November/December catch-up

I will be better at blogging. I will ... I will ... (If I tell myself that enough times, I think it might come true.)

EARLY NOVEMBER

Meridian! Shelby's baptism! Playing with cousins! Staying in a fancy hotel only to find out the pool was closed for maintenance!

Libby, Analee, Shelby, Ellie, Miriam, Gwendolen and Rebekah outside the stake center following Shelby's baptism.

Uncle Jon tickling Winnie on the way home. He obviously left an impression on Winnie, because just today she told me, "Uncle Jon is funny. He tickles me."

Libby, Ellie and Analee helping Grandma Scott make schnitzel at Uncle Jon and Aunt Annie's house.

Aunt Annie and I preparing plates for our girls.

Ellie and Miriam playing at the park.

Analee on the monkey bars.

Rebekah, Winnie, Miriam and Analee outside the Boise Temple before our drive back to I.F.

LATE NOVEMBER

Elk head in the driveway! Christmas tree hunting! More cousins!

Winnie trying on her sisters' snow clothes.

Miriam, Analee, and their first snowman of the season.

Dennis, Seth, dead elk. The antlers are hanging in the shop. The meat is chilling in the freezer.

Seth introducing Winnie to the elk head after her nap.

Elk head. On a four-wheeler. In a truck. In the driveway.

To see more pictures of early/late November, start here.

Scotts (Grandma and Grandpa), more Scotts (Uncle Jon and family), more Scotts (Uncle Tyson and family) and Grovers hunting for Christmas trees.

Seth taking Bennet and Libby on the four-wheeler while Andrea hauls Winnie in the sling.

Grandma helping Miriam up the snowy slope.

Grandma helping Miriam and Ellie decorate Christmas cookies.

Analee's professionally decorated cookies.

DECEMBER SO FAR

School Festival of Trees! Nutcracker! More sprinkles than one person should eat in a lifetime!

Rebekah wearing some of the photo props ... and her craft.

Analee balancing a mask on her face.

Winnie in a snow hat and feather boa.

Miriam the director.

Four girls with Santa.

Rebekah, Analee and Andrea dressed up to attend the Nutcracker.

Rebekah's sugar cookie creation. She entitled it, "Fully Loaded."

Gwendolen and the cookie Andrea decorated for her.

Miriam's sprinkle overload.

Analee's carefully decorated cookies.

To see more late November/December pictures, start here.

Gwenism #7

While looking up at the nativities on the mantel.

Gwen: Can I have baby Jesus?
Andrea: (Hands her baby Jesus.)
Gwen: Can I have Mary?
Andrea: (Hands her Mary.)
Gwen: Can I have Joseph Smith?

meat

One of the things I love about hunting is it allows me to teach my kids where meat really comes from, and to help them avoid developing culturally-imposed squeamishness about it. A few minutes ago I was out removing the antlers from the bull elk I shot yesterday. Andrea and the three older girls are at the dentist, so it was just 2 year-old Winnie and I.

"Daddy, what's that?"

"That's some meat."

"What's that?"

"That's his ear."

"What's that?"

"That's some blood."

"What are you doing Daddy?"

"We need to cut some of his hair and skin so we can take the horns off."

"Are you cutting the blood Daddy?"

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Is that some blood, Daddy?"

"That's his brain, sweetie."

"His brain?"

"Yeah."

She then proceeds to pick up a plastic star Christmas tree-topper, and walks over. "Can I help you cut the elk too, Daddy?" "Sure, honey." She takes the star and smacks the ear a couple of times. "I cut his ear off, Daddy." "Good job, honey."

At no point in this was she ever freaked out, grossed out, or scared. Harvesting, cleaning, and processing our own natural, organic, free-range wild game helps my kids develop an informed and grateful respect for where our meat comes from.

Winnie's still not entirely convinced about the eating thing, though. "We're going to eat him, honey. He's yummy," I explained to her. "No, we can't eat him, Daddy," she replied. "Why not?" She motions indicating the shop's interior. "Because, he's inside." Hmmm...

Primary Program

The last Sunday in October, our girls got to participate with the other 4-11-year-olds in our ward's Primary program. After the sacrament, I left the stand (because I'm the ward chorister) and sat with my family, only to have the three older girls leave our bench to join their teachers, leaders and fellow Primary kids on the stand.

