Lisa's Notes

Pictures of the Kids

2010-09-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

Another post! In less than a week! Unbelievable, I know.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine took pictures of the kids for her portfolio. She's a great photographer! So the pictures are now posted on her blog and I will earn myself a nifty surprise if we get 40 comments.

I would be so appreciative if you would click on this link and tell Charlene what you think (pretty, pretty please, I promise your email is not posted and you don't have to sign in). I think the pictures are fabulous. And take a peak at Eli's converse (Kate's actually wearing some too). We're having a renewed love affair with cons at our house.

http://charlenehardyphotography.com/?p=657

Have a happy day!

Did you miss me?

2010-09-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

I guess it's been a while since I've posted anything. Well, more than a while. A LONG time. Life isn't quite as predictable as I would like. I'm planning on a lovely post full of pictures in the near future (notice how that's pretty imprecise, I did that on purpose). But for now. . .

Happy Birthday Henry!! The baby is ONE today. Not sure where the last year went, but I'm guessing when I'm resurrected and my body is made perfect my mind will be included and I will remember things again. Maybe?

He's cute and funny and does lots of darling baby things. But currently he's being beat up by his big brother who is mad because Henry is playing with his toy. That means this post is coming to an abrupt end. For kicks here is a picture (all of you photographers tell me how to edit this so it looks decent) of his dracula teeth. This photo is about a month old. The two teeth here were his first teeth. He now has one on the bottom, still no others on the top and these two have gotten bigger so he looks even more vampirish.

Also, be a darling and check out these two links:

http://charlenehardyphotography.com/?p=624

http://charlenehardyphotography.com/?p=647

A friend of mine is building her photography portfolio and she took some pictures of my kiddos. Right now she's only posted some of Kate and they are great! I'm really excited to see the rest.

Running in the Rain

2010-06-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

This morning when I got up and realized I had almost slept through my alarm I felt reliefe that i hadn't. Then I looked at my handy temperature reading on the wall, almost 60, beautful. Then I looked out my window.

Kiss it

2010-04-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Elijah was carrying on as though he might die, but since this is a normal event for him I wasn't too alarmed. Once he calmed down a bit I asked him what was wrong.

"Ouchie." Imagine a pouty expression and a pudgy finger pointing to his face.

"Your head?" I ask.

Negative.

"Your face?"

Negative.

"Your mouth?"

Negative.

"Young!"

"Young?" Pause. "Tongue?"

Affirmative! He bit his tongue.

"Are you ok now?"

"No, Kiss it."

"I can't kiss your tongue."

"Kiss it!" This time it's a yell with intensity.

I kiss his cheek. "There, all better now."

"No, here," pointing inside his mouth. He then lays his head back with his mouth wide open.

"I can't kiss it, see. . ." I lean over to show him that my lips, luscious and full as they are will not go inside his mouth to kiss his tongue. "Sorry."

"Kiss it Mommy." Now he sticks his tongue out for me and waits expectantly.

Would you kiss the tongue of a two year old?

I did. My lips passed very briefly across his little stuck-out tongue. And he was happy.

Then yesterday I was changing his diaper--a stinky, poopy diaper. He said, "Ouchie Mommy!"

I asked what hurt. He said, "Bum."

I just stared at him, and saying nothing went on with wiping his cute buns.

Ever persistent, he wasn't giving up. He said, "Kiss it, Mommy."

"What?"

"Kiss it, bum."

My two year old told me to kiss his bum!

So now you're wondering if I kissed his behind. I have limits people, I have limits.

Neglected

2010-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

The blog has been neglected. It's not the only thing. There are plenty of things that get neglected around here. I really try to ensure that my kids aren't among those things. So, for the blog I can only do what I can do and that tells you where it lands on the to do list. I've wanted to put a little tid bit here or add a picture there but we all know where good intentions take us don't we? Here are some random pictures of our goings on lately. . .

Acting out the Nativity on Christmas morning.
We had a wonderful holiday.

Hot tubbing at the hotel pool on a little Seattle getaway after Christmas

Valentine's Day

Basketball season has come and gone. I love basketball because: 1) It's great exercise. 2) It's a fun winter activity. 3) If we are lucky it's like each child having 3 play dates a week (2 practices, one game) with a bunch of friends for six weeks. 4) It's super fun to watch them discover the game and enjoy themselves. It's pretty much good clean fun for all involved. This was Nathanael's first year. He can be a spaz (a "cool" word from my youth that is the perfect description of Nathanael) as evidenced below. Kate likes to play, though she has yet to understand why people get so worked up about this game. There is not a competitive bone in this girl, unless of course Nathanael is trying to beat her to the car. Then she transforms before our eyes. This year she was a great defender. She would stay on her opponent like no other. Who really cares where the ball is? In the picture you can see that the girl with the ball is behind her, but her eyes are glued to her opponent. Ethan had a great year. He's all arms and legs right now and can have a hard time making all those parts work together!

Just made a basket

She's not letting that girl out of her sight

Basketball 2010

Henry being protected from some ball playing in the basement

St. Patrick's Day

It's started again. . .

We spent three days of our Spring Break in Seattle. We saw old friends, went to the zoo & Pacific Science Center and hung out with The Joe Ellsworths. Thank you Joe and Sam!

Elijah talking to the bears

Ethan, Nathanael and Kate catching a cat nap after the zoo

The butterfly house with two babies; one exhausted,
the other covered with spit up.
I hope I didn't just sit on an endangered butterfly, but I had to sit down.
My soul keenly feels Elijah's expression.

