Vancouver 10k Sun Run

Scott’s aunt and uncle have a tradition of participating in the Vancouver 10k Sun Run. Last year, they invited the rest of the family to join them. It was so much fun, that we decided to do it again this year. (A big thank you to Scott’s cousin, Joseph, who took on the task of arranging hotel rooms, and getting all of us to the right place at the right time.)

My doctor said I could walk the 10k if someone walked with me, but I wasn’t allowed to jog this year. Nor was I allowed to push the kids in the stroller. That posed a slight problem of what we do with the kids. (Scott wanted to run the race to see if he could beat his time from last year. The kids require periodic stops and delays.) Luckily, Scott’s mom and stepdad offered to push the stroller and walk with me the whole way.

 

My sister-in-law leant me her jogging stroller, which is easier to maneuver in crowds. It was great! Both kids ended up sleeping through almost half the race again this year. Near the end of the race, Zeke was getting restless, so Lily reached forward and held his hand. It was so cute to see them holding hands. I wish I had got a picture of it, because it was so sweet. It was just what Zeke needed to help him relax until the race ended.

It has been so much fun participating these last two years. It was sad realizing we won’t be able to make it to the race next year. We’ll have to find a race in Dallas we can participate in.

Lily’s 6th Birthday

Lily’s birthday celebration was very perpetual. With our lives being so crazy, it was all I could do to break it up and make sure I gave her everything I promised. It ended up being a month of birthday celebrations for her.

Lily had really wanted to ride the giant Ferris Wheel in Seattle. I doubted she would really want to ride it though. She’s so cautious! The last thing I wanted was to pay for tickets and then have her screaming that she wants off the ride when we’re at the very top of the Ferris Wheel. So we made a deal with her. If she raised the money for her ticket, we would go. (Tickets are not cheap.) Well, she surprised me. She happily set the table, helped take out the garbage and would do any other task I gave her around the house. Within a few weeks she had the money. Scott was so impressed, that he decided to give her the Ferris Wheel ride as part of her birthday present and not take any of her hard earned money. Lily was so excited! (The second picture is us showing our “excited faces.”)

The day before Lily’s birthday, we celebrated with her class. Lily was so proud to have us come to her classroom! She chose what she wanted to give friends and then decorated all the clothespins to look like butterflies by herself:

Lily’s teacher is amazing! Mr. Erickson is able to help every child feel loved and valued and to love life. He always has the birthday child stand on a chair and “lead” the class in singing “Happy Birthday.” He helped Lily lead music. He had her arms spinning in circles, flailing out to the side, and do all sorts of crazy things. Lily was laughing so hard!

We spent Lily’s actual birthday in Canada (because the 10k Sun Run was the next day). We decided to let Lily decide what we would do and where we would eat that day. She chose the Vancouver Zoo. All of Scott’s extended family joined us. It was a lot of fun! The zoo has bikes you can rent to tour the zoo at a quicker pace. There’s also a train you can ride. But the kids favorite thing was the playground. What kid wouldn’t love a slide that looks like a snake, or a bronze horse you can sit on?

   

For dinner, we went to Red Robin. Lily loves eating there! She was a little embarrassed when Scott’s aunts, uncles, and cousins came over to join the servers singing “Happy Birthday” to her. But no matter how shy she acted, I knew secretly she loved it.

Lily is so sweet and so obedient. She is very sensitive, not only of her own emotions, but also how others are feeling. She has amazing faith! and is a great miniature mom.

April was Crazy

At the beginning of April, Scott asked me what I thought about moving. My initial response was . . . no not now. I had two kids with birthdays (I promised Lily her first full friend birthday party), a 10k run in Canada, and my younger brother’s wedding, and our lease was set to expire at the end of the month. How would I have time to pack? And how would Scott get a job secured in that amount of time? But Scott asked me to consider it, and pray about it. (One thing Scott knows about me is that I absolutely do not like change. My first response is always ABSOLUTELY NOT when he suggests some big change. He knows to give me time to process and ponder things.) Our plan had been to move to a more affordable part of the country in a year or two. We hoped to buy a house someday, and Seattle’s Real Estate wasn’t conducive to that dream. We just hadn’t planned on moving this year. Yet, things seemed to be pointing to now being the time.

Scott had connections within his company. And more connections quickly developed in our favor. We prayed continually for guidance and help, and God did not disappoint us. In mid April, Scott got a call that he was going to be offered the position he had interviewed for in Texas.

