Opal's Disneyland Birthday!

We took Opal to Disneyland for her 7th birthday! Each seven year old gets to go to an amusement park instead of having a party. Disney in February on a week day was a great choice! We were the first ones in line since we got there an hour before the park opened. We filled the time with Disney trivia that Buggy printed up for us. We took all the bigs with us. The ones we knew could handle it and not need a nap, or whine, or not keep up with our fast pace. We had one day in Disney and we were going to see it all!

But first we had more waiting to do so we gave our Opie Girl her birthday kiss!

We really were some of the first ones in the gate, even though they told us they weren't going to open the gate we chose to stand in front of, #13, some "friends" we met standing in line let us go in their line. And there was Mickey, just standing there waiting for us to take a picture with him. Even as we took this pic a line of forty people assembled to be the next to snap their picture with the main mouse. Too bad we didn't think to hand the camera off so Dada could've been in it.

We got one with him on Main St.

We did all the big rides in Adventure Land first; Indiana Jones, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and then went to Frontier Land and rode Big Thunder Mountain, the favorite of both me and Opal.

We went around and hit all the big ticket rides in the park while it was still early, went to a Frozen show and then went around and did other rides. I think the longest we had to wait for a ride was about 15 minutes, but most of them we just walked on.

Autotopia always has a line. But you get to drive!! So it's worth it.

We snacked on cheeses, salami, crackers, Hawaiian rolls, grapes and apples which we packed in our backpack all throughout the day instead of stopping for lunch. I got really good at pumping (with my nursing cover!) while standing in line.

In Toon Town, we posed for a family shot in Micky's house and had Goofy all to ourselves.

We stopped for ice cream cones and sang "Happy Birthday" to Opal on Main Street while the parade was going on.

We closed down the park, at 8:00. They don't stay open very late. It was still a full, fun day and our big 7 year old experienced the adventure that is Disneyland. 

Opal, we love you so much. You are strong (in every way!), a great big sister to Berg, Pella and Tuff, helpful to Mama and very creative. You also know what you want and are working hard at letting others have their way. You are still learning to obey right away. You love having sleep overs in the boys' room. You are thoughtful and do a craft or make a card for someone every other day. You love, and act with your whole heart which is wonderful. You are improving in your self-control. You are extremely smart and read wonderfully and are even doing 3rd grade math even though you're only in first grade!! But even if you couldn't even add, we'd love you because God made you just for Him and put you in our family. Right now, you're right in the middle and that's just where He knew you needed to be. You're a natural leader and learning to be a servant. We know you will be used by God to be a great servant-leader to all for Him.

January in One Post!

We started out New Year's at a rockin' game party on New Year's Eve at the Schock's house hosted by the Edgren's. It was so good, that even though I don't have any pictures, I still remember it! This was the first time that the kids (all of them) got to stay up for New Year's and they loved it! They had so much fun, playing games, going on a scavenger hunt that Josh set up for them and running around with all their friends. Peter and I loved it too!

1-2: I finally got my ring chopped off my finger! My knuckles had swollen since I was pregnant with Eben and hadn't been able to take off my ring for 11 years, but with this pregnancy, my fingers also got fat and it was starting to hurt!

1-3: Tuff meets Great Grandma Lee, and two of Grandpa's sisters, Aunt Roberta and Aunt Valerie.

1-9: Berg gets his long hair shaved off.

1-10: The kids love putting on shows, this one stars the girls doing an acrobatic/ballet routine using the rings and hammock. Eben worked their lights and music.

1-13: Bigs and Littles. Biggest Brother with Littlest Brother and Biggest Sister with Littlest Sister

1-16: Extracurricular Activities -  The Girls: Reading books and playing with the baby. The Boys: Anything involving a computer.

 1-18: Kivi used her Special Helper Rockets and took Mama ice skating at Sprinker. 

She did amazing but we had to leave a little early because Kivi's knees were the size and color of an eggplant. Ice is hard.

