Fun Friends

You know what's really nice?  When two of your kids have best friends in the same family, and you happen to get along with the mom of those kids extremely well.  Win all around.

When I was going through pictures I realized we did a lot of fun things with these friends at the end of last year.  In early December, we invited their family over to make our traditional salt dough nativity.  

Yes friends, that's eight kids all trying to make something semi-resembling the nativity scene.  I was impressed with how seriously all the kids took the task.

Bryce and Charlotte

As is tradition, our youngest, Graham, got to make baby Jesus (but someone else also wanted to make a baby Jesus, so Graham's version was later swapped out).

All in all, I'd say they did a pretty good job.

Normally, these friends (who also homeschool) come over once a week during the school day and we do science and history together.  This is sad for Aubree, who's always at school and therefore misses the chance to see their two littlest girls (ages 3 and 10 months).  When they came over on a day Aubree had break, everyone was thrilled.  

Sometimes Thane and Collin are very silly...

Our November preschool field trip took us to the Tacoma Children's museum.  Our friends joined us on our adventure, and had a great time... especially Graham and Clara.

Thane's favorite activity was the wind tunnels where kids can put in scarves and little balls that go flying everywhere. 

Another day, we braved downtown Seattle for a visit to the Seattle Aquarium.  

Despite all these get togethers, the kids still begged for more time with their friends.  In fact, one December night when I went to put in the next day's advent activity, I found that Bryce had his own ideas of what would make an excellent choice...

Aubree Turns 9

Lookie what I found in my drafts folder!  Oops. (When I put it like that, it sounds like this is a fluke draft that somehow got overlooked.  The truth is that I have about 12 posts in various states of "draft" mode... many are from way before I got pregnant, which takes away my #1 excuse.)

Anyway... many, many months ago, Aubree had her ninth birthday.  I don't remember too much about the actual day (which is obviously why it's better to write immediately), but I do recall that she chose to go out to eat at Old Country Buffet (for the rolls and the Icees).  

Mark made her the now-traditional yearly CD mix, which was a huge hit.  

At age 9, Aubree is a very busy girl.  She's still playing violin, does Activity Days at church, has weekly Destination Imagination meetings, participates in the honor choir at school, and is currently playing basketball (at the requirement of her mother).  All of that means that we don't see her as often as we'd like, but she loves being busy and being involved in all things social.  

Speaking of social, Aubree loves going to school.  Her favorite part (by far) is recess, when she gets to play with her friends (check out her blog for more details of these great friends...it's private, so send me an email if you need an invite).  These girls still spend the majority of their time in elaborate imaginative games.  Aubree tries to explain some of the details of their make-believe worlds to me, but I have a difficult time keeping track of the complexities.

Aubree still adores babies, and even though Graham is no longer a baby, they are still great buddies. It's fun to hear him yell, "Au-BREE, Au-BREE, Au-BREE!" whenever she gets home from school. 

 

And no shocker here... Aubree still reads like a maniac.  She's trying to win a contest at school to see who reads the most pages over the course of the year.  As a third grader last year, she placed in the top four.  This year she's determined to win the top prize - a new bike.  She's read well over 53,000 pages since June.

Aubree is a joy, and we are so glad she's in our family.  She sets a great example for her three younger brothers (and her two parents).  As you might guess, she's really hoping the new baby is a sister. :)

Rubber Band Theory

When we were younger, my siblings and I liked to tease our mom when she forgot things. We came up with our "rubber-band theory," and it has been a long-standing joke.  Here's the simple premise:

A woman's mind is like a rubber band.  When she's pregnant, the rubber band stretches out, making it more difficult to remember things.  After the first kid is born, there's still a lot of elasticity, and the rubber band snaps right back to close to it's original shape and capacity.

 After the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth child, though...

Mom pregnant with #7

 Not so much elasticity left.

Oh yes, we thought we were so clever and funny.  "Haha," we'd taunt, "rubber-band theory strikes again, Mom!" 