The packing began!

My mom, bless her heart, spent everyday at my house for two weeks helping me pack. She also had a full schedule preparing for my brother’s out of state wedding, etc. But yet, she was still there helping me.

Our lease expired a few weeks before Scott’s position began in Texas. We sold some of the bulkier items on craigslist. Friends came and helped us move the rest of our things into storage. My mom took the kids to her house and put them to bed for me. And then she came back and helped my friends and me clean the house until midnight. We were so tired!

General Conference with kids

Twice a year our church holds General Conference where the prophet, apostles and other  leaders are able to address the members through out the world (and anyone else that wants to listen) in five two-hour session over two days. It wasn’t always one of my favorite things. When I was little, we would have to go to the church building to hear the broadcast. I remember going to the church with my parents. The church was so full that we always ended up in the overflow area. I would kneel on the hard wood floor and use my chair as a table, so that I could color in my coloring book while my parents listened. It was a long weekend for a little girl! But I noticed how important it was to my parents. When I was a teenager, we were able to hear conference at home over a broad band radio at home. I loved being able to work on quilts with my mom while we listened. (I always do better listening when I do something with my hands.) Now we can watch online, or on TV in the comforts of our own homes.  I love the scriptural insights, the feeling of peace, and hope that their messages give me. I also love that I can reread and relisten to the addresses. There are so many things I miss the first time around.

 

I wanted Lily and Zeke to start looking forward to conference the way I do. I also wanted them to start listening to all the session.

I looked up different activities for them to do: build a fort, coloring packets, magnet games, pipe cleaners with beads, candy, etc. I planned slight variations of things for them to do for each session. Some of the activities held their attention for quite awhile, others only for a few minutes. I wanted to have puff balls adhered to magnets that the kids could use to play with on cookie sheets. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find glue that worked well with the puff balls. So that was a bust. (I think I’ll try hot glue next time.)

 

Their favorites:

Building a fort with the kitchen table and blankets.

Candy dishes: five bowls filled with different candies. Each candy is assigned a different word. I chose: prophet, temple, missionary, scriptures, obey. Whenever they heard one of those words, they got the assigned candy. (In Zeke’s case, he helped himself to salt water taffy regardless of the word that was said.)

Pipe cleaner and beads: Lily loved playing with them, but just made bead sticks. Next time, I want to have pictures of shapes and other objects she can create to inspire her to do even more things with the pipe cleaners.

Play Dough: the kids love playing with play dough.

 

Last week, Lily asked me if Monday was going to be General Conference. She was so disappointed to find out it wouldn’t be until October. She was hoping to play some of the games again! (I so wanted to do a happy dance right then and there, but I tried to restrain my celebration.)

Happy 3rd Birthday Zeke!

It’s been months since I’ve blogged. I don’t even know if anyone bothers to see if I’ve posted anything anymore. April was the beginning of our lives turning upside down – in a good way. But it took awhile for things to calm down enough that I could take the time to blog again, and there are so many things that I had planned to blog about.

Our little man turned 3. To celebrate, we went out to dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe. We had never been before. Grandma Charlotte, Grandpa Michael, Shane (Scott’s brother), Maddy, Dacian, and Lavinia all joined us.  It was a lot of fun! The kids loved all the decorations, especially when the animals came to life and danced.

Zeke loved the volcano cake. Fire is a sure way to this little boy’s heart. (Try as hard as I might, I can’t find the pictures we took that night.)

A few days later, we celebrated Zeke’s birthday with my family. He loved all the gifts and extra attention. (Zeke wanted a light saber ice cream cake. I struggled to decorate that melty mess. At least it tasted good.)

Zeke is our independent, head strong child. He has no sense of mortality, loves adventure, and is obsessed with Star Wars. He can be so sweet at times, and then the next moment be trying my patience. I’ve learned so much about myself through parenting him. I’m so grateful to have him in our family.

Baby #3

Compared to others, I’ve been blessed with very easy pregnancies. I was queasy, but not really nauseous with Lily. With Zeke I was terribly nauseous for three weeks and then it was smooth sailing. I’ve always been grateful, and I’ve tried not to take it for granted.

