The Mayne Attraction

Family Fun! Well, for some of us.

2010-09-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Whidbey Island tri (1/2 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 3.8 mile run) is a long sprint triathlon (meaning it's shorter than an olympic distance tri, but longer than most sprints)...it's also been called a cyclist's tri, b/c for an experienced triathlete, the swim takes less than 15 min., the very hilly bike ride takes over an hour, and the run takes less than 40 minutes. Unfortunately, the cycling is definitely where I need the most work. Despite this, I'm determined to do this tri every summer I can. It's a gorgeous area, a nice clear, clean lake, the volunteers are all very friendly and it's always well organized.

This year, it happened to fall the weekend of our sisters' reunion...so I mentioned this to everyone and said that I'd really like to participate if it didn't mess up other plans...and everyone else decided they'd like to do the triathlon too! Yippee!!!

I don't think there's anything funnier than watching a bunch of people trying to

wriggle into super tight wetsuits.

Almost time to start!

After the warm-up...mentally prepping for the next few hrs...no backing out now.

And yes, I know I have huge arms and shoulders.

Here's how the tri played out for me...if you're not interested don't read.

I'd been taking open water swim classes, which helped my swim time, despite the fact that during the start I was kicked in the face by a swimmer I was trying to pass. It wasn't intentional, she just wasn't swimming straight. It knocked my goggles off, gave me a little bruise next to my eye, and shook me up a bit. Once I finally relaxed into my pace and position in the swim I was fine though.

You can see the bruise near the inside of my eye.

Then, near the beginning of the cycling portion my bike chain came off. Grr, this was a little frustrating as I was on a steep incline, and I had a hard time getting clipped in and moving again. I finally walked up someone's driveway w/ my bike and road down it, to get enough momentum to get up the hill.

Everything else went fairly smoothly (very slowly but smoothly) for me. Although I had some bumps along the way, I was happy w/ my time. Considering I just had a baby 9 months ago...and spent a lot of last year unable to exercise I couldn't have expected more.

My mom, Sara and Jen raced as a relay team, and placed 2nd in their category. My mom even beat me in the swim.

Jen looks like she's skipping to the finish line here.

This picture was stolen from my friend Deb's commentary as an observer at triathlons..found here.
And I think Lisa (first time triathlete) was just happy to be done, and will never let us talk her into doing anything ever again. She was a very good sport about it.

Cynthia placed 2nd in her age group.

Here she is w/ Sara, who did an awesome job on the bike ride.

Here we are the day after... none the worse for wear.

Note the glasses strategically covering my bruised eye.

Pretty sexy, huh?

Not too pleased w/ the fact that they write our age on the back of our leg...So

discouraging to watch some 60 yr. old lady fly past you on the run.

Next summer my goal is to do an olympic distance tri. (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 10K run). Who's with me???! Anyone??!

Summer fun

2010-09-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Whew! July was a nice, relaxing, laid-back beginning to summer, but since the end of July, we have been going nonstop. When I think back on the past month, it conjures up memories of playing, exhaustion and Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem about burning the candle at both ends. But, I am very happy to report we survived all the crazy, busy, fun, busy, craziness of late.

James and Seth...best of buddies at the reunion.

It all started w/our Swarthout Family Reunion (From my maternal Grandma down). We were small in numbers this year (only about 30, compared to the 100+ that will attend next yr.), which made it very relaxing and low key, except for the fact that I was still dealing w/ CPS junk and Donald was away for training and unable to join us until Sunday. It was nice to have time to visit w/ everyone there, and the kids had a great time w/ their 2nd cousins. Stacy and Jaime took us out on their boat which added to the fun. I attempted to slalom water ski (which I haven't done in 10 yrs.). The experience, like so many others recently, reminded me that though the confidence remains, I am no longer as young and coordinated as I used to be...And left me with a huge bruise on my left leg to continue reminding me. (picture to come...b/c it really was a picture worthy bruise)

Of course there was singing.

Aunt Kathy, Stacy, Grandma and Mom

Here's a cute one of some of the girls...Claire, Jana, Sara and Jillian.

We stayed at Frog Creek Lodge...there were lots of frogs there.

Here's G.G. with Claire, Hannah and some of the frogs.

After the reunion, my mom, Sara, kids and I made our way to Olympic Nat'l Park. We spent the day hiking and enjoying the beauty there, then barely made the last ferry back to our island (literally the last 2 cars on). A few days later everyone (except Wendy) arrived in Seattle for our annual sisters' reunion. We spent a day in Seattle going to Pike's Place and the Pacific Science Center, then spent time on Orcas Island and in beautiful Victoria, B.C.

Cyni-mini pouncing at the PSC.

We also all participated in the Whidbey Island Triathlon, but the tri will get its own post.

Here's one of us eating out. I thought it appropriate since many of our

activities revolved around food.

We had 4 birthdays in August...Donald's, James' Claire's and Hannah's! All this before mid-August!

Since then....Sophia has gotten her cast off, the CPS case has been closed, and I planned and led a 3 day church camp for the 8-11yr. old girls. The camp was a success, despite the rain's best efforts to spoil our plans. The girls were trained in how to be secret service agents. Badges, sunglasses, campfires, canoes and nerf guns were involved, as well as sewing machines, work gloves, window washing supplies and many other things. Hopefully they learned a little bit about how to serve others w/ no thought of reward.

Factor in ballet lessons, violin lessons, back to school shopping, dentist and dr. appts (I'm getting tired just thinking about it), taking care of the garden, house and kids and it was a full month. Even with all the busyness, I still had time to go blackberry picking, play with my kids, read a few good books, plan a last minute RS lesson, and do so many other things. I feel so blessed that my time is overflowing with so many wonderful things right now. If life's gonna be crazy, and hectic I'm glad it's crazy and hectic b/c of so much good stuff going on.

Tuesday is the first day at Coupeville Elementary School for Jillian (3rd) and James (2nd). The twins begin kindergarten there the following week. They are all getting very excited (and a little nervous) about it. Jillian is my little worrier. She seems to be feeling much better since we went and wandered the halls of the school and found her classroom. The kids have O'Rourke-K, Steiner- 2nd, and Gebhard- 3rd. Still don't quite grasp what it will be like to have only one child home for 3 hrs of the day, but it will be realized soon enough. I'm sure I'll miss them, but I'm looking forward to a few hrs of quiet in my day.

