Post Christmas Jitters

Stockings to empty, presents to open, a feast to eat, toys to put together, candy wrappers to pick up, wrapping paper to bag, dishes to be done...  All one really wants to do the day after Christmas is sit back in a big comfy chair and take a good nap.  Too bad the kids only participated in the first three of these and are still on a Christmas high.  They are ready to go, go, go. 

So go we went, all the way down to Tucson for a bit of spelunking in Colossal Cave.

Besides a visual treat, Colossal Cave holds quite a history.  It was used from about 900 A.D. to 1800 A.D. by several different Indian groups for shelter, storage and as a shrine.  The cave's history also claims to have been a hideout for different groups of bandits, one in particular made off with a significant amount of gold and Mexican silver dollars from a train heist.  Though the group was eventually arrested, their loot was never found.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, all we emerged with was what we went down with, but...

In the process got to touch a piece of history!

Merry Christmas!

Though the hat says grumpy, the smiles say it all.

Merry Christmas!

From Braden slinging his BB gun,

Hadley and Chloe rolling on their roller skates,

Emmry tearing it up on her rollerblades,

RJ pushing his broom,

and Ryan and CeCe surrounded by all that is precious to them!

Disneyland

Sometimes life can seem a bit mundane. We do the same things over and over again, day after day, week after week. School, work, running around, laundry... Sometimes you've just got to mix things up a bit, so Friday night Ryan and I went out on a little date to a local car dealership. I suppose it was a good date because we left our 2000 Odyssey there and came home with a bit of an upgrade. And seeing as every new vehicle needs breaking in, the next morning we pulled the kids away from the television for a little drive to Disneyland.

We had heard that the early weeks of December were ideal to avoid the crowds in "The Happiest Place on Earth". Mix that with a weekday and some rain and you've got yourself a walk onto many of your favorite rides. The deserted park did come with a bit of a cost though, wet feet and a some complaining... but wait times were rare and we did get to see the Hillbillies perform in their indoor venue three times!

Sunday we took a bit of a time out and visited the Observatory overlooking Hollywood, the inspiration for the observatory in Megamind, and the Los Angeles temple all lit up for Christmas, before heading back for more happiness. Kids have a way of making things more fun though, helping you see things in a new light. Who new that Disney had canoe rides and rope swings?

All in all, the trip was a welcome retreat from the day to day tasks of life. The kids got to leave school behind for a few days, Ryan escaped from work, and I got to set aside the demands of running the house.

It seems though that there is always someone that can't quite leave life behind and is difficult to please. The demands on a 13-month-old must be exhausting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we are thankful for...

Ryan: my family

CeCe: the opportunity to come together and celebrate

(Uncle Brian and Aunt Amanda are with us this year!)

Braden: my house

Emmry: my friends and family

Hadley: my baby, RJ, my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Canella, and my mom

Chloe: my family

RJ: the dishwasher

And what about Uncle B?  It's got to be this polar bear jump for sure!

First Word

I think all kids love to climb in the dishwasher.  What's not to love?  First of all, it's full of shiny objects that can be unloaded onto the floor.  Second, mom always mysteriously seems to be nearby!  I don't think I've had one child that hasn't seen its charm.  But the charm of course has always been in undermining what mom has been trying to accomplish for the last half hour.  Forks and spoons find their way to the floor or, even better, on the back of a pan that makes an amazingly loud noise.  So imagine my surprise when a child came along that isn't interested in emptying its contents onto the floor, but seems to love filling it up!

A miracle child he is!  And so polite too!  When I hand him a spoon, he grasps it in his tiny hand, says, "Thank you," and places it in the utensil basket.  Perhaps now we'll just work on his table etiquette!

Here We Go Again

This morning RJ dumped half the contents of a Costco-size bottle of liquid soap on the floor. While he discovered that it may be fun to play with slippery, slimy soap, it doesn't taste half so good.

As I scooped him up all I could think of was how I thought these days were behind me. Thank goodness there's only one of him!

Unearthing Prince Eric - Happy Halloween

For some reason there comes an age when being cute just won't do. Princesses with ringlets and fairies with sparkle dust; cowboys with plastic guns and sheep dogs with painted noses... they're all so adorable! But there is some allure to being something frightening, something that scares others.

