Ice Skating Party/Fiasco

When given the option between a full on birthday party or a fun evening with a few friends, Catherine chose the latter. But since her friends happen to be our friends as well, it ended up being a huge party anyway! 

She really wanted to go ice skating, which we haven't done in a long time. She invited Sara, our neighbor girl, plus Emma and Paul. And we can't invite Emma and Paul without inviting the Oliveras and Knoxes, so we had quite the group at the rink.  

Aaron, Jon & Elijah (the non-skaters) and Elise

Helping Elise around the ice

Seth having the most fun of his entire life.

Aaron, also having the best day of his life.

Elise and Luke mastering the ice skating walker things.

I didn't fall down a single time!

You can see Mariana, Elise, Bekah, Melissa and Marley in the background.

Luke and Elise

(Note that Aaron and Seth are sitting on the bleachers in the background?)

Catherine, Elise and I had a blast at the rink. It took Elise a couple of times around the rink before she got the hang of it, but then she was off. Seth and Aaron? I've never actually seen anyone be that bad at ice skating. Seth's ankles just kept wobbling and he couldn't keep them locked into place. Aaron kept trying to walk on the ice. Literally. He'd lift his skate and try to take a step. We offered him one of the walker things to practice with, but he raged at us. "Those are for little kids!!" And so they spent the evening alternately gripping the side of the rink or falling all over the ice. 

Eventually one of the younger kids came to tell me that Seth had fallen. I wasn't really concerned since that's what he'd spent most of the night doing. But when I got over there his face was whitish green and he had droplets of sweat all over. He'd twisted his leg underneath him when he fell and his knee was in a lot of pain. I got him off the ice and had him sit until it was time to go. Aaron happily joined him as they grumbled about this being the worst activity ever. 

Most of the skaters, ready to head home!

Getting ready to sing to Catherine

A legit smile because Gabe was making her laugh.

Blowing out the candles on the fruit pizza she made herself!

She got extra bonus fun because the Oliveras spent the night so we could hang out the next day. Gabe and Seth protested mightily that THEY never get to have sleepovers, but Catherine and Emma did! I told Gabe if he can get his family to come spend the night they can have a sleepover. 

And, as it turned out, Seth's knee was in pretty bad shape. It was swollen and bruised. He gimped around at church the next day, then basically stayed on the couch with it propped up until he felt better. Of course, then he tried to play gaga ball with the young men and hurt himself all over again. It was 2-3 weeks before he was feeling back to normal. 

So I guess next time we just take the girls ice skating and the boys can stay home and stare at screens. Or maybe we just get the boys some lessons! Kenna thinks it may be related to their hypermobility issues (so they can't just lock their ankles and knees in place like the rest of us). But at least Catherine had a great time!

Elise at Six

 Little Miss Sunshine Princess,

I'm a little sad that you're turning six. Six is heading away from little kid territory. I'm not sure I'm ready to have you be one of the big kids so soon. Thankfully you don't seem to be in any rush. I still have you and Elijah fighting over my lap during most sacrament meetings (and most family prayers). I still get lots of Elise snuggles every day. Stay little for a while, please!

But I guess you can't stay little forever. You managed to lose your first tooth right around your birthday. It would have been out a lot earlier but you had no interest in wiggling it loose:

You are loving kindergarten and thriving there. You never went through the exhausted phase I was expecting with full day kindergarten. You must be a true extrovert! You adore your teacher and you come home literally every day with papers saying "BFF Elise Vivi Claire Freya." 

You're also in your first ballet/tap class and are loving it as well! You also asked to play soccer in the fall. I have a feeling you are going to keep our schedule very, very busy.

All the girly things. Shoes, dresses, nail polish, bows, sparkles, unicorns, mermaids, rainbows, fairies, princesses. You keep asking me to paint your room rainbow colors and I keep nodding and 'forgetting'. 

For entertainment you love watching YouTube Kids (which I hate, but Elijah loves because...bulldozer videos). But you still prefer playing dolls, or Barbies, or Little Critters, or some other imagination game with Aaron and Elijah. You also spend a lot of time playing outside with our neighbor, Bennett. 

