January 2020

January was full of lots of friends and family as everyone stepped up to help us out after my foot surgery. The weather was unseasonably warm for a good part of January, making it blissfully wonderful!

Foot Surgery

The day after Christmas I underwent foot surgery for a nerve issue. It's amazing that the doctor just went in and clipped the offending nerve out and I was good to go! I spent 3 weeks on crutches/knee scooter. Honestly, 2 weeks after my surgery I looked at the 2-inch incision on the bottom of my foot and found it hard to believe I would ever walk on it again. However, 4 weeks post-surgery I was back at the gym teaching my cycling classes and doing just fine! It was much easier to cycle than to walk right at first so that worked out.

Ben and I even managed to go on our monthly Literary Arts date! We scored amazing seats with all the wheelchairs since I had my knee scooter.

I am eternally grateful to my friends who brought us meals and took the kids for playdates while I was off my feet. It's hard to take care of everything when you can't walk or drive for a few weeks! Overall, the recovery was very smooth and it was a good time of year to be laid up. Some of the perks included Ben cleaning up Christmas by himself, hiring cleaners to clean the house for a month, and my generous brother who made it easy to order meals and pay for a bunch of extras while I was recovering.

First Hike

By the middle of January I was so tired of being stuck inside that I practically ran on the trails at Tryon Creek. Just kidding. But we did go for a hike a few days after I got my stitches out and it did hurt, but it was definitely worth it. I am an outside, active person and I go a little crazy when I'm stuck inside for too long. The kids had a great time being outside, too, and since I couldn't go very far, there were no complaints about tired legs.

Kiddos

We had a few snow flurries in January. Nothing stuck, but it was fun to run around and try to catch the snowflakes as they fell.

Clara keeps us laughing with her unique and fun personality. She's willing to do anything for a laugh, in true baby-of-the-family style.

Tommy took third place in our Pinewood Derby this year! Every year they have spent less time on making the car, but he has placed higher. I think there is a correlation.

We had a Nerf Gun fight at the church for one of our homeschool group activities. The kids loved it and I thought it was hilarious that we turned the church into a (safe and appropriate) war zone.

Lily and Tommy had sleep overs with friends on the same night. That left Ben and I with precisely one Clary. We gave her snuggles and played Goose Game. Ben woke up with Clara and took her to McDonald's for breakfast and a little hike up Mount Tabor while I stayed in bed. Heaven!

Lily's Baptism

The highlight of January was definitely Lily's baptism. She was so excited and so radiant on her big day. Grammy and Uncle Wes flew in from Salt Lake to be with us. Uncle Mike flew from San Antonio and Grandma and Grandpa Chatterton drove from Springville to support Lily. Poor Grandma had pneumonia and still made the 13-hour drive to Portland to spend less than 48 hours with our family. That just shows how much she loves Lily!

Everybody gathered at our house on Friday where we ate dinner and visited. Wes tickled the kids and the Chattertons showered them with love and new toys.

On Saturday Lily got dressed in her rose-red dress that she had picked out earlier in the week for the occasion. She did her extra-special makeup and helped Clara get dressed and do her makeup, too. We met everyone at the church and took a million pictures before the service. Uncle Mike baptized Lily while Uncle Wes confirmed her. Tommy and I were the witnesses for her baptism. I felt so happy for Lily. She understood what she was doing and she was just so happy. I felt honored to be the one to help her get dressed and to be there with her that day.

We celebrated by treating everyone to lunch at the Olive Garden. Tommy made waves by ordering and eating (and enjoying) the calamari. The kids were all so well-behaved during lunch. It made me very proud that we are finally at a point that we can go to a nice restaurant and everyone can enjoy the meal and stay in their seats!

Our sharp kids turned heads. They really are amazing.

After all the excitement we crashed back at home to rest. We had another round of visiting, playing, tickling, and eating. Wes, Grandma, and Grandpa left early Sunday morning. Uncle Mike came to church with us and then caught a flight home. Grammy got to spend another week hanging out with us!

