Big News for 2016

Big news and big changes are happening for us in 2016. We are headed to the middle east to live in Amman Jordan for the next couple of years. After the Brazilian economy crashed 2014/2015 we knew we needed to head in a different direction. Nathan got a contract with the State Department doing relatively similar things as before, and we are grateful. 

We feel confident moving to Jordan, partly because our good friend's the Hale's lived there after their time in Taiwan. Because of this I knew we would be safe and understood better that Jordan is a friendly, relatively safe country who happens to have some cranky neighbors.
Departure date is somewhere mid-late summer. Yes I'm a little stressed. Yes we're all excited. I am relieved that so many of the major stresses moving to and living in Taiwan will be taken care of completely or assisted by the State Department. Having an embassy be such a central part of our daily life will be an interesting change. Lot's of adventures are certain to follow!

February Summary 2016

Boy did February just go screaming by this year! It was a full month for us so here are a few highlights, meaning, I won't bore you with all of the illness, fights and tears. You don't have to thank me. 

 Daddy-Daughter date with Aly for Activity Days. They had a lovely brunch and a relay type race that they took 2nd in, it was stiff competition!

 We didn't actually have winter this year in Texas though there were a couple of chilly days it has been most beautiful on the whole. That makes it an easy sell to warm the hot tub up on Saturdays after chores and work are done.

Chinese New Year! Welcome to the year of the monkey everyone! We found all of our asian silk clothes and Kohen borrowed Nathan's tie with Chinese characters on it and we proudly wore what we had to church. CNY has become a time we look back and remember our life and friends in Taiwan and have gratitude for the experiences and friendships we were able to have.

One Saturday Kennedy decided to put on a Spa Day for her little sisters. I walked in to the above scenes and was just overwhelmed with the sweet moment of service I had unexpectedly found. Any mom knows that the moments of genuine sibling love can be fleeting and I took a few moments to just observe this and mark it in my memory... and my camera's memory. 

 Guys, Scarlett spends a LOT of time in our pantry playing. She rearranges things and makes the honey bears come to life, she will play contentedly for 45 min at a time. This is a mother's dream and I don't wanna wake up.

 My kids can't be the only ones who get into the best pretend games only right before bed or right before we have to leave for an appointment, right? On this night things got suspiciously quiet so I went looking for trouble, ready to throw everyone in bed with the least provocation. Instead I found a delightful tea party going on, serving water and honey nut cheerios. The big kids were in on it too and everyone was actually getting along for more than 2 minutes so I snapped this picture and slowly backed out of the room like, you never saw me...I was never here... doing the Jedi mind trick motion with my hands.

 Speaking of Jedi's, Statham has the force. He discovered his dad's most prized possession of nerdery and he overcomes hell and high water on a daily basis to sneak into the office through many obstacles designed to keep him out, as he attempts to retrieve a light saber without accidentally turning it on and alerting me, before he makes a break for it. If you want to hear mild mannered Statham scream, try taking a light saber out of his hands.
Nathan loves to get a couple light sabers out and play with him too, he makes his own theme music while they battle- I don't even think he realizes he does it. Definitely adds to the drama of the battle.

 I wasn't feeling well towards the end of February and I was letting a lot of stuff slide. One afternoon Scarlett announced that she was "cooking" and I figured, however few minutes she was happily cooking, were a few minutes where I could rest. This was an unwise choice on my part. Ander arrived home shortly after and their creations were in full swing in no time. My kitchen was sacrificed upon the alter of 5 Minutes Peace and in this case it wasn't worth it.
Why? Because I'm not a huge fan of prune/cheerio sandwiches, no matter how adorable the waiter is. Also, I don't like canned bean juice with apple slices and enough pepper to make you cry, even if it was lovingly baked/sloshed around the oven.
No, they did not thoroughly clean up after themselves. They were so darn impressed with their successful cooking session, virtually uninterrupted by mom, that they were oblivious to how the mess overshadowed their creations. And that is probably okay. They sure were cute.

T'was a good month. As you can see!

Pit Stop, Utah

Fact: Utah is a long way from Texas. 

There are a lot of cheers with each state line we cross for good reason! When we rolled up to the Statham's house around 8:45pm day 2 of driving, we were ready for a little break. Our kids were so happy to see their friends and everyone pretty much scattered to go and play. Except for Scarlett. She located Oakley and planted herself in her favorite spot, his lap. Once again we were so grateful to have some of our favorites take us in!

On the Road Again, Day 2 CO-UT

Scarlett wasn't the best guest overnight at the Bells. She got up about 2 hours after the adults went to bed and tried to rouse the entire house hold to party with her. Katie kept several of my kiddos quiet for an hour or more until Scarlett woke me up and I went on a silent warpath. Everyone had to lay back down and lay still while Nathan got a few more hours of sleep so he could drive. None of my children were actually able to go back to sleep. Neither was I. I just hoped Katie was able to, good grief!

