in the laundry room and because it's a handy spot for coats and bags). But we've NEVER been without a high chair in our house since I was pregnant with Hero. It will be a sure sign of the completion of our family, which is bittersweet moment at best, and something I struggle with and pray over frequently. But forgive my meandering and back to the pictures. The first ones were originally intended to showcase Elle's crazy hair, but she was having none of it, so instead you primarily notice her full-on temper tantrum. The overarching theme is that the girl is obsessed with her head. She loves to rub food all over in her hair, or don a hat, or anything that can be used in a remotely hat-like fashion. My favorite for cuteness factor is the pull-up.

Ian's Day

2012-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Ian turned 8 on February 5th. It doesn't seem like such a big jump from 7, so I'm okay with it (yes, I'm deluding myself into thinking that I have a modicum of control in these matters). He chose to go to Golden Corral for his birthday lunch (which happened on Saturday, due to church) and he was most enthused about the chocolate fountain and cotton candy. I was most enthused that we got out of there without any broken dishes or spilled cups (okay, that makes it sound like our kids are the terrors you hear about running through restaurants, screaming, and throwing food - that is not at all the case, but we did have a broken plate once and spilled cups do seem to happen with too much frequency). On Sunday, lots of church folks wished him Happy Birthday, and then he got to spend the entire afternoon (while his parents cleaned, his sisters skated, and his little siblings napped) playing Wii. This might sound like no big deal, but he's been on Wii quarantine for less-than-stellar chore performance for the last two weeks and the entire month of February and was given a special maternal dispensation to play on his birthday. After being in Super Mario Bros heaven, we went over to Nana and Papa's house for birthday festivities. He choose a Star Wars theme and, get this, all he requested for his birthday supper was Ham and Cheese Salad (pasta shells with chopped up Colby cheese, ham, and mixed with mayonnaise and miracle whip, with a dash of celery salt). I kept prompting him to think of something else, but that's all he wanted. So, we had a dinner of Ham and Cheese Salad, followed by -his choice- a funfetti cake with funfetti frosting and cookies and cream ice cream. He was so excited about his Darth Vader alarm clock/radio, Uglydoll, DS and Wii games, Mario chess set, and gift cards. He's his father's child, in that respect - easy to please on his birthday. Not like me at all, right James? ;-P

Must See TV

2012-02-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

A true must-see movie (and goodness knows, we are not movie watchers) for any family, and especially parents - Courageous. I've heard nothing but good things (well, with the exception of a secular review that didn't feel that the acting was up to snuff - but really, that's not the point) from people, so James and I rented the DVD this weekend. We had to wait til Sunday night, post-Ian's birthday activities to watch it, but it was worth staying up late for (we even let Hero stay up to watch it). It was a powerful, powerful movie and, as it speaks very strongly to Christian fathers and their duties, James especially was impacted by it and thanked God at our Bible study time this morning for bringing it into our lives. So I wanted to pass it on to others, as the good women who recommended it to me did.

SOS - Luminosity

2012-02-06T08:50:00.001-08:00

Faith is a bit like romantic love. Some days, especially in the very beginning, but even after a long while of being together (if you are blessed with a fine marriage), faith feels like early love. It's all-consuming and exciting. You feel positively lit from within - like a radiant joy inside you that is there for all to see because you couldn't possibly hide it even if you wanted to it. I love that state of luminosity - don't you? I pray often to God to allow me to experience that more frequently. But I wonder if the meat and bones of faith is in the more quotidian days; like the days in your marriage where your love is more an act of conscious will and service than an inspired, exciting wash of emotion. The first blush of love is easy. There's very few people who haven't experienced it, and many people have experienced it multiple times. But carrying on when that feeling is at an ebb is something that a significant number of people have never learned - both in marriage and in faith. It's hard to learn how to do that in marriage, but, for me personally, even harder to be strong in my spiritual walk when I'm feeling anything BUT lit-from-within. As I'm trying to come to terms with a week that started off in luminosity but fizzled into uninspired parenting, housekeeping, and just plain "being", it brings me comfort to think that those types of days are tests that forge my faith and draw me closer to God.

Elder Care

2012-02-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

It's not either of our parents yet either. They are getting up there in age, but I wouldn't classify them as elderly yet (although 50 IS pretty old, Mom ;-P). I'm talking about our cats. Our five cats are most definitely elderly. Tabatha predates even our marriage. We adopted her on a visit to Idaho back in January 1998 and flew her all the way back to Wisconsin with us. She was 6 months old then, which means she was born in summer of 1997, making her 14 years old now! It's pretty darn rare for a cat that was an indoor/outdoor cat to live that long. She's a strange cat, to be sure, but man, do I love that animal. Our "younger" four are between the ages of 12 and 13. I can't imagine what the odds are to have five indoor/outdoor cats (although, for the last several years, they are almost exclusively indoor cats - they don't venture much beyond the end of the driveway anymore) living into their teen years. Anyhow, in the break between Christmas and New Years, Bart, one of our orange cats, suffered a stroke. We prepared for having to put him to sleep, as he could barely get around and was extremely disoriented. The vet wanted to try a steroid shot and a 24 hour waiting period, just in case it wasn't a stroke, but head trauma from a fall or something, so we brought him back home and babied him (he's always been a rather anti-social cat, so this was a very strange turn of events). Well, the steroid didn't fix anything, but the 24 hour waiting period made it crystal clear that Bart was not ready to give up on life. He has adjusted to his new disability and can get around (he walks with his head dipped and tilted to one side, and can be kind of unsteady), has a hearty appetite, purrs when you pet him, and still seems to enjoy a decent quality of life. I don't know how many cats adapt to an altered, post-stroke life, but we are now the caretakers of one. I'm glad we have some more time with him.

Hint Hint

2012-02-02T18:54:00.001-08:00

The question of the day is "Does my husband read this blog?" Here's to hoping, because I really, really want this for an anniversary present. I've seen it done a few times for children/birthstones, and I've always admired them, but I'd look like either a bag lady or a poker fanatic with six of those around my neck. I happened upon this one today and thought it was absolutely perfect. You've got until May, James - see, I'm a good wife.

My Flowers

2012-02-02T12:05:00.000-08:00

To be sure, I have to credit an online acquaintance for sharing this Mother Teresa sentiment (it's not a direct quote, but a paraphrase), but as soon as I heard it I KNEW I wanted to share it here.

How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers!

Anti-child sentiment seems to be running pretty high these days. I think it's mostly a product of our society. Our cultural catchphrase could be "Convenience is King". It seems that nearly everything is being remade to fit more streamlined, efficient models. I could be totally behind that, if the purpose was to get the busywork of our days out of the way and focus on the important things - family togetherness, fostering a sense of community spirit, service, and meditation. But this is convenience for convenience's sake - to make space in our lives for more technology and consumption. But I digress. Children are the ultimate inconveniences, are they not? They take our thoughts and time away from work and entertainment. They have little respect for our schedules, indelicate habits at the most inopportune times (why does there always seem to be a covert poopy diaper operation just as you're trying to head out the door?), are terribly demanding and covetous of our me-time (that phrase drives me absolutely mad, by the way, but that's another blog post) and require a monstrous investment with, at times, questionable returns. It's no wonder, I suppose, that there are a lot of people out there that certainly love their children, but view them more as part of a natural life progression/stage that is to be endured bravely, enjoyed on occasion, and then checked off in life's little checklist - right between "get married" and "professional success!". I want to reject this modern mindset. I want my children to be the flowers in the garden of my life.

New Month, Old News

2012-02-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

I'm still playing catch-up, but at least I've moved on from Christmas. I know, I know, it's already February. This year was a low-key birthday for Allegra. We went to the restaurant of her choice mid-week for lunch (Chinese Buffet), and then on New Year's Eve we had a party with balloons, a random assortment of requested food (pizza, cheese fries, macaroni and cheese - do you notice a theme of tan-colored food?), party games, presents, and an angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. James had to work that night, so the first half of the evening was spent with Nana and Papa and Aunt Jennifer and Oriana. Allegra was very patient, since she had to wait until 10:30, when James finally got off, to open her presents. She was so excited about turning 10 - the double digits are apparently a big thing. She started off her birthday in full-on Allegra mode, wanting to do a "photo shoot" in a new outfit. She's such a ham!

Really?

2012-01-31T09:26:00.000-08:00

I recently read in the newspaper a little blurb about Christmas that floored me. Apparently, "cancelling" Christmas was a phenomenon at some Protestant churches in the US. Due to fears of low turnout, they declined to hold services on Sunday, the 25th. I certainly get it. I'm ashamed to admit that I had a groan moment when I realized that Christmas Day fell on a Sunday this year. Its not so much not wanting to be at church on the day, it's just adding the pressure of getting eight people dressed nicely and out of the house in a timely manner on Christmas morning that is intimidating. But as soon as that internal shudder went through my body, it was immediately followed by guilt. There's no way around it - being upset about church interfering with secular Christmas activities is an unacceptable state of the heart for anyone who calls themselves a Christian. And, as is usually the case, God had our backs - Christmas can get a little hairy between the stress and mess. The timeout from those fun but unimportant activities was exactly what we needed to refresh and calm ourselves and have our hearts in the right place to celebrate the true meaning of the day.

