It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Lib

For Marin's birthday this year we had a Mad Lib party. And it was her actual birthday. Hooray! It turned out to be so much fun with hardly any prep at all. So already it was a winner with me.

Each girl received a Mad Lib booklet invitation. And yes, I'm very aware of copyright laws and that this would be considered infringement, but hey, the reproduction of which only amounting to 10 invites just might classify it as too petty to seek damages. That's my thinking.

Inside the booklet was a mad lib for each of the girls to fill out and later read. It was fun to see them read a wacky story about Marin and themselves. So funny.

Another fun activity of the evening was the improv puppet skits (I knew those Melissa and Doug puppets would come in handy again). The girls drew from a hat which characters they'd be and also scenarios they had to act out that the other girls would have to guess. Um... hilarious. Who knew 11 and 12-year-old girls could be so imaginative and genuinely funny.

The crowd was easily pleased with the spotlight a la camping flashlights.

Maybe it was the feeling of Halloween in the air, but almost every skit ended with one puppet trying to eat the other. Huh? Yeah, I don't know. Strange since all of the groups were separated while preparing their skits.

And even after the game was over, they all decided to have another go and put on more shows. What a lively bunch. What a loud, loud, lively bunch.

Dinner was make-your-own flatbread pizzas. We had quite the assembly line of pizza makers.

Check out Aboy in this photo, who is very happy to be the darling little brother with lots of older girls around to give him attention. Where did he learn to flash a peace sign? From the look of this photo, it seems peace is going around.

Santi was my hostess with the mostest. She and her BFF, Abby, helped set up and ensure the girls had all they needed for good fun. Santi helped prepare the favor bags which included a Mad Lib (from Mrs. Figs'), a colorful pen, a cute bracelet with each girl's initial, and candy. She really did a good job giving her sister's likes and feelings the utmost attention. I love her big heart.

As stated earlier, Abram thinking he's the grand marshall at all the girls' events of any kind. Something he's slowly learning quite isn't the case as he once suspected. Finally. But I have loved that he feels so relevant a part in their lives, even if he thinks he can hang with a bunch of tween girls. Bri and I predict that he'll have crushes on his older sister's friends, and his little sister's friends will have crushes on him. All is fair in love... and war.

Only 11 of the millions of things we love about you Marin:

1. We love how you search for answers to everything under the sun (and then some) and how curious you are, even if you're caught day dreaming while doing chores.

2. We love how excited you become at the prospect of a new idea, like teleporting. Or an old one, like the Urim and Thummim (thanks to Dad and the Gospel Word). "Doesn't that just blow your mind?"

3. We love how you will sit and watch a preschool show with your youngest siblings and, do I dare say, get caught up in it? You are so patient with your younger siblings and young children in general.

4. We love how you believe in justice for all and truly believe that each person is a child of God.

5. We love how for Christmas you ask for things like books written in braille, or an original Dead Sea Scroll (like Dad and I can travel to the middle east and hunt through caves for sealed clay pots) along with things like silly bands.

6. We love how you try your hand in the kitchen and concoct all sorts of presumably edible combinations like applesauce with bacon bits. I mean people pay lots of money for that apple bacon flavor, right? Even if we don't love the aftermath in the kitchen.

7. We love how much you love making memories and how you truly treasure family time with us and with your extended family. You are the best oldest daughter, the best biggest sister, the best biggest cousin, and the best biggest granddaughter and great granddaughter. You carry it all well.

8. We love your sense of humor and that you genuinely make us laugh. You are such good company and you have such a funny perspective on so many things. You're always up for something new or fun.

9. We love how you are learning that words are powerful and that using them for good is always better than using them for ill. We love how you are always writing a new novella, short story, or poem. And we love how your current favorite genre is historical fiction. At your age, I had no idea what historical fiction was, or even what "genre" meant.

10. We love how you have always taken time to think through the gospel until you have an unshakable testimony. You have incredible questions on doctrinal points that have required your parents to study harder. How quick you are to apply gospel principles to real life situations.

11. We love that loving you means learning something new about the world just about everyday. You have an incredibly big heart and we certainly love hearing you say that you love us back. We are so grateful we get to be your parents.

Bonus: We love how you try to stay positive, that you strive to be polite, and that you are (usually) so complimentary of your parents. And we love how you'll be keeping your room clean from this day forward.

Love,

The King and Queen of Far, Far, Away

AKA: Mom and Dad.

Fully Present for Presents

Happy little girl. Halyn opened her birthday presents a day after her birthday cake fiasco. She enjoyed the gift opening much more than succumbing to the inevitable crash after sugary frosting.

She loved the little outfits Nana had made for her. Nana bought little tops for a dollar and then embellished them with little skirts. So cute. She laughed at the monkey on this top that says, "go bananas." No problem. She is a monkey, and goes bananas.

