Impromptu Reunion: Family Pictures

The stereotype insists that family pictures are a painful event.  I've always rolled my eyes a bit at that idea, and thought, "it's really not that big of a deal." I suppose it was time to be humbled.

Getting forty people to do anything together is a challenge.  Getting forty people to all look reasonably decent and looking in one direction with a smile on their faces at the same moment is near impossible. When more than half of those people are young children, well, I'm sure you can imagine!

 

We started with the big group of cousins, hoping that they'd all be compliant and happy early in the process. It was a sound idea, and initially looked like it might work.

It's not a quick or easy process to coordinate!

By the time we got everyone semi-organized, some of the little ones (coughNelliecough) decided they did not care to cooperate.

It quickly became comically painful enough that I caught a few moments of the circus on video.

We decided to give the kids a break while taking some adult/sibling pictures. 

Aubree was happy to help by holding Cohen.

Originally, we'd plan to get pictures of cousin groups at the end of the session.  By the time we finished with the other pictures however, everyone was DONE! Most of us were ready to call it good and scrap the cousin shots, but Colleen and Katie insisted.  I knew I'd eventually be grateful for their insistence, but in the moment, I was ready to flee. Seeing the pictures now, I can say a sincere "Thank you for forcing us!"

All of my siblings with children have had girls as their oldest child.

Bryce, Killian, and Kylee are all 9 (or nearly 9).

Thane has the biggest cousin group, with Tyson, Anna, and Elizabeth. All of them are 7 (or nearly 7).

Graham, Alexander, and Chase will ALL turn 5 in September.

Aubree doesn't have a cousin group, so she asked to be included with the babies.

Nellie should also be in that picture, but she preferred to run away.

The photographer also got a few great shots of Mom and Steve.

When the shoot was finally over, everyone was more than ready for the bribed promised ice cream.  Ian and Chelsea picked up a few requested flavors from the BYU Creamery and we all went back to Kira's to celebrate surviving.

Impromptu Reunion Pt. 1

We did not plan on making another trip to Utah just four months after our last venture, but when my brother Sean, who lives in Illinois, said he was heading there to visit, we couldn't miss the opportunity.  Plus, it was the perfect excuse to gather all the siblings to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.

Mark and the kids picked me up immediately after my race and we began the first leg of our trip.  Traveling with kids (well, at least our kids) means lots of rest stops.  Our first pit stop was in Yakima, Washington.  If you look carefully at either edge of the picture below, you can see both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams.

I didn't have much hope of Nellie sleeping well in the car, but she did manage to take a short nap.  The only downside was that the only way she consented to nod off was if she was holding onto Mark's arm, which was not exactly the most comfortable position for him.

 

We had a deadline for reaching Utah on Sunday, but didn't feel up to making the entire drive in one shot, so we planned to stop for the night at a hotel in Jerome, Idaho.  We knew we'd get there pretty late, but I didn't realize just how cranky we would all be by that point. We were grumpy x7! I was at the dangerous point where I knew I was ornery, but didn't even care to reign it in. 

It didn't help that once we got to our room, I realized it only had two double beds (instead of the queen beds I expected) and no pull-out bed or sofas.  We had to get creative with sleeping arrangements.  Nellie, who had passed the ridiculously-tired phase and moved on to the too-keyed-up-to-sleep phase, had zero interest in the pack and play. Easy-going Graham was happy to have his own space.

Thane flipped out at the idea of sleeping on the floor, but Bryce insisted he wanted to sleep there. I'm still not sure if he actually wanted to sleep on the floor, or if he was just being kind, but regardless, he was a life saver.

Nellie made it clear she was Queen of the Bed.

Sunday morning we were up and out of the hotel early to make sure we reached Colleen's home in time for church and Cohen's baby blessing.  We made good time, and arrived at Colleen's early enough to have lunch with her before the rest of the extended family arrived and we walked across the street to church (hello, Utah!).

With all of our family, we took up three full pews! It was glorious to all be together.  I hoped I might be able to sneak off to a quiet Mother's room and let Nell get a little nap, but no luck there.  Instead, Nellie decided her cousin Margo was her own personal pet; she kept petting Margo's head saying, "soft, soft!"

 

After Cohen's blessing and Sacrament Meeting, we took brief family pictures, then walked down the street to another church building where Colleen and Andrew hosted a fabulous picnic lunch.

This was the first time the cousins had a chance to play together, and they wasted no time at all in renewing their cousin-friend bonds.  Aubree immediately sought out Cohen and was thrilled to have baby time.

 Poor Killian was welcomed to Utah with a major case of allergies. 

That evening, we headed down to the Pope Hotel. Well, at least it sure felt like the Pope Hotel! At the peak, Kira and Stew had 28 people staying at their home (that's in addition to the 6 who actually live there)! We were all exhausted, and I think we managed to get the four younger kids to bed at a relatively decent hour.  Aubree and the girl cousins begged for a sleepover downstairs.  By 10:30pm when none of them were even remotely heading towards dreamland, they were all sent back to sleep with their families. I had good intentions of likewise making an early entrance to dreamland, but I cannot resist the siren call of talking with family. Yawn.