A few hours later, and now on the road with 6 tired kiddos, Scarlett of course was the first to give. But she is in those stinkin straight backed boosters so her head flopped over at a gruesome angle. In a stroke of genius I rigged my purse strap around the seat to hold her head back, it worked like a charm!

What a lovely drive through Colorado we had! We were so happy to see snow! And the best part was that there was snow everywhere but on the roads. One of our most favorite places is the gorge by Glenwood Springs, the rest stop pretty much blew our minds in the heart of the gorge, covered in snow with a river running right next to it. It was just serene. And cold!

Soon we made our way out of Colorado and up into Utah. It actually warmed up for a few hours of southern Utah. One of Statham's all time favorite things to do is to stand at the steering wheel and "drive". So at every rest stop we would get him out and let him drive while we gassed up the car or took turns using the rest rooms. I still cannot believe how much 10 min of "driving" bought us, he was such a happy baby even stuck in his car seat!

All of the rest of my children needed to run around and climb at any opportunity, and they absolutely fussed more than their baby brother! But overall we had an awesome second day with another great destination, American Fork Utah to see the Statham Family!

Rosie Snuggles

9 years ago Rosie would take my fussy newborn Alyssa and sit in her chair and wrap them up in her blanket and she would calm her right down. Every. Time. Rosie had the magic touch with Aly and there are no two ways about it. So we had to re-inact Rosie Snuggles and we all kind of got to giggling and pretty soon, each of the kids wanted their turn. Rosie Snuggles are the best!

Aly Jota

Scarlett Mei

Ander Man

Ko-dogg

Kenna Jo

Statham John

Pit Stop with the Bells

The week before Christmas Nathan and I decided spontaneously to drive up to Boise for Christmas. Part insanity, part desire for a white Christmas, part wanting to be home for the holidays and partly because we aren't sure we will make it up this summer before we move over seas again. We surprised (most of) our families so there was social media silence as we made our way up to Colorado where the Bells generously let us crash their mini- reunion. We actually had a lot of fun that first day of driving because we had Christmas movies and snacks, and Statham was a genuine trooper. We were also pretty excited about our day one destination, Bells! 

We love the Bells with all our hearts and have since our time in VA with them. Now, instead of being athletes and performers in HS, Marianne is married with a darling baby girl, Kim is married and working full time and Katie just got home from serving a mission in France. Love, love, love these chicas!

As usual Rosemary welcomed us into their lovely home (her Christmas decorations are my favorite!) and makes us feel at home, the same thing she has done since I showed up on her VA doorstep 9 years ago, homesick and scared out of my mind. She and Tom took us in for a few weeks and helped Nathan and I and our little fam get our bearings.
We only had one night but it was a great one. It was Kim and Katie's birthday so we had a birthday celebration and we stayed up with our three oldest playing Fish Bowl. It was super fun and I was reminded about the competitive genes that run through Nathan's family, right through him and into our children! It makes for very fun game nights though! And of course chatting wayyyy past our bedtimes. Thank you Bells for letting us come by, we love you!! A:F6!!!

Scarlett and Preschool

I have loved the preschool that Scarlett has been attending. Ander went there last year as well and couldn't have been happier. So when I started having this feeling to keep Scarlett home at the beginning of this school year, I tried hard to ignore it. She was enrolled and we'd paid the fees. Plus I liked having a break with just Statham some mornings. Preschool is ridiculously expensive and that alone could be reason enough to have her home. But as the semester rolled on and Scarlett was happy and I was happy, I was confused why the feeling didn't go away. Finally over Christmas break I decided to follow this feeling I was having and I withdrew her from her preschool.

For as much as she enjoyed school, she certainly hasn't missed it much. I never would have guessed. And for all of my worries and concerns about her being home, they seem to be unfounded. I have genuinely loved having her home all day every day with me. We get in a lot of snuggles and she is a pretty good little helper most of the time. And it's great to be saving that preschool tuition every month. So I am not sure exactly why I felt what I did, maybe she just needed more Mama time, I can understand that. I needed more Mei Mei time too.

Mommy Survival Strategy

I'm a pretty healthy person, generally. But if I'm going to get sick I can guarantee it will be about 2 hours before Nathan leaves out of town. It always happens. This particular trip was no exception. And he was gone over the weekend of course, because well, that's my favorite. 

