Ventura

The day after Christmas was a Thursday. The girls and I drove with Tutu and Papa up to Ventura to spend some time with Dee and Shan and fam. (Jim had to work.) We hung out that afternoon, and Shan made us chicken marsala for dinner.

The Deetrixes had just discovered a super lit-up neighborhood and were kind enough to go again so we could experience it. They said some people had taken their lights down already, but it was still incredible. I had been debating taking Mamo and Papo out to Candy Cane Lane in Poway (about 30 miles away from our house) but was afraid it would be really crowded and not worth the trek. I was very glad we got to do this instead.

We had a slow morning Friday but eventually made it to the big park in downtown Ojai, where we ate lunch and the kids played. Then we found a nature trail (Ojai Meadows Preserve, I believe) and went for a lovely walk. We did a flat loop, but there are more trails that head uphill we'll have to explore sometime.

Ever hit a phase of incredibly unfortunate posing for pictures. Not my flave. Pod tried to follow her lead.

We went by a giant hill in the beginning of the loop. Tiny had a hard time climbing up. She just kept sliding. Ever helped her up the last little section to the top.  

My girls would have played on that hill forever. Ever was distraught when I made her move on with the rest of the group. I promised we could hit the hill again before we left.

Another fun place for the kids to play was this giant log:

Again with the posing:

Can't remember why Ever got grumpy. Maybe I tried to make her stop posing.

I had to put Tiny in a time-out by the log for terrible behavior while the rest of the group went on. We caught up to them and watched the ducks on the pond.

I tried to take a picture of the kids, but they hid.

Fence climbing is fun.

I had thought we'd come back by the hill on the way out, but we didn't. I had to keep my promise to Ever, so Pod (who was going to ride to Ventura in our car) returned to the hill with us. Turns out it wasn't as fun the second time around, without all the other kids there, so we were soon on our way.

We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Tiny had to stop to go to the bathroom during the drive (oh, that tiny bluster of hers!), so we were last getting there. I took her to the bathroom before we left the restaurant, and then she had to go again between there and Baskin-Robbins. Ridiculous. So we were late getting to BR, and then Tiny was doing the smallest little licks of ice cream. I thought we'd be there for hours.

We were there a while. The Deetrixes went home. Finally we left, and Tiny ate her ice cream in the car.

Saturday the 28th, we went for a little hike by a park. The landscape was very brown and the weather unseasonably scorching, but it was nice to get out.

Pod and I tried to hike a little longer than the others, but the trail we thought would take us up and around didn't connect as we were hoping. We got a little extra time out there, though.

Down in the park area, the kids had much fun riding bikes and skateboards down the hill. Ever on a skateboard: 

Wren on a skateboard:

Ever on a bike:

We must have eaten dinner together, but I don't remember. Then we said goodbye to the Deetrixes and drove back to Oceanside with Tutu and Papa.  

Through Christmas, with Tutu and Papa

On Sunday, December 22, Jim worked really hard to get our lights up.

He also decided to make a new cookie recipe he found in one of his Sunset magazines. He has a lot of confidence in the kitchen and took some liberties. Instead of rolling the dough into a log, refrigerating it, and then slicing and baking it, he refrigerated the whole bowl of dough. It became rock-hard, and breaking bits off to form traditional dough balls was a real task that for some reason fell to me. The cookies baked up flat as pancakes. Then Jim decided to pile them on top of one another on a plate straight out of the oven rather than let them cool on a rack, so they all stuck together in a single mass. We began calling it a "loaf."

While presentation was lacking, the loaf tasted fine, and it got eaten. After lunch the next day, it looked like this:

And then it was gone.

Pod tried to resist, but Jim sucked him into the giant puzzle. The first night, Pod tried to pretend he wasn't really doing it, so he never sat down. He just stood and bent and made his back hurt bad. Finally he gave in, took a seat, and spent many hours like this:

Meanwhile Tutu worked by flashlight on one she'd been doing with Wren (with really, really  tiny pieces). 

We played Dominoes. The girls got so into it that they continued the next day, and Bear couldn't tear herself away for tooth brushing.

I wanted to do gingerbread houses with Tutu but was too lazy to build our own as Tutu does. We grabbed three kits from Costco instead. Tutu and I had a heck of a time putting them together and getting them to stay up. It was rather hilarious. We did manage to end up with three upright houses, though, so that was a big win.

Wren turned Elvis on and began dancing with Ever's school photo. Her moves changed when I found her and started videotaping, but this still gives an idea. Sorry about my laugh. 

Tutu did Christmas crafting with the girls, which they loved.

