Miniature Armchair Production Services Inc.

Tell me, honestly, of anyone else you know who will volunteer to make 40 centerpieces for a human resource conference. Not just any centerpieces, but wooden arm chairs! Amy is just such a person, and I think she volunteered her idea and services because she knew she had a crew who could help make it happen. She drove over from Flagstaff a few weeks ago with Luke, Mikey, and Leo and we went to work in my dad's shop cutting and assembling the chairs. We were pretty dang good at it too!

 Why is everything so much cuter in miniature?

 I know they aren't in the picture (why?!) but Luke and Mikey had just enough time at my house to help my kids make this fort. It may lean and look incredibly unstable, but I was nonetheless impressed at their creativity!

It was especially fun to get to hug and play with Leo, he is growing so fast! I love Amy - she always makes life fun with her big ideas and sense of humor.

Hoverboards and Pet Experimentation

Jacob lucked out this year finding a science project that really interested him - HOVERBOARDS! Well maybe it is technically a little outside the definition of a true hoverboard, but still...

For his experiment he made three different sized boards - 16", 20", and 24". He put a hole in each board for the shop vac to attach, and attached a shower curtain with staples to create an air chamber when inflated. Then he tested each board with buckets full of rocks to see how much weight each could hold and still hover. His largest board held 113 pounds! He could even ride on it!

 Here he is cutting out one of his boards (with a little help).

 Beau decided to involve Cheeky in his science project. He fed him food in three colors - green, red, and orange, and then observed to see which color he preferred. He did this over a week and found that Cheeky really liked green food the best! And whatever food was placed on the left. But still he ate the most green no matter where it was.

 I really have grown to love the science fair, despite the tediousness of putting together boards and assimilating results...It is fun to work on projects like this with my kids and see them gain an elementary understanding of big concepts. (I learn a lot too!)

Petroglyph National Monument

In February my kids had an extra day off after President's day, so we decided to go for a hike! In our 4.5 years living in Albuquerque we have never been to see the Petroglyphs, which are a short 25 minute drive from home on Albuquerque's west mesa. The area is reputedly scorching hot in the summer, but it was perfect weather for us in February!

Bekah wasn't feeling well that morning so she stayed home, and the Bug was at preschool, so just the boys and I headed out. 

We decided to do Rinconada canyon, which was a 2 mile loop with over a hundred petroglyphs. The boys were naturally super hikers; it is so fun to hike with older kids! 

Jacob and Beau love each other. Jacob said once, "Beau was made just for me. He's the best brother." He expresses things like that all the time. They are both really good at being sensitive and supportive of each other. Unless they're wrestling. Then Beau always hurts Jacob.

 This was their favorite petroglyph. They really liked any that looked like people.

 The trail was marked at every tenth of a mile, and when we were 3/4 of a mile away from the end Jacob decided that he wanted to run the rest of the way back. I inwardly cheer anytime any of my kids express a desire to run - I would love for them to be runners in high school like I was!

I love Beau's cheesy face here. I LOVE these boys!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a wonderful family celebration with my parents, Jake, DeAnn, Carla, Doug, and all the kids. A couple of weeks before, I sat down with the kids and we made plans:

* Mystery Menu dinner - all of the foods have code names and everyone got to pick what they wanted for each course. So some people wound up with a soda and ice cream sundae for the first course, which my kids thought was awesome.

(can you tell my kids came up with the menu?)

* Prize for the "Most Festively Dressed." We had to come up with an extra prize because Emma and Zaya were both very festively dressed!

* Coloring contest with prize (I don't remember who won!!)

* Candy bar name riddles - Bekah did this one at school and brought home the worksheet for us to use. It was genius because it occupied all of the dads while they had to wait for each course.

* Valentine Exchange - of course!

* Treasure Hunt - Rus hid all of the clues and at the end of the hunt were bags of goodies (mostly cheap oriental trading company toys)

I was too busy serving the different courses to get any good pictures, so this one is an afterthought:

 I am grateful for my family, and so grateful for every opportunity I get to do something fun with and for them!