Ethan and Gunner playing chess, life size

Easter Sunday 2010

Happy Easter! Since our spring break was this week we didn't have any soccer games or other activities on Saturday so we were able to be home and listen to conference. It was awesome! Conference is always so good. I feel especially motivated to read the talks more often during these next few months.

I'd like to think I will revisit our little corner of cyberspace more often, but I guess that remains to be seen.

Haircut

2010-01-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

When Kate did this. . .
We decided the clippers needed to have a meeting with Elijah.

Much better.

Totally Two

2010-01-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

One day around Eli's second birthday while I was feeding Henry, Elijah was doing his usual. . . Find some way to get attention from mom routine. He picked up something off the ground and said, "Eeewwwww gross!" Then laughed hysterically as soon as I looked over at him.

Then he found the stool (his new favorite way of getting anything and everything) and carried it over to the sink and started grabbing everything he could and throwing it on the floor before I could stop him. Then he laughed some more. At that moment I wondered to myself, "Where did my baby go? How did he grow up so fast?" Shortly after that I thought, "I really need to hide this stool or get rid of it." I'm sure removing the stool will somehow thwart his development. But it's become his #1 tool for satisfying his curiosity sans parental supervision.

Elijah turned two on December 9th. He is so very entertaining. He's saying (or trying to say) so many things. He's recently added, "Barf" to his vocabulary. I have no doubt one of the big kids taught him that but no one is telling who it was. Although he's super cute, he's also quite a handful and if you turn your back, watch out. In just a few moments he has likely colored on himself or something else (thank you to the inventor of washable markers!),

snagged one of the older kids' toys or gotten a hold of a treat and he's quietly trying to confiscate the evidence, like he did with this banana bread.

It was whole and sealed in the bag at the back of the counter before he snagged the aforementioned stool and went to town.

Each time my kids have reached this age and their curiosity levels rise to the height of teenage hormones I am amazed at the things they do and the things they understand and the ways they try to get what they want. I struggle with thoughts that I am obliterating any creativity he might have but, we have to have some semblance of order don't we?

Happy Birthday Elijah!

The Past Few Months

2010-01-18T03:00:00.000-08:00

So I had a baby and stopped doing everything that wasn't absolutely necessary. Truth be told I even stopped doing some of the necessary stuff. I have heard this a lot during the past few months, "Mom I don't have any clean (insert any article of clothing you like here)!" I'll never be able to use the excuse, "I just had a baby" ever again so I figured I had better make the best of it.

But I am determined to climb back on the wagon that is my life so now we'll have regular meals, clean laundry more often and a whole bunch of posts in a row. :)

This fall our family watched or played a lot of soccer. During that time I mostly stayed home and lactated or slept with Henry. But I did make it to a few games late in the season.

We went to Disney on Ice for Free! I love free! The first half was fabulous, the second half, not so much.

We celebrated Halloween with cousins. Oh how we love the cousins!!

Henry was blessed on a gorgeous November day. Thanks to all the family who joined us!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving in Boise, ID with my family. Here's my Mom and Dad enjoying the meal. Does my Dad look like he might not be happy that the next day he turned 59 (again)? Happy Birthday Dad!

Kate and Ethan played in their winter piano recital. Here they are with their teacher, Shirley Ransom.

Jason turned 38! Wowza. You go babe! This picture tells me two things. #1. You are one awesome Dad and husband since you held our sweet little bundle for many nights in the wee hours so I could sleep just a little longer. Thank you so much! #2. Staying up half the night with a newborn in our late 30's is WAY harder than it was in our 20's! I do believe this picture was actually taken just after 8 pm. :)

I have struggled like crazy to keep up with life and at the same time slow down and enjoy every single second of my time with little Henry. Knowing he is our last has made me want to stop the clock. Seeing how Ethan has grown up so fast reminds me that I won't be holding Henry in my arms for long and I want to savor it. I have done as little as possible around here and Jason has been extra nice about it. Besides feeding kids and changing babies and sort of keeping up on the house I managed to get out of the house for a super fun Christmas party dressed as an elf named Beaker Sparkly Toes.

Ethan had his first ever orchestra concert and he had a short violin solo. He was very, very nervous but did wonderfully. He's loving music right now. He also made a very cool hatchet for a school project.

Kate turned nine! She had a cupcake party with her friends at a little bakery downtown and then we made this cake at home for her. She loved putting on and eating the terrible sugar cube candies that spelled out her name. This girl has a terrible sweet tooth. My mother would say she inherited that from me.

Nathanael turned 7 and had a crazy boy birthday party and lost his two front teeth. Sadly his permanent teeth were already coming in pretty well before the primary ones fell out so he never had a toothless grin.

Elijah has become uber naughty and extra cute. Bad combo for me, good for him.

And finally our wonderful bundle of joy has gone from this. . .

to this. . .

Kate

2010-01-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

On October 21st Kate turned Nine! The older my kids get, the faster the time goes.

Kate has changed a lot from the darling little blondie who had me sing, "You Are My Sunshine" to her every night for a good two years straight. Of course she's still darling, but in a more grown up sort of way.

She used to love having her fingernails and toenails painted. Now, don't even think about it. She's not interested. She used to have a fit if I wanted to put her hair in a pony tail. Now, she asks for one every day. She used to love to dress up. Now, she's not really interested. In case you think she's lost some girly tendencies, never fear. She's very melodramatic, she cries and giggles several times a day (love that emotional roller coaster!) and she is loving the color pink (which she never used to).