Lily has wanted another sibling so badly. She’s been praying for another baby – specifically, she’s been praying for a sister. It was hard for me to tell her that I had miscarried in October. We hadn’t told her I was pregnant yet, so we waited until I had recovered to tell her about the miscarriage. She was so sad, and then it was as if a light switch went on inside her. She looked up at me and told me how she had been praying for a baby sister but she needs to pray for a healthy baby sister. I love her faith!

All through February, I was so grateful when I had morning sickness. Everyday I counted my blessings when I woke up queasy, because it meant things were going well with this pregnancy. Mornings that I felt fine, made me nervous. I wanted the assurance that this was a viable pregnancy.

We waited until I was 10 weeks along to tell the kids. We put together a Scavenger Hunt for them. At the end, they found custom shirts in the dryer. It took a few minutes for them to figure out what Zeke’s shirt meant, but Lily was so excited when she put it all together! We had the kids wear their shirts over to my parents’ house to announce the news to them. But Zeke tripped on the way into the house and ended up skinning his hands. While I tended to him in the kitchen, my sister got “the secret” out of Lily. So it didn’t go quite as we had planned, but everyone was still excited for us.

I took the kids to my doctor’s appointment. Normally the doctor isn’t able to hear the baby’s heart beat on my first appointment, but this time she did. Lily and Zeke were so excited to hear it! And I was so relieved to hear a healthy heart beat. (I had cried when I saw the ultrasound for my last pregnancy and realized instantly that there was no heart beat.) I had been praying that I could hear the baby’s heart beat.

When we went in to see the ultrasound technician, she was very nice and printed off a picture for both Lily and Zeke to have of the baby. They both held their pictures so tight. They were so proud of them!

There is a concern with the placenta’s placement. Right now, I’m not allowed to lift more than 15 lbs. (That means I can’t take out the garbage or lift either of my children. I don’t mind the garbage part, but it’s hard not to lift or carry the kids. Zeke is having an especially hard time with this restriction.) The doctor says the placenta corrects itself in most pregnancies by 20 weeks. However, if it doesn’t, we’ll be having further discussions about what that means for my pregnancy and delivery.

For now, I’m grateful that we’ll be welcoming another child into our home this October.

First Tooth

Lily has had a loose tooth for a few weeks, but she’s been terrified of us touching it. She would yell if we ever tried to wiggle it. (She has no pain tolerance – she gets that from me.) All we were allowed to do is touch it ever so gently.

Last Friday, her tooth was so wiggly! I knew it would fall out soon.

As we were waiting for the school bus, Lily and Zeke ran up a little hill to play (like they always do). Within a few seconds, Lily exclaimed, “My tooth came out!” Sure enough, it had. She was so excited! But she was bleeding and the bus was about to come. We quickly ran back to our house to grab some tissue for her, and made it just in time to snap a picture and board the school bus.

Naturally, all her Kindergarten friends were very excited for her. They crowded around her at school asking to see where the tooth fell out. Lily is so shy, the extra attention was more than she could bare. Luckily, the student teacher in her class saw Lily’s discomfort and shooed the kids back to their seats.

I normally have a roll of quarters on hand. I use them to pay Lily for setting the table for dinner and doing other chores around the house. But this happened to be the week I ran out of quarters, and Scott had taken the car to work. I couldn’t be lame and not give her money the first night she lost her first tooth. I texted Scott and told him I needed him to pick up a roll of quarters from the bank on his way home.

That night, Lily’s two best friends came for a sleep over. Eva also had a very loose tooth. When she saw that Lily lost her tooth, she wanted to loose her tooth the same day. Unlike Lily, Eva is fearless and isn’t bothered by pain. She wiggled her tooth, she had her mom wiggle her tooth, and even consented to have her mom pull her tooth out. The girls were so happy!

Scott’s family has a tradition that you put your tooth in a special glass of water on the dining room table at night. In the morning, the glass is filled with coins. (That’s a lot better tradition than trying to sneak into a kids room, not wake them, and slip money under their pillow.) We gave each girl a different glass, so we could tell them apart. We also set out empty glasses for Cora and Zeke, for being so supportive.(Cora and Zeke had chocolate in their glasses in the morning.)

There wasn’t a lot of sleep that went on that night. There was a lot of giggling and chatting.

A new Easter Tradition

This year, I stumbled across a new Easter tradition. I had never heard of Resurrection Eggs before. To be honest, the name is a little confusing. Basically, it’s like a Christmas Advent, but for Easter.

