11-30

my happy today is that while it wasn't a particularly exciting day, we got a lot done.  Washed folded and mostly put away 5 loads of laundry (my arch nemesis), rolled around on the floor a bunch with E and baby Z, got the girls back and forth to dance classes and best of all, got a great start on decorating for Christmas.

quote of the day: I was unpacking the pieces to our large Christmas village and passing them to the girls to put on the table.  Mostly stores and shops but a few houses too.  The girls exclaimed over all the details and people and when we got to the houses "This one is our house! How beautiful! And look, this one is for Papa and Grammy! and Grandpa can live here! and look at the red brick house! This must be for the aunties!"  So happy they want to have the aunties live with us in our little village!

my sad today is that baby Z is not sleeping at night.  He's so big and so happy and easy going.  He's such a flirt and has a beaming smile that can melt the world.  He'e active and wiggly, rolling around and SO close to crawling.  And he's SO LOUD! He squeals and coos and jabbers all day long, with ample volume and plenty of expressions.  Truly, he has been so fun and so sweet and such a good baby.  But he doesn't sleep!  He has slept through the night a handful of times which tells me he can, but most nights he wakes 2-3 times with a heart broken, anxious cry.  And if baby ain't sleepin, mama ain't sleepin.  After a sleepless night, he's much more cheerful in the morning than I am.

Thanksgiving 2016

Husband had to work late on Wednesday but the girls had the day off.  So we kicked off our holiday weekend with a pancake pajama party with some neighborhood friends.  We ate, we played, it was relaxed and lots of fun.  After all the friends left, we did some chores, ran some errands and got everything packed for a long weekend at Grammy’s house.  It was dark by the time husband got home and a snowstorm had just begun so I was glad he drove (but it was beautiful!)  We picked up two of our nieces on the way and tucked them into the car as well.  We got to Grammy and Papa’s just in time for a quick round of hugs and got all the girls in bed. (baby Z had to stay up and play awhile, he’s such a ham!)

Thursday was wonderfully spent playing and being lazy.  We postponed Thanksgiving dinner til Friday when more family could be there.  So in the meantime, we perused Black Friday ads, watched movies, played and had a fantastic Pie Day.  I made chicken pot pie for dinner while Grammy supplied four kinds of pies for dessert (so much food and so good).  Between servings of pie, we embarked on an epic conquest for world domination—of which, I won!  Grammy and I played Risk as a team against Husband, Papa and two friends spending the day with us.  Despite our limited experience, we conquered the world.  The girls played so good the whole time and were super cute setting up tea parties, reading books and playing in the toys.  Especially adorable was E and her cousin Afton, who is almost her age but half her size.  They played house together, taking very good care of their babies and E read several books to her in a very sweet and animated “storyteller” game. 

On Friday morning, we had our traditional pumpkin French toast bake for breakfast and then husband took the girls in the Jacuzzi while Grammy and I started cooking.  (except the turkeys.  The men started those in the smoker even before breakfast and the smell drifted in to tantalize us all day.) Family trickled in and the girls were thrilled to see cousins.  They had a blast playing and built a huge disco blanket fort and assigned everyone jobs to create their own little community.  Grammy engaged all the kids in a scavenger hunt with fantastic Thanksgiving themed games.  Dinner was amazing as we gathered around three long banquet tables to fit our wonderful and wonderfully crazy family.  We ate and ate and ate and played more games including a left/right mystery present game which was absolutely hilarious and the kids built race cars out of candy.  Eventually some family drifted away and some settled in to spend the night.  In the end we did very little shopping and had a great Thanksgiving day.

The kids were awake way too early on Saturday morning, especially the younger ones that haven’t learned the beauty of sleeping in yet.  More food, more playing and an unfortunately early departure took our family home to attend to dance commitments.  The girls were so sad to leave cousins but on the bright side, we stopped at a ski sale on the way home and were able to finish getting L and A set up for this season.  At home I took L to dance practice and we ran a few errands.  During L’s dinner break, we got our Christmas tree and then I hurried L over to the tree lighting ceremony.  I watched while they rehearsed onstage and then waited for the show to start.  The dance company performed a preview of the Nutcracker, just a few of the dances which just happened to include the mice scene.  So L got to dance in costume on stage and had a blast.  Since it was arranged short notice and over a holiday weekend, they were short on dancers and invited some audience members to participate.  So L got to have a volunteer shadow her through a few dance moves and taunting Clara.  The company also performed the Chinese dance and A got chosen as a volunteer.  She got to be part of the dragon and was ecstatic!  She has been so disappointed when we realized her dance class doesn’t perform in the winter show (I assumed her age’s classes would be in the preshow, as they have in previous years.  Turns out, they are not this year and she could have auditioned for Nutcracker but I misunderstood and missed it.)  So this was an especially good experience for her.

