Spots. He's a She.

I know you can't see her in this picture, but Jacob was given a really terrific gift from his friend Lily for his birthday. It was a leopard gecko that he named Spots (after much serious deliberation, not to mention the admittedly intrusive examination for signs of gender). Lily knows how much Jacob LOVES animals, and she had been planning to get him this gecko for months. She did really well keeping the gift a surprise right up until the last moment when she gave him just one clue - "It's alive."

Even with that vague clue, Jacob was thrilled, ecstatic, delighted when he realized he was getting a new pet, all his own.

Thank you Lily for your kindness and thoughtfulness!

Yes, I'd Love to Shop With Your Money.

My friend Jeanine asked me in October if I would decorate her house for a dinner party she was hosting for her newlywed son and his bride the weekend after Christmas. I said I'd love to, if my mom could help me. Jeanine agreed, and my mom agreed to help. The timeline was set - we would decorate everything by the first week in December so that Jeanine could enjoy it all month and we wouldn't be tied up decorating at the busiest time of the year. My mom and I were both delighted with the prospect of shopping for Christmas decorations and coming up with crafts with someone else's money.

So here are a few of the things we came up with for Jeanine's house.

My mom and dad made this welcome sign and I painted it. I spray painted it using a vinyl stencil, and it turned out awful. Paint bled everywhere. I had to bust out all of my brown paints and my brush skills to fix it. There was also a considerable amount of sanding involved to redeem it. Now, I actually like the effect that all that touch up gave.

One Pinterest idea that I found and fell in love with actually turned out quite charming. It was doilies in embroidery hoops hooked together to hang in the front windows. I started by finding a lace tablecloth at the thrift store, and then my mom and I spent several wonderful hours hunting for doilies and handkerchiefs at antique stores. Then my mom remembered that she had a garbage sack completely full of old lacy doilies and things and we used those too. I made two panels, and unlike the rest of decor that Jeanine was to keep, asked that these be returned when her party was over.

My mom and dad made this trellis that hung in the front entryway. It was the real showpiece. It was stunning!

The nativity scene on top of the entertainment center also turned out really well, thanks to my mom's genius.

It was a really fun project for my mom and I to work on together. We loved the shopping and the planning and learning that we see things just different enough to really compliment each other. So fun, I would totally do it again...

Killing 2014 in Lordsburg

Going to Lordsburg anytime around Christmas is always a treat. Louise loves Christmas almost as much as she loves Christmas decorations. Nutcrackers adorn every surface, the result of years of collection (I think they number in the forties, after having given several away to grandchildren...), there are snowmen and trees, lights and signs, snow globes and dishtowels and trinkets. And then there's the Christmas village; a dozen cottages lit up, frequented by tiny shoppers and families on a bed of sparkly batting.

It is a festive, merry house, and we were happy to be able to go visit a few days after Christmas through the new year. We thought we were escaping frigid weather but instead seemed to bring it with us. It was freezing the first day, near-tornado the second day, and snowy white the third day. Hence there was an awful lot of indoor creativity and play.

The kids watched shows, checked coyote traps with Rus and Big Papa, and kept Nana busy on the sewing machine. Actually I kept Nana busy on the sewing machine. She helped me put a quilt top on the long arm quilter, aka "Tin Lizzie," and get it all quilted and ready to bind. So happy! It's one of those Christmas projects that was abandoned to save my sanity, but now with a little less on my plate I am anxious to finish it.

We made marble runs out of wrapping paper tubes and windsocks out of milk and juice cartons. (Those pictures are at the end...) We enjoyed meeting Emilee and Chip's baby, Gypsy the hedgehog. So pokey, and almost cute until it pooped on me...

Louise spoiled us with caramel and we somehow didn't eat all of it before it was time to have a caramel wrapping party. She truly spoiled Rus when she made him divinity. Oh, the lost art of making divinity...

I had to bring my popover pan - a Christmas gift from Louise - so she and Roger could try their first popovers. Rus and I are recent converts; we love popovers! It is magical how they puff up!

On the super windy day, we ventured out for a short while to visit the Lordsburg Rock Shop. It is quite the vacation destination, with good people running it and lots of pretty rocks. And little rock figurines of animals that had Jacob hooked at first glance.

On New Year's eve we had the kids in bed at 8. Rus and I aren't hard core celebrators of that particular holiday. In fact I usually go to bed early. Christmas usually wipes all the creativity out of me. This year Louise and I made a pan of brownies, and that was enough to keep me up until midnight. We all watched a couple of movies, and at 12 on the dot I was standing on the porch with Louise's .410 shotgun ringing the new year in with a bang. Like in a race. (Don't think I'm a horrible person jeopardizing the neighbors...the house is in the middle of nowhere, with only one close neighbor, and I shot in the opposite direction.)

We were ecstatic to wake up to calm skies New Year's day, even if it came at the price of two inches of snow. You can shoot guns in the snow, but not in the wind. We took turns shooting the gun Rus recently acquired for Roger, a Remington 600 Mohawk. Roger thought he was getting a rusty old gun and already decided to name it "Tetnus." But in reality Rus had taken it apart, cleaned the barrel and refinished the stock. By the time he was done with it, it was a real beauty.