Almost Done

2012-01-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

This is my second-to-last Christmas post, I promise! After we finished everyone's individual gifts, we had one last family gift. First, though, you need the backstory. We were one of the last families on earth, I think, to get a Wii. We were still rocking both the original NES, and the Nintendo 64 (we bought that one as a new, young college couple with no cable and little to do in our free time - sheesh, doesn't that sound like a little slice of heaven in retrospect LOL). Well, finally, we caved and bought a Wii for Christmas (I'm wanting to say it was 2 years ago). The kids loved it, as you'd expect. After a mere 18 months or so of use, Colin broke it. It was broke, broke, broke too. The second half of summer break got really rough, really quick, let me tell you. Hero was the worst off, as she had JUST gotten a brand new Wii game as one of her birthday presents, and it had been sitting, still wrapped, up next to all of our Wii games. When your kid breaks something as expensive as a game console, you get disgruntled (or at least, I do). So, we've been Wii-less for six months. The kids assumed it would be forever. But, at the last minute, James (my super deal-scoper) found a great deal on one. So, there was a new Wii under the tree for Christmas and the kids were ecstatic. I, on the other hand, am still having some mixed emotions about it. But, I do enjoy me some Just Dance, I will admit. Oh, and I beat Hero on one of the songs on JD3. So there ;-P

SOS

2012-01-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

I hope it's not cheating that I'm writing this ahead of time, but my reasons are twofold. First of all, Sunday can be a little crazy in our house. James and I have nursery duty this week, which makes for an even busier morning because we have to be there earlier than normal. Once we actually get to church, it's a little oasis of peacefulness (well, maybe not so much in the nursery - we've got a good crop of babies, including two sets of twins), but the getting-there process can be a little hairy. Then afterwards, we often stop to pick up tacos (10 for $3.90 - can't beat that, combined with leftovers from the week). Then we have to play catch-up with errand-running, list-completing, and house-cleaning. It's all topped off by James usually having to work on Sunday nights and me having to take the kids for piano lessons (where dinner is usually provided - thank the Lord for that - I will have to make it a point to let my mother-in-law know how much I appreciate her Sunday night meals this week). But, more importantly, I wanted to create this post earlier because I was reading Mark Dever's What Is a Healthy Church? during the week and I was completely inspired and challenged by this little passage:

...Jesus said that "all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments": love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself (see Matt. 22:34-40). The two commandments go together. The first produces the second, and the second proves the first.

The first commandment, I think, is the far easier of the two. Loving God is (usually) easy, like loving your children at their very best, most peaceful, heartfelt moments. After all, He is all to us - the source of all life and it's multitudinous blessings. But I find the second commandment much, much harder to practice. I've heard it many times before, as any good church and parochial school kid has, but the author's statement that loving your neighbor is a testimony to your love for God for all the world to see is powerful, powerful stuff. Loving your fellow man, especially those whose connection to you is as tenuous as that of a neighbor, is so hard. This is, of course, because of man's sinful nature (and the fact that we know that it mirrors our own, far too often). Now, as I'm sitting here typing this out, Tim Tebow just popped into my head, of all subjects. How silly is that? I don't know a terrible amount about Tim Tebow, but I am a football fan and a Christian, so I've heard his name frequently in the last month or so. I can't help but think that this might be a case where loving your neighbor as yourself might prove your love and dedication to Christ much more powerfully than a public prayer spectacle. I'm going to jot the passage down and sticky it to my desk this week, and try to "prove" my love for God not by what I say, but by who I am.

Christmas - Hero

2012-01-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hero had a big Christmas this year. She knew that she needed a new pair of skates and that they would be very expensive, so, after a pre-December discussion, she fully expected to get skates alone for Christmas. Well, she did get her skates, but Santa was the hero of the day with a present that made her tear up (I'm pretty sure that's a first for Hero). She finally got a pet of her own - a cute little guinea pig. She named him Cinnamon Bun and the whole family gets to enjoy him (while she gets to clean up after him). I have a feeling Christmas 2011 might rank up there as one of the best in the annals of Hero's childhood.

Can Time Move Faster?

2012-01-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, not really, but oh how I can't wait to receive the new book I just bought. I'm hoping it will be a wonderful addition to our Christian library.

Christmas - Allegra

2012-01-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

Allegra is always super easy when it comes to Christmas shopping, especially for Santa. Her big request was the Clara nightgown from The Wooden Soldier catalog (she's been wanting that for a few years now), which we were so excited to get for her. You've never seen a child so excited about pajamas. From Santa, she wanted either an iPod or a surprise. Santa surprised her with the pink iPod shuffle she wanted. I think she's had some trouble keeping it out of Hero's hands, but she was a very happy camper on Christmas Day. She inherited my iTunes playlist, which I, in turn, mostly inherited from my mom. So, out of all of the songs, her current favorite is Devil Went Down to Georgia - who would've thought?

Christmas - Ian

2012-01-26T08:58:00.001-08:00

Ian's "that one" in the family. He is weird about presents. He knows what he wants and he likes what he gets, but he's not very good at expressing appreciation. He gets that from me, as my parents like to remind me. When he opens a present he likes, he smirks and gets funny lip twitches. Not exactly the most charming, but it is him. We learned how much he truly liked his gift of a scooter from Santa in the week after Christmas - when he spent most of his break on the driveway, riding it over his little homemade ramps. The thought of being able to ride a scooter in December would have been foreign to me (maybe that's why I never remember getting bikes for Christmas) but it was very mild here, with no precipitation, so he was good to go with a jacket.

Christmas - Colin

2012-01-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

It took nearly the whole month for Colin to settle on the gift he wanted from Santa - a Darth Vader lightsaber. Apparently he'd gotten in trouble a few too many times for sneaking his brother's Anakin Skywalker lightsaber, so he decided he needed one of his own. He didn't want the green Luke Skywalker one either - only the red Darth Vader would do. Santa was too tired to package creatively, so the moment Colin saw his gift in the morning he knew exactly what it was. We debated whether Colin was "allowed" to ask Santa for this, given his propensity for naughtiness and his close proximity to his younger siblings, but, so far, the light saber has only been put in timeout twice since Christmas. I can't claim success with the stocking treats, though - the morning after Christmas the other kids found nothing but sticks left of their Spongebob Krabby Patty skewers, except for Colin's, which was far too coincidental, and I did eventually wring a confession (and apology) out of him.

Christmas - Cecily & Elinor

2012-01-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

For some reason we have a TON of Christmas Day present-opening pictures of the kids this year, so I decided to break it down into one post per kid so that I could bore everyone to tears with a photo blitz LOL. I had to combine Cecily and Elinor because Elle wasn't all that interested in Christmas presents, so she usually was nowhere to be found during picture-taking. But that works fine anyways because she and her big sister got a combined Santa gift this year - a big kitchen! They really love it, and I think it's the cutest thing. They've played with it so much already and I don't think the interest is going to wane any time soon. They love to make you and bring you "dinner", no matter how gross-sounding the combo (they are obsessed with the admittedly fun soft lettuce leaves and believe they go well with anything from yogurt to ketchup).

Christmas Eve - Part 2

2012-01-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

So after (what the kids would deem) the fun stuff, it's time for a tradition that is primarily near and dear to my heart - watching a classic holiday movie. The kids actually complain less than you might think LOL. We all camp out on the sofa and floor and watch, depending on the year, White Christmas or Holiday Inn. This year was a White Christmas year (to Hero's mild disappointment, since she loves Holiday Inn). Besides the sweetness of the movies, it's a good way to settle the kids down in preparation for their Christmas Eve campout in our bedroom. The girls make it through the film, but inevitably the boys crash, including the grown up one. At least for the little boys the movie is followed by bedtime. For the big one, it's time to hit some caffeine and get to work, if you know what I mean ;-P (no, we are not one of those families that has absolutely everything ready to go a month before Christmas). James is going to groan when he sees the pictures of him in his Christmas union suit, but he's a good sport and wears it every year for the kids (and me, because I think it is hilarious).

Spirit of Sunday

2012-01-22T13:24:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking that I love the newsy, scrapbook style of my blog, for the most part. It was originally started as an electronic record of all of our goings-on, after all. But I sometimes feel the urge to speak my mind on more philosophical matters, and I think there can be a place here for that too. I like the idea of a recurring Spirt of Sunday (SoS, which seems apropros, does it not?) post, where I delve into what's been kicking around in my brain for the week, spiritually-speaking. It sounds kind of daunting, all of the sudden, when I write it out like that. But my goal is not to discourse on theological matters at all (oh how I would fail on that account!), but more to share some small thing that has either given me cause to think or encouraged me.

James and I are currently working our way through the book of Job. Boy it's a tough book. We like to read stuff through on our own first, without any guides or anything like that, just so we don't go in with any preconceived notions. But, this will be a book that can definitely use a re-read, when we're done, with the help of a study guide. Last night we digested chapters 11 and 12. At first glance they seemed rather depressing, but, especially in chapter 12, we found a great deal of comfort. The theme seems to be that here, on this earth, evil people often prosper, while the good suffer. One would need to be blind to not see that truth, as its reflected in every aspect of our culture. It's also a common argument brought up by non-Christians when attacking the Christian faith, and probably one of the harder ones, for me anyways, to answer. It was a comfort for me, to have it reaffirmed that I can let go of that sense of "unfairness" and injustice and place it in the hands of God's superior wisdom and understanding.

Christmas Eve - Part 1

2012-01-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is the big show for me, as far as secular Christmas activities. I love it - it holds all the anticipation and none of the let down of the 25th. The day is generally low-key, with baking, cooking, and just hanging it (the kids call it the LONGEST DAY EVER lol). Then at night we have sort of a routine down. After everyone is in their Christmas jammies, it's time for each child to open one present of their choice. Inevitably someone picks out a clothing box, which is quite funny (does that make me an evil mom?) - this year it was Colin, but he was actually not too put out, and wore his Star Wars shirt to bed over his pajamas. If hyperactivity could only be bottled and turned into fuel, my house would run for an entire month on the adrenaline that is going as the prepare to open that one Christmas Eve gift... Elle was so not interested in opening a present, and there was a full-on meltdown that occurred until Cecily could "help" her open her Little People airplane and she realized that opening presents wasn't a bad gig after all.

"Feeding" the Reindeer

2012-01-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

Ian brought home reindeer food (oats and glitter) for Santa's team from school, so the first order of business for our night-time Christmas Eve festivities was to sprinkle it on the front lawn. The boys especially had so much fun with it, although the girls joined in as well. The pictures also happen to showcase our lovely brown Christmas. Maybe that should be made into a song? Something in between White Christmas and Mele Kalikimaka. Okay, yes, I'm still a little bitter about Idaho Christmases.

Photo Inspiration

2012-01-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Not in the sense that my photos are beautiful or remarkable or anything like that, but I love to have pictures with my blog posts, and when I get behind, I usually just go through my pictures to help me catch up. I almost skipped this set, because I didn't want to show any favoritism, but I just couldn't because Elle is so darn adorable. She started walking for Christmas! What a huge milestone, and much more exciting than presents. She didn't quite know what the buzz was all about on Christmas Eve, when the photos were snapped, but she knew that every child in the house was excited, so she was too! And darn, but do I have the hardest time keeping socks on my kids, even in the dead of winter. Our floors are so cold too. I have a full closet of slipper socks, fuzzy socks, slippers, and UGG boots, so I don't get it and it seriously stresses me out. Elle's so big, but she still looks so babyish with her short, fine hair and big, rosy cheeks (and her lack of walking, up until a few weeks ago). People mistake her for younger than she is all the time. I wish I had that problem (((sigh))).

