27 December 2009

We ended our first trimester of Monday School with the kids presenting the special projects they've been working on. Abe studied wild cats and made this poster with some of the facts he has learned.

Sophie, Rylee and Zach studied cooking and for their final project, they made dinner for us. They made lasagna, salad and a scrumptious triple layer chocolate cake. Rylee and Zach's moms joined us for dinner and we enjoyed getting to know them better--two great families.

We were serenaded by a bevy of beautiful carolers-- the Young Women in our ward. More importantly, they helped whittle away at the mountain of goodies Brandan's very generous patients gave him for Christmas.

Saturday we headed up in the mountains for some snow and sunshine. Helen discovered her inner dare devil. She started out going over a snow jump about 6 inches away from the jump. With no momentum, she'd get stuck on top of the jump and need a push to get over it. By the time we left, she started high on the hill above the jump, sat on her saucer criss-cross applesauce, closed her eyes and hurled down the hill, laughing as she hit the jump and launched into the air.

It was faster to tow Gibson up the hill than to wait for him to climb up by himself.

Sophie veered off track at the end of a run and had the choice of hitting a tree or a bush. She wisely chose the bush.

Abe in snow heaven.

Here's Gibson on a solo run. Such a beautiful day-- blue skies, tall pines, the best of Oregon.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you! We've had a quiet and cozy holiday, just the way we like it, beginning Thursday night with our Christmas Eve celebration. We can't imagine a sweeter Mary and Joseph than this pair.

Here are 2/3 of the cast for our nativity play. Sophie was the narrator and the angel. Helen was Mary. Abe was Joseph. Brandan and Becky were innkeepers and shepherds and wise men. Gibson was Brandan's understudy, popping in and out of the action as it suited him. The sweetest line of the play came from Helen. When Innkeeper Brandan invited Mary and Joseph to stay in his stable, Helen said, "Let's take it, Joseph," in such a tired little voice, you could believe she had walked all the way from Nazareth.

Our Christmas Eve dinner has evolved over the years until now we think we have the perfect menu: individual pot pies, roasted brussels sprouts, citrus salad and bacon wrapped dates. No one ever has room for dessert, but we make one anyway. This year it was a gingerbread cake. We always use the crystal Brandan bought in Finland at the end of his mission. Wise beyond his years, he left the reindeer skins (the more typical missionary souvenir) in Finland where they belong and instead came home with beautiful goblets and bowls. Brandan lit a small bonfire's worth of candles. We have really loved lighting candles every evening this December.

We all slept under the Christmas tree and after presents and breakfast Christmas morning, the kids piled the blankets and pillows together and spent a couple of hours watching the BBC miniseries, Planet Earth. We particularly liked the part about the snow leopards in Pakistan.

Later in the day, Brandan and Abe played a few games of Stratego, a fast moving game that's sort of like battleship without the ships. Here they are getting ready for another round.

A few days before Christmas Sophie said, "All I want for Christmas is a hunk of blue cheese." Really? "Well, no," she said, "I want other things, too." Here she is with the wedge of cheese she got for Christmas, a very nice buttermilk blue.

We've eaten a lot of good food the past two days and the refrigerator is full of lovely leftovers.

Here's Abe enjoying some Ebelskiver pancakes for breakfast. We've never made Ebelskivers before and they were delicious.

Another treat today has been talking to our family far away. We love holiday phone calls and can't wait to see you all soon.

20 December 2009

On Monday the Activity Day girls had a roller skating party and it was cheaper to pay for Sophie, Abe and Helen to roller skate than to pay Sophie to babysit. This was Abe and Helen's first time roller skating and they had a great time. Abe thinks he fell about 50 times.

On Tuesday Sophie's school had their winter music concert. Sophie sang in the 6th grade choir and played the clarinet in the beginning band. School band is such a bargain. For the price of renting an instrument ($16 a month), Sophie gets free lessons 4 times a week. The photo is of Sophie warming up her clarinet before the concert.

Not many people take on new home improvement projects in December, but Brandan recently got started on some bunkbeds for Sophie and Helen. He's talked to them to get their ideas, looked at plans in magazines and added his own ideas to come up with truly unique beds. The beds will look like a 2- story cottage when they're finished, with a bed on each level. Brandan always loads his own wood so he can pick out the best boards. The kids enjoyed pretending the cart was a pirate ship.

Here's the framed in structure. The beds will be built in place. Becky loves built-ins because it reduces the amount of floor space to clean.

We let Sophie and Helen choose whatever color they wanted for the interior of the cottage. They picked orange, or to be more specific, "Exotic Bird." The kids helped Brandan with the first coat of paint.

Hard to believe from this photo, but the kids got surprisingly little paint on themselves and no paint where it wouldn't clean up. All this graffiti has now disappeared under a solid coat of orange, but it's fun to see the project in process.

