Creature Bug

Stuck Together in 2011

Even though I didn't manage to chronicle 2011 very well in written form, it still happened all the same. (Proving that if a tree falls in the forest and no one writes about it, it still happens.)

We got to travel. I went with bff Megan to Hawaii. We took a family vacation to San Francisco and Reno.

We got to work. Jason continued with his job of teaching eighth graders history and English, and we were amazed and thankful every single day for his job. I kept teaching public speaking classes to college students who made me laugh and forgave my serious lack of punctuality in grading papers.

We got to permanently unpack. We decided not to build a house, staying instead in my grandparents' old house for the long term. New paint inside and out. New landscape showing our personality.

We got to learn. Sydney in second grade, Jules in pre-school. Addie learned to scoot, and then walk, and happily eats whatever we put in front of her with all 16 of her shiny new teeth. We learned about gluten-free diets and dairy-free diets, and homeopathic remedies. We learned about childhood emotional issues and how our family needed to adjust to our kids' unique personalities.

We had our hearts broken. Uncle Don passed away in March.

We had our hearts filled. I got to witness the birth of Megan's son Cedar. 

We had our family. We met together every month (and sometimes more) for Soup Night, even lucky enough to have honorary Soup Night members visit from Scotland and Idaho. Jason's mom was a constant fixture at our house as she helped take care of the girls on the afternoons Jason and I worked. Jason's brother and sis-in-law visited from Rhode Island, and we met their daughter for the very first time.

We had the mercies of God who strengthened our faith, gave us wisdom and patience, and never ceased to take care of us in a million different ways.

There are no perfect years because life is not perfect. But it was the year God gave us, and I know we did not waste it. We stuck it out, stuck together, dug our heels in and made the most of it.

We will continue to travel, to work, to learn, to have our hearts broken and filled again. We will have our family, and as 2011 trades places with 2012 we have the promises of mercy and grace and a new morning that starts fresh with no mistakes.

As is my tradition, here's my end-of-the-year wrap up video, giving you our 2011 in 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

{This year's anthem--which you may have seen the girls and I singing in the car? "Stuck on You" by Sugarland.}

{And here's 2010, 2009 and 2008.}

Happy New Year, friends!

7 Quick Takes Friday: Christmas Highlights (vol. 15)

A few (but by no means all!) of the highlights from the Christmas season...also, I'm not being quick at all about it. It's what comes of trying to cram a month of blog posts into one post.

: 1 : Christmas Tree Hunting :

I wonder sometimes how my kids will remember the tradition of getting our Christmas tree. There is always mud. There is sometimes rain. And because I absolutely don't want to just pick the first tree I see--even if I do, in fact, love the first tree I see--there is tromping around the Christmas tree farm promising the girls that at the end of the trip there will be hot chocolate and candy canes.

Remarkably, this grumpy face was just for show. She was all about getting the tree. Holiday spirits were high.

The big sister, however, was less than happy about Christmas tree hunting. First off, she stepped into a big muck of mud (see above boots) and when she tried to pull her boot out, she pulled her foot out instead and ended up with a sock full of mud.

I laugh as I type. I laughed then too. Much to Sydney's great indignation.

Jason remarked on Syd's grumpiness. I reminded him that Sydney hates getting the Christmas tree. Every year she's miserable. It's a tradition that I cease to fret about.

: 2 : Portland Zoo Lights :

The Portland Zoo has the best zoo lights! We were lucky enough to go twice this year, once with Jason's parents and once with our dear friends.

We were totally prepared this year with warm clothes and mittens and strollers and snacks and jammies for the girls to change into after we saw the lights so they could fall asleep in the car on the way home and life was merry and bright. We drank hot chocolate, rode the Christmas train, hugged the costumed polar bear and loved it all.

I have the cutest video of Jules narrating part of the Christmas tree lights, and I'll try to get it posted tomorrow.

: 3 : Dry weather :

We had so many nice, cold days. I wished it would have snowed, but at least we didn't have much rain.

(You didn't expect me to write about the month without getting in some weather related news, did you?)

: 4 : The Nutcracker :

Sydney's performances were the first week in December this year, which made for a less stressful month since that freed up the rest of our weekends.

She was a Peppermint and a Mouse, and all the girl cousins from the Family Farm saw Sydney perform and gave her performance gifts. So sweet!

After five performances and two dress rehearsals we thought she'd be all Nutcrackered out. But, no. We continued to listen to the music from the show all through December, and she was still excited to go with Grandma Sharon to see the Oregon Ballet Theatre's performance of The Nutcracker, which is, of course, quite a few steps above her own school's performance (which was still wonderful in it's own way).

: 5 : Family :

We did Christmas Eve Eve with my family, Christmas Eve with Jason's family in Eugene, and then Christmas Day with our own family, our church family, and Jason's parents. I am so thankful for our families! They bring me so much joy.