Now some people are crafty and patient, and can make their own Resurrection Eggs. I found a site that walks you through what to do. But I know myself. And I know that this would be added to my list of projects that I begin, but don’t complete in a timely manner. (I have a laundry basket full of those projects.) I really wanted to give this a try this year, so I went to a local Christian Bookstore and bought a box of Resurrection Eggs. (If you plan ahead, you can order the online and save money, but I was too late in the season for that.)

I had dreams of the kids peacefully gathering around with silent awe as we opened an egg each night and then read the scripture that went along with it. Ha! That’s not really how it happens. It’s more like controlled chaos. They are so excited to see the token inside the egg and chatter as I read the scripture. On day 4 I was wondering if this was really accomplishing anything.

We had some friends come spend the night. So I had Lily and Zeke open the eggs we had already talked about together and had them explain to their friends what the tokens meant. I was surprised at how much of the story Lily had retained. Even amongst the chaos, she had heard the messages.

Hopefully, each year that we do this, they will learn a little more.

Remembering My Grandma

February was a hard month for us. Although we rejoiced that both of our grandmothers could pass away so peacefully, it was still sad to say good-bye.

My grandma was spunky, boisterous and full of life. She loved people. She had a deep and abiding love of the gospel and felt like everyone would naturally want to know about it. She also had no fear. When we toured Europe together, she approached everyone she could. She would strike up a conversation regardless of what language they spoke. I would run after her trying to translate her comments as quick as I could. She just wanted to talk and get answers to her questions!

 

The last two years were hard on Grandma. My feisty grandma wasn’t used to being bed ridden. But she didn’t complain. She would always tell us, when we pressed her, that no one liked a complainer. She was just grateful for what she had, especially for her family.

Four sons and daughter-in-laws, twenty eight of the twenty nine grandchildren, many of her ninety-nine great-grandchildren, and some of her great-great grandchildren converged in Othello to pay their respects, to laugh and to remember a remarkable lady.

There are some great stories about my grandma. Stories that people would swear are tall tales, except we have so many witnesses that have cohobated the stories. Those stories just had to be told one last time, which meant there was a lot of laughing, and tears from laughing, at the funeral.

Probably, the best part of the funeral was at the cemetery. I noticed that there was something odd about my grandma’s name on the casket cover. When I got closer to examine it, I realized it wasn’t shadows playing tricks on me, they had transposed my grandma’s middle and last initials. I was worried how people would take the news, I didn’t want to upset my dad and uncles. After all, the casket covered would be buried and no one would see it then. I mumbled my discovery to Scott. My sister heard us whispering about something and insisted on knowing what it was. Well, word went down the family line. Soon my uncle, the oldest brother, was called over to see it. I held my breath. My dad and uncles aren’t ones to get irate, but they were burying their mom, which brings up a lot of emotions. To my surprise and relief, he gave a great farmer chuckle and called his brothers over to see. There was nothing that could be done to fix it. All that was left to do was laugh, and joke about what an unusual last name that would be, and joke that we like to “bury our mistakes.”  (And of course, we took pictures.)

I’m so glad my grandma taught us all how to laugh at the turns life gives us!

Before we left, we swung on the swing one last time. This is the swing set my grandpa made for her grandkids to play on. I swing on it every time I come to visit. I have so many happy memories of it. You can swing so high and it will never tip!

My dad even came outside and swung on the swing set with Lily! (None of us ever remember dad swinging on the swing set. He was always pushing us or doing “under dog” for us, but this time he decided to swing.)

Diaper Free

Zeke has had on and off again interest in being potty trained. Unfortunately, those times never coincided with a time that was convenient for me. I was working full-time. Lily was starting school. The list goes on and on.

Scott kept teasing me, because I would say “On Monday, I’ll start potty training Zeke.” Mondays would come and go. I would always have something come up as a reason why it couldn’t be “that Monday.” But I decided when we came back from Phoenix, it would be that Monday.

I was prepared!

I have learned that my kids respond well to full out bribery. That is how we potty trained Lily. The trick was to zone in on what that particular child desperately wanted.

Zeke was bribed with Star Wars. We aren’t talking a little Star Wars. We’re talking about EVERYTHING Star Wars!

He thought he was in heaven. I gave him new Star Wars underwear. He could watch Star Wars all day, as long as he peed in the potty every time the timer went off. We started with the timer set for 20 minute intervals, and went from there. Every time he went potty, he got a candy and the show was turned back on.

