A Year of Outtakes

I upload all of my pictures to Google+. The folks at Google (or their robot servants) put together a little movie of my photos. The thing is, most of the snapshots they picked are outtakes, not-quite-perfect variations of better pictures. I guess that's fitting since none of us are perfect. So here are some of the pictures that didn't quite make it onto the blog before. Consider it our blooper reel.



So long 2014, hello 2015.

Happy New Year!

The Big One

The week before Christmas something very exciting happened at our house. Sweet Sophie turned one year old! Her older siblings counted down the days until this important event and were thrilled when it arrived. Peter and Cooper collaborated on this birthday banner and were so pleased that they could make something for Sophie's special day.

We discovered back in September that we don't have any lighters in the house, one of the outcomes of a moving company packing and shipping your belongings. We all chuckled as Phoebe pretended to blow out her candles and I mentally jotted down the word lighter onto the shopping list in my brain. Well, it turns out I don't read that list as thoroughly as I should and I never bought the lighter, so Sophie had an unlit candle on her birthday banana muffin. That's okay, I didn't really want my newly minted one-year-old playing with fire anyway.

Sophie wasn't sure what to make of the gifts at first.

She caught on pretty quickly though.

She loved the paper - wrapping paper, tissue paper, clothing tags, it didn't matter - that was her favorite part.

See, more paper.

I should correct my earlier statement. The paper was her second favorite part. Hearing the Happy Birthday song was her favorite. She would grin when we sang it or played it, which prompted us to sing it and play it a lot.

One is a big birthday at our house. It means you're now allowed to have screen time. We watched The Muppet Christmas Carol as a family on the night of her birthday. I think she liked that I didn't turn her away every time she tried to watch, as I'd done for the year previous.

Here are a few things about Sophie at age one:

• She is crawling and pulling herself to stand on anything and everything.
• She has started to cruise a little and she is careful and skilled at sitting back down after standing. 
• She loves books and baby dolls and will kiss the latter whenever prompted. 
• She also will kiss her family members with big, sloppy, face-grabbing kisses. 
• She is curious and likes to climb into small spaces to investigate them. The big kids have started yelling out "Baby alert!" whenever she goes somewhere they deem unsafe.
• She's not so interested in baby food anymore, but is still getting used to regular table food. 
• She still nurses, though not as often during the day. 
• She says several words including Dada, Mama, na (which means food), dao (which means doll and yes, it does sound different than Dad), hi, bye, and her newest word bumpa (which means Grandpa). 
• She loves to clap, wave, blow kisses, click her tongue, and say "bababababa" which she started doing after I demonstrated what a chicken says.
• She is judicious with her smiles and laughs, unless your name is Peter, Cooper, or Phoebe, then she'll laugh and smile at pretty much anything you do. 
• She is sweet-natured and loves to snuggle.

Happy birthday Sophie!

Little Artists

Our illness coincided with a visit from my parents and grandma who had come all the way from southern California. The original plan was to have them stay at our house, but pesky things like vomit and intense stomach cramps made that difficult. Instead, they slept at a nearby hotel and came over each day to spend time with the healthy and to take care of the plague-ridden. I'm so thankful they risked catching our germs so we could see them. And I think they appreciated sleeping in a place where small people couldn't wake them up each morning.

One of the highlights of the visit was an art lesson from Grandma Bonnie. Some of the students were more attentive than others. During the first round (it was a two-part lesson) she taught them to draw an ocean and a palm tree. Cooper drew a lovely ocean and palm tree. Phoebe gave her best effort to draw the scene. Peter drew an owl.

The second round went a little better. Everyone followed directions and even painted the same picture. Cooper kept thanking her for the art lesson. While all the kids loved it, I think it was especially wonderful for him. And bonus, my Grandma didn't feel like pulling all her hair out in frustration at the conclusion of the tutorial. Any activity with my children that doesn't leave you feeling frustrated and overwhelmed is a success in my book!

Thank you Grandma Bonnie! We love you!

Oh, and I didn't hesitate at all when typing those exclamation points. I mean them deeply.

The Caretakers

Eight years ago, during Peter's first Christmas, our entire family was struck down by the stomach flu. And by entire, I mean uncles and aunts and grandparents and cousins. Everyone. It was a memorable few days.

This year at least the sickness had the decency to wait until the day after Christmas to start knocking us off. Half of us have been sick, with an additional person showing a few symptoms, but not the full blown yuck. Two of us remain untouched, so far.

Maybe Cooper and I should sequester ourselves from the germs. But then, who would take care of everyone else?

Share the Gift

Merry Christmas!