You come home every day with art you've made at school. Lots and lots of hearts and rainbows. You've learned to write "I love you" and make me and Dad love notes regularly. Your spelling is still adorably atrocious, which leads to fun things like the "I Feel Mab" drawing you came home with one day after a kid in class was pestering you. 

You're not quite reading yet, but you are picking out lots of sight words and are working on sounding out words. It's going to click any day now, so I'm not at all worried about it. Your favorite subject is math and you're very good at it. 

Also, still very much into writing/drawing on things that are not acceptable, like closet doors:

Thankfully this one was in pencil...

You are getting old enough now to know when you are missing out on things the big kids get to do. Stay up late. Church activities. Ride bikes to friends' houses all by themselves. You want so much to do all the things right now. 

Stats at age 6: 3 ft. 9 in. (50%), 39 lbs (17%).

Your 'muchness' has levelled out a bit, but it's still there. Lots of big feelings that can shift in a moment. One day you'll be the one helping everyone clean up after dinner, the next you'll hide somewhere in the house until we force you to come clean.  You are charming and exhausting and a whirlwind of all things little girl. I'm so happy that you are thriving at school and getting your social bucket filled. 

Elise Navidad, you are just exactly what we need in this family. Thank you for your sunshine, your sparkles, and your vivaciousness. Now just slow down on this whole growing up thing, okay?

Elise's Six Year Old Interview

• Favorite color?
• "Pink. It's pretty."
• Favorite food?
• "Chocolate."
• Favorite dinner food?
• "Potstickers."
• Best friend?
• "Vivi, Claire, Freya, and Cate." (This was the first time I've ever heard of Cate).
• Favorite movie?
• "Mandalorian. (Not a movie). What's a movie? (Like 'Encanto'). Encanto!"
• Favorite toy?
• "The baby that glowed in the dark that I wanted but then people said it didn't glow in the dark. (How about a toy you actually own?) Uhh...American Girl doll."
• Game to play (no screens?)
• "Murder in the Dark." (Thanks, Uncle Timmy!)
• Game on a screen?
• "I don't know what any of them are called. Yes, Roblox."
• Favorite snack?
• "Yogurt."
• Favorite animal?
• "Kitten. It's so cute! And they're super furry. And soft."
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• "A ballerina."
• Favorite song?
• "Encanto playlist. We Don't Talk About Bruno."
• Favorite Primary song?
• "What is it? (singing, doing some sign language) Try to be like Jesus. Yes, I'm Trying to be Like Jesus (continues singing)."
• Favorite book?
• "Let me see... (looks on bookshelf). Today I Will Fly!"
• Favorite school subject?
• "Plus. Math, adding."
• Favorite thing about your family?
• "That we love each other."
• Anything else?
• "I love my mommy. And...and, uh, my earrings are really pretty. And I draw good pictures."

Elise Turns Six!

 I might have been feeling a bit birthday-ed out by this point (Catherine birthday Friday, Elise party Saturday, Elise birthday Sunday). But despite all the craziness of early morning church (plus being there extra early for me to play the organ and Seth to help prep the sacrament), we still managed to enjoy birthday cereal and birthday balloons to celebrate Miss Elise!

Yes, Krave again.

Once we finally all made it home from church (and meetings after church), 

it was time for gift opening!

This is her new favorite dress.

Which was Catherine's favorite dress five years ago.

Apparently the only picture I took of the gift opening was this:

Elijah's gift to himself: cars he put in a gift bag.

Her birthday 'cake' was homemade raspberry ice cream!

(Thanks for the recipe, Uncle Aaron!)

Happy 6th, Miss Elise Lori!

Catherine at 11

Dear Catherine,

This has been a big year for you.  Going from a being very introverted homeschooler to a public schooler who comes home every day with stories about crazy school antics has been a bit of whiplash. Actually, that's maybe a good word for most things right now with you. You're either super helpful Catherine, or absolutely zero help Catherine. Snuggly Catherine who wants to talk, or Catherine who literally hisses at me and locks herself in her room. You've always been like this, but you've upped your game lately. 