And here's a picture of Sophia in the Swiss dirndl that used to be mine when I was a little girl. To give you an idea of how tiny I was...I have pictures of me wearing it when I'm 2 1/2...and Sophia is only 10 months old.

Mom of the Year!!

2010-07-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

Not that I had any aspirations, but The Mom of the Year Award will definitely not be going to me this year! Let me explain...no, let me sum up. I'll give the condensed, then longer version. We found out Sat. at the ER that Sophia (almost 9 months) has a spiral fracture in her tibia (big bone below the knee). We're not sure how it happened (although we have a theory), and we think we know approximately what time it happened, but can't know for sure. It's amazing how much easier this would have been w/ a child that could speak.

So here's the longer version. Wed. night I had my open water swim class. Donald was home w/ the kids. While Sophie was playing in the living room (the baby proof room), and the kids were watching a movie, Donald went outside to put the cover on the pool. He said he was gone for 5 minutes at the most. When he returned, Sophie was beside herself, crying inconsolably. He got her ready for bed, she fell asleep while he was feeding her, he put her to bed. At 9:30 pm (I was home by this point), she woke up screaming. I got her out of bed, and she immediately threw up. So I thought, "hmm, must be sick." Gave her Tylenol, but still couldn't get her to calm down. She was acting like she was in pain. Anytime I'd adjust her position on my lap she would start screaming. Donald gave her a blessing and I took her to the ER. They checked her ears and throat, said she had an ear infection and sent us home w/ antibiotics.

Thurs. and Friday she was still very fussy, needy and not her normal self (even w/ the ibuprofen). She was having an especially hard time w/ naps and bedtime. By Sat. morning I was pretty concerned and exhausted (I'd probably slept a total of about 3 hrs. Friday night). Luckily Donald's flight had been postponed until Sunday, so he was home. While changing her diaper, Saturday morning, Donald noticed that one of her calves was really swollen. It didn't seem to bother her when he touched it, but he picked her up and she wouldn't stand on that leg.

This was a big aha moment for both of us. We started thinking back through the week about when she was fussy. So, we took her back to the Drs. They did multiple X-rays, found a spiral fracture and splinted her leg.

We have an appt w/ the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. They should cast it then. Sophie seems to be feeling great now that her left is splinted. It hasn't slowed her down much, although she gets mad that she can't pull herself up to standing anymore. We aren't 100% sure how she broke her leg (like I said, mother of the year), but since it's a twisting injury we speculate it's from her pulling herself up on the child's gate. She likes to pull herself up, then rest her foot between the slats. We think she must have done this and fallen, w/ her foot stuck.

To sum up. Sophie is doing great now, Donald is gone for a few weeks of training and I'm feeling like a bad mom b/c I didn't notice her swollen little leg sooner. Oh, and I just had a surprise visit from Child Protective Services. She was here to write up a "safety plan" for our house, but came in and said everything looked great and she didn't have anything to write. She said that due to the nature of the injury we would still have to talk to a couple more people and fill out some paper work, but that she had nothing but positive things to report. Good times!

In all of this I have noticed many things that I am grateful for: Our medical benefits are great! Being in the military, we don't have to pay a dime for all this. This experience also made me realize just how blessed we've been when it comes to our children's health and safety. Considering that we have 5 extremely active kids, I am amazed that Sophie was the first of the kids to have an ER visit for an injury. None of the kids have ever had a broken bone or stitches. Jillian is the only one that's ever had a hospital stay (not including birth), and that was for an allergic reaction. I have friends with children who struggle w/ health issues. Their strength is absolutely amazing to me. I honestly don't know how they keep their sanity. I was a completely drained, emotional wreck having to watch Sophie suffer, and she is fine, it wasn't even anything that serious.

My sweet little girl w/ a splint on her leg.

A nice quiet game of chess...

2010-07-13T23:22:00.000-07:00

Today James was trying to teach the twins (age 4) chess...and getting VERY frustrated with them. I was observing and trying not to laugh.

The conversations went something like this...
James: Hannah, you don't want to move there, then Claire can kill you with this one or this one.
Hannah: (who has the sweetest, highest voice of any child I've ever met) That's ok if Claire kills me, I don't mind.
James: UGH! (slaps hand to forehead)

Few minutes later...
James: Claire, that piece only moves diagonally.
Claire: No, it can move this way or this way or this way. See?! (Showing James that indeed there was nothing obstructing movement in any of the directions she wanted it to go.)
James: MOM!!!

Jillian kindly stepped in to "help" Claire, and James took over for Hannah who'd lost interest. They had a great time playing, especially b/c Jillian (who hates to lose) didn't mind losing while being proxy for Claire.
I sure love my kids and their individual, quirky personalities.

Where was Sophie? She was busy in another room. Her only desire would have been to EAT the chess pieces and that might have sent James over the edge.

Family Pictures and a Whole Lot More!

2010-07-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well, my New Year's Resolution of being better at updating the blog is obviously a big fat FAIL. So, I'll give you a rundown of the past oooohhh 6 months and show you some pics of the familia and resolve to do better next time. Sigh.

In February we had a fabulously fun little family reunion in CA. Last fall we discovered my brother was gonna be going home to CA w/ his family in Feb. Since this is a rare occurrence w/ him being so busy w/ his surgical residency, we all jumped on the chance to meet them for vacation. All the siblings and most of the spouses (except Rick and Donald) were able to attend. We stayed for 2 weeks and had a great time celebrating Sara's birthday, going to Disneyland, hanging out in San Diego and letting the cousins play together. They all got along great and I was sad to split up Ty and James when it was time to leave

This picture makes me crack up. I'm sure the photographer hated me...I'm talking in more pics than anyone else. This one looks like Chris and I are singing a duet...and mom is busting a gut.

Out to dinner celebrating Sara's Bday. M & D, siblings and cousin, Tim.
Happy kids at a happy place! We hardly had any wait for the rides too! Very fun day!

This was at a fun park designed to look like an old village...each bldg is a play structure, some of the building are connected by tunnels/bridges. Very cool! We also fed ducks and despite the kids' best efforts no one fell in the nasty green water.