Halloween provides just such an opportunity. An opportunity to become something gruesome for a night and go about terrorizing people in their homes. Our kiddos were no different. Moments before our spooky little ones hit the street Ryan made up the faces of a ware wolf, two vampires and a scary alligator... truly a frightening bunch... though through the face paint, the dripping blood and fanged teeth, there were four smiles that could not be masked! And they must have had a successful evening, because somehow we ended up with four heavily laden bags of candy, much more than I began with.

Without doubt the most frightening thing to visit our home this month came disguised as a headless mummy. Last year for a school project Braden had to make a sarcophagus. He begged Prince Eric, Ariel's handsome prince, off the girls, wrapped it in medical tape, and transformed it into a mummy. You would think they would be appalled, but no, they thought it quite an honor for their prince.

After he fulfilled his role at school, it seems our embalmed Prince Eric somehow found his way into a bush in our front yard. There he had been peacefully resting before being unearthed by a pair of twin archaeologists. You would have thought they'd found King Tut himself by the way they danced their way into the house with his decapitated body. They passed him along to the embalmer himself who seemed to reminisce over this great prince that once was.

Silence.

Then a repetitive high pitched scream that could have been coming from a little girl, but instead from the depths of a twelve-year-old boy.

Emmry running with her own version of the same.

The twins staring mesmerized.

What curse had Prince Eric unleashed on our home?

As Ryan and I entered the living room we found that out of the body... out of that pea-sized neck hole of Prince Eric... had climbed a giant spider the size of a tarantula. Perhaps it was a tarantula. Both empty body and spider lay on the floor where Braden had dropped them. There was little talk of keeping this mammoth arthropod as a pet as I was completely against it!

You can bet we learned two lessons from our archaeological experience: 1) never disturb an embalmed prince, and 2) next year for Halloween dress as a headless mummy!

Happy Birthday RJ!

What do I really have to look forward to on my first birthday when I'm the fifth child?

I've already had pudding by the spoonful and chocolate chips by the handful. I've shared Popsicles with my sisters and Oreos with the dog. I've had cake and suckers, M&Ms and chocolate bars . I've sucked on a variety of public railings and eaten food from the ground.

I've had scoops and scoops of ice cream which is my absolute favorite. I am quite the expert and am sure to recognize it in any flavor in any shopping cart or freezer.

I wonder... perhaps it's better being the fifth child!

Girls' Night In

Doesn't he look cute! The boys will never leave him home with us again!

Happy Birthday Emmry!

We had the great privilege of traveling to Utah to be with family for Emmry's eighth birthday where she was baptized a member of our church.

What fun we had riding on an airplane together as a family for the first time in three years! The kids were so excited to fly and Ryan and I were so excited to cut the travel time, though door to door it still took five hours (half the usual)!

It is not often that we get to spend birthdays with family. We played hard for the 48 hrs we were together, even squeezing in a birthday party with Grammy and Emme's cousins at the Lion House!

We are so proud of our little Emme! It is amazing to see her grow, experience life, and pursue her dreams. Congratulations Emmry!

Princess and the Pea

We must be truly loved for someone to give up their bed in the middle of the night to sleep like this! This is one princess without any trouble sleeping!

Another Casualty

It seems Chanel has been aiding the children in their search for another pet. I think it's a sign that she's tired of being dressed up as a princess, carried around like a baby, shut in boxes, locked in closets, and pinned down under arm and covers at bedtime. At the time I found it, I did think it strange that a gecko happened to be stretched out on the floor outside the girls' bedrooms. But we've had plenty of birds find their way into the house, why not a gecko?

While it did find its way in, it likely did not enter on its own accord. Yesterday Ryan and Braden caught Chanel coming through the dog door with a large new recruit. She came in and dumped it on the carpet. All I can say is thank goodness I wasn't the one home!

Braden enlisted it right away and introduced it into his reptile habitat. Unfortunately, by the next morning the little girls were reporting that the lizard was very tired and had been sleeping all morning.

Better luck next time Chanel!

Happy Birthday Girls

Today is the magic day! Today is the day Ryan and I have been anticipating for the past five years. Today the twins turn five-years-old!

Many people think that the first year must be the toughest with twins. I was also under that impression until I had a set of my own. No, the first year is a breeze. You change two bums, you feed two mouths, you wash two bodies, you love two adorable babies that sit in their bouncy seats, swing in their swings, lay in their cribs, and stay right where you leave them.