Thankfully, going to school has really been a good thing for you. I thought you might come home overwhelmed from all the time spent around people, but you seem to be thriving. The only thing that might kill you is homework, which drives me batty. You should not have an hour or more of homework every night in 5th grade. But you want to please your teachers, so you do everything you are supposed to do, every night. You enjoy being 'the good one' in your class and your teachers have told me how much they enjoy having you. But I still miss having you at home, even though I think our relationship is better now that I'm not both teacher AND mom. 

Your favorite class is band, hands down. You love your teacher and love the clarinet. Next on the list is math. Reading is still at the bottom, although you love getting 100% on all your spelling/vocabulary tests. 

You do not love Primary. Not at all. Actually, I think you enjoy the fact that Talia and Paul are always super excited to see you and beg you to sit by them. But the actual class? Nope. I hear all about your complaints every week. Just 10 more months until YW, and then you can complain about having me in there with you. 

Music is one of your gifts. You still love teaching yourself new things on the piano. You also worked super hard to master the clarinet in just a few days! Plus there's the kalimba, and also the ukulele that you initially said you hated but then just couldn't resist picking up and playing... 

You also have decided you love shopping, which baffles me. I hate shopping. Dad hates shopping. But you are always begging to be taken to Target. Dad took you to use your Christmas gift cards and you came home with a bunch of new clothes instead of the candy I expected! Guess you are growing up. But candy is still really important. Especially Hi-Chews, which your band teacher introduced you to. 

Stats at age 11 (actually from last October because that's when your visits are, oops): 4 ft. 11 in. (85%), 67 lbs (19%). 

Still Miss Independent. You want to do what you want to do, and heaven forbid we ask you to do something you don't want to do. Your biggest complaint about life in general is that we are always telling you to clean up because our house is always a mess. Says the girl whose floor is so covered with clothing that we can't even see the carpet... But your independence is a boon at school. I never have to tell you to do your homework or remind you to get things signed. You just do it. Which is good because I'm anti-homework in elementary school and would happily let you skip it. 

You'll go through phases where you're super into playing games. Aaron is your go-to game buddy. Your current favorite is the one you got for your birthday: Nidavellir. Many thanks to Uncle Stephen for introducing it to us!

Trying to crush the competition in Nidavellir

One of your favorite things to tell me is that Dad is going to be your favorite. That I'm going to be the one you get angry at. Honestly, it doesn't really bother me that much, probably because I think it's hilarious that you're planning this in advance. Also, I'm glad that you love your Dad so much. You go straight to him when you get home and do your math next to him while he works. You've also started playing basketball recently. Your favorite activity is going to the church on Friday evenings to play basketball with Dad. 

You are still very much an artist, although you've been drawing more fashion type drawings recently. You'll alternate between making me really cool black and white patterned hearts to hang by my bed and making a tiny origami box that says "MOM" with a super angry face next to it. Like I said, whiplash. This was a drawing you made during church one week:

That's me, surrounded by children making demands of me.

Scary accurate.

And also adorable. 

Yes, you are dealing with lots of big feelings right now. Yes, they occasionally boil over into rages and tears. But most of that is because you are just wanting to grow up faster. I see so many young adults just kind of floundering, not knowing who they are or what they want from life. That is not a struggle I see you having to face. And I'm grateful. Because I know you are going to great things and that Catherine all grown up is going to be here faster than I will ever be ready for. Happy birthday, my Catherine Cat. 

