windthefrog

double take

Last night when Garrett went to get ready for bed and came out dressed like this:

I had to go to YouTube to show him Tom Cruise singing in Risky Business.

waiting for santa

the halls are decked,

performances performed,

Santa visited (well, for Brynne, anway...)

snow received (well...trace amounts : )),

snow created,

cookies baked,

holiday classics watched,

field trips enjoyed,

lights admired,

stockings hung,

church hymns sung,

obligatory new pajamas opened,

cookies and milk left out for santa,

and now we wait.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

officially eleven

Garrett's birthday always comes right at a crazy time of year: school is back in session, soccer is in full swing, and somehow we can't quite get our act together to have his party right away. He's never quite sure whom to invite... friendships can sometimes shift right at the beginning of school.

This year was especially lame as I was out of town on a business trip until the afternoon of his birthday and made it home just in time to pick up mud pie ingredients and greet Garrett at home where he was already buried in homework. Rich and Brynne had soccer practice, so it was a skeleton crew at home to celebrate. I considered just taking Garrett out for a birthday dinner, but he had too much homework even for that. So I dashed out and got him Taco Bell, which he ate while doing his work. Ah, the tough life of a middle schooler!

We finally had a party for him this weekend. We only sent invites out on Tuesday so we weren't sure who would be in town. But it worked out perfectly. Three friends could come and they were the most compatible foursome. I was expecting kids swinging from the chandelier, but they were calm, polite, and super fun. : ) We went to the aquatic center for fun in the water for a few hours, then came back where Garrett had requested that Rich grill his famous hamburgers. They ate burgers as big as their heads, then washed it down with birthday cake that looked like a hamburger too. : )

They watched movies, played Wii and battled with their Bakugan 'til the wee hours (or so they tell me. I went to bed at 10) and I never heard a peep. This morning they were all sacked out and it was neat as can be in the family room. I tell you, these boys can come over any time.

I have reminded Garrett that he has about 350 days to get it together for the next party... tune in next year to see if we do any better with our time management!

 

quality time

The other day after many requests from Garrett, I got each of the kids their own email address. I thought it could be a good way for them to keep in touch with family and practice their reading, writing and typing skills. I sent each of them their first email so when they logged into the account they'd have something waiting for them.

I wrote:

Hi Brynne!
You have your very own email account now so you can write to people and they can write you back. How fun! I am excited to send you your very first email. I love you!!!

Love, Mom

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

: )

She wrote back:

Thank you Mommy for the e mail . I love you mommy . Tomorrow can we spend some time together?

Yes. Yes we can. Life gets so crazy around here and with work and my commute and soccer practice it's hard to find time. But I canceled my plans and we set out for a lovely little nature walk, just she and I. She packed us a little picnic of carrots, wheat thins and clementines - adorable. We walked, and talked, and explored, and she kept exclaiming, "This is so fun!!"





We found the ducks and she fed them the bread that she had packed for them. She was hilarious, talking to them and calling out their names like she had always known them. Names like Flapper, Sir Eats a Lot, Nimbus 2000 and Lumberjack Jimmy were just rolling off her tongue. She cracks me up.



We were probably gone less than an hour, but it was a good reminder that quality time beats quantity time any day.

reunion!!

OK, I am rededicating myself to posting. There will be a lot of catching up but for now, photos of our super fun reunion BBQ last weekend in Pleasanton! The last time we all got together, Brynne and Nick were newborns and Brianna and Evan weren't born yet. That is waaaay too long to not see each other! Since Lynn and Jose and crew were down from Oregon the time was right for a get together. We had a blast at Dan and Cyndi's amazing pool and enjoyed catching up. Here are a few photos from the day:

Isn't the backyard amazing? Do you think they'll mind if I move in?

Theresa, Lynn and Cyndi trying to stay cool. I of course am not in any photos because I was always behind the camera!

The men, trying to stay cool. Except for Jose, who was slaving over a hot BBQ to bring us a wonderful lunch.

I was so thrilled to get a shot of all the kids. It wasn't until a minute ago that I realized, where is Andy?? This must be a constant question when you have more kids than two. They are quick little suckers and it's hard to keep track of them all! So, I bring you a shot of almost all of the kids:

You can see the grownups trying to stay cool all huddled under this umbrella. Note Jose's expression: this is the face of a dad trying to make sure his youngest doesn't drown. He takes his job seriously.

I love this shot.

Such a cutie : )

I can't get over how grown up these girls are!

I remember Rich and I taking care of KC one night when she was a newborn so Brian and Theresa could go out. And now she is this beautiful young woman. I used to always hate it when my parents' friends would go on and on about how grown up I had gotten, but it just has to be done. : )

Mr. Handsome!!!

In happier times before Brynne's near back-breaking dive into the innertube...

This shot is on here because there's a sliver of Andy in it. I have to prove he was there!

I love the hairdos!

I wish you could hear the screaming when Rich would spin them around on the innertube. Look at those open mouths!

What a fantastic day. We absolutely can NOT let 8 years pass by again without us all getting together!

when christmas presents go bad

Brynne never wavered in what she wanted from Santa this year - it was always this Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker.

She would show me the commercial and I think she could already visualize herself the new young Martha Stewart, passing out beautifully decorated cupcakes to all she passed. Santa came through, and we set to work making cupcakes the other night.

One of the big deals about this thing is that it makes a cupcake in the microwave in 30 seconds. We tried it out and sure enough, it baked... something... in 30 seconds.