Too Much, Too Late

2012-01-18T10:32:00.001-08:00

I know the saying is supposed to be too little, too late, but the problem of having zero snow so far this winter morphed into snowdemonium (that's supposed to be a play on the words snow and pandemonium, although it doesn't quite work when I see it typed out LOL). It's just dumping here! The roads are so slick! The ironic thing is that the valley is getting all the snow, because the clouds are so low, and the mountains are getting nothing. The kids (and James) are going through ski withdrawal, and this storm was supposed to be promising for Bogus, but so far at least, not so much. It's pretty, I have to say, although I would have appreciated it much more a month ago, grr. I hate having brown Christmases. About another inch has fallen since I took the photos this morning, and it's still coming down. They are predicting rain later in the day, as it warms up. It would be just oh-so-Idaho to go from this back to nothing on the ground in 24 hours.

Christmas Cookies

2012-01-17T08:57:00.001-08:00

I made about a dozen different kinds of cookies this year, most of which I can no longer remember. But the most important, as far as the kids are concerned, are the Christmas sugar cookies. They are a staple, and the recipe is my Dad's. I underbaked them a touch this year (I didn't get around to them until the 23rd, so I was in a major rush) but they stayed soft for several days so it worked out well. Allegra, Ian, and Colin decorated, and Hero did too, helping Cecily at the same time. Frosting and decorating Christmas cookies is always an event that I have to remove myself from. Between the ahem, let's call them, "artistic" results (a pile of as much sprinkles as possible smack in the middle, although we have learned over the years and implemented a house ban on cinnamon imperials) and the nonpareils shooting off the table and winding up all over the dining room floor, it's just too much. So I set them up and don't return until after everything's done. Hero and Allegra ran clean up with the younger kids (which definitely involved baths) and I ran clean up in the dining room which involved some heavy-duty floor scrubbing.

One Last Program Picture

2012-01-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

The final kids' program we had to attend was their Sunday School program. We were so excited for it because Cecily had been practicing Jesus Loves Me and Away in a Manger intently for the entire month. She got up there, looking oh-so-cute, and...nada. She did nothing. Zip, zilch, zero. Ah, well, next year, I guess. Then Elle will be up with her too, since she moves up from nursery to children's church at her second birthday. Colin sang too, but he's always pretty lowkey up there. Ian had a speaking part and did very well, and Allegra played a piano hymn solo, which she nailed. It was a bittersweet day, as that was the day Mom had to leave to head back home. It wasn't lost on me that she timed it so she missed the kids' Christmas break. That totally wasn't planned, right? :-P

Recital Time

2012-01-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

There was no Christmas piano recital this year, but we kept plenty busy with my violin studio recital. I started Allegra and Ian, somewhat half-heartedly, in lessons this past summer. I decided to actually make the recital committment in early November. It was touch and go for a while there, but we made it and they did fine. Ian played a Twinkle variation and Allegra played a different Twinkle varation and The Chipmunk (Christmas) Song. I love that Allegra wanted to wear her colonial costume for the recital. She's super attached to that dress, as well as her Laura Ingalls dress (well, actually she considers it her Mary Ingalls dress, because she has blonde hair) and her American Girl Kirsten dress. She wears them occasionally to church as well, and I suppose they are as appropriate (or more so) than any department store dress (they were all handsewn and aren't cheap costumey dresses). She's a girl after my own heart. My other students all did well too - it was my longest recital by far and it actually felt like a full studio. I put some of the refreshment onus on my students' families by asking everyone to bring a batch or two of cookies, and that netted me some great leftovers as a bonus. It was my first recital at James' mom's new music academy and my students all raved about the new, spacious facilities. Of course, my own camera died the moment I turned it on, so I had to filch some pictures from my mom, who was still in town for her Christmas visit.

Christmas Programs

2012-01-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

We only had one official school program to attend - Colin's preschool Christmas program. They pretty much sing the same songs every year, so being on our third one going through the same program, we appreciate that it's kept short and sweet (I probably shouldn't admit that because now I sound like a bad parent LOL). My mom was still in town for this, so it was new to her. Colin's such a strange duck. He's so loud and obnoxious at home that it just boggles my mind that he's so quiet and unassuming at school. I guess if my choice for school behavior is loud and always-in-trouble or quiet and well-behaved, I'll take the latter.

Rewind

2012-01-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

I missed blogging for the month of December because it was too busy, and I was having too much fun, in the middle of the month, with actually having my mom here in person (because, let's face it, she's just about the only one actually reading this blog). The start of our secular Christmas activites was The Nutcracker - the culmination of three months work of hard work and dedication by Allegra (with a heavy dose of chaffeuring by mom and dad). Allegra was delighted to be in the Garland Dance during the party scene. She also was a mini-Marzipan and it's always a pleasure to see her in the absolutely fabulous Mini-Variations costumes. James and Hero attended a dress rehearsal of the Garland Dance (as you can see from the picture - she doesn't have her ringlet hairpiece or makeup on), and my Mom and I had the great pleasure of seeing the actual show on the 11th (at $55 a piece plus fees for tickets, we've whittled down the attendance to just two every year). That same weekend, Hero had two holiday ice shows. The theme was Broadway on Ice, and so she got to wear a sparkly minidress costume. We chaperoned the first show (man, I do not like large groups of girls, I can tell you that), and then the whole family attended the late show. It was absolutely packed, which was good to see. I think that weekend was one of the craziest of my life!

NYR

2012-01-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's time - the dreaded "New Year's Resolutions" post. For too many years, my resolutions have focused on me: weight loss, self-empowerment, yada yada. Now, do I want to lose weight in 2012? Heck yeah! (I mean, who doesn't, right?) And I want to be a better wife, mother and all of that jazz. I really do. But, my resolution this year is to not be so focused on myself and instead to expend more energy nurturing (and, in some cases, repairing) my relationships with family, friends, and acquaintances. It's against my nature to be less reserved and, apparently, willing to let go of eons-old grievances. But I'm tired of carrying that baggage around. So, 2012 is the year of letting byegones be byegones and the year of Friendship. God-willing, these might be resolutions I can actually KEEP LOL. God bless everyone in the upcoming year (and maybe a sports team or two...cough, cough-the Broncos and the Packers - why, yes, yes, I did just do that).

Decorations!

2011-12-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas decorations. The tackier the better, imo. Usually I like to play the elegant, tasteful, sophisticated card, but not for Christmas. Christmas, especially when you have kids, is time for the kitschy and cute. And so I have a fiber optic snowman, LED stars, a Packers Santa flag, and a stuffed moose with jingle bells on his antlers, amongst lots of other junktastic stuff. My rationalization is that I've got a boatload of kids, so they can each take a few of their favorites (which, by that point, will have sentimental value to outdo the cheese factor) with them as they start their own houses. I put out my Christmas china in the hutch, and lit that - I usually forget to put lights in my hutch, but because of all the glass and mirrors it's actually super pretty. Hero set up my Christmas in the City village (and this year, I'm the one that broke a piece) on the piano - she's been promised that when I'm old just because she puts in all the work of setting it up. The artificial tree is in the living room and is loaded to the gills with assorted ornaments and gold garland. My Caribbean-themed tree is in the living room. This year we opted for a Grand Fir instead of a Noble, just because I fell in love with this particular tree on the lot. It's not as tall as we usually go for, but it is so incredibly full and gorgeously shaped. We lasted all of three days watering it, so now it's officially on the look-but-don't-touch list. The outdoor lighting/decorating is still a work in progress, but the final touches (cords and grapevine deer) should be up and running tonight.

To the Thanksgiving Snobs

2011-12-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm one of "those" people. I decorate my house for Christmas, at least partially, before Thanksgiving. It doesn't mean I'm an ingrate. It doesn't mean I don't like simple, non-consumerist holidays. It's a matter of logistics., I don't have Thanksgiving at my house, ever. That holiday is the sole province of the in-laws. Which is totally fine by me. Until I have a bigger kitchen and double ovens, I have no desire to juggle the Thanksgiving feast. But, because it's never been my thing, I have no Thanksgiving decorations. So, when it's time to put away the Halloween stuff, out comes the Christmas stuff. It's a long process, and I try to split it up a few bins at a time. The Christmas trees went up the weekend after Thanksgiving, so at least that's something for you early-Christmas haters ;-P. The kids "help" with the decorations, but the end result is highly suspect, as you can see by the first picture.

A Thanksgiving to (Not) Remember

2011-12-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

I have zero pictures from Thanksgiving. Mainly because I was too busy disinfecting our home from the vicious stomach bug that wiped us out, one or two at a time, the week of Thanksgiving. It started with Colin on Sunday night, progressed through James, then the baby girls got it on Monday, the older three came down with it on Tuesday night, with Allegra still being down and out over actual Thanksgiving, and then I wrapped it up by getting violently sick on Friday night. Thank god for small favors at least - I made it through Black Friday shopping LOL. It was icky, icky, icky. We're all fully recovered by now, but we lost an area rug that we just cannot get the smell out of, yuck! I *think* it was a lovely Thanksgiving dinner by James' family, but honestly I don't remember too much. We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, yams, gorgonzola and pomegranate salad, bread, cranberry-marshmallow salad, cranberry sauce, scallopped corn, frog's-eye salad, waldorf salad, parsley biscuits, cheese-stuffed and proscuitto-wrapped dates, whoopie pies, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and sangria. We ate just fine - those of us that could stomach it anyways!

Christmas Toy Heaven

2011-12-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

My kids love Christmas for the toys before they even get to open a single present. We've accumulated a small collection of Christmas toys, and rather than wrangle them all year round, I put them away with the Christmas decorations and the unveiling of the Christmas toys becomes a huge deal every year. This was Elle's first year to really get into it, and boy is she ever. She loves the books, Little People sets, nativities, wooden train set, and stuffed animals. Unfortunately she's not so good with keeping the "no-Christmas-toys-outside-the-living-room" commandment, so we'll have to see how many pieces we're down by the end of the month.