Kate loves the babies and helps a ton with them, especially Elijah. She takes great pride in telling us that Eli likes her best of all. She loves making people happy and is very compassionate. She's enjoying reading more and more every day and hasn't complained about math for a month. Yay! She's working hard at piano and just started basketball.

She's the perfect compliment to the boys. We love you Kate!

Henry Peterson Ellsworth

2009-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Henry Peterson Ellsworth was born on September 14th at 7:27 pm weighing 7 lbs 0.4 oz. He was 19 inches long. He came home from the hospital with a different name, but he was only here a few hours before I knew we had to change it. The kicker was when the kids got home from school and Nathanael walked right into my room where I was feeding him and said, "Hi Henry!" So I called Jason and told him we gave the baby the wrong name. Big sigh on the other end of the line. . . then, "Well, call the hospital then." So I did and we had to go back the next day to fix the paperwork. Jason agrees on the name, but I think he wasn't interested in having to go through the hoopla of a name change. It ended up being really easy. Henry has been the very hardest to name, but we're all good now. He is named after his great great grandfather, Henry Moroni Zollinger who was in an accident and essentially died but then came back and recorded his extraordinary experience on the other side. His middle name is for Laurel Peterson Ellsworth, his great grandmother who died just a few weeks before his birth. She was a shining example of endurance and faith. She was pregnant with her last child (10th, I believe) when her husband was killed in a small plane crash. She endured 50 years without him raising a righteous family, refusing to become bitter or lazy and serving until her death. She was 90 when she died and she was serving in her ward as one of the activity day leaders for girls (ages 8-11).

At the hospital while I looked like this. . .

I had a weird reaction to the epidural medicine that made my left eye droopy (among other things). It was pretty wild.

Jason looked like this. . .

Ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration. I actually really loved having that lap top around!

Henry is a really good baby. But really, if he weren't I don't know how keen I would be on saying he wasn't. I mean, it doesn't feel nice to say, "Yea my baby is terrible, he screams constantly." But we happily don't have that problem. He's adorable and sweet and darling, even if he is small. That makes him all the more endearing. Speaking of being small, Jason has commented to many people that he is the 'runt'. I find this funny seeing as his siblings are all fully grown and as far as the men are concerned, he's clearly the runt.

Our snap shots are nice and all, but I had the marvelous opportunity to get some pictures taken by a friend of a friend (well now I would consider her my friend too- she was great, so nice, SO good with Henry) who is starting (restarting actually) her photography business. She has posted a sneak peak of our little runt here: http://chardyphotography.squarespace.com/ if you want to see a really cute picture of him.

We are trying to keep up with our hectic life and it's quite comical at times (See Eli in this picture?? He's not yet two but he's certainly adept at throwing tantrums. He's keeping life interesting!), but we are doing our best. We enjoyed my mom's help for two weeks. During that time I nursed and slept and changed a lot of diapers. My mom took care of everything and everyone. Now she is gone and I am drowning in laundry and dirty dishes and bills and poop and errands and kids' activities and 5 more buckets of apples (that are rotting as I type this). So instead of doing any of those other things I am going to finally get around to publishing this post about Henry.

If you care to know how the blessed event went down, read on. Otherwise, have a lovely day.

Just a few minutes after his birth

I worried a lot about his size in the months leading up to my due date. Kate was my biggest baby at 8 lbs 13 oz, right on time. Let's just say my pelvis wasn't exactly built for a baby that size and I had a long recovery (over a year). The next two boys were each 8 lbs and they were early. I measured small near the end of this pregnancy, but since I have a long torso and a big back yard the doctor said I could still easily have a good sized baby. So I hoped for an early induction. But of course that's a bad option if my body isn't doing its part to be ready. A week before my due date I had made enough progress that induction was put back on the table. I was lucky to get in on my scheduled induction date (first thing that morning, they didn't have enough nurses to bring me in but called later in the morning and said they were ready for me. YAY!). I got to the hospital around 11 am and they got things moving right away with an IV, pitocin and breaking my water. For several hours we hung out. I read and Jason sort of worked. When the contractions really picked up I had an epidural (love those). We waited some more. By 6 pm I had not progressed at all (dilated to a four for over five hours). That was a downer! A new nurse came on at 6 pm. Between 6:45 and 7:00 I had three contractions, each longer and stronger than the last. The last really hurt and I was pushing my epidural happy button. The nurse checked me at 7 pm and I was complete, ready to push. That was shocking news. Nothing was ready, no baby nurses around, doctor was busy and couldn't come right then. This is when that epidural came in really handy. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me a bolus of fast acting medicine. That made it possible to wait (somewhat comfortably) for the doctor, the baby nurses, etc. One contraction with three pushes and he was out. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice but as soon as his head was out the doctor got the cord unwound and as soon as Jason's shaky hands cut the cord he was put on my chest. Seeing our babies for the first time is always such an amazing, powerful experience. I'm almost sad we won't have that experience again. . . almost.

First Day of School

2009-10-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fall is rapidly approaching, but my flowers are still blooming and the weather is still pleasant. I guess that means it's time for school to start!

Nathanael- First Grade

Kate- Third Grade

Ethan- Fifth Grade

Elijah thought the pictures were all good and fun, especially when he got to be in them. But when the kids went to school and he had to come home with me. . . not so fun.

