the baby man's BIRTHday.

dear chase,

you came out blue.

purple blue.

with red hair.

i remember you didn't cry,

and i kept asking if everything was ok,

and dr. nielson said everything was ok,

but it just started to freak me out the longer you went without crying.

because none of my other babies had ever gone this long without crying.

not even makenzie maxine.

but dr. nielson just kept telling me that everything was going to be fine,

and eventually after some good sucks from the good old fashioned O2 tank,

you really were fine.

and then there you were,

with your bright red hair all cleaned up,

and in a blue and white striped cap,

with pink chubby gooshy skin,

in my arms.

and i just couldn't get over that i had another 9lb baby. 

more than a 9lb baby.

AGAIN!

and dad and i just sat there staring at you,

and i remember i telling him i thought you looked like you had a good sense of humor.

and was it even possible to think that a 10 minute old baby could look like they had a good sense of humor?

but you did.

you just did.

and you do.

you really really do.

have a really good sense of humor.

and i could see it in your face.

from the very first minutes you were in my arms

when you were born.

i fed you,

we all cooed over you.

grandma and grandpa sandie held you.

they snuck up to the hospital first.

and got to marvel over you all to themselves.

then after about an hour of that dad wheeled you off to your bath,

and they wheeled me off to our other room.

grandma and grandpa gibson were there,

and grandma carol was there.

and grandma and grandpa sandie walked up there too.

there was never a hall so full of grandparents 

in love 

with a chubby red headed comedian baby ever!

you were the chubbiest,

fattest, cuddliest little baby man.

i loved just holding you in front of me,

and staring at you with all of your chub a chubs.

and putting my hands through your bright red hair.

we told all of the nurses how my grandpa and sean's grandma and bunches of both of our cousins all have red hair,

and i'm still not sure why i was so surprised to get a red head.

i should have expected all 3 of you to be red heads.

and when i would put my hands through your hair,

it would get all greasy,

and that would make it even more red.

you wanted to sleep more than you wanted to eat.

typical boy newborn.

at least with my experience.

but you never really cried.

and you were happy to BE.

our go with the flow baby man.

i love chase ray!

HAPPY HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY!!!!!

love,

mom

"throw away the coloring books!!!" -that art teacher in college

"throw away the coloring books! 

throw away the coloring books!!!"

that's what my children's art teacher in college at chico state came in screaming at us 

the very first day of class, before he even told us his name and his favorite color.

i've never forgotten that teacher.

and it was always my favorite class.

she started giving them eyelashes this week.

and brennan has been working on his mater and mcqueen.

very exciting around here.

THE BIG TIME

of creativity through art:)

#sleepyheadmater

above: what my table looks like all day, 

every day, between breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

and i love it:)

i've been working on my zebra and giraffe.

we have been talking a lot about their spots and stripes.

i can't wait to see what they come up with this week!

...

"Find joy in your children. Don't over-schedule them or yourself. You may not be able to take them on exotic vacations. It doesn't matter. When the day dawns bright and sunny, take an excursion to the canyon or the park. When it's cloudy and wet, read a book together or make something good to eat. Give them time to explore and learn about the feel of grass and the wiggliness of worms."

-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

...

amen.

it's just not max's year with bathrooms {is there really a hyphen in bandAid???}

while standing in a hot shower with conditioner in my hair 

and massaging proactive face wash onto my face,

i all of a sudden heard the sound of glass breaking on tile....

let it be the pink

let it be the pink

let it be THE pink!

because the pink is practically see through anyway,

and the sparkles in the pink polish might just blend in with the travertine if i'm lucky.

that's what i was thinking as i was franctically washing out the conditioner from my hair,

holding my breath, hoping it wasn't the red.

it 

was 

the 

red.

i have never washed conditioner out of my hair so fast in my life.

i told max to not move.

lots of times i think.

she said sorry,

and asked when we could go buy more.

i just kept wiping up OPI deer valley spice one cotton swab at a time.

with an entire bottle of acetone.

naked, with a towel wrapped up on top of my head.

true story.