And after surviving the flights (both w/layovers) to and from LAX w/ 5 children under the age of 8....I feel confident that I can do just about anything! Makes me tired just thinking about it. We did have one traumatic experience at SEATAC. We were walking on the moving walkway, and I was coaching the kids to keep moving and watch their step as they got off the walkway. Hannah, who has always been my "has to experience everything for herself" child, noticed a penny conveniently located on the metal plate at the end of the walkway. So, she stopped....in front of all of us, at the end of the walkway, and fell (thank you Mr. Newton). James fell over her. The rest of us managed to get around her, but in her efforts to get the penny, her shoelace was eaten by the walkway. I had to yank her free. I'm sure it was a sight to see...carrying a backpack on my back (where else), a baby on my front, and someone else's carry-on in a hand, while trying to haul my screaming 4 yr old away from the jaws of the walkway monster. Good news: She got her penny, and was pretty pleased about it too! Lesson learned? Probably not.

March was a great month as well. James had a violin recital, which went really well. I've been very impressed w/ his focus and love of playing. I hope he never loses either. He's the blonde, left of the very excited little brunette.

Jillian celebrated her 8th birthday. We had a fun party w/ family and a few of Jillian's friends.

In April, both sets of Grandparents came out here for Jillian's baptism. We also went to the Skagit ValleyTulip Festival.

Beautiful! I think the tulips liked the weather well enough, but I was a little chilly.

So, I found this picture on my camera....I didn't take it, but this is pretty typical. I love that my kids love to read, but I hate that there are usually at least 50 books strewn across the living room at any given time.

Other than that, just life as usual here. Got the garden planted, it doesn't LOOK as great as it has in years past, but we've already gotten lots of carrots, spinach and sugar snap peas, so hopefully the yield will be good despite my neglect.

Donald and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary last month, and there isn't anyone I would rather go through this crazy life with. He's a wonderful friend, father and sweetheart. So glad I convinced him to marry me. ;o)

Finally enjoying some summer weather, after my coldest 4th of July ever...the kids were all in coats, hats and gloves and complained to leave before the fireworks show was even over. Love that coastal breeze!

I've been attending a weekly open water swimming course w/ my friend and fellow triathlete, Kori, and it's been great! I've learned a lot that I can hopefully apply come tri. time, and the class is about 45 min. away, so it's been nice to have time to visit on the drive down and back.

Donald has been away a lot recently w/ small training dets...gotta love the Navy, always keeping life interesting! His squadron should be getting orders soon...originally they were headed to Afghanistan for a 7 month deployment, then the general over there was fired for expressing his discontent w/ Obama, so we've been waiting for some time now, to see what the new verdict will be....Japan? Afghanistan? N. Korea? I've found it best not to think about it.

And that about sums up the past few months. Here are a few family pictures. These were taken in June (gloom) by my friend Debbie.

Homeschooling monkeys and prayer

2010-01-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I am homeschooling Jillian and James this year. There are many reasons why I am doing this, the most important two being that I felt very strongly that I needed to and James was not learning well in a school environment. It has been going well, and been a fun, positive experience for us all. James has more than caught up to where he needs to be and has gained more confidence in his abilities and become a better self starter (he still needs some encouragement, but it's better than when we began). We recently learned that Donald will be deployed to Afghanistan for 6-7mos. beginning in the fall. After weighing the pros and cons (I mean, how important is my sanity, really?), I've come to the conclusion that I can not successfully homeschool and single parent my children and take care of the house, yard/garden (2+ acres) and anything else that comes up. So the kids will be returning to school next year (and the twins will begin Kindergarten). I'm really torn about this...homeschooling has opened up so many wonderful opportunities for us, and I have been very blessed to get to spend so much quality time with my children this year, but I feel good about the decision. I'm grateful we have been able to do homeschooling, even if it is only for a year. Will we return to it in the future? I don't know....I don't think it would be wise to continue vacillating btwn home and public school in conjunction with Donald's deployment schedule. I don't need to plan that far ahead.

In other news...my kids have always been good climbers, but I've recently learned that none of them are acrophobes, though, for their own safety, I wish they were.

This pic was taken Sat. If you look closely you'll see Hannah in red and blue clothes and Claire in pink. Claire was near Hannah when I first saw them, but by the time I grabbed the camera she was on her way down.

This pic was taken Friday. I went outside to check on the kids and found them on the arbor.
And here's one of Jillian last week at the beach at dusk. They love climbing on driftwood, and pretty much anything else they can find.

At church today we had a great lesson on prayer. Wanted to share some of the things that really struck me. In Alma 37:6 it says "but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass, and small means, in many instances, doth confound the wise." Prayer is definitely one of those small simple things, even my 4 yr old can say a heart felt prayer, yet look at the marvelous things that are brought about through prayer. The first vision is just one example. A 14 yr. old boy is struggling to know which church to join. He goes into a grove of trees and offers up a simple, heartfelt prayer that lead to the restoration of Jesus Christ's church upon the earth. I find it interesting that often our lack of faith is the only thing limiting God's hand in our lives. He wants to bless us and is able to bless us beyond measure, but we must first ask and we seem to forget that he is all powerful. We don't ask b/c we don't have faith in His ability to respond. There was a story by Elder Packer that I loved, "One Saturday, I was to drive to the airport for a flight to a stake conference in California. But the cow was expecting a calf and in trouble. The calf was born, but the cow could not get up. We called the veterinarian, who soon came. He said the cow had swallowed a wire and would not live through the day.

I copied the telephone number of the animal by-products company so my wife could call them to come and get the cow as soon as she died.

Before I left, we had our family prayer. Our little boy said our prayer. After he had asked Heavenly Father to “bless Daddy in his travels and bless us all,” he then started an earnest plea. He said, “Heavenly Father, please bless Bossy cow so that she will get to be all right.”

In California, I told of the incident and said, “He must learn that we do not get everything we pray for just that easily.”

There was a lesson to be learned, but it was I who learned it, not my son. When I returned Sunday night, Bossy had “got to be all right.”

This process is not reserved for the prophets alone. The gift of the Holy Ghost operates equally with men, women, and even little children. It is within this wondrous gift and power that the spiritual remedy to any problem can be found."

Make 'em laugh...

