Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Rocky Mouth Cyn ~ June 2010

We took a short and quick hike up a small local canyon to celebrate the still-cool weather and get outdoors on a free afternoon. It was a big hit. Mason loves throwing rocks, and a place called "Rocky Mouth" is perfect for that. Claire loves being outside.

Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Mother's Day program

One joy of being a M.O.P. is the annual Mother's Day program. Mason's teacher asked him some questions about me and filled out the questionnaire then they read all of them out loud in a small presentation to the parents. They sang a couple of songs and made us a little keepsake with their hand prints. All in all it was a good day. Plus, Mason didn't totally out me like my friend's four-year-old outed her by saying that she likes to dump water on him.

I Know My Mother Well

by: Mason

1. My mom looks prettiest when "it's happy mother's day".

2. My mom's favorite food is "toast".

3. My mom's eyes are "green".

4. My mom likes to "work at our house".

5. She is happy when "I'm being a good boy".

6. My mom is "29" years old.

7. If my mom could go anywhere she would go "for a walk with me".

8. Her best friend is "Kristi".

9. Her job is "to kiss".

10. I love my mom because "she's wonderful".

Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Penguins

We went to the aquarium to see the new penguin exhibit sometime in April. Apparently, as far as photojournaling goes I sucked March right up. Anyway, so we went; we pushed through the large crowds of unruly children and their annoying parents; we saw penguins from afar. The end. I still think I deserve a medal for not running any cars over in the parking lot, but it was a close call and a sore test of my self-control.

Regardless, the kids had fun and that's what counts, yeah?

Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Hot Springs Aren't That Hot in April

We busted out the trailer and took a trip up to Crystal Hot Springs last April. We discovered Claire is a fish and splashed and played until the rain drove us away. Uncle Paul joined us and much fun was had. Claire, by the way? A total fish. I think she wishes swimming lessons started earlier than age 3. But that's another post -- I'm not to the summertime catch-ups yet.

Mason is nothing if not a typical kid - we drive all that way and all he wants to do is play in the rocks and dirt.

Dinner - french bread pizza made in the trailer oven. Camping Lite has some benefits!

Mason hearts Mom's camera.

Baby Claire loves walks. And her toes.

Alan and Mason diverted from our walk to wander the nearby train tracks. They found this "squished money" and put some "normal money" down. Mason plans to go back and find the ones we put next time. I don't know how he plans to prove it was his money, but regardless of that, we'll be along for the ride.

Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Making Our House a Home

We've lived here for seven years you say? Well, that's enough out of you. We finally invested in a couch worth sitting on and I used that as motivation to paint. I have some grand aspirations to put up some wall-stuff (a shelf, a sign with my favorite Mother Teresa quote, etc.) but it hasn't happened as of yet. But hey, we haven't made it to the one-year mark since we painted so I still have hope.

I ended up going with a blueish-gray color called Agave. I love this color and I only love it more the longer we go. I can't remember the name of the tan I selected, but it's a bit darker than I intended. I read that a beachy palette is 'calming' so that was my goal (because we could use a calming influence, right?) but I think I ended up somewhere closer to desert than beach.

Our 2010 Family Christmas Letter: Crafting for Valentines

I came up with a little project to do for Valentine's Day, thinking it would be good if Mason and I did a craft or something together. See, when Claire was first born and I was personally waist-deep in the newborn "eat, poop, cry, sleep" cycle, I was so tired that I wasn't up for much. I'm afraid to admit that a lot of the interaction Mason and I had for a while was playing MarioKart on the Wii during Claire's short, frequent naps.

So by the time that had worn off last winter or so, I started itching for something undigital (is that I word? More importantly, do I care?) to do and stumbled upon this. I decided it would make a great gift for grandmas....probably in 2011 because we actually finished them much later than Valentines Day 2010. Sorry, grandmas.

Gather the following supplies (and a preschooler anxious to paint):

-wooden picture frames in desired size; we did 4"X6" openings. They came in a two pack. Bonus!

-acrylic paint in desired colors (Lilac and Holiday Red for us)

-dirt cheap sponge paintbrushes you can toss when you're done

-lots and lots of conversation hearts

-glue - any kind. I used hot glue.

-resin finishing spray (unless you want to dip all of it in resin. I didn't.)

Cover the world in newspaper. Set the kid loose with the paint.

Separate out the damaged hearts. Snacktime! He ate the reject pile. It saved me from disposing of it.

Draw glue on picture frame, one line at a time, and set hearts as straight and consistently as possible. Keep going until...

Voila! Candy-coated frames. I then took these (and some of the newspaper) outside to the porch and finished them off with the resin spray. It said it would take 24 hours to dry, but outside in the wind it took about an hour. I didn't get anything fancy, like a gloss finish, for the spray so it didn't change the look at all.

I bought some glass (our frames didn't come with it) to put inside and maybe this year I'll get pictures taken of the kids for Valentines Day and pass the whole thing on to the grandmas. Nothing like crafting AND finishing in a timely manner.