during which time max informed me i had "baby boobs."

and went on to explain to me that there are big flowers and then there are little flowers,

and all of them are just different.

memories:)

of course,

in all non life threatening moments of my life 

you can always count on me to take a picture of the crime scene.

even when i'm naked with a towel wrapped up on my head.

i have no shame.

this is what happens when you spend all of your day 

around tiny humans that don't really notice nudity at all.

more than 24 hours later my house still smells like acetone,

even though i had sean promptly take the bag out to the curb the minute he walked in the door from Saturday morning at the clinic.

it took me 3 hours to dry my hair from the time i got into the shower,

until the time i cleaned up all of the red polish.

which basically means i got it wet in the sink about 17 times during the process to re-wet the hair that kept drying along the way.

i felt like a hamster on a wheel.

lots of runnin' but gettin' nowhere fast.

i blame the nail polish.

it all started going bad with the nail polish.

the kids fought,

brennan pulled max's hair,

or was it the other way around?

chase wanted the marker max had.

chase ate the marker max had.

brennan growled at max.

chase looked at max.

AAAAAAAND THEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN,

chase stepped on a piece of glass i missed.

while i was trying to dry my hair for the 15th time with no luck.

which i didn't realize at first because the blower was so loud i couldn't hear him.

the thing just flowed like a little faucet on the bottom of his little chubby foot,

so i snapped a pic to send to all of the grandparents, close family friends, and 2nd cousins once removed,

just so everyone could be a part of my inability to dry my hair on saturday morning,

and so he wouldn't track blood spots all over the carpet in the house.

embrace the chaos.

that's what i just kept telling myself.

at which point i thought,

we're gonna need a bandaid folks.

and a band-aid might get my hair dry!

not the band-aid itself.

you know what i mean.

which most people would be excited for.

i mean, i'm always excited for band-aids.

because every mom knows there's nothing more exciting than having some real live blood 

on a real live kid to constitute the need for an actual bandaid!

a real live reason for a real live bandaid!

max and brennan were literally clapping, jumping, and cheering for him they were so excited.

band-aid!!!!!!!!

so we thought we'd try to lure him with the mcqueen band-aids.

MATER EVEN!!!

but deep down we knew.

no can do.

the man would not be pawed at.

he ripped that mater off less than 2 minutes later,

and it only lasted that long because we held his ankle the entire time so he couldn't take it off.

he hates band-aides.

what kid hates band-aids?

CHASE.

chase hates band-aids.

i finally get into the phase of my mothering life 

where i hand out band-aids like bribes for candy,

and i have a baby that not only isn't woo'd by them,

but refuses to wear them.

oh the irony.

someone called you barf face.

want a band-aid?

your milk curdled in the 3 day old sippy you found under the couch and you drank it.

want a band-aid?

you found out christmas only comes once a year, not once a week.

want a band-aid?

your sister got hurt, and you feel badly for her.

want a band-aid?

don't want to do your homework?

how about if you wear a band-aid on your arm while you're doing it?!

really, this is how i do it now.

say i with me:

"baaaaaannnnnddddd-AIDs"

they aid you in all of your times of mothering needs:)

pick your favorite disney princess,

cars character,

tinker bell themed,

avengers,

sesame street,

muppets stick on band-aids!

we've got them all.

all for your choosing pleasure:)

to soothe anything that might upset you at any point of your day.

they are $5 per box.

totally worth the money and fighting childhood obesity one band-aid at a time.

or something.

except like i said,

chase is not woo'd.

maybe he'll learn to love pennies...

i've got a mason jar full of pennies.

i'm thinking we're going to need more than just acetone for this....

did i mention we just had the tile professionally cleaned and fixed?

yeah, well, we did.

it's just not max's year with bathrooms.

i could never be a CPA.

no matter how hard i try to avoid it,

getting everything ready for the taxes takes 6 hours,

where i am sitting on the floor with 5 million papers sprawled out everywhere in a circle around me,

and i'm always up until 3am the night before we file.

always.

have mercy.

i want to throw up.

but when it's all said and done,

i feel like i did the night i finished my 8th grade research project on women in the civil war.

glad to be done.

organized and accomplished.

with my 6" tall stack of receipts, calculations, and detailed outline of the last year.

and i'm always so proud to turn it all over to the CPA.

god bless him.