Grammy's Visit

It's always such a treat to have Grammy stay with us. We always do some extra special things while she is around.

She treated us to lunch at McDonald's and an afternoon jumping at a trampoline park. It was hilarious watching Clara. She watched the other kids carefully and then tried to mimic what they did. One boy who was probably 15 years old took a big running jump in his basketball game. When it was Clara's turn she took the ball and walked all the way back to where he had been and then she walked all the way back to the basketball hoop and tried to make a basket. The other kids were patient as much as they were puzzled about what she was attempting.

The two older kids have turned into little acrobats. After two hours they were exhausted and ready to head home.

On Thursday the big kids go to Trackers and I get to spend one-on-one time Clara. We call it Mama Baby Date. This week we got a Mama Baby Grammy date! Clara wanted to gather some acorns and chestnuts to see what would float in water. We were blessed with such beautiful weather that we drove up to Mount Tabor and spent a few minutes walking in the sun, collecting items to experiment with. We took Clara to storytime at the library and then came home and rested. Clara showed Grammy how to play Goose Game on the XBox, which was pretty funny.

On Grammy's last full day with us we dragged her to our favorite over-priced arts and crafts shop. All of the kids bought a few projects and then we came home for craft time.

Overall, January turned out to be pretty chill between the recovery from surgery and the visits from family!

November 2019

November was filled with unseasonably beautiful weather, lots of time outside, and our big Thanksgiving roadtrip to Utah to see almost everyone on both sides of our family!

Leaves, Parks, Hikes, and Trackers

This autumn was just amazing. We didn't get much rain or many wind storms so the leaves hung onto the trees all month long. When they did fall they came down in a crunchy mass that the kids loved throwing and stomping.

We actually spent a fair bit of time at the parks even though it was November!

One morning Clara and I spent almost an hour in the Trackers parking lot playing in the leaves. We played Surprise where we jumped out and threw an armful of leaves. We also tried to catch the falling leaves in our arms and we had fun burying Clara and large rocks in the leaves to uncover later.

Clara and I got to visit the kids during Trackers one day. We drove out to the Trackers property, participated in their games, got to know their teachers and friends, and had a wonderful time. After all this time it was so fun to finally see the forest they know and love so much!

On one of the clear days I dragged the kids up Powell Butte. From the peak you can see several mountains in the distance. This was our third try getting to the top. It's not a difficult walk at all, but the kids haven't always been cooperative. This time it was Clara's turn to be a pill, but we finally got to the top by playing tag, pretending to be horses, and carrying Clara more than she deserved. We saw the mountain peaks and we saw a deer, so it was worth the effort.

We also spent a morning doing archery together. That was pretty fun!

Random Stuff

I spent a full weekend with the group pictured below doing a training at the gym. I got certified in a new format called GRIT that is an extremely challenging high intensity interval training class. I was exhausted and sore for almost the entire week! I'll start teaching my own GRIT class starting in February.

Lily's new obsession is Beanie Boos. They are cute little stuffed animals with gigantic eyes and glittery paws. She takes them with her to Trackers and to our homeschool group activities to play with her friends. One night she decided they were dirty and needed a bath. She and Tommy gathered all the supplies they needed to offer a full out Beanie Boo salon. I have to say, those animals looked great after a bath, a blow dry, and a brush!

I also hired a new nanny. The kids seems to love her. She doesn't do much, but she is really good at snuggling. What do you think?

Thanksgiving Roadtrip - Springville with the Chattertons

We packed up and headed for Utah the weekend before Thanksgiving. Since Ben's parents live in Springville we got to see almost everyone in one trip! Ben's brother, Mike, lives in Texas with his family and they came up to Springville for the holiday, too. There were 16 of us under one roof for five nights!

Clara loves her grandpa so much. Her favorite game to play is Steal Grandpa's Hat. She and her cousin, Grant, made sure to steal his hat as often as they could.

Tommy was the favorite big boy cousin to the two four-year-old boys. They wrestled him, chased him, teased him, and tickled him. He handled it with his usual good-natured grace and fun.

