Hannah turns 1!

A month ago on October 11th, Hannah Gale had her first birthday. I think a year ago there were days I was sure I, or someone else, might not really survive us adding another child to the family so soon after Sarah made her appearance in 2012. But survive we did, and Hannah really just fits right in. We love her so!

Jeff was flying back from Utah that day to be back for our little celebration. Rebecca was pretty excited to help with the apple party. I made a banana-based refined-sugar-free cake with not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting for Hannah's cake and cut it in the shape of an apple. Rebecca helped with the sprinkles when I left the cake unattended for a few moments. And the two older kids cried their eyes out when we let her smash the cake, worried there wouldn't be any for them because she wasn't sharing. Silly kids.

We bobbed for apples or got really soggy trying! Rebecca asked me about 57 times if it was time to put the apples in the water after she filled up the bin with the hose. Finally I let her do it; she is a persistent little thing.

We played pin the leaf on the apple and apple tic-tac-toe.

And we had a great time.

Hannah has such a fun disposition. She has cute dimples, bright blue eyes, a hair color that remains mysterious (is it brown? is it red? is it auburn?), she is patient, she notices things really quickly, she already loves books, and she even likes to sing.



I remember before I had children our stake president at church talked about how charity, the pure love of Christ, was something we could be blessed with. He shared that after each of his children was born (and they have 6 children) he wasn't sure how he could possibly love anyone so much, but somehow his heart was able to keep expanding and he was able to love the other children more because he loved the new child now, too. I have really seen this in my own life, too, and will always be grateful for that description. So here is to expanding hearts and this happy little girl who fills our world with so much light!

Book Review: Amazing Hairstyles by Becky Porter

I grew up in a family of three girls. I felt like I knew a lot about girls and then, I had a son. I was a little surprised when Jacob was born - how on earth would I ever learn all about boys?  I am still learning and luckily I have Jeff to help me understand all things boy. But it turns out that having 3 girls myself now doesn't mean I feel like I know what I'm doing with girls, either!  Case in point: cute hairstyles. I love seeing them but somehow lack the fine motor skills to actually do what I want to do. So my 1 year old has pretty auburn-ish hair that never has bows in it because they just get lost. And my 2 year old has a pretty even but also un-accessorized baby mullet she is sporting. Sometimes we do a ponytail, but not very often. And my 5 year old has lovely, wavy reddish hair. And most days I am frantically pulling ponytails or braids back while she eats her oatmeal or eggs. So I was excited to see Becky Porter's new book, Amazing Hairstyles. It came in the mail a little smooshed but we smoothed it out a bit under some heavy books and Rebecca thumbed through it with me, admiring all of the "lovely hairdos," as she called them.

We decided to stick with the easy selections, because see above, and had some fun. I like how the book is divided into sections and it's easy to see how to finish off the look. Plus, Becky gives great tips about good supplies to have on hand and how to make little changes if you want to. Here are a couple pictures we took of Rebecca's hair:

First we did a linked ponytail with a scarf. This was pretty fun. I added the braid on the right side just for fun. We liked how each step of the hairstyle had a picture to go with it. Easy for me to follow, and fun for Rebecca to see how much we had left until we were done!

This hairstyle also worked well for the occasion of pumpkin seed extraction, as you can see above!  

The other hairstyle we've tried successfully, 3 or 4 times now, is a twisted pullback. This was at the end of the day on a Sunday and it still looks pretty cute!  We like how easy this one is, and if we're feeling courageous maybe I will curl the bottom of her hair sometime to soften this up a bit. 

We are excited to try some more new hairdos on Rebecca. We both recommend this book because it is user-friendly and good for the hairstyle-challenged mommas out there like me!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review from Cedar Fort Publishers. All opinions are my own. I have some more reviews coming up in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

Trip to England

Jeff and I got to take a grownups-only trip to England a couple months ago. Our kids were in good hands with my mom here to tend to them.  I really recommend taking trips as a couple. It always seems to be stressful to me beforehand but then once I am there or when I am coming back I realize it was exactly what I needed!

Jeff had a conference to present at at Oxford so we spent a few days in London first and then a day in Oxford before I flew home and before the conference for Jeff.

After we flew into Heathrow we rode a bus to Windsor to take a tour of the castle there. Also, we ate lunch at McDonald's. :)  The grounds were just as lovely as I imagined and the inside decor was just as ornate as you can imagine. "Let's hang 200 swords and guns on the wall in a cool pattern!"  Pretty amazing stuff!

One of the kings added more height to the Round Tower in the 19th century to make it seem more imposing. Luckily I wasn't to scared by it and could smile for a picture!

After Windsor we rode in to Paddington Station (no sign of the bear, sadly, but they did have a store named after him!) and then to our hotel in the King's Cross area of London. Here are some more pictures of our adventures!

