February 2017

Having now lived in Southern Virginia for over a year, I am seeing that it really has a lot more similarity to a Houston like climate than I assumed.  Having also lived in Northern Virginia, I was kind of going on the theory that there were four distinct seasons.  Needless to say, I was quite wrong. As evident by the pictures I have been going through, the weather seems to be almost as unpredictable as Texas, with cold snaps following summer storms and a whole lot of warm spells during the winter.  In February we went to explore Northwest River Park with our neighbors.  We camped at this park about a million years ago, when Haley and Abby were little little.  On this particular day we rented canoes and paddled until kids (or adults) started getting tired.

Clark succeeded in planning a very, very happy surprise for me.  About a week before they came, he told me about my happy visitors and I was so excited.  There has been a fair amount of homesickness for these people and having them here was just what I needed.  Naturally it was freezing cold but we still got out and did some site seeing and playing.

Abby participated in the Middle School play, working the lights.  She did a great job and kept everyone that was supposed to be in the spotlight, shining bright.  She's a pretty bright one herself.

And Mia had her first concert.  Or maybe it was her second.  I can't exactly remember but I DO know that she was wonderful, because she just is.

And then it was warm again...are you seeing a pattern here? We took advantage of the gorgeous weather one Sunday afternoon and hung out on the front lawn for a bit.  There was picture taking and leg wrestling.  I adore these little offspring of mine, have I said that already?
These moments of being together, happily playing, are absolutely priceless and someday I will sit around in my quiet, clean house, and miss the noise of those days.  At least, I'm pretty sure I will.  It depends on how much I love having a clean house.

Clark was full of surprises in February because he also pulled off a lovely evening out to dinner with friends for Valentine's Day.  We headed to a delightful restaurant and were met on the patio by a whole bunch of people that we love to be with - Millers, Smiths and Wettsteins make for a fun group for sure.  Mr. and Mrs. Scharman are aging quite nicely and I don't mind saying it.  Seventeen years looks good on us.

No explanation needed, except more babies in ear flaps!

I also still get homesick for these ladies.  My Fairfax friends and I hatched a plan to meet half way for lunch.  It's not such a bad drive (about an hour and a half to Richmond) and it was beyond lovely to see them in the middle of the week and catch up over delicious Greek food.  We need to do it more often, for sure.

It seems to be more and more rare these days, that a really good movie of worthwhile stuff comes out.  I have always loved going to movies and so it makes me sad that there are not more opportunities to go with my family.  Hidden Figures was a perfect one to see with my girls.  I'm hoping they were inspired by the incredible women in the film and know that with smarts and determination, pretty much anything is possible.

I'm finding that I feel compelled to include these snippets of daily life with Ezra, and yet I have very little to say.  By a year old he would have nothing to do with his little corral that kept Jonah happy for so long.  He just doesn't want to be contained.  And instead of standing still to play with anything, he would rather drag it all over the house and use it in ways other than for what it was intended.  Whatever floats your little boat Buddy.

Every single morning the boys and I would drop Haley off at the high school and every single morning Jonah would yell "I love you! I love you! I love you!" as Haley walks to the door.  It was something that I don't ever want her to forget so I took Jonah to Build A Bear where I let him choose a special animal for Haley, and a little voicebox recording of him saying his thing.  He picked out the heart, gave it kisses and picked out some doggy basket ball shorts and a bike helmet for him.
My thoughts were that someday she could take it away to college and always remember how much she is loved...however, as one might imagine, a certain "littler" boy has gotten a hold of it and nearly worn out the voicebox already.  "Skip" the dog might require a little "surgery" in the future.

I loved the tradition of receiving a small note and box of chocolates from my Dad every Valentine's Day.  Clark has carried on that tradition with our kids.  I hope that the girls will find themselves a husband as sensitive and thoughtful as their Dad.  He throws a fair amount of teasing their way but more than compensates with the affection that he has for each one of them.  I'm afraid we have gotten a tad ahead of ourselves in the "gifts" department though.  I was more than thrilled to have the four chocolates and post it note from my Dad, though I don't mind the bounty of beautiful flowers on my counter one bit.

It's not really my season to be helping out at the school a lot these days.  The boys make it pretty inconvenient to have the time or ability to do much, other than send in supplies every once in a while.  Some day my girls will complain that I never loved them, when they see me volunteering in the boys' classrooms.  Or maybe, just to keep the peace, I will avoid volunteering in their classrooms too - and stay home and take naps instead.  I think I like that plan.
In any case, I jumped at the chance to volunteer for something that I could actually do! The school hosted an adorable night of "Around the World".  I convinced Bea next door, to make a display too so we could hang out together.  We did a fun little display on Sweden and put stickers in the kids passport books as they wandered the cafeteria, learning about countries all around the world.  It was very cool to see so many different countries and cultures represented and it was fun to share what we know and love about our Swedish heritage and traditions.  I was only a tiny bit afraid of someone coming along that actually knew a lot more about Sweden than me but no one called me out all evening and they ate every last Bilar.  Also, I ate A LOT of pepparkakor. 