Don't they look thrilled? They all have great teachers (that hasn't always been true). We're looking forward to a great year!

Aspen Grove

2009-10-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Oldroyd Family Reunion
Aspen Grove, August 2009

The Whole Fam

The Original Six

The Ellsworth 6 and 8/9ths

In August we went to Aspen Grove for my family's reunion. It was in the planning stages long before I knew I would be nearly 9 months pregnant at the time of the trip! There was a bit of hoopla right up until the day I left as to the wisdom in going, so close to my due date, but I did my homework and was prepared for anything. Had our baby been born during that week it would have made quite a story! And yet, he baked for another month! More on that later. . . I had the luxury of flying to Utah while Jason drove 11 hours with the kids. They spent the night in Burley with Bonnie Z and Co. while I had a little reunion with some long-time, fabulous friends at the Cheesecake Factory and later spent the night in Park City with my parents. I felt pretty spoiled.

Aspen Grove was a ton of fun. Everyone got a vacation--everyone. We ate in the cafeteria so all meals were prepared and cleaned up by the staff. That was seriously one of my favorite parts of the trip- no food prep or clean up for a week! There were activities available for all kids (ages 0 to 18, set up in age groups) for six hours or more each day. They went swimming, hiking, made stuff, climbed on the rock wall, sang songs had just had a ton of fun. It was awesome for the cousins to have so much time together doing so many fun things. For adults they had lectures, crafts, pottery, paintball, high ropes course, geocaching and sports tournaments to name a few. There are trails everywhere if you wanted to hike. In the evenings there were more activities. There was never a dearth of entertainment.

We lodged in the rustic cabins, bathrooms and shower up the trail just a short walk. Jason and I thought it was great. Other members of our family thought the cabin/bathroom down the road thing was like real camping. In the end we all had a really great time. On the way home our kids were begging to go again next year.

Our Rustic Cabin, 12A, came complete with carpet, a heater, two bedrooms (ok , so saying two bedrooms is being a bit generous. . .) and a loft, sheets and blankets for the beds, a dresser, a desk and a rod for hanging clothes. Rustic? I think not. Well, maybe rustic in comparison to the Marriott.

Birthdays

While there we celebrated Elyse's 18th birthday (she's the oldest grandchild) and Mom's 70th birthday with a few gifts, good company and a Costco cake. . . Yum.

Aspen Follies

The Aspen Follies were pretty darn fun. Lots of games for the family to do together. I mostly waddled around, watching the fun. But even that was fun.

High Ropes

The high ropes course was not as easy as it looked, unless you were under 18. The kids who were old enough to go made it look like a piece of cake.

Other Good Stuff

Next to the high ropes course they have a rock wall for younger campers. All of our kids are scared of heights (I believe they inherited this from their Dad) so about half way up the wall they would look down and decide that was plenty. I'm not sure that Kate got three feet off the ground.

The pottery area is set up over the river that runs near the camp. Just sitting in the room is relaxing! I made a little salsa bowl that is now waiting patiently to be fired in a kiln. It's on my list of things to do. That very, very long list. . .

Frontier Night

Frontier night was super fun. They had all-you-can-eat snow cones which put huge purple, blue, and/or red smiles on all the kids faces. They also handed out some old time candy, had face painting in the village, stories in the teepee and archery in the woods. Jason caught a candid photo of our own semi naked archer. Pretty sure his attire isn't up to BYU dress standards. . .

Hiking

Some members of my family thought it sounded like good clean fun to hike Timp while we were there. On Wednesday those brave souls headed up the mountain, Jason and Ethan among them. Ethan was wearing his last years school shoes that are so well loved that they have about as much traction as a banana peel. And lets not mention Jason's non love for heights. All day I was fighting the little devil on my shoulder telling me to worry, worry, worry. Jason and Ethan took their time, whether that was due to their fitness level or their desire to smell the flowers and watch the mountain goats I don't know. Jason decided they would stop just below the summit (less than a mile from the top) because of the steepness of the trail and Ethan's lack of decent shoes. Ethan wasn't very happy but he got over it and they had a good time. I was glad Jason kept his promise of bringing Ethan back alive and well. ;)

The pool was a nice attraction when we had warm afternoon weather. But it wasn't quite as warm as we had anticipated since Utah had a cold front come through during the beginning of our week there. They had lap swim in the mornings that I really wanted to do but each morning I chickened out because I didn't want to walk over in the cold to swim and then be really, really cold walking back to 12A. So I was totally lame and didn't lap swim once. But we had some good clean fun in the water while the sun was shining. The kids' activities involved swimming almost every day so our kids got their fill of the pool.

Family Dance

On our last night there was a family dance (which at 9 pm turns into a teen/young adult only activity). I wasn't sure if we even wanted to go. I knew Kate would have a good time and probably Nathanael. Ethan was Mr. Cool- I don't want to dance! It didn't help that Jason told him that if a girl asked him to dance he had to say yes and go dance. The thought of dancing with a girl was a little too much for him to manage. Elijah was exhausted and was losing what little self control he possessed. We went in thinking we would stay for a few minutes and leave. The dance turned out to be one of the funnest activities. It seemed like every other dance was a line dance. The BYU student staff were really great dancers and entertainers and we had a great time watching them. It has been years since I've heard Macarena and it was so fabulous to watch all the kids do their best to learn the dance and jump right in with everyone. Of course no dance is complete without the old standby, YMCA. Even my mom got into that one. There were lots of songs that I have never heard, proving I am old and out of touch. Oh reality bites! It was a great end to a fabulous week.

