Christmas Day

We didn't do much for Christmas Eve, except for the watching of the "Joy to the World" dvd, and talking about the Christmas story. We did open one present, and explained to the girls why we give presents at Christmas. I'm sad we didn't get our gingerbread men finished in time to put out for Santa, but next year we'll just have to start earlier in the day.

Gordon got biter biscuits in his stocking. He was happy with that.

Santa organized a treasure hunt for the girls to find the pieces to this table and chairs set from Grandma and Grandpa Chickens. That was fun. I want to do that again next year.

Jilly wearing all her girlie stuff. They got princess stickers, lip gloss, sunglasses, headbands, etc. and Jilly was modeling it all.

We didn't actually open presents until after we did Christmas dinner, because we were waiting for Uncle Dan and Tante Elke (tante is German for aunt). I liked doing it that way. It didn't feel so anti-climactic to me, and filled the day in with fun stuff to look forward to. I think Ben had the hardest time waiting. This is Evelyn in her hooded towel from Grandma Cow pretending to be at the beach. Or something. I'm not entirely sure.

Playing with a new game from Aunt Chelle and Uncle Nate.

The baby escapee. Escaping clean from diaper changes, that is. You can see his two little front teeth.

Today we drove up to Torrance so Ben could be temporarily reunited with two best friends from high school. They joked and reminisced while us women took care of all the scrambling kids. We were home by 6:30. So not a party evening for us, but that's just about how we like it. I think we'll pop in a movie now. Happy New Year!

Newport Beach Boat parade

This has been the season of technological difficulty for us. First, our camera is going on the fritz, so we've only got 1/2 of the pictures we actually took, and then our internet decided to be a scrooge, so we were without it for about 8 or 9 days, with Christmas stuck in the middle of that. We had plenty of fun doing our first "at-home" Christmas, but we'll just have to remember some of it the old-fashioned way.

"Tante Elke" was so nice to us, and bought us all tickets to the Newport Beach Boat Parade. Kind of like the one I grew up with in Washington, except not so cold. So I was really excited.

We rode on a charter fishing boat around Newport Harbor as part of the parade for a while, then pulled out to watch the sailboats and boats of all sizes parade in their Christmas finery. The houses that line the harbor are decked out too, so we rode the entire harbor perimeter looking at those. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of the boats due to our camera's strike.

This is Jilly at the end of the 2 hour ride. Cold.
Happy Gordon. He did so well considering he was up 4 hours past his bedtime!

The crew as we set off. We joke now this ride took forever, even though it was fun. We didn't get out of dock until 8:15, and then when we'd circled the harbor and done some of the parade route, we all thought we'd go back to dock and get off the boat. Well, I guess there were too many boats trying to dock, so we rode past to look at some more houses. Then we passed the dock again 30 minutes later. Finally, after one more round down the north harbor, we docked. We were happy to be off the boat with our tired, cold, and becoming-crabbier-by-the-minute children.

This was fun, but we all agreed to get an earlier ticket next year or just watch from the shore. It's a fun holiday tradition, if you can beat the traffic and find parking!

It's a Wonderful Life

The battery in the camera died before we could get some pictures of Shaunie with the girls, we'll have to do that another day.

Thanksgiving, toilets, etc.

Here are pictures in no particular order:

Jilly being very proud of the fact she can wear her brother's Sunday outfit. Fairy wings, striped head pants, and pink shoes not included.

Evelyn and Jill talked all afternoon about sitting with Santa at the ward Christmas party, and then Evelyn nearly chickened out, and Jilly wouldn't go within 3 feet of him. Ben, Gordon and I played Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the nativity. We only had to look holy for the first verse of "Silent Night," which was good because Gordon was so tired and squirmy by that point. We did have excellent costumes though, courtesy of Ben's mom.