Dress Up Stage

2011-11-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

Elle is now solidly in the dress up stage. Not yet the fairy princess and ballerina one, just the "if I see a piece of clothing on the floor I'm going to put it on" one. So, we are always finding her with daddy socks on her feet, big kid hats on her head, and bras around her neck. It's a cute stage and I know to enjoy it while it lasts - as it is too short lived. Cecily will still put on my shoes and maybe a hat, but that's about it.

First Prize

2011-11-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

We've been competing in the big annual Sonatina festival (it always happens in early November) for a few years now. It's very competitive - children compete in one of 15 different levels, all playing the same piece, and a judge selects a few for honorable mention, and the top two, who go onto a recital (on the Steinway in the Morrison Center Recital Hall, yay) that night where they play again, in front of a large audience and more judges and are awarded either first or second place. Hero won first place, once, several years ago, and has gotten honorable mention twice. It's always a stressful thing that they spend months preparing for, and some years it's went better than others. By and large, this year, it was a great one. Allegra really challenged herself by choosing a difficult piece and received an Honorable Mention (usually I wouldn't be overly enthused with that, but her level was tough AND she squeezed a full Nutcracker rehearsal in as soon as she finished playing) and Ian, aka the smirky one (hence the chipmunk teeth - I swear they aren't that "bucky" in real life LOL), earned a trip to the Honors Recital, where he nailed his piece and took home the First Place trophy. He was insufferable (just ask his big sisters) for several days afterwards, but, hey, I guess he earned it. It was great for him to get to step out of the shadow of his big sisters for once.

Halloween

2011-11-18T14:44:00.001-08:00

Halloween found us down one kid, as Hero is now too cool to trick or treat with her siblings, and instead went with some of her friends in the subdivision. Luckily they wore their costumes for the piano recital a week prior, so at least I have a picture of her. She was a Mad Hatter, Allegra was a Peacock, Ian was Luke Skywalker, Colin was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Cecily was Alice in Wonderland, and Elle was, of course, a duck. We took the big double stroller, and Cec treated it like her own personal taxi - she refused to walk from one house to the other, no matter how many few steps it was in between the driveway. It was a pretty mild night, and we trick or treated for about an hour before Elle got too cold (since she can't walk yet, she was confined to the stroller and was being bribed to be good with Smarties).

Carving Time

2011-11-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hero lost interest after two pumpkins this year, and James was working, so I was left with most of the pumpking carving duty. Luckily, Allegra, Ian, and Colin were totally into cleaning out the pumpkins this year. The boys stripped down to their skivvies and I got some good blackmail pictures (((insert evil cackle here))). Don't worry about the questionable hygiene, though, you won't be served any pumpkin pies from the kids' jack o'lanterns this year as I was too lazy LOL.

The Patch

2011-11-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

Not the birth control or smoking kind - the pumpkin variety! We had a marathon pumpkin patch visit this fall - the only Saturday we could sneak it in into the schedule we had Hymn Festival in the morning, and Nutcracker rehearsal in the early afternoon. The kids were literally doing clothing changes in the car, and we each made a mad dash for the first acceptable pumpkin we could find as soon as we disembarked from the hay ride. But we made it and the kids had fun. I think it was one of our smoothest pumpkin patch trips yet (and it didn't involve any inappropriate peeing - as you can see, the bar is set pretty low in our house LOL).

Hair Firsts

2011-11-15T18:03:00.001-08:00

That's a funny title - let me explain what I mean. While the "fun" of doing girls' hair fades quickly (Allegra begs me to do hers but it doesn't happen too frequently), I always get a kick out of first ponytails and pigtails. Cec has super fine hair, but it grew quickly and is quite long. She's been wearing ponytails since before she was one, but in September I gave her her first pigtails. She was adorable. Elle, on the other hand, is a different story. Her blond hair is super fine and has grown very slowly. Most of the time it just does its own crazy mohawk thing. I did manage her first wispy little pony last month, straight on the top of her head, and I don't think she was impressed. We'll be sticking with soft headbands for her for a while still.

Go Team(s)!

2011-11-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

It's almost hard to write this post after this last weekend in college football. But I'm not a fairweather fan, so I'm sucking it up and still showing my alma mater Broncos some love. We got the little girls all decked out to support both of our teams this year (Elle has a matching Packer dress, but for some reason I never got a pic of her). At least the Packers are doing awesome! I want a do-over on a Super Bowl party, so here's hoping!

Inappropriate

2011-11-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

I think this is hilarious. If that makes me immature, so be it. James was so proud of his homegrown mutant tomato. We ate it, too. Ah, the joys of gardening. Once James started his new job he got too busy to keep up with it and we have some zucchinis still sitting on the patio that are the size of a human thigh. Luckily my freezer is already packed full of grated zucchini, so I don't feel too badly about throwing them out.

School Year 2011-2012

2011-11-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

The new school year thing has been getting passe lately, but this year we got to experience a first: we sent our first kid to Junior High! Wow, that is still weird, two months later. Hero is a 7th grader at West, and she's doing great (although I'm still having to adjust to the thought of her going to dances and wearing mascara). It's been an adjustment to get used to the uniform thing but it's worked out fine (except for the fact that she changes the moment she gets home, so I'm now having to do more laundry, grr). Allegra started 4th grade at Maple Grove and it's going swimmingly. At parent-teacher conferences her teacher told us that she's extremely capable and he sees her being able to do anything she sets her mind to, as an adult. Ian is in 2nd grade and he has Hero's 2nd grade teacher, whom we love. He's really taken off academically, and although he's a bit quiet in class, his teacher says that all his classmates adore him. Colin in is his second year of preschool and it's so funny to watch him become a quieter, more well-mannered child the moment we step through those doors. Hopefully it stays that way. It's hard to believe that Cecily will start preschool herself next year!

Grown Up Time

2011-11-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

So, the fair was all about the kids. But that same weekend, James and I got a little grown-up time - we redeemed a gift certificate to the Anniversary Inn. It's SO much fun and a fantastic getaway in town. We enjoyed dinner, some wine, and a quiet evening in our Palace Suite. I can't wait to get back there again.

An Entire Month!

2011-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I missed an entire month! James has a new job, which is a HUGE blessing, but it's been a bit of an adjustment, and we're still working on it. I think that, combined with the increasingly busy school and extracurricular schedule really has thrown me for a loop. I'm so horribly behind, but I'll try to catch up quickly. Back to August, where I left off, the last big end-of-summer hurrah for us is the fair. This year was easier than last year (trying to deal with a newborn and new walker) but it was still a challenge. I remind myself that it's going to get easier with every passing year. We lost (not literally LOL) the big girls for most of the afternoon as they did their own thing riding all the big rides. It's hard to believe that the two of them were the ones riding the little tiny kid rides with us and now here we are doing it again with Colin and Cecily. Ian is in the in-between stage, which is frustrating for him (too big for the "kiddie" rides, but not tall enough for the bigger rides). It was hot, hot, hot too. Ice cream does wonders to keep kids happy, as long as I can ignore the mess.

Summer Vaca? You be the Judge

2011-09-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Ah, the big camping post. Now that we are more than a month out from our camping trip, I can look back at the pictures and smile. Isn't that always how it goes with camping? Obviously I have a love/hate relationship with nature, always have. In early August we headed up to what has become our go-to camping spot (only about a 2.5 hour drive, easy access, not too cold at night) near Cascade. It was a family affair with us, Nana and Papa, Aunt Jennifer, and Oriana. We stayed for two nights and then headed home with Cecily, Colin, and Elle while everyone else stayed for an additional night. It was a glorious exercise in lax hygiene, let me tell you. It felt like the dirt/bug spray smell might never come off. We enjoyed the staples of camping - big egg, bacon, blueberry pancake breakfasts, smores, hard cider, burning stuff (that never gets old), instant coffee that manages to taste like heaven at 7am after sleeping on rocks, and pit toilets. There was some fishing that happened too - none successful on our part (although it was fun to take the semi-functional raft out that left my backside ensconced in it's own personal little pool the entire time - at least it was hot, right?) although Papa and the kids did catch some. Several of us (myself included) managed to fall in a creek - fun times. Nothing like getting your shoes wet halfway through your camping trip. But I'm making it sound worse than it was. Obviously it can't have been too rough, as we have promised at least TWO camping trips next summer. Camping as a family builds character and togetherness. Please tell me that I'm right. ;-P

Rub A Dub Dub

2011-09-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

This post is nothing more than a shameless photo brag. I just find these pictures adorable. Little Pool - Lot o' Kids, need I say more?

Oops

2011-09-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind. It's been a heck of a summer. Some good, some bad. It seems like this is just the way that life is becoming, and that makes me sad. Trying hard to remain optimistic. I think I'll ease into things by recounting pictures. In my haste to get Elle's first pictures up, I forgot Hero's birthday party pics - she invited a few friends over to Nana and Papa's for a pool party and tent sleepover in the back yard. This seems like kind of a scam to me LOL - so easy to have a party at someone else's house instead of mine. Hero requested a homemade pizza cake. It was super cute, until James got involved and decided that the frosting/pizza sauce was too pink and not red enough. Blue coloring paste does NOT make pink darker. It turns it purple (well duh, right?). So, she had liver colored pizza sauce on her pizza cakes. At least the intention was good.

Last First

2011-08-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

Last month we celebrated our "last" First Birthday. It's kind of a bittersweet moment. It's also impossible to believe that Elle is one! She talks a lot and stands, but no cruising or walking yet. That doesn't bother me in the slightest - I know it will come and I'm enjoying the fact that she seems more babylike than a walker. I also can't believe that we are still breastfeeding! It's nominal at this point, once or twice a day, but I still count it. We originally had intended to do a small backyard barbeque at our house, but with temperatures predicted to be in the 90s, we decided to move the party over to James' parents house so that they kids could swim. We enjoyed dinner, presents, swimming, and, of course, birthday cake. We were surprised that Elle wasn't overly enthused with her smash cake. She was uninterested for the most part, and it took her a good five minutes to even touch it at all. We have a long video of her with the cake, that is, quire frankly, rather dull. Who would've thought? Colin and Cecily did fabulous jobs on their cakes, and Elinor is a fantastic eater in general, so I wasn't expecting the birthday cake ennui she showed LOL.