1-19: Grandma and Grandpa took Opal out for an early, special birthday manicure and pedicure.

 1-20: Our friends, the Holmes, are letting us borrow their Story of the World curriculum, so that we can still try to homeschool while figuring out our new schedule which now includes 6 baby feedings a day. It is so helpful. It's a minimized version of what we did while learning about different countries, but goes in order historically, is shorter and less involved. We listen to a storyteller on CD, learn the maps, do some of the fun projects they suggest in the book, review some questions and take a short test on each chapter. Berg especially loves the maps and asks everyday if we get to do them. This week we learned about the Celts so we painted our faces blue, made double-edged battle axes and of course, had a battle.  

1-23: The kids take their own time lapse video, so they are actually posing for that, but I had my camera and took advantage of the opportunity. All seven of them rarely want to take a picture at the same time, and they did it on their own!

This is what they would do in between each coming together to pose shot. I love Berg and Pella in the background with their hats over their eyes.

1-28: Pella Became a Christian!! Pella decided she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart, so that night, she prayed with Dada for Jesus to "agive" her sins and live with her "foreva". Sooooo precious! Such a big decision for a big three year old girl. We were all so excited to get to share that moment with her!

 1-29: Bubble Time with Tuffy. Dada had a fun bath time with the little man and put bubble bath in the jet tub with makes great bubbles. Tuff didn't know how to smile yet at this point, but if he did I'm sure he'd be smiling. He was so calm and loves the water. We were laughing so hard naming all of his different bubble hairstyles.

Leavenworth, 2014

The day after Christmas we let the kids drink cocoa and devour their gingerbread Bethlehem. They always have so much fun breaking them all apart, and trading candies and gorging themselves on treats. Actually, I'm always amazing at how little they eat, they spend most of the time playing with them.

On the 27th, we headed out to Leavenworth for Grandma and Grandpa's traditional "Christmas Memories" gift. The gift of a vacation to Leavenworth is a relaxing and fun time spent doing puzzles, eating, resting and playing in the snow. This was the first time we tried sledding in city square and the kids had so much fun on the slick hill. We were so blessed to get a bunch of snow the night we came and Peter and Kivi worked really and managed to build a complete igloo!

Christmas Day 2014

Christmas was a blast! Lots of family crowded around in our tiny, little house. Everyone waiting for the traditional parade up the stairs while singing of "Happy Birthday, Jesus!"

Then we blew out His candles on the birthday cake,

and took the Christmas family picture!

Next, we listened to Luke 2, Jesus' birthday story. This year it was different because instead of sitting all together as a family, each kid had their own adults to sit with!

 Stockings were passed out and kids opened while loving aunts and (soon to be) uncles applauded each little gift.

Dada gave each kid a gift certificate to buy animals for needy kids through World Vision and Grandma and Grandpa gave each kid their traditional chick cookies which represent the chickens they bought for needy families in their honor.

After a delicious breakfast of who knows what now (it's been to long and there are no pics of it, but I'm guessing Swiss eggs), we all started the long, fun process of gift giving, receiving, hugging thanks and playing with the new "stuff".

We also played with the new Tuff! It was great to have our new little man around for such a wonderful day! My biggest and littlest babies!

What a treat to have all those grandmas and grandpas!

 As always, Dada ended the gift portion of the day with a scavenger hunt. One of the clues was divided between Missa Teeve and Uncle Kookie and the kids almost tore them apart looking for them. They finally found all the clues which led to the laundry room and found a new iPad for the kids and silverware for Mama!! Thank you, Dada!

 Our fun, silly family on Christmas day.

The rest of the day included snacking, playing, laying and some unique activities that haven't been done before on Christmas like blasting off the rocket that Kookie and Bug got for the boys, riding on the moped and hot tubbing while watching a movie at the Evarts, because they were away and Nonnie and Poppie were staying there - so why not! It was a fun ending to a great day.