2010-01-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Bonus points to the 1st person to name the movie this pic is from.
So today was one of those days where I'm laughing b/c if I stop, I'll be mortified by a few choice event. It was my first Sunday playing the organ for the entire congregation. While my practicing has gone very well, and I'm picking it up faster than I thought I would, my nerves haven't gotten the memo yet...so playing for an audience was a big deal. I got to church nice and early, practiced the songs, played some prelude music and then 5 minutes before the start of church I was rudely interrupted by a blaring foghorn in the congregation...after a few seconds I realized I had forgotten to turn off the alarm on my cell phone, which was sitting in a pew very far away from me. So I stopped playing and said to the congregation, "That's mine." Someone got up and turned it off for me. Embarrassing moment #1 down....just 3 more to go. Opening song went well, yippee! Then it was time for the sacrament hymn...which I was a little frazzled about...and started playing about twice as fast as the conductor wanted me to. Of course I could sort of see this out of the corner of my eye, but was too busy trying to hit the right notes to really concentrate on her beating out the rhythm. Finally, on the second verse I began watching and slowing down. So throughout the first verse I could hear some in the congregation try to singing to her tempo, and most singing along to a blaring, too fast organ...what a mess! Only 2 more to go. After that I sat down in the pew w/ Donald and the kids. Claire climbed up on my lap and was looking at her "Friend" magazine. I was listening to the speaker, when I looked down and noticed that Claire had pushed my skirt all the way up to my hips (must have been in her way when she climbed up on my lap).....aaack. I quickly pushed her off my lap and pulled my skirt down. I really hope no one noticed. I was wearing black tights (kind of like pants, right?) so hopefully no one got a shocking eyeful. Only one more to go...So I get to Relief Society to play the piano, and Debbie tells me which songs we are singing...not a big deal, I usually just sight read my way through them anyway. Well, today a little practice would have been good b/c I didn't play a single right note the last bar of the closing song...no joke! Everyone, including myself was laughing by the end of the song. Way to close the meeting. Aaaaannnnd I'm done! and look, all that before noon...just think what the next 10 hrs may hold?! Can't wait.

And here's the retrospective for 2009

Cooking w/ the kids...this is one of their favorite things to do. My mom made them each an apron for Christmas 2008.
I realize this is a terrible pic of me....In my defense I was 2 1/2 months pregnant and feeling crummy. This pic was taken on my bday. Donald took all the kids to the dollar store so they could pick out a present for me. Jillian got me an angel figurine, the twins got me head bands and barrettes (notice my hair) and James got me a vegetable peeler! Donald tried to talk him into something else, but to no avail. The end of April I took a week long trip to Hawaii! I stayed w/ my friend
Mayda and had so much fun!That spring Donald built a permanent fence/arbor around our garden. Pretty!
Jillian was in her school musical-BUGZ --she had 3 lines in it and was very excited. I think I would have enjoyed it more w/ subtitles. Echoey room, soft voices, speach impediments, heavy breathing into a touchy microphone...'nough said.
We had our sisters' reunion at my mom's house in June. Had a great time, wish Jen could have made it.

Sara did an internship on Orcas Island and stayed/played with us a little before and after. This is at Pikes Place Market. Walking to the Oak Harbor 4th of July Parade. The kids all dressed themselves (as usual), check out James' socks!
James and Jillian put on a show called "the flying bears". Check out the cool wings they made for their bears.
This is a cat that began showing up at our place this winter...we named him Baby Kitty, or maybe that's his name b/c we were too lazy to name him. We've been feeding him along w/ our two cats. Don't know where he came from, but he loves any and all attention which makes him a perfect (purrrfect) match for Hannah.
Claire is our little dancing princess extraordinaire. Here she is in action.This was taken the day I was admitted to the hospital for Sophie's birth...no, I did not get dressed up just to go to the hospital...we were at church when we realized it was time to go. Here's Sophia Joyce...born on Oct. 19th.
Thanksgiving at our house w/ Nana and Papa.

It's about time!!!!

2009-12-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

I know, right?! Been way too long since I've updated this thing...and now it's to the point where I don't even know where to begin. My biggest problem w/ the blog is that I don't particularly enjoy writing...and when I'm tired (which is all the time) my desire to write decreases even more! Since I last wrote we've had birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and I've had trip to Hawaii (Huh WOW ee as Hannah says it) and a sisters' reunion...and we added another sweet little girl to our family. I guess I'll start w/ talking about Sophia and her entrance into this world. If you don't want the details of labor just skip to the next paragraph (I'm only supplying them b/c some of you have asked). I began having good strong regular contractions on Sat. Oct 17th. They were about 15 min. apart...and uncomfortable enough that I was having trouble sleeping. By Sunday they really had kicked in and after sitting through an hour of church they were less than 10 min. apart. Since I usually progress rather rapidly after 4 cm I thought it best to get to the hospital. So we did. I was only at 2 cm. They told me to hang out, walk around and come back in an hr. So we did....and when they checked I was at 3 cm. Within a few hrs I was dilated to 4. So we waited....and waited... (the Dr. gave me an ambien to help me sleep the night....I'm thinking it was as much for his benefit and mine)and my contractions actually stopped for awhile that night. The next day they started back in again...and we waited and waited....and I was still at 4 cm. SOOOO, they broke my water....that didn't do anything, they gave me pitocin , that didn't do anything (just the same nice strong, painful contractions, but no progress) That was when I finally asked for an epidural. Long story short (too late) Sophia's head was resting against my hip and my body wasn't gonna progress until she decided to drop down into place. By this point I was getting pretty hungry, exhausted, worried and frustrated (I'm sure all the hormones weren't helping)....I was also wondering if I was gonna be heading to the OR for a C-section. They checked me at 4:00pm and I was STILL at 4 cm and very close to tears. Then about 15 min. later the nurses noticed a change in Sophia's heart rate and came to check on us....they glanced down and said..."don't push, she's coming out and we need to page the Dr!" Lovely! With the epidural I didn't even realize I was giving birth. Kind of crazy! Half a push later Sophia Joyce Mayne was born Oct 19th at 4:18 weighing 6lbs 14 oz, and measuring 20 in. She's a very sweet, mellow, happy baby...and I can tell already she's going to be a talker. She responds to almost everything we say w/ her cooing...it's pretty funny...none of the others were quite this communicative at this age.So that's been the biggest news of late...We had a few rough weeks w/ sickness and nursing issues after she was born, thankfully, my mom was able to come and help out. I couldn't have survived w/o her. My parents also came up here for Thanksgiving and Sophia's baby blessing. It was great having them here. Nov was a record month for rain, which was unfortunate to have while my parents were here, but we still managed to play tourists. Of course, since they left it's been very dry and cold here...usually the blanket of overcast keeps us a little warmer, but not this Dec. I'm thinking my primroses may not survive it. I am enjoying the blue skies and sunshine though...and the fact that the days are beginning to lengthen. Jillian had been praying for a white Christmas but it didn't happen this year. Hopefully we'll get a couple days of snow for the kids to enjoy. We still managed to have a great Christmas. I think I enjoy it more now, as a parent than I did as a kid...although it's definitely more work. :)Claire and her polly pocket princesses

New PJs from Grandma!

