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!

Balloon Fiesta 2014

In October I made my annual early morning trek to see the balloons, or as Marianne calls it, the "balloon festia". Bekah, Beau and Marianne came, while Jacob seems to have inherited his dad's aversion to early mornings and crowds. 

It was a beautiful morning and everything went smoothly - we had a smooth, fast ride into the park and the weather was perfect. 

Surprisingly enough, Marianne was initially terrified of the balloons. She loudly proclaimed her desire to go home, leave, vacate the premises as soon as possible. But eventually, as the sun came up and everything wasn't so dark, she decided that she did enjoy seeing the balloons.

 This is the whole reason I go to the balloon fiesta - to run through the balloons! I love it!!

 I loved this balloon the most - the momma and baby whale.

I love our tradition of going to see the balloons! It really is an incredible experience!!

Chones Expedition 2014

The 2nd Annual Chones Expedition took place again in September at Granite Gap, NM. Granite Gap is in the very southwestern corner of New Mexico, and it's one of Rus' favorite places to visit. Attendees were Rus and the boys, Jake and his son Russel, Carla's son Ben, my brother in law Eric and his three sons, my brother Tyler, my dad, Rus' dad, and his uncle Lloyd.
Here are a few pics from that:

 Ben and Russel, good buds

School Was Two Miles Away, Uphill Both Ways

We are blessed to have a bus that stops directly in front of our home, with a wonderful bus driver, Jim, a grandparent himself, who knows every single kid by name. I'm sure you must be able to guess the saintly qualities he possesses to successfully manage a bus load of kids twice a day, every day.
My kids are not always well behaved on the bus. Beau is loud and invasive, Jacob is stubborn and private, and Bekah seems to think she's Jim's right hand man - in charge of keeping the peace. There have been a couple of occasions when the kids all exit the bus and I'm assaulted with a hurricane of accusations aimed at a sibling and everyone is either crying or yelling as they enter the house.
So glad to have them home, I think to myself with just a touch of sarcasm...
About a month ago this exact scenario played out, and when the kids were finally done yelling and crying, the details gradually unfolded:
Verse 1:
Jacob was sitting in the front seat of the bus, right behind the driver.
Bekah got on the bus and wanted to sit with Jacob.
Jacob said no.
Bekah insisted.
Jacob staunchly refused.

Verse 2:
Bekah sat anyway.
Jacob pounded her back.
Bekah yelled that she had to sit there to help watch the bad kids on the bus. (Ironic, no?)
Jacob pushed and pounded Bekah.

Chorus:
Jim told Jacob to stop.
Jacob wouldn't
Jim told Bekah to move.
She wouldn't.

Repeat Chorus three times.

Finale:
Bekah moves to another seat.

They somehow survived the rest of the 15 minute ride home, and I was met with extreme sadness and agitation. I listened to both sides, appealed to expert witnesses (Beau), and sat on it the rest of the night without doing anything.
The next morning, Rus and I explained to them that they had both lost the privilege of using anything with wheels to get to school, because they obviously could not be expected to behave. I asked what their plan was to get to school, and they eventually came to the conclusion that the only way to school was to walk.
Jacob yelled at me the entire 45 minutes that he normally spends getting ready for school, but somehow, at the designated time (45 minutes before school was to start, 15 minutes before they normally have to be ready), he was outside, backpack on and shoes tied and he and Bekah headed off for school. Bekah was thankfully quite resolved to her fate.
I texted Jim and let him know that the kids would not be riding the bus, that they had lost their privilege and would be enjoying a supervised walk to school. He replied that they had gotten quite mad at each other they day before and that he was sorry. I replied that it was not his fault and he shouldn't have to deal with that. He replied, "Thank you."
Beau (my favorite child of the moment), rode with Marianne and I in the van and we slowly, slowly followed them down the hill, through the stoplight, over the speed bumps, around the corner, and to the school. Two miles.
This is the blurry picture I took through the windshield and texted to Rus, along with "it was a most painful morning with Jacob. But they are walking now." He replied, "That may not have made their day. But it made me chuckle."

And guess what, by the time they arrived, they were both in great spirits, laughing and talking with each other. I even hauled their backpacks for them the last half mile because they weren't scowling anymore.
I showed them where to meet me at the end of the day, handed them notes to give their teachers explaining that they were to walk, not ride the bus, and waved goodbye.
Jim texted me to say that I had good kids - they had both come up to him and apologized for their behavior.
I think Bekah enjoyed telling all of her classmates about her "extreme punishment."
At the end of the day, I met them and again followed them home. Up the street with the speedbumps, Up the street through the stoplight. Up the road with more speedbumps. Up, up, up. Water and goldfish were provided. Pleas for a ride were denied. Backpacks were hauled in the van. I'm not kidding when I say it is quite a hill to my house. It's probably at least a thousand foot elevation change. It's awful. But with minimal complaining, they made it up. I only had a few homeowners look at me like I was a creepy stalker following innocent children.
At the driveway, we discussed proper bus behavior, and I reiterated that they would have to walk again if they ever behaved that way again. We compared times - 20 minutes on the bus or 50 minutes by foot. Luckily, they saw the advantage to having someone drive them.
We went inside where they wrote letters to Jim, apologizing again for their behavior and sharing with him their favorite parts of riding the bus. Jacob agonized over his letter, but eventually came up with one that was minimally heartfelt.
It was quite an ordeal. But they did it, and hopefully, the next time Bekah asks Jacob if she can sit with him, he will simply say...
Yes.