Thanksgiving--and family pictures reprise

Like the rest of America, we celebrated Thanksgiving this week.

And although the day itself is past, that doesn't change the fact that I am grateful for my husband, my children, my extended family, and my friends. (And also a good job and great community to live in).

Also, like most Americans, we traveled for Thanksgiving, spending the holiday weekend with my parents up north.

On Thanksgiving, we tried something a little new this year. My mom gave Dan carte blanche to plan the menu, which meant that Dan got to do something he loves (really, he gets enjoyment out of planning menus that continues to escape me) and my mom was much less stressed, as she got delegated from meal planner to meal helper.

My brother Jared and my sister, Jeni, and their respective families showed up, which meant that the cousins (8 of them, the oldest one 9 years old) ran rampant in the house and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think grandpa enjoyed the resultant noise very much, though.

We had a lovely dinner: Turkey, two kinds of stuffing (traditional and sausage/cornbread), rolls, sweet potato fries, corn on the cob, broccoli, pies (and probably other stuff that I'm forgetting). My mom, Mitcee, and I spent some time before the meal perusing black Friday ads. It was fun--but a little overwhelming.

My favorite moment of the day, though, was when Jeni, Jared and I dragged the kids (all but Oliver) outside and played different kinds of tag with them. We laughed until our sides ached. Jared's a natural ham, especially around kids, and the kids themselves were hilarious, since most of them shriek whenever "it" gets close to them, and some of them have very little sense of direction or self-preservation. (Kind of reminds me of this).

In the evening, after the kids were in bed, my mom and I braved some black Friday shopping. We went to a new outlet mall, scored some great deals, and weren't actually surrounded by crazy shoppers. There were lots of people, but everyone was pretty pleasant. We avoided Walmart like the plague, drove by Target (I went in but came out almost immediately when I saw how crazy long the line was), and when we passed Toys R Us at 11:30 p.m. and saw that there was *still* a line, we avoided that too. My favorite deal was two pair of Clarks shoes for $30.

We went to Kohl's the next morning, but not until around 9:30, and to Gymboree, and that was pretty much the extent of my Black Friday shopping. Pretty wild, huh.


We did go to JC Penney as well, but that was for a good cause: another photo shoot of the kids (this time for Christmas pictures) and succeeded much better than we did last month at Sears.

Here are my favorite shots (they had a Black Friday deal running that gave us an inexpensive CD, so you get to see lots more pictures than you otherwise would).

I think you can see his dad in this one (maybe it's the ears? or the gap between the front teeth?)

 You've got to love new permanent teeth. At least they're straightening out.

 Andrew wanted to do a crazy pose, so we let him. We will not, however, be ordering lots of this.

 This pose is quintessential Evelyn.

 Oliver wasn't super happy by the time we got his pictures, but if we wasn't smiling big, at least we still got some cute pics of his fat cheeks.

 We had a hard time getting the two oldest to both smile at the camera at the same time.

 Evelyn looks like she's trying to bite Oliver here. He doesn't seem to excited either!

Singing with the Birds--by Andrew Eves

This is the story Andrew entered in Reflections. I thought it was pretty good for a six year old. I typed this pretty much verbatim as he told it to me.

The first time I went bird watching, I didn’t know what to expect. I was both excited and nervous. We drove to a place where there was a path with lots of trees. It was called Rock Canyon.

At first there were lots of sparrows, then there was a few Red-tailed Hawks who were looking for a meal.  After a few minutes, there were 20 robins perched on a tree near the rocky path when I walked down the path with my mom. 

I looked up and saw something. I didn’t know what it was. It was colorful and it had a black mask over its eyes.

I asked my mom what it was.

She looked in her bird guide and said, “It’s an American Kestrel.” Then she said, “A kestrel is a type of falcon that is small. It’s a bird of prey. It is a fast diver. It eats insects and small birds.”

The kestrel swooped suddenly. It startled me. And then I saw what it was after, and why it had dived. It was chasing after a wounded Mourning Dove. The dove wasn’t able to fly very well. Then the kestrel swooped down and caught it.

It was so amazing, I could hardly believe my eyes. There were more kestrels swooping around after more small birds. And then I saw that they were all grouping together to eat their catch. Then I realized that that’s what bird watching was about. It was about seeing the beauty of nature, and seeing how other animals keep nature alive. It was so fun.

Me and my mom went bird-watching a lot. I’m going to tell you a little story about one of my favorite bird-watching trips. We drove along the road in Provo and I was looking out the window when I saw this huge group of sparrows near a green pasture eating seeds and insects. There were some grasshoppers and ants that they were eating. There were sunflower seeds, too. 

Later, we stopped by this big post, near a dead-end street. There were lots of rocks and some campers. 

I was looking up at the sky, watching some pigeons do a little dance and then they suddenly got startled. I wondered what startled them. Then they began to dance again and again they got startled. That’s when I saw it. 