Red Fish

2009-09-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

Little Red Fish Lake 2009

We had another fabulous camping trip to Red Fish Lake, just south of Stanley, ID in the Sawtooth National Forest. We love that place and hope to spend a week there each summer for years to come.

This year we had a plethora of pals to hang out with and it was a blast. We spent a lot of time lounging on the beach and hanging out with the Johns, the Browns and the Lloyds. Sherri was very generous with the use of her jet ski and Ryan and Roxanne were constantly taking people for rides on the boat or tube. We loved it and it's all our kids talked about for weeks afterward. Thanks for a great week guys!

Morning in the tent

Eli content with sand, rocks and bucket

Nathanael and Kate

Roasting marshmallows

The kids tired of posing for pictures

Ethan and Jason

Ethan, Nathanael and Kate

Jason and Jayson

Phoenix, Ethan and Kate
Following this ride the boys were on fire and Kate was shaking.

Good Friends
Roxanne, Tierra, Lisa

Some of the kids at Lilly Pad Pond
Nathanael, Phoenix, Landon, Kate, Gavin, Gabriel

All of us at Lily Pad Pond
Elliot, Tierra, Jayson, Landon, Ethan, Nathanael, Kate, Sophia, Ryan, Gavin, Phoenix, Roxanne, Gabriel, Jason, Lisa, Elijah

ELEVEN!

2009-09-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ethan W. Ellsworth

2000

2002

2004

2007

2009

On July 24th Ethan turned 11! He waited very impatiently as June and then July slowly passed. He was SO happy to finally see his day arrive.

Some bits and pieces about Ethan. . .

Ethan loves soccer, swimming, basketball, camping, reading and playing the piano. I really love that he loves piano- I don't have to remind him to practice. And I don't have to make him stay at the piano for the allotted time. Occasionally I have to tell him to get off the piano to get other things done! This year he'll be in 5th grade- his last year before middle school. I'm not sure if I am ready for that, but he is. He constantly reminds me that "soon" he'll be taller than me (he's now about 5'1") and that since he's over 5' and 100 lbs he's safe sitting in the front seat of the car or van even though he's not 13.

He had a swim meet on the night of his birthday and he won his heat in the 100 IM. It made for a great birthday present. This is a big accomplishment considering when he swam this race for the first time last year he was super ticked about even having to swim it (and lets just say he didn't have a very good race). He pretty much hated it. This year his strokes are better and he is faster and he's loving this race.

butterfly

breast stroke

Fourth of July Weekend

2009-09-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

On July 2nd we went camping overnight (Our anniversary- who goes camping with the family on their anniversary? We love each other, we love our kids and we love camping so it was all good) for our "let's-figure-out-what-we-need-to-do-to-get-ready-for-the-big-camping-trip" camping trip. It's a good thing we did and that we were only gone over night- we forgot a lot of stuff! We went to Emigrant Springs and stayed in a little cabin. It's about an hour from here. The next day we drove to Wallowa Lake to see if it's a place we want to frequent. We decided it's not, even though it's a pretty lake. It's no Red Fish, that's for sure!

Hiking at Emigrant Springs

Wallowa Lake picnic area

We got back late on the third and the kids were thrilled to be home on the fourth so we could watch the fireworks over the river at Columbia Park. Jason hates going to the river because there are TOO MANY PEOPLE and it takes a while to get out. But we went with good friends and had a good time despite the late night, crowds and traffic. And Jason got a nice shot of the sunset over the river and I think that made him happy. :)

June

2009-08-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little bit of pressure to document our lives before this baby is born, since once that happens I will be RESTING. Is that laughable? September is looming over me and my to do list gets longer as the time gets shorter. So here's a briefing.

In June, school finally released its grasp on our schedule and we were FREE! We actually ditched the last few days to join Jason in Idaho before the big Zollinger family reunion. We won't do that again though. The kids were so bothered that they missed the end of the year assembly and class parties. They made us promise that we'd not miss the last day again! I think my fingers were crossed during that promise. . .

Here's a pictorial recap of our month

End of the Year Piano Recital

Kate

Ethan

Zollinger Family Reunion
Happy 90th Grandma!

This included all kinds of fun (even though it rained a lot and we brought home sickness) like fishing, pinewood derby, shooting, horse riding and chat-chat-chatting.

Ethan painting his derby car

Nathanael and Miller

Uncle Cody helping Kate with her fish

Jason and Eli on Aunt Kathryn's fabulous swing set

The fabulous remake of the family picture from so long ago. Sorry I don't have the original, but if you are dying to see it, check Jason's facebook, he has both the old and the new posted.

L-R: Jarom, Becky, Patrick, Julie, Bryan, Joe, Jason, Emilee

I turned 36. Not really momentous, but it happened.

Ethan attended his LAST cub scout day camp

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for a week!

We had a great time. We didn't do much and that's sure to bore anyone to tears, but they endured it well. Dad even survived without Fox News. If you know my Dad, that's quite an accomplishment!

May

2009-08-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

May ushered in the end of soccer season which we welcomed whole heartedly. I am always pretty tired of 6 practices a week and 3 or 4 games each Saturday after 8 weeks. Little did we know Ethan would try out for and make a select team for the local club and be practicing all summer!! Luckily it's been pretty low key. He misses when we are gone and it's really not a big deal.