Incidentally, the screams of horror you hear are from our builder. The same one who tried to talk us out of large windows in our family room (Where will you put your big screen TV?) and a wood stove (Nobody wants a real fireplace anymore.) Orange built-in bunk beds might give a realtor an eye twitch, if she made it past the climbing wall in the stairway. If you left it up to builders and realtors, the world would be taupe. Hooray for some creativity and color!

13 December 2009

The highlight of our week was definitely attending the temple with Sophie as she went to do baptisms for the first time. We went with a small group from our ward, mostly teenagers. Sophie was baptized for 4 of her own Danish ancestors. One of her ancestors shared her birthday, only born 101 years earlier. It always feels like a privilege to be in the temple, and we felt it such a blessing to share this experience with Sophie.

Helen has been busy making presents for Sophie. She works on them while Sophie is at school, then wraps them in bits of this and that before putting them under the tree. We love these beginning expressions of love and generosity.

Brandan scored this sequined, lace patterned newsboy cap at a white elephant gift exchange. A woman at the party explained the origin of white elephant gifts: In old Siam, the royal family would invite possible rivals to a special dinner where they would treat the rivals to a sumptuous feast. At the end of the feast, the guest would be presented with a very special gift-- a pure white elephant. White elephants were considered sacred and could not be used for work. It would then be the guest's responsibility to feed, house and otherwise care for the white elephant for the rest of its life.

On Saturday, Sophie played some Christmas music at the mall. In the past the mall has arranged for a grand piano for the piano students to play. Blaming the poor economy, they brought in a keyboard this year. Sophie adapted quickly to the awkward feel and sound of the keyboard during the first song she played and played her 2 songs with beautiful phrasing and expression.

We made pinatas at the end of November for a special advent calendar for our family. Inside each pinata is a candle and a scripture about Jesus being the light of the world. Gold paint and hot glue turned the pinatas into ornaments for our Christmas tree. Each night we break open a pinata, read the scripture and light the candle. We started December 1 by lighting one candle on a tray. Tonight we will light 13 and we'll continuing adding candles until we have 25 to light on Christmas.

The idea for lighting candles was pure inspiration that came as we thought about how to celebrate Christmas this year. The tiny flames are mesmerizing and we all gather around the table after they're lit. Light is a beautiful symbol of Christ-- inviting, life-giving, revealing, comforting, purifying.

And you can see in the photo that Sophie has claimed Brandan's hat, saving him from a lifetime of feeding and caring for it.

6 December 2009

Happy St. Nicholas Day! This morning the kids woke up with candy in their shoes, a German tradition we have no real claim to except that it's really fun to wake up and find candy in your shoes. St. Nick suspected Brandan would prefer a book by a favorite author for a treat. And don't worry about Becky's shoe not being out-- St. Nick left the extra candy (Lindt balls and mini Toblerone) in the pantry for her.

We decorated for Christmas this week, including setting up the tree. Acquiescing to the reality of a busy 2 year old, we didn't put anything breakable on the tree and pared down on decorating the rest of the house. Gibson rearranges the decorations constantly.

We decorated gingerbread houses this week, too. This is earlier than we usually make them, but our ward was having a gingerbread house contest at our ward party which we entered. Each of the kids decorated their own little house. In the photo, Sophie is hurrying to practice the piano so she can join the others.

We didn't win any prizes at the party Friday night for our little village. This is what it looked like by Saturday afternoon. By Saturday evening, the last few remains were thrown away.

Here's a photo of the kids dressed for church this morning. Helen and Sophie were delighted with their Christmas outfits. Abe and Gibson-- not so much. They were good sports (almost) about sitting still for a group photo.

We're looking forward to a month of Christmas wonder-- traditions, treats, surprises, lights, music, stories. December would loom dark and dreary without this time of celebration. Although Jesus was born in the Spring, we remember his birth in the darkest time of the year. This year we especially love the carol In the Bleak Midwinter. It's an old carol, but it's new to us and beautifully expresses faith and hope in Christ in a cold and suffering world. You can find a great arrangement with the lyrics here .

29 November 2009

We tried something new this Thanksgiving and pulled all the kids out of bed before sunrise for the annual Turkey Trot, a 2 mile run/walk. Our camera batteries were dead, so you'll have to imagine the beautiful race route-- tall trees towering over orange and yellow underbrush, the whole scene veiled in thick mist. You probably won't want to imagine Gibson's meltdown with half a mile left to go. The photo shows Abe back at home, warming up with a cup of hot cocoa.

Did anyone else put olives on their fingers this week? We spent Thanksgiving dinner with friends and neighbors, enjoying delicious food mingled with wonderful conversation. The kids brought home leftover turkey and jello which they've been feasting on all weekend.

Helen and Abe helped Becky make 25 tiny pinatas. You'll see these pinatas again soon.

Gibson likes to pretend to cook on the kitchen floor. He always says he's cooking stew.