And then a long lazy Sunday was just what we needed to recover from the busy weekend.  We even made it on time for church.  My brother and his family came over for dinner, all of the kids were so good and cute during dinner and played so well after.  With 10 kids under age 8 it gets chaotic pretty quick but we had a great evening.

11-29

Quote of the day: E firing off babysitting advice to Dad, “When he wakes up, hurry to go pick him up and cuddle him into your shoulder.  And you have to change him.   And feed him dinner.  Two baby food jars and put oatmeal in the baby food.  Don’t forget a bib.  And there’s a bottle in the fridge.  Check the fridge for a bottle.  You have to warm it in the sink and make sure he doesn’t get any air when he’s drinking, just the milk….”

My happy today was listening to this crazy happy boy squeal all day long.  He is SO noisy!  He loves to jabber and squeal and vocalize. 

My sad today is that we are terrible at getting out of bed on time.  Oversleeping and/or sluggish equals grumpy and/or impatient and too often ends in a frantic dash to catch the bus, breakfast only half eaten and hair barely brushed.  Luckily Dad was home this morning and was able to drop the girls off at school, giving us an extra 20 minutes to get ready.

baby Z at 8 months

Baby Z is growing heartbreakingly fast.  He can sit unsupported (or at least until he gets distracted) and is edging his way closer to crawling.  He loves to plank up on his toes, or even scoots his knees under him but hasn’t quite figured out a forward motion yet.  My favorite is when he rocks himself into “downward dog” with his adorable bum high in the air. 

He sleeps in his crib now (despite my sad reluctance) and his sister is thrilled to share a room with him!  She even tries to wait up for him so they can go to bed at the same time.  And thankfully, he is finally sleeping through the night!  He was close for awhile, and then seemed to regress, waking multiple times a night .  It’s still unpredictable but he’s having longer sleep periods again and has even slept through the night a few times this month.  He typically naps twice a day although not as long as I remember the girls sleeping at this age.  He loves to sleep with a pile of blankets on him, including his fuzzy trucks blanket rubbing against his cheek.  In fact, he doesn’t like being rocked to sleep.  Sometimes he falls asleep on me out of pure exhaustion or while nursing, but other than that, he will thrash and wiggle until I lay him down, dump and armful of blankets and let him fall asleep on his own.  We've also learned to dress him carefully for bed, he has to be super warm or he won't stay asleep.

He loves his toys including his lion with colorful feet, his stuffed sea turtle, his jeep full of tiny animals and generally anything else he can chew on.  Most of all, he loves to eat!  He devours his baby food (only if thickened with oatmeal), unless he can see my dinner.  Then he wants to eat off my plate of course.  He won’t nurse during dinner either, insisting on sitting up and snacking from my plate.  He loves to play peek a boy and is very ticklish!  He thinks sneezing is hilarious and it launches him into a fit of giggles—doesn’t matter if it’s him or me that sneezed.  He loves when I sing to him, playing patty cake and taking baths.  Already he is a little daredevil and loves to be tossed in the air.  And he loves calling Daddy or Grammy on facetime!  I hold the phone up to him so he can see himself and hear the ringing and he gets so excited.  His beaming, irresistible smile is as charming as ever and he is such a flirt.  He gives me the best hugs, especially first thing in the morning, and his own very soggy, open mouth version of a kiss. 

40th anniversary

As soon as the girls were out of school Friday, we loaded up and headed north.  My parents had been told there was a family activity at 6:15 but given no details—not even an address.  I did give them cross streets as they drove closer and when they arrived, we were standing on the corner with a gaggle of ecstatic children and a cluster of red, black and white balloons above which danced a huge, silver “4” and “0” balloon—in honor of their 40^th anniversary.  We guided them into their surprise party at Color Me Mine.  They were surprised and excited and happy but best of all is when mom saw the mini-wedding cake, elegantly topped with a waltzing Mickey and Minnie in wedding attire.  The party was a huge hit and so fun.  The kids dove in the activity and began painting dinner plates.  In the center of each plate, they made a handprint, and then decorated around it.  Papa wrote their names; I love his handsome precise print.  And the plates turned out great! I was worried we would end up spending a lot of money on splatters and scribbles but they actually turned out really cute! And when all the plates are finished, Grammy and Papa will have a full set of 17 dinner plates.  (which they have decided they will hang as display instead of use and risk breaking)  As the kids finished painting, they helped themselves to the table heavy laden with fruits, veggies and pizza.  Once everyone finished dinner, we brought the cake over to Grammy and Papa for them to cut.  I didn’t know that they didn’t get to do that at their wedding reception so it was unexpectedly even more special than I hoped.  They cut the cake and fed each other, tastefully and teasingly smearing a little frosting.  They opened their gift and were so excited to find the invitations and masks for the following evening’s masquerade ball.  Soon we cleaned up and said goodbyes, having had a wonderful evening with all the kids for part one of their anniversary celebration.