July as a whole absolutely flew by. It felt like it was over before it had begun. Hero finished up swim team and James and I started our new lifestyle, but more to come about that in another post. It's kind of frightening how time passes you by. I must be in a meditative mood today LOL. It's probably due to all the sad, depressing news that comes out every day - I want to stick my fingers in my ears and hum loudly like a little child. Not the most mature response, I know, but to fully contemplate everything that is happening can fill you with hopelessness and despair. I worry about my children's future - a LOT. All parents do, of course, but the world seems like a scarier place than it ever was as long as I can remember. I suppose all one can do is take care of their own, help others whenever possible, and pray, pray, pray.

Elinor's 1st Year in Review

2011-07-14T20:08:00.001-07:00

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

12th Birthday Girl!

2011-07-14T06:19:00.000-07:00

12 years ago, I started my journey as a mother.

To My Firstborn Child~
I get so many things wrong, big and small, every day. But I get the biggest thing right. I love you with every fiber of my being and I delight in watching you become your own person. I pray that I am able to provide you with the guidance, support, and inspiration that will sustain you through the journey from child to young woman. Have patience with me, for just as you don't quite know how to become the adult you are on the long path to becoming, I'm not quite sure how to navigate the murky depths of parenting an adolescent. But we'll make it through and hopefully someday we can have the same deep, abiding friendship that I, another firstborn daughter, have with my own mom. I love you, my glorious, stubborn, smart, responsible, complicated, beautiful Hero.

Bad Mommy

2011-07-13T08:52:00.001-07:00

Now that Elle is more mobile, she spends a bit of time each day in "Baby Jail". I feel vaguely like this makes me a bad mommy. Especially since she likes to climb right up to the side, like a depressed zoo monkey, and stare at me. Ah well, just one more list to add to the reason why I'm a terrible parent, right? LOL Actually, it's kind of a rocking place -it's two superyards put together, about 5 ft by 5 ft, full of baby-safe toys. Better than a playpen, at least. I'm just wondering how long it's going to contain Cecily. As long as it last through the end of this year, I think that'll be a good thing.

Independence Day

2011-07-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

As I wrote my title, I realized, that, in a corny way, Independence Day, was the perfect (albeit coincidental) way to describe Elle's LAST 1st holiday (sniff sniff). We spent the Fourth finishing up some chores, early in the morning, and then eating, swimming, and doing fireworks late into the night. Cecily suffered a sparkler burn (I hate sparklers with a passion - always have, always will), and James and I suffered from being too old to be up that late, but other than that it was fine. My fave part? Probably the homemade ice cream. I'm a sucker for homemade ice cream. This is why we cannot have an ice-cream maker at home. I would have zero self-control.

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

2011-07-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, if I'm feeling bored and looking for entertainment, I'll click on the Next Blog button, just to get a glimpse into people's lives. It's kind of like looking through front windows at night when you are driving around - a guilty pleasure of mine. Oh great, now I've outed myself as a peeping tom LOL. I should learn not to do that, though, because in the blog world everyone lives a perfect little life with their perfect home and perfect family. I have to keep reminding myself that the content people put on their blog is selective, and many people only want to advertise the positive aspects of their lives - much like a Christmas letter. But sometimes it makes me feel so inadequate. Whether it's a blog showing people who are put-together every moment of every day fashion-wise, dedicated to healthy eating, super duper crafty, or amazing photographers who chronicle every moment of their babies lives in soft focus with appropriate backdrops - I am so far from that that it can be hard not to get down on myself. It's so easy to get stuck on the "surface", and just when I think I've matured a little, I find that old, jealous me coming back. I wonder if this is my particular cross to bear throughout life? (((sigh))) Ah well, onward I trudge... For my first weight loss update since I got back on the wagon - I'm down 1.8lbs this week (still 3lbs above my low for the year). We didn't do a fabulous job exercising every morning, but we did get some days in, so I'm going to try and be more optimistic and think some is better than none. Now, for the random pictures, can I just say - as a mom, I have a love/hate relationship with spaghetti.

BBG

2011-07-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Baby Girls, that is! I'm totally biased, but gosh darn if they aren't the cutest little things? I love how they are opposites, it just makes it more fun. It'll be interesting to see if they are personality opposites, as Elinor gets older. Can I admit I'm secretly hoping for that? Ceci can be rather intense, and I wouldn't mind just one more easy-going child. Otherwise, I have a feelings, the battles between these two will be epic. I'm setting myself up for trouble with the matching outfits as they get older and closer in size, no? I can just hear the "twins" questions - especially since I used to get that with Hero and Allegra and they are two and a half years apart. I even heard that a month ago with Ian and Colin, who are three and a half years apart!

Girls Weekend!

2011-06-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Nichole, Leslie and her littlest, Carla, Becky, and Me at the zoo

Carla, Kathy, Becky, Kathy's Friend Michelle, Nichole, and me at dinner on Friday night

Nichole - roommate, chaffeur extraordinaire, and birthday girl (I won't say of how many years, but it's more than me, haha ;-P)

Being a parent to a pre-teen girl is exhausting! I'm sure all of you older, wiser, more experienced parents are going "well duh!" LOL. I definitely needed a get-away, and that's exactly what I got. I met up in Chicago with a group of six friends that I've known for years on a discussion board for large families. This is the first time in my life that I've done something like that, and it was exciting! One thing I've discovered about myself as I get older is that I'm more independent than I thought. I think I could have been one of those single-forever women if God hadn't intervened and sent me James (and six kids). Now, I'm not all the way there, certainly, as I was stressed out about navigating the whole airport-to-hotel thing, but luckily one of my friends went out of her way to make sure that she could pick me up and drop me off at O'Hare. It felt so good to be in the company of an amazing, inspirational bunch of women. The kind who lift you up instead of tear you down. That can be hard to find, I think. We ate good food, talked (and talked and talked), visited the Brookfield Zoo, and even ventured to the hotel hot tub for a very brief stint (when there's security in the pool area, it's probably a bit raucous for a bunch of old women like us LOL). Best of all, everything was in perfect order when I arrived back home two days later. In fact, it was much neater than when I left! I feel renewed and recharged, although I must say that I hope I can do this type of thing again soon.

Bad Hair Day

2011-06-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

This isn't all that important, in the scope of things, but it did give me a chuckle and cause me to reach for the camera. Cecily has extremely fine hair, just like most of the other kids, but even so, it somehow managed to turn into crazy hair after a recent nap. I think she was rather proud of it.

On a totally different note - yesterday I officially hopped back onto the weight loss/healthy living wagon. I had a good eating day and today James and I woke up at 5:30 to take a morning walk. Eventually we'd like to ride our bikes, but they need some work to be ready to go. I'm moving my weigh-in day to Thursday, so I'll have a poundage update for you then (ooh, aren't you waiting with baited breath? LOL).

The Picture of Summer

2011-06-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

I think this photo of Colin is a perfect representation of a perfect, patently "summer" moment. James has worked really hard on the garden this year (I, alas, cannot claim any responsibility for said garden). You know how the kids bring home plants for Mother's Day gifts from their various activities - Colin came home from either preschool or Sunday School with a mystery plant. We weren't sure what it was, but it germinated and when it started growing climbers we figured it was a veggie, so into the garden it went. And, indeed, it was a pea and last week it produced it's first peapod. Colin was absolutely thrilled! He was so proud of his little pea plant, and played with the fruits of his (and James') labor before eating the whole thing. The pea mustache thing was all his idea, silly boy.

1st Place x 3

2011-06-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I go in spurts on the blog. Actually, I think you could use my posting frequency as a measure of my state of mind. While I'm feeling good and on top of things I tend to post more, but when I'm feeling anxious and chaotic I stop. Well, I wouldn't say I'm feeling on top of the world right now, but I think I'm going to try harder at convincing myself that everything is under control by doing the external things first LOL.

Hero and Allegra competed in their second figure skating competition last week. They've worked much harder this year than last year - especially in the last two months. We've been at the rink SO much (I wish it was closer!). During the school year, they had to get their at 6:30, which meant a 5:30 wake up call, and usually they didn't complain. All that hard work finally paid off, as they won gold medals in all of their events. Hero did two events and Allegra one. I'm so, so proud of them, and I'm hoping we can do more competitions, because this one was fun!

Is This Even Possible?

2011-06-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

How can I have a child who has graduated from elementary school and will be starting Junior High next year?! Wow, it's so hard to believe. It seems like she just started kindergarten... How different life was, back in 2004. Hero was the oldest of our small family of three children and we had just moved into our current home. It's been an exciting and frustrating ride, navigating the highway of adolescence. We were very proud of her - she earned the Presidential Academic Fitness Award (given to those who have a B average or better through their elementary school career). She must be pretty proud too - she wore her pin multiple places for several days and she has her framed certificate in her room.

Hero Starting Her School Journey ~ First Day of Kindergarten August 2004

Hero Ending Her Maple Grove Elementary Journey - 6th Grade Graduation June 2011

It's Only Fair

2011-06-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

I can't have dedicated birthday time space to Cecily and not to Colin. I'm a little late, but our little crazy man turned four on June 6th. Since we've crammed two more babies in after him, I think we forget how little Colin is. Four does sound considerably more grown-up than three, though. He requested a Scooby-Doo party, his new "thing". We did a backyard barbeque - it's kind of a theme with the spring birthday parties. He had kind of a rough day, and was a bit out of sorts, but presents and cake cheered him up.

Party Time

2011-05-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

We held Cecily's actual party on Sunday, the 22nd, and we couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect day if we'd ordered it up. It was sunny, comfortable, and perfect for enjoying a backyard barbeque. It was a more relaxing birthday party than we've had for quite a while. Cecily loved her dollhouse toys, barbie, puzzles, and tea set. I had planned on doing a cute 2nd birthday theme ordered online, but I procrastinated too long and had to go with Minnie Mouse (it was the only thing she recognized at the party store). All in all it turned out fine, though. Cecily enjoyed her day with all of us and cousin Oriana, Aunt Jennifer, Nana, and Papa (with the possible exception of the gift-opening, which made her kind of crazy - I don't know where that came out of).