This little boy is getting into everything. I came out of the shower a few days ago to the noise of splashing, and thought I would see Jilly at the sink. He was having all sorts of fun in our toilet, and now the tub and toilet have become the premier destinations of our second floor. (And I know this is totally not safe and we now have to keep the toilet room door closed. And the bath tub drained...the list goes on.) He also climbs all the way up the stairs by himself and is pulling up on anything over 10" tall. We really didn't have to baby-proof with Jilly, she didn't care to get into everything. It's like having Evelyn all over again, but worse. He also eats and eats and eats...

Evelyn modeling her "I'm a 'dorable' princess" look. You can see our little tree up in the background.

After a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Dan's house, we went to the nearby park and he snapped a picture of all of us swinging.

Evelyn thinks she is a dog. She also thinks she is a great reader. She started sounding out words in books a few weeks ago, and is progressing really well. It's surprised me how quick and early she caught onto it.

Another interesting development with Gordon's increasing mobility is his "playing" with Jillian. He crawls up to whatever elaborate scheme she's got set up on the floor and proceeds with destroying it. I'm having to teach her he doesn't know how to share, he just wants to play, give him something to play with, etc. But this afternoon she just got fed up with his attacks and conked him on the head with her shoe. This is the kid who just a few months ago, if she inadvertently hurt him, would melt into a puddle of tears. I guess all bets are off when your pretend tea party is in danger.

From the Archive: Of Birthdays, Theses and Manufactured Memories

August 29th, We celebrated Ben's 30th birthday at his parents house in between fits of last minute revisions to his M.A. thesis. The cake reads, "Thesis a 30th Birthday Wish," which is why Ben's copy of Pedro Páramo is above the cake, it's the novel he wrote about in his thesis. (We forgot to put the "th" after the "30").

This is Ben's favorite dessert that I make, eclair torte. We also had some teriyaki tri-tip, grilled chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes and greens. The food was wonderful and the company was even better. Those present: Ben's Mom and Dad, his sister Michelle and brother-in-law Nate, his "Aunt and Uncle" Patricia and Tom, and his cousin Shannen and her boyfriend Rick. It was quite fun.

September 10th, Ben defended his thesis: Remembering the Ghost: Pedro Páramo and the Ethics of Haunting. (He just sent off the hard copies to get published last week). The defense went well, it wasn't a slaughter and it's the most in depth I've ever heard Ben talk about his thesis so that was interesting. It was also a huge hurdle to get over so it was nice to have it done. Here he is with his committee after the defense: Doug Weatherford, David Laraway and Greg Stallings.

Ben wasn't allowed to walk in the graduation ceremony because he didn't defend by a certain date. He found this out after he ordered his cap and gown. So one Sunday before church we drove up to campus and took some quick pictures with all the regalia just before it started to sprinkle. The kids were very cooperative and we got some decent pictures too.

Here's Ben and the kids with "Brother Brigham" in front of the administration building on campus. It was a short manufactured "graduation ceremony," the pictures just took ten minutes. We left that same week for California. It's all a blur now.

And this is what happens...

...when you don't listen to the little voice that says, "You know, you should really put that pie in a more stable place." But I thought, "nah, it'll be fine." Then I forgot about it, braked hard a few times, and this is the result. Rest in peace, glorious Costco pumpkin pie.

I was really okay with it, because a messed-up pie meant I could eat it now, instead of two days from now. I am a very patient person when it comes to this pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with thanks and scrumptious, presentable desserts.

Grandpa and Grandma comin' to town

Grandpa and Grandma Chickens have been visiting. We've been busy, and sick of course. Whenever Grandma Chickens visits, we manage to get something. Last fall, it was the stomach flu. This time, it was a pretty powerful cold. After nearly 2 weeks with someone being sick, Gordon and I are finishing up the tail end of the cold.

My growing-up kiddos. Gordon's got his classic "deer in the headlights" look.

We celebrated Jilly's birthday a few days ago at her uncle's house. She got this fabulous princess Viewmaster...

...and this beloved Gloworm. Our neighbor has one for her baby, and when we go to her house and visit, Jilly would latch on to this singing baby and would almost cry when she had to put it back so we could go home. She LOVES it. The Gloworm now joins the entourage (baby, purse, puppy, miscellaneous items) of security that travels with Jilly wherever I permit.