When that first year passed I thought I had it made. In fact, I remember challenging the heavens to bring on a third... I could do it. Then the girls started moving.

Year after year, as the challenges persisted, I would ask other twin moms, "When is it going to get easier?" The answer seemed to always be, "Age five." Age five? But they're only two.

So you see, today when the girls blow out their candles they'll be getting a little help from their parents. We will be blowing great big sighs of relief. We've been banking on this day for a long time. Tomorrow everything will be different!

Back to School

Going from having two in school last year to four this year caught me off-guard. Perhaps it was going from one school to three that did it. Maybe it was just Braden starting middle school.

Whatever it was or is, I find myself longing for the lazy days of summer when I didn't have to pack four sack lunches, keep track of four sets of homework, sift through papers from four backpacks, convince two reluctant kindergartners that school is better than hanging out with mom, and make sure that four beds get made and four sets of teeth get brushed all before the buses come for all four children at 8:15 a.m. OK, I scored on that one.

What I want to know is who scheduled piano lessons for 7 am?

Summer of Adventure

Braden used to love McDonald's play land. In med school we would spend hours there with friends. It provided exactly what we were looking for: good company, cheap food and cheap entertainment. Apparently we've moved on.

We began our summer at a family reunion in central Utah. Whenever you get 30 people under the same roof, you can expect a little excitement! We hiked Bryce, toured family history sites in Monroe, rafted down the Sevier River, and explored Cove Fort. The highlight was being together. Enough said.

What Braden wanted more than anything this summer was to go skydiving. But with an 18-year age requirement, it would have to wait a few years. It lit the fire in Ryan though, who found a few other tentative recruits, and pretty soon there was my husband jumping from an airplane at 20,000 feet, plummeting toward the ground at 100 miles per hour. Ryan's brother, Reggie, and my brothers, Brian and Daniel, joined him, leaving six spectators on the ground. I have a feeling though that a few of them might be climbing aboard next time around.

Skydiving was out for Braden, so we tried to make it up to him and found the next best thing... plummeting down a ski ramp. Braden enjoyed a couple days at the Utah Olympic ski jumping park where he learned quickly how to remain on his feet on a ski ramp, flip and twist off a jump, and swim in a pool with skis on. Apparently it hurts to fall on one of those things and it's difficult to swim with skis on. Who knew?

And me? I've learned my lesson time and time again. I enjoyed watching from the sidelines, taking pictures, watching "Broadway" shows at Lagoon, and cheering everyone on.

Seeking New Recruits for Dangerous Assignment

Having a pet is a rite of passage for a kid. It's a way to learn some responsibility and look after someone besides yourself. Pets of course come in all varieties, but the most coveted for every child has to be the dog. Not all kids are that lucky though, and they wind up having to settle for something else.

Yep, I had a gold fish.

So you'd think my kids would be grateful for their dog, but as is the tendency for all of us, they seem to only see what they don't have... and there are plenty of pets they don't have!

Because we as parents drew the line at one domesticated animal, though a 10-gallon fish tank some how made it passed, the kids continue to actively recruit undomesticated ones. They have found that crickets and beetles are easy finds and fun to catch and keep in cups or shoe boxes. A plastic water bottle makes a great home for a dozen or more cockroaches. Yes, the twins somehow managed that one! A prey mantis and a handful of crickets inhabit a reptile habitat that Braden purchased after we received an in-home visit from a gecko. Unfortunately they let it go, so Braden and Ryan are currently seeking a new, good-looking recruit.

Chanel has even joined the search and enlisted a baby bird for a few days this summer. Perhaps you would call it a forced enlistment, as she literally climbed a bush and knocked it from its nest, but the kids are not picky on how they join up. For Braden it brought back memories of his beloved Perry from our Ohio days (let's just say a few tears were shed) and for the girls it was another baby to be loved. Every morning the twins would run down to the bush to make sure the bird was in its nest. If it wasn't they would scoop it up and place it back in. They

must have decided that life in a nest by yourself was lonely though, because they began carrying it around and playing with it. It even passed a wonderful afternoon cradled in Hadley's hands watching a movie in the comfort of our air conditioned house.

Now Chanel could take offense at the kids' determination to find a suitable pet, but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, I think she's happy that they're focusing their attention elsewhere, because unfortunately our recruits never seem to make it out alive!