Ski Hill 2011

Silas has mastered the lift this year. Priya is almost there. Silas can go all day...up the lift and down the slopes, again and again. Priya is very serious about skiing. She's focused and knows how to follow Silas all the way down. The mommas have little picnic table day care set up at the bottom of the lift and take turns watching the toddlers...although Levi thinks he's ready!

The chef, the nanny, and the maid.

No, this is not a late Christmas wish list. It is not a description of myself, though it could be. These are the roles my children have naturally slipped into. 

THE CHEF

Silas, not given to afternoon napping, has been cooking with me while his sister snoozles since he was 2 or so. He knows recipes and measurements; how to perfectly crack and egg, roll a cinnamon roll, decorate cookies and pizzas. he eats whole cinnamon sticks and whole cloves of garlic and tastes every spice in the cupboard. In the photo, he's spicing up some butternut squash for Thanksgiving.

THE NANNY

If you've read this blog at all, you know my Priya loves her some baby dolls. Recently, her passion has even grown as she expects to give birth to two babies of her own soon. While that might not really happen, she knows I will bring forth a real baby soon that she can dress and change and hold and, she believes, feed, too. (She will gladly lift her shirt and tell you she's equipped.) her baby dolls change gender and names as often as they change clothes, but she is faithful to all of them and makes sure they are well loved. I have been encouraging her that god has given her a real baby to love and help everyday, Levi. She is accepting that more and more and learning to be a really good big sister. 

THE MAID

We'd been hoping for a quiet, clean, good-sleeping child since we started this whole business of baby making. Perhaps, the fourth will be quiet, our others are not. BUT, Levi is a champion napper and the child loves to clean. After New Year's dinner, he grabbed a stool and set to cleaning his grandmother's counter tops with a rag. He always wipes up his spills and those of his siblings as well. He loves baths and showers. He puts things where they belong and get himself dressed. Many times, he's been the example to Silas and Priya. One downside of this habit is that he likes to keep things as they are. So, if the boy has on a hat or his mittens, he likes them to stay put, even when he's blazing hot inside. In the photo, he's doing a little deep scrubbing of the pantry shelves (notice apron and vacuum cleaner toy that his cousin got him for Christmas).

The FUTURE: In a couple of years, I imagine myself sitting in the sunny backyard catching up on the years of novels I have missed while my Silas makes dinner, Priya takes care of the baby, and Levi cleans the house. I can dream, right?

Christmas 2010

I took mostly blurry photos of the kids ripping through their packages...but this photo of Priya pretty much summarizes their feelings about the day. We celebrated our own little Christmas on the Eve at our home and then went to Christian's parents' home for the actual factual day. With  seven cousins and two more on the way...and all the in-laws and in-laws of the in-laws, I think we had 19 people Christmas morning (not including the unborn). It was quite a bit of crazy fun!

Naughty or Nice....you be the judge

Silas and Levi preparing for Baby Four. I thought these pictures were funny. The kids are getting excited for Christmas. Silas is enjoying listening to The Secret Garden audio book and enjoying listening to me read through the Little House on the Prairie books. Priya talks about babies and babies and more babies all the time. Levi is growing and learning how to climb and wrestle and be gentle...and is talking more and more all the time. 

Christian is working on some windows in the wood shop. He's got a huge order for timbers and ladders for the local gold mine, so he's hired and young guy to work at the sawmill some. He spent last sunday sledding with the kids while I baked up a storm for the annual Christmas party. 

This week, I ventured to Gunnison yesterday, babysat and played volleyball today, and am planning a goody baking party, a tie-dyeing party, and lots more cooking and wrapping and trying not to get stomach flu again and avoid the 3-week cold virus that is chasing around this town. Busy, fun week. 

Visions of sugar plums

They are so sweet when they're sleeping. These cold nights, we check to see if they are covered up before we go to bed...and sometimes find interesting positions. By the way, if you have a sugar plum, please mail me one, I don't think I have any idea what that is. Kind of like a craisin-prune?

Merry Merry

After a week of sugar cookies and stomach flu, we're all back to full health and ready for the season! I am now 14 weeks pregnant and feeling well (24-hour flu aside). I'm still running and working out in the early morning, which helps me stay sane in the long days inside a tiny house with three wild children. 

We've been cooking and baking many goodies. This week, we'll be making more sugar cookies because the kids have parties at school and a program at Kids' Klub, which is a gospel-oriented weekly program they attend. Also, I'm helping to organize a large Christmas party which will be next weekend at my in-laws' home. Last year, we had over 100 people!

The next week, I'll make one more Gunnison trip for groceries and last minute stocking stuffers and focus the rest of the week on making Christmas gifts.

We are thankful this year for our wonderful children, siblings, parents, and nephews, and for the little bean of a baby that I've already felt jumping around! Most of all, we are thankful for Christ, whose Advent here makes a true difference in our lives. 

Nerf guns, fir trees, birthdays, oh my

Silas, my first baby, has passed the five year mark. How did this happen? A little bit about the boy you may know only in photos and blogland... He's tall and handsome and incredibly strong. He's super because he can fly. He flaps his arms and then he can get off the ground a little. He likes to read about hard-working kids in the "Little House" books, but is just himself learning to be a hard worker. He prefers any project his Dad is doing to the household duties he has with me. He is a chicken farmer. He loves to sing and "do art stuff." He's still a cuddler, and holds my hand when we walk, or in church, or just because. He LOVES his cousins. He wants to marry Priya when he grows up and be a fireman. He has great insight into life and asks wonderful, spritual questions. I love this kid so much. 

To celebrate his birthday, I made him name pancakes (with fruity crisp confetti). He unwrapped a nerf gun and a light saber and we went swimming in Gunnison. Life is good for a five-year-old as long as you remember where not to aim the nerf gun.