A red-tailed hawk.

And then I looked up again and saw another one. Then I realized they were a pair. I thought they were catching food for a baby chick that was covered in fuzz. And then, a few of the pigeons got caught. Then the hawks flew off.

That is the story of how I went bird watching. It was so magical. Maybe you should go out and explore nature too.

The End

Reflections

 They announced the school Reflections winners at the end of a Veteran's Day assembly last Monday. Andrew won in two categories: Photography and 3-D art. (Of course, there were only a few entrants in each category--still, I'm proud of him for coming up with something to enter). He did *not* win in literature, a fact which, it must be admitted, wounds his mother's pride. Oh well.

He was pretty pleased with his medals, in any case. However, there was a little kindergarten girl who must have entered every category she could. After watching he walk away with *four* medals, Andrew turned to me and said, "Mom, next year, I want to enter *all* the categories." Um, yeah. Good luck with that, kid. I congratulated the little girl's parents (I have a pretty good idea how long it took them to help her assemble her entries), and they laughed and said that they knew better now; next year, they're only going to enter 2-3 categories.

 

 Here's the photograph Andrew took (and composed) and his sculpture. The sculpture, in case you can't tell, is Oliver wearing a pumpkin hat and laying on his little gym. The theme for this year was "the magic of a moment" and Andrew, somewhat conflating magic and miracle, decided that Oliver would work for his entries, given that his birth is, for us, a kind of miracle.

Andrew started Tae Kwon Do two weeks ago; this week was his second time attending. Part of the attraction is that his best friend has been attending for some months. Another part of the attraction is that I'm sure Andrew envisions himself as a real life ninja (we have strictly forbidden that he practice his forms on his sister). I think he's starting to realize that it will be harder than he anticipated to get to black belt, though--after his first class, he confidently predicted it would be a matter of weeks. I think he has a slightly more realistic perspective now.

I'm hoping this will be good for him--a way to channel his physical energy that promotes respect (and isn't highly competitive). Also, I'm really impressed with his teacher, who charges a nominal fee ($25 a month) and then donates all of the money to the local women and children's crisis center.

The only tricky thing, so far, is that Tae Kwon Do falls right after Evelyn's swim lessons, so Andrew has to sit through her lesson with me, then Evelyn has to wait for Andrew's class to start before we get her home, which means a late bedtime for everyone.

I had a minor scare this week: Thursday, we had dinner with Bubby and Poppy at the Pizza Factory. The adults ordered the salad bar. I had just started mine when I started choking--on mandarin oranges of all things! Still, it lodged in my throat and I couldn't get it down; for a little while I actually couldn't talk, which is when you know it's serious. Dan did a modified Heimlich on me and enough came up that I could swallow and talk. It left me a little shaky for the rest of the meal, though. All I could think was: what will happen to my children if I can't get this out? Not fun. However, the kids enjoyed their dinner. We don't get out much now, for obvious reasons.

One of the things I enjoy about having another boy is getting to put him in Andrew's old outfits. Here's a picture of Andrew at 3 months, wearing a Beaver sweater that Laurie and Matt gave us while they were living in Oregon.

And here's Oliver in the same sweater. Blue eyes notwithstanding, I don't think anyone will have trouble telling that these boys are related: round head, fat cheeks, button nose . . . check.

Oliver discovered his fingers this week and has since been busy trying to stuff them in his mouth as frequently as possible. I can't wait till he discovers his toes!

Evelyn watched this photo shoot and so insisted on being part of it. She sure loves the camera (it seems to love her too). Dan says we're in for trouble in a few years.

Oliver hit his five month mark on Friday. It's hard for me to believe it's been five months since his tumultuous entrance. When he was in the hospital, some days it felt like we'd never leave. And yet he's been home now for two and a half months. And he gets bigger and stronger every day. We're pushing 14 lbs now.

Since this is the season of Thanksgiving, it seems only right to note how grateful we are to have Oliver in our lives. And Evelyn. And Andrew. For all the trouble they sometimes occasion, we wouldn't trade them for anything.

Happy Veteran's Day

 I don't come from a heavily military family--but I am grateful for the military men in my life. Both of my grandfather's served in WWII. My dad's dad (left) was a radio clerk in Australia; my mom's dad was a Marine in the South Pacific (where he fought at, among other places, Guadalcanal, and was among the first marines to go into Nagasaki after the peace treaty). I love and admire both these men a great deal--and wish I could still tell them that. Maybe someday.

(Incidentally, these photos are courtesy of Andrew's school project--if he hadn't come home pestering me to know about veterans in our family, I wouldn't have, in turn, pestered my parents for pictures. I'm so glad I did!)

News from the week.

Evelyn informed me, "Mommy, I like a boy and he likes me." Apparently one of her preschool friends held her hand in gym. Not two days after that, a mom of another preschool student told me she thought her son had a crush on Evelyn because he talked about her all the time. Should I be worried?

Speaking of my charming children, today was the primary program. I love the primary program. I love listening to my children sing their guts out. I'm not quite sure I love the fact that Andrew doesn't seem to know the difference between singing loud and shouting. He told me afterwards that he wanted to make sure everyone could hear him.

They could. Friends who were sitting in the back of the chapel told me afterwards, "I could hear your boy."

Otherwise, I was proud of both of them. They sang with vigor and vim; they threw themselves into hand motions (when appropriate); and Andrew knew his part really well. I realized that we forgot to work with Evelyn on her part when, half-way through her single sentence, she turned to the leader who was prompting her and said "What?" in a loud stage whisper that made everyone giggle. Evelyn was probably the only sunbeam who sang all the songs. She also danced along to the music. She blew me a kiss. And she tried to wink at me.

I love my kids.

Oliver (and hence, his dad) didn't go to the program. But we love Oliver, too. I took him in to the doctor's for a diaper rashy thing that won't go away, and, of course, they weighed him. He's up to 13 lbs 7 oz. I know you're probably sick of the weight updates, but it's still such a miracle to me that my tiny, fragile baby is now a fat, healthy boy.

And look! He's starting to push off his tummy. (The little bit of spit-up by his mouth is also appropriate, since we call Oliver the "spit-up man" since he spits up with alarming regularity. The spit up doesn't, however, seem to affect his growth, so we're told not to worry about it).

This is Halloween

First, a little catch-up. Week before last was red-ribbon week at Andrew's school. One day was crazy hair day. Andrew's hair is still short (he's growing out his buzz), so we couldn't get it to go too crazy--but we did spray paint it red and I think he was pleased. Don't ask me what's going on behind this facial expression. I don't know. 

And then it was the week of Halloween. My kids have been looking forward to this for months. Evelyn had her preschool Halloween party a day early, so we dressed her up. In a radical departure from the previous years' princesses, she decided to be a witch this year, green skin and all. But she was quick to reassure people that she was a "nice witch."

A couple funny Evelyn-isms from this week:

We were driving in the car and she told me, "Mommy, I'm an animal. You're an animal, too." She paused for a moment, thinking. Then she asked, "Mommy, is Heavenly Father an animal?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that one.

A few days later (on Halloween), we were walking to Andrew's school to pick him up. She told me, "Mommy, some people wear bracelets on top of their teeth." It took me a minute to figure out that she actually meant braces.

I tried to make Halloween festive--I have to admit I haven't been up to much of anything fancy recently, and doing the little we did for Halloween was difficult. (Oliver cried through most of anything that took a significant amount of time.) But I'm glad I did it.

I started with some butterscotch oatmeal--we tried to die it orange, but only ended up with a dull pumpkin color, despite using *lots* of food coloring.

That afternoon, Andrew had a friend over and we did our first ever attempt at making chocolate candies with molds. Considering that I was trying to help a 4-year-old and two 6-year-olds, I think these turned out pretty well. (This is, however, one of the activities during which Oliver cried the whole time, so it was more stressful than it should have been).

 For dinner, we had wrapped mummies, witches fingers (sweet-potato fries), and steamed brains (cauliflower) with cheese sauce.

And then, of course, we went trick-or-treating. Andrew, as the red ninja (aka Kai, from Ninjago). His costume isn't exact, but it was red, which was all he cared about. He was particularly excited about the weapons on his back: two swords and two daggers.

 Oliver made a brief appearance in his shark costume. He was tired, so he lasted just long enough to get a couple of pictures.

 I think this is the first appearance Dan has made in a picture for some time. Dan manned the fort (and baby) while I took the older kids out. We made it farther this year than we have yet--and were stroller-free for the first time! But I think we'll be using the stroller again next year.

 

Andrew has also been industriously working on entries for the Utah PTA Reflections contest. Our school deadline was Friday, so I think it's safe to share his masterpieces. This year's theme was "The Magic of the Moment," but you'll notice a distinct trend in how Andrew interpreted the theme.

Here's a sculpture Andrew made. If you can't tell what this is--it's Oliver doing tummy time in his play yard. (That big yellow thing that's almost as big as Oliver is the bird toy that hangs from the bars over the play yard).

 And here's a picture Andrew took--also of Oliver.

 He wrote a story, too. I'll post that another time. It probably took me almost as long to assemble his entries (with the entry forms, signatures, etc.--the sculpture required digital pictures on a CD and a 5x7 picture of the entry) as it did for Andrew to do the originals. I'm starting to appreciate the level of parental involvement in some of the really outstanding kids I know!

We'll let you know how he does.

And of course, we can't sign off without some new pictures of Oliver. You're welcome.