That night, it was obvious Zeke needed to poop in the potty, but he was scared. I tried everything I could think of to encourage him. Scott walked in the bathroom, bribed Zeke with a Blue Light Saber (he already had a red one and really wanted a blue one). That’s all it took!

I still had him wear diapers whenever we drove somewhere, or whenever he slept. But on the second night, Zeke informed me he was a big boy and insisted on wearing underwear. I relented and prayed that he would wake up dry. (I really had no desire to change a bed in the middle of the night.)

After four days, Zeke was telling me when he needed to go potty.

We still have occasional accidents. But we’re diaper free!

Honoring Grandma

Scott’s uncle described it best. When we got the news that Scott’s grandma had passed away a few weeks ago, it was a sad “Hallelujah.” Grandma is such a sweet and loving woman. She dedicated her life to serving others. She was always cooking, sewing, painting, etc. When we visited her this past summer, she told me how sad she was that she wasn’t able to make anything with her hands anymore. She has been trapped in an ailing body for years. In most recent years, she’s been bed ridden. She was mentally ready to part this world and be reunited with her parents, siblings, husband, and three sons.

So while we were sad for ourselves, we rejoiced for Grandma.

**** Warning: This is a long post with few pictures, but a lot of entertaining stories. ***

Our journey to and from Phoenix was an adventure. Scott and the kids had such a misadventure last time driving down, that we decided we would fly. (Plus we didn’t want Scott to miss so much time from work and Lily so much time from school.) It would be Lily and Zeke’s first time on an airplane. I was so nervous about how they would handle it. I had concerns about going through security. What could we take through there? I also worried about how they would handle the flight. (Nothing like being trapped in a confined space with no chance of escape if my children have a melt down to raise my stress level.) I did my research, I made a plan, and I said a few prayers.

We got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight. Zeke did not like going through security. He has a little play phone (my really old phone) that he loves to tuck in his little pocket. Unfortunately, he needed to put that on the conveyer belt. He melted at that point. I tried getting his jacket off, and his screams increased. The TSA agent was really nice. He helped us get Zeke through security as quickly and painlessly as possible. When we got to our gate, we found out our first flight was cancelled. Scott’s mom and Michael were already at the gate. The agent was trying to get them on an earlier flight with connections to Phoenix. She was able to get them on the flight. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get Scott, the kids and I seated by each other, and the man at the gate flat out refused to let us board the plan and ask people to switch seats with us (because that would make the plane late). Our bags made it on that flight, but we didn’t. At this point, I’m banking on our trip being a disaster. I decide to take the kids over to some seats to play while Scott worked with the agent. She was able to get us on a direct flight with a different airline seven hours later.

Luckily, SeaTac is a great airport to entertain our kids in. Not only is there a shuttle that we took rides on, but there’s also a great play area for kids 7 and under. The kids played there for hours, while we waited. They even made a friend and played Hide and Seek with him. Funny story, I warned this boy that Zeke isn’t very good at Hide and Seek. He decided to play anyway. He closes his eyes and starts counting. Lily runs off to hide. Zeke stands two feet behind this boy and waits. When the boy is done counting, he opens his eyes, turns around and see Zeke standing there smiling. All the parents and Zeke burst out laughing! The boy was a really good sport about it and was patient as he coached Zeke how to play the game.

They weren’t able to seat Scott near the kids and I. So Lily and Zeke sat with me in the very last row of the plane. I got us and all our things situated. Zeke hates wearing a seat belt. Airplanes are no exception to that sentiment. The stewardess came by and pretended to be really tough and scary to convince him to wear his seat belt. That stewardess was so nice and helpful. An hour and a half into the flight the kids have both been quiet and well behaved. I’m so impressed with them. Then, Lily turns to me and says, “I’m going to throw up.” I hadn’t made a mental note of wear the air sick bag is kept or what it looks like. (I’ve never had to use it.) I hand her the only thing I have, a cup and pray it’s big enough. She fills it completely and then stops. I breath a sigh of relief as I press the button to call the stewardess. I explain what happened. Before she can come back with a bag, Lily throws up again, this time on the floor in front of Zeke. I then get a bag for Lily in time for her to throw up a third time in it. Lily was such a little trooper. She didn’t cry or make a scene. She would just calmly tell me what she needed. The sweet stewardess got Lily gingerale, pretzels and potato chips to help calm her stomach. Everyone around me was great about it. They knew it was the kids’ first flight. They complimented me on how well the kids’ behaved and how Lily handled the situation. When we landed, Scott came back to our row and asked, “So how did it go?” I just laughed and told him what happened. He was so surprised!