Yesterday Abe said Saturday is his favorite day of the week because something is always happening and he never gets bored. He likes tagging along with Brandan to get projects done. Here he is helping to clean the lawnmower and give it a tuneup.

22 November 2009

We took another fun Monday School field trip this week to the Mercy Flights hangar at the airport. Rylee's dad, Shawn, is a helicopter pilot and he showed us the helicopter and ambulances that are used to respond to emergencies and the fixed wing plane that is used for transporting critically ill patients to bigger hospitals. In the photo are Sophie, Kyia (Rylee's sister), Helen, Gibson, Rylee and Abe. Rylee and Kyia's mom, Kris, was also there. Shawn was a terrific tour guide, showing us everything from the computers the pilots use to monitor the weather to inside the engine compartment for the helicopter rotors. These Monday school field trips are spoiling us for regular school outings. There was enough time to let everyone have a turn. The kids clambered in and out of the vehicles at will. A cute flight nurse gave the kids stickers and pens. Becky asked whatever questions popped into her head without having other parents look at her strangely and think, "Who is that weird mom and why won't she be quiet?"

Abe really enjoyed trying out the pilot seat. We asked him if he would like to be a pilot when he grew up. "No, too scary. I want to be an astronaut." Because being an astronaut is less scary?

The helicopter is very compact. This allows it to maneuver into tight spots and land at a crash site, but doesn't leave a lot of room for passengers. Shawn showed us how a patient needing transport would be loaded into the back of the helicopter. Becky, who is a bit claustrophobic, would need sedation to ride in that narrow space. The liftoff fee for the helicopter is $7500, then an additional $50 per mile traveled is added to the bill. Trauma patients typically have a golden hour after their accident when treatment is most effective, which makes the speed of helicopter transport invaluable. We're so glad Mercy Flights provides this service. At the same time, we'll try to avoid using it.

Helen and Brandan made a blueberry cream pie this week just for fun. Gibson kept asking if it was family night. Nope. Brandan wanted to try adapting a recipe from the newspaper (is veganizing a word?) and Helen likes helping her dad.

The finished pie. You can tell Helen liked it, since she finished her piece before Brandan had cut pieces for everyone else. At least half the ingredients were substitutes (tofu, powdered soy milk, wheat-free graham crackers) but the finished product could be eaten by everyone. Everyone liked it except for Abe, who gave it 2 thumbs down. "And if my feet were hands, I'd give it 4 thumbs down." Don't listen to him-- it was delicious.

15 November 2009

Sophie took Helen and the camera outside earlier this week and took photos of Helen posing around the yard. They had a lot of fun and she took some cute photos.

We attended a concert Tuesday night that Sophie's school presented to honor veterans. Sophie is in the 6th grade choir and she sang two songs, "Taps" and "Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace)" The 6th grade choir is very small-- only 9 girls-- but they sang beautifully.

Wednesday morning we bundled up and went to our local Veterans' Day Memorial program. We've learned from past years to dress warmly. We're thankful to live at a time when veterans are honored for their service and can share their stories. It's good to stand in the cold for an hour and be reminded that "just the fact that we are Americans is an act of grace."

Gibson really loves helping to build fires. He likes carrying wood in, crumpling newspaper, arranging the wood. He doesn't get to use the matches, though. When Becky builds a fire, Gibson gets very concerned and tells her, "Those are Daddy's matches!" He also likes to build pretend fires out of blocks or crayons or toys.

8 November 2009

We took a Monday School field trip this week to a nearby animal sanctuary. The sanctuary has 2 missions: rehabilitation and education. They provide medical treatment to injured wild animals and return about 80% of the animals they treat to the wild. Some animals cannot live in the wild and these animals are given as comfortable a home as possible. The sanctuary offers tours of their permanent residents in order to teach people about wild animals. For example, black bears make really bad pets. This photo was taken in front of the bear pen. The bears are preparing to hibernate and are nicely roly-poly from eating pounds and pounds of dog food, chickens and pumpkins. Safeway and Fred Meyer send the animals their outdated meat and produce.

We chose to go to the sanctuary because Abe is studying wild cats this trimester. Clark, a mountain lion, is another one of the sanctuary's permanent residents. Someone had tried to keep Clark as a pet and cut the tendons in Clark's paws so that he cannot extend his claws. The sanctuary is beautiful and the animals receive first class treatment, but it's sad to see the wild animals penned in.

Helen wanted to go on a picnic on a cold, rainy day, but settled for a tea party inside, instead. She has some streaks of face paint on her face left over from playing at school.

Saturday morning Abe made waffles while Becky went running and Brandan worked on his talk for Sacrament Meeting. It makes us wonder what else he can do that we haven't thought to ask him.

We love the dresses at shabby apple . So many gorgeous dresses, all with sleeves and all at least knee length-- no tank tops, t-shirts, jackets or leggings required. Simply beautiful.