This Elf Puts In Overtime

My big project was supposed to have been done a week ago. But, as I wrote on the blog, that didn't happen. I put it down for a day and let my brain rest. When I picked it back up I had a new perspective on how it needed to come together. I've put in many hours in the last six days. So many hours that Christmas has caught me by surprise. Bryan spent today doing several of my usual pre-Christmas jobs while I worked on my computer.

The project is done. I finished it just a few minutes ago. It's almost twice as long as I thought it would be. And, thanks to some tutoring from Bryan on graphic design and publishing, it's so much better than I thought it would be. I still can't give it to the children tomorrow because now I have to turn it over to someone else, but at least I can show them pictures of how it will look.

This elf is happy that her Christmas project is done. And now, I'm off to stuff oranges into stockings...

Call Me, Maybe

Phoebe does not like nicknames. Recently she has started reminding us to only call her by her name. Bryan often makes up funny variations of the kids' names, but Phoebe let us know that she does not approve.

I overheard this conversation today:

Bryan: Come here, Phoebe-ma-lee-be.
Phoebe: Dad, you can't call me that. You can only call me Phoebe. Or sweetheart.

The Punctuation Dilemma

I over think my punctuation. How can I not? Each little comma or period can convey so much information. Returning a text message can be a laborious process for me because I write, then rewrite each reply. Add in that pesky and completely unofficial punctuation: the smiley face, and I simply have too many options.

Tonight I wrote a text to my neighbor. Then I added an exclamation point. Not because I regularly use that particular mark, but because compared with the exclamation-filled message I was replying to, my plain "You're welcome" came off as downright morose.

After rereading the note, I switched the exclamation point for a period and added the peppy punctuation to the concluding sentence. Sometimes I feel disingenuous using exclamation points in my writing. I'm not sure why, because I certainly use them liberally when I'm speaking. I'm so dramatic and expressive in person, but rather understated when I communicate via the written word.

My favorite punctuation remains the ellipses, because it leaves so much to the imagination...

The Rock Rocks Out

As part of his tenure as Rock Star of the week, Peter brought in pictures to decorate a bulletin board outside his classroom. Bryan and I had a meeting with his teacher today, so we were able to see the visual proof of his special week. 

I think it's interesting to see what he deemed important enough to share with his class. 

Rock Star Peter

Peter is the "Rock Star of the Week" for his class. Bryan and I were given the assignment to write a letter about Peter, letting his class know what a great kid he is. Bryan wrote his first. I read through it and then tried hard not to duplicate it. So that I can remember all of the great traits that Peter has right now, I'm posting that letter here.

Peter is awesome. He has a lot of special gifts and talents that have always impressed me. He loves to see people happy and will try hard to make sure everyone is laughing and having fun. Peter is a very good friend. Once Peter was playing at a park and saw another little boy who wasn't playing with anyone, so Peter invited the boy to play and encouraged everyone to include the boy. He tries hard to make others happy.

Peter is very creative. He loves art projects and will often spend hours Imagineering fantastic worlds and build them out of bits of paper and cardboard. He loves to write stories and can remember most of the stories that I've told him. He also builds cool things in Minecraft and Terraria.

He has a great memory - it is nearly photographic. He can absorb information from books like a sponge can water. He loves to share and teach. He is a natural leader, and will often have others following his lead. When he decided he likes something he will focus on it relentlessly. He reads more than anyone I know, and has finished lots of hard books.

Peter is good at basketball and is a fast runner.

Most of all, Peter is my friend.

I love you Peter,

Dad

Peter is awesome. He loves to go on adventures. He has lived in every time zone in the continental United States. He’s visited Seattle, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Chicago, Green Bay, Washington DC, and NYC. Someday he wants to visit Paris and he thinks the Eiffel Tower is really cool. He’s played in the Pacific Ocean in California and in Oregon and has been to Mount Rushmore.

He has a big family. In addition to his mom and dad and brother and two sisters, he has nine uncles, six aunts, four grandparents, and three living great-grandparents. He met his great-great-grandma when he was a baby. Family is important to Peter.

Peter is great at helping with his baby sister. She was born nine days before he turned eight and he works hard to be a good big brother to her. He also comes up with fun, crazy, inventive games to play with his brother and other little sister.

Peter is always moving! When he was a baby we had to swaddle him (a special way to wrap a little baby in a blanket) so he would sleep. Otherwise he would wiggle and keep himself awake. He loves to jump and bounce and run and dance.

Peter eats a lot. He eats more than I do. He eats more than his dad does. Sometimes, he eats more than both of us combined. When he was little he was picky, but he’s not anymore, which I think is great. He’s a good cook. He made a delicious apple pie for Thanksgiving and helped make dinner for our family earlier this week.

Life is never dull with Peter.

I love you Peter!

Mom