Next year will bring a few changes...I'm going to be playing the organ at church (something new I've been learning) and we have 9 am church....I figure we'll be getting up very early to make it there in time for me to play prelude music. I'm not looking forward to the Sundays Donald has work. I'm also the Achievement Day's Leader. It's a bimonthly faith building activity for the girls ages 8-11. I'm really excited about getting to know the girls better, working with them on some of their goals and participating in activities that bring them closer to Christ and increase their understanding of the gospel.

I have to share this...b/c Claire is definitely her mother's daughter....I used to be quite the daredevil and luckily had the coordination necessary to not injure myself. When I was young we had a little mini trampoline and one day I decided to try to run, jump, flip and land on the other side. Luckily I was successful on the first try but I remember the look of horror on my mom's face when I had her come watch me for the first time....interesting how the idea of failure had never entered my mind.
The other day Claire, age 4, called me into the living room...and then (as I stood in horrified stupor) she did a flip from the recliner onto the couch and landed on her bottom. To which I responded, "Wow! That was crazy." In all serious she retorted, "No mom, THAT was awesome." I pray she's coordinated enough that she won't break her neck in any of the other awesome stunts she tries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!! I'd like to say that I'll be better about updating the blog in the new year....but I'll admit it's not anywhere near the top of the priority list...so don't hold your breath.

Just Bugsy

2009-04-14T20:19:00.001-07:00

Hi all! We're very excited to announce that we're expecting baby # 5. I've been feeling pretty crummy lately, but today I had long moments of no nausea. Wahoo! I'm hoping THAT part of it is behind me. I'm 13 weeks along, and starting to look chubbier...not pregnant though. Had an ultrasound and yes, there is only one baby in there. Phew!

We broke the news to the kids a few weeks back. That night at dinner time they were discussing names. The kids couldn't fathom not having twins. Here are their name suggestions:

Jillian likes Evangelina (not sure where she heard it. It's pretty but a mouthful).

James is convinced we're having twin boys and wants to name them Harry and Max.

Hannah likes the names Rachael (after her favorite babysitter) and Zane (Zane is her closest friend in preschool). Zane of course is off the list along w/ all other names that rhyme w/ Mayne (and there are a lot)...Elaine, Blaine, Duane, Charmane, Dane...
Claire (who has named every one of her dolls and stuffed animals after her Aunt Lisa) said in her prayer that night, "Please bless baby Bugsy and baby Lisa in mommy's tummy." So I think we're going with Bugsy...atleast that's what we'll call the little tadpole, until it loses its tail and we know its gender.
There's been lots of other stuff going on here as well, but I'm tired and lazy, and not in the mood to write about it all now, so it will have to wait. Hope you're all well!

Favorite Pictures of 2008

2009-02-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

So I've been slacking on the blog front, so here's a little retrospective of the previous year. These are some of my favorite pictures from last year. Hope they make you smile.
At the Mayne Ranch in MO.

Our weekend away, Olympic National Park.

Claire jumping off the bed to Donald. I have pics of them all, but she's the only who leapt from the bed w/ no sign of fear in her face.

James and his tinkertoys. Here's his transformer. It's a rocket....

....it's a robot.

Claire and Hannah w/ faces painted.

Lisa and Jillian at the family reunion.

Elias playing alphorn at the family reunion

Just past Aspen, CO on the way to independence pass. The highest paved road in the lower 48.
All Boy! Independence Pass, CO.

Hannah puddle jumping in our driveway.

My cheering section at the Whidbey Island Triathlon. My friend Deb took this picture. Donald is such a great father, and I think this picture shows that.

Getting a quick drink before I begin my run.

Hope we can make as many great memories in the years to come!

Cabin Fever

2008-12-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

Life's been a little nutty here. I realize it's been a long time since the last blog, so here are a few highlights from Nov. and Dec. Nov. was a busy month w/ our Enrichment Dinner and The Thanksgiving Holiday. I have a new enrichment leader, she's absolutely fabulous. The dinner went very smoothly and we had a great lesson on keeping Christ in Christmas, followed by some musical entertainment. The Lamb family invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. We provided a few desserts and salad. We had a great time eating, visiting and working off our meal playing football afterward. They have such a great family! The kids had a terrific time there as well, which was a huge bonus, especially considering there weren't any other children their age.

Two of the regulars in the backyard.

Two of the captives, watching as Jillian and I wait for her school bus.

The day after was a rainy football game involving people from church. I decided to go play, since I never get to and love playing. I was, of course, the only girl there, but to my surprise (and theirs, I think) managed to hold my own playing w/ the guys. I had a lot of fun, but awoke the following day sore and with a huge bruise on my thigh. Definitely worth it! ;-)

December brought our cookie exchange (great idea). I ended up w/ 6 doz. cookies (all different varieties) which were distributed between our family members and the neighbors. We also got a Christmas tree at a tree farm around the block from us. We had our ward Christmas party on the 12th. I was Mary and sang Mary's Lullaby w/ 2 of the angels. Poor Claire had been sick for a few days so she and Donald stayed home.

Snow fight!

Now for the excitement...I do most of my Christmas shopping throughout the year, so as to avoid trying to budget for it and schedule time for it when there is so much other stuff going on. Thank goodness for this b/c we've been snowed in for the past week! Oh, don't be alarmed...we don't have a lot of snow, but b/c it rarely snows here everything is put on hold when it does. Some of the roads are plowed, but most aren't sanded, which makes them pretty slippery, and no one has snow tires.