Cecily Turns 2

2011-05-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, just wow. I can't believe my baby girl is two! That girl is such a spitfire. She's so different from any of my other girls, with her brown hair with a curl to the ends, and her mischevious brown eyes. She's a daredevil extraordinaire and her favorite word is icky. She loves to eat and play on the playground. She'll go toe-to-toe with any of her siblings, especially her big brother Colin, but she's till a bit shy around strangers. We love you, CC!

Tiger Mother

2011-05-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

Now, I don't consider myself any thing close to a Chinese mother. I don't have enough dedication and persistence for that. I also, even more importantly, don't have kids who are in that cultural mindset. I think If I forced my kids to practice for two to three hours a day I'd have a pretty serious mutiny on my hands. But all the same, I very much enjoyed reading Amy Chua's book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It talks about some differences between Western and Chinese cultures and parenting in particular. Because it is mostly framed through piano and violin lessons and I'm in the thick of three kids taking piano and violin (soon to be four) it was especially relevant for me. This is one of my favorite quotes from the book "All these Western parents with the same party line about what's good for children and what's not--I'm not sure they're making choices at all. They just do what everyone else does. They're not questioning anything either, which is what Westerners are supposed to be so good at doing. They just keep repeating things like 'You have to give your children the freedom to pursue their passion' when it's obvious that the 'passion' is just going to turn out to be Facebook for ten hours". Scarily spot-on, I'd say.

Keepin' On

2011-05-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

That's where I'm at right now. Treading water. I'm hoping it's just end-of-the-school-year madness. It's so busy and there are so many obligations right now that I'm on the verge of losing it. The list is never ending: Elle's pictures, Cecily's birthday party, Colin's birthday party, Hero's 6th grade graduation, piano recital, violin recital, talent show, my Chicago trip, figure-skating competition, and so on and so forth. That is, of course, in addition to all the regular stuff. See, this is why I'm not blogging much - I come off as incredibly whiney. My life isn't bad. I've got healthy kids, a roof over my head, and plenty of food. Everything I complain about is minor. But, you know, you live in your own little bubble, and those things take on some magnitude. Tomorrow is a big day - Cecily turns 2! So here's a few of her last pictures as a 1 year old (sniff sniff).

Easter

2011-04-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

I'm so bummed that my pics from Easter didn't turn out well. I don't know what happened with the camera. Oh well, it's too late to fix that now, I guess. Easter was pretty lowkey - baskets, church, brunch, lunch, Easter egg hunts, piano lessons (hey, the world keeps on turning, I guess).

Good News

2011-04-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

On the (very small) good news front, my weight loss effort is still chugging along. I was worried that the consequences of our vacation would be disastrous (brats, brownies, pie, ham, potato salad, etc were in abundance - Mom and Dad fed us well), but I actually didn't gain any weight, thank goodness. As of today I'm at 188.8, which is an 18lb total weight loss since January. I had to reset my goal, since I reached my first goal, so my new goal is my wedding weight (13 years ago next month!) - 173lbs. At that weight I'm a solid size 14, which is a short step away from the size 12 and below at which I feel more accepting of my body. I'm putting all of my too-small clothes into my eBay store, so I hope that serves as further motivation to slim down, so that I can reclaim it before it sells. And finally, here is another vacay pictures - this of Elle in her swimsuit before we hit the indoor waterpark at the hotel where Troy got married. I had such a good time there, watching the kids and playing water volleyball - it reminds me of how much I miss by living so far away. I have to say, now that they aren't kids anymore, my brothers aren't so bad LOL.

Never say never

2011-04-10T09:19:00.001-07:00

I've learned my lesson. I will never say that life has got to be getting better because it can't get any worse. It always can. Trust me on that. And to keep me from wallowing in my pity pond any longer I'm going to move on to more cheerful things - like recounting our vacation. Our big activity, besides Troy's wedding, of course, was going to Lambeau Field. We visited the Hall of Fame and Mom and Dad treated us to the full Stadium Tour. We were more than a little bit disappointed that the newest Lombardi trophy wasn't there yet (they claimed that it was being engraved but I'm gonna call BS on that one - did the superbowl trophy really have to get in line behind the season's t-ball participant awards at Mac's Hometown Awards and Engraving? Um, I'd bet no). But we still managed to have fun. Probably the highlight of the trip was everyone's attempts at doing the Lambeau Leap exhibit in the Hall of Fame (some pretty good - others, namely ME, not so much) or James "stealing" the plate of nachos from the restaurant to bring it down to the lower level (James is such an outlaw in my family of law-abiders LOL). Be warned, the picturage is gratuitous, but that's because we pretty much took no other pictures the rest of the trip - oops!

We're Back!

2011-04-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Now that our spring break vacation is over I feel pretty good about it. While it was happening I wasn't quite so sure. You know how it goes - vacations, while wonderful, are stressful with little kids. The whole breaking the routine thing is always a dicey proposition. But I felt relatively peaceful and rejuvenated last night - ready to tackle all the regular-life stuff. My house still hasn't recovered from adding Cecily and Elle in such quick fashion. I'm determined to start working my way through it - deep-cleaning and organizing. I did the downstairs bathroom today, and while that isn't a huge project, I do feel good about accomplishing something. I also feel ready to get back to work. I've got lots of things I can get on and goodness knows we could use the cash flow, so I'm going to hit it as hard as possible. Here's a few vacay pics from Wisconsin. doing the everyday stuff. We (with most of the emphasis on Grandpa and Grandma) spent an inordinate amount of time, it seemed, feeding the kids and then cleaning up the aftermath, so it seems appropriate to share some kitchen pics (I especially like Elle's "hungover" look LOL).

Breastfeeding Rant

2011-03-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

Please dear God, let me hang in there until our vacation and the dinner date Mom and Dad have promised James and I. We are DESPERATELY in need of it - I can't wait. That might be worth braving the plane trip itself. I will survive until then, yes I will. If I proclaim it loud enough it must be true. I probably should have a rule about posting on Saturday evenings. I tend to go a little crazy at this time of day ANY day, but especially when it's a Saturday where James has gotten to spend the whole day skiing. It makes for a very long stretch of 14 days where I'm responsible for about 95% of everything kid-related. I should probably have a bottle of wine handy just for the "witching hour" LOL. Part of the difficulty is that Elle is our clingiest baby EVER. She just won't settle for being put down, ever. She hates her swing, the Bumbo, the Exersaucer, the bouncer, everything. Her preferred place involves my carrying her, but I must be moving around. That's such a newborn thing - I can't believe we're still doing this 7.5 months later. Her dream parent would have to be an APer, I'm sure. With the still-going-strong need to nurse and the desire to be carried everywhere, she'd jump ship from our decidedly non-AP house if given the chance LOL. And, also as it relates to Elle, I have to say, I'm disappointed. I've always held long-term breastfeeding as the holy grail of parenting a baby/toddler. It's been something that, no matter how badly I've wanted it, just didn't work out. And now that we're heading in that direction, I must say I'm feeling a bit disillusioned. I'm kind of tired of breastfeeding. I'm tired of being the only one she wants to hold her. I'm tired of not sleeping through the night. I'm tired of having to battle with her over the nursing cover when we're in public (it's just not possible for me to be discreet without it - I know lots of women don't need one, but I, unfortunately, do). I'm saddened by the idea that we won't be able to redeem our gift certificate to the Anniversary Inn on our anniversary because she refuses to take a bottle. And then there's the guilt I feel about my own feelings, of course. Because I should absolutely adore and treasure these precious nursing sessions - at least that's what all the books say. It's hard to imagine there will come a day when I'll miss breastfeeding, but I'm sure it will happen eventually, especially since she's our last. For right now, though, it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, one day at a time.

Catch Up

2011-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Man, am I behind. I have to admit, my head is in a bit of a fog right now. I'm so grateful that James is working full-time again, but it's been quite the adjustment to go from having help 75% of the day, to doing it all by myself. At least we have a vacation coming up soon! I didn't update last week, but I lost a little bit and then this week I had a good weigh-in, losing 2.2lbs. I'm down 13.2lbs total since January 4th. I'm at 193.4, so my first minigoal seems within reach. It feels SO good to succeed at something, for a change. As far as the rest of the family - the three older kids all earned Superiors at piano festival, so that was good, and Elle has two teeth and can say Da-Da.

V-Day

2011-02-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

I hate Valentine's Day. I hate the never-ending card exchanges the kids do, the commercialism, the sappy over-the-topness of it all. I can't wait for kids to lose interest in their Valentines so that I can throw them out. Oh, and for all the dang suckers to be gone. I swear that Colin and Cecily have a stash hidden somewhere. But, I have to admit, James did good this year. He woke up early and made me breakfast and had cards ready for me. Later in the day he brought me roses and some pretty lingerie. It made me feel loved and appreciated. We don't do much for the kids, because Valentine's is supposed to be celebrating romantic love, right?? But I did make small gift bags for all of them from James and I and Grandma and Grandpa and they thought that was top-notch.

And on to much bigger news than Valentine's Day - James has a new job! I'm not sure who's more excited, him or me. And it's not just because I get my house back to myself during the day LOL. I think he was relatively burnt out, so I'm hoping that the change to a new field is invigorating and restorative. He's still selling, but now he'll be selling investments in gas and oil exploration/drilling for Gulf Coast Western. I'm so proud of him and humbled by his willingness to do whatever it takes to make our family thrive.

For Fun

2011-02-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

The ironic thing is that I was originally going to make this post into a vent about overachieving mothers and their Valentine's Day analness (anality?). But, in the spirit of being more positive, I decided to share some pics of my own craftiness at work. This was our small Super Bowl spread two weeks ago - I can't take credit for the recipes as I found them in my cookbook, but I thought they were too adorable to pass up. In case you can't tell from the picture I made Dice Cheese Dip and Crackers, Dartboard Pizza, Jello game chips, and Scrabble Blondies. They were delish and cute - the perfect accompaniment to a perfect game (can't wait to see the newest Lombardi trophy when we visit Lambeau Field on our spring break). This was a good week for me, weight loss wise - I'm down 2.6lbs, which is a 10.2lb weight loss total, which puts me at 196.2lbs. I feel SO much better about myself already. I'm wondering if still breastfeeding is finallly starting to pay off and I'm losing weight because of that, because honestly it hasn't been terribly hard lately. It's so wonderful to feel in control of food rather than the opposite way around.