Miriam's part came first. She was the very first speaker in the program, which can be a little bit daunting for a 4-year-old Sunbeam. She stood on the stool behind the pulpit, took a shaky breath, and started with, "Heavenly Father, we thank--" and then abruptly stopped. Her part started with the words "Heavenly Father," but after she said that, her brain went on autopilot, and she started saying a prayer instead. Gratefully, she was able to get help from the Primary counselor seated next to the pulpit, who whispered a few words in her ear. As soon as she was reminded of her part, Miriam quoted it word for word and sat down.

After several more children and a few songs, Analee's part came next. She had been asked to share a story about James E. Faust as a child, then add a few thoughts of her own. She had the story memorized perfectly, but when she got to the part where she could ad lib a little bit, she inhaled, looked around, then turned around and sat down. I asked her afterward why she hadn't said anything else. "I forgot what else I was going to say," she admitted. I reassured her that nobody but her parents and the Primary presidency knew there was supposed to be anything that followed the story.

Rebekah's parts came toward the end of the program. She had been asked to memorize something about "The Family: A Proclamation to the World," which she recited without incident. A couple weeks prior to the program, she had been asked to fill in for another little girl who knew she'd be out of town that day. So Rebekah was also asked to recite the lyrics to "I'll Seek the Lord Early" while the pianist played it in the background.

Rebekah knew the song. She's sung it before, and she and I had practiced the lyrics. She was doing a beautiful job of saying the lines with expression and waiting for the piano before moving on to the next line when I saw a look of utter panic cross her face. So many of the lines begin with "I'll" or "I," and she had gotten a little lost. The music was moving on without her, so from the back row of the middle section where our family sits, I silently mouthed, "I'll keep His commandments" and prayed she'd remember and understand.

Amazingly, her eyes had found mine in that instant, and she proved herself to be an incredible lip-reader. Relief flooded her face as she recited what I had just reminded her of, then she finished the song and sat down. At the conclusion of the meeting when she found me on the stand (I had gone back up to lead the congregation in the closing hymn), the first words out of her mouth were, "Thanks for the help, Mom."

This little experience brought me more joy than it warranted. Rebekah had needed help and been able to find mine in a sea of faces. Would it have been the end of the world if she had truly forgotten that line? No. Would the same lovely lady who had helped Miriam with her part have helped Rebekah? Of course. But in a split second, I had been able to understand her need and communicate to her silently in a room full of friends and neighbors.

My super-capable, ever-growing 9-year-old looked to her mom for guidance. I hope she'll continue to seek me out as she matures and faces the many road bumps she will inevitably encounter in the world. And I hope that I'll be guided to know the next line, the right thing to say to her, when she those times come.

Halloween

Sometimes Halloween happens and I wait nearly a month to blog about it.

We enjoyed our usual Halloween festivities this year:

CARVING PUMPKINS

We were supposed to have a joint-family pumpkin carving at Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Susan's this year, but some of us had to catch a stomach bug and kindly share it with every member of the family.

It started with Winnie on the morning of Saturday, October 25. She barfed a couple times that morning. Then she was finished. She hadn't lost her lunch in 24 hours, so we figured we were safe to take her to church. We enjoyed our Primary's program (more on that later), went to classes and came home. Sunday night, Miriam started barfing. I felt barfy, but because of my irrational fear of throwing up, I managed to keep my stomach contents intact. Analee woke us up early the next morning to let us know she had thrown up in bed. The three of us spent a couple of days at home getting better.

We thought the two unscathed family were in the clear, but just when the rest of us were feeling pretty good, Bekah called me from school to let me know she needed to be picked up, and Seth IMed me from work to say that he'd been bowing to the porcelain throne at work. Gratefully, we all got it out of our systems before Halloween, but we were uninvited from the pumpkin carving before then. So we got the pumpkins Grandma and Grandpa had gotten for us and carved them at home.

Winnie decorated her pumpkin with Sharpies.

Rebekah carved her pumpkin by herself. She did, however, need some help getting the guts out.

Analee was a goober while Seth cleaned out/carved their pumpkin.

The girls behind their respective pumpkins.

Silly shot.

Some jack-o-lantern light art, and the girls' creations. Analee's is the won with the stitched up mouth. Miriam's is the girl. Rebekah's is the one with the silly face and the "Elvis hair."

HALLOWEEN PARTY

My awesome friend, Robyn, always hosts an awesome Halloween party. We're fortunate enough to be on the guest list. Seth stayed home with Winnie since we'd be out past her bedtime. The older girls and I had a blast.

Our group photo. Analee as a black bird. (Grandma Scott made the cloak years ago; Aunt Jessica fixed it up for Analee's wings. She also made the beak; it actually opened and closed as Analee talked.) Andrea as Kermit. Miriam as Sofia the First. (Aunt Jessica made her amulet.) Rebekah as a Newsie.