Catherine's 11 Year Old Birthday Interview:

• What's your favorite color?
• "Either teal or light purple."
• What's your favorite food?
• "The fruit and the red and we have them at winter... Pomegranate! For dessert, Timmy's rainbow cheesecake!"
• Who is your best friend?
• (Really, really long pause) "Emma."
• What's your favorite movie?
• "Guardians of the Galaxy 1."
• What's your favorite TV show?
• "Mandalorian."
• What is your favorite toy?
• "Paper. Origami paper."
• Favorite game to play, not on screens?
• "Hmm... Ah! Nidavellir!"
• Favorite game on screens?
• "No, not Smashy Roads. Yeah, Smashy Roads 2."
• Favorite snack?
• "Graham crackers and milk."
• Favorite animal?
• "A fox! Or a wolf. Or both. Because they're fluffy, and they're tiny, and they're long. And they have a big fluffy tail!!! I only like the white foxes though. The other ones are ugly. Heh."
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• "Nothing! (Not good enough). A teacher! Math teacher."
• Favorite song?
• "Hmm. It's been a while since I've listened to songs. Anything I can sing to."
• Favorite Primary song?
• "Pfff! No. I hate all of them. Okay, maybe not that one with the lilac tree. I don't know what it's called."
• Favorite book?
• "Alvin Ho."
• Favorite school subject?
• "Math."
• Favorite thing about your mom?
• "Your mom!! Umm, she cooks me things. And she cleans up my stuff."
• Favorite thing about your dad?
• "At the end can I do least favorite things? (Nope). Umm, he smells good."
• Anything else?
• "My least favorite thing about Mom & Dad... (is that we make you clean up your own stuff?) YES!!! (Shoots me with her headband). You're annoying."

A Very Elise Party

I always hope my kids will pick basically any other birthday option besides "giant party with all my friends inside the house." But since that's basically Elise's dream and since Covid robbed us of birthday parties for so long, I (mostly) happily went along with the fun! 

She ended up with eight friends who were able to attend (not including siblings). Since her party was unicorn themed, we started off by decorating unicorn horns (ice cream cones covered in icing and candy). 

Distributing candy to the partygoers

Ripley, Paul, Anuhea, Kelsey, Elise, Vivi (and her mom, Jessica), and River.

Luke was on the couch playing on an iPad.

Shocker.

Another shot of the unicorn horns. 

Elise had very specific requests for her birthday party. The first request was that we do a science experiment. The weather didn't cooperate for us to do anything cool outside, so we just did the food coloring, milk and dish soap experiment, which was more exciting for the guests than I expected (but dry ice would have been way cooler. Stupid 20 mph winds). 

The second was that she wanted a scavenger hunt. I put Jon in charge of that one and he did a great job putting together a bunch of clues about the unicorn we used to have. The kids had a blast racing all around the house to find the treasures. 

She also wanted a dance party, which they basically did when they all rushed down to the basement to dance to Encanto songs while wearing dress-up clothes. Hooray for checking all the boxes for the birthday girl!

And then it was time for the cake that Summer and I made. Don't be too impressed: the horn, ears and eyes are all things we just stuck on. My favorite decorating method:

I know every little girl has had this cake, but I still think it's adorable!

Elise with her cake (and Kelsey)

Singing Happy Birthday

Out go the candles!

Then it was time for the opening of gifts: massive amounts of dolls, unicorns, nailpolish, and all things adored by Elise. And also time for more chasing, screaming, and general mayhem. I told Jon that I think Elise's party was the loudest our house has ever been. And that's saying something. Her poor, shy friend Vivi (the one whose mom stayed) was probably traumatized.

Anuhea got to stay for dinner.

And to make charm bracelets!

Elise loved every minute of it. I'm so glad my little social butterfly could have all her friends over to party! It was literally her dream come true. 

Catherine Turns NOT 12!

Poor Catherine.

She is so done with Primary.

So done with Primary Activity Days.

Her best friend, Emma, is already in Young Women.

It's rough to be turning 11 when you really, really want to be 12... 

Birthday balloons and Krave cereal!

She was quite pleased with her spotted balloons from Target.

Basically anything from Target is her favorite right now.

Getting ready to open gifts!

(Those are her favorite pants. Her sewing/Primary teacher made them for her. Three pairs, actually. Catherine got to pick the fabric. I was completely surprised by her choice, but she ADORES them. Plus it helps that they are literally made to fit her super-skinny, tall body). 