Poulialler

"Poulailler" (poo-lie-ye) is French for "chicken coop"
It's only fitting that our chicken coop have a fancy name. It does, after all, have a stained glass window in it. A stained glass chicken. Ahh..After the thought came to me that I could put a simple stained glass chicken window in the coop, I just couldn't shake it. I knew, and know, that it is pretentious and extravagant (what regular house has a stained glass window?!) but there was just this blank spot, and something had to go there...and surely it couldn't hurt to indulge a bit in my newfound skill! So I drew up a plan...and then tossed it because it was way too complicated...and then drew up a much simpler plan with under 20 pieces.

Bekah and Marianne hung out with me in the shed and we cranked that happy chicken out in a morning, and a little of the afternoon. I was polishing the glass as I walked to the garage and then Rus helped me install it behind a vibrant red frame. Rus took a break from doing the wiring for a heat lamp and switch for the coop, and as we installed the window we both had a good laugh at the kind of chicken coop that an artist and an engineer could create.

Rus actually made the coop while I was out of town with Bekah and Beau. We were in Arizona watching my niece Sarah rock climb her way to sixth place at divisionals (qualifying her for a bigger competition in Wisconsin next month!). We also watched my other niece Emma climb and do a fantastic job - she is not as old or as experienced as Sarah, but she has the determination and strength to do just as well given a little more time and practice!

 Here is Sarah on one of her climbs...they call them "problems."

 Beau snagged a picture with both of his grandmas, right as he asked them, "which one of you is older?"

Jacob helped Rus build the coop. They spent a whole Saturday on it (what did Marianne do? Rus says she just played by herself most of the day), and when we were back in town we helped them paint it brown for our family night. I added the blue and red accents to "cute it up," but really the majority of credit goes to Rus on this one.

We ordered our chicks last week and they should be here the end of this week! Yay! I'm excited for the learning experience this will be for our family!

Ringing in the New Year!

I am not a night person and I have never really been one for staying up until midnight on New Year's (unless we're in Lordsburg and I get to shoot a rifle at midnight...). But I love celebrations and I do feel that the start of a new year is momentous - a fresh start for all of those goals and hopes. I envision the new year bursting with potential, all of those days and weeks and months untouched and ready for anything. Anything. How wonderful it is to dream big!

For our family celebration on New Year's Eve, each of the kids helped me with part of the planning. (And we kept it super simple. I was not up for anything hard that soon after Christmas!) Jacob and I blew up balloons and then put little notes on each one for things to do every half hour from 6:30 to 8:30. (My memory is a little fuzzy on the exact details...but this is close.)

6:30 - Photo scavenger hunt (by Bekah)

7:00 - Snack bar and dance party!

7:30 - Play Beau's game of "Midnight"

8:00 - Finding Tender Mercies (Mom's deep thoughts) and Milkshakes

8:30 - Sparkling apple cider and a toast for the New Year!

Bekah came up with a photo scavenger hunt that had pictures from each month of 2015. The kids had to find the pictures and then put them in order. It was hard to remember when we did certain things!

We went to a wedding reception earlier that afternoon where there was so much food we didn't have to eat dinner...So some of our food themed ideas like the snack bar and milkshakes weren't met with as much enthusiasm as I anticipated, but that was okay.

Also earlier in the day, Bekah and I went to Marshall's to find new journals for each member of our family. I was working on a lesson for church that week that talked about seeing the hand of God daily in our lives and recognizing the tender mercies of the Lord. Elder Eyring had shared in a talk that he had kept a journal about seeing the hand of God in his life every day for years and years, and that he was blessed to be able to see more how Heavenly Father loved him and cared for him in small and simple ways. I want to be more grateful everyday to my Heavenly Father, so I have set a goal to write in my journal everyday how I see the hand of God bless me or my family.