Naturally, she had to try her outfits on right away. Thank goodness she wasn't too big for them already. She also received cute outfits from Grandpa Finn and Grandma Lainie that were just perfect. She has been wearing size 18 months for a little while now, so I was worried when their gifts were clothes. Luckily it all fit.

Halyn showing off the little trucks she got from Lito. Lito felt it important and very necessary that she have her own trucks since Abram is a little stingy in the sharing department. Actually, he's a very good sharer, he just doesn't appreciate the manner in which she plays with his trucks. He's of the opinion that baby drool inhibits the performance of his precision cars and trucks. I understand. There's a few things of mine I prefer without baby drool, like my makeup brushes for instance.

And the pièce de résistance...

Halyn's music box.

When each of our girls turn a year, Daddy buys them a pretty little music box with a beautiful tune inside. It's something he looks forward to and quite frankly, something I had forgotten needed to be done (so Brian put a notch on his belt to indicate to all the world that he had remembered something I had not, that's how infrequently it occurs). How much sweeter of a surprise it was when he brought it out for the baby and none of us knew ahead of time.

Marin and I trying to get a closer look at Halyn's prize. I was amazed at how much she truly loved her little music box. Of course, she yearned to put it in her mouth, but aside from that, she wanted to repeatedly open and close the top to hear the music (video below, though not the best quality).

The rest of us trying to get in on the action. Abram thought it should be his, maybe to compensate for the soggy tires and flooded floorboards of his toy cars. Regardless, the box was all Halyn's.

One of those moments that lasts but a few seconds, everything seems just right. We're all together and we always will be.

Little Baby Doll, you are growing too fast. In the early morning of your first birthday, your dad and I reminisced of how just one year earlier we were leaving for the hospital, all a flutter and excited to meet you for the first time. What would you look like? Though very unlikely for our babies, we wondered if you would have hair. (Nope.) Whose eyes would you have? And my primary concern... how big would you be? (Though you made a grand entrance at 9 pounds, Santi still had you beat at 9.5, so don't feel too bad for Mom).

We look at you, or even just think of you, and marvel at how much joy you've brought to each one of your siblings and how your birth has helped them evolve into more responsible, more loving, and overall better people. If so for your siblings, then think how much more you've done for your parents by being born. Thank you for being so trusting, so silly, and so beautiful. Now Daddy and I realize what it means to have a Halyn, or at least we've gotten a tiny glimpse. We love the idea of spending our entire lives discovering all the little Halyn things you'll do.

Let her eat cake...

 

I'm not sure I understand...
You WANT me to delve my pudgy little fingers into this mouthwatering delectable delicacy? And you're using that high pitched nice voice, the one you bring out when you want me to perform my newest trick. For real? This sounds just too good to be true.

Well, if you insist...

Oh yes, this is quite good. I even got a little morsel into my mouth. It is better than I expected, actually.

What's that? There's something in my hair? Oh my!

My goodness, I feel so silly, like I'm not quite myself, yet more myself than I've ever been...

Wait, is this spinning sensation normal?

I'm suddenly feeling a little frustrated...

Who are you people and why are you getting this on video? Of all the cruel jokes! Cake is not fun or funny. Quite frankly, I'm sick.



Happy Birthday Halyn! Sorry the cake wasn't what we/you expected. Thanks to Nana for getting you your first ever doll cake (many more to come).

We sure love you more than you could ever imagine. Our little caboose, our little Halyn buggy, our zooga doos a zoogie moo, our little baby doll, our squishy mish... the sweetheart of the family.

One more pumpkin

We set the (fake) pumpkins out early this year, like the first week in October, maybe to make up for not having used them at all last year. And we added a pumpkin for Halyn. It seems our pumpkin patch has grown quite a bit over the years.

Marin loving her some sweetheart.  

Class Act

Who is 3 years-old and insists on writing his own destiny? THIS guy!


















He asked me lots of questions, in his very distinctly Abramic way:

A:"This is my school, right? It's preschool for big boys."

X: "Yes, Marin goes to her school, Santi goes to her school, and Abram goes to preschool."

A: "Oh I see, Abram goes to Abram school. But not Santi and Marin, huh Mom? Just Abram. Just Abram goes to Abram school."

X: "That's right, you're a very lucky boy. Your teachers are Mrs. Andrews and Mrs. Maulhardt."

A: "Oh I see, Mr. Andrew (as in Tio Andrew) and Mrs. Walmart."

I wonder if he was expecting to see Tio Andrew at Walmart. Well he didn't show any disappointment when neither of those materialized.

Like an old pro, he walked in, found his name and owned his cubby.