Evelyn and Jill were both gifted a bunch of these funny masks that make animal noises. I'm proudly modeling the zebra, and Gordon's face is being smashed in by Ev trying to make the little lion "roar." This little boy is mostly patient with his sisters.

Grandma didn't want to do the whole Disneyland deal, so they just went for the character breakfast at "Goofy's kitchen." They met Chip, Pluto, Baloo the Bear, Minnie (one of their favorites), and...

...Cinderella. Jilly's favorite princess. Grandma said when Jilly saw who it was from a distance, she started doing one of those mini-panic attacks teenage girls do when they see their favorite rock star or celebrity. Then when Cinderella got up close, Jilly started eating her waffle like no one's business, and didn't want to talk to her. Luckily Jill got a second chance later, and managed to eek out the fact she had just turned 3. Ev got what was going on pretty quick, and enjoyed herself. And her breakfast, as this picture is proof of her chipmunk cheeks.

Jilly asked one day if she could sleep at the hotel with Grandma and Grandpa, so the girls did a sleep-over, swam in the pool, ordered room service, and watched Disney channel. IN THE BED. They thought this was so cool. Then they proceeded to wake up in the middle of the night and stay up. Jilly was complaining of growing pains, Grandma finally got her to sleep, and then Evelyn woke up. She told Grandpa she was missing Mommy, so he brought her out to Grandma on the couch who had turned on Disney channel again to calm Jilly. Grandma fell asleep with Evelyn watching the TV. Some unknown amount of time later (a few hours probably), Grandma woke up to see Evelyn still wide awake, enveloped in Disney. That kid can watch her some TV. We'll wait a while before trying a sleep-over again.

And this boy is finally getting some teeth in. Which is probably why he has been more cranky, snotty, and slobbery than I would have expected from just a cold. Then again, it was a pretty bad cold. He's also getting the hang of sitting up. He won't stay there too long though, he wants to crawl away. He finds sitting boring. He's finally getting up again between 6-7 am, it had been from 4-5 am after Daylight Savings Time hit. Seriously. DST can go away. My best regards to the government on this one.

Now off to bed to kick this cold into a distant memory. I'm still a mite cranky and congested. At least I don't sound like a dying frog any more. One night Ben would answer any comment I made with, "what was that? I couldn't hear you." Nerd. But I still love him.

Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Proof that my kids are like their Dad in pulling faces. "Smile normally," said Ben, as he snapped this shot.

Jilly loves Princesses and Evelyn got her scary witch costume. I think she's just cute, not scary.

My friend's little boy dressed up as Max from where they wild things are. I think he's had the best costume of any kids I've seen this year!

Nature's Playground

The other night, Evelyn said, "Thank you for the beach," in her prayer. She is genuinely excited to tell me, "Jesus made the earth beautiful!" That He did, my dear.

Some friends from our old ward in Utah moved here last week, and the girls were excited to play with a familiar face. It was a little bit of a cloudy day, but still nice.

tidbits

Life is finally starting to slow down a little bit. It's been really nice. I don't handle having to be gone out of my house every single day very well. It just falls all to pieces!

Here are some thing we are enjoying lately:

Gordon's growing independence. He's mobile and loves it. He loves his food too, applesauce and white grape juice being his favorites. He also has started 'singing' himself to sleep. I hum songs to him while he's going to sleep, and now he's humming back. It's so sweet.

The library. I'm reading Austenland right now.

Jilly is finally liking nursery, mostly because the older nursery kids are going to primary for part of the time. She is slowly finding some more friends her age. She has latched more quickly onto Mommy's friends than kids her own age.

Pumpkin desserts. (Did you know there's a pumpkin shortage?)

Evelyn's got lots of boys to play with. She's sort of becoming a tomboy. ("NO mom! I do not want pigtails! Only a pony-tail!"). I need to find her some girls to balance out the testosterone.

The beach.

