December: Christmas, Walks, and Arden's Blessing

Christmas Eve I made filet mignon for our fancy holiday meal. (Poor Pod had to watch me cook Jim's and mine well done.) Then we read the Christmas story from the Bible and acted it out as we went. Mary, Joseph, and baby-doll Jesus:

Plus Tutu the Wise Man (Ever assigned the parts):

Somehow I completely spaced The Happy Prince, which I didn't realize until the next day. That was really sad. We even had Tutu here to read it. Next year.

We did a little more singing, and Ever and Wren each opened a present:

Since Christmas fell on a Sunday, we had a combined sacrament meeting at 10:00 A.M. with the other wards that meet in our building. We got through a lot of presents before church but not all. Wren and Aardvark weren't the best present openers:

Wrenzy's favorite present was a walker that Tyna received. Here she is with part of it:

Most of Wren's presents remained unopened until after church. At that point, Jim and I weren't really inclined to give them all to her since she wasn't going to appreciate them anyway. We gave her the ones from family and put a couple away for later.

Ever got some science-y gifts (like a solar-system mobile, a microscope, etc.) because certain people in her life want her to be into that sort of thing. She was more excited about the camera she had requested from Santa. Papa helped her figure it out:

He also treated us to a little dance:

Jim had Monday off, so we explored the Wilderness Gardens Preserve. 

Ever took pictures with her camera:

Ever in my favorite picture-taking stance:

Ever looking cute, and me looking dopey:

Lunch break:

Tyna, always happy:

Tuesday Jim worked, and the rest of us just stuck around the house. Wednesday Jim had a half day, so we went on another little hike at Oak Oasis County Park. It was lovely and definitely worth a return trip. I loved the trees and the green.

Thursday was another mellow day. Tyna continued to be the happiest baby on Earth:

We did her baby blessing at the house that night with the Wilsons (Jeremy, Trish, their kids, and Nanny and Papa) and McEwans (Pam and Mark - Trisha's parents).

Jim, Ta-Ta-Ta,* and I:

The guest of honor, surrounded:

Dopey again:

Afterward we had treats. Ever got on the counter at one point, and Jeremy followed suit. Silly man:

Bear can make some pretty exquisite faces:

That concludes Mamo and Pod's visit. (They left Friday the 30th.) We were SO glad they came. We love visits from family!

* We sing a sort of song with Tyna's name, "Ta-ta-ta Tyna." Sometimes we just call her "Ta-Ta-Ta," accent on the second "Ta." 

December: Family Comes, and Arden is Sealed

One day this fall, Ever said something to me about Tutu and Papa's coming for Christmas. I explained that I didn't think Tutu and Papa were coming this year; we try to go to Hawai'i every other year, but Tutu and Papa don't necessarily come to us when we don't go to them. Plus Christian and Shandra were going to Hawai'i this year. I told Mamo and Pod about that conversation with Ever, and it inspired a revelation - Mamo and Pod could come for Christmas and go back just before Christian and Shandra arrived on the Big Island on New Year's Eve. Perfect! So we lucked out and got the parents for Christmas.

Meanwhile Coco and Dun Dun decided to do a whirlwind tour (about two days in each place) to visit all the Hastings siblings before spending Christmas with his family because 1) Coco is amazing about trying to see family and 2) they know they're going to be tied down soon with Tiny Homer. On the California leg, they hit Ventura first and then drove down to Oceanside the night of Wednesday, December 21.

Mamo and Pod flew in Thursday morning, December 22. We fetched them and just hung out that day. In the evening, the men decided to see if they could remove the coverings from the cushions on which Ever had barfed (see birthday post) since they still really stank. It was quite the team effort - and entertaining to watch.

At least one man was sweaty when they finally succeeded, but succeed they did. I was ready to get rid of the whole couch and had made arrangements for a substitute (Derrick Karner has one in his office we could take), so I wasn't afraid of ruining the covers in the laundry. Turns out they can totally be washed and dried, though, so the couch lives on in a vastly improved state.