I shared that story with my kids and then challenged them to write down their thoughts, feelings, and tender mercies that they observed in their journals. I told them that journals are SUPER personal, and no one could ever, ever read someone else's journal, so they could write anything they wanted. And then we all sat for the remaining 20 minutes and wrote in our journals! They took right to it and were easily occupied the whole time - I was pleasantly surprised, and I considered that to be a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father.

Rus added one thing to our night that the kids all loved - they got to stay up and watch one of the Star Wars movies (#4, or the first of the original series). He is making sure they have a solid Star Wars-ucation.

 Before bed we opened our bottle of "bubbly" and gave a toast to the New Year!

 It was a good, fun night! Welcome 2016! With this crew anything is possible! Bring it on!!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

(My Christmas angel!)
We came home from Lordsburg the night before Christmas Eve (or "Christmas Adam" which is what Claire called it...) Christmas Eve was spent making treats, delivering them to friends, and visiting our neighbors for a short but sweet glimpse of Danish Christmas traditions. For dinner, we invited Carla, Doug and their family and a friend from church named Xathena who is a talented jeweler with wonderful stories from growing up in Louisiana. She very generously brought us several tupperwares full of cookies and a beautiful Christmas cactus that bloomed for me the next week! We had a delicious dinner of homemade sopapillas, taco meat, beans, and a pecan pie, popcorn, and cookies for dessert. (So much food, so many treats!) After dinner we continued our tradition of reenacting the nativity. With my four kids and Carla's five, we are beginning to have quite the cast! We sang songs, Rus shared Christmas stories from his family history (hoping to inspire gratitude for what we have), and visited while kids played, hyped up about Santa coming. We were so happy to have Carla's family and Xathena over to share the Christmas spirit with!
After they left the kids were able to open one gift: predictably it was pajamas. But this year I bought EVERYONE matching pjs! Even Rus!

 I gave him his mostly as a joke; last year he gave me terrible pink onesie pjs.

He had the good humor to at least pose for a picture while I sat laughing/crying at how ridiculous he looked...and we returned them to Target the next week.
Christmas morning dawned at 6 am - the earliest we have let our kids get up - Jacob was grumpy to be woken up, but everyone else was naturally very excited.
Rus gave Jacob partial ownership of his gun - a 6mm rifle.

 Bekah had begged and pleaded for an ipod touch, and Rus and I thought we had done a pretty good job of squashing any hope she might have of actually receiving it. So this picture, although blurry, accurately depicts her excitement at finding one near her stocking!

 Beau wanted a Nook. And he got one. Because he's a good boy.

 One of Jacob's wishes was for a pair of overalls...and he has loved wearing them! He loves all of the pockets and that he and Beau both have a pair.

 Cinderella made an appearance Christmas morning! She wore her new beanie to keep her head warm...Such an elegant little lady!

 I had to get a picture of Beau wearing a bunch of his Christmas goods: Minion beanie and headphones, model Hummer, and a really cute Fly Guy pillowcase that Bekah made him.

I guess a week before Christmas, Rus told my mom he'd found me the perfect gift: a really nice new blowdryer. And then she told him that she bought me a blowdryer too, and that hers was better. It was sparkly purple and powerful.

 Rus was sent back to the drawing board and found me a terrific gift: an oscillating spindle sander with various diameter spindles and a belt sanding attachment. I decided I got a sweet deal getting both the blowdryer and the sander! Something to file my nails and something to blow off the sawdust! ;)
I had to include a picture of the minion I got for Christmas!

 Nana made Marianne the cutest doctor shirt to wear when she played with her Doc McStuffins! It even says, "Dr. Marianne." We later made her little Doc McStuffins doll a matching scrub top!

Doc&Doc

 

I gave Rus a PorterCable multitool and a book that teaches the basics of making a violin (he wants to be like his great great grandpa McFate and make himself a fiddle someday).
Tyler and Gina had us for Christmas this year and they made us a beautiful set of windchimes that we hung on our pergola out back. They have a deep beautiful sound and I've enjoyed hearing them make music!

 I am grateful for the Christmas season, and grateful for having to people to share my love with!