Christmas #1

Because we're off to Utah Geoff's parents wanted to exchange gifts before we left. The girls were so excited to have an early Christmas. Here is a little sampling...

Aprons from Mormor

Cousin's gifts whose gifts were from their own toy collection (and very much loved)

Thank you assaults...er, I mean hugs, from Ceci

Tennie's handmade dolls with clothes

Oh Tannenbaum

A few weeks ago we went to get the Christmas tree(s) with Geoff's parents. I have a few pictures of the outing, but no picture of the tree...oh well.

The halls around here are totally decked out. There has been a lot of bustling, wrapping, squealing, preparing, singing and giving going on. We're off to Utah early next week...jingling all the way...

The Nutcracker

Last Saturday we went into Old Town Sacramento to see a display of dozens of very creative gingerbread houses! It was so fun, and I was glad we left without bumping any off the table! Next door was a candy shop where we got some candy for our gingerbread house making next week. We were definitely inspired!

The Three Pigs

Tennie and Adele then got to accompany Geoff's mom to a real deal Nutcracker performance. They've been dancing "gracefully" around the family room ever since.

Snow!

It doesn't snow in Auburn very often, and if it does it is a "dusting", but last Monday we got a generous 4-5 inches! It could have been Christmas morning by the look of the girl's faces! Despite our lack of snow gear we went outdoors to play...for hours.

Kipper loved chasing the sled and trying to bite the grocery bags tied onto the girl's feet to keep them dry.

Kipper was in heaven....

Geoff's cute parents joined the fun, too.

Geoff pulled out the snowboard (and stayed outside trying different hills long after the rest of us went inside)

Strike 2

Remember last year when I went on strike as a teacher? Well, this week I went on strike #2. I was fed up with the girls acting as if my suggestion of learning something was like asking if they would like to be tortured.

A simple science experiment

Seconds later...

The drama, the resistance, the unpleasant whining, the lack of focus...it wears me down until I say some unpleasant things and declare I'm on strike. I told the girls I would draw up a list of outdoor chores for them to do since they wouldn't be in school. Tennie argued it wasn't fair since it wasn't their choice that they weren't doing school. True. I was defeated all around.

A few weeks ago Geoff got off the phone with a customer service person and said, "Either she shouldn't be working today or she needs more training." I laughed because someone could visit our school day some days and say the same thing about me! It was definately a week when I shouldn't be working, and heaven knows I need more training. I feel like I'm on a slippery-steep learning curve every day. I'm reading during every spare moment, and redefining what I think it means to educate a child. I'm exploring how to revamp the way we do things in Z School so that learning is equated with fun, not a "let's finish school so we can have fun" mentality. I have big plans, but the carrying it out day to day with three little, unique, brilliant beings is a different story. I'm far from having things figured out.

Geoff, my knight in shining armor, appeared to slay this week's dragon. He took over school, meals, and every other demand while I sought a sense of control by going through piles paper/mail, crossed things off my Christmas to-do list (which is actually pretty short, gratefully), cleaned out the school supplies and storage area, and worked on little projects I don't have time to get to. It felt so good. But the "good" is temporary, not a solution. The sustaining solution for me is now, and always, maintaining a clear perspective. But why is it so dang hard to keep perspective?

Our culture is full of nice, irrevelant standards. Our schools, church culture, political parties, medical systems, food industry, even families...all set a standard of what is "normal" or "good". Because we live in a culture that places a high emphasis in what the "experts" say we follow along believing that they are right. I'm realizing the power of being my own agent for myself and my children. I know our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual strengths and weaknesses. So who is really the "expert"? Well, certainly not me alone, but teamed up with a wise, all-knowing God I become pretty strong. I become more knowledgeable. I have more confidence in my actions and choices. So I continue to ask myself hard questions in prayer: How do I define being a good mother? How do I define educating a child? What is the best route of learning for Tennie? Adele? Ceci? What can I weed out of my life to fit in enough time and energy for the things that are most important today? This week? This year? Is having this thing or that thing really going to determine success or comfort in our lives? What are the naysayers saying about what I choose to do, or think, or believe? Is what they think about my choices or my life important?

But those cultural standards pull at me, and create doubt, doubt about the convictions I felt in quieter moments. Those standards distract my thoughts (and actions) into pursuing things that really don't support what is really effective or important. Maintaining frequent, quiet moments of prayer and meditation seem critical to keeping from being "tossed to and fro".

Well, my piles and corners are cleared out, my to-do list is shorter, and more importantly I slowed down a little bit to gain perspective on what is most important tomorrow...I'll start there.

Thanksgiving

Geoff's parents headed to Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with Geoff's grandmother and we had the house to ourselves for Thanksgiving. Normally this would feel rather lonesome but since we are rarely together, just us, it was a treat. For the first time in many years it was sunny, and warm enough to eat outside. Geoff set a beautiful table, we warmed up our Whole Foods Thanksgiving dinner (with how much time I spend in the kitchen every day I like to give myself the day off!), enjoyed our third Thanksgiving feast this year, then with full and thankful bellies we went to a movie. What a great holiday.

Kipper got some turkey in his bowl, too. Look at him trying to be on his best behavior.

Friday morning our friends, the Christensens, came for a visit until yesterday morning. It was a rare day of rain that day so when it was a little dry we went outside to play, but most of the afternoon we were in our pajamas in front of the fire playing games.




Yesterday Geoff and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. What an eventful 11 years it has been! After all these years I still think I'm the luckiest woman in the world...

It has been a great and relaxing weekend, full of good company all around!

Utah

We just spent 10 busy days in Utah! The girls were so happy to see snow the first few days we were there! Even better, lots of aunts and uncles to play in it with.

Unfortunately our camera battery died (and we forgot the charger) so we didn't get a picture of the lovely Thanksgiving dinner we had at Geoff's sister Brittany's house with Utah members of the Davis family, the three intense days of unpacking my dad and his wife into their new home before some old friends came for a week-before-Thanksgiving-Thanksgiving visit, Ceci's visit to her cousin Bailey's preschool (after the first day we asked if she wanted to go again to which she replied, "No, I think I would like a day off."), the box town the girls created to amuse themselves, the visit to our friends, Ben and Liz Raybould, the field trip to the Church History Museum and Temple Square, the trips to the park after the snow melted and the sun warmed the earth, the baby shower for my brother Mitch and his wife Joann (with their first baby due in a few weeks!!!), the Thanksgiving dinner at my dad and Babs' home with his good friends Nina, Charlie and Ruth, and the girls running at racing speeds on the Salt Flats during a stop on our long drive back to California. It was a wonderful flurry of family and fun.