 Turns out, the joke's on me.  

Yes, my previous pregnancies left me feeling occasionally absent-minded and forgetful, but this time? This time I am capital B, Brain Dead!

Me pregnant with #1

 I've always been able to trust my brain and memory.  If I say I'll do something, I'll do it.  If I have an appointment, I'll remember it.  Not. Any. More.

In the last few months, I've forgotten birthday parties, choir practices, play rehearsals, meals I promised to bring, doctor appointments, church meetings... pretty much anything outside of my regular routine.  And friends, those are just the events I've forgotten.  If I tried to list all the commitments, intentions, promises, plans, and information I've spaced, we'd be here all day!

It's really shaken my world.  It's gotten to the point where I have to set an alert on my phone for every single thing I want to remember. 

At this point I'm just hoping that my brain will come back when the baby is born, because if this is my new normal ... I'm in big trouble!

Rubber band theory indeed!

One More Excuse...

Graham's getting a big promotion sometime around August 3rd.  I'm not sure he'll like the idea of no longer being "baby."

Just Playing Around

The same week Gigi was in town, Aubree participated in a Missoula Children's Theater production of "The Little Mermaid."  The Missoula folks swing into town, come to the school, and put the play together, start to finish, in one week.  We knew that it would mean Aubree staying after school, but I thought she'd be done by 6 or 6:30 every night.  Nope.  

Aubree and two of her best friends were cast as "Sea Scouts" (forget anything you think you might know about "The Little Mermaid," this performance is completely different), which meant they had larger parts and had to stay will 8pm every night.  Yikes.

As I expected, Aubree loved every second of it.  They performed for their school on Friday morning, and for their families on Saturday morning.  Gigi and Katie's family got to be here for the big production.  It was definitely an elementary school performance, but it was a lot of fun to watch Aubree up on stage.  

Afterwards I asked her if she'd want to do it again next year.  Here's how the conversation followed:

A: "Yes, if my friends all do it too!"

Me: "So, what you really liked is spending lots of extra time with your friends?"

A: "Yep."

Me: "So, if we had just planned after school play dates every day till 8pm this week you'd have been just as happy?"

A: "YES!"

Go figure.

*******

The week after Aubree's play, Bryce's musical theater class had their end-of-semester performance of Sleeping Beauty.  This was no where near as elaborate a production as last year's Peter Pan play, but Bryce had a bigger part in this play - he was the Prince!  

 And his best friend, Charlotte, just happened to be the Princess.  They were great together!  Bryce also said he really enjoyed performing, but he was quite upset afterwards.  Why?  Apparently he wanted more lines. Funny kids.

Excuses

Yes, I realize it's been a whole month since I've written anything.  I sat down to write a blog a few different times over the last couple of days, but the little devil on my shoulder whispered, "It's almost February.  You might as well wait, and then you'll be officially lame."

Like most little devils, this one doesn't make any sense, but I listened anyway.

I do have a number of excuses, some are good, most catapult me to that super lame status.  For example, I had two big deadlines at the end of January.  One, I was asked to speak at a Beehive Conference ("Beehives" are what we call the 12-13 year old girls in our church), and two, I agreed to write the Special Education section of our Charter School application.  Both responsibilities weighed heavily on me, and I responded in a very mature, conscientious manner ... I did nothing and avoided the computer all together.   

Years of successful procrastination did pay off in these instances, as I was able to get both assignments done, but not without losing a month in the process.

On a much better note, January brought a fabulous excuse for neglecting my blog; my sister Katie's husband, Seth, accepted a job in Bellevue and their family moved up here mid-January.  While they were looking for a home to rent, we had the privilege of having them stay here with us. Crazy times (seven kids, six of whom are six and under), but SO MUCH FUN.  

