The Trolley

Growing up, my siblings and I, all benefited from the creative, and only rarely evil (remember “hypnotizing” grasshoppers?), genius of our oldest brother, Braden, who always had us involved in something that completely absorbed us.  Sometimes it was a play, or building a village of huts in the nearby empty lot, organizing or overthrowing the village government, preparing for and engaging in battle with the kids down the street, etc.  Our busy and idyllic summers flew by and we always mourned their passing;  however, we weren’t totally out of luck when the weather turned cold.  We were fortunate enough to have a large, unfinished basement. 

If you didn’t mind spiders or a surprise encounter with one of Braden’s latest escaped pets it was a perfect playground for us.  There were two finished bedrooms (mine and Braden’s) and a bathroom, but the rest was all unpainted drywall, cement floors and wooden studs.  A primitive turf, bursting with potential for our active imaginations.   We rode bikes down there, strapped pillows onto our stomachs and rammed into each other on our roller skates, played hide and seek for hours.  We thought had everything, but that’s before we knew what we had been missing.  One year for Christmas (I think it was a Christmas gift, wasn’t it?) our parents surprised us with what we called our trolley. 

Something like this

We had to climb onto something (I think Mom’s old cedar chest?) with roller skates on to reach the trolley then grabbed on and rode it the length of the unfinished room where it gently sloped down enough for our skates to touch the cement floor and skate back to the other side of the room to get in line for the trolley.   We spent many, many hours down there perfecting our rides and collecting blisters from our skates and calluses from the trolley.   Now our basement was perfect.  That trolley was completely life-changing for us.   That’s a gift.  I would love to give my kids a gift like that for Christmas this year.  Any ideas?

Party, Party, Party!

Friday afternoon Abigail hosted her Halloween party.  It was really cute and she really planned and executed it all on her own.  She made her invitations, prepared several activities, cleaned and was a wonderful little hostess.  I made some sugar cookies and got a few things from the dollar store and that’s it.  Abby even arranged for her friend who can’t have any gluten to bring her own sugar cookie to decorate.

The table she set up

 

Pin the nose on the pumpkin

 

Guess how many candy corns?  Notice the special papers to write your answer on.

Some of the cute guests

 

A few hours after Abby’s party we were able to have Brennan’s uncle and aunt, Buck and Jamie, come for dinner.  Buck and Jamie live in Arizona and when we lived there they were so good to us.  They often had us over along with their 3 children and their families for dinners and special occasions.  I always felt so comfortable there, they’re such good, fun, easy-going people.  We hadn’t see them for years and were so excited to hear they were coming to town.  They were good sports to drive an hour from where they were staying to come see us.  We loved every second of their visit.  They weren’t at all shaken by the chaos of our family and were so cute with all the kids.

They recently returned from a mission and brought scrapbooks of their experience.  It was fascinating to hear all their stories.  What wonderful people!

Finally, tonight we had a blast with three of my cousins.  They’re brothers who are all attending a University about an hour South of us.  Their family lives out of state so we thought it would be fun to have them join us for dinner.  We were right, these are three of the cutest, most interesting, intelligent, just plain fun young men in the world.  They were so cute with our kids and our kids are riding high on all the attention they were given.  Daniel, Jackson and Cameron just smiled and reminisced as they watched Nate and Ben roll around the floor wrestling.    What a great weekend! 

Benjamin George

Lately this little guy has been a laugh a minute.  I don’t know why, but a little kid who takes him or herself very seriously is always so hilarious to me.  I guess that since he’s now in preschool he feels like he’s finally achieved some big kid status.  So he is constantly telling us all about the homework he has.  Just so you know, he doesn’t actually have homework assigned, but could not be busier with his pencil or pen and any paper he can get his hands on.  He’s figured out how to write the letter P and this morning he honestly worked for about an hour writing a million letter Ps on sticky notes and then cutting them out. 

Abby is having a Halloween party today and I think Ben decided he was going to host some kind of gathering and these letter Ps are an invitation of sort.  It started out that he was inviting just our family and then expanded to Anna’s friends, Abby’s friend, Nate’s friends and his friends.  I’m not sure what I may have unwittingly agreed to.  He even delivered a couple of these to his neighbor friends.  

He’ll sit and write and draw things, telling us he can’t play right now because he’s got his homework to do.  He’ll often ask me things like, “Mom, what’s 8 plus 8 again?”  LOL. 

Abby was sick the other day so I gave her some ginger ale.  Ben kept asking me if he could have some “gingerella”.  I can’t get enough of that word and say it as often as I can.  He also told me the other night that he was having a horrible time sleeping.  What a nut, we love Benny.