Lily has a special love for her youngest cousin, Johnny. She loved playing with him and laughing at the cute things he did and "said". She's not usually a particular lover of babies, so it was sweet to watch her nurture and play with Johnny so lovingly.

In spite of the tight quarters, we had a really wonderful time. The kids woke up, played with their cousins all day long, and then went to bed. That was it. For four days straight. I took lots of naps, set Science Kiddo on autopilot for the foreseeable future, and chatted with my in-laws. Ben stayed up late to play games with his siblings, while I went to bed early with the kids.

It was cold, but I was so happy to get outside to play at Grandma and Grandpa's park one afternoon! Look how close they live to the mountain!

The kids enjoyed having "Green Team Meetings," which were really just an excuse to go into Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom, elect officials in their organization, and plan the activities for the day. But during their downtime they all hopped on their devices and enjoyed some screen time.

Clara, Johnny, and Grandma played in the toyroom together a whole bunch. They built race tracks, marble runs, and ran their very own restaurant.

I will say that Clara was a little bit wary of Johnny. Babies can be unpredictable! But Clara didn't push him or hit him once so I count that as a huge success!

The kids went in the backyard and flew airplanes together with Grandma. It was chilly, but fun!

Clara got a precious few minutes of time alone with Grandma and performed her best moves while she had Grandma's undivided attention.

Steph and Hillary made cookies for the kids to decorate. For some, the cookies were just an excuse to load up on sprinkles and frosting.

We celebrated Chatterton Thanksgiving the day before Actual Thanksgiving. Everyone pitched in to make way too much delicious food, and everyone was duly stuffed silly. Ben and I made our apple pies, which are always a hit.

The kids watched anxiously for snow every day we were there. It finally snowed the morning we packed up and left for my mom's! The kids didn't get much time, but they had a small snowball fight and ran around in the snow with their cousins while we loaded up the car.

Lily just could not get enough of her baby cousin. She thought he was the cutest little marshmallow in his coat!

Mike's family lives in Texas, so they put plastic bags over the kids' shoes and called them good in the snow! Whatever works, right? Those cousins sure love each other.

Thanksgiving Roadtrip - Sandy with the Wards

Thanksgiving morning, we packed up and said goodbye to the Chattertons. We drove about an hour in the snow to my mom's house to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner #2.

We all stuffed ourselves silly and had a wonderful time with the family. Caiden (on the end of the table) had an especially delicious lunch by eating an entire turkey leg by himself.

After dinner the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. They indulged Grammy in a few rounds of Christmas Tree Bingo and won some little prizes.

The day after Thanksgiving we braved a giant snowstorm and made it to the movie theater to watch Frozen 2. The kids loved it, the adults loved it. We all thought it was beautiful.

When we got home the kids had fun helping to shovel Grammy's driveway. When you come from a city that doesn't usually get snow, it's magical and delightful.

The next day (Saturday), we took the kids sledding in the new snow. Clara mostly just wanted to roll around in the snow and eat it. The big kids built some tracks to try to sled faster and easier. We only had our small, dumb sleds from Portland so they weren't able to go very far or fast. But we all enjoyed the beautiful snow and the clear sky anyway.

During the last couple of days at Grammy's, we had a lot of fun playing in the snow and playing with Grammy. The kids made a few different snowmen and just loved running outside whenever they wanted to play in the snow for a few minutes.

The kids helped Grammy package and deliver her Christmas gifts for her neighbors. They had a blast and Grammy appreciated the help, so it worked out for everyone!

We helped Grammy get her Christmas tree up and decorated it with the cousins. It was definitely a highlight for the kids.

Lily and Aubree set up a nail salon. I had the honor of being their very first customer and I think I even paid them some money for their spectacular service.

One of Clara's favorite activities was piling up the pillows and jumping into them from the couch. She named each of her jumps as she entertained all of us.

Ward Family Photos

While we were in Utah, my mom arranged for family photos to be taken. It was tricky to get everyone looking at the same time, but after a few head exchanges we made it work.

Grammy with all of her grandchildren.

The entire Ward family!