...

"The reward of a thing well done, is to have it done."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

friday night lessons

friday night=teaching brennan 

how to turn a red vine into a straw.

right

of

passage:)

better than 20/20

tall and skinny,

better than 20/20,

and draws like a 6 yr old.

tarantulas in bathrooms, how babies are "borned," and naming twins.

while i was making enchiladas tonight...

 tonight we let the kids 

stay up a little late.

just late enough to almost lose our patience in the end.

you  know the kind.

where you're so close but so far away?

that kind.

it was one of those nights where it was fun to just let them run around crazy.

and you KNOW there's no way they're going to get to bed 

any time soon because you've wound them up so crazy.

but you just keep going

because they're all laughing and smiling and so happy being in the crazy.

and i just sat there knowing that someone was going to smash someone's hand,

or bonk heads with someone,

or run into a door and then everyone would be crying,

and we'd be wishing we didn't let them get crazy.

but nobody did:)

shocker!

sean would chase one kid into my arms,

and i'd start to get them undressed for their jammies

{b/c on crazy nights there just ain't no way you're talking them into doing it on their own}

and then he'd throw me another,

and i'd have to let go of one to get the other,

and then the first one would get away,

so i'd work on the second,

until he brought the first one back,

who was usually walking around with one arm out of a shirt,

and pants halfway down their legs,

making them walk kind of funny.

then i'd get something else off of one,

and then they'd get away again.

and by now two of them were hiding in the closet,

giggling and squealing behind the sliding doors,

while we held the last one down.
finally somehow we managed to get them all in their jammies.

and all out of the closet.

then we just laid in their beds with them and listened to them talk to each other.

and i just couldn't get enough of their little voices.

their tiny little perfect sweet little kid voices.

i sat there memorizing what their tiny little voices sounded like, 

so i could remember them forever just like that.

brennan told max for the 100th time how babies come out of girls,

and how there is no way a baby could ever come out of 

what boys have because they would definitely get stuck trying to come out,

and then they'd be in there forever.

and then for the 100th time max buried her head under the covers about it,

even though i told her that with good drugs it's actually not too bad at all,

and that we just didn't need to worry about it right now anyway.

and then brennan told her for the 100th time how he is just so glad he wasn't "borned a girl" because he did NOT ever want to push a baby out of his "fa-jina" if he were borned a girl.

at which point max wailed in grief and terror,

and kept looking down at her girl self parts,

and you could tell she was just desperate to figure out how on earth a baby was going to come out of there.

{they have this same conversation almost every night before bed lately}.

and sean and i laughed really really hard.

because it was super SUPER funny.

then brennan told us that there is a tarantula in the boys kindergarten bathroom at school,

and so he cannot go poo in there because the tarantula would get him.

and then i told him that there was not a tarantula in there,

and he was all,

"yeah there is. maddie said so. some boy told her there was, so there was."

and i said,

"i promise you there is no tarantula in the boy's kindergarten bathroom, 

and even if there was one,

don't you remember that your book said they're not poisonous to humans anyway?"

and he was like,

"maybe that boy maddie knows was talking about the 1st grade bathrooms."

and you could tell that he had made peace about being able to go poo in the boy's kindergarten bathroom if the situation ever presented itself,

which he guaranteed me it wouldn't.

because he said you just don't poop at school.

i told him "i get it."

and sean and i laughed some more.

and then they started talking about watching frozen tomorrow night,

and what they would name twin babies if i ever had twins.

and max said she would name the girl twin "anna" from frozen.

and brennan said he would name the boy twin "flash."

and that if he could pick the girl name too, he would also name the girl twin "flash."

they would both be named "flash" and "flash."

it was maybe my most favorite night laying in bed with my kids ever.