Fall Fun

We had a great Fall break with the kids off school for a few days we headed down South to stay with Brennan’s parents.  Jamie pulled out all the stops and fed us like kings!  We had a great time visiting with them, and Brennan’s brother, Brett, and step-sister, Emily, and her husband, Paul, and their kids.  We went swimming and out to yogurt with our good friends the Hafens .  It was another whirl-wind trip, but really good times.  While we were there my back started causing me some serious pain and I was pretty non-functional for that last day.  Sweet Jamie came to my rescue while Brennan was golfing with his best friend who had driven a couple of hours to meet him.  Thank you so much, John and Jamie, for letting us invade your peace and quiet!  Somehow I didn’t manage to take one photo :(.

On our way home we stopped in a little town about half-way between Brennan’s mom’s house and ours.  It’s the perfect stopping place.   Another step-sister of Brennan’s and her husband and little boy have an incredible cabin right there in a gorgeous mountain paradise.  Terri, Mike and Matthew were so kind and hospitable as they welcomed our motley crew into their home.  They gave us the tour of their cabin that Mike and a few friends built all on their own.  It’s amazing and you can tell how much they love it which makes it all the more inviting and cozy (not cozy as in small, it’s very big).  They have a parrot who speaks Spanish and my kids thought that was about the coolest thing they’d ever seen.  5 year old Matthew is the sweetest little boy who has fought through major health setbacks and illness.  He just sort of wandered around watching all the kids and then would spontaneously hug Abby.  Later he kept doing it to Anna.  It was the cutest, sweetest thing.  He’s a smart boy and evidently recognized that these two girls are sensitive, sweet souls.

After the grand tour Terri, Brennan and Mike divvied up the kids on three 4 wheelers and went for a ride.  Ben was with Terri and I could hear his squeals of delight miles away.  Joshua was with Brennan and evidently he LOVED it.  When they got back he kept trying to climb back on.  So cute.  I finally managed to take a few photos.

We were sad to say goodbye, but were invited back so hopefully we can stop by again.  As we drove home, Brennan kept saying, “What good, good people”.  It’s true, there’s just something special about this sweet family and I was so grateful we got to enjoy their company and home.

Good Times

This evening I went for a run and Brennan was in charge for a bit.  When I took Joshy’s clothes off to bathe him, this is what I found:

One cheek is better than none, right (and quite a cheek it is!)?  Which by the same logic means one sock is better than none.

We love Squash and his Dad.

Ben has had some serious business lately.  He found a book order flyer which he calls his “magzagine”.  This magzagine is evidently keeping him very busy with lots and lots of homework.   Tonight for Nate’s homework we played a math game and then Ben told us about a game he “learned up” from his magzagine (can you tell I can’t get enough of that word?)  He pulled out a little notebook my Mom gave him and told the kids they had to draw a line in between the notebook lines without touching the notebook lines.  We all attempted to play and after each of our turns he’d evaluate our work and usually tell us we had a little bump and had to “skip our turn on the round”.  Abby and Nate were eventually told they had to skip their turns for all the Sundays.  We love Ben.

It doesn’t get much better than a chubby dimpled half moon and a four year old taking himself so VERY seriously and misspeaking at the same time.   That’s entertainment.

Pumpkin Patch and Conference Weekend

What a beautiful weekend.  The weather was spectacular, General Conference was amazing, an intense soccer game, some fabulous food and a pumpkin patch – perfection! 

It was Anna’s soccer game and she scored her team’s only 2 goals.  It was so exciting!  She’s always kind of preferred defense, but this year she’s the oldest on the team and they needed an aggressive offensive player and she has stepped up in a big way.  It’s thrilling to watch your kids perform at something they’re good at.  Keeping Joshy off the field kept me pretty busy, but still such a great game!

While the guys headed off the the Priesthood Session of Conference, we girls and kids met at the pumpkin patch for a tailgate picnic and then to let each of the kids pick out the perfect pumpkin.

Here are most of my kids plus baby cousin Peter

Joshy  borrowing Abe’s drink

Squashy feeling right at home with his own kind :)

Oh those eyes.

 

Belle

We also had “flat Zach” along, my nephew in TN sent a flat version of himself to Grandma for some fun adventures.  It was great to have him.

  Joshy got one look at the maze and just took off.  So the game for the older kids became “who could find Joshua first.” 

 

Baby Peter, wasn’t his happiest right there, but soo soo cute anyway.  Ben is obsessed with him and when Eliza pulled up and he saw she had the babe he said, “Thank you for bringing, Peter, Liza!”

Macy and her Mom and kiddies were able to join us a little later.

Then everyone went to my Mom’s to paint their pumpkins

Belle took this very seriously and painted around 47 coats. 

Thank you so much, Mom!  As you can see it was a fun night, but didn’t end there.  Rex and Lucy came home with us for a sleepover.  They did eventually all sleep :) 

Sunday we got up and after the first session of conference headed back my parents’ house for brunch.  It was YUMMY.  Then we settled in for the final session.  I love Conference and so look forward to it.  Some of my favorite talks were Elder Holland’s, Elder Oaks’ and Elder Uchtdorf’s. 

