A day of rest.

This past Sunday turned out to be one of those glorious days where everything seemed restful, relaxing and right with the world. Jeremy headed back for a 24 hour shift in the wee hours of the morning and when the kids wandered down just before 8am, they snuggled with me before we turned into a whirlwind of getting ready for church, scarfing breakfast and jumping into the car. At church they sat in their chairs, read their bibles and listened intently to the beautiful Ugandan Children's Choir sing as guests. I got teary eyed at the beauty of it all - the children singing, my kids so contentedly reading, and a couple of my favorite hymns in the lineup that morning. After a smooth Sunday School drop-off, I decided that we'd head to the store on the way home and make this a full day of festive treats for us. I told them they could choose their lunch and dinner and the kids picked out oatmeal, apples, mac 'n cheese and veggie sausages for their lunch and dinner. What a combo. And then (the creme de la creme), they got to choose a special toy or craft to share with each other and play with for the day. Parker chose a little toy motorcycle and race car (Everly could hardly contain her excitement, I'm sure) and Evie chose modeling clay. Good choice, Ev. The gift that keeps on giving and never dries out. After that, we enjoyed approximately 5.75 hours of continuous play with said items. Well worth it. :)

These are some of their artistic renderings in clay. From left to right, they are a seal, a cat, a nest with a bird in it, and an elephant. Obviously.

Snow Awesome!

One of the major things we do as a family is ski together. Every weekend. All weekend. All winter long.

Parker turned 5 in January and this is his 4th year skiing. He started when he was a little under two. Everly, in an effort to keep up with big brother, started skiing when she was 18 months old. This is her second year skiing at the age of two and a half. Jeremy and I are unbelievably proud of both of them. They ski in rain, snow or sun without complaint. They take some major falls, try some big turns, and sometimes end up having to go down some pretty steep slopes, all without complaint. Parker added using poles this year to his repertoire in addition to skiing anything and everything. I mostly hear him yelling "LOOK AT ME!" while he shoots past me on a black diamond run. This kid has some passion. And bravery.


And God bless Jer for snowplowing Everly down almost every run we take while she's still on the harness. This sweet little girl who is so full of life is all about two things on the hill: dad and going fast. She's still on the harness because when we try to get her to practice stopping (which she is fully capable of) she yells "NO! ONLY WHEN I GET TO THE BOTTOM!".


We self imposed the Dad Only rule after we had a few incidents when I tried to take her harness straps for a few runs and let Jeremy ski with his boy. Everly told me she only wanted dad, but we figured it wasn't a big deal. Then, from top to bottom, while skiing under the chairlift with a few hundred people on it she yelled "SOMEBODY help me! PLEASE! Someone come help me! PLEASE! Can anyone hear me? COME HELP ME!" over and over. And over. It's unlikely that anyone is going to kidnap this little gal and force her to ski some runs with them, but the situation still doesn't look quite right to the bystanders. So, dad it is. Over and over. And over.

The mice will play...

I had the pleasure of some time (ohmygosh.areyoukiddingme?!) to myself the past weekend. It was, in a word, LOVELY. I hung out with my mom and perused some discount stores for cheap frames and a plastic soap dish the kids can't break. We tried on silly hats and nearly wet our pants laughing at how funny we both are. We went out to lunch and ran a couple errands. We also finished our sentences, had complete thoughts and caught up more in a few kid free hours than we can over the course of a month of visits. I then fit in two girlie birthday parties, one filled with wine, cheese and laughter and the other filled with dancing, cupcakes, and laughter. I took the rest of the weekend and started and/or finished up 1.3 million projects that I've been meaning to get to for the last year (I'm rounding down by 2 years. Some of those projects have been laying around half finished for at least 730 days). Some were glamorous (I FINALLY COVERED OUR UGLY STOOLS!) and some were necessary (NO MORE RUBBERMAIDS OF TOO SMALL KID CLOTHES IN THE HALLWAY!). I wrapped up some of my freelance design work and I started painting some frames. I feel contentedly exhausted from the fun, frivolity and sheer amount of stuff I was able to get done in nearly 2 days. Why didn't I appreciate time more before I had kids? :)

My newly covered stools and in the background, the kids' artwork frame I made.

Snowmageddon

Yesterday, Jeremy had the kids for the third snow-day in a row while I caught up at work this week. I think the days have teetered between having a blast in the snow and feeling cooped up and stuck at home for these three. Yesterday was made better with a neighborhood sledding extravaganza. The big kids made jumps. :)

Snow Day

For as long as I can remember, I have looked forward to snow days with glee. The best was when the weather forecaster would predict a trace of snow and we'd wake up to a blanketed 6 inch deep neighborhood of white. School was always cancelled for my neighborhood growing up because we lived in an area that didn't have a snow-route, so even with a late start or snow routes, we had a day off.


When I was teaching, I probably looked forward to snow days even more than my younger elementary self (if that's possible). A free day with an excuse to knit by the fire and go for long snowy walks was even better as an adult skipping work.