i

love

thursday

nights:)

letters to Emily {time outs & kindergarten in germany}

Dearest Emiline,

Skiing!!  How fun!  I love how good Brennan is.  Awesome.  I wish I knew how to ski.  I skied a few times in my life and those few times were before I was eight!  That would be so cool if Brennan did the german immersion program!  I would love that!  Then Brennan and Bear would have secret conversations in german.  How cool would that be?  So fun.    We took a tour of Bear's Kindergarten the other day and it was amazing.  The Kindergarten's here are actually preschools in the states.  Bear will be starting Kindergarten in November.  As soon as we walked in I was in love with the kindergarten.  They had live baby chickens that they were raising.  They had an old wooden play house inside.  It is built onto the back of a cathedral down our street so preist will come once a month and tell bible stories to the kids (of course this is all in German) and they have a large play area in the back.  I am so excited for him to learn new things and make new friends.  I have been looking for sports summer camps for little Bear to attend and I can't seem to find any.  I guess that age is hard to find things for.  I guess time outs are a new thing for me because when have I ever had to put Smithy in a time out....hmmmm never!  So this time out thing is hilarious.  Yesterday I put Bear in a time out for kicking a ball right at Smith's face, Smith was laying on the ground and he set it right in front of SMith's face and POW!  Right into Smithy's little face.  I had already warned him a few times about not putting hit foot on Smith's head so this was just the topper.  So I said, "okay that's it! Time out!"  So I set him on a chair and he bawled and bawled and I explained to him why I put him time out and then I told him to say sorry to SMith.  He refused and refused then finally I said,"let's say it together, okay?"  And I counted to three and he actually said it.  Then at the dinner table that night Bear decided to tell Bryce, "Dad, kick Smith with ball, time out."  I loved that is the story that he had to share with Bryce.  So funny.  The funniest thing that Bear is doing these days is talking stocks with Bryce at breakfast time.  Bryce will go off about the stock market (over exaggerating it of course) and Bear will lean in and start repeating words and get really serious and talk back to Bryce.   It makes me laugh every morning.  Smithy has a new game he likes where you count to three and tickle him and before you say number three he bursts out laughing.  I love those little boys.  Bryce is busy getting ready to teach this summer and he is busy writing.  He stays on a strict 9-5 schedule every day.  He is amazing and inspirational.  I am 4 pages away to finishing my children's book!!!  I am way excited and I can't wait to show you when it is done.  Weather here is great, everything in full bloom and you can't ask for better weather!  Sunny, a little rainy and everything smells so fresh.  Well, love you girl.  I hope this letter finds you well. 

love

Beth:)

letters to beth {german immersion and skiing}

dear beth,

GUTEN TAG!!!

good morning!

we might be speaking more german around here soon my friend.

but let's get to that later.

for now,

i want to tell you about how much i love to ski.

my dad was here all last week and we skied our guts out.

there was fresh powder at alta and we just had the best time together.

i'm so glad i learned to ski as a kid.

and i'm the most glad that i love to do it again.

there was a good ten years in there that i just didn't want to do it anymore.

burned out from childhood.

but i've got my ski legs back on,

and it's a ball.

it also helps when one of the best mountains in the entire world is 20 minutes from your house:)

so i left my kids with friends and my mom in their respective places,

and my dad and i headed for the slopes.

the powder was light and fluffy and the temperature was just a bit cold so the powder stayed good all day long.

we did the trees.

we did the high traverse.

where you have to take off your skis and hike up the mountain on foot to get to the good powder.

it pretty much wore us out completely and made it so our legs were trashed for the rest of the day.

we did the low traverse.

i felt like i was going to die if i leaned the wrong way on the way over,

but once we got there it was AMAZING.

and the views were incredible.

we stopped for hot chocolate twice.

and chili once.

they have these fancy lift passes that you wear in your pocket now,

and you electronically buzz your way through the gates onto the lift.

another one of my great ideas stolen.

story of my life.

so anyway,

after 6 hours of that we called it day,

and then brought the kids back up a few days later,

and our neighbor jess,

for another ski day together.

brennan was in heaven.

