Christmas 2018

From all of us to all of you:

Annual Christmas Eve Journal Write 2018

I had grand plans to be caught up by tonight but I'm not but I still want to do my annual Christmas Eve Journal Write.

(Incidentally one of my goals for 2019 is to be better about staying caught up on my blog by the way.  I know no one reads these anymore but I actually refer to it quite often and find it a great resource even as a personal journal and photo depository.)

We had Mom and Dad over for fondue again this year and it was sooooo delicious and I'm not regretting in the least all the treats I've been eating over the last week or so.

Christmas is all set to go and the kids are asleep and I finished my 4:50 dead hangs (ouch why) and we're looking forward to a loud and busy and tons of fun day tomorrow.  We watched The Small One tonight and it was a little magical to watch Charlie (5.5) figure out the twist in the last seconds.

The Wife is sitting at my side working on her brand new laptop with a light-up keyboard and it brings me a lot of joy that it brings her a lot of joy.

This year's Christmas pajamas from Mom featured shorts and I'm okay with this.

Anyway, Santa should be here any second, in fact I think he already showed up, so I better get to bed.

July the Fourth 2019

We had a great Independence Day.  Hiking with the fam, fireworks shirts, all the foods and panorama fireworks from the backyard, and kayaking the next day.

Mom's four zones 

Nice big group!

And we shall call it... This Land...

A's side-eye...

Water babies

Happy birthday, America! There are troubles but honestly things have been and could be much worse.

MDG's Year the First!

Well, for the first time in maybe ever I'm like six months behind.  But I do not accept this as an inevitability!  At least not yet.  So here's a quick update on Milo's first birthday.

At his first birthday this little man is eating most things and teething and waaaaalking all over the place.  I may or may not have mentioned that he seems to be making up for being such a mild newborn and using his recently discovered voice most vehemently, but he's just sooooo cute that it's easy to forget about that.  He doesn't really like sitting still but he occasionally likes a snuggle.  Doc says he's a healthy boy and his birthmark is pretty much here to stay and he's almost always happy.

He's a good boy and so loved by his parents and older siblings.

Discovering the ceiling fan

Fascinating!

New trick!

An artist

He loves a bath

And he loves his mommy!

1st birthday photoshoot 

That baby face

CAKE

I think he liked it.

 That's all for now!  I wish I could remember more but it's my own fault for waiting so long.  What matters most is that he's a happy, healthy, loved boy.

11 Month Little Man

What the, I was just sitting here about to procrastinate doing his first birthday post when I realized I haven't even done his 11 months.  Well then here goes.

Little Man did indeed hit 11 months!  The room was given a mini-makeover to feel more like his own, and he's done well in his own place.  He's eating a lot and sleeping pretty great and walking around like nobody's business, months earlier than either of the older two.  He has absolutely found his voice and makes it heard often, and often quite loudly.  He's still pretty easygoing most of the time but when he's upset or impatient he doesn't really hold back.

They finally booted me out of Primary but at least the company in EQ is good.

What a change half a room of color can make.

Thumbnail for a video but still so cute!  He approves of the new baby swing.

Such a fun church buddy.  Always keeps me on my toes.  Or on my feet at least.

"Yawn and Back Again," by Milo Baggins

He loves his mommy so much and is looking so big.

Okay then, next time it will be time to ready on birthday the first.  Such a big boy, full of life and personality and sweetness.

MDG at 10 Months

It's been another month already!  Little Mister is growing so fast and keeping everyone in the family on their toes.  He's moving all over the place and yes, already walking.  He can often be seen standing up on his own and taking several steps, which is amazing and also pretty crazy.  He's a bottomless pit in the high chair, eating just about everything he's tried and always hungry for more.  He's found his wail at last, making himself heard quite often and seeming to make up for lost time, but never without reason (Feed him!  Hold him!  Put him to bed!), and never for too long.  He has this funny nasal whimper he does that makes it kind of hard to be upset at the whining, ha ha.  He's a good sport through some recent sniffles and once we put him in his own room -- blessed day! -- started sleeping through the night again.  We're thinking he would wake up in the night and see us there and be like, what the heck, why aren't you coming to get me?? when if the same thing happens in his own room he usually just realizes no one's around and goes back to sleep.  A plan has been enacted to turn sister's room into his own space.

Such a great traveler on the airplane back from CA.

First Easter!

Look at him smiling around that binky.

Supporting Mommy at her 5K.

Post-bath surprised faces.

10 months!  Look at that smile!  Look at how the hat barely fits!

Sweet boy, keep growing but stop growing.

Easter 2018

This year's Easter was a little different in a few ways.  It fell on General Conference Sunday, so we didn't have our usual church outing (and so The Wife couldn't figure out the right time to put together her Easter outfits, which it turns out didn't arrive in time anyway).

Easter morning was as exciting as could be expected.  It's amazing how much kids get such a thrill out of plastic eggs and candy, but I so love their enthusiasm for the magical and festive.

Everybunny is having a great morning.

We opted for a family brunch situation rather than the usual dinner, just for something different and since people might start having their own evening plans.  There were eggs to be hunted and so much delicious food.

When your sister is a pro photog you sometimes get the most lovely photos of your kids at special occasions!  See her work at Blue Hill Images.