He was plenty OK with me leaving him to embark on his own adventure. I was pretty OK too. Seeing him so confident and comfortable put any concerns to rest. Plus, he is number 3 to go off to preschool. With each subsequent child, I imagine most parents settle in a little or just grow really, really tired. 

Halyn is just stoked to finally get some alone time. I forgot what it was like to have only one child at a time, and this has been quite a joy for the two of us. I hope to blog about it more.

Good luck in school Aboy! Your teachers are undoubtedly bound to have some good times ahead.

SingSing

We taught Abram to sing the song, Latter-day Prophets. It was so much more fun than I could've ever imagined. I had no idea that in just a couple weeks, he would get it down so well. The first video is the final outcome of singing it together as a family every night after scripture study. I suppose I shouldn't have taken the video right after lunch. You'll see why.



This second video is of Abram learning the song for the first time with the help of his lovely sisters. They are so great. I heard them several times singing it with him. Thanks girls.



The third video is just me trying to capture this experience and Abram more concerned about showing off. And Halyn trying to get involved, like she does. He was more exuberant in this video than in the one at the top because that one shows him behaving (sort of).



Abram was able to sing to Daddy after he had come home from a trip and it was such a cute surprise. Then Abram thought he was on a roll of impressing people because now he's sung it for the missionaries after dinner as well as for his nursery teachers at church. Where does he get such a thrill for performance? Oh yes, you're right, his Grandma Nay.

Picnic Saturday

Last weekend was a picnic for one of the clusters in Brian's company. It was nice for them to invite our family to get to know them better and for the kiddos to have a little fun. To my satisfaction, not one of my fair brood was burned while running around in the sun.

Bri and Abram trying their hand at the egg toss.

It ended badly. For the egg.

All lined up for the potato sack race.

Rinner noticing that the potato sacks get smaller and smaller as she grows up.

Abram's first sack race. He just wanted to do what the big kids were doing. He actually did a pretty good job. There's a short video of him at the bottom of the post.

Santi crossing the yellow ribbon. 

Halyn playing it cool and playing her dad. She lights up when he's around and he's a sucker.

Schooled

To the point? They're back in school which means we're back on a schedule, with a long list of responsibilities and beholden to someone else's demands and rules. Nah, it's not so bad.

The hard part for me is that I spend far less time with my oldest girls, far less than I'd like. Even though this has been the first summer of real and sometimes relentless bickering between them, they are so fun to have around. I will very much miss their voices throughout my day. Not to mention the help they are with the younger ones. So that'll be a big blow to me. Enough to homeschool? Nah, it's not so bad.

Backpack flair. Both girls picked up new backpacks this year. Apparently an important life decision at this age because we shopped and shopped and shopped for them. We fared much better in pursuit of fashion where I learned that I have become almost completely irrelevant. 

Like so:

Me: "Hey girls, this is cute!"

Cool person between the ages of 8 and 10: "Yeah Mom, totally cute!" (and sounding very sincere)

Me (getting very excited that I made a good call): "Do you want to try it on?"

Cool person: "I'm fine."

You're fine? Does that mean no? At least they know how to let one down easy. 

After these pictures, my girls went their separate ways; Santi returned to the safe haven of elementary and Marin off to carve her own niche into the mysterious realm that is Middle School. Fortunately Marin's been extremely excited (though still detectably nervous) about a Brave New World.

Little Santi was excited to meet her teacher and relieved to discover that she is nice. All summer long, she was so nervous to start third grade. A grade for which she felt desperately unprepared. She was intimidated. Fortunately her STAR test scores came in after our vacation and gave her a tremendous boost in confidence. Just in time. Now she's enjoying the prospect of everything written in cursive.

Middle school orientation went great and other than having a bottom locker, which she aptly brushed off as inconsequential, Marin was ready. It was still hard to watch her go. Poor thing has always had to be the trailblazer of the children. But I'm convinced she is the one who best has the disposition for it. I love her for loving us enough to see us struggle as her parents through her many inaugural stages of development and maturity. Our guinea pig. She's most likely already earned her mansions in Heaven.

The Friday before school started we had a bunch of Marin's friends over for a late night. It turned out to be a great time. There are four other girls in our ward who are starting middle school this year, a fact they've bonded over. So each of those girls was invited to come and to bring a friend from her respective school so the group could meet more girls.

Marin had so much fun playing hostess and the girls were virtually self entertained (again, I was a little irrelevant. She doesn't need me for everything anymore. I'm learning to be OK with that). A taco salad bar, 2 gallons of berry lemonade, 8 bags of popcorn and 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies later, they had figured out the exact location of each other's lockers, decided on a suitable hangout for break and lunch, and retold Grimm's tales of middle school, like having to change for P.E. Yikes!

