Christmas Eve 2016

We started Christmas Eve by putting on a Christmas Eve program at the hospital with the McDonnell family. This was a great way to focus on service and our Savior.

 This is impossible to portray with a picture, but as we drove home through the neighborhoods close to our house, we found that someone had up THOUSANDS of luminarias up and down streets in a neighborhood which is over a mile square. It was so beautiful and peaceful!

We had prepared Christmas Eve dinner prior to our trip to the hospital, so when we returned we feasted on soups, homemade bread, salad, and Martinellis.

After dinner we opened sibling gifts (we had already read the Christmas story from the Bible at the hospital). This year we started a sibling gift rotation, so they focused on a gift for just one person.

Brandon and Angela gave Joseph two Wonder books he is so excited about!

Aubrey was so excited about her gift to Bailey - a Boyfriend Acquisition Kit. She worked hard on putting together all the components of the kit and it really showed her aptitude for witty writing and creativity.

Bailey gave a game and a book she loves to Brandon and Angela.

Next the kids opened up their Christmas pjs and modeled them

Opening and then reading the new Christmas book.

Writing letters to Santa.

And all tucked in for the big Christmas Eve sleepover in the bonus room!

And these are the Christmas letters the kids left and Santa's witty replies.

  

December and Christmas break

Snapshots of Christmas break. 

Bailey was home for over 3 weeks, which we loved (but she was definitely excited to get back to school by the end of the break!).

Reading Christmas books!

Playing in the snow. This was a strange year. We had a LOT of snow!

Eating flavored snow, which has always been one of Aubrey's favorite things about winter!

Aubrey was an official wedding singer. She was asked by her former schoolteacher to sing at her wedding. She did a fantastic job crooning "Unchained Melody" and another sappy love song. She didn't expect payment, but was excited to be well compensated for her singing!

Ward Christmas party - I made this delicious looking cake. Sadly, we didn't even get a smidgen before it was gone.

Making Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve after we got back from our Christmas break trip. Joseph was starting to feel unwell and never cut out or decorated any cookies.  

Game night at the McDonnell's house. It was so fun to be all together with our grown and younger kids and their mostly grown kids! It's seems like just yesterday that both our families had young kids at home.

Our "trek son" Hunter (right) came with us for the game night.

On our anniversary, we went into Portland. As a family we visited Powell's Books and then Dan and I ate at our favorite fancy restaurant (Departures) and the kids ate at a downtown gourmet pizza place. Then we met up again for ice cream.

While he was home, Brandon tackled a huge project. We rounded up all the videotapes and recording devices from past years and he digitized and organized all of it. What a wonderful thing it is to finally have access to all our videos from past years!

New Year's Eve - we invited the McDonnells over and played games again. 

Blurry picture of dancing at midnight!

New Year's Day the girls and I did some shopping

and then everyone but Joseph drove to Portland to get Mexican food on Alberta Street.

Dan talks about nachos ALL THE TIME.  On this day he finally got his nachos.

Aubrey tried a non-Cafe Rio burrito for the first time and liked it!

Brandon and Angela headed back to California on New Year's Day. We loved our time with them! Bailey was home for another half a week. The day before she left for Provo she used her Christmas gift tickets to Finding Neverland at Keller in Portland.

I got to go with her!  It was a magical play and so fun to enjoy with Bailey!

I  love this Christmas card Angela drew freehand. A perfect likeness of her and Brandon.

 More games . . . we played a lot of games this break. Our new games have been hits - Say Anything and Qwixx.

 Aubrey teaching Dan how to use his new Apple watch.

 Whenever Brandon comes home, he immediately organizes all our DVDs. This saves me  lots of time because I never worry about organizing them inbetween time.

 The kids played our new Rock Band game for hours.

 Modeling new Christmas clothes . . . . it's a long standing tradition!

March highlights

A few random thoughts.

Diagnosing Mystery Illnesses

All last week Joseph had a stomach ache every evening. Several times he thought he might throw up. Thursday night it was bad enough that he was up for most of the night and he missed school the next day. We were beginning to wonder if he was getting to be lactose intolerant, because before bed every night he has Cheerios with milk and instant breakfast with milk. But, this theory didn't make sense because he has something similar for breakfast every day and never feels sick then. Friday morning I was tidying up and noticed that the HUUUUUUGE bag of Skittles he had received for his birthday the week before was 2/3 gone.  Aha.  I asked Joseph if he had been munching on Skittles every evening after dinner.  Yep. Apparently a lot of Skittles in the stomach + Cheerios = a really big stomach ache.  We banished the Skittles, and his stomach health has been restored.

On a positive note, because Joseph had an unexpected day home last Friday and because the weather was FINALLY sunny and beautiful, we had a wonderful time taking a long walk during the day. We looked at all the new neighborhoods and houses being built to the west of us and looked closely at the buds starting to form on all the trees. Joseph showed me how fast his new Nike shoes make him run. 