It started Sat. night. Jillian and I drove up to Anacortes to see The Nutcracker. It was beginning to snow then. We had a great time. To quote Jillian, "It was even better than I ever could have imagined!" After the performance we stopped and got dessert and then headed back. Most of traffic was going about 20 mph (on 50mph highway). Then we rounded a corner and stopped. Traffic was as a complete standstill for about 30 min. Then we slowly began the trudge home. It took about 2 1/2 hrs. to get back! Thus began our exciting week...no school for the kids, no church 2 Sundays in a row, no Christmas party for Donald's work. I haven't driven anywhere in the car since last Monday...and I'm starting to go a little mad being holed up in the house w/ my kids all day, everyday. It would be fine if they would go outside and work off some steam, but all but Jillian are big babies (just like their mama) when it comes to the cold. We'll spend 30 min. getting them bundled up to go out, 15 min. playing outside and another 15 min back inside stripping off all the snowy clothes as they whine in front of the fire about their hands or feet hurting them. I haven't decided if it's worth the effort. I did voluntarily go out and gather/chop firewood yesterday afternoon and I felt much better after that. I'm hoping the roads are better this week. We're supposed to get together w/ Lisa (my sister) and Russ up in Ferndale on Christmas day. Pray the weather will allow it.

Adding Frosty's hat

Frosty and Hank

Posing w/ Frosty
Funny quote of the week: Claire was throwing an impressive fit the other day and Hannah asked me what was wrong w/ Claire. I said, "Oh, she's just being a little crazy." Hannah looked at her and then responded, "No, I fink she's being a whole lot of crazy."

Alternate Twilight Screenplay

2008-11-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Alright, I just had to add this. It was written by a fellow named Eric Snider who attended BYU the same time I did. I became a fan back in the days when he wrote Snide Remarks for the Daily Universe (BYU newspaper). http://www.ericdsnider.com/snide/my-rejected-twilight-screenplay/

Enjoy!!

"Impressive, most impressive, but you are not a Jedi yet."

2008-11-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

What is it w/ boys (by boys I mean any males born after 1965) and Star Wars? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching the movies, but I think most boys have at one time or another been obsessed w/ Star Wars. About a month ago we began watching the Star Wars trilogy (episodes 4-6) w/ Jilli and James (one movie per week). Jillian thought it was exciting, but hasn't revisted any of it since. James, on the other hand, has been making lightsabers for each of us out of construction paper (mine is purple) and has changed all our names... Hannah is Yiota, Claire is R2D2, Jillian is of course Leia, and James responds only to Luke, somedays I'm an ewok, somedays I'm Obi Wan. This has, for the most part, been entertaining and fun, although we now have enough "lifesavers" laying around the house to equip an entire Jedi army. The best part was earlier this week when he and Jillian were picking up their belongings in the living room. As soon as I told him to clean up he dashed out of the room and returned wearing a cloak (a Harry Potter robe that was in w/ the dress-up clothes). The hood was pulled over his eyes, and from the way he was bumping into the furniture it was evident he couldn't see. He was carefully feeling around the floor w/ his feet for toys, backpacks, shoes etc. and then picking them up and putting them away. I finally asked him what he was doing. "I'm using The Force to clean up." Whatever works.
Potty talk, well actually it was a dinner conversation...some of you may find this innappropriate, but I'm recording it for posterity. The other day Hannah passed gas rather indiscretely at the dinner table. Right after Jillian asked, "Hannah, did you toot?" Hannah's matter of fact response, "No, my bum burped." Alrighty then.

Trina, this one's for you! The other day Jillian stepped off the bus and all I could say was, "WOW!" She had been wearing her turquoise sweater over the shirt, so i didn't realize how mismatched she was. I had to take a picture! Poor Jilli, she apparently has inherited my lack of fashion sense. I was lucky enough to be blessed w/ 4 younger sisters who saved me from fashion faux pas, gave me trendy hand-me-downs and took me shopping. Let's hope for Jillian's sake that the fashion disaster genes skipped Hannah and Claire.

It's been a really busy week here are some highlights: Sunday we had a ward fellowshipping dinner at our house. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet some really nice people. 25 people came, which is kind of a lot for our little house, but it was nice and cozy.

Wednesday, Debbie and I did our weekly bike ride. We went 18 miles. I'm so grateful I have this time set aside each week. There are so many beautiful areas here on the island, and Debbie and I chat the whole time...except while ascending some of the steeper hills. So far we've been blessed w/ great weather each Wednesday. As I look out at the heavy clouds and rain-soaked kids, I wonder how much longer it can last.

Friday (Halloween) we stopped by our neighbors house so the kids could show off costumes and say hi...then we headed to a Halloween Party/trunk or treat at the Keyes' house. Lots of fun. We left before making it all the way around b/c the kids were starting to show signs of extreme exhaustion, and we thought it best to leave before any had a meltdown.

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!

What could be better than the integration of science and baking??

2008-10-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure Alton Brown would agree w/ me when I say NOTHING!!! Well, maybe a few things, but not many.

Jillian piping frosting. James and his red ant.
This has been a month of projects for me, but before I get to that, here are some fun pictures from the other day. In the spirit of Halloween the kids and I made some creepy cupcakes (chocolate zucchini btw....yet another fantastic zuc. recipe). I figured this would be a great opportunity to educate my children on the anatomical differences between insects and spiders. A little science, a little art and a lot of tasty treats...that makes for a success in my book. I think the kids enjoyed it too. ;-) They had the frosting smudged faces and shirts to prove it. I let them each decorate 5 cupcakes. Overkill? Maybe. These pictures were taken before they destroyed my kitchen through their creative endeavors.

As I said before...we've been working on a lot of projects lately. I was hoping to post pictures of the completed play structure on here. Unfortunately it's been too wet outside to finish painting (the railing), so I'm posting pics of the mostly finished play area.

I kind of have a love/hate relationship w/ the sandbox built under it. Hours of fun, but gallons of sand tracked into the house almost daily. The kids are getting better at brushing sand off, emptying pockets, removing shoes....but I haven't figured out a good solution to the occasional potty emergency.

Also, I FINALLY finished restoring the piano!!!! This project has been in the works for a very long time. My mom started it long ago. After many days spent stripping it and 4 coats of varnish applied...this is how it looks.