Bags requested that we do our traditional caroling that night since it was the only night they overlapped Mamo and Pod. That's always jolly time:

Friday was Arden's sealing. It hadn't occurred to me before Jim read the church handbook on surrogacy that because I didn't give birth to Arden, she wasn't born in the covenant. That is the case, however, so we got to go to the temple and add her to our eternal fam. 

The day seemed rather divinely orchestrated. When it was determined that Mamo and Pod would come for Christmas, we decided we should wait until then to do Arden's baby blessing, and we could do her sealing then, too. In November, Pod was called to be a sealer in the Kona temple. We were chatting one night, and I said maybe he could do the sealing. He thought that was a great idea. So Jim and I worked with the stake president to request permission for Arden's sealing, and Pod submitted his request to perform a sealing for family in a different temple than the one in which he was called to serve. Pod's permission came through first; then we got our letter from the Office of the First Presidency granting us permission. (The end of our letter said something like, "Please give our love to the Kringel family." Jim and I were both touched. We really felt the love.) It all came through the week before the sealing. The icing on the cake was that Coco and Dustin were going to overlap Mamo and Pod, so we could do the sealing while they were here, too. It all worked out just right.

Ever is highly interested in the temple. One time we were on the temple grounds, and she really wanted to go inside. I was going to see if I could take her into the foyer, but it was closed for renovations. We've had more than one family home evening lesson on the temple and looked at interior pictures. So one of the best things about the sealing was being able to take Ever inside. 

When we arrived, we took the girls into the youth center. (I had no idea that temples have a little child care area, complete with snacks, toys, etc.) When we walked into the youth center, a woman came up to me and gave me a hug. She said I probably didn't remember her; she was Judy Whittaker when she lived in Kona. She's remarried now, with a different name, but she was a friend of Mamo's while I was young. I told her Mamo was there, and after we got the girls settled, I sent Mamo in to say hi. 

Throughout the temple, we continued to see people we knew or who knew us. The woman who went over some paperwork with Jim and me seemed to know Pod. She was Polynesian and asked if my dad had been the stake president or in the stake presidency. Then when we went up to the sealing room, we found Bea Steere's daughter. (Bea Steere and her sister were in our ward when I was growing up.) It seemed as if everybody had seen our name on the temple schedule and looked forward to our coming. 

When it was time, the temple workers brought our girls upstairs in the elevator. Jim and I were there to meet them when the elevator doors opened. I cried seeing our three little angels emerge in their white dresses and bows. (Judy and the other youth center worker had changed the girls into matching white dresses and had put bows in their hair.) Besides the parentals and the Cocos, it was just Jeremy and Trish in the sealing - nice and intimate. Tyna, who never cries, had just fallen asleep before the temple workers brought her up, so she cried through the sealing. Mamo held her, and Coco took Wrenzy. It was really special to have family there and to have Pod do the sealing. 

Pod lingered on the way out talking to all the temple workers about the various connections we had to them. He's such a cute socializer. 

Outside, Coco busted out her camera and took some nice pictures. Unfortunately Tyna isn't featured in the first couple:

The whole gang, with Jeremy and Trish somewhat ostracized:

The family:

Team Baby:

The sweetest baby getting loved on by Daddy:

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Coco and Dun Dun at the temple, and they headed straight to the airport. (I'm telling you, the fact that the timing worked out for all this was amazing.) 

The rest of us changed clothes and headed to BJ's for some grub. (Jim changed in the BJ's parking lot. Not in the car. Just in the parking lot. Someday the bishop from the Oceanside 4th Ward is going to get arrested for indecent exposure.) 

We made a Baskin Robbins stop. Mississippi Mud is a new favorite. Wish they had it all year round.

Then we went back to the temple to enjoy the Christmas lights.

'Twas a lovely day.