It smelled horrid to me but vaguely resembled a cupcake. Brynne was thrilled. She was most excited about the icing part. You put the cupcake on the little machine and push the lever down and it is supposed to spin the cupcake while frosting it into a cute little spiral. Here is what we got:

As you can see she was a little bit bummed. : ) This thing was such a piece of junk and it wouldn't spin the cupcake. So we packed it up and took it back to Target. Brynne was super impressed that I could take it back to Target since Santa brought it to her. I told her to go look at the dollar aisle while I explained the situation to the nice Target people (and produced the receipt) : ) She says this is why Santa also brought her an American Girl doll. Because he brought her the cupcake maker, which is what she asked for, but gave her something else because he knew this thing was no good : ) Crisis averted!!

christmas - part 3: more blathering

So this is what the aftermath looked like in our house:

So Rich had a great gift for the boys. They each got a bag with PVC parts and instructions on how to make a marshmallow gun. They scrambled to assemble and get outside and try these suckers out! It was pretty hilarious. Later it was funny to see the marshmallow aftermath on the lawn too. : )

While the boys were pelting each other with marshmallows, the girls were enjoying some quiet time.

Later Stu, Meg, Luke and Mia came over - but somehow I managed to not get my camera out then?! Then we got cleaned up and got busy cooking to go over to the Spencer's for dinner:

It was quite a crowd! So fun to all be together. I love that Erik was at the kid's table. Just the way he wanted it. : )

Garrett was still in shock that Grandma Jill and Papa gave us a Wii for Christmas!

All in all, it was an amazing Christmas, filled with family, laughter, and love. And unpolished stocking holders. : )

christmas - part 2

After work ended I had a couple of days to pull it all together - even though I seemed like I was checking things off the list 7 weeks out, somehow I found myself just days before Christmas with barely any gifts, nothing wrapped, nothing baked, no food in the house for the guests arriving any time...  : @  I tried to not panic and just keep swimming. Mom and Andrew arrived and helped with a lot of the prep too, from bean snapping to baking.

Meanwhile, Team Ward was trying to get here from Seattle. Seattle had gotten a ton of unusual snow, and it was causing major headaches at the airport. There were delays and setbacks and then finally, they were able to get on a flight from Seattle to Reno and Rich, bless his heart, borrowed his dad's 4 wheel drive car and made the trek to Reno to bring them here (it was snowing in Reno, too). It was the best present of all when they got here!!

After a nice relaxed Christmas Eve dinner of lasagna, Jenny, Mom and I began making the Christmas magic happen. Erik did his part too : )

Did you know that this is what Santa's workshop looks like?

And happen it did!


When I look at these photos, I laugh a little remembering that we never got the star on the top of the tree this year (I love how it's just sitting on the piano) and the stocking holders never got polished... These are the kinds of things that drive me crazy, but I know it's not like the kids will look back and think, "Christmas was OK - if *only* the stocking holders were shinier!" I tried to let these things go this year and just relax and enjoy whatever we ended up with...and I think it was a success. : )

With so many people in the house this year, every square inch of floor was covered in sleeping people and air mattresses. I'm not sure how Santa managed to get any gifts out, but he did! the kids were good about waiting 'til we could get Muffy and Poppy up before getting to their gifts. They were so excited Erik had them work off a bit of it with some jumping jacks:

the kids checked out their stocking stuff while we got breakfast ready.

Erik made the most important part of breakfast.

How come when Jenny and I finally get in a photo together, we are unshowered and in pajamas??

Santa came through for everyone, as you will see. I'll post more in Part 3.

christmas - part 1: getting ready

The tree has been recycled. All the decorations are packed away for next year. It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone already. For all my stress to get all the preparations done in time, it has passed even more quickly. But it was a wonderful, wonderful time filled with so many good memories. Where to begin?

Every year we can't wait to get the tree Thanksgiving weekend and this year was no exception, especially since Thanksgiving came so late this year. The last few years we've gotten a pretty small tree and put it up on a table to give it some height. And every year Rich freaks out that the rickety table is too small to hold the heavy tree. And every year I tell him to get cracking on this box stand idea that I had. This year I convinced him nagged him to make it and he whipped it out just in time. It looked gorgeous!

I knew since last year when I spent hours taking all the ornaments off the tree and wrapping them in tissue - alone - that unless I had some serious help this year, they weren't coming out. I thought that I might change my mind over the course of the year, but when it was time to decorate this year I was still on board with the less is more idea. Instead of ornaments, we all cut paper snowflakes and hung them on the tree. It looked simple and pretty and I left the supplies out so that when people came over, they could help us fill the tree. I loved the look and best of all - the tree came down in under 15 minutes! : )

Since we were having so many people this year, I thought it would be fun to have stockings for all of us. I had an idea for green, white, red and black stockings - all different - and when I told mom, she sprung into action to make my dream a reality. She is so amazing.

Brynne had her Candyland Breakfast and performance at school. While I love this shot of the kids performing:

I like the one of the parent paparazzi better : )

Brynne got to see Santa there, where she asked for a cupcake maker.

A few nights later, it was Garrett's turn to be in a performance. He was really hoping to get a speaking part. One day he came home, disappointed, and said "I'm a window." And a window he was:

And it's not easy to be a window! All that holding perfectly still, and the constant changing of sets. He did a great job. : ) They got to come onstage and take a bow at the end, and when he looked out and saw all the people in the audience, he looked terrified. Maybe being a window was the perfect thing for him after all. : )

thankful

still catching up on these old posts... : )

Thanksgiving day was so relaxed and wonderful. We went to Rich's parents' in the evening for a nice dinner, but before that I had plenty of time to sit around and be thankful for all the little things. Like Brynne's happy little vignettes she leaves everywhere:

I took these photos in the nice morning light and just. I am so thankful for these two.

We decided to go on a nature walk. Before we even left the driveway, this ladybug landed on Garrett.

So we set out on our walk and with every step found beautiful nature and so many things to be thankful for.