How Did Life Get So Busy?

Hello everyone!  (if anyone is out there still reading...)

I keep waiting for things to die down to record the things I wish to remember, but it just seems like they never will!

We had a fun yet busy Christmas break - preceded by the whole family taking their turn with the flu.  Luckily, Jay, the last to pay his dues, was well enough by Christmas to eat a full meal and even dessert! :)  However, the unexpected sickness did put me behind and I still have a basket with undelivered Christmas cards and a couple of presents sitting on my desk...

What do you think is it even worth trying to deliver them at this point?

A couple of days after Christmas, we got to spend some time with Jay's family - for an unexpectedly extended trip after their flight was cancelled due to snow in Boston.  It was so great to spend time with all of them and to have an excuse to make big meals (and to have extra help making them :D).  I'll expand more on that later.  (hopefully later this week...)

Then, all last week, Jay was out of town at back-to-back conferences in Florida and then Chicago, meanwhile, I was trying to arrange people to watch my kids while attending a ballet class at BYU this semester- I'm finally trying to take advantage of my "professor's wife" status.  It didn't occur to me to make sure the class was not barely too early for any students to be out of school to babysit, and also so late that willing moms couldn't help out because they have to pick up their kids from school and there is not enough room in their car for all my kids and theirs...  Luckily, I have the best neighbors **EVER** and they were willing to go to all ends to help me out- including watching for increments and then handing the kids off elsewhere...  I don't know how the rest of the world gets along without awesome neighbors like mine.

Provo rocks.

Anyway, I feel a few weeks behind in all aspects of life, but it seems to carry on just the same.  and so do I.

Unfortunately, I haven't found myself taking as many photos lately.  I guess it's because we do mostly routine things that don't seem like particular "kodak moments"  (has that phrase been updated?  instagram-worthy moments? :D) BUT, I still feel like I have a lot of ruminations lately, and hopefully I can remember what they all are long enough to write some of them down.

I do have a few photos, though, and I'll start with those first.  I'd also like to do a little bit of a "kid review", because I feel like they have all grown up so much these past few months and I just don't want to forget about the changes they've undergone.  I feel a particular urgency as The Frog has lately been asking me a lot of questions about himself as a baby in watching Hazel and her milestones, and it makes me want to be sure to record some of the fun things from their childhood so that I will be able to have answers for his curiosity.

It never ceases to amaze me how when The Frog was a baby, I lived for every little milestone and rejoiced in every minute advancement, yet when he asked me the other day, I couldn't even remember what his first word was!!

Oh mother, I'm beginning to understand you more each day...  How you did it with 6?  I doubt I ever will fully.  It takes an amazing person.

So, if you hate those cheesey, "hurray! my kid can now perform another act of minutiae" kind of posts, you may want to skip the rest of this week. :)

Kid Conversation

Christmas Eve.  The Frog and Peach are having a sleep-over.

me:  So, kids.  Tomorrow is Christmas, which means I want to make sure you know what is going to happen...  What is the first thing you do when you wake up?
The Frog: OPEN PRESENTS!!
me: no.
The Frog: Open Jesus's present?
me: no.
...
me: nobody is to go downstairs until mommy and daddy are awake.  I want you both to go to the bathroom, and Peach, please put on underpants.  I will leave the iPad upstairs for you to watch movies in the morning until we wake up, ok?
Peach: But!!!  What if an ornament falls off the tree and breaks?!  Or if a stocking falls down?!
me: nobody is to go downstairs until mommy and daddy wake up!

Looking forward to sleeping in this Christmas.  :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

First Photo Booth!

Jay takes the kids to the movies a lot- usually the dollar movies, but sometimes if there's something new he really wants to see, he'll take them to the "real thing".  They have the ritual of sharing a small bag of popcorn and "playing" in the arcades after the show.

Well, I finally go to take the kids to a movie while Jay stayed home with the napping Hazel - we went to see Frozen - and when I saw the photo booth in the arcade, I knew....

PS Peach has always been quite fearless in movies, compared to The Frog, but she got scared during the previews and sat on my lap during the whole movie!  It was fun :)

Picture Catch-up...

I realized today, when scanning through our photos on the computer, trying to decide which one to make an ornament out of for Peach, that I have hardly any good photos of her lately!  She has been very camera shy/active (i.e. blurry!) in all my recent photos.  Also, I've been taking much fewer than usual...  Anyway, out of nowhere, my princess girl has suddenly wanted to start wearing her brother's clothes.  (try to ignore her peeking bum.  It can be hard keeping 3T pants on, but The Frog's 5T ones are impossible!)

 She even wore his pajamas to bed that night!

 Don't worry, though, she still has days of multitudes of princess tutus!

 I think I have a picture like this for all three kids at about this age:

 I make the babies wear these when I grind wheat.  That thing is super loud!

Ever since Auntie Eve has moved to Utah, we've seen a lot more of her and the cousins!  Usually, things are too crazy (or we're too busy chatting...) to get many pictures, but I just thought it was so cute seeing these two together, that I couldn't resist.  Hazel usually goes for the eyes, but little E is a good sport about it.

 Hazel absolutely LOVES playing peek-a-boo.  I don't think her siblings ever got this big of a kick out of it, but I'm known for having memory problems... My favorite thing about when she plays is that she considers this amount of face coverage to be hiding.

Adorable!  It's really really easy to tickle her into a giggle fit too.  Sometimes a picture just isn't enough...

And finally, I have this drawer of cookie cutters in my kitchen (that are almost all hand-me-downs) which is funny because I really hate making cut-out cookies.  **so tedious**  However, I've always been glad for it because it's been a favorite place for babies to go when I'm making dinner.

I'm getting really good an stepping over and around things while rushing around the kitchen :)  I wonder if I could put that on my resume...

Remembering warmer days...

It is SOOOOO COLDDDD!!!  I have a lot of catchup to do...  Looking at these pictures of playing in the leaves makes me remember the warmer, beautiful November we got this year!! I was pleasantly outside hanging Christmas lights on the house the weekend of Thanksgiving, and now the high lately is hovering around 10 F.

Enough weather.  This was Hazel's first leaf-playing experience.

 And this was her second.  Isn't she muy adorable?

I couldn't pick just one!

She kept finding apples on the ground from the tree... meanwhile I had to surreptitiously remove the wormier ones with ones of a pleasanter variety :)