Gift from Dad: a basketball of her very own!

Favorite gift?

Her favorite new board game from Grandma Cathy!

This year's birthday cake?

Key lime pie.

Porcupine key lime pie.

See the little porcupines?

All thanks to Jon introducing us to Neil Diamond's horrid song.

Blowing out the sparkler candles! 

Happy 11th, Sara Catherine!

Giant Man Child

Seth is listed in my phone contacts as "Giant Man Child."  He's maybe an inch away from being the same height as Jon. He can wear Jon's pants. I'm not sure if he's actually done growing, but either way he'll be plenty tall as an adult. And he's not even 14 yet! 

And yes, still the humor of a 13 year old boy.

This was a cute Catherine illustration until Seth came around...

Seth got some really, really exciting news this month. Last year we were looking into options for high school. I discovered a local magnet program run by Oracle called ITOA (Information Technology Oracle Academy). After we did a bit of research, Seth fell totally in love. I had him tour the local high school as well as ITOA just to be sure he was making an informed choice. Well, the local school felt like a cinderblock prison and the ITOA school is brand new and has giant, floor-to-ceiling windows. No competition there! Plus we happened to run into the director of the ITOA program as we were touring the school. He was absolutely fantastic and everything Seth would love in a teacher. After that visit, we were both 100% in. 

But he still had to apply. And it's weird with homeschooing because, yes, I can (and did) make him a transcript. But how much weight does that carry? So he also took his first standardized test since 3rd grade just so we could have some impartial results to back up his transcript. He also had to write an application letter and submit a list of activities he's involved in. It felt like applying to college. 

I wasn't that worried. The director told us that basically anyone who wanted to get in has been accepted to the program in the past years. But it all depended on whether more kids were applying and how qualified they were. Seth was worried he could be waitlisted and then have to see if there was a spot available. 

His other concern was his friends. Jack and Gabe also applied. What if they didn't get in or were waitlisted? He decided he would attend no matter what, but it would break his heart if they didn't go as well. 

Well, miracle of miracles, ALL THREE BOYS got in! No waitlisting or anything! I'm so proud of Seth for working hard and for doing what it took to get into this program. We're so excited for the fall!

A very pleased Seth

I was so excited when they finally managed to get us a youth temple trip date that I volunteered to go before looking at the date and realizing it was Catherine's birthday. It was a completely insane day, but I'm glad I was able to go with Seth. I got to be the one with the clipboard making sure everyone was ready to go at the correct time, which was a little stressful since I can't remember the last time I did youth baptisms. But it all worked out, plus we were able to baptize and confirm a bunch of names that my mom found from our family! 

Bishop made sure that the priests had the opportunity to baptize some of the youth. It was a really cool experience for me to watch. I've known these boys basically their entire lives. You see them at church and they're just kind of goofy. But down in that font I could see the men they are growing to be. And it won't be long before Seth is in that position. 

(Seth is 3rd from left, I'm 3rd from right)

Please note that he is taller than almost everyone there, including leaders.

And that Spencer (behind him) actually has bigger hair than Seth.

Seth is at this really cool stage between kid and adult. Sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes it's obnoxious, sometimes it's terrifying. But I'm grateful for his good, kind heart. I know he has some hard things ahead, but also some of the very best parts of his life ahead. I just can't believe he's already this old! 

Elijah-ness

 

Elijah's newest and most adorable activity is playing restaurant. Occasionally throughout the day he'll bring me the play menu (in his hands above), open it up and say, "Which one you want?" Then I'll order something off the menu and he'll scurry down to the basement to prepare it for me.

Cafe Elijah, open for business

Busy preparing all his orders

I actually was considering getting rid of the kitchen because it was so rarely used anymore, but I'm so glad I didn't! 

And then there was the single greatest day of Elijah's life: Excavator Day. We headed to a local park to meet up for our co-op Valentine's Party. But as we pulled into the parking lot, we saw this:

An excavator dredging the docks off the bay.