It was a good day and totally worth missing out on the middle school melee for one day!

Letting Go

10 years ago I found a pair of shoes at Payless Shoes which have been my favorite church shoes. 

They worked with lots of outfits, were comfortable, and had a strap to keep the shoes on my feet no matter how fast I walked. A few years ago the admittedly cheaply made shoes began to fall apart, but i have been carefully glueing together the soles and various parts. I couldn't bring myself to take the cheap shoes to be fixed by an expensive shoe repair shop. Finally, last month when Aubrey and I were attending the ASL ward in Portland and taking a walk around the block before going into the chapel because we felt a little awkward walking into the room where we really don't speak the dominant language. . . . my shoes finally gave up the ghost.  The entire heel came loose from the upper part of the shoe.  Not salvageble. I have mourned this loss for days, but finally found an adequate replacement. At Payless again, because I'm cheap like that. Now I just have to get myself to throw out the shoes that have been my friends for all these years.

Scholar Extraordinaire

Aubrey received an unexpected but much deserved distinction this last week. She was nominated by her physics teacher to represent her school in science for an award given by the American Association of University Women to young women who excel in science, math, and technology. We will be attending a special awards assembly soon and there is supposed to be a write-up in the newspaper!

Primary Overload

This last weekend was an intense one for my church calling. Friday night Dan and I and my counselors and husbands spent all night setting up for the stake pinewood derby event.  

  

Saturday was the crazy, chaotic event all day, and then cleanup and disassembly of the track. Sunday morning we dragged ourselves to a different ward at 8:30 a.m. where Dan gave an amazing talk about anchoring ourselves to Christ and I listened. Then my presidency and I took over our ward's Primary during the adult meeting of Ward Conference. Keeping tired and cranky kids engaged from 2:30 - 4 p.m. when they had been already sitting through an hour and a half Sacrament Meeting required all the energy we were able to summon. They were a pretty hard to please crowd, especially the Sunbeams! After we ate some dinner and facetimed my parents for awhile, I attended a 2 hour meeting for 11 year old Scout camp. When I got home I was cranky and tired, with a pounding headache. I was completely unable to be an interested or helpful Mom until after I had gotten some decent sleep. 

On growing old

I had some thoughts today about growing old while racing through Costco. As I wound my way through the crowded aisles on a Friday morning, for awhile I was behind a "little old lady," who looked and walked just about like all little old ladies I have known in my life. I wondered at what point I will become the little old lady. What will that feel like? What will I look like? And, perhaps the best question of all, will I realize that I am old?

I joke all the time about how I am "getting old," and in many ways that is absolutely true. Without the intervention of my hairdresser, my hair would be about 70% grey. I have increasingly weird middle-aged-related health issues, including benign lumps called lipomas popping up on my arms and legs (so attractive). When I sit on the ground for extended periods of time, which I love to do, my joints all scream in protest when I finally stand. My eyes refuse to focus in dim light or when I am tired and then I require the help of my old lady reading glasses. So yes, I am feeling older in many respects.

But, at the same time, I feel suspended before the true advent of older age, because my body mostly does what I want it to. I can Zumba and walk as fast and as far as I want, and I can lift a decent amount of weight. My mind feels reasonably sharp, with the exception of a tendency to forget names sometimes (but then, I have never been very good at remembering names). I have enough energy to get up early with my daughter going to Seminary and stay up late to get my middle schooler settled down for bed.

Some of my friends are young moms, and I often feel like I have so much in common with them until I realize that my life looks totally different than theirs. In a way it feels like the days of babies waking throughout the night, toys underfoot, and the endless physical demands of early motherhood are just the other day. But in other ways that time seems a lifetime ago. Yesterday was my 3rd child's 17th birthday. 17! How could my little Aubrey-doodle already be a year away from college? Anyway, I am beginning to realize that my friends who are young moms see me as someone they enjoy and can talk to, but not someone in their same stage of life. They see me as an "older mom."

Although, I do feel like I have somewhat earned that moniker due to the fact that since my years as a teenager and then a young married/young mom I have successfully weathered many ups and downs. Some days I feel entirely battle weary and other days I feel wise, calm, and victorious. There is a lot of value in realizing that stages pass, difficult times end, and miraculous changes occur. For that, I am grateful, and I am happy to accept my achey joints and grey hairs as payment for this priceless understanding.

So, I feel planted solidly in a middle ground of not-young and not-old. It's truly not a bad place to be. But then, I really am not sure that I will realize that I have become old. Because in my mind's eye I am a lot younger than my chronological age. Often I am shocked by pictures of myself, because somehow my body is moving along in years while my spirit still feels settled at about age 35. I wonder if there will ever be a point when I feel as old as my birthdays? When I will be aware that I have become the sweet little old lady slowing down the traffic in the aisle of Costco?