January 2017

So here is the difference between my boys and my girls: the boys are a little crazy.  I spent years hearing people share their opinions on the differences between sons and daughters and I will admit, only pretended to listen while throwing a courtesy grin their way.  I mean, the girls could be loud, and wild, and rough but I am now coming to realize that there really is a difference.  When the girls were young we were pretty active and out there.  We went on outings, we did museums, parks, the beach; I could even take them out to to eat by myself without a great amount of difficulty.  Now when it was just Jonah as a toddler, I could do the same.  He was mellow and easy going and would tag along anywhere I needed to go without too much trouble.  Ezra is a different story.  From the moment he could walk he has been nonstop.  He runs.  He explores.  He touches.  And when I take the boys somewhere together, they run in opposite directions.  When we first moved to Virginia I loaded up on memberships because that's just what we do.  We go, we do, we see and we explore.  I have since let all of those memberships expire because I'm realizing that I just don't have the mobility that I used to.  I can still take all the kids somewhere together on occasion, with the help of the older girls it is more doable.  But the fact of the matter is, Ezra just is happier in his little world at home, and I sweat a lot less.  Plus, Ezra still takes a monstrously long nap during the day which ties me here.  And now with Jonah in half day kindergarten, I really don't have the flexibility.  That's OK.  I have learned to appreciate that my life goes through seasons and I know that this will not always be the case.  I am learning to take it in stride and appreciate the need to be in my home and accomplishing a great number of things that could always use my attention.  Plus, I am VERY grateful that Ezra sleeps so well.  It is my sanity, since he more than makes up for it in the time that he is awake. 
Maybe he will mellow out eventually and maybe we will explore again someday but for now, sleep on baby brother, sleep on.

Back in January, during Christmas break, the girls and I succumbed to a little neighborly peer pressure and I let them dye their hair.  It was hard to decide whether I was proud of their dedication and hard work or annoyed that they had prepared an entire presentation on why we should let them do it.  We have had similar presentations for the request of living animals, and while I am much more resolved in saying no to those, I caved in a moment of winter cabin fever weakness.
Miss Bea was kind enough to do all the hard work while I winced a little and took pictures.  As I suspected, the majority of them were sick of it after a couple of weeks and had to actually get a little trim to get rid of it.  But it was fun while it lasted and smelled a little deliciously like kool aid longer than I thought it would.  It reminded me of the time I let their babysitter put feathers in their hair in Fairfax - I actually kinda liked that ;)

I finally purchased something that has been on my wish list for a long time - a baby spying camera.  Because of Ezra's aforementioned "tendency to be crazy" I though it wise that I have a method for checking in on him.  Especially because he is so content to be in his bed for long stretches of time, my curiosity gets the better of me.  It turns out, he just sleeps, a lot.  We have unintentionally scarred him for life though as he is terrified of the camera itself.  It has a little ring of red dots that light up when I am checking in.  If he sees it light up he buries his head in the blanket...actually a fairly effective way to get him to roll over and go to sleep.
I also made the mistake once or twice of speaking to him through the speaker in the camera.  He immediately bursts into tears and is inconsolable until an actual human being comes in to rescue him.  Needless to say, we don't use that feature on the camera anymore.

Abby has discovered drawing! I love seeing these talents emerge from my kids one by one.  They are so good at so many things.  It is especially satisfying to see their interests peak at something that I love too.  Abby will take her first art class starting next semester and I am very excited for her.

At some point in January we had a crazy snow and ice storm.  It wasn't a ton of snow but it iced over and created a big enough mess throughout the neighborhoods that school was cancelled for several days.  By the second or third day, most of the roads outside of the neighborhoods were clear but none of the neighborhood streets were passable by school bus.  So Clark was going to work and we could get out to escape feeling trapped, all the while school was still cancelled.  We went sledding one day at the golf course - it was fun but freezing cold and the ice that we were sledding on was so hard that every single one of the plastic sleds broke into pieces.  On one of the first days that Clark was still home with us we were driven to creativity since it was just too cold to be outside.  Each member of the family wrote down an activity that they wanted to do on a slip of paper.  Then, we took turns drawing them out of a bucket and doing them as a family.  We had a rousing game of hide and go seek, a paper-rock-scissors tournament, snacks, a movie and a couple of wrestling matches.