Part two was Saturday night.  The adults met at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, lounging around for the considerable wait and then taking our time through dinner.  The food was good but the dessert is really what makes that restaurant.  (It’s a toss up who ordered better: the lemon meringue cheesecake or the hazelnut nutella cheesecake)  We took so long at dinner (late start plus an extremely long wait at the restaurant plus slow service, but all made okay with the great company and conversation) that we missed most of the dance. But we arrived in time for pictures and a few dances.  I got to slow dance with my husband and swing dance with my brother (we’re pretty rusty from our high school competition days but still a lot of fun).  It was such a great evening and a wonderful way to celebrate with my parents all weekend.  I absolutely love everything about them, they are some of the most amazing, most genuine, generous and talented people I know and I am SO grateful for them.

11-15

Today's happy was taking dinner to a friend.  She mentioned she wasn't feeling well so I surprised her and she was so grateful.  I absolutely adore her and got the impression today has been a really rough day, so glad I could help.

Today's sad was taking A to the doctor this morning.  She's had a stomach ache for three years.  We saw her pediatrician, did some tests, went to a specialist at the children's hospital, ran more tests and eventually made some progress.  But her stomach aches have been getting worse over the last few weeks so we started over.  I took her to our family doctor and he's starting from scratch to figure out what we can do for her.  So he's ordered a slew of tests and recommended a dairy free diet.


More happys from the weekend:
a lazy friday evening with the family, including smokin' hot husband.  We had tacos and played wii games and cuddled our babies.
we were actually on time for church and my primary lesson went great.
baby Z is getting SO close to crawling and he is the most adorable little stink bug.
I took the girls to a birthday party on Saturday, at their much loved Kamas pool.  E pranced around swimming and being a little imp and collecting more pool noodles than she could hang on to.  A and L spent a lot of time on the diving board.  A was fearless, jumping off with no hesitation.  L was a little more cautious and then showed off some impressive flips.  All three of them found friends to play with and had a great time.
And we added a new kitty to our family! Since losing Simba, we decided we would get another cat to  be a playmate for Apollo and for the girls to enjoy.  We fell in love with a beautiful cream colored cat with subtle stripes in his tail.  He's shy and sweet and a little nervous but warming up to us quickly.  We brought him home Saturday...and then on Monday we adopted his sister as well.  She's a patchwork of color and a little skittish as well but so soft.

Sads from the weekend:
A's constant stomach ache.
E's clumsiness that leads to injury on a daily basis.
Husband going out of town again.
Z doesn't sleep through the night.  Not even close.

11-8

quote of the day (a few days late but so cute): listening to A explain how she thinks she should have stayed in Hawaii with daddy and been his assistant.  she could pack his lunch every day and at work she could follow him around and carry his stuff and when he had a day off they could go to the beach together and look for sea turtles.

my happy today was that my kids tried the somewhat exotic and very healthy dinner I made and LIKED it.  I didn't even have to bribe them.  Just asked them to try one bite and they loved it.  Yay for PFChangs lettuce wraps!

my sad today is watching election results.  so much hate and bigotry.  and no matter who wins, the near future is seeming bleak...


on a happier note, it was a great weekend.  The girls and I had a very lazy Friday.  got some chores done and settled in for a movie night.  on saturday morning I taught at the gym.  I was nervous because it was a launch class--always packed and includes other instructors but it was one of my best deliveries and a lot of fun.  L went to dance practice, A was on her buffalo date with grandpa so I kept the 2 youngest to do some chores and run some errands.  We picked up L and went to lunch.  Unknown to us a delightfully wonderful surprise was brewing.  I kind of spoiled it on accident and felt bad about that but husband came home early! He flew home saturday morning, Grandpa picked him up and delivered him home to surprise us.  Unfortunately I was out running errands.  Eventually we were all home and together and that was the very best part of course.  We finished errands and had a long lazy evening of dinner and legos and reading and lots of cuddles.  Z had a really, really rough night and hardly slept at all.  So in the early morning, husband took Z and let me finally sleep awhile.  We had a great Sunday--a quiet morning together, attended church together and had dinner with Grandpa.

11-2

quote of the day: E was dancing around the kitchen, preforming a dramatic power ballad "Jesus is in the house"  (Z thought it was fantastic)

my happy today was laying on the floor getting big ol' grins from a milk drunk happy baby.  He just makes me melt!

my sad today is that I really, really miss my smokin' hot husband.