he LOVES to ski.

no fear.

and he can go all day.

he was even strong enough to hold onto the pulley line all the way up to the top of the bunny hill,

and let me tell you,

it's no little feat.

that thing takes some muscle to hold onto.

or maybe i'm just weak.

whichever.

anyway,

he just went up that pulley all by himself,

and then skied all the way down like a champ.

i was so proud.

max pretty much hated it.

normally she likes ski school,

but the pulley took her out one to many times,

and when she was at the top of the hill screaming like a banchee i had flashbacks to my sister hating skiing because dad pushed her too hard and told max that we should just take off our skis and sit on the side so we could watch the people all ski down.

after about 20 minutes of that she was ready to go again,

and skied with my dad a few times down.

by the end she said she didn't think it was so bad after all.

thank heavens.

at least i know for sure i'll be able to ski with brennan:)

after an hour more of that we had turkey sandwiches in the lodge,

put the kids in ski school,

and then dad, neighbor jess, and i went for round two up top.

it was a ball.

and super warm that second day.

like you didn't even need a coat warm.

on the way home we ate cookies and watched power rangers in the car.

how do you say skiing in german?

see,

i put brennan into the lotto for the german immersion program next year for 1st grade.

and i did this because i knew FOR SURE he would absolutely NOT get in.

i knew i wouldn't have to make a decision, so it was easy to put him in.

and then last night,

while i was watching old oprah episodes and playing solotaire on my phone in my pj's,

smelling like campfire {that's another story},

i felt my phone buzz the buzz it buzzes when a new email comes in.

and i thought it might be an exciting email about an amazon packaging shipping or something like that so i just had to put my game on pause.

and that's when i saw it.

he

got

in.

so i immediately yelled to sean,

"he got it! i can't believe he got in!"

and sean was like,

"to what?"

because i had told him i put brennan in,

but we didn't talk about it at all after that because we knew he wouldn't get in,

so he didn't even know what i was talking about because we hadn't really talked about it.

and i was all,

"german immersion!"

and he was like,

"are we sending him?"

and i was all,

"i guess we should think about it now...."

and then i went to bed thinking about if brennan was going to learn to speak german at school next year.

everyone keeps saying why german?

and i keep saying

why not?

positives i can list:

he learns a second language FOR FREE.

his brain learns to associate different meanings for things at a young age that opens up the brain in a whole new way {this is what the pediatrician said, except he used fancier more exciting words that i can't remember now. it was very scientific i assure you.}

kids who do immersion programs test as well or better than kids who don't immerse.

it makes learning additional languages easier.

he would graduate high school with almost a minor in german.

they use my two favorite programs of all time: saxon math and open court.

{say what you may about saxon. it works.}

my grandpa spoke german. it's nostalgic.

my kids will have a secret language with each other that i won't understand.

my kids and your kids will have a secret language that i won't understand.

negatives i can list:

i don't speak german.

sean doesn't speak german.

we can't help him with his german.

my kids will have a secret language with each other that i won't understand.

brennan has a hard time paying attention in english, let alone german.

ok, so my negatives are kind of lame,

and there are definitely more positives than negatives.

and i bet if i tried really hard i could think up some more negatives,

but that just doesn't sound like any fun at all,

so let's just leave them how they are now.

tell me your thoughts.

speak me your german mind!

are you going to live in germany forever?

maybe we will move to germany.

or visit one day.

and my kids will be able to speak german,

and it will work out really great.

whichever.

how amazingly beautiful are all of these pictures of the mountains of snow?!

i was dyyyyyying it was so pretty.

let's skype soon.

love,

emily

 

{teaching brennan how to roll over in skis and get up.}

{this was the day they were blasting for avalanches all morning.

it had been really warm, and then snowed 13". prime avalanche conditions. the big bomb sounds they blasted off made me jump and i almost peed my pants taking this picture. true story. so exciting to be up in the mountains on days like these.}

{i was so out of breath from hiking up the hill with my skis and poles that i couldn't stand up straight.}

{alta. the most beautiful ski resort on the planet.}