I had the opportunity to speak at stake conference in January about the temple.  I had a flood of tender feelings when I was asked and was happy to share my testimony about the importance of the temple in my life and in particular, how it brings peace.  Clark woke up feeling sick and horrible that morning so he decided to stay home with the boys leaving me the girls for the day.

More than one of us sustained injuries from all of the playing on the ice.  Hazel had a bad case of road rash from a sled that abandon her on her way down the driveway.  It was swollen for days!

Clark and I love that we are once again in the Washington DC temple district.  This particular temple is special to us for so many reasons.  We miss our Houston temple dearly, and how close we lived to it while in Texas.  While we love the DC temple, it is certainly not as easy to get to as it once was.  It typically requires an overnight stay with friends in Fairfax, which we don't mind at all.  On rare occasions we are able to sneak away very early in the morning and make it all the way back home by late afternoon.  It makes for a long day but sometimes it's the only way to be able to go.  Regardless, we wouldn't trade it for anything.

And then suddenly near the end of January, it was crazy mild and warm for a couple of days.  I took my chances with the opposite-running boys and went to the park.  I love this park because it's the very same one we would take Haley and Abby to when they were this age.  And the weather was so amazing we just couldn't stay home.  It also helps just a little that this park is entirely closed in with a fence so I have a little more time when chasing after them.

December 2016...somebody get me a trophy! I made it through 2016.

You know what? Forget the trophy, I would much prefer a cookie.  This walk down memory lane has been delightful and tiring.  I realize that its already October of 2017, thus making me still, very, very behind.  But being in the same in the year has some merit.

I love Christmas.  I love that we get to bask in it for an entire month.  (Just for the record: I firmly believe that it is inappropriate to decorate for Christmas until at least the day after Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is my favorite.  And it deserves all of our attention. Plus, fall is kinda awesome, so....that's that.)  Warm and cozy.
And rubber horse heads.  Everyone needs one.

The LDS church here has participated in the city Christmas parade for several years.  Last year Abby got to be an angel on the float.  She did a heavenly job.

Jonah's preschool did a Christmas concert that was adorable and adorable.  I tried to get a cute picture of him in his bowtie before we left.  My mistake, there's no such thing as Jonah sitting still for a cute picture.  Just cute pictures of him being nuts.

The whole family went and you could've scooped me up off the floor after watching Jonah make a heart with his hands at his sisters.  That's their little thing and I love it, so much.  Plus he didn't fall off the risers or pick his nose so I would call it a smashing success.  He is a lucky little boy.

Our neighborhood only has 17 houses in it - they are not all completed yet but its a small and intimate enough group that we wanted a chance to meet everyone and introduce ourselves...maybe so they won't be so annoyed at "that one house down the street with too many freaking kids and a yard that's always full of random bikes and single skates".

Mia did a science experiment with "elephant toothpaste".  It was lots of fun...especially when the food coloring finally faded all the way, gone.

The Larsons convinced us to play hookie one day and met them in Williamsburg at Busch Gardens for Christmas Town.  It was an unseasonable mild day so it was perfect! We did roller coasters and ate food and hung out with our friends.  We plan on making it a yearly tradition.

We have a bald eagle that lives in a tall tree across from our neighborhood.   He catches fish out of the ponds and looks perfectly majestic anywhere he lands.  I was lucky to get such a good shot of him one day on the roof of the house across the street.

We don't get a lot of snow in southern Virginia so when it comes along we take full advantage.  I think we might have missed a couple of days of school as everything iced over and most neighborhood roads were never plowed.  It was freezing and we weren't very well equipped for such weather but we went sledding on the golf course and played and played with the neighbors.  Also, we drank copious amounts of hot chocolate.

Clark and I had the opportunity to go to a work related party.  I haven't dressed up for anything for so long it was kind of hard to even find something.  But I felt lovely and we had a good time, mostly.  I loved getting dressed up and going out, but big, loud parties where I have to chit chat is not really my scene.  I absolutely love that I have daughters that can help me with my hair-and that have enough hair themselves to keep things interesting :)

Christmas Day! The kids all got one piece jammies this year so we were a fuzzy bunch on Christmas morning.  This year we decided to kill two birds with one stone by spending our Christmas budget on things to decorate their rooms.  They spent the weeks and months leading up to Christmas using a small budget to choose things for their rooms - curtains, chairs, new bedding and some decor.  Then as it came in the mail it was hidden away so they could forget about it.  I purchased and made a couple of things for each of them so Christmas morning was a mix of excitement for things they had picked out themselves and a few surprises for their rooms.  It was a fun way to do Christmas, and felt a little more "productive" and useful than other years.