Nathanael

Kate

Ethan

We worked hard planting the garden and getting flowers in the front yard and had a marshmallow roast in our back yard to celebrate. It's always good to celebrate hard work with some unhealthy food isn't it?

Jason broke out the slip 'n slide for the first time this season.

Doesn't Kate almost look like a vampire with that hard-looking white skin??? Is she actually a Cullen??

Nathanael busting out his best can't-you-tell-I-am-starving-to-death-please-feed-me! pose

School should have ended near the end of May like it does in other places where we used to live. But here in WA someone in charge enjoys torturing us in the month of June. Our kids didn't get out until June 15th. I tried to stop complaining when I found out Joe and Samantha's kids (they live on the west side) didn't get out until later, like the 23rd or something. Ouch! So I put pictures of the kids with their teachers in this May post as a very small but personal protest to the school district scheduling committee. I know they will never see it, but it's making me feel better.

Nathanael and Mrs. McKay

Kate with Mrs. Mitchell

Ethan with Mrs. Brisbois. He loves that he's almost as tall as she is. He may be taller by now.

We had a few bumps in the road with school this year (like when Ethan was losing it at school and said to his teacher, "What do you know anyway? You haven't been to school in like 20 years!!" That wasn't fun. Luckily he got a handle on his little temper, apologized and his teacher laughed it off as one of her favorite disgruntled student quotes of all time. It helps that we know her and her family pretty well! Overall it was a great year!

Poison

2009-07-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

Jason was in Fresno for a few days and got home late last night. He was feeling very ill when he got home and hasn't seen much improvement yet. This morning I was telling Ethan to be quiet, Dad is sleeping and not feeling well. I told him I think Jason probably has food poisoning.

Ethan's response, "Wow. Who would want to poison Dad?"

I may have a budding conspiracy theorist on my hands. . .

April 2009

2009-06-26T23:45:00.000-07:00

This poor neglected blog needs a little TLC. . . .

A long time ago in a a galaxy far, far away we had some good times in the month called April in the year of our Lord, 2009.

OREGON

We went to Oregon for our freezing cold "spring" break. We had lots of rain and wind, a little bit of sun and a lot of fun.

The kids and I spent a day at the Portland Zoo in the rain while Jason worked. Despite the rain we had a great time.

They were SO tired and they all thought they would die when we left but by the time we got back to the hotel their energy mysteriously returned.

After the work part of the trip was taken care of we drove another hour to the coast for some freezing cold fun on the beach and other attractions. We spent time at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Hatfield Marine Science Center, Tillamook Cheese Factory and various other scenic spots along the coast.

Tillamook Cheese Factory

Oswald West

Cannon Beach

EASTER SUNDAY

On Easter we again forced our kids to go outside and act happy as we snapped a few shots of them before church (Hurry! Stand here. Not there, HERE! Please don't bug Eli. If everyone would look at the camera and smile we can take the picture when Eli looks. Don't look at Eli! Look at the camera. Stand up straight. Please don't pick your nose! Can you scratch your face when we are done???) I really wanted to get the pictures before church because the by the time church is over everyone is tired, disheveled and Eli is less than cooperative. I know this little tradition of getting pictures when we are trying to get ready for church drives Jason nuts because I make him take all the pictures (he claims my pictures are always blurry; maybe I have a nervous twitch).

SOCCER

We spent nearly every Saturday in March and April on the soccer pitch watching Ethan, Kate and Nathanael chase a small, often multi colored ball. This picture of Kate just cracks me up. It's like she telling everyone, "Now hold on a second while I get ready to kick."

THE BAR

Kate's second grade recess obsession has been "flipping on the bar." Ethan's was wall ball. She loves to flip and she does it every chance she gets. I have to admit I was a big bar flipper back in the day. We would race out the doors to recess to secure a bar for the entire recess. In this day of fairness and political correctness the kids aren't allowed to stay on the bar for the whole recess. That would be unfair to others and we want everyone to feel happy thus more laws, I mean rules must be implemented to take care of this problem. So the duties (the authoritative adult figures who monitor the playground) decided that six flips is the limit and then you must relinquish the bar and get back in line if you want to go again. This leads to lots of controversy over who's counting and how they are counting. But that's beside the point. I am pretty sure my favorite tricks (the Cherry Drop and the Death Drop) are outlawed since someone might shoot their eye out. . . I mean break their arm. Six flips at a time must not be near enough brain spinning for Kate as her obsession has come home. When we moved in we had a trampoline- a weird trampoline. There were no springs, only elastic. The elastic was worn and old and within a few months the trampoline was beyond repair. Jason pulled the fabric off and has left the frame up until such time as he decides to take it down and haul away. Kate has made the trampoline frame her personal brain blender and she spends as much time as she can flipping outside on our bar (that isn't even round by the way- it's more rectangular with rounded corners- uncomfortable!). Here she is gleefully spinning to her heart's content on a sunny April afternoon.

More Australia

2009-05-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's only been nearly a month since I posted a little bit about my trip so I figure it's time to get around to it again!

I had a fabulous time in Australia and I can't really capture it in a paragraph. . .or two. . .or fifty. But who wants a twenty page travelogue? So in about 150+ words (I wouldn't want to discriminate against anyone like me with a short attention span), here's a briefing of my trip. . .