A date. (This is a big deal for us). We went out to Chinese for our 6th anniversary, probably the first real Chinese food I've had, and then went to walk on the beach. The moon wasn't out though, and it was kind of cold. We'll plan better next time for the full moon.

College football. We have 8 sports channels here, but only watch about 3 of them. Still, it's a lot of football (for me). ESPN's College Gameday was in Provo today, and they panned the scenery, and we both shed a tear for nostalgia's sake. We'll both be okay though.

But this little girl...

She has asked about every day for the last 10 days to "take down her bed and take it back to Utah." Poor kid, she thought we were on some sort of glorified vacation. Both of them have said they want to go back to Utah when we're all done with Daddy's school. We'll see!

P.S. Mothers of little boys: what diapers work best on your boys? Gordon is leaking out of his during the night about 80% of the time. Do you just buy a bigger size? I can't do Huggies or their off-brands (Kirkland) because he's allergic to them.

The new and improved skill

Here's a video showing Gordo's crawling ability. More like army crawling. But I haven't had a kid this mobile at 6 months. He doesn't care about sitting up (he can't do it yet) because he can get around and vacuum the carpet. He's my cute and very wriggly little boy!

California...

...isn't so bad. It doesn't look like we're having a terrible time, does it?

Today our friends Jared and Emily showed us the way to Balboa island. You can take the ferry over, and the kids thought it was great our river-van-car got to go on a boat.

Jill is still Captain Reluctance with even touching the ocean. We went last week to Corona del Mar, and she says the ocean is too big for her and she'll go in the water when she grows up. So she sits at our little camp, eating snacks and collecting bits of sea shell. But hey, she's happy.

Evelyn would spend all day watching the waves come in and wash her feet.

This hat is actually child size, but I was able to shrink it down for this kid. He's so gosh-darn cute. And teething. (One of his lower canine teeth are coming in first. WEIRD.)

My 'pose for the camera' child.

Ben 'graduating.' He's actually graduating in December, but since we won't be in Utah then, we got a graduation gown and took pictures anyway. He spent 5 years at the Y, so he may as well have something to show for it.

We had a whirlwind last two weeks in Utah, and got a lot of over-due visiting in. We did not have our camera for all these visits unfortunately. Moving kind of puts your brain into a box as well. So if your picture is not here, we still love you! :)

Our friends Chad and Ashley and their kids; we've known them since shortly after we were married and have been able to watch our families grow together. It's been fun and special.

Playing 'babies' with Graysen.

Feeding the real baby. Evelyn loves helping with this. She's even making the 'open-wide!' face.

Jill and her buddy Savannah. Jill misses her Utah friends, and hasn't really warmed up to any kids here yet. At the playgroups we've started going to, she just sits next to me and digests what's going on. After about an hour, she politely asks if we can "go home now."

We're liking things here thus far. There have been the usual minor culture shocks though. One of the unsettling things when we first got here were all the rich cars. (It's strange being poor college students in a rich area. But we feel safe, so whatever). Toyota is the bottom of the line. Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus are everywhere. We passed a Bentley and Aston Martin dealership today going to the beach. It's just weird.

Kids are novelties. Going grocery shopping is like shopping for compliments; the cuter and more well-behaved they are, the more 'oohing' and 'ahhing' you're going to get.

I look 'really young for my age.' I haven't even told anyone my age yet. When people see me carting around just one kid, they ask how old, if I have more, and I mention 'three,' they say I look young. It's assumed I'm 37 or something.

City street speed limits are typically 45-50 mph, even though there are tons of stoplights. So people floor it from one light, and slam on their brakes for the next one. If you don't follow suit, you'll get honked at. This is where all of America's oil is going - to bad southern California gas mileage.

We really like our ward so far, it's pretty big and there are quite a few young kids, so there is no shortage of playmates. People are quite friendly too, so it's been a much faster social adjustment than when we first moved to Utah in 2004.

We're still trying to find our routine, and hopefully when that happens the girls will be a little less psychotic when we're home. And I can blog more often!