We finally made it to Phoenix. We then had to track down our bags, which included our car seats, and then take a bus over to the car rental center. I was so relieved to finally get to our hotel. What a relief to be there, to unpack our bags and tuck the kids into bed.

The funeral was the next day. The service was beautiful. Grandma had made special requests for her funeral, and all of those requests were honored. She requested that all the young great-grandkids sing “I am a Child of God.” Zeke did a great job sitting quietly and playing with the toys I had brought for him for an hour and forty minutes. By that point, all the toys were boring for him. He stumbled upon my tablet and insisted on playing a game on it with the sound on. I couldn’t let him have the sound on, so he had a melt down. I had to take him out of the church.

At the luncheon, there was a sweet, old lady who came around and served each of us cake. Her willingness to serve us touched me so much.

That night, everyone went swimming at the pool. Well . . . we weren’t able to find our swimsuits when we were packing, so Lily and Zeke went swimming in some of their clothes. Scott’s cousin and brother-in-law were great about monitoring the kids in the pool. Chris even took Zeke around the pool three times. He was Zeke’s hero!

 

Saturday, we had professional family pictures taken at the Mesa Temple, followed by a family reunion at the neighboring park. (The above pictures were pictures we snapped ourselves. We’re still waiting for copies of the professional pictures.) It was fun to hang out with aunts, uncles, and cousins in a more casual setting.

That night, we went to a reception hall for a nice dinner, and a video tribute to Grandma. We also received a very touching gift. Grandma wrote a letter to be given to us at her funeral. In that letter she expressed her love and admiration for her family. It was so touching to read her words.

Sunday was another day of traveling adventures. When we went to check in with United, we were informed that although we were flying “United” our flight was actually with “US Airways.” That required us to get on a bus with all our bags, carseats, and two kids in tow and go to a different terminal. We were then greeted with an incredibly long line. We finally made it to check in, and the computer couldn’t find our reservations. So we were sent to the special needs line where an agent worked with us for 30 minutes to get us on a different flight three hours later. I am so grateful for her. She was great!

Zeke still didn’t like going through security, but at least he didn’t cry or throw a tantrum this time.

Luckily, our flights went without further adventure. I ordered ginger ale for her on each flight (despite her best efforts to request orange juice). I was so relieved to come home. Our time in Phoenix was wonderful. I’m so glad we were able to go and celebrate the life of such a wonderful woman.

Thanksgiving – Christmas – New Years’ Eve

Okay, I know I’m really behind in blogging. We had computer issues which made it where I didn’t have access to pictures for awhile, and now I can’t find all my pictures.

I’ll try to keep this post to the highlights.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve were a balancing act between our families this year. We tried our best to make cameo appearances at the most important times for each family. Hopefully, we did it well and everyone felt loved.

(I took so many pictures of us decorating the tree and close ups of the new decorations, but I can’t find them! This is the only one I could find. I can’t even find the 100+ pictures we took of the kids opening their gifts.)

I tried to make this Christmas season more Christ centered. Each night we lit candles, sang carols, and read a scripture passage about Christ. I loved it! It helped me look forward to Christmas, for the right reasons. It worked really well up until I got sick the week before Christmas. Then everything came to a screeching halt as I dealt with the worst cold I’ve ever had. I was bed ridden for three days battling a fever, cough, and running nose. By the time I recovered, I had practically forgotten Christmas was around the corner. Next year, I want to do the advent again, but I’ll add a prayer for better health.

We went up to Canada for Christmas this year. We haven’t been up there for Christmas for five years. They had so much snow to play in! Scott, his mom, Lily, Scott’s brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew had a lot of fun building forts and snow creatures. Zeke is my temperature sensitive child that wanted nothing to do with anything cold. He refused to let me bundle him up so he could go outside and play. Instead, he just wanted to be inside and watch everyone. Lily and Zeke got my nasty cold and were miserable the whole time we were up there. They tried to be good sports about things, but they just wanted to sleep. We weren’t able to visit as many relatives because of it. We tried to make the best of it.