Bondi Beach, Sea Cliff Bridge, Port Stephens, dolphins, surfers, kangaroos at a golf course (and lots of other really cool animals at various places- see previous post), Australian Reptile Park, The Magic Flute (at the Opera House!! Ok, this was super awesome!), Katoomba (mountains/rainforest), Manly Beach, sunburn, downtown Sydney, Sydney Tower, shopping at Paddys and the Rocks, QVB (Queen Victoria Building), the Harbor Bridge (walked it at night, it was beautiful), Koala Park, Darling Harbor, the Sydney Aquarium, going to church, the temple, the church offices, ferries, trains, busses, more ferries, and eating (The yogurt is unbelievable, like no yogurt I have had before, more like a creamy delicious dessert than a healthy breakfast- vanilla mixed with fresh mango was my favorite. Also, date pudding. . . oh it was divine, and did not taste like dates.)! I can't really say that this or that was a highlight, because it was all a highlight. It was fabulous and crazy busy the whole time. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are your 18,000 words (plus more words in the captions) for the day.

A few more koala pictures

Koalas are really very cool animals. Besides being a cute marsupial (they are extra cute in a real life and the whole marsupial--underdeveloped wormy fetus blindly crawling into mommy's pouch--thing is really amazing I think) they have really unique hands and feet. On their hands (forepaws) they have two thumbs (opposable digits), then a big gap and then three fingers. It makes climbing trees a lot easier. Then on their feet they techinically have five toes, though it looks like three. The first toe (digit) is clawless, the second and third are fused resulting in a double claw (works nicely for grooming I hear), then two more. Sorry if that's too boring (at least Pat thought it was interesting right Pat??). I found it rather fascinating.

Michelle and I at Circular Quay with the Harbor Bridge behind us

On the opposite side of Circular Quay with the Opera House behind us

The other side of the Opera House

It's actually two buildings, a smaller and a larger one. We saw The Magic Flute in the one on the left.

The Opera House at night from the Harbor Bridge

Michelle, Mom and I with downtown behind us.

On the ferry to Manly

Manly is a beach town right on the ocean, with access to the Pacific Ocean on the east side and Sydney Harbor on the west side. It takes about 30 minutes to ride the ferry out there. In the picture behind me you can see the Sydney Tower. It's the tall skinny tower on the far left.

Manly Beach

Since we were visiting our missionary parents there wasn't any swimming/sunbathing going on. The weather was so perfect the day we were at Manly.

About to get sunburned on the ferry back from Manly Beach

View from Sydney Tower (downtown) towards the Pacific Ocean

Dad stayed behind while we shopped like crazy
(frugal shopping of course)

Early morning hours

Mom, Michelle and I walked most mornings and this day we walked to a church that my grandfather built years ago when my mom was a teenager and their family was living in Australia (Grandpa was building churches). See the car in the background- early morning seminary!

A cool clock inside the Queen Victoria Building

Mom and I at Wharf 5 on Circular Quay
(where we got on and off the ferry)

Michelle and I with a dig player downtown.

This guy was pretty good. He did some talking, some playing, more talking, more playing. He had the whole circular breathing thing down. I have never seen anyone do it and he was awesome!

Michelle and I at the temple after church on Sunday

Mom and Dad at the entrance to the church office buildings (and temple)

Monday morning came too quickly and we were on our long 14 hour flight home. The jet lag was beastly. I cried when I saw my family. I had a wonderful time but I sure did miss them! The happiest moment was when Eli saw me and climbed into my arms with a smile. I was afraid he'd want nothing to do with me.

Sometime I will get around to posting pictures from Spring Break and Easter. But I'm not holding my breath.

Down Under Part One

2009-04-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

News Flash: I went to Australia in March.

Ok, so that's way old news. But I am just now getting around to telling about it so that's kind of a blog-flash, right?

It seems like ages ago. It was the best Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day, whatever-else-you-can-think-of-day present for me.

If you read this and don't know. . . my parents are serving a mission in Sydney. I didn't just pick Australia for a random vacation; though it would be a good choice for a vacation. When my parents were serving in Germany, Jason and I wanted to go but couldn't. All my siblings/spouses went but us. We love Europe and my parents so that was a bummer. This time we talked about how much we would love to go but we still couldn't. Jason is so busy with work. He has a hard time being unreachable for more than a day or two, let alone a week or more. The airfare for two people is outrageous. Add to that paying for a babysitter and there was just no way. My sister and her husband wanted to go too. But they also couldn't make it work. Then brilliance kicked in and Michelle and I cooked up a way to go together. No husbands (though you know we really, really love you), no kids, no responsibility, great location=super fun trip!

When I asked my mom what she will miss the most about Sydney when they come home she said she will miss riding the ferry to Circular Quay. I would have to agree! It is a beautiful and relaxing ride from their suburb of Rydalmere on ferry to downtown Sydney. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I also loved going to an opera at the Sydney Opera House, seeing all kinds of animals at two zoos and the aquarium, sight seeing, and shopping! Ok, so everything was my favorite. I couldn't be luckier.

Be prepared for a bunch of boring pictures from here on out.

Sea Cliffs Bridge

The coastal road had a problem with falling rock, so this bridge was built well away from the rock face so the piers and bridge deck avoid rock fall hazards. There is a pedestrian sidewalk that we walked down before walking down onto the rocks near the ocean.

A Tide Pool, literally

This pool is near the Sea Cliff Bridge, and you can see it's right on the ocean. It's literally a tide pool, being filled when the tide comes in and available for swimming in when the tide goes out. There were three muscley Aussie teens swimming and throwing a football while we were there.