Birthdays

2011-02-10T08:36:00.000-08:00

I think about great, deep thoughts that I should put in my blog on a daily basis. And inevitably the moment passes and I forget about it. So, you are left with the predictable and mundane, sorry! First of all, we have birthdays! Ian turned seven on Saturday. He didn't want a party (which seemed strange, but, whatever, I guess), and instead chose to go to a restaurant of his choosing (Chuck-A-Rama) and then celebrate with cake, ice cream, and presents at Nana and Papa's house at night (right before piano lessons - the world does keep on turning when you have eight birthdays a year in one house). We splurged a bit on his cake since that was going to be the centerpiece of the whole day and ordered a Mario Brothers themed cake from Pasty Perfection. It was so cute and colorful, and perfect for the boy who absolutely adores all things Mario (especially his Mario pjs). And, in a stunning bad mommy moment, we have no true pics of the cake or his birthday because I forgot the camera. We took some phone pics, but we haven't downloaded them to the computer yet, yikes! And, moving on, today is my Mom's birthday. I won't share how old she is (um, it's because I'm being nice, not because I have no clue- wink,wink) and I also won't share how sucky of a daughter I am since my card will be late, as usual. You know how much we love you though, Mom! I owe ya a Starbucks run when we visit next month! And I wasn't in a raging hurry to share my stats this week because they weren't stellar, but, all things considered I was worried that I would actually gain weight, and I didn't, so I'm not complaining too much. I lost .2 lbs and am down to 198.8. Less than 10lbs to go to my first goal weight - I'm hoping I really can pull in some big numbers this week!

Scared

2011-02-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

My child frightens me a little bit. Not in a bad way, at all. But I think Allegra has unlimited potential. There's something special about her. Of course, all of my kids are special in their own way. But Allegra has that sparkle. She's seriously charismatic. Right now she's insistent that she wants to be a star. I know, I know, a lot of kids go through that stage. And normally I'd just brush it off. But I think Allegra actually has a chance of pulling it off. She's always busy "modelling" (I found the photo above on my camera, apparently she was trying to model and asked Ian to take pictures), writing movie scripts, and acting them out with her brother. She talks about moving to LA when she's older. It's going to be a fun ride, watching that girl grow up. And I have another child that frightens me too, and her name is Elle. Elle cut her first tooth yesterday and I'm terrified! I've NEVER had a child get a first tooth this early. Usually it happens closer to 10 months or so. And she's still very much nursing, and I'm scared. I keep trying to tell myself that women nurse babies and toddlers with teeth every day, and it'll be fine. It'll be fine. Yes, it will (I hope).

Party of 1

2011-02-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

First off, GO PACKERS! It's going to be a rather mundane Super Bowl. Can anybody say Party of 1? James won't be home from skiing til this evening, so it will be me watching the first half by myself. But I still felt like I had to do something, so I'm making a party-themed dinner spread - Dice-shaped cheese spread, gelatin game chips, dartboard pizza, and scrabble brownies. The kids are looking forward to that part, I think. Me not so much as I'll be unable to eat most of it - Ian chose to go to Chuck-A-Rama for his birthday dinner last night and a buffet is always a hit in the points department (although I did WAY better than I usually would). But I'll consider it a good exercise in willpower strengthening. And, switching course, I love this picture of Elle enjoying her first taste of veggies - squash, I believe it was. She's not very enthused. We're working all the orange veggies first.

Trying to Do Better

2011-02-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to be a better parent. It's definitely a two-steps-forward, one-step-back process. I've learned a lot more about parenting young children now that my first kids are getting older. Most people don't have the luxury of getting do-overs but with a large family that's a bit spread out in age, I kind of do. I used to think that the purpose of discipline was to stop an undesirable behavior. With that end in mind, the disciplinary technique didn't matter all that much. As long as it wasn't extreme, anything was fair game. But as Hero and company get older, I've realized I was very off the mark. I think the whole purpose of discipline is teaching self-control. Bad behaviors come and go. Learning to be centered, calm, and rational is a skill that lasts a lifetime. Of course, the best way to teach this is to model it. So, it's come full circle and I've realized that discipline is a lot more about ME as a parent than the children. You might be wondering what's prompted this introspection. Right now we are surviving rather than thriving, as a family, and I just hate that. I don't mind having a loud and crazy house. But I think that, lately, with a pre-teen in the house and younger kids totally willing to parrot anything that she says, we're heading in a direction that's not good. Pray for me that my new found resolve weathers the storm.

Double Dose

2011-02-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

of stats, that is! Today was my fourth weigh-in. It was a rough week, mentally. I felt a bit close to losing control at times, especially with the Peanut Butter Brownie pizza staring me down. Plus we used our TGIFridays gift card on Friday and that's the first time I've been out to eat. But I must have done better than I thought - I was down 1.8 lbs, to 199 even. That's a total weight loss of 7.8 lbs in four weeks. 10 more to go to my first goal and I'm hoping to be there by spring break. I'm going to start tracking measurements this week too. And, for the more important stats - Elle's 6 month doctor's visit showed a perfectly average baby. She's in the 50th percentile for height and weight now (she's 16lbs and I can't remember how long and I've already archived the sheeet it was written on, bad mommy). She can sit supported now, but she's still in no hurry to do things on her own it seems. I'm okay with babying her now though, as she's had some kind of respiratory illness for about a week. She's stuffy and coughy but still in good spirits, little sweetheart.

Pics and Stats

2011-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Not of me, silly. Not yet, anyways. But I'm still on track. This was the first week that I actually felt tested. The weekend was very stressful with James up skiing and I desperately wanted to fill up on comfort foods. I ate SO many bananas, blueberries, and blackberries LOL. But I powered through and recorded a 1.2lb weight loss. As long as I'm in the 1 to 2.5lb range weekly I'm okay. Here's to my final week in the 200s!

I like this picture of Elle with her funny hat and impish grin. And I had to share this pic of Cecily all decked out in the outfit Grandma made for Christmas for her. There are such cuties, although I might be a bit biased.

Food All Around

2011-01-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

Woot, I'm slowly catching up as I'm now recounting stuff from January. On the 5th (10 days short of six months) Elle had her first taste of solid foods. She took to it like a champ and I'm now glad I have some use for all of that breastmilk stored in the freezer (since this girl decidedly does not "do" bottles). I've waited longer and longer to introduce solids for each kid. I'm going to say officially it's because that's what the expert guidelines are changing to, but honestly I think it's because it's easier to do without the mess for as long as possible. We started with rice cereal and will be moving onto yellow vegetables and adding barley as a grain this week as well.

And, on a side note, GO PACKERS. Seriously, though, I wish that we were in Wisconsin for the Superbowl so that I could go to someone else's party and eat someone else's lovely food instead of having to host my own LOL. Hmm, I'm putting off a food obsession vibe lately, it seems. I must be "dieting".

Proverbial Better-Than-Christmas

2011-01-23T10:06:00.001-08:00

The kids got a bunch of toys for Christmas. I always start off with the best intentions of a toy-free Christmas because I'm so sick of picking up junk from every room in the house. Inevitably I get mommy-guilt and the kids do wind up with toys. And then, days after Christmas, they've lost interest and find better things to play with - like the attachments to my new canister vacuum. Some things never change, right?

Allegra's Birthday

2011-01-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

I actually feel rather current blogging about Allegra's 9th birthday today, as she finally had her "friends" party yesterday. We celebrated with a small family party on New Year's Eve, and then yesterday Allegra and three of her school friends went skating. It's hard to believe (I know, I know, so cliche) that Allegra is nine. Nine sounded so grown up for Hero. I don't know, though, I still think of Allegra as little. Maybe it's because she isn't pulling away, trying so hard to grow up quickly like Hero was. Allegra still likes to play with little girl stuff and loves to cuddle. I don't know that she, with her special personality, will ever grow out of it.

Photo Bomb

2011-01-19T07:03:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post yesterday about my weigh-in. So, how many of you thought that was by design because I'd done bad?? LOL Actually, I did pretty good - I lost 2.4 lbs (exactly the same as last week). I'm a little nervous about this week, just because it'd be hard to sustain those kind of numbers for a third week, I think. But as long as I lose over a pound a week for the first two months I'm okay.

And now for a blitz of Christmas Day pictures - it was hard to pic just a few!

A Rant

2011-01-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

I interrupt this regularly scheduled family blog for a personal rant. I want to (metaphorically speaking) tear my hair out over the Arizona shooting of the congresswoman and bystanders. No single rational person I know believes that Sarah Palin or the Republican party is legally culpable for the actions of the deranged gunman. None of us liberals think that they are responsible for killing and injuring those people. HOWEVER, this situation has opened a dialogue about incendiary rhetoric in politics and the damaging, divisive affects it has on this country. That absolutely is a useful, timely discussion. But it seems that many of the same people that are guilty of using violent metaphors as political fodder want to obfuscate the issue by screaming about liberals wanting to hold Sarah Palin accountable for murder. It's "the Democrats want to kill Granny" all over again. Let's hope that the electorate can see through the smoke and mirrors this time (who knew I was such an optimist LOL).

Christmas Eve

2011-01-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, usually we do a family get-together at our house on the 24th, but this year was a little different. We kept all of the appetizer traditions (lil smokies, cheese/ham/olive picks, and ghetto dip), decorated sugar cookies, made Stollen in prep for the morning, made Eggnog cheesecake for Christmas Day dessert, and watched Holiday Inn. I love Christmas Eve - I think it will forever be my favorite day of the year. You have none of the letdown (or mess) associated with the post-unwrapping frenzy of Christmas Day, and all of the excitement, anticipation, and love is at a peak.

Is That Wrong?

2011-01-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

Usually we invite everybody over to our house on Christmas Eve, but we also like to host Boise State football parties, so this season we were met with a dilemma. Do we do the regular Christmas Eve thing, or invite everyone over for the bowl game two days earlier? BSU won. I think that might be bad. But what's done is done. We were all decked out in our blue and orange gear and enjoyed a smallish appetizer spread. The kids only peek in on the game, but somehow they manage to amuse themselves. Although she's not in the picture, even Elle was decked out.