After that we went to a friends’ house for another amazing meal.  Brennan’s friend, Earl, told the kids he made a mean homemade mac’ n cheese.  They invited us over a long time ago but had to cancel.  My kids never let him forget it so they were kind enough to re-invite us.  It was so nice. 

Also, another video of Joshua.  For FHE we sang our standard FHE song and he really wants to get in on the action, but it always makes him lose his balance. It starts out sideways, but then I remember and turn it the right way. Sorry! 

Joshua Dancing to Sunbeam Song from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Update

The other day at the store I was taking Joshy out of a shopping cart and when I unbuckled him, he picked up the strap and put it to his ear and started dancing (really it’s more of a bouncing).  The girls love to let him listen to their ipod’s and I think he was pretending or thinking it was an earbud attached to his own personal soundtrack.  It really cracked me up and it makes me happy that he loves music and dancing.  Our Squash is a busy walker guy and keeps me on my toes.   He has a sixth sense for whenever someone opens a forbidden door to a bathroom or a door to the great outdoors and makes a beeline for his window of opportunity.  He doesn’t love it when his mission is thwarted.  I don’t get very  much done when he’s awake, but the good news is that I get to go outside and play a lot.  We ride the plasma car together, look at flowers, watch grasshoppers and eat popsicles.  It’s nice to be young again.  He’s full of curiosity, adventure and affection.  We love Joshua.

 

Ben and Josh tricks from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Benjamin is just as sunshiney as ever.  He’s so full of enthusiasm sometimes I worry that he might explode.  He is loving preschool and I love those moments when he’ll actually tell me about what he does there.   Most of the time he’s a little too busy to humor me by re-living/telling it all for my benefit, but every now and then he’ll sing a little song or mention something in his cute little grown up way.  Our neighbor kids have preschool and kindergarten every morning, but every day at 11:30 they are an inseparable little pack.  They bounce back and forth between our houses and yards and bikes and snacks.  Our yards look like bike cemeteries and it’s just pure heaven.  The weather has been so amazing as are our neighbors and I feel like Benny is getting to live like kids did 30 or 40 years ago.   Lately, he’s been really curious about Heavenly Father and asks a lot of questions.   One day I was lecturing him for something and told him that was his last chance or there would be consequences.  He thought for a minute and said, “What about Heavenly Father, He always gives us other chances.”   We love Benjamin.

First day of preschool

Nate is loving school this year.  Perhaps a little too much.  He loves to be funny.  He’s good at being funny so we’re just working on when it’s appropriate to be funny.  Oh dear.   He started karate lessons and LOVES it.  The other day we were outside while all the kids were riding their bikes and Nate showed me our neighbor’s bike that looks like a motorcycle and has the #1 on it.  He told me that he loved it because #1 is Ryan Dungee.  I asked Brennan about it and sure enough Ryan Dungee is like the number one guy in the motocross circuit which Brennan took Nate to once a long time ago.   His ability to remember random sports stats and names is only perhaps rivaled by his father’s.  We love Nathan.

Between school and her busy social life we rarely see Abigail.  She is either always with her friends Paige and Emily or joins the neighborhood pack.  She wants to be with people always.  Sunday we had dinner at my Mom’s and she found out some of her cousins weren’t coming she demanded an explanation.  I started to explain that they had had a lot going on and just needed a day to be home together.  She immediately said, “They’re not coming because they’re tired?”  The word “tired” was said with total disapproval.  I think perhaps she’s an extrovert.  We love Abby.

Anna is pretty swamped between soccer, her’s and Chloe’s production of Annie and homework.  She’s a busy bee.  I got to go to parent/teacher conferences and was relieved to find she’s doing well.  She’s seemed to adjust to Junior High really well and I’m proud of her.  She did miss the bus twice this week and that makes me a little crazy, but you can’t have everything, right?  Brennan was gone over the weekend and we had a lot going so I relied on her heavily and she handled it like a pro.  There’s something really sweet about siblings taking care of each other.  We love Anna.

Brennan had a fun golf trip with some neighbors.  He loved it and had a great time.  We really missed him.  I’m glad he got to go, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I don’t know how single parents do it.  It was only 2 nights, but it was exhausting.  I’m so grateful to have such a helpful, involved husband!  We love Brennan.

I got to take the 4 big kids to The Lion King.  Wow.  The beginning took my breath away – the costumes, the choreography, the music – just amazing.   Whenever I see something really beautiful it makes me emotional especially when my kids are able to partake.  I was so grateful to expose my kids to such a stunning cultural event.  My parents were such good examples of that and I’m so grateful Brennan is so willing to spend the money to give our kids these experiences.  We love Lion King.

Life is moving fast.  Our youngest is quickly transforming into a little boy and our oldest has crossed a new threshold of old.  It’s a sweet, happy though often challenging time of life for us and I am really trying to fend off the dizzying pace long enough to enjoy and absorb it all.  I have no doubt there are wonderful phases of life ahead of us, but I have a feeling that the stage we’re in right now will be the highlight of the highlight reel of our lives.