Michelle, Dad and me on a golf course out in the country where the kangaroos roam free. They eat the grass and occasionally get hit by a golf ball. We saw one whose pouch was a little bloated so we wondered if there was a joey inside, but we never found out for sure.

The kangaroo with a heavy looking pouch.

Sorry about the red eye, but for me to get this post done I am not editing any of the pictures I post.

A Kookaburra at the golf course (sitting in an old gum tree. . .)

Me with an aboriginal artist and friend of my parents.

Now a bunch of Aussie animals from the Reptile Park and the Koala Park. . .

Tasmanian Devil- these guys have a frightening set of jaws

Giant Galapagos Tortoise

This thing was the size of about five Nathanaels, maybe more. He was huge.

A Wallaby

Tree frogs having a tea party

Feeding the kangaroos something that looked remarkably like cereal.

Michelle was a little flipped out. In case you don't know, she's not exactly an animal enthusiast.

This little guy was getting rather friendly with Mom.

Dang Cute Koalas (great photo Michelle!)

We saw quite a few other animals including alligators, a huge salt water crocodile, lizards galore, cockatoos (talking ones too), lorikeets, dingos, snakes and lots more cool stuff at the aquarium (sea horses, Nemo and friends, all manner of other tropical fish, turtles, a couple of ginorm dugongs--don't ask about this one, just look it up--sharks, rays and blue fairy penguins to name a bunch).

Now I am tired and ready to retire but I'm not done. I mean, I did more than see a cool bridge and a bunch of animals. But until next time. . .

PS- A note about the song on the playlist. . . The second grade classes at our school did a whole unit on Australia (cool that I got to go right when they were in the middle of it). Their second grade performace included all Australian songs and little plays. It was so fun to see! One of the songs they sang is Waltzing Matilda; I would describe it as an old folk song. It's quite popular over there, we heard it on the radio several times.

The Mall (or not)

2009-04-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Nathanael: "Mom remember that store where they have statues that are dressed up in clothes? Do remember the name of that store?"

I answer, "No."

But I really mean, which one?

Clearly he doesn't frequent the mall nearly enough if he thinks only one store has those statues dressed up in clothes, aka mannequins.

Is my child deprived? Or sheltered? Or could it be that I avoid malls altogether unless I am shopping by myself?

The latter for sure. And I feel good about that.

Please let me go OUT!

2009-02-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

January 2009

This is Eli's pose several times a day, usually when I am making dinner and the kids are outside playing regardless of the freezing temperatures. He stands at the back door and screams and squeals as they play and he is trapped inside his little jail cell. Poor child. Your time will come.

When the Magic Ends

2009-02-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Nathanael lost his second tooth a week or so ago. He was pretty excited to put it under his pillow. This tooth fairy was feeling pretty good about remembering to bring him some cash since I have been known to forget. . . and for more than one night in a row. It was 9:30 pm and I was getting ready for bed. I checked all the kids and all were looking angelic, enjoying their respective blissful dreamlands. I grabbed the tooth, put money in the bag in exchange for the tooth and took it back to the boys' room, change jingling in the bag. After placing it carefully under Nathanael's pillow I stood up and was suddenly eye to eye with Ethan. His eyes were not sleepy. They were bugging out of his head. It seems he was not fast asleep afterall.

"I knew it was you!" he said.

I was speechless. At 10 he seems pretty old to still believe in these unexplainable events. A tooth disappearing but replaced by money. It seems obvious that an adult is behind this doesn't it? But the strong faith of a child can be powerful. Maybe it's not the best thing to mess with that power, but I prefer not to think of that since my kids have had many a magical morning as a result of it.

I'm glad I was there to witness the moment he gained his knowledge. We talked just a little bit about the tooth fairy. Then he looked me in the eye and said, "So then Santa. . ." I just smiled and then said, "Isn't it fun to be in on the secret?" I could see the ambivalence in his eyes. Like the moment you understand how the trick is done and suddenly the trick is not so cool anymore. Even though you really wanted to know how it's done, when you find out it's so anti climatic. This magical person (and all these childhood made up people, though Santa is clearly the biggest for us) he had hoped was real was just sent up in flames.

But at the same time he gets to be in on a fun secret. That could be fun couldn't it? We talked some more about how people had tried to tell him that Santa isn't real but he had refused to believe. He was a little embarrassed. In the end he did more smiling than frowning and I am glad it happened the way it did.

Today Kate lost a tooth. She left it in a baggie on the kitchen counter. Ethan brought it in while she was saying her prayers. When she was done he said, "The tooth fairy can't bring you money if your tooth isn't under your pillow." I noticed the smile he was trying to hold back and I can see he's really going to enjoy being in on the secret.

Nathanael is Six

2009-01-23T16:03:00.000-08:00

December 30th, 2002

Nathanael turned six December 30th and I'm finally getting around to saying something about it. You know we're so organized and on the ball over here . . .

Here are six things about Nathanael

1. He LOVES Star Wars everything and Bakugan toys.
2. He thinks kindergarten is the most fun a kid can have (but a close second would be spending some quality time with PBS kids).
3. He gets mad if I pick him up from school; he would much, much rather ride the bus with his school friends.
4. He played his first season of soccer this fall and can't wait for it to start up again in the spring. He's constantly asking me when soccer will start again.
5. He loves macaroni and cheese, aka the yellow death
6. He has shark teeth. His bottom permanent teeth are in behind his bottom primary teeth. I don't think this is a good sign for his orthodontic future.

2003

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