Nathan left on a Thursday evening and by Friday I was miserably sick. By Saturday morning I didn't want to get out of bed. A plan started forming in my mind. I needed to go to the store for the essentials but was having a hard time convincing myself to go. I wanted to just stay home and let the kids watch movies all day, but the thought of making them bags of popcorn all day also seemed overwhelming. Then I had a stroke of genius. I had seen these massive popcorn bags at our nearby Winco. I forced myself into the car and headed in that direction. I grabbed bread, milk and a bag of popcorn as big as Scarlett.

The kids settled in for a movie marathon and gorged themselves on pre-popped popcorn while I laid catatonic on the couch. I am fairly certain popcorn was substituted for lunch, snack and dinner. I vaguely remember slicing some apples and cheese at some point, maybe?  Everyone was relatively happy and I survived what seemed like an unsurvivable weekend. Thank you ginormous bag of popcorn and TV!

Kohen's 5th Grade Bazaar

The 5th graders here have a 5th Grade Bazaar each year where they make and sell items and then parents and students all come one evening to buy it. The "Bronco Bucks" that the students earn they later use in this Mini Town experience they have where they can go watch movies, buy treats, play games etc. Kennedy did it a couple of years ago so we knew what to expect. 

 

Kohen chose to make these cute popsicle stick bow and arrows. They were "easy" in theory but a little labor intensive. You notch the sticks, then soak them, then string them with dental floss (what you don't do is curse when said notched and soaked stick snaps in half while trying to string it!). Then you cut q-tips and notch those as well and they are your arrows. Quite a few hours were put into the project. I did have to help a little with stringing them, it was a bit tricky. But everything else was all Kohen.

Here he is all set up and ready to go. It is weird to be there with them because you feel stress, like will my child's product sell? I spend most of my time and money walking around looking for the poor, sad, dejected looking kids who aren't selling much. I waste a lot of money at these things. I come home with a lot of useless crap. But who can sit and watch a child's self esteem be crushed and do nothing?! Ahhh! It's like my worst nightmare!

In the end Kohen did sell out of his bow and arrows and had a positive experience. As the parent, I was grateful for that. And also glad it was over! Way to go Kohen!

A Tale of Two Grinches

For "Whoville" Day at school my kids didn't even mention dressing up like residents, but rather, went straight for the Grinch! Initially Ander asked if I would do his make up so I scanned over some Pinterest pics the night before and the next morning I gave myself 15 extra minutes to give it my best. Kohen walked in while I was fixing up Ander and suddenly revealed his undying desire to be the Grinch at school that day also. I was flattered, followed shortly after stressed!

I decided to ignore the clock and got to work on Kohen and I'm so glad I did! There was something about the way he makes facial expressions that was just hilarious and exactly like the Grinch, it was uncanny!

I kind of wished they could stay home from school a while longer and entertain me, we were having some laughs! But such is life, the classroom calls.

Throughout the day I got emails from several of the boy's teachers telling me what a great job I'd done and telling me how funny Kohen's expressions were, when he wasn't even aware or trying. It was pretty unexpectedly fun.

The last shot is my favorite. The repentant Grinch. I just want to kiss those green scrunchy faces! Love my Grinches to the moon and back!

!0 months

Babies get to this point where it's nearly impossible to catch a shot of them where they aren't in motion and at 10 months, we're there! This sweet guy hardly sits still for a moment and getting him to sit still, look at the camera and smile? Come on now.
He is crawling like a mad man, standing on his own, still only has the two bottom teeth, still LOVING the piano and music in general. He bops better than Silento any day. He is eating all kinds of food, and probably because much of his milk was already a bit on the spicy side due to what I eat, he is a huge fan of Thai and Indian food. His first word is "More" because he is serious about his food. It sounds like "mah!" But he yells it at me in between bites so I'm pretty sure that's what he means. That plus doing the sign for "more".

He is such a happy baby. We all still fight over who gets to hold him or play with him because there is something really special that happens when you hang out with Statham for even a few minutes. You find yourself recharging and just feeling lifted after being with him. What a gift it is to have someone like that in our chaotic home. I'm not sure how long it will last as he begins the search and destroy phase of toddler hood but we have been grateful for every moment.