For New Years’ Eve, we went over to my parents’ house. My sister and niece planned a masquerade party for the kids. It was “Alice in Wonderland” Theme. The kids loved the decorations!

At 9:00 we watched the ball fall in NYC. Then we went outside with the neighbors to use sparklers. Some of the neighbors lit lanterns and sent them off into the night sky. The kids loved that!

We then headed over to Scott’s brother’s house. We played games and hung out until midnight. Then they broke out the confetti poppers. The kids loved it! They were so excited to make a mess INSIDE!

Honoring Grandpa

A month ago, we had the privilege of attending a Native American Pow Wow that honored Scott’s late maternal grandfather. It was very touching to have the family gather and remember him. Scott’s mom, grandmother, aunts, and cousin spoke of Grandpa and his service in the US Army. They shared stories of his service and the medals he received.

 

And then they raised Grandpa’s flag. It was very touching to see the flag fly again. But what touched my heart the most was when I looked down at Zeke and saw that he was raising his little hand in a salute to the flag. (We tried to get a picture of it.)

After they raised the flag, they “danced” to the song Soldier Boy. They invited Uncle Hank (Grandpa’s brother) to join in the dance. In all honesty, the dancing looked more like a slow moving Congo line. But Uncle Hank was adorable. He really tried to match everyone else’s steps. Every time he came around to us, he would wink. (Old men are so adorable!) I thought we had got a picture of Uncle Hank, but it looks like he eluded the camera.

 

Uncle Hank leant me a book his sister had compiled about his family. I have loved reading over the histories, and looking at the pictures of his parents and siblings. It’s the best gift he could have ever given me. But I promise to return it as soon as I have copied and scanned everything.

One thing I’ve learned about Native Americans is that they take their time. They never stick to a rigid schedule. They go with the flow. Dancing can go late into the night, and they don’t seem to worry at all. My little Youk Youps (Lily) loved dancing around the gym floor with her grandma and cousins. I had trouble getting a decent picture of her, but she had so much fun!

Happy Halloween!

There was a little debate in our house (led by Lily) about what Zeke should wear for Halloween. I really wanted Zeke to wear the chicken costume Lily wore three years ago. Lily really wanted him to wear his Darth Vader costume. My argument was that Zeke is Darth Vader every day. (Seriously, he is always putting on the Darth Vader mask my sister gave him for his birthday. He loves it.)  Lily pushed the topic so much that she convinced Zeke to start arguing the point, too. (Since when do two year olds know they have a choice in their Halloween costumes?)

 

After tough negotiations, we reached an agreement. Zeke would be a chicken at the church trunk or treat activity, and Lily’s school parade. In exchange, Zeke could be Darth Vader Halloween night.

 

This is them dressed up for trunk or treating (chicken and black cat):

 

Doesn’t Zeke make a cute chicken? And Lily is always adorable no matter what clothes I put her in.

 

Lily had a lot of fun at her class party. Zeke and I were able to come join in the parade. I wish I had got a picture of the principal, he was dressed as a banana. I did get a picture of Lily’s teacher. Mr. Erickson was dressed up as a panda. (Zeke was a little scared of Mr. Erickson.) Zeke was overheating in his chicken costume, so he quickly stripped it off when we got back to Lily’s classroom. There was a moment of jealousy when Zeke realized Lily had something to color and he didn’t. But Lily is always so good at sharing, that she quickly offered to let Zeke color one of the pictures in her Halloween packet.

 

 

That night, we went trick or treating. Scott was the fun parent that dressed up. I was the lame parent that didn’t (hence why I’m not in the picture below):

 

 

We went trick or treating at my parents’ house. My sister was having a party with some of her friends. They all had fun seeing the kids. We decided to trick or treat in their neighborhood (they had a lot more houses handing out candy than in our neighborhood). Everyone knew what Lily’s costume was. A few people struggled with Zeke’s costume (one man cracked me up, he obviously had never seen Star Wars and just said “oh, Scary monster”). Scott was called Gandalf, Merlin, Father Time, and Obi Wan.

 

The kids came home with quite a bit of candy. We only had three kids come to our door, so we also have a lot of candy left over that I had bought to hand out. (I’m sure the kids are going to be pinging off the walls with sugar highs. I will definitely need to demonstrate more self control on my part if I don’t want to gain 10 pounds in the next few months, too.)