As an added bonus, my mom (Gigi) drove up with them, so she got to spend a few days with us as well.  Since Katie and Seth are temporarily a one-car family, and I don't have room in my van for all of Katie's kids + my kids + Gigi, we were pretty much house-bound.  The kids didn't seem to mind at all.  They were happy to have built-in, constant playmates.  

 Gigi pulled out Aubree's new sewing machine and helped her make a new American Girl dress.  The pattern turned out to be significantly beyond Aubree's very limited skills, so Gigi ended up doing most of the work.  

Gigi also brought a belated Christmas.  Presents in January?  Always a treat.

Aubree does not have a black eye, just a bad makeup job from a play she was in that morning.

Thane, in typical fashion, latched himself to Uncle Seth.  A few days into their stay, Thane asked with a big sigh,  "Why does Uncle Seth have to go to work in a far away country?"  Then he declared, "My uncle is a mechanic and he's going to teach me, so when I grow up I can be a mechanic too!"

It was hilarious to see the kids interact.  Graham and Piper were especially great together.  They make a perfect team; Piper loves an audience, and Graham is always a willing participant just happy to have someone his size with whom to play.  

So cute!

Aubree was gone at school and busy with after school commitments (more on that later) most of the time Katie was here.  Bryce relished the role as biggest kid and was forever devising new games and scenarios.  The kitchen stools we got a few months ago were put to heavy use.  

All aboard the Choo-Choo train!

A semi-calm moment while our Bishop came over to home teach us (I don't think he realized quite what he was getting himself into when he made the appointment!).  

When Mark carpooled to work, we had the seat capacity to get out of the house.  And our destination of choice?  Costco.  We brought along our neighbor friend, which meant we had seven kids ages six and younger.  For some reason I thought it would be fun to grab lunch while we were there.  Haha!  Sometimes I wonder if my brain works.  

 Being house-bound in January might usually make me stir-crazy, but the weather was unbelievably wonderful.  In fact, I think Katie must have brought the sun and warm temperatures up with her from Southern California.  The big kids spent hours outside hunting for bugs.  The found spiders, and centipedes, and gnats, and flies.  

Hey, whatever kept them occupied!

On a particularly nice, warm day, I think Piper had just the right idea.

 All too soon, Katie and Seth found a home to rent closer to Seth's work in Bellevue.  I watched their kids for a day while they unpacked and started moving in.  By the afternoon, when the kids decided to play in the car seats we'd pulled out of the car to make room for boxes, I was tempted to buckle them all in!

 We are beyond excited to have their family here in Washington with us.  Now we just need to make sure they come to LOVE it here, so they can help us recruit the rest of the family.  Who's next?

Advent Activities

Every day in December I plan an advent activity.  Some are bigger affairs, some are movies or crafts, but the kids always look forward to opening the box and finding out the special activity of the day. Though, to be honest, most days the kids would run downstairs to look and then yell, "Mom!  You forgot to put in today's activity again!" Oops.

Here are some highlights:

**Going to the annual Celebrate the Nativities event hosted by our Stake.  Bryce and Thane were both fascinated by the gingerbread house nativity.

Aubree liked a fancy, glass nativity.  

My favorite this year was a stained glass nativity.

The kids are really getting the hang of this dressing up thing...

The cookie room is always a favorite place.

**In lieu of a violin recital this year, Aubree and another student performed Christmas music at a local Old Folk's home.  

**Gingerbread playdough - always a hit.

This year Thane was eager to try to duplicate the santa sleigh and reindeer that Bryce made last year.

**Ward Tacky Christmas Breakfast: ugly sweaters & Christmas pajamas.

The kids had their one and only chance to visit with the Jolly Fat Man.  None of them particularly cared.

**Decorating sugar cookies - a holiday favorite.

Aubree was promoted to the "cookies are decorated well enough to be delivered to friends" level, and was very proud.

**Minivan Express.  Nobody puked on our trip this year, so I think that immediately qualifies it as a success.

**Sugar cone Christmas Trees.  Just because we were a little light on the sugar consumption (haha!)...

This about sums it up...