Christmas Eve 2014

Both Eben and Kivi had been learning piano this year, and our whole family was here for Shmee's engagement and Christmas so we figured why not have a Christmas piano recital? Eben and Kivi did a wonderful job practicing their Christmas songs and figuring out who would play what at the recital. We moved the keyboard upstairs and had a sing-a-long recital to the music they played. They even made programs. Eben designed the cover and Kivi learned how to use my (still) favorite program - Publisher.

 They played individual songs and then a duet for Joy to the World. They did an excellent job!

We had a couple of minutes for some cuddle (and whatever they are doing to Kirk and Bug) time before we left for the Christmas Eve candlelight service.

Our family, for the first time I think ever, wearing whatever they wanted to on Christmas Eve. Usually I'm pretty controlling about the whole matching, looking super good on this night, but too many other thing were going on and I let it go. And look at that, they're still all wearing Christmassy colors. They know how to make Mama happy.

After the service, we came back home and opened the white boxes with the silver bows - matching Christmas jammies! The ones for Tuff turned out so cute!

The First 23 Days of Christmas Part II

Continued from the previous post...

12-19-14     The fabulous Shari hosted her annual Gingerbread house party, which sometimes I think she does just for me, because this time our family was the only family to bring gingerbread houses ready to decorate. Well, actually we made gingerbread Bethlehem again. I was really proud of the kids too, because since they were the only ones to have things to decorate at the beginning the other kids watched them and right away they all invited their friends to help them decorate their buildings with them. Mimi came with us since she came up with Poppie and Nonnie and they went to work on rentals and helped the kids make sugar cookies.

12-20-14     The super busy day! We started the day by sewing the traditional Christmas jammie pants. (Well, actually we ended the 19th by sewing the pants, but we were still sewing past midnight, so technically, we started the 20th by sewing too.) Nonnie and Mimi helped, good thing, because making 9 pairs of pants takes a while. This year Peter came up with a brilliant idea to buy holiday flannel sheets! We bought two queen sets at around $20.00 each and voila pants for everyone! The girls have been reading the Frosty book a lot and dressed Poppie up as Frosty. 

At lunch time, we headed to the Norquists for their traditional viewing of White Christmas, but they put on twist on it this year and had a White Sushi Christmas party! Jon taught us how to roll our own sushi and it was good! The kids loved it too! But we didn't have time to watch the White Christmas part, because we had to head to Seattle for Shmee's surprise engagement!! Peter had helped Steve set up a scavenger hunt the day before and it ended at a gazebo filled with candles where he would propose. Peter had the job of kicking any bums out of the gazebo, putting the last clue, which included the ring, there and keeping the candles lit. The last one ended up being the hardest as it was very windy. He got a good workout. I waited with Tuff at a nearby coffee shop for Peter. Once she said, "Yes" Peter waited for them to leave and then cleaned up and the whole family met them at a restaurant for a surprise engagement dinner. She was very excited!

12-22-14       The 3rd Annual Family Christmas Pageant at LC3!  Three years ago we told Miss Niki that we would love to host a simple family pageant where no rehearsals are needed, the kids could come as any nativity character they wished and they would take turns reading from Luke 2 and singing songs. She made it happen that year and each year the stage gets a little fuller. Dada and ChristinEss did the music. This year Eben was forced to play Joseph. (For some reason all the girls want to be Mary and no boys choose Joseph.) Kivi, Jasper and Opal were shepherds. (Kivi was a bit of a pouting shepherd because she really wanted to be Mary, but she wasn't chosen out of the hat.) Berg was a wiseman. Pella was an angel and Tuff was Baby Jesus. (Which was why Kivi really wanted to be Mary.) This was actually the second play Tuff had been in during his short little one month old life already. He also played the one and only baby in the One of a Kind Christmas play the week before!

12-23-14    Sweet pictures. All my little boys. Mimi and Tuffy. Tuff in the baby's first Christmas stocking. Dada wake boarding - yes on Dec. 23. He really loves his dry suit!