In betweentimes we visited our new favorite tradition, this cool replica of the tomb, located right here in Alpine.

So nice, but I do mean to suggest to them to change up the music loop (that is, to include more than one song in said loop).

Then we invited Mom and Dad over and joined forces with Elise & Co. for their wonderful Mediterranean feast (it does make more sense as an Easter meal when you think about it), which we might have to make a tradition if the Rs are amenable!!!

8]

This was also the project of the weekend... Hurray, no more worrying about the giant gaps where the springs inevitably pop off every time I jumped on it.

The old ones looks so wilty compared, ha ha.

And that's all there was to it!  Julie made a marvelous angel food cake that was praised by all, the kids had a great time grounded in the purpose of the day, we caught some GC talks and discussed the news and overall enjoyed the spring weather (until it turned to winter again a few days later) (but now it's spring again so it's fine).

9 Months and 37 years, Pasadena and Hogwarts

It's not every day your young man turns 9 months, now is it, eh?

Or 37?

Well, Little Man and I both did, respectively, and on the same day.

It happened to coincide with a most auspicious event, a choir tour to Pasadena, which meant that The Wife and I had to take advantage of heading over to see Harry in Hollywood.  Having already experienced The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the other coast, and visited Disneyland just a month before, it was just the right timing to finally see That Other California Park.

We flew to teeny-tiny Long Beach airport (and lost a baby toy, alas), rented teeny-tiny Kia Rio (despite their insistence that I upgrade for a larger care and my insistence that I and my very small party picked Economy size for a reason), drove DIRECTLY to the beach (which was wonderful and different from other recent beach visits), and then made our way to teeny-tiny Ramada in Pasadena (it wasn't the best place ever but they did [eventually...] have a crib, which was of utmost importance).

The front-facing camera is a game-changer I tell you.

We missed our babies!

We had some food at the impressively named Top Restaurant and the next day headed first thing to see Harry.

When we went to Universal Orlando, Harry only inhabited one of the theme parks, and I will say that based on our experience there at the time, Hollywood's version seems almost identical.  We bought our passes online which allowed us early entrance (but not free parking -- wah waaah), and this turned out to be a really great thing.  We were able to do all the big time attractions before most people even had a chance to get into the park.  The weather was great, the rides were few but fun, the experience was unique (all the escalators!) and the tour was worth is for the Bates Motel.  I had a birthday button from the very start which I'm pretty sure led to my being chosen at Ollivander's.  It was all very magical and the wand that chose me was cool but I ended up getting the Elder Wand instead (eep!).  We borrowed a friend's interactive wand so we could try that new feature, and I didn't feel AT ALL silly waving my wand and needlessly uttering incantations in front of shop windows...

Don't think I missed an opportunity to flaunt this little baby.

Or this one!

That's what we in the fandom like to call a REAlly Hidden Mickey.

Worth the hour-long backlot tour just for this set.

There was other stuff there too, like Squishee Milhouse.

Little Mister didn't seem to realize it was his 9 months, but he had a good time anyway!

I realized only too late that we were actually driving RIGHT PAST the Disney animation studio, which seems like a huge misstep on my part not to take more advantage of, but as far as I've learned we couldn't just traipse in and ask for a tour anyway.  It was enough for now to just see it, along with all the other Disney landmarks I've heard so much about (Griffith Park, Forest Lawn, etc.).

Later that night my choir met for rehearsal and dinner, which featured a lovely birthday sing-along and delicious ice cream sundae, and then the next day was the actual purpose of the trip:

Twohey's!  AKA 2ee's.  Don't ask, I don't know.

We were invited to perform a 23-minute show at ACDA.  It's a real honor to sing there, and we made the most of our time by showing just what a community choir can do -- wide vocal range, four languages, variety of style from early sacred to contemporary musical theater, and some effective and subtle choralography to top it off.  We were informed later that this ain't Utah, not just anyone gets a standing ovation, but...

We had just a few hours to wrap things up and get back to the airport, which is indeed teeny-tiny, and then head back home to see our other babies, from whom we had never until now spent a night apart, but who were safe and happy in the care of Nana and Papa.

Reunited!  And pretty happy about it!

It was nice to have another mini-vacation just a handful of weeks after our full-on family event, and baby boy did a great job on the airplane both ways, Julie was a great sport trooping along on my choir tour, and I mastered that last phrase of German that I had been struggling with.

Back home, back to work:

I wasn't there for my birthday but they decorated for when I came home all the same.

Then of course there was this...

This...

THIS!!!

As for Little Mister, he's still a happy healthy boy.  He's very active and crawling all over the place, he's eating plenty, he's having trouble sleeping through the night (at the time we had a plan which is now set in motion...), and he's starting to be more... vocal...  More on that in the weeks that followed.  He's really starting to prefer his mommy, especially to strangers, but he's still pleasant around relatives and friends.  He's been a champ through some sniffles and is showing real signs of more teeth appearing.  We're pretty sure he has a late-arrival birthmark, his hair is lightening considerably, and he is still tall and chubbsy.

So happy!  Even when his nose is runny!

Beach boy.

So happy!  Clever Mommy to remember to bring his li'l hat!

*blink*

 Love that boy!  I was glad to share my big day with him!  See you in a couple weeks!