The kids built Olaf out of the perfect snowman-snow and even rode their bikes around, enjoying the tracks that their tires made.

We enjoyed the relaxing time we had there so much, it was hard to leave. We're so grateful for family!

Jacob Turns NINE

Jacob has come a long way since his birth. 

He has gained about 55 lbs and grown 36 inches.

Many things have changed...

He has recently become an avid reader of books like Jack Stalwart and Spirit Animals.

He can ride a mountain bike almost as good as his dad, WITH clip on pedals.

He owns four knives.

He has gone from not wanting to get tired to ALWAYS wanting to go on an adventure.

But many things have just grown up with him, like...

His love for art.

His love for animals.

His big muscles.

His ability to totally chow down on food he loves.

He still dreams of exploring the world.

He had his birthday planned for months.

Itinerary:

1. Eat Breakfast at IHOP. 

2. Go mountain biking

3. Eat a triple cheeseburger with bacon

4. Eat caramel cheesecake

We tried hard to accommodate his list. We did go to IHOP, and he invited his friend Adela.

 He also invited Cutesy and Grandad.

We went shopping afterwards with his birthday money and he bought a collection of animals, which he immediately found an awesome way to display when we got home.

We have a tradition of decorating the birthday child's door with candy, and he had requested caramel kisses. I did a "9" on his door and then left a little pile of kisses on the floor. When the kids all woke up, they found Marianne in a mess of chocolate - on her face, in her hair, on her jammies...We can only deduce that she woke up in the night, found the kisses on the floor by Jacob's door, took them back to bed with her, and ate many while sleeping on the rest. We will have to be more careful in the future.

He was able to go on a bike ride with his dad - 7 miles to the Elena Gallegos trail head. Rus says he is a natural rider, fearless but in control.
His uncle Jacob is an awesome gift giver and always gives him the coolest things (BB gun, knife, nerf swords...) This year he gave him a quiver and arm guard, and then helped him make his own bow out of PVC. It turned out great!

I made him his cheeseburger for dinner, and he was a little disappointed that I'd only give him a double cheeseburger, not a triple. (He ate all of it!) For dessert we had his caramel cheesecake, and then he opened his gift - an air hogs quad flyer.

He also got this slingshot that is hand carved that I found at a craft fair. He promptly took it outside and "almost hit a bird."

 I think his birthday was a success! I love my chocolate chip-eyed boy with his sweet smile and sensitive spirit and creativity. I love his hugs and his terrific back scratches. I love how he's so much like his dad - taking things apart, building them again, and loving to explore the outdoors on foot or bicycle. I think he's going to blow this 9-year-old thing out of the water. Happy Birthday Jacob!
 And from the birthday boy himself:
"My plans for turning nine are I want to...me and daddy want to go on the continental divide trail on bikes. I want to practice on my bike. Um..do more art. Learn more about taking stuff apart. Learn about Spots, my new leopard gecko. I think I'm going to grow 5" this year."

Christmas 2014

This Christmas went like most Christmases of the past. I plan. We save. (Well, actually that was a first...what a novel idea, saving money for Christmas!) We shop. We spend. We say "Enough!" We spend more. 

I plan projects. I start about 17 projects. Two days before Christmas I have an epic meltdown when I realize there is absolutely no way I will finish all of my projects. I lower my expectations drastically until I don't feel so overwhelmed. I finish one of the 17 projects. 

We visit friends, go to concerts and plays and broadcasts. I bake...cookies, pumpkin roll, pie, more cookies, bread. We eat ramen for dinner one night...ham and cheese sandwiches the next, because the sink is too full of dishes from the baking to plan anything more extravagant. 

We make teacher gifts, organize class parties, send in wrapped books for gift exchanges, money for pizza parties, and feel completely exasperated when we have to make last minute cookies for "that class party I told you about two weeks ago."

 There is much talk of presents. Every day I hear, "do you know what else I want for Christmas?" We lecture about "the real meaning of Christmas," have family home evening about the true meaning of Christmas, and remind, remind, remind of what it's all about. And still, on Christmas Eve night, there is a little boy who is unhappy that he has to be a shepherd in our reenactment of the nativity, and fighting over who gets to be a sheep, and a very bossy Mary.

We count the minutes and days until Christmas, forget to hide Timber (our elf) almost every night and wake up at three a.m. in a cold sweat every three days yelling "MOVE TIMBER!" 

We eat the candy every day from our advent calendar, and everyone is sad when they realize that Marianne has eaten everyone's candy from the last two days.

The excitement of the year is contagious, though, and Christmas Eve this year was no exception. I got a text from my dad the day before saying, "How early can you come on Christmas Eve? I will make breakfast and help keep the kids entertained. Rus could come down when he escapes from work." It was an offer I couldn't refuse. We were there by 8;15. My mom and I spent hours in the kitchen. We don't know why it took us so long. But dinner that night was delicious, and the first pecan pie I've ever made was gone fast and is begging to be remade. 