And I knew that we would be sitting by the excavator for the next several hours.

World's happiest little boy!

If I could only pick one picture to sum up Elijah, it would be this one:

Bare bottomed (still potty training)

Wearing Jon's church shoes

Shooting us all with his 'pew pew'

That's Elijah!

And (drumroll, please!), after waiting forever, our ward FINALLY opened nursery back up! Elijah will be three in April but has never attended thanks to Covid shutting everything down. Does it feel a bit ridiculous since we only have three kids in nursery? Yes. Am I excited about it anyway? Also yes. 

First day of nursery outfit.

Be still my heart. 

How did it go? Well, he LOVED it. Zero tears, no separation issues. Happy to be in there playing with cars. And then it was time for the lesson and they put the cars away. Tears. Nothing but tears. And now he refuses to even enter the room. Jon had to literally push him in with his foot last week, plus I had to stay with him the entire time. At least I got to talk to the nursery leader and other mom who was there with her son (who also refused to leave her)!

Last Elijah thing: his new favorite song is "Ra, Ra, Rasputin." He even learned how to get Google to respond to him in an attempt to ask it to play the song. I'm impressed both with Elijah's dedication to hearing his favorite song and with Google's ability to translate toddlerese. 

Random February

 Almost every Sunday recently Catherine's friend Talia has been inviting her over to hang out after church. Sometimes Elise and Aaron get to go as well. This particular week they made cookie dough with the intent to deliver Valentine's cookies to someone. Despite Catherine's tweenager scowl, they had a great time making cookies for the missionaries:

An illustration of the giant, gaping difference between Young Men leaders and Young Women leaders:

Elsa (Joanna), Anna (me), Marshmallow (Julia), and Sven (Diana)

All ready to go deliver a birthday singing telegram to one of our YW.

Also including our older class president, also named Julia.

Want to know what the YM did for Seth's birthday? Nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a text. Does that bother me? Nope. Do I think this is one scenario where the YW could learn a lot from the YM? Absolutely. 

Speaking of YW, one of my favoritist YW got a cake decorating kit for Christmas and asked if she could come get some training. February was the perfect month for this since we had two birthdays. She did a fantastic job on Elise's unicorn cake! Plus we made plans for a cake decorating class for all the girls in our YW group. Summer is not a big fan of pictures, so I snapped one of her hard at work instead:

And, speaking of people who hate getting their pictures taken, Timmy came over and gave my kids a cupcake decorating class:

The most adorable otter cupcakes you've ever seen:

The one one the left is coming for you.

Be afraid.

I really don't know how we won the 'Uncle Timmy lives 15 minutes away' lottery. All the little Blood cousins adore him and would be thrilled to be in our position. Elijah in particular adores Timmy and is constantly asking where Timmy is. Lately when we pull into our neighborhood, he'll start screaming, "No Lijah's house! Go Timmy's house!!!" I keep offering to send Elijah over as a practice foster child, but Timmy just doesn't seem super interested for some reason. 

Being a homeowner means doing exciting things like digging giant holes under your sidewalk. Why? Well, because 20 years ago the HOA planted sycamore trees three feet from the sidewalk. Guess what? Sycamores get big. REALLY big. And they have giant roots that lift up sidewalks. But despite the fact that the HOA put in these trees, it is the individual homeowner's responsibility to deal with the damage the trees have done to the sidewalks. So this is Jon, tunneling under our sidewalk to attempt to remove the giant root that lifted our sidewalk up an inch or two:

The best part of all this is that our giant pile of dirt has been heaven for Elijah and for Bennett (our neighbor boy). They're out there literally every day, mostly undoing the digging that Jon has done. I've always wanted a giant dirt pile in our yard for the kids to play in, but Jon is not a fan of all the muddy shoes and clothes. 

And, finally, some more pictures from co-op (which we are still loving!):

Aaron doing needlework

Me teaching my STEM art class (Elijah refuses to attend his class so he's with me)

The only co-op class Elijah will attend without me:

Food art!

We're so glad we have this awesome co-op this year!