Addie and Grandma-Great were quite tickled with each other.

: 6 : Birthday Girl :

I know, I already wrote about her birthday. But it's still Christmas fun to have a birthday thrown in the mix. We do extra baking, extra wrapping, extra singing, and extra dancing. It's a birthday/Christmas extravaganza. Jules picked a 50's themed diner for her birthday meal, and got treated to an ice cream sundae surrounded by pictures of Elvis and Shirley Temple and Lucille Ball.

: 7 : Togetherness :

I love Christmas. I love that a school deadline forces me to have my grades in so that I don't have any work hanging over my head (too bad Jason can't say the same--he went in to school three times this week). I love the baking, the carols, the movies, the hot drinks, the pictures and more pictures, and going to church and thinking about this amazing thing of God becoming a little baby.

I loved watching my girls try to figure out what their presents were (yes, we had all their presents wrapped and under the tree a week before Christmas, and THEY LEFT THEM ALONE). Loved that my brother came down from Seattle for a long visit. Loved that I have an international texting app, so I got to text my sister in Scotland. Loved that Jason and I had--for the first time ever!--all three girls staying overnight with Grandparents, so we got to go see Sherlock Holmes.

We were together, and it was just everything I wanted it to be.

Tomorrow is the last day of the year, and I still need to get my end-of-the-year-video done. Better get to it.

Check out Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

She's Five and She's Fabulous

{Okay, so I've been absent from writing much in the past, oh, two months. I really haven't even been on the computer that much either. I know! It's crazy. But I'm getting back in the swing of it, so here we go.}

Jason and I were commenting on the fact that Jules has always seemed older than she really is. Or, at least, maybe we expect more of her because she's taller and has always done things a little bit earlier than we thought she would. Walking at nine months, talking at ten months, even now measuring a full two inches taller than Sydney was when she turned five. Forty-five and a half inches of sugar and spice.

Of course, the tricky thing, she was still just two, or three, or four. Not four or five or six.

But now she's five.

And it feels like her little world and our perception of her world have finally synced up.

It hasn't been an easy year. She struggled, and we struggled along with her. We took out gluten, took out dairy, took out red dye #40. We switched bedtime around so that she doesn't share it with her sister, and even though she and Sydney share a bed, Syd goes to sleep in our bed until we move her when Jules falls asleep. We talked with her Sunday school teachers at church, and they stopped doing pretzels and goldfish for snacks. Carrots and celery and raisins for everyone.

She saw a naturopath twice a week for a month, then once a week, then twice a month, and now we haven't seen him for a couple months. She was on two homeopathic remedies and fish oil and extra vitamins. We got her down to one homeopathic and fish oil. And now she's just doing fish oil and chamomile drops.

We saw her temper tantrums decrease in their intensity and frequency, and all our hard work paid off bit by bit.

We've slowly introduced a small amount of gluten and some dairy back into her diet, but we still keep the red dye out, and limit her sugar intake (more than normal) since that's all she would eat if it were up to her. I don't think our parenting style has changed too much, although I know I'm more sympathetic to her mood swings because I feel like there's something genetic going on. I feel like if we were totally gluten and dairy free it would help even more. But since the rest of us are whole wheat loving people, it's hard for Jules to consistently eat all her own food. It causes it's own set of issues.

It's been hard. We've cried a lot. We haven't always been patient.

Yet, slowly but surely she has been making progress. The whole month of November was amazing. She was calm, she was controlled. We had very few meltdowns. December has been harder because everywhere she goes someone is giving her a candy cane or sugar cookies or some other delicious cookie treat. Plus, she's on Christmas vacation so she's spending more time around Addie which makes her a little bit tricky. She loves Addie. She loves to hold Addie...even when Addie would rather not be held.

I think we've got her on a good program, and I know it's just something we'll have to stick to for awhile or maybe forever. She's smart enough to know that we're trying, and we've seen enough of her good moments to know that she's trying too.

And now she's five.

We celebrated with a Snowman Brrrrrthday Party last week. All the Family Farm cousins came.

Jules decorated her snowman cake, and it was full of wheat, dairy, sugar and red dye. And that's how it goes sometimes.

My favorite part? Jules spelled out her name in pretzel bits at the top. Jules favorite part? The Starburst candy I shaped into buttons (and a nose).

We had soup, watched a slide show about the day Jules was born, sang, ate birthday cake, and recognized this amazing little person whose emotions--the ups and downs--overflow onto all those who know her.

We love this girl, and are so thankful God gave her to us.

Merry Christmas!

Dear friends, the presents are wrapped and under the tree, two Christmas gatherings have already been had, and many many Christmas cookies have mysteriously disappeared. Children are sleeping. An interesting book is waiting for me on the Kindle. Hot tea is cooling in my favorite mug.

The joy of Christmas is here.

Merry Christmas, friends!