2016 out!

November 2016...the end is near! The end of the year, that is.

I have yet to talk about our amazing neighbors - I will get to that eventually because they deserve a post all their own.  We are surrounded by good people and the loveliest of friends that you can imagine; people that have no problem hanging out with us in public.

Hazel was blessed with an amazing teacher last year.  She adored Mrs. Beam and has really impressed us with her ability to work hard and do so well in school.

 Rocket is a smart dog.  This is where he sits every time Ezra is in his chair.  When I get Ezra out, he promptly eats everything stuck to his rear end, then what is left on the chair, followed by anything dropped on the floor.  How is he not fat?

I have spent a lot of time in the last year or two marveling at how we have arrived at the place that we are in history.  I approached the election in 2016 in complete disbelief of my options-how in the world did we arrive at those choices?! There was a day leading up to the election that I had a moment of clarity that allowed me to vote how I felt was right.  And that was about all I could've hoped for.

I love this picture of Hazel because I have such clear memories of the years that she spent sitting on my feet and cheering on her older sisters at their booster runs.  It was fun to be there and cheer for her as she ran her little heart out.  Go Gators!

And then Ezra turned ONE.  Every new stage means the end of an era for us and its a little bittersweet.  He is a crazy, adorable, sweet boy.  My Mom has always said that the way a baby approaches their cake is very telling of how they approach life.  That made it even more unusual that the first time we tried to do his cake he just cried.  Having the whole thing in front of him made him sob.  It wasn't until attempt number 2 that we realized all he wanted was a smaller piece.  Interesting - apparently Ezra will attack life piece by piece, step by step :)

Family pajama party...still my favorite day of the week.  If they remember nothing else, I hope they remember how much we loved to be together.

Oh my.  On this particular morning we were early enough to church that Jonah was asked to be the "reverence child" example on the stand.  I was sweating bullets as I watched him stand there...after a minute he started to shift, then wiggle, then bend.  At one point he was leaning so far over the rail with his arms still folded, I was sure he was going to just flip right over onto the ground.  Then when the Bishop stood up and thanked him and told him he could sit down, he took his place next to the counselors on the stand.  That boy.  He has my heart.

Jonah was one of the lucky ones in the family to get his tonsils and adenoids out at only three years old.  He also had tubes put in because of his constant ear infections and horrible pressure that builds up every time he gets sick, which is often because he also has pretty bad allergies.  Every 6 weeks or so during the winter he gets a runny nose, that turns into a cough that almost immediately sounds horrid and a few times he gets a build up of pressure behind his ears that is excruciating.  We finally saw a doctor that did more than put him on antibiotics.  A few chest x-rays later he was diagnosed with reactive airways so we left a little wiser on how to ward off these episodes before they come on. 
I think the tech that got him to stand still long enough to snap an x ray deserves an award.

Dirt=Jonah's happy place.  Mulch works too.

Should I lose my mind and be committed or fall into a sudden comatose state with no warning, let it be known that this is what has driven me to it.  I live among professional mess makers.  There are no awards for that...just tv shows where they find dead cats under piles of things taller than your head.

Mia started the flute at school this year and I love it.  I love hearing my kids play their instruments and I am happy to have the flute as part of it.  Rocket was riveted...also, he was waiting patiently to be stroked.

Ah the dentist.  I love taking my kids to the dentist.  I especially love taking all my kids to the dentist at the same time...one foul swoop, that's the way to get it done.  Also, I think some of them are getting a little too tall for the pediatric dentist chairs.

 Crazy hair day...sometimes I am actually prepared for things...

A fun visit in November from some of our favorite people.  We are still getting used to this whole area and what we are supposed to do with visitors but we have fun showing them around and doing what we like to do...that is eating hot donuts, watching the bridge go up, walking in the woods and visiting the beach.

And then more fun visitors! We had Heber and Gentri and their cute kiddos join us for Thanksgiving as well as Mo and Papa.  With only a couple of days to play we shot off rockets at the high school, rode a ferry, visited Jamestown (and the decapitated livestock), joined the militia, had hot chocolate in Williamsburg and basked in their company.

I don't believe any explanation is needed for these photos.  It is no secret that I love family pictures.  I would plaster the walls of my house with pictures of my family.  In fact, its a tragedy that I have no wall space left for more because I have years and years of pictures that I would surround myself with.

Ash & Bean did a beautiful job working with such a large group.  I was so pleased with what she was able to do.