I made a white chocolate lemon cheesecake for the third time. The first time I made it, the crust looked a little funny, but it was absolutely amazing. The second time I made it, I undercooked it a little, so the cheesecake wasn't as firm as I wanted it to be. This time, I kept cooking it and cooking it, on account of the fear of underbaking, and it turned out so hideously brown and cracked and ugly. It still tasted OK, but seriously - since when is cheesecake so hard? I always thought it was easy, but apparently I am now incapable. 

Christmas Eve we sang Christmas carols and read The Happy Prince (so wonderful to have Tutu here to read it!). We had already read the Bible passages about Jesus's birth during the week, thanks to the Come, Follow Me program, so we didn't reread that on Christmas Eve. 

We had a modest Christmas as far as gifts go. Nothing huge. No trampoline or anything to put together until 2:00 A.M., so that was nice. We went down to start the festivities around 7:00 A.M. 

Waffles are always a highlight. Can't beat Nutella Belgians.

We went for a walk / golf ball hunt after lunch. We ran into the Subrebosts, who were heading out for the same purpose with friends of theirs (Rafi's friend, Alexander, and his dad).

Because he loves the girls, Jim tried to get into the water to find balls in there. He quickly discovered it got deep immediately, and his attempt was unsuccessful.

It was a lovely afternoon.

Some people looked harder than others. Pod was all in. We discovered a new talent of his. He went way into the brush and went home with a lot of golf balls.

Tiny was less motivated, and she got tuckered.

Golf balls were washed before we headed home. Ever was hot by that point, so she sported her shirt behind her head. 

By Christmas night, the 1,000-piece puzzle was finished. Triumph!

'Twas a pleasant, mellow Christmas.

Ever's Birthday and Baptism

Ever turned eight on December 17. The Saturday before, Anna took Leela and Rafi, Ever, and Naomie Badillo (friend from school) to SeaWorld to celebrate. Anna had passes somehow. Naomie and Leela were both born on December 18, so this was Anna's present to the three girls. They had a great, long day. On the way home, the girls begged to sleep over at Leela's house. Anna called from the car, and Ever was completely shocked and ecstatic when I agreed. (Still struggling with the whole sleepover thing. Think we shouldn't do them, but sometimes ...)

My requirement for allowing Ever to sleep at Leela's was that she come home first thing in the morning for our family pancake breakfast and then church. The pancakes helped her not be sad about coming home right away.

The 17th was on a Tuesday. I switched my work day that week so I could be home. Ever opened our presents in the morning. Mostly I got her a bunch of clothes because I realized we never got her any before this school year, and she was in dire need.

We invited Naomie, Leela, and Ever's friends from church (Ella Rondo, Avery Walker, Kyra Nearents, and Chloe Bunnell) for a scavenger hunt, homemade pizza, and Rice Krispie treats. I spent a while online trying to find a good scavenger hunt. Then after I had prepared everything, I found in a file the scavenger hunt we did for Ever's fourth birthday, and it was practically the same. Talk about reinventing the wheel.

Shortly after we got on the trail, Avery Walker picked up some coyote poop and asked if it could count as something rough. Ella was like, "Ew, that's coyote poop!" Avery got this horrified look on her face. I calmly said, "Yeah, I think that's coyote poop. Let's put that down and wash our hands when we get home." We saw Anna and Rafi out there (they were looking for golf balls) and kind of joined up with them for a while.

There was a lovely sunset while we were out.

Back at home, while I got dinner ready, the girls dumped out their bags and showed one another what they'd found. In the process, a hitchhiking spider was released onto the table, but he was short-lived. Then we ate pizza, sang, and blew out candles on the Rice Krispie treats.

Then there were presents.

Ever also attended Naomie's birthday party at some point. It was a huge event with tons of family and food. Ever was so shy and freaked out when I dropped her off; she was clinging to me and didn't want me to leave. She didn't know anyone there but Naomie. She ended up having a great time, though. We were told to take a swimsuit. Naomie's mom said she hoped it would be warm enough to swim. The pool was not heated, though, so it was freezing. I think swimming was minimal. Ever was invited to sleep over, but we declined, and I picked her up late.

Tutu and Papa flew in late on Thursday, December 19, and we held Ever's baptism on Saturday the 21st. We thought it would be intimate and nice to come back to the house for treats afterward. I don't regret it, but it did take work to get the house prepared and bake all the things. Tutu and Papa helped a lot. We finished getting our house re-stuccoed the end of that week, so the exterior of the house was a mess. Lots of things had to be moved and cleaned and ordered. Pod helped Jim deal with that. 

The baptism was at 6:00 P.M. on Saturday. Jim was adamant that we start on time, even though that has never happened in the history of latter-day baptisms. I supported that, but Trish grabbed Ever for a picture right around 6:00, which reminded me that I had not taken one yet.