This whole thing is bittersweet in the worst way. We love that Marin is growing up and love who she's choosing to become. She's remarkable. And not because we are her parents, almost despite us, more so because she has a strong internal compass that points her in the right direction almost all the time. She's courageous and persistent and will invoke all of her passion and wisdom to fight even the slightest injustice (so that's not always easy to parent when the "injustice" is your fault). 

Is this the same girl who clung to my arm when just a few months old, refusing to go to anyone else? And yet if I were to meet her back then as she is today, I would see a resemblance of that fierce independence softened with compassion and charity for others. This girl wants to help heal the world's ills. I am curious to see the course of her life and pray there's a relevant part for me in it.

Four Item Plate

On one of those overwhelming days (which as far as you're concerned happens once in a blue moon) when I may have been heard to say, "Four children? What was I thinking? I'm not so sure I can do this," my very wise and extremely patient husband said, "It's like the four item plate."

What the heck? What are you talking about?

He continued to explain (and I'm paraphrasing this Brianism): "When ordering Chinese fast food, you think to yourself, 'one item isn't enough, two items is good, but maybe for a little variety I'll order three items.'
Then you see that the four item plate is only 25 cents more, so you go for it. At some inevitable point during the course of your meal, you wonder if four items is just too much. But you've already gotten yourself into this and you don't want to waste anything, so you just do it even though you feel pretty sick and self-conscious." (So, this is the thought process behind a man's eating patterns? I don't understand it, it's Chinese to me.)

And so it is. I've ordered myself the four item plate and at times just feel sick like I'm not quite good enough to finish it up, to be the kind of mother these children deserve. It helps me revere those women who have ordered the buffet and get like 6 or 8 items or more, a decision bordering on the saintly and the insane.

But there is that little fortune cookie at the end with the little nugget of wisdom that most likely says something like, "You will be successful in your efforts" or "Your many hidden talents will become obvious to those around you."
In that case, it doesn't really help that one of our (embarrassing) family traditions is to tag the line, "on the toilet" to the end of our fortunes. Can I ever win? Maybe if my fortune turns out to be,
"Don't ask. Don't say. Everything lies in silence..."

What would I do if these children weren't so gracious and forgiving of my many mistakes? By virtue of that alone, how could I not but love them with everything that I am?
To put it in perspective, the sacrifices required to be a mother are minute compared to the enormous blessings in this life and the next. And wherever I am truly deficient, there's always therapy.

Horse Around

Santi attended Horse Camp last week. Other than riding on a pony at the fair or horseback riding on South Padre, it's something she's never really done before. And those aforementioned times, the pony was tied or her horse was drawn by someone else while she rode. So for her to put aside fears of the unknown, dig in and do something out of her comfort zone was particularly impressive to us. We're so proud of her.

Hawk was Santi's horse for the week. Boy did this horse have plans, plans that didn't include cooperating with a timid and somewhat nervous rider. Hawk had every intention of doing the opposite of Santi's command. Santi sometimes came home frustrated and exasperated with the personality of her horse, but she worked really well with him toward the end of the week.

Let's face it, grooming a horse was not on Santi's top ten list of things to do in her life. It turned out to be her least favorite responsibility of the week. Something about having to stick the brush into the horse's nostrils, or something. 

Santi was lucky enough to attend camp with our neighbor and her BFF. So glad these girls have each other to pal around.

Abby and Santi showing Aboy where to pet the beast. Abram was all eyes and could not stop asking when he would get to ride the horse. I'm serious, he would NOT stop. His little voice is heard on all the parents' home videos saying, "Mom, Mom, Mommy, Mom... I ride the horse too, right? First Santi's turn, then it's my turn."

Santi leading her horse out to the arena. She's so tiny.

Santi mounting Hawk bareback. Each of the children had a choice to show English, Western, or Bareback. I was quite impressed that Santi chose to exhibit bareback. She said, "Yeah, it's hard to put the sadles on and take them off, so I just picked bareback." Nice to hear her source of inspiration. 

According to her teacher who has some 20 years experience teaching has never had a student of any age mount bareback alone on the first try, until little Santi. (So that dolphin kick from swimming really did come in handy. I'm just saying. It couldn't have hurt.)

After the show, Santi was pleased to have done well and I think a little relieved to not have to brush down her horse again.

I shouldn't be at all surprised that Aboy used his school boy charm to win himself a brief ride on one of the ponies. He's very pleased with himself, as you can see.

All of the kids in Santi's class receiving their certificates.

Santi receiving her certificate of completion, an award she truly worked hard for.

Seeing her out in the arena, I really couldn't believe she was out there on her own. I was speechless. Not sure whether it's something she'll ever do again. I think the lessons and newly gained confidence will stay with her though. Man, this girl can do anything if she really wants to. I wonder what will happen when she finally figures that out for herself. I'll be watching.