We saw the London Eye a few times while we walked along the Thames. It is a bit newer than most things in this part of town...

Jeff had gone to London last year and we saw most of the same things he saw then, including the Tower of London. Of course it is much more than a tower and it was quite exciting to learn about so many things in one place. They kept animals here, criminals/traitors were imprisoned (or worse) here, this is where visitors were greeted after they got off their boats, they made money here, they keep the crown jewels here and more. I'm glad Jeff took me here!  

Tower Bridge

The Shard

Me with the Elizabeth Tower in the background. And also Big Ben up on top.

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We visited the British Museum and thought that Jacob especially would have loved all the artifacts and statues.

We took a walk through St. James Park. We got lots of pictures of birds to show the kids and we found these lovely blue flowers. I love blue flowers!

We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, kind of by chance since we thought we'd missed it. Later we went back there to take some more pictures. Here is Jeff looking very stately and regal.

We saw Westminster Abbey one day also. No pictures inside, of course, but it was amazing. Jeff's comment when we walked in was, "And remember, it's not well-known just for its size." But boy was it big and beautiful and old. It is really amazing how many people are buried there.

Sunday after church at the Hyde Park single's ward we went to an organ recital at St. Paul's. We took a nice montage of hilarious pictures of me for our yearly video but I like this one of Jeff & I together also:

 Since our hotel was near King's Cross, I realized that I should take this picture, perhaps to Jeff's chagrin. Unfortunately, this is not actually where the train to Hogwarts came in the films but if we really tried to take a picture there, I would have fallen on the tracks. Safety!

Monday morning we rode a bus to Oxford and we had a walking tour of some of the university and city. Again, I marveled at just how old everything is. I think as an American it is easy to forget just how long history was going on before our country existed. It was a good reminder!  Here I am in a room at Christchurch (a college at Oxford) that was the infirmary in the Harry Potter movies.  I got a little cough while I was there...

We thought this ceiling at Christchurch was quite intricate, and similar to the ceilings in the cathedrals we couldn't take pictures in.

Almost time for dinner at the Christchurch dining hall.  We ate dinner at a little Thai place that night, but it was fun to imagine sitting down to eat a formal dinner with college friends. This dining hall was an inspiration for the one they made for the HP movies, though they couldn't use it because it wasn't large enough.

 We climbed up the steps to see Oxford from the top of the Carfax tower after our visit at Christchurch. There was a time several years ago where I would have been so fearful of being up here (and it wasn't all that high up, really). It was a nice view of the city and I didn't get too scared this time. :)

And here's Jeff in front of Oxford's business school. In the middle of our trip was Jeff's birthday. We celebrated with the kids before and after the trip but on his actual day I was probably failing at trying to keep up with him as we walked all over the city together. We talked about and learned about many things together on this trip and in addition to all of that and perhaps even more importantly I really just kept thinking how grateful I am for him and all he does. He didn't get cake on his birthday but we did get some ice cream cones from McDonald's and I sang to him as we walked back to our hotel. Sure glad I get to spend forever with him!

A smattering of photographs, mostly Mother's Day related

So, here is a smattering of photographs from our overly exciting and amazing lives:

Here is Stacey next to a large, concrete, ear of corn.  Very beautiful.  Nice curves.  Soft features.  Reminds me of a real ear of corn.  Stacey is also good looking (she always asks me not to call her hot, so, I won't, although she is).  She also boasts the corsage she got for Mother's day, which she was able to protect through an entire 3 hour block of church from all of her children.  An amazing feat.

Jacob and I, as the standing committee to designate the World's Greatest Mother, held our meeting yesterday.  The vote was close, but, Stacey came out on top as the World's Greatest Mother.  Congratulations to her on an award well deserved.  She will get to wear her sash throughout the year at official family events, but will have to return it next year on Mother's Day, when the committee will meet again.  Perhaps most entertaining is that when I was asking Rebecca who she thought might win, Rebecca was very convinced she would win. She was sincerely distraught over losing the title to her mother, and in this picture, is sobbing uncontrollably behind Stacey.

Blurry, but, one of Hannah's tricks.  She also gets up on her knees.  I forecast she will be crawling many, many months before any of her three older siblings did.  They didn't really have anywhere to crawl...

Rebecca's very sad face after she was not awarded the World's Greatest Mother award.

This Mothers Day, I changed Sarah.  Hold the applause until the end of the paragraph.  I was pretty amazed that they make these things in bathrooms (I am told they are also in female bathrooms) to change babies.  I was astounded when I first used one yesterday.  They were thinking of everything with these little things.  A flat surface, rounded so babies can't roll off as easy when you need to go get a drink in the middle of a diaper change, and all right there in the bathroom where everyone else does their business. All this time going into bathrooms, and I never really noticed them.  Hopefully they don't take them all out before next Mother's Day, when I may have to change some baby again.  Hopefully, though, Stacey can just potty train them all by then.

