Anna turns double digits!! November 27th

The day before Thanksgiving Anna turned 10! Can't believe my baby is in double digits. This year she had a birthday party. We invited some of her school friends and church friends over for pajama wearing/trampoline/manicures/ lunch and crafts.  We also watched The Greatest Showman. Bella and Olivia came to help make slime with the girls and paint their nails and help the girls make bracelets. They were awesome big sisters and a good help to me. Nana also came by to help, Nana makes everything better. Anna felt truly loved. She doesn't have a party every year but when she does it's a lot of fun! The girls were all so sweet and made cards and picked out things Anna loves. Anna is a fun and unpredictable girl. She is independent, super creative and joyful. She's also a good student. Her dyslexia has not slowed her down. She had a big report due this week and we had put it off because we were busy with a lot of other  things. I woke her up early Friday morning so that we could finish the report and I told her you tell me what you want to say and I'll write it out and then you can just copy how I wrote it. She said no mom that would rob me of being independent...love this girl!!

This last Thursday night Olivia was taking the kids to swim practice. It was at 6 p.m. so it was dark and she was turning onto  Tanque Verde road. She looked left and we don't know if the truck that she collided with had his lights off or if he just changed lanes.. either way it sent Livy's car sailing into our neighbors fence. All airbags deployed, glass flew, it was quite the wreck. Luckily a woman who is a nurse was driving home with her son who was icing  his knee so she pulled over and gave Olivia ice for her forehead which had a huge cut. She put a towel on her head to stop from bleeding.  Benjamin was on his way home from work he called Papa and after the police and ambulance and everybody left they were able to give them a blessings. I took Olivia to the ER because of her head wound. Unfortunately we went to one ER sat there for two hours only to find out that they didn't have a plastic surgeon on scene to help with the scar so we went to another ER and sat for an additional 5 hours only to not have a plastic surgeon help us.   It was probably one of the longest nights of my life.We are grateful that everyone was able to walk away from the accident including the other driver so grateful that everybody survived.  So grateful that everyone wore seatbelts. We are sad to lose our car.

Halloween 2019

Holman's costume was a commentary on the ocean. Full of trash and plastic...my activist child.

     

 Anna as Cruella Deville

Parkin as Totoro....a Japanese cartoon character

Olivia as Waldo from Where's Waldo

Bella and her friend Halie dressed as Paul Blart Mall Cop from Season 1 and 2

I love that the new movement is if teenagers bother to dress up and knock on your door, you give them candy. They aren't partying or vandalizing just holding onto childhood a little longer. So happy all my kids were well received. Anna and Parkin went trick or treating with their cousins Dan and Ivy.  Olivia and Morgan chaperoned them until they headed off to a party. Holman also went to a party. Benjamin came home to me in a chair with the dog at my feet and the kitten at my head. He thought I looked really sad. I thought I looked really cozy. I had my preschool performance in the house earlier the whole living room was cleared out and full of folding chairs. There were about 50 parents who came. A quiet night was quite fantastic.

Boat day!!

With a husband that is attractive and smart, I am so grateful that his strong genes came through for our children. Every once in a while I love seeing an attribute in them that is so me. Like "National Boat day." My son told his swim team coach that they needed to honor this holiday with boat races at practice. She called his bluff so he strapped the boat to the van and took it to school. He is my kindred spirit in tomfoolery. Bless this coach and my teachers who believed (or were also willing to entertain my own personal amusement) National Candle day, that I was on the wrestling team and that I was an ASL interpreter for my friend... just to name a few. I really should substitute teach in high school just for penance. Three cheers for a Dad who helped attach the boat and for marrying a girl who is fun size.

UCLA and Carpenteria, October 7th

For spring break we went to California to play on the beach with friends and visit Beryl at UCLA. She was so sweet and treated our whole family for lunch on campus. We got to tour her dorm and check out the beautiful campus. It was lovely! It is no wonder it is the # 1 public University in the USA (that's whet all the banners said ). Benjamin and I sported our UCLA shirts that she bought us when she visited us in the summer. She is thriving there, she has been involved with research projects and was part of a publication. We love watching her success and miss her!

After our visit with Beryl we headed up to Carpenteria State Park. We camped on the beach with the several Whetten families and the Butler family. The water was cold but that doesn't stop the kids or Benjamin from jumping in. I had to talk myself into it, but once I got in had a blast with the boogie board. Benjamin and I went on a couple runs and some strolls down their beautiful shopping center. When we were leaving we stopped at the local candy store, everybody bought something. Last night Benjamin finally finished his jaw breaker...9 days later. of course he didn't suck it for 9 days straight just a little each night...I could never do that! Unfortunately Bella didn't have the time off so she took care of the house, that was a huge blessing for us.

Some September pictures..

 Parkin dressing up for crazy day at school....we are just glad he didn't shoved into a locker..

 Anna getting an award at school!

 

21 years.... September 2019

I have officially been married longer than I have been single.   This year for our anniversary we went up to Sedona to do some hiking. We went on three hikes. They were all gorgeous. Two were to caves and one was to a river that we could cliff jump into. The river was freezing which was a good thing because the hike was so hot. We stayed at Benjamin's co-worker's guest house, Richard and Brenda in Sedona. They were so thoughtful, they left treats, Martenills, and a lovely happy anniversary sign.

This is a picture of our engagement photo and 21 years later..