I left it in pieces last night to dry. We'll reassemble it Monday. Here are some pics of before and after. The wood underneath all the crud is beautiful mahogany...I'm very pleased w/ the way it's turned out.

Other than that, not much to report. Life is great here. Yesterday I also finished landscaping a flowerbed w/ some bushes, mums and a bunch of bulbs. It's amazing how much I can accomplish on a Sat. afternoon when Donald takes the kids to the park. I love it!

Had an incredible ward conference today...although I wish the kids had been less rowdy the first hour, so I could have listened more, but I take what I can get...and the last 2 hrs. of church were great. Hope you're all well.

Tagged!

2008-10-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Mexi-Carol Tagged me on this, so I thought I should oblige...Let her know that I do read and enjoy her blog. Besides, it wouldn't hurt (well, maybe just a little) to exercise my brain today.

8 Things I am Passionate About:
1-My family
2-Learning/Reading
3-Competitive sports
4-The Gospel of Jesus Christ
5-The prevention of rapid deterioration of the family and moral values in society.
6-Gardening
7-Music, listening to it, playing it, singing.
8-Healthy living

8 Words or Phrases I say WAAAY Too Often:
1-Seriously?!
2-No!
3-It's so stinkin' cold here! (yes, it was 38 degrees here last night!)
4-Sure.
5-HANNAH!!
6-Close the back door please.
7-Time to clean up.
8-I couldn't come up w/ an 8th. I'm sure there are others my husband or kids could point out.
Donald said I needed to put "Holy Moly!" since he caught me saying it 5 times last night.

8 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1-SCUBA dive Great Barrier Reef
2-Attend the temple w/ all my children
3-See SYTYCD on tour.
4-Go to a BYU bowl game.
5-See U2 in concert
6-Serve a mission

8 Things I Have Learned From My Past:
1-Look forward, don't revisit past mistakes once you've repented.
2-It is ok to ask for help.
3-Our talents are given to us so we may serve others. That's why they change throughout our lives.
4-Prayer works
5-A sincere apology is one of the most precious things in the world.
6-If there are helicopters w/ searchlights circling the area, it's probably not a safe place to hang out.
7-It is important to take time to be still and listen.
8-We can learn and grow so much from those around us and their experiences.

8 Places I Would Love To See:
1-Galapagos Islands
2-Himalayas
3-Switzerland
4-Scottish Highlands
5-Montenegro
6-Alaska
7-Machu Picchu
8-Niagara Falls

8 Things I Currently Need or Want:
1-A waffle iron (Ours broke last week)
2-Someone to do the laundry
3-Warm fuzzy slippers
4-In 'n Out burger animal style (I'm w/ you on this Carol only I'm 100s of miles from the nearest one.)
5-Obedient children
6-Our house to be payed off
7-3 more months of summer so my tomatoes will ripen.
8-To be wiser.

8 People I Tag:
House of chaos
Self-baked pizza
Maseda Mayhem
Jen E.
Treenbean
Deb L.
Wendy P.
Catherine H.
and anyone else who'd like to play.

No daddy, it's a squirrel.

2008-10-03T22:19:00.000-07:00

Another exciting story from our place. Yesterday afternoon we were all outside in the yard. The kids were "helping" me pick blackberries for a cobbler...I think only about a dozen of the 100's they picked actually made it into the bucket. Donald and I were picking blackberries, and pruning back the encroaching brambles. For those of you who have never visited the northwest, blackberry bushes grow wild here, they're along every road, and along the edges of most forested areas, and they grow insanely fast. Their prickles are also extremely vicious. Jeans offer little protection from these suckers. Anyway, the kids have all learned to be extremely careful and prick themselves much less often than I do, thanks to their tiny bodies and dexterous fingers..but I'm getting away from the story, so it's family berry picking time. Claire and Hannah are about 20 yds away, picking and eating more swiftly than I can keep up. I hear the girls squeeling and giggling...which they do quite often, thus it didn't warrant a glance from me. Next Claire is behind me tugging on my clothes, "Mommy, we found a squirrel!" Donald and I turn to see her proudly holding a dead mouse by the tail. This was one of those times when I turned and looked at Donald with my "this situation's all yours" look. I didn't know whether to freak out in total horror and disgust thinking of every possible disease that thing could have or laugh. He handled it well. Told them it was a dead mouse, and that they needed to bury it. They gave it a nice little burial, disinfected Claire and had a talk about not picking up wild animals, dead or alive. Claire still says it's a squirrel. Ahh, gotta love country living.

Nothing like a good book

2008-10-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Jillian 12 months

As the weather is cooling and the daylight is decreasing (rather rapidly, I might add) I am finding myself inside much more. The biggest thing I look forward to in the cooler seasons is curling up w/ a blanket and a good book in front of our toasty wood burning stove. I know I've had conversations w/ many of you about books I have to read, of course I can't remember half the books mentioned because I didn't write them down. So now is your chance to leave your mark and recommend a few books for me. In case you're wondering, I like a variety of books. I usually read one work of fiction and one self help/parenting/gospel related/inspiring book at the same time. So usually one light and one deeper book. Right now I'm reading "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" (thanks Cyndi!) and the 5 love languages of children.

And yes, I read the Twilight series....liked the story, but thought the books were a little too whiny, teen angst ridden (maybe b/c I'm not the target audience)...I'm also not a huge fan of her writing style. Having said that, I did read all 4 books in a month. Shameless, I know.

One more picture

2008-09-16T10:38:00.001-07:00

family pictures

2008-09-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, our computer is dying, but thought I'd try to post these quickly. My friend Debbie took family pictures last week and despite the fact that we made the mistake of going to the beach, which made it virtually impossible for the kids to hold still...(I think Donald and I said the following multiple times, "hold still, look at the camera, stop digging in the sand, quit throwing things in the water, get down from there before you fall.") The pictures turned out amazingly well. The kids all have dirt smudged faces in the latter half of them, but they look really good still. Here are just a few of the pictures.

Save the Worms!!

2008-08-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

Arrgh. It doesn't take long to type the blog...it's inserting the pictures that's giving me grief. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon...or I'll be blogging much less often than originally planned.