We came back to my house to open our Christmas jammies and do our nativity play and set out goodies for Santa. 

Rus got me zip up jammies "so I could do zip up jammie nights with the kids." Really I think he just wanted to embarrass me. Marianne was delighted with my jammies and proclaimed that we could snuggle!

One funny thing about the nativity...at one point, our sheep, (Beau), somehow bucked and face planted on the wood floor. He got a bloody nose that took 30 minutes to tame.

And after only an our of "I can't sleep," the kids were finally settled so we could make our last minute Christmas preparations, like playing scrabble and eating Santa's crackers and cheese.

Highlights of Christmas morning:

Kids were up at five, then 5:45, and then 5:55 we relented.

Bekah got a mountain bike and a charm necklace, and tea cups and pots from me and my mom and Nana. We had a tea party later that morning.

Jacob and Beau got tablets. This is THE BEST picture of Christmas...I love Beau's pure expression of half-crazed exuberation. (Not a word? It should be...)

Jacob really, really wanted biking shoes to go with the pedals that he received for his birthday. Rus said it was going to be really hard for him to get the hang of it, but Jacob proved him wrong and was happily biking with his clip in pedals later that day.

Marianne got a mouse "doll" house, but she was equally delighted by finding gum in her stocking.

She LOVED her Elsa nightgown/dress and her big bead necklace. She has worn it everyday since.

Rus got a trigger for his gun, and supplies to brew his own root beer, and a hand stitched leather wallet from me (that was the one out of seventeen projects that I finished).

My mom got one of my temple prints and my dad got a dust collector for his shop that Rus and I had found at the habitat restore. Rus and I gave my dad the dust collector by putting just one of the hoses by his stocking...My parents gave us a grill by wrapping just one of the parts in a box. We all laughed at our cleverness.

I got a bunch of printmaking supplies from Rus and some beautiful little pottery items from my mom.

After all of the presents were opened and everyone was reveling in their loot and my mom had headed back to bed, my dad and I started making pancakes. Not just any pancakes...AWESOME pancakes as made by SAIPancakes. The batter is made and loaded into squeeze bottles. One bottle is darkened with cocoa powder, and this is the one used to do the outlines. Then the insides are piped in with the batter in the other bottle. It was incredibly fun to do, and we wound up making probably a dozen more than was necessary because we enjoyed it so much.

My dad and his spitting image...

A reindeer and an elephant

Marianne helped fill in my pancake.

The temple...

It was a wonderful day, and once again I feel so blessed for all that we have and for my Savior who was born, lived, and died for me. And I love my crazy family and all of the exhausting and wonderful work that goes into loving them.

SNOW!!

Last night as we left a wonderful caroling party at our neighbor's home, we were greeted by a beautiful snowing sky. Marianne shrieked, she was so excited. All of the kids discussed with each other their plans to play in the snow the next morning. Thankfully, the weather went along with their plans, and by the next morning there was at least 3 inches of wonderful white powder on everything. It was like Christmas morning - they were up super early and we had to send them back to bed for just a little bit longer. At seven they headed out, all bundled up.

Jacob utilized the dump truck as a snow plow/snow hauler. That kid has grown over an inch since August. He is taller than Bekah.

 Bekah said the snow was delicious...

 We were looking for just the right snow to make a snowman with - unfortunately most of it was really powdery - and we couldn't resist giving Rus' bug some eyes.

 Marianne LOVED the snow! She helped with the snowman and threw her share of snowballs.

 I need to find my picture like this from last year. I know the kids have grown so much! I am really enjoying them right now - they're still little, but our littlest is so big, it makes it feel like our family is growing up.

 Merry Christmas!

Not Riding the Railrunner

It's Christmastime at the Payne house! Marianne was the honored one to put up the star.

 I heard on the radio about the NM Railrunner and the Santa Fe Depot having a Santa's Village. Rus and I decided to take the kids and my parents were able to come, too. Here we are, SO excitedly awaiting our train...

 Marianne wore her adorable "conductor clothes."

 Unfortunately, when the train came it was PACKED. Seriously. Sardines. There was no way we were getting on it. The kids were devastated, there was weeping and wailing...So we decided to just drive up. We beat the train, which was a good thing, because then the line for Santa was almost nill. I really loved it when my mom asked a kid in the parking garage elevator if he was excited to see Santa, and he said, "You know he's not real, right?" The kid was maybe five. His mom got after him. Awesome.
Well we were excited to see Santa.

 Marianne was initially frightened of Santa, even though she called him her "soft snuggly friend." She quickly warmed up. Jacob refused to take the picture with us. He was a little disappointed about his decision when he realized a candy cane was involved in the picture taking...

 We were also able to beat the crowds to the mini train - aka the lawnmower. Marianne wouldn't ride without Rus. Like a gorilla on a matchbox car.

 As we waited for Rus to finish his joyride, we saw the train pull in. And then we watched for 15 minutes as the train emptied and the crowds poured out. Steady stream for 15 minutes.
After that the whole thing was a bust. There were too many people and Rus was intolerable. He gets so cranky around the masses.
I am still happy that we were able to hang out with my parents...
Merry Christmas!