Rebecca made a handful of small gifts and put them in this very large box for Stacey.  While Stacey and I were still in bed, we heard what sounded like a wounded animal climbing the stairs..."thump, thump, thump, thump."  It was Rebecca, carrying the vary large box up from the basement, to delivery the handful of papers that were in the bottom of the box.

Rebecca matching her doll.  Very cute.

And, as I was putting together dinner yesterday, I had some stuff out on the picnic table.  Rebecca was sitting at the table with Sarah, and Sarah was eying the chips on the table.  I was going to go inside to get something else and I told Rebecca she was in charge of making sure Sarah did not steal any chips.  When I got back, this is what I found.  I rounded up Rebecca, who said that she had left Lindley (her doll, who, like Rebecca, had changed clothes since church) to watch Sarah.  And there she is, Lindley, watching Sarah, eat chips.

Rebecca and Jacob with the garden that we put in a week and a bit ago.  28 tomatoes, and some other stuff.  My crop yields are about 1/7th what a normal persons is, so, it is as if I planted 4 tomatoes (which should be just about right to give us some nice tomatoes during the summer).

Jacob climbing on some rocks at the Fathers and Sons camp-out this weekend.


There are no accompanying pictures, but, here are the two quotes of the week:

1.  I did some errands with Rebecca, and, she got tired.  She was complaining about how her legs were very tired, and she could walk no further.  Then she said, "Why didn't Jesus just make us so we could hop or skip or jump instead of having to walk?"

2.  Jacob and Rebecca had been fighting, and he was very upset about being told he had acted improperly.  He said, "I wish I was Sarah so I could just do whatever I want."

Regarding Sarah, Jacob's understanding of the situation is basically correct.

Backyard Circus and a Compliment

We had a new tent delivered to our home today and I brought Jacob and the babies home from soccer to find that Jeff and Rebecca had set up the tent in the backyard. I walked back there to take a look and a little girl in a lion costume popped up in the window. I asked Rebecca why she had on the lion costume and she was so excited to tell me it was because there was going to be a circus after dinner.  She worked hard writing out tickets for all of us (with our last name and our house number on them) and Jacob practiced his clown act. Our neighbor Ellie brought over a hula hoop and she was the lion tamer so Rebecca jumped through the hoop. I picked Hannah up to bring her under the big top with me and she had a blowout but was quite happy and excited along with everyone else. Sarah twirled in circles with me while I sang circusy kind of music and kept clapping for everyone. There was a little trapeze act on our swing set as well. Jeff was announcing all the acts while he was mulching and planting hostas in the backyard, and attempting to swallow a wooden sword: "And now we have a the amazing clown doing tricks with the white and black ball! And the Lion will jump through the hoop! And we have a blowout!  We even have monkeys riding on dogs!"

The kids went to bed pretty late, we skipped baths tonight (well, I had planned on bathing the kids, no one else seemed to notice) and I realized I didn't care one bit. I had a lot of fun tonight being with the people I love the most and the memory of that matters more to me than if they have stinky feet tomorrow or are a little grouchy at breakfast.

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On the way home from soccer tonight, Jacob told me he was excited to try what I had made for dinner. It was a recipe I got from a friend's blog (recipe here) and I told him we always like any recipe that we get from her so I was sure it would be yummy. "If it is enchilada casserole then does it have enchilada sauce, Mommy?" he asked. I told him it did but that it wouldn't be as spicy as it sometimes is because it had milk and honey also. We chatted a bit more and then he said, "All the dinners you have ever made in the whole world are better than anyone else's."  Now, I don't know that that was necessarily true, but I will tell you that it made my mother heart soar. Six year-olds are all about being competitive, and at least in that moment, I was his #1, and you can bet I told him how much that meant to me.

P.S. dinner was, in fact, quite good. Thanks to Brooke for the recipe and thanks to Jeff for always having enchilada sauce in the fridge ready to go  :)

Easter 2014

This year we finally dyed Easter eggs after bath time the Saturday before Easter. That was cutting it a bit close! Egg dyeing is a tradition Jeff and I both grew up with and we like doing it with our kids as well. An egg is symbolic of the Resurrection of the Savior: though His body was placed in a tomb, He was able to rise again.  Eggs have a hard outer shell but from them can spring new life (not ours, but we did enjoy some egg salad). How grateful we are for the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of Him, these four smiling children (and their dad) can be with me forever. We are so blessed!  We failed to take formal pictures this year but the choir I lead sounded great in Church on Easter and we had the sister missionaries join us for dinner that night and it was a wonderful day.

I recently reread this excerpt I posted five years ago and I still love it: http://teamhoopes.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-thoughts.html

She does this face and it always makes me laugh. Glad Jeff got a picture of it :)