On Monday, our little family diverged from the bigger group to visit briefly with our good friends the Jensens, who recently moved from Washington.  Though our time was short, by the end, Aubree and Bryce had pretty much invited themselves to move in! I think I'm going to institute a new rule: Good friends are only allowed to move closer, not further away.

Monday afternoon, the kids explored Popeland.  Kira's park-like backyard, never-ending supply of toys, adventure toys, and garage climbing wall (complete with harnesses) mean that we don't really need to plan outside activities when we visit. 

 

When they ran out of energy, they collapsed in front of the big screen to watch Moana.

When we all get together, we take turns being in charge of meals.  Monday night, Katie and Seth were in charge and they made hot dogs and sausages.  Sean helped out in the kitchen, but every time he and Katie got near each other, they reverted to their childhood selves. Pretty funny to watch!

 

Nellie was happy to share her ketchup with Jordyn.

Feeding a small army is quite a feat!

Monday evening we gathered at a park in Provo for family pictures, but that is a topic for another post!

Tuesday was both Elizabeth's and Margo's birthday. Margo turned one and Elizabeth turned seven.  Katie and Colleen planned a massive cousin animal/water themed party for them.  First, Colleen organized the cousins into two teams. Then, the teams competed in water relay events and rotated through other fun water activities, like knocking down a cup pyramid with their water squirters.

When the official games were finished, the kids were free to play in the pool and shoot water at each other and any passing adult.

Having all the cousins together made my heart simultaneously joyful and sad.  I love seeing them interact and develop relationships, but I hate that they're all together so rarely. Note - Nellie's not in any of the pictures because she was taking a very long and MUCH needed nap.

Katie was in charge of the food, and she went wild. The lion pizzas were devoured immediately, but not without due admiration.

The whole set-up was so fun! Cousin parties are the best parties.

Elizabeth kept saying, "this is the best day ever!"

Mark and I were in charge of Tuesday's dinner and were tasked with making Navajo Tacos.  I hadn't made fry bread since college, but Kira walked me through it and they turned out super tasty. With the leftover bread, we made scones the next morning.  Talk about a win-win!

To be continued...

School's Out For Summer

Before I get too far into recording our summer activities, I should probably take a moment to reflect back on our school year! 

Overall, this was one of my favorite academic years.  The success of Aubree's co-op contributed largely to that assessment, but it wasn't the only factor.

Graham had such a fun year, with activities with his friends scheduled almost every single day.  He's possibly our most social kid, so time spent with friends kept him in joyous spirits.
While I don't place a heavy emphasis on academics with preschoolers, Graham is eager to learn and participate in "school" like his siblings.  He is halfway through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book, and is turning into a good little reader.

Bryce finished up 3rd grade, and though the first semester of the year was rough behaviorally, he really pulled it together the second half of the year. In fact, in the last couple of months, Bryce and Thane figured out that if they focus, they can get their work done really quickly.  Often times, they would get up, get right to work, and finish all their independent work before we even had breakfast! Then they had tons of free time in the afternoons. 

Thane finished 1st grade and is a strong all-around scholar.  He is very confident in his academic ability, and especially loves math which he claims is "so easy!" He loves to do everything fast, fast, fast. Sometimes that's fine. Sometimes it's a problem.

Thane and Bryce had a weekly art class taught by our ultra-talented neighbor, Kelly.  

 

They loved it and learned so much. At the end of the year, Kelly hosted an informal art show where the kids all had a chance to showcase their work from the entire year.

In addition to weekly art classes, we continued our weekly mini-co-op history and science classes.  The boys learned chemistry this school year, which ended up being equally enlightening for us as parents.

Aubree's Homes United co-op was everything I dreamed it might be for her and her friends.  It wasn't perfect, and we sure learned a lot after one year, but it met and exceeded my primary goals.

If you ask Aubree what her favorite co-op classes were, she will not be able to give you an answer, and will finally throw up her hands and say, "All of them!" 

Her cooking class was definitely a highlight. They all learned to be such capable cooks. At the end of the year, they had a cooking "competition" where each student chose a dish to make. They had 40 minutes to make their dish, then they presented it to a panel of outside judges for review.  So fun!

Getting their homemade lunches assessed

When Aubree was in the Discovery program, she loved her Night of the Notables presentations.  As part of a joint science/writing activity, she and her classmates had a chance to complete a Night of the Notables style presentation.  Aubree researched and presented as the scientist Maria Merian.

All the co-op kids adopted my other kids as their de facto younger siblings.  

Nellie was not easy to win over, but by the end of the school year, they were successful!

I expected that Aubree would love co-op, but I was surprised with how much joy and fulfillment I got from teaching my literature class.

I loved seeing each student learn and grow.  We had so many dynamic, meaningful discussions over the course of the year.  We also had a lot of hilarious discussions, such as the time Brody explained what constitutes a "kissing book."

At the end of the co-op year, the students each received a yearbook with pictures highlighting all the wonderful activities in which they'd participated.  It's a precious keepsake.

I'm thrilled that Aubree has the opportunity to continue with her co-op next year, and it honestly baffles me that we don't have a waiting list a mile long of kids and parents begging to join!

On the last day of school, we went to Habit Burger to celebrate the successful completion of the year and the official start of SUMMER!