Rebekah with the whistle she won.

Analee with the cupcake she decorated.

Miriam with her treat bag and whistle.

The monster cupcake Analee decorated for me.

LIBRARY PARADE

Halloween morning, the big girls wore their costumes to school, and I took the little ones to the library for their story time/costume parade.

It's been years since we've done their daytime parade (between afternoon kindergartens and babies' morning nap schedules, I don't think we've gone since we only had two kids). I don't remember it being this big. Miriam and the Elsa right next to her ended up being best buddies by the end of the story.

On the library steps after the parade.

TRICK-OR-TREATING

After the big girls got home from school, I took them around to the family in the area. Then we came home, ate dinner, and sent them out (Bekah and Ana went by themselves for the first time; Seth took Miriam) to go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

 Costume posing on the front porch and in the yard.

First stop: Grandpa Wirkus' house. He prepared an entire basket for us to take with us.

He also gave each of the girls a wooden canister he had carved out on the lathe years ago.

Second stop: Aunt Rachel's. We found Grandpa Dennis there as well; he asked us to hang around for a bit until Grandma Susan got there. The kids were happy to oblige since Netflix was on. Grandma supplied the candy after her arrival.

Bekah talks to Hudson while Grandpa holds him.

Third stop: Old Grandma's.

Uncle Doug let us in, and we played with toys until Grandma came back from grocery shopping. Even though Uncle Doug had already given the girls full-sized candy bars/granola bars, Grandma made us take even more candy.

Last stop: Grandma Scott's. She kindly scheduled our trick-or-treating between high school state volleyball matches. Grandpa's school had qualified for state and were playing locally.

 Gwendolen with the treat bag Grandma prepared.

To see more Halloweeny pictures, start here.

Clothing optional

Know that annoying 2-year-old stage when a kid won't ever leave her clothes on?

Yeah. We've reached it. Time to dig out the duct tape for that diaper.

80s day

Even though the girls have had an opportunity to dress in all sorts of creative ways this week at school (it's Red Ribbon week with a different theme for each day), for whatever reason, they REALLY went all out for 80s day. (Perhaps it was the encouragement of their born-in-the-80s parents?)

After receiving a fashion history lesson ("Think big and bright, girls!"), this is the route we took.

We found both of the girls' shirts among the hand-me-downs Grandma Susan gave us. Seth says he remembers his sister wearing the shirts and Bekah's coat. (Here's lookin' at you, Rachel!)

Bekah requested pink hair. Seth requested a mohawk. Bekah requested blue eyeshadow. Andrea assisted in making the earrings.

Admit it ... you wish you had such an awesome, colorful coat.

Poor Analee woke up super early that morning throwing up, so she stayed home from school. (It was a nasty stomach bug that swept through our entire family and left a wake of puke behind it.) However, we still had to give her an 80s makeover for posterity's sake.

I tried to give her mile-high bangs, and without a crimper we had to make do with getting her hair wet the night before, French braiding it and undoing the braids the next day.

Bekah washed her pink hair out before piano lessons that day ("I was the only kid in fourth grade who dressed up, Mom. But people told me they liked my hair."), and Analee took off her makeup immediately following the pictures ("Please no mascara this time, Mom. After the dance recital, I hated taking it off."), but for a few minutes on Monday, we could have totally had two small (yet decidedly more colorful) backup dancers in this iconic 80s music video.

Ana's shiner

With the weather so warm for an Idaho October last week, I decided to take the girls to a nearby playground for some outside play. We had fun and stayed there for an hour and a half, but Analee decided she needed something to remember the day by.

As she was running around a piece of playground equipment, the rubber chips on the ground slid out from under her, and her cheekbone decided to introduce itself to a metal bar.

This was the result:

A cheekbone bruise that forms a line up to the inner corner of her eye. I've never seen a shiner quite like this one.

Lagoon (again)

It's been two years since we last took the girls to Lagoon, so we figured it was time to go back. This time we went in October so we didn't get fried on the asphalt, we brought along Grandma Susan to help out with the kids, we did a there-and-back trip so we didn't have to pay for a hotel, and we remembered to bring a camera.

Since we were there during Frightmares, we got to take advantage of the many photo ops:

Four girls as astronauts.

Two girls in a coffin.

Three girls as ... fairies?

One girl as two bugs.

Three girls as cowgirls/boy.

Four girls and a grandma as various Halloween beasties.