We woke up this morning to over 12 inches of snow in our neighborhood. School days were cancelled, everyone was snowed in, and the kids took advantage of some extreme sledding. I walked out to our main road and hitched a ride to work with a co-worker before the sun was up and walked down our snowy driveway after dark tonight. This was my first snow day spent outside the home and having to work. While I missed the free-day and getting snowy-cozy at home, I felt pretty awesome at work as our boss kept referring to us as his bad-ass girls for coming in while every office around us was closed. I'll take being awesome in exchange for one of my snow days just for today.

Filled with friends

We spent time with some play friends both visiting us on Friday morning, and then followed the joyful noise with our dear friends spending the weekend. Parker and Everly were in friend heaven. Parker asked his playdate friends to spend the rest of the day and invited everyone for a sleepover. Sadly, all the moms didn't think 6 kids, 5 and under made for a good sleepover (or maybe that was just me, thinking of hosting). He also offered for everyone to come back for "twenty days".


Thankfully, the sadness of the quick playdate ending was followed by our friends visiting for the weekend with their daughter and new son. Parks and Evie were elated. This little sweetheart, Aveline, is better known in our family as Avalanche. She's been our little Avalanche since she was a couple months old and most of the dolls around our house are named after her. A big surprise to me was that her new little brother, Everson, stole the show. Especially for Parker.

After begging to hold Everson all weekend, and insisting that they could walk around and bounce him if he got fussy, Parker and Everly informed me that they would like a little brother or sister. Um, what now? Then Parker proceeded to "check my stomach" for babies.

"Yup. There's one in there, mom. You're going to have to squeeze to get that baby out. Now, squeeze. Squeeze harder. I SAID SQUEEZE! See? No baby yet. You're not trying hard enough."

I think we've got some background teaching to do about this whole baby thing.


Most of the time with our friends, Gabe and Tirzah, were spent with us trying to pressure them into moving back to Bellingham. We pointed out the unbelievable benefits; The Bagelry! Mount Baker! The City of Subdued Excitement! Safe places for children! No traffic! US! Playdates with US! Wine nights with US while the kids play! US! Then we offered for them to move into our basement. I think they thought we were kidding. We weren't. Hear that, Gabe and Tirzah? We weren't. The moving vans will be there on Friday. I'm giving you a few extra days to tie up loose ends.

High-Five!

A week ago Parks turned five. We celebrated at the cabin, without phone, internet, or other various amenities, so I'm finally wishing him a happy birthday on the one week anniversary.

To my Sweet Parker.
You are a five year old force to be reckoned with. You came into this world with a level of tenacity that was unmatched in this family and you have stayed true to yourself throughout your five young years. You have your own individual thoughts and ideas (and always have!), you are a problem solver, a thinker, and a puzzle extraordinaire. You enjoy a little banter, and a challenge as long as you succeed by the second try. You have a natural talent for skiing, biking, building, and engineering. You are practicing and enjoying drawing and reading. You have no patience for your sister. Your favorite days are spent outside exploring, moving, and collecting. You are happiest when your entire family is together (even your sister). You have witty comments at every turn and arguing with you is hopeless because of your lawyer-like questioning skills. I accuse you of "leading the witness" a lot. You have a zest for life and you try to capture everyone in your sweeping excitement for even the littlest of things. This is going to be a big year full of firsts, and I can't wait to see you move through them. I love you.

Love,
Mom

Over the River . . . (and in the woods)

This past week we went to my parent's log cabin in Plain. We were looking forward to a week of skiing, sledding and walking to the only little store in town with the sleds in tow. However, a few weeks of warm weather and no new snow on top of Everly's broken arm changed our plans a bit.

We love being on the go and we'll pack up the kids for an overnight adventure somewhere almost every week. We always look forward to it because we make the most of our time away (keep it moving and pack in the fun!). So this week was a little different when it consisted of watching (a lot) of movies, sledding some, and heading to Leavenworth just once. I figured out that despite the fact that the kids had great behavior, and rolled with the quietness of this vacation, I'm not sure that a more "restful" vacation left me feeling more rested. Am I an adrenaline junky? Not likely. But I know now that I love the quick rhythm of our time away and I'm just as thankful for those busy (exhausting!) experiences as I am for this one that made me relax, relax, relax. I also found that those "peaceful" hours spent in a homey cabin in the woods can also result in one birthday for a rather awesome five year old (more on that later), two finished hats for the kids, sledding, s'mores, one befriended grouse, two books read cover to cover, another one started, a sleigh-ride, one minor black eye, and hours upon hours to almost finish making an intricate necklace. :)

Here's some of the highlights of our time away:

Whole family sledding trip.

I am rocking the sled course and *so not* scared (eh, maybe a little)

S'mores around the winter fire.

Parks, quite proud of his first (slightly charred) marshmallow he "cooked" himself.

The first day of Everly's black eye. It got more colorful, but too sad to document!

Parker telling some stories by the fire.

Grandpa gets in on the storytelling.

Parks demonstrating how to iceskate.

Preparing for the annual birthday sleigh-ride.

Our horses this year were a mother-son team; befitting for the momentous birthday of FIVE!

Some morning snuggling.

Playing by the river.

Everly insisted we should go rafting.

The very friendly, and not so smart grouse we (Jeremy) befriended.