TransEra

I have a confession to make. It has been a long time coming and it takes a lot of courage for me to share this with you so publicly. But we live in a different world now than we used to and people are a lot more open minded then they used to be, so thank you in advance.
There has been so much talk lately about people being transgendered and the topic is a sensitive one. But this morning I read a headline that changed everything for me. It read: FIFTY-TWO YEAR-OLD MAN LIVES AS A SIX YEAR OLD GIRL. SERIOUSLY. And that one sentence (and picture, let me be fair) changed everything for me. There was this shift in my thinking and I'll never be the same.
I realized that I am TransEra. That's right, I was born in the wrong time. I've never really felt "right" and as societal norms continue to morph and change, they just feel more and more wrong inside me. You might be thinking, Yes! That's your inner compass! Listen to it! But how could so many of us be wrong? What are the chances the problem is inside my head? Plus it feels better when people "embrace me for who I am" instead of telling me I might have a sickness in my head that is not well understood. Now I realize that there is some irony that I have to join a 21st century fad to escape to an era without said off-putting fads, but that's what feels right for me, ya know?
I should have been born around the turn of the century. Not the 21st Century, mind you, no that isn't working out too well for me. I think I identify closer to around 1900, I know if I had lived then I would feel just right. You see, people wouldn't frown down at me for calling a girl, a girl and a boy, a boy. And I  wouldn't be called hateful for defining marriage to be between a man and a woman. And you could say things like, "Hey, get a job and quit leeching off of the government, this isn't okay!" and I wouldn't be "insensitive," I would just be right.
How good it would feel to be "normal" when I talk of Christ in a public or social setting. I would be the cream of the crop, not a societal flop.
Yes, I was born in the wrong era. And since it's impossible to change that, I would like my entire world redone Quaker style and I will dress and act accordingly, now don't you try to sneak a peak of my ankles!
Did I mention I want insurance to cover it?

Benjamin Franklin and a Ferrari

Once upon a time, Kennedy and Kohen were out selling some fresh apple cider at their "Lemonade stand". Sales were slow so they decided they were going to make sure to smile and wave to cars driving by. As they prepare to wave at the next car coming towards them, they realize it is a Ferrari. A red, convertible Ferrari with a man and woman inside. As the kids smiled and waved, to their surprise, the Ferrari pulls up to the stand.

The man buys one cup of cider and pays for it with a crisp $100 dollar bill. Kennedy tries to tell him it's just too much but he insists, saying that you don't see enough kids out doing things like this now a days, and that it's awesome. He asked if he could take a picture of them at their stand, thanked them for the cider and drove away, leaving two kids -in complete and utter disbelief- in his dust.

They ran inside to tell Nathan about their first sale of the day, and their shock wore off into excitement. What a cool experience!

When I first heard this tale I admit I may have thought for a brief moment about how I encourage them to use the stand to earn some spending money so that they get a small idea about the time and energy it takes to make a few bucks, and this guy blew my "lesson" right out of the water. But the rarity of someone paying with a Benjamin doesn't seem to be lost on the kids, they get that it was likely a once in a life time event.
A very memorable day at the lemonade stand indeed!

ICE at the Gaylord Texan

My parent were planning on coming down to Texas for Thanksgiving but unfortunately my grandma Doris became ill and they went to take care of her in Montana. We are of course disappointed but know that they are where they should be. And they have been missed! Especially on Tuesday when we had tickets to ICE at the Gaylord Texan hotel. 

(They had a naughty/nice list where my name was the only legible one!)

The ICE show is in this ginormous hotel where they section off this huge area, it is a frigid 9* F inside where they have more than 2 MILLION pounds of hand-carved ice sculptures. It was actually kind of unreal. 

I can admit that I underestimated how cold it would be. I made sure everyone wore their winter coats but even with the blue coats they gave all of us, it was still cold on any part that was uncovered. My hands were hurting so bad and as soon as Nathan discovered it he blew warm air into his gloves and put them on my hands. I was never so grateful for a pair of warm gloves!!!

This year's theme was Christmas around the world and there were scenes from different countries. As I mentioned, my parents weren't able to come so we let Kennedy and Kohen invite their friends who are siblings so we ended up with 8 kids, it was a bit hectic keeping track of everyone when we all looked the same! But we only lost track of Ander twice so we are calling that a win!

Different sculptures you could climb through like this ^ Christmas tree, or sit on for pictures. The colors were so vibrant and fun and there was so much to look at. 

In one room there were ice slides and even a special shorter one with helpers for little ones Scarlett's size. Scarlett somehow only brought one glove and her hands were so cold she had put them both in the one glove, like she was praying. So when she sat down on the slide and didn't slide very fast, she started wigglin her little tush to try and scootch down the slide with her hands stuck in one glove, it was so darn cute, everyone was laughing.

Everyone else slid right down the ice slides! They had a great time and wanted to go again but it was too cold to wait in line again.

They had children from different countries all around the world, Nathan and I thought we might let the kids guess which country we will be moving too next in this room but they didn't have it. Close! But not exactly. Guess they (and anyone reading this) will have to wait a bit longer!

Here's our crew towards the end, they did awesome!

As a finale, you walked into this room and saw this giant, lit up ice angel welcoming you in to a beautiful Nativity Scene. The angel was my favorite thing that I saw. 

Those red noses show just how chilly it was. Poor Scarlett was warming up her ungloved hand in her dad's neck. 

The only scene that was clear ice was the Nativity, and it was stunningly beautiful. The perfect way to end our chilly trip through this icey wonderland!