Here's the rundown:

Rebekah was still fairly cautious. She was overjoyed when we saw that the Ferris Wheel was closed for the season (she's pretty terrified of heights) and she wouldn't go on any roller coasters, but she did well on the rides that stayed on the ground. She was a big help with Winnie, too. Rebekah's favorite ride was Rattlesnake Rapids.

Analee enjoyed the roller coasters she opted to go on, but insisted that she doesn't like any rides that go upside-down. Has she ever been on such a roller coaster to know that she doesn't like it? No, but she's sure she wouldn't, so please stop asking her. :-) She went on the Jet Star with me, which is fairly ambitious for a girl who was barely tall enough to go, but because I promised to hold on very tightly, she went and reported it as her favorite.

Miriam insisted that she remembered going on Bulgey the Whale last time when she was 2, and couldn't wait to ride on it again. She did it once, and several other rides as well. We had to persuade her to go on Rattlesnake Rapids the first time, but afterward declared it as her new favorite. 

 Miriam rides Bulgey.

Analee rides Bulgey, but she won't enjoy it. She was only riding on it so Winnie would go, but Winnie chickened out, so Ana was left on a "baby ride."

Gwendolen was horribly traumatized during her first trip to Lagoon. (She was in utero last time we went.) I took her on the tilt-a-whirl thinking she's like it; instead, she screamed, "No, Mommy! No!" the whole time. Even the carousel was terrifying. She did well on her cat until it started moving. The only two rides she enjoyed were the baby boats and the little cars. 

 Winnie's general reaction to Lagoon.

What you can see: Miriam, Grandma Susan and Analee enjoying the tilt-a-whirl. What you can't see: Andrea and Rebekah plugging their ears while Winnie screams in a separate car.

Happy for now. Once the ride started spinning and the cat started going up and down, she started shaking and crying. Poor thing.

 One ride she actually enjoyed. Miriam was barely small enough to go on this one.

Because Grandma Susan came with us, we were able to split up a few times to take girls on different rides. Seth and I were even able to leave all four girls with her long enough for us to stand in line and ride Wicked. Best. Coaster. Ever.

We ran out of cash to do our usual photo booth pictures (I don't know that we all would have fit in there anyway), so we instead asked Grandma to shoot a picture of us on the way out of the park.

When we knew it was nearly time to go, we asked the girls which last, favorite ride they wanted to do together. They all agreed on Rattlesnake Rapids. So we got completely drenched and shivered our way back out to the parking lot, where we changed clothes and headed to Wendy's for a drive-through dinner.

No more potty breaks

I left the two little girls alone FOR TWO MINUTES yesterday so I could use the bathroom, and what happens? A hysterical Miriam comes to me with news that Gwendolen has trapped herself somewhere. Where?

In a doll stroller.

That's what happens when you're old enough yet skinny enough to climb into small places, I guess.

Silly girl.

I hope they're always this close

Winnie 1 week old, Miriam 2.5 years old.

Winnie 1 year old, Miriam 3.5 years old.

Winnie 2 years old, Miriam 4.5 years old.

Gwendolen's 2-year stats

My kid's a shrimp. But she's a brainy shrimp.

Height: 23 pounds (25th percentile)
Weight: 32.75 inches (10th percentile)
Head: 19 inches (75th percentile)

She's brainy 'cause she's got the big Grover noggin, and she's brainy because she's still advanced when it comes to her vocabulary. The doctor asked if says at least 50 words. I think her vocabulary is at least 10 times that. He asked if she can run, walk backward, climb and descend stairs on her feet, jump, throw, kick, scribble, etc. Boy howdy, does she do all those things.

In fact, my dad was noticing that she can (sometimes) catch (big) balls, and hold onto a ball while she walks up and down the stairs. I think he's got his eye on her as a future volleyball player, but unless she hits a growth spurt, she may end up as setter or defensive specialist. (Not that there's anything wrong with either position. ;-))

Right now, Winnie loves drinking milk and asks for it 10 times a day. She's still infatuated with her bika (blankie) and baba (pacifier), although I try to limit how long she gets them during the day. She sings all of her ABCs as well as several other songs ("Old MacDonald" and "Wheels on the Bus," among others). She loves having books read to her, and insists on taking a book to bed with her whenever she goes down for a nap or for the night. She knows she can get almost anything she wants by following up a request with a high-pitched "Please?"

She has a great sense of humor--one day while Seth was changing her diaper, she announced, "Bubble tummy!" and stuck her belly out as far as she could. The next day when I was changing her, she repeated the trick, adding, "Pop!" and sucking her belly in as far as she could.

In short, she's just about the cutest, sweetest little thing there is.

Gwen eating the cupcake she won at the school carnival three days before her birthday.