This month has been a busy one...some of the highlights are discussed below. In addition to those we've disassembled a fort and a shed that were left in the yard by previous owners and are now assembling a play structure using some new parts and the salvageable (is that a word?) wood from the old structures. It's been a fun project for Donald and me to do together. Our garden is doing well considering the cool weather here. I definitely miss my warm California summers. We have lots of bush beans, broccoli and zucchini. Anyone interested in free zucchini? Seriously, let me know. We also have about 6 cucumbers that should be ready next week, 10-12 rapidly growing pumpkins and vines, the corn here is not as high as an elephant's eye....but it's finally taller than me and we have some little ears. I'm praying we get some tomatoes (there are over 20 tomato plants) we have lots of blossoms, just a few green tomatolings, but nothing more. I'm hoping for a warm Sept...I really want to have some tomatoes to can.
August is the month of birthdays! Donald's was Aug 2nd, James' Aug 8th and the twins' Aug. 14th. Here are a couple pictures of the kids as infants...sniff, sniff. They sure do grow up quickly. In someways I want them to hurry up and grow-up, in other areas I want them to slow down b/c they're growing up too fast for me. What a mess! Am I the only mother that feels this way?
Here are James, Claire and Hannah less than a week old.

Back on the lighter side...w/ Birthdays comes.....BIRTHDAY CAKE! I rarely eat sweets, but I've gotten so used to having birthday cakes and treats in the house recently that I've actually been craving them. It's rotten b/c now that the festivities are over there's nothing to satiate the sweet tooth. I even made no-bake cookies at 10:30 the other night. Donald thought I was a little nuts, but didn't seem to mind helping with the spoils. As some of you know, I love to cook, but I'm not much of a baker, luckily I have 2 sisters that are culinary geniuses, I call them regularly for baking advice. Recently I called Sara for b-day cake advice...Donald wanted a cheese cake and I'd never made one. I think she was a little shocked/appalled, but after that wore off she recommended a recipe that was tdf (to die for). I'm including the link here b/c it was the best cheesecake I've ever had, and is obviously fool proof, since it was made by me. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CRANBERRY-ORANGE-CHEESECAKE-WITH-CHOCOLATE-CRUST-107513 I didn't make the topping...it was great even w/o it.

Not the cheesecake.... I participated in the Whidbey Island Triathlon Aug 2nd, along w/ Kori Emerson and Randy and Jordan Lamb. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt great afterwards (which means I probably could have gone a little harder). I haven't quite figured out how to do an endurance race. I was always a sprinter when competing in athletics, so I understand how to pace myself in a 1/4 mile to mile run....but how do you pace yourself on a 20 mile bike ride? I'm hoping if I do enough of these I'll start to get it. I was under my goal time, and my splits were faster than in the previous triathlon...except in the swimming. My swim was awful. It was an open water 800m swim...nothing challenging, but for some reason I was miserably slow. This coupled with the Olympics has made me determined to get back into better swimming shape. My sister Sara told me after Dara Torres' swim that she expects to see me at the Olympics in 8 yrs. ha ha! I wonder what it would be like to have nothing on the agenda but working out, eating and sleeping each day...some days that sounds pretty darn nice.

Twins on a ride at the state fair. Wee!

Potty training woes: Hannah has been potty training. For the first few days it was warm enough that I just let her go about her day naked, so as to avoid the excess laundry that comes w/ potty training mishaps...It has since gotten chilly here, thus I've had to dress her. The potty training is going well, but for some reason she won't use the toilet unless stark naked (won't even keep her socks on). So, multiple times each day she hops around in front of the toilet frantically trying to remove all her clothing before she has an accident. If she could get undressed a more quickly (thus avoiding accidents) or dress herself completely after I wouldn't care so much, but this business is becoming a huge chore....and a very unnecessary one, since she already has the gist of the actually potty training. I've tried to explain (and show her) that the rest of us in the family use the restroom without disrobing, but it hasn't had much impact...sigh, hopefully it will sink in soon.

Sometimes it's really hard for me not to laugh at my kids....of course often it's when they are being extremely serious, or are so proud of themselves they look like they're gonna burst. Here are two of the reasons I say this.

Story 1-Save the worms! A few weeks ago I was outside working in the garden while the kids were all playing in the yard. I heard what I can only describe as an ear piercing war cry and looked up to see Jillian running straight at a robin in the yard. The robin, naturally, took off. I stared at her wondering what in the world she was doing. She continued running until she reached the spot the robin had been breakfasting, bent down picked something up and ran over to me. I was dumbfounded...in her hand she held out an unscathed (though probably shaken) earthworm. "Here mom, I saved the worm so we could put it in the garden." Awesome! *

Story 2"Argentina has good beef!"** We had a Family Home Evening lesson on the sacrament last Monday. Donald was discussing baptismal covenants. The kids were telling us what they knew about baptism and associated covenant. This was James' contribution to the discussion. "Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, yeah and spiders have 8 legs." I suppose we could call it a scatterbrained moment and blame me for passing on those genes...but I think it has more to do w/ him being 5 than w/ him being my son. Nothing quite compares to the mind and mental leaps of a child.

Well, there's the month in retrospect. I really need to start doing this weekly, so I can remember more and so that writing (and reading) it doesn't become such a long involved process.

*For more earthworm adventures that are both hilarious and educational check out one of my favorite picture books of all time, "There's a hair in my dirt" by Gary Larson ...he wrote The Farside comics.
**This is from one of my favorite scenes in "While you Were Sleeping." It's a random statement by the grandma during a conversation at the dinner table.

Pics from the family reunion

2008-08-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

The reunion was over a month ago, but better late than never, right? If I can figure out how to format this thing I'll post some pics. Here goes.

1st picture: My four and my niece Julia. Aren't they adorable? This is before we changed out of church clothes, and before they began climbing the 25 ft. red rock hill behind them, covering themselves, inside and out, head to toe in lovely red dirt.. My kids called it "the mountain" in reverenced tone. "Mom, can we go climb the mountain?"

2nd picture: Hannah and Donald on picture day, waiting for our turn.

3rd picture: Jillian in a tree at Garden of the Gods.

4th picture: Grandma Marion w/ most of the great grandchildren. Amazing isn't it!

5th picture: James and Elias w/ mischievous smiles.

6th picture: Claire with a one of the little figurines she loved so much.