December: Ever's Birthday

Ever's fifth birthday was on Saturday, December 17. I said no party this year. She asked if Nathan could come over for a piñata, and I agreed. Ever also requested that we play baseball (which just means a grown-up throws the ball to her, and she tries to hit it). Seemed like a good idea. She subsequently wanted to add Luc and Amelie Oddou, which was nice. Then Aven Dalton. I figured they would just play outside, and we'd do a piñata and cupcakes and hit the ball around and that was it. When I tried to plan activities for her birthday at the park last year, it seemed as if the kids would've preferred free play. As for the birthday treat, I was interested in trying a recipe for chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting, and Ever thought that sounded good.

Other plans for the day included going to the park with Nathan, Trader Joe's frozen mac and cheese for lunch, In-N-Out burgers for dinner, and a Mommy-and-Ever movie night/sleepover. We had recently finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so we decided to watch that, eat treats, stay up late, and sleep on the couch. It sounded wonderful to me, and we were both really excited.

We kicked off the day with Trader Joe's chocolate croissants:

Things deteriorated after that. Aven had another birthday party to go to, so she got to our house right at 11 since she had to leave at 11:30. Candice asked if Dax could come, too. She said after Legoland, Dax thought he and Ever were friends, and he was really excited about her birthday party even though he wasn't invited. Very cute. Nathan was over at our place by the time the Dalton kids came, I think. Susan ended up running late, however, so Luc and Amelie didn't arrive until after Aven was already supposed to have left. And the kids didn't just play as I thought they would. Aven asked at one point whether there were any activities. There was some hitting of the ball, but that wasn't a group activity. We mainly just waited for Luc and Amelie so we could do the piñata and get Aven to her other party. As soon as Luc and Amelie arrived, it was piñata time. Even the piñata was not without difficulties. Nathan tried to get hit (see video), and there were tears at some point over something. This is all I got:

We gave Aven and Dax cupcakes to go. The rest of us sang and ate cupcakes, and that was pretty much it. The cupcakes tasted like chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting, but nobody but Wren liked them:

Ever wouldn't even try one (until the next day). That was sad. 

So the friend portion of the day was a giant bust. Then after lunch the kids went down for naps. (I figured Ever had to nap if she was going to stay up late.) We ended up having to nix going to the park with Nathan. We did In-N-Out for dinner, which took forever because man, can those girls draw out a meal. We dropped Jim and the littles at home, and I took Ever to Target to spend her birthday money. Cikaneks (Nathan) gave her this whole Frozen set - hat, bag, wallet, etc. Ever took the wallet in the bag to Target and wore the hat. It was quite the ensemble:

After extensive deliberations, during which she tried to force me to make her decision for her, she finally settled on a Barbie. 

We didn't get the movie started until late. Ever was exhausted, but she forced herself to stay awake for the whole thing. We had popcorn and treats. After the movie, she wanted to stay up and read, but she ended up puking on the couch. She was on the chaise portion, and the vomit hit the chaise and went down the crack and onto the adjacent cushions. It was disgusting. Jim cleaned it up the best he could, but the stench was unstoppable. Ever eventually passed out while we were cleaning. 

Since a portion of the couch was out of commission, I slept on the air mattress next to the couch, and Ever took the dry part of the couch. Needless to say, it was not the slumber party we'd been dreaming about.

Sunday evening (the next day) the Wilsons came over for dessert. We sang again:

Ever finally tried one of the cupcakes I had made, and she did not like them. We also had what we call "thrusters" - chocolate chip cookies baked in muffin tins with peanut butter cups pushed into the centers. She much preferred those. At least we had something she could eat. 

Ever had told Auntie Trisha that she wanted a remote-controlled helicopter (because Nathan had one). Trish made that dream come true. Nanny and Papa were also generous.

Ever loves playing around with Uncle Jeremy, who is always a hoot:

Once again, the Wilson portion of the birthday was the highlight. 

We had birthday balloons around the house for some time. If it weren't for Nathan's taking and/or popping them, they never would've gone away. I do enjoy this picture of the girls in the birthday-balloon aftermath: