Cardboard Building

When I was little, we had these awesome cardboard brick-blocks. We played with them for years and years. The cool-factor of the cardboard bricks was their light weight-to-size ratio. We even had “brick wars” up in the attic—each side built a barricade and we hurled bricks at each other across the open space, snowball fight style. That got a tad bit painful at times, but in general, the bricks were quite harmless and totally one of our all-time favorite toys. We could build a giant tower in no time, no problem, with those bricks:

Someday I want to get bricks like these for our abundant block collection, but I do like to see what we can invent together in the meantime.

For the past few months, we’ve been saving all of our boxes to use for building material. I taped each box closed and soon we had a good sized stack of supersized building blocks—almost as good as the bricks of my childhood!

The one main difference between the box-blocks and the bricks is the size—unlike the bricks, the boxes are all different sizes, which makes balancing a building tricky. But we persevered and built a small fort out of them on Friday. Actually, the way it happened was: Jay asked and asked me to build Legos with him, and I was not in the mood to sort through the mass of tiny pieces to make something. So I started building with our box-blocks instead—much easier!

I built a store window on one side, and a restaurant drive thru on the other side. Then we played store and restaurant, taking turns buying things and preparing food (I was too big to take a turn on the inside).

We used the Mega Blocks as money.

I don’t know how they both fit inside. Eventually they started taking turns inside so that there could be more customers on the outside.

As I took these pictures, I mourned a little over Rose’s hair. At one point it was a perfect pony tail. It was only one tiny point in time, though. Then she started blanket-burrowing and I gave up hope on her pony tail.

Jay made lots of “toast with a great deal of butter” in the restaurant. He served it up with apple tea, (a favorite from one of our books—we’ve decided it’s the same thing as hot cider).

All Join In

Kids! Babies! Cheeks! I love them. Two weeks ago, I started the somewhat intense job of babysitting 1-year-old Layne AND 2-month-old Tate at the same time, all day long, with Jay and Rose in the mix. In lots of ways it's been a steep learning curve--more for how to manage myself (maintain sanity, patience, etc.) than how to care for 4 kids age 4 and under. I know how to take care of small children, but the more kids that are added, the more personal time/space gets subtracted. In spite of this fact, I feel pretty good about how it's going. I like how the small babes force me to slow down. I appreciate the simplicity of it—the power of a hug and a squeeze on the mood of a child is enormously satisfying.

As long as I get my sleep and my Shaina-decompress-time (in the form of a run or an uninterrupted stretch of reading or some other thing selfish and alone), I feel perfectly capable of handling (wrangling?) 4 kids solo for 6-10 hours a day. 3/4 of them do take a relatively dependable afternoon nap, for the record. So while it's not without challenges, I feel like things are going well. Layne cried when it was time to leave yesterday. I must be doing something right, even though I feel like all I do is take forbidden things away from her and tell her to stop chewing on the books. It'll take more time to win Tate over, because when he cries, I usually shove the dreaded plastic binky into his mouth. He does not like my persistence. We'll get there eventually, Mr. Fussy-pants. The Binky will win. I got new batteries for our baby swing yesterday, and things are already looking up in the Tate-department.

Now, I do have to add that I do not have all the kids all day every single weekday. It all depends on the schedules. The most days I've had them in one week are 2 full 8-10 hour days and 2 partial 4-6 hour days. So it's not as long as it may sound (or seem). Time, or rather the perception of time, does weird! things when you're hanging out at home all day with 4 young'ens. Today is a day off, so I'm taking advantage of the time to write about the crazy.

January 9th was my first full day with 4 kids. That evening after the two babies left and after my own two were in bed, I hosted our Relief Society book club. As usual, it was a relaxing evening of pleasant conversation, punctuated with laughter and refreshments. When it was over, I went to my room feeling pleasantly tired from a good full day. Then I glanced in the mirror. I was surprised to find that I looked a tad worse for wear than I thought I did! One shoulder was smudged with Tate barf, the other had Layne snot, and in the middle of my shirt I detected some Rose tears, mingled with powdered sugar from the Chex muddy buddies mix that I made for the book club treat. My half-grown-out hair was in a wispy lopsided ponytail--the kind that is not artistically messy, more for-real  messy with awkward bits of hair falling out of the clips. I was amused that I had sat and chatted with friends in the basement for more than two hours without once thinking about what I must look like after such a child-filled day. I looked like such a real-life end of the day Mom that I couldn't find it in me to feel bad about my looks. In fact, I felt kind of proud to have made I through a day with 4 small children with such minimal damage.

 

Yesterday, two weeks in to the 4 children thing, I decided that I was finally ready to Go Out. As in: Leave The House. We really needed those batteries for the baby swing, and I reasoned that I can't hide out in my house forever--we needed milk too, and I always feel too tired to want to go to the store after the extra kids are gone and Jeff comes home. So to Walmart we went, all together! Based on two weeks of experience, I knew that the best way to ensure a low-stress, successful activity with 4 smalls is to:

1. go first thing in the morning (happy kids, empty store)
2. make sure nobody is hungry (and bring a snack just in case)
3. take it easy--don't rush or stress

That formula totally worked. We got coats and shoes on, loaded up the van, buckled 4 seat belts, and finally pulled out of the garage a little over half an hour later. One of the main things I dreaded about taking 4 kids out were annoying third party comments (like "are all of them yours?" and "you sure have your hands full!" or, "WOW"). Who cares how many of them are mine? I love them all! I know I have my hands full, thanks. Mind your own business! I built up my social armor chink by chink as we drove the 15 minutes to the Sunnyside Nastymart. Did I say Nastymart? I meant Walmart. Sorry. It was the closest source for size D batteries. Well, the store was so early-morning empty that we got zero third-party comments. YES!

For The Outing, I channeled the confidence and poise of one of my Mother-role-models: my friend Ashley, homeschooling mother of 8, oldest child age 9. Yeah, I know--she's an inspiration. It totally worked. The trip went smoothly. I kept that binky in Tate's mouth, smooshed Layne back into the seat of the shopping cart every time she tried to stand up, Rose rode on the end of the cart, and Jay walked next to it. Ever hear of Mom-muscles? They get buffer exponentially with every child. Good thing all we needed were a few small items like milk, batteries, and soap, because that baby car seat took up the cart's entire  basket. About an hour later, we wheeled out to the parking lot and drove home. Success! Minor trip to Walmart, total elapsed time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

And now, the last section…

At Christmas, my Mom gave me  The Quentin Blake Treasury, a big purple book full of quirky stories written and whimsically illustrated by the master, Quentin Blake. One of the selections is called "All Join In." The rhythm, the humor, and the everyday applicability of the poem made it an instant favorite:

When Sandra plays the trumpet it makes a lovely sound
And Mervyn on his drum-kit can be heard for miles around
Stephanie is brilliant when she plays the violin
But the very best of all is when we ALL JOIN IN

When Amy throws a tantrum it is wonderful to see
And when Eric starts his wailing there is noise enough for three
When Bernard kicks the dustbin it really makes a din
But the very best of all is when we ALL JOIN IN

When we're cleaning up the house, we ALL JOIN IN
When we're trying to catch a mouse, we ALL JOIN IN
When we've got some tins of paint, we ALL JOIN IN
And when Granny's going to faint we ALL JOIN IN

This poem has really captured Jay's and Rose's imaginations, and they've taken to playing "all join in." It's fine when they play all join in and clean up the house, but not-so-fine when someone starts to cry and they ALL JOIN IN. Often, Jay and Rose both literally start wailing loudly with big grins on their faces when Tate and Layne are crying. Cute game, kids.

It’s fun to invent our own lines in the formula of this rhyme, even if they aren’t quite as cleverly-rhymed as the original…

When we’re looking at a book, we ALL JOIN IN

When we’re putting on a “show,” we ALL JOIN IN

When we’re rocking in the chair, we ALL JOIN IN

When we’re eating lunch up there, we ALL JOIN IN

When we’re feeding baby Tate, we ALL JOIN IN

When Mommy’s running late, we ALL JOIN IN

This poem accurately describes and cleverly illustrates how I feel when I have 4 kids in the house all day. Life with little humans is just comical enough to stave off any true irritation, though the volume is usually quite deafening. It’s awesomeness so intense, it’s overwhelming.

…the very best of all is when we ALL JOIN IN!

Beef 'n Brie

This weekend I wanted a SANDWICH. Not just ham and cheese or PBJ. A GOOD sandwich. Normally, I’m a find-a-good-recipe-and-follow-it kind of cook. The exceptions are sandwiches and pizza. Those are my two experimental zones. Maybe it’s because if it sounds good on a sandwich, it is good on a sandwich. If it sounds good on a pizza, it is good on a pizza. And there are less variables involved with sandwiches and pizza. The base is simple on both: bread? check. easy tried-and-true crust recipe? check. So all that’s left is to figure out how to doctor up that bread into something more than sauce and cheese.

Ok. back to this weekend. Inspiration struck when I needed it most—something that definitely doesn’t happen for me in the kitchen that often. Our fridge was conveniently stocked with a nice wheel of Brie cheese, and it got me thinking. Here’s what happened, in stacking order:

1 piece of homemade half-wheat half-white bread
a spread of real mayo
a thin spread of dijon mustard 
2 pieces of deli roast beef
a sprinkle of herbes de provence
a handful of fresh spinach
1 wedge of brie cheese, sliced up
1 piece of homemade half-wheat half white bread

Before adding the spinach, I opened up the sandwich with brie on one side and the herbed roast beef on the other side and toasted it in the toaster oven for a few minutes till the bread was tanned and the brie was bubbly. Then I slapped on the spinach, cut it in half, and sunk my teeth into beefy brie nirvana. The herbes de provence had toasted slightly in the oven, making them extra herb-a-licious. The light spread of dijon mustard provided just the right level of tang to offset the herbs and creamy brie.

Right after my first bite, I dashed downstairs holding the sandwich and made Jeff take a bite. He was transported to beef n brie bliss as well, so I knew it wasn’t just my post-5 mile hunger that made it taste so yum.

I’m not trying to boast, I’m just sharing the joy. I was surprised with how readily the combo of ingredients came to my mind and how amazingly the flavors blended on my palate. Normally I do not choose beef. Ever. I’m kind of a beef-a-tarian…or an everything- but-beef-a-tarian? Something along those lines. Now I have two reasons to buy beef: the Costco frozen pre-cooked hamburgers and the beef n brie sandwich.

PS: The other food-spiration of the weekend was chicken cordon bleu pizza. Less original in its ingredient combo, but still a tasty alternative to our other usual zas. It’s the first new pizza I’ve attempted in almost a year! I added a little mayo and plenty of mustard to our classic white sauce and threw it on the crust with deli ham and sliced chicken nuggets. Swiss cheese on top. Bake it up. Chicken cordon bleu pizza. Quite tasty.

Also, this month I finally invested $26 in two shiny new pizza pans. They are the round kind with holes in them. I tried a pizza stone back on Jeff’s birthday, but it was nightmarishly inefficient for us. These holey pans are the perfect middle ground. The crust was light and chewy, not soggy, and actually ROUND! (before now it’s been straight-up soggy 9x13 cookie sheet-zas around here).

To adapt a favorite quote from a favorite book: “eating good food ruins you for enjoying bad food.”

Evernote

A few months ago, I went DIGITAL with my journal-writing. It was a tricky decision to make because my inner historian-self screams “use paper! write in your own handwriting!” But for the past year I had been struggling to write down everything I want to say in my paper-pen journal.

The reason? I type SO MUCH FASTER than I write, and I have so many things I want to ramble about and so little time to ramble with. Plus, handwriting is messy and it’s hard to go back to change a sentence after its written. Admittedly, all of those imperfections do give a paper journal personality that a typed document lacks. But they were also causing me to write less and less details in my journal. I was turning to the blog more and more so I could type long stories and thoughts with ease and have them saved neatly in an organized time line. With pictures.

The line between journal and blog was getting fuzzy. It was hard to keep my blog-writing impersonal enough for the masses but personal enough to preserve my actual memories. It’s not like I write deep dark secrets in a locked diary or anything, but I do have some private thoughts that are, well, private!  I want to be real on the blog, but I don't want to discuss every single thing in such a public place.

For months, I hemmed and hawed over typing instead of writing. It was a big decision! I love to write my thoughts. Dumbledore had his Pensive, I have my journal. I write my thoughts almost every day, so choosing where to put them was tough. There are so many things I love about "real" journals that I was nervous a typed journal would not have. For one thing, I don't like relying on technology to create and save everything I write--what if it got damaged, deleted, corrupted, or just lost? The horror! But the same thing goes for my old journals--they can probably get damaged or lost even more easily than the electronic versions because there is only ONE combustible copy of each paper journal--no backups.

But then again, I love snuggling into my chair with blanket at the end of the day with my pen and journal in the warm glow of a lamp, not sitting at the cold hard dark desk to type an entry. I love the chubby, useful look and feel of a fat 200-page journal filled with my own writing and drawings, with random papers stuck in throughout. I love the look of the eclectic mix of sizes and styles of filled journals I have in the box under my bed. I also rather enjoy shopping for a new journal--so many choices! Round and round my internal circumlocutions swirled.

Finally I brought the dilemma to my technological husband. Jeff instantly introduced me to Evernote. It’s a free journal-note-writing app that you can get on any internet device—from smartphone to computer. And the app syncs everything you write across all devices! So I can type something on the computer and then read it on the ipad five seconds later. Boom. AND we just discovered that Evernote lets you export files and save them onto the computer for backup. Sha-pow. And you don't even need the internet to use the app (only for syncing). Awesome! I'm converted. I've been using Evernote for almost 3 months now, and the quality (and quantity) of my journal entries has increased dramatically.

That brings me to my last point: Evernote is sapping posts from the blog! Since I type my journal now, I can also easily type up other little thoughts and ideas and store them safely away before deciding whether they are worth posting. Since I'm my own worst critic, less of those little compositions make it into an actual blog post, resulting in half the posts of the pre-Evernote days. So that’s the story, morning glory.

In other news, Rose has started doing her bunny’s “hair” and accessorizing accordingly.

Twin Day

Sunnyside High School is having another Spirit Week this week. I think they have school spirit week once a month or something—it seems like it’s always ____day to dress up. Jeff has established quite the loveable teacher-persona so far in his 2.5 years there.

He shamelessly wears bowties sometimes. He busts out…graceful dance moves to describe what certain French words mean. He makes various Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings, and Star Trek references while teaching. I think he even stood on his head once.

On each pajama day, he wears his holey, threadbare 12-year-old plaid PJ pants on top of his normal slacks-and tie teacher-attire. Last Twin Day, he and a fellow LDS teacher from across the hall dressed up as missionaries. But today I think he topped all of his past costumes.

Since it was Twin Day, Jeff brought along his very own mini-me. Yes. Jay’s first day of high school came 7 months before his first day of Kindergarten.

I told them I wanted to take a picture of them before they left and this is what they did. Jay sat right down and posed like such a dude. High school at age 4? Psh. Bring it.

Bare Bannisters

We took down our Christmas decorations on Saturday. I always dread this time of year, when we willingly box up all that festive cheer and store it away for another year. The house looks and feels so bland and empty without the stockings, the soft-lit greenery, the beloved manger scene, and the squishy smiling snowmen. The bare banisters are the saddest part to me. We hang dense evergreen garland, white lights, and red bows all along the main bannister and then string Christmas cards on ribbon down the side hand rails. My heart warms every time I walk up or down the stairs, surrounded by gentle white lights, frizzy green garland, and smiling pictures of friends and family. At Christmas, the stairs become "a little bit more," as Dr. Seuss would say. I feel so snug going up and down the stairs, surrounded by loved ones and lights. With those simple adornments gone, the stairs turned back into mere steps once again.

We gave Christmas one last hurrah while we were unwinding the garland and dismantling the tree. We cranked up the Christmas music and went to work. Even if the task was unpleasant, we still managed to have a good time completing it. I'm glad we can find the joy in the journey even during the blatantly blue times. I'm convinced that there's always something good in every situation; it just takes a disciplined, practiced eye to find it.

In spite of this noble philosophy, the Les Miserables song "empty chairs and empty tables" keeps playing in my head whenever I see our now bare, garland-less banisters. I know nobody died, like all of Maruis's friends did when he sang that song in Les Mis, but Christmas is dead! Well, at least for 11 more months it is. Sigh. I know, I know. The spirit of Christ never dies. That is a comfort indeed when the Christmas season's absence leaves a big hole in my house.

And then there’s my husband’s absence. This is what Christmas Break looked like most days at our house:

Jay, Rose, and I loved having Jeff home for the 2 week Christmas break. Our first day back into reality with Daddy at work this week was rough all over. When Jeff got home Monday afternoon, Jay and Rose started fighting over his attention, they missed him so much. We still miss him during the day, but we’re adjusting. [Pardon a brief side rant, but…anyone who thinks indignant thoughts about teachers having a cushy easy life with tons of vacation time should just become a teacher themselves. Those breaks are needed and welcome]

Steph started school again this week, so we have enjoyed 2 extra little sunshines in our house:

Today is the first day that both Layne and Tate have come over. The other days this week, I’ve just had one or the other. It all depends on WHAT WORKS, you know? But I love having a collection of cuties to squish, as long as they don’t all cry at once (that only happened for about 3 minutes today, thankfully, and Jay was just fake crying because he thought it was funny that everyone else was crying). I think I’d have to be pretty desperate and/or brave to actually GO anywhere with all 4 kids aged 0, 1, 2, and 4, but here at home things are stabilizing nicely.

It was a challenge getting that one golden group picture…

When we were done picture-ing, Jay said “I still want to hold baby Tate.”

He held him for another 6 or 7 minutes, talking to him and playing with him.

Jay seems so grown up around all these little folks. He is such a helper when he’s in the right mood, and he’s Mr. Daddy to Tate and Layne (and sometimes Rose, although she resists him like a teenager). He gently bounces Tate, takes forbidden things away from Layne, and “reads” stories.

 

Maybe January won’t be quite so blah after all.

Thumbs are helpful

Today I’m thinking about how useful two opposable thumbs are. All day long I’ve been compiling a list of the amazing tasks that one human being can accomplish with grace and ease when he or she has two whole thumbs at his/her disposal:

1. make a bed
2. pull up pants
3. button pants
4. pull toast out of the toaster
5. rinse and/or wash dishes
6. unload stacks of plates from the dishwasher
7. pick up a child
8. squeeze toothpaste onto a toothbrush
9. zip up a coat
10. maneuver a steering wheel while driving
11. clench hands together nervously while trapped in a dentist chair
12. lift a Costco-size tub of Crisco off a high shelf
13. pinch together the seams of dough on bread loaves
14. type texts on a cell phone
15. open ziploc baggies
16. open an 8 ounce package of cream cheese
17. remove two loaves of bread from the oven at the same time
18. sort laundry
19. turn clothes right side out
20. put wet clothes into the dryer efficiently
21. hold a book open and turn the pages
22. use an iPad
23. restrain a 2-year-old
24. take a picture
25. twist the rod to open window blinds

These tasks become humorously and impressively difficult when the person attempting them is reduced to one thumb, as I have been. It all started about 24 hours ago…

Yesterday after our first blessed, blissful 9am church of the year (we switched from 1pm to 9am this year—huzzah!), I was using my newfound Sunday afternoon to get ahead on a yummy stir fry dinner by cutting up the slimy raw chicken a few hours early. You can already see where this is going.

Quick backstory: For my birthday in November, my Mom gave me a Cutco knife—the huge, the hefty, the BOSS of all knives. It has a lifetime warranty for sharpness, with free sharpening if it ever somehow becomes dull. I have used it sparingly because it’s too deadly for most everyday chopping—it’s suited more to cutting open watermelons and cleaving whole turkeys in half, rather than quietly cutting boneless, skinless chicken breasts into one inch pieces.

I am always incredibly vigilant, slow-moving, and downright careful whenever I pull out this toothed monster because I know its potential. It nicked my counter top once when I unwisely rested the tip on the counter for too long.

My chicken yesterday was half frozen (because it’s a little less slimy that way and I can manage it better). I figured it was the perfect time to pull out the megaknife. And true to form, the thing slid through the iced poultry like butter, with little effort on my part. It slid through the fingernail and meat of my left thumb equally well:

 

The knife is so efficient that I didn’t realize what I was doing to my own flesh until it was done, and a clean-cut disc of fingernail, skin, and Shaina-meat was laying neatly on top of the chicken.

I gasped “OHMYGOODNESS,” dropped the knife, stuck my finger under the faucet and called/shrieked “JEFF! HELP ME! PLEASE!!” My gallant husband dashed up the stairs expecting something trivial like a spider or a mouse, and found me quaking and bleeding by the sink.

I have to hand it to Jeff. The man is cool in a crisis—he wasn’t Wellness Jeff/super-nurse at multiple summer camps back in the day for nothing! He examined my thumb and in less than 20 seconds determined that 1. I didn’t cut down to the bone and 2. going to the ER was unnecessary because they couldn’t do any more than we could. He flew to the bathroom to get our bandages and ointment while I quickly and cringingly soaped up my injury. It felt so flat and beyond tender when I touched it. SHUDDER. I started feeling a little faint, so I grabbed a paper towel for my hands and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for Dr. Jeff.

My adrenaline was pumping furiously and I could tell, with that detached logical part of my brain, that I was probably going into a little bit of shock. Jeff helped me bandage my thumb with various layers of Neosporin, band-aids, gauze, and blue masking tape (he couldn’t find our first aid tape). The whole time Jeff was doctoring me up, I kept busting out with phrases such as “I CUT OFF MY FINGER!” and “I can’t believe this!” and of course, “OW!!!”

My wound didn’t bleed very much as long as I squeezed just below the knuckle, but my hand started cramping up soon enough, so I let go and watched the blood ooze out of the masking tape. We added layers of gauze (handily leftover from Jeff’s wisdom teeth removal) till it stopped leaking and then Jeff sat me in my recliner with a blanket and I slowly felt the adrenaline and shock recede. With every throb of my thumb, I relived the awful ca-chunk sound of the knife going through my fingernail and flesh. I had to call my sisters Steph and Em to siphon off some of my adrenaline by talking it all out. Slowly I returned to my new normal, with a little less thumb hidden under a heavy, blood-soaked, makeshift bandage.

Shudder shudder shudder. Cringe. Shudder.

Today it’s not too terribly throbby, but like I already listed, everyday tasks are clumsy and slow. I’ve only bumped the raw meat four times so hopefully it can heal quickly. To avoid unnecessary throbbing, I will have to take a few days off of running. I found our first aid tape so now I have a more compact, breathable bandage.

Surprisingly, some things have turned out to be quite easy to do with only one thumb:

1. clean toilets
2. type on a computer keyboard
3. talk on the phone
4. ok, I guess that’s all.

Needless to say, we did not have stir fry for our Sunday dinner. We had scrambled eggs. Made by Jeff.

Ok, reliving that was draining. I need a pick-me-up. How about Friday’s sunset as seen from the Target parking lot:

2013 Review

It’s 2014! The beginning of a new year naturally brings me to reflect fondly upon the previous year and wonder: what do the next twelve months have in store for us? A friend of mine sent out a Christmas letter in an email where she summarized each month of 2013 in a few sentences. I enjoyed reading the ultra-condensed version of their year. Contrary to what anyone who actually reads my endless blog posts may think, I am a minimalist at heart. Here’s my attempt at putting our year in a nutshell: one picture and one paragraph per month.

January 2013

We had a good snowfall and loved playing in it together. We finished painting and decorating our family room—whew, I don’t like painting. We went to Bellevue and had lunch with some of our best buddies, Jan and Jordan and their baby girl. Jay and Rose rode their Plasma Cars around and around the kitchen table every day. It was loud, but they loved racing around. On the last day of January, we welcomed a new cousin to the family—baby Chase.

February 2013:

Rose turned two and absolutely loved all of the birthday attention. She started becoming more aware that she’s a girl, and embraced “girlyness.” We painted our toenails together and went on a shopping trip to the mall. I love having a daughter, even if I’m not naturally the most “girly” of girls. Girly things are fun when you have your own little girl to do them with! We had some mild weather and started cleaning out our garden space and backyard in preparation for spring. Jeff started riding his new motor scooter to work every day. Jay watched carefully while I painted 16 wooden little people shapes into toy soldiers for him to play with. Jay and Rose played together so well. I loved watching them become better and better friends.

March 2013:

Jay, Rose, and I drove 30 hours in our little Civic to visit my sister Em and her family in Missouri for two weeks. It was quite the adventure, but we loved spending time with our fun family members. While we were there, I got to take Jay and Rose out to the Daniel Boone Home to show them where Jeff and I used to live and work. We got home from Missouri in mid-March, and I started watching Spencer on Friday afternoons. The weather turned springy and it felt so good to be outside!

April 2013:

We went on a family adventure to Multnomah Falls, Oregon and hiked up to the top of the waterfall. Jay did most of the hike on his own! My best friend Laurs flew out with her daughter Emma to visit us for a week. I started babysitting baby Layne when Steph went back to school. I began to learn what it’s like to have 3+ kids, and I realized that I love it! We planted our herb garden. I sewed my pioneer trek dress. Jeff and I ran a small local fundraising 5k and “Adam and Eve’d” our first race of the year.

May 2013:

We went on two family outdoor adventures: to the Twin Sisters basalt pillars by the Columbia River and on a hike in the desert steppe of central Washington to see the wildflowers. We love going on family adventures! Jay and Rose were willing to hike as long as they could take their time and play along the way. They never liked hiking uphill. Jay, Rose, and I visited Grama Meri and watched Aunt Mel run her fastest time in the 300m hurdles at a track meet. We came home and started enjoying outdoor play groups, gorgeous sunsets, and the general switch from spring to early summer. About half way through May, Rose potty trained herself in less than 10 days. It took me off guard, but we were all happy for her. Jay turned 4 at the end of May and got all things Ninja Turtle. We planted our first garden Both kids had their first dentist appointment, with marginal success.

June 2013:

Jeff turned 31, our garden sprouted, and we fell in love with the Prosser Aquatic Center. Jeff and I went on the stake youth pioneer trek as Ma and Pa, while Grama Meri took care of Jay and Rose for 4 days. We enjoyed the trek so much—the youth are wonderful, and even better, we got to walk for 3 straight days holding hands for 90% of the time! Thanks for the extended date, West Richland Stake! After the trek, we decompressed at my parents’ recently acquired lake house for a few days before heading out on our next family adventure…

July 2013:

…the Olympic Peninsula! We hiked out to Shi Shi Beach in the mud and camped by the beach. The next day on our way home, we stopped to check out Hurricane Ridge and the gorgeous views. The Olympic Peninsula is one of my new favorite wildernesses. Our 30+ year old air conditioner died and we had to dip deep into our savings to replace it, but not before we lived (suffered) two and a half weeks of the July desert heat without it. Whew! At the end of July, Jeff and I dropped the  kids off with Aunt Steph so we could go on our yearly overnight date. This year we camped and then got up at 3am to climb Mt. Adams. It was a huge challenge, but amazing to accomplish together.

August 2013:

We drove down to Lake Tahoe, CA for the White family Maggotfest (reunion). Jay and Rose got sick on day 3, so we pulled out and left early to avoid infecting the rest of the clan. It was a very barfy 12+ hour drive home. We spent the weekend recovering, and then drove out to the lake house for the annual Brown family Lakecation. We love family time! By the end of August when Jeff started teaching school again (his first year with only French classes, yay), we were all rather tired of the car.

September 2013:

September was a delightfully low-key month, unless you count all the preserving (apple butter and apple sauce galore!). We enjoyed a break in babysitting and lived it up spending time with just US. We painted more wood little people, built with blocks, and visited Jeff at school for a dinner picnic during parent night. Jay, Rose, and I took a little jaunt up to see Grama Meri again, where we rode the ferry out to Bainbridge Island for some gourmet ice cream as a final farewell to summer.

October 2013:

We got back into the swing of babysitting Layne and enjoyed lots of golden warm fall afternoons at the park. And Halloween! We had fun concocting costumes for our favorite road race of the year, the Howl n Scream Scram. We dressed up as Knights and Rapunzels. The kids did the kids race and Jeff and I Adam and Eve’d our second race of the year. Woot! My parents traded us their van for our dear old Civic. Big change.

November 2013:

I turned 27 and the weather turned misty and cold. We welcomed a new cousin to the family—little Tate. We had Thanksgiving at the Whites’ house.

December 2013:

 

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Happy New Year!

2014