I made Jim and Ever come out of the room really quick for a photo. Jim seriously tried to refuse but finally, very unhappily, relented. Tiny jumped into the shot and then Wren. Jim wouldn't let the photoshoot go longer than 10 seconds, on account of the need to start on time, so this was the best I could do: 

Here was Ever's program (a wrinkled version):

It took me a really long time to create that basic document. Anyway, the program was wonderful. Ever just wanted one talk by Jim, who prepared nothing in advance and shared a sweet, short message from the heart. I thought since I'm her mom I'd get out of the Primary welcome, but she wanted me to do it instead of Auntie Melanie (my first counselor). Tutu and Papa did a bang-up job with the music. We were just going to have Tutu play the piano while Ever and Jim were getting dried off and changed. I was absolutely delighted when Ever and I walked back into the Relief Society room and found Papa leading everyone in Christmas carols. I thought, "Ah, of course we should sing Christmas songs!" Pod was very cute up there conducting.

A few friends from activity days joined Ever for the musical number.  The original plan was to do a "Baptism"/"When I Am Baptized" mashup, but I got concerned when we tried to run through it the Sunday before. Despite Sara Walker's assurances that the girls could pull it off, I pulled the plug on the medley and convinced Ever that we should just do one song straight. She chose "When I Am Baptized" over "Baptism."  That obviated the need for any further practice and allayed my stress.  I told Sara her girls could harmonize at the end (which they'd been doing when we tried the mashup on Sunday), and that would jazz it up. Ella Rondo and Avery and Olivia Walker sang, plus Ever.  That might have been it.  Lelei Thompson was so late that she missed it (see below), and another friend who was going to be there didn't end up making it.  I thought it would be cute if Wren and Tiny joined the singing group, but Ever didn't go for that.  The girls were shy but did fine until the last line, when Avery and Olivia's attempt at harmony confused the others.  The grand finale ended up not being so grand, but that's what I get for trying to jazz it up, especially without any practice.      

Ever's Primary teacher, Helen Nichols, took notes of Ever's confirmation blessing. Based not at all on my memory and entirely on Sister Nichols's notes, I believe these things (or thereabouts) were said in her blessing: Ever is a very special young woman. She's sensitive; she sees suffering and helps. Jim admonished her to use that gift to bless Heavenly Father's children and said she can comfort her sisters, as well as friends at school and at church. She can be a light. She has a work to do, as we all do. She can be a blessing to others. Pray earnestly, daily, to be closer to Heavenly Father. Listen for instruction. Love. Be happy. Enjoy our wonderful earth and all our conveniences. Put Heavenly Father first, and other things will fall into place. 

I got emotional during my Primary welcome, and then the whole thing ended at 6:30 P.M. We set a world record for shortest baptism, and I was so proud. It was perfect. I've realized there is no reason for them to be longer than that. I saw Amy and Lelei Thompson come in as we were singing the closing song. I heard later that when she walked in, Heidi Hawkins asked, "Are you just getting here?" Amy said, "Yeah, better late than never, right?" And Heidi said, "It's over!" Whoops.

We invited everyone to come back to the house for some of Ever's favorite treats, which meant we got some nice time with good friends. We provided chocolate mint cookies, pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, yellow cake with chocolate frosting (the making of which I delegated to Deb Moffat), a lemon bundt cake (which did not turn out as I wanted it to, but Ever still liked it), mint M&Ms, and some Dove chocolates of some sort. I think that's it. Trisha and Cali had to take off right after the baptism, but Jeremy came over and brought some of Trisha's salsa. I put it out with a bag of chips, and it was a hit. 

Ever was so exhausted that she passed out on the bench by the kitchen table at 8:30.

I realized at the end of the night that I had not taken any pictures at all besides the couple right outside the Relief Society room. No family pictures. I was super bummed about that. We remedied by taking pictures after church the next day, with Ever in her white dress.

It was a lovely weekend, and it was special to have Tutu and Papa here.

Ever at eight years old: Her favorite color is still blue. Favorite foods are still pizza and treats, treats, treats. She is an incredibly sweet big sister. Wrenzy, especially, absolutely adores her. She is super bright - a math genius and a crazy fast reader. We call her a detective because she always has to know what's going on, what Jim and I are saying (confidentially) to each other, how many treats others have eaten and what size they were, etc. She can be super silly, but on the whole she is generally more mature than her peers. She loves crafting, knitting, sewing, and otherwise creating, which is difficult for me. She says (not in these words) that my lack of ability/interest in such things is my big failing. She is looking forward to growing up and has a concerning interest in romance. She used to have eyes only for Jim, but now she's going through a phase when she's all about me. She snuggles with me in the morning (while Tiny goes to Jim) and always asks me to sit next to her at dinner. She wants to sit on my lap when we read and just generally wants all my affection and attention. I mostly eat it up and wonder how long it will last. Ever is a delight, and Jim always tells her how grateful we are that she came first and kicked off our family.