As Good As It Gets

2011-01-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Today was the end of my first week. I'm down 2.4 pounds. That's good, I suppose. I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted it to be more. But I know that I shouldn't be. It's a good number. As long as I can sustain that on a week-to-week basis, I'll be happy. I didn't get as much exercise in as I wanted to, so one thing to work on more for this week.

Here's the ONLY two Christmas pictures I got of the kids in their Christmas clothes before the Christmas program at church. Every year we take a family pic of the kids in their nice, new clothes. This year went on record as the worst picture ever. Basically we gave up. Better luck next year, right? Let's hope...

Sisters

2011-01-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken at the same time as Elle's 5 month photo shoot. Ceci is playful and happy after her bath and she wanted to get into the fun too. I love this, and I hope it captures the essence of their future relationship - a whole lot of fun. I'm so excited to watch Cecily and Elle's relationship unfold as Elle gets older. I hope, hope, hope they will be the best of friends. As it stands now they seem to like each other a whole lot.

Elinor @ 5 Months

2011-01-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

I totally missed Elle's 4 month pictures. How sad is that?! I had a good thing going with the monthly pics too. But I got back on board the wagon in December and did manage her 5 month pictures. She's really been working on hand coordination and is getting pretty good with them. She "talks" a lot, but is no better of a sleeper (yes, that's my self-pitying moment of the day).

On the lifestyle front - things are still going good. Going down the stairs is now pure torture, but I know it'll get better. The kids had a blast watching me get some exercise on the Dance Dance Revolution Wii game. They are convinced they are going to bring it to Grandma and Grandpa's house in April. I might pay money to watch them dance. :-)

Only One Program

2011-01-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

Technically, of course, that's not true. Allegra, Ian, and Colin all were in the Sunday School Christmas program, and Allegra and Ian were in the Maple Grove Elementary holiday program, but we didn't take pictures of those (bad mom and dad!), so all we've got to share are pictures of Colin's preschool Christmas program. He's such a funny kid - so imperious and fearless at home, but tentative and nervous around others. He likes school and has nothing but good things to say about it, but the thumb definitely visits the mouth when he encounters a new situation. Cecily and Elinor enjoyed their littlest big brother's show.

Our Budding Star

2011-01-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

So I have decided to try my very best to add in some exercise daily. Kind of the cherry on top, I guess. I've been doing the Wii Fit (since that was the whole reason we bought it) for two days and it's surprising that something so basic has made my legs feel all trembly and jello-y. But I kind of like that feeling - it let's you know that you actually worked out some muscles that you don't normally work.

To backtrack to December, let's first hit The Nutcracker. As Hero is no longer in ballet (and Hero's mom is still trying to come to terms with this) she got to be in the audience this year for the first time in five years to cheer on her little sister. Allegra is Nutcracker-obsessed. She dreams of being Clara, and we had to watch her dance all of the various roles for the entire months of November and December. Her official roles were Party Scene and Marzipan in the Mini-Variations. She was just all aglow and we had such a good time watching her and the production at large.

So Cliche

2011-01-04T10:20:00.000-08:00

I promise this has nothing to do with lame-o New Year's Resolutions, but with the fact that Elle is almost six months old (and will be starting solids instead of breastfeeding exclusively) and Troy's wedding is in three months (and I ordered my dress two sizes down and I MUST fit into it). It's merely coincidental that I'm starting my weight loss program now. But whatever the reason, it has to happen. I'm so unhappy about where I'm at. Having two so close together really did me in - I've been making poor food choices now for the last two years and time for exercise is nearly non-existent. I'm not sure when the exercise thing will start to happen as Elle is still not a good sleeper AT ALL and I'm just too tired to make working out a priority, but I 100% own the bad food choices thing and that I can and WILL change. I've bought a 3 month Weight Watchers Online membership and I want to make that work, although I kept it relatively short term so that, if it's not working and I need the shame aspect of the real live weigh-in I can make the switch. I'm starting off at 206.8lbs (and I hope you can imagine the courage it took me to make that public, yikes!!)

Starting Out Small

2011-01-03T13:10:00.001-08:00

I have way more important family stuff to cover since I've been so neglectful of my blog, but I decided to start out small with pictures of our kitchen paintover. For my birthday James gave me a coupon good for the painting of one room of my choice. It was completely his idea to get it done over the post-Christmas break, which was a big surprise to me (he's not a painting/remodeling fan). I decided to chose the kitchen because I thought it would be the easiest downstairs project. Boy was I wrong. It took us three days from start to finish to complete it, mostly due to cleaning, taping, and drying time. But it's done now and I'm so happy with it. We chose a color called Nocturnal Sea (with an accent called Bayou) which is a dark blue with strong shades of green and and grey in it. We're accessorizing with white, sand, and cloudy grey. I'm so happy with it and I can't wait to tackle the dining room and living room next!

Before:

After:

Wow

2010-12-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

I really sucked it up last month. November flew by in a raft of activities and sickness in our household. It felt like the shortest month ever. Ah, for the good old days of being a kid when November dragged on in your haste to get to December. November saw both Elle and Cecily checkups at the pediatrician's. Elle weighed in at a whopping 15 pounds 8 ounces, which is crazy big for our kids, and Cecily hit 22 pounds, which is smaller-than-average but respectable. Elinor is still exclusively breastfed and going strong. I think we're going to go to six months before we introduce solids, although the ped gave us the go ahead already. It's just easier, and since she doesn't really need it yet, we'll keep things simple. I wanted to share some Thanksgiving pics - it seems like eons ago, but it was only last week. We came home from Thanksgiving dinner with leftovers (yum) and a run of intestinal illness (yuck). Que sera sera.

Baby Steps

2010-11-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

I have a million and one things I should be blogging about that I've missed, but I suppose i just have to jump in somewhere. Here's Elle's 3 month pictures - she really changed a lot this month, I would say. She's much more interactive, newly demanding (like, don't sit down while holding her, ever), and she likes to grab for things with her hands. She finally can hold her head up at a 90 degree angle while on her tummy but still nothing going on in the rolling over department.

A Splurge

2010-10-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

We did really well in the costume department this year. James' mom made Hero and Allegra's costumes (a green fairy and a Felicity-era gown), Colin is wearing Ian's old Smee pirate costume, and it's Cecily's turn to wear the traditional duck costume (the one that all of our children have worn from Hero on down). Ian just wanted to be Mario, so that was easy enough. I had originally planned to have Elle wear Cecily's costume from last year, but then I was flipping through Chasing Fireflies catalog and found the star bunting that I had wanted so badly for Cecily. So I splurged and ordered it for her. It is so adorable, and I'm an absolute sucker for anything personalized anyways. I had to try it on her the moment it arrived. It'll be perfect for Halloween night! The older kids already wore their costumes to last Saturday's piano recital. It was James' turn to attend the kids' recital (we switch off, it's too hard to keep all the little ones still and quiet for the hour in a cramped space) and I made sure he left with the camera specifically to take pictures. And this is the picture he snaps. In the ghetto parking lot. Really? You couldn't have taken it inside the recital hall in front of the grand piano? Men...

The Postpartum Roller Coaster...

2010-10-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

is in full swing and I want to get off! Gosh I feel like an absolute lunatic. One day I'm low and the next day I'm high. I think that most women expect to deal with crazy emotions for the first six or eight weeks after giving birth, but for me it lasts longer than that. I'm not sure if that's just a quirk or if it's normal and most women try to hide it. It's a combination of both mental and physical stuff too. This week I've started the hair falling out phase. I have really long hair right now and I'm so tired of finding it everywhere, on the baby, on the bed, on my clothes. A minor thing, but an annoyance that, on a bad day, can be the proverbial straw. It's not all hormones, though. Things are undeniably tough right now. Like "I don't want to be a grown-up anymore, I want someone else to make the decisions" tough. I think it's exacerbated by last year being such a stinky year too. Thank goodness no one was able to tell me last year that I'd be in the same spot at the same time next year. (((sigh))) I don't want the blog to turn into an exercise in self-pity, so I'll leave it at that. Here's to hoping it gets better, right? Elle's getting cuter by the day, at least.

Elle @ 2 Months

2010-09-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

On one hand it's hard to believe that Elle is a two month old already, but on the other hand she seems so much older than that. I'm not sure if that's because she's big for her age or because our whole Wisconsin trip seems so long ago. She's doing AWESOME in the growth department: 12lbs14.5oz (90th percentile), 22 3/4 inches (55th percentile) and her head is in the 82nd percentile. I just cannot get over how big she is - I've had so many problems breastfeeding my babies in the past. It's just amazing that it's working out just the way it's supposed to right now. I'm taking it one month at a time. My next goal is to exclusively breastfeed until four months, which would be a record for me (I hit 3.5 months with Colin). I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself, but it would be so wonderful to get to skip formula altogether with Elle. I purchased a book called Eating Well, Losing Weight While Breastfeeding (or something like that) so that gives me hope that I can peel off some extra poundage without a negative impact on nursing. She's changed so much in the last month. She's very interactive now and loves to smile, coo, and "sing" with you. She has very little schedule when it comes to napping, but a bit of one overnight finally. She goes down for the night between 9:30 and 11:00, gets up between 2:30 and 4 for a feed and diaper change (the girl is a champion pooper), then sleeps til 6 or 7. It's doable. I look forward to gettign to sleep through the night sometime in the future, but I know that is actually not a good thing for breastfeeding, so the night-waking is worth it if it keeps nursing going well.

A Little Late

2010-09-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

This is a bit tardy, but a HUGE congratulations to my oldest little brother. He proposed to his girlfriend, Becky, this summer and the wedding date is set for April 2nd, 2011. Apparently love is in the air this season LOL. We're so excited to be going back to Wisconsin in a few short months!

Photo Op

2010-09-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

It took about a month longer than it should have to do our family "birth shirt" photo, but better late than never. Luckily we were limited in how much time we had to do it because Elle's New Little Sister shirt was a size 0-3 months and she was going to outgrow it pretty quickly. We intended on doing it in the common area of our subdivision, which was nice and green, but the ground was too wet, so after some lovely family discussion and debate, we moved it back to our backyard. Unfortunately the backyard is looking rather neglected this season, but we'll just say it gives the pictures character LOL. I have to admit, I'm kind of glad that I won't have any more of these shirts to make in the near future. I've worn out the only crafty bone (pinky-size, mind you) in my body.