Dear Santa, I have been ...

Very Nice

Mostly Nice, but with a little Naughty sprinkled in, esp. when I tease my big sister. Only because it is so fun.

Nice, but that doesn't mean I like you, Santa.

A child's Christmas

I love EVERYTHING about Christmas with children. I love their excitement for our advent activities. I love reading Christmas books to them. I love making gingerbread houses and driving around to look at lights. I love the way R and K dance around the tree. I love the way E rushes to the mailbox to check for Christmas cards everyday (by the way, we will mail ours out next week). And I esp. love the way that they organize the children's Nativity set so that everyone, including the sheep and cows, form a circle around the baby Jesus.
December can be such a hectic month and there can be so many distractions that chase the Christmas spirit away. But I really want to stop and enjoy all of this.
I was recently talking to a friend who mentioned it will be her first Christmas without her newly married daughter. I was so embarrassed but when she told me this I just cried. I know the day will come when we have to share these babies of ours with their own families. When that day comes I promise to be supportive like my mother graciously always is. But I know when that time does come I will ache for the days when I had to keep K from taking all the ornaments down from the tree. So in spite of all Christmas's craziness, I am choosing to love every moment with these little girls of mine. This exact time when impromptu carolling echoes through our house and Santa is as real as Mommy and Daddy. I just wish I could bottle this time forever. When the Christmas chaos was just perfect.

An unforgettable visit ...

One of my favorite people ever came to visit for Thanksgiving. LeAnn and I have been friends since our freshmen Y group at BYU. She was the rodeo beauty queen from Northern Arizona and I was the preppy girl from New England. We instantly became the best of friends.
Here we are ALL these years later, with 7 terrific children between us, 2 amazing and similar husbands (girls - always marry the very smart and nice boys), and yet when we are together the "older and wiser" becomes the "young at heart and silly". My girls absolutely worshipped her daughters. They are at the age where they tend to do that with older girls. And her daughters happily indulged them (thanks K and A so much). E found a kindred spirit in L. It was all I could do to let K leave. The day after she left I kind of felt the same way I did when she and Lars graduated from BYU all those years ago and left me behind in Provo - a little sad but so grateful for the prayer so many years ago that brought two girls from totally different worlds together.

Aren't they both so fabulous ...

R's new favorite person.

"Garden of the Gods". Colorado is so diverse and breathtaking.

10 Amazing Years

I'm sitting at my desk at work, looking at a picture of Dina and me that we took at longwood gardens in Philadelphia the summer before we got engaged. Dina still looks as young and beautiful as she did on that day more than 11 years ago. I remember how excited I was to be her boyfriend. She was, and is, everything that any man would want - beautiful, smart, confident, fun, and a little vulnerable. I look at that picture and think about how lucky I am to be with a girl like Dina.

Right next to that picture is a picture of our girls laying on the floor of our house in Boston with their heads close together. I see a lot of Dina in their smiles. I also see a mischievous gleam in their eyes. In addition to raising our daughters to be just as amazing as she is, Dina is their chauffeur, chef, social planner, drill sergeant, hair dresser, EMT, cuddle buddy and friend. She works as hard as the day is long. I look at that picture and think about how lucky I am to have a wife like Dina.

Our love has spanned continents, seen good times and bad, and taken us to places we could never have imagined (Denver). The girl that I fell in love with is now the woman that I can't live without and I love her more, with more depth and breadth of feeling, than ever. I still can't believe that she picked me. Happy 10th Anniversary.

First Colorado Snow fall

The girls woke up one morning to their first Colorado snowfall. The girls said the snow was "greatest thing on earth". E wanted so badly to go to school a half hour early to play in the snow with her friends.
I love the optimism and adventure these little people bring to life. I remember our first winter back to Boston after Mike finished law school. We moved from D.C. where if they even project snow, schools close in advance. It snowed over 100 inches that winter in our town. Our girls could not have more happy for each and every Nor'easter that winter.

A Vail Birthday

My cute husband and girls took me to Vail for the weekend for my birthday. It was my second best birthday ever (the first was when Mike surprised me by coming home from Korea early on my birthday). I love Vail. Thank you so much, Mike.

Just another reason why I love Mike - "Sarah, Plain and Tall"

Recently Mike was reading to the girls "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan. We love that book and have read it more times than I can count. But this was the first time we read it since our move to the west. The book beautifully tells the story of Sarah, a woman who answers an ad in a newspaper placed by a widowed father of two looking for help to raise his children and with household chores. Sarah, from Maine, moves to his farm in the Mid-West. Sarah, however, truly misses New England, and in particular, the ocean. But in time, comes to love the family more than Maine.
I was downstairs cleaning as Mike read this to the girls but I could hear that he was getting a little choked up in the end. When he finished reading the book he told the the girls that Mommy was just like Sarah. That I, Mommy, loved New England with my whole heart. But that I loved Daddy so much more.
I was really touched my sweet husband's sentiments and acknowledgement of my love of home. I have not talked too much about how much I do miss Boston, the ocean, the trees (I miss those trees) mostly because as mother life really isn't about you. It is about your family. And I truly want Mike and the girls to love our new home. Besides, I, too, am falling in love with Colorado. There is so much here to love, esp. our new friends.
But it made me love Mike all the more knowing that he knows me so well as to know that moving away from New England was heartbreaking for me. But where ever he and our girls are - that is my home. And it is the place I love most in the whole world.

Autumn Fun

I still miss E when she is at school. I love her company.

K is the neighborhood mascot. These boys are such boys but they seem to have a soft spot for K. She adores them. We walk to school with them. They love to have K high five them in front of their friends. Each gives her a big hug when they get to school.

Here is R channeling her inner Tom Sawyer with some of the neighborhood children. The boy in the red is one of her new best friends. He lives across the street. They literally follow each other around like puppies. E calls him her new Dante.

Hiking at Waterton Canyon. Mike is thrilled to be back to the mountains.

Wonder Woman, Mulan and ... not a cow

It was a fun Halloween. The girls loved their costumes ... except K. We picked out a cute cow costume. It scared poor K. Luckily, E grabbed a princess dress from the dress up closet. Which suited K just fine. She kept saying "pritty, pritty".
Our neighborhood has a tradition of getting together for dinner before Halloween. We all gathered at Stacey's house for a potluck. Then all the neighborhood kids went trick or treating together. Afterwards they gathered at Stacey's house again and swapped candy. With the way they traded candies some of these kids will be Wall Street Brokers. someday. The Stanley's set up a tent in the cul de sac with cider for the kids and neighbors to warm up after trick or treating. We are so grateful for such great neighbors.
I got to go to E's school party.

Her school does a big Halloween parade around the soccer field and all the families are invited. There were some clever costumes - bacon, a Rubik's cube, a toilet.

R's pre-school party at Ms. Leigh's house.

She loved her Wonder woman costume so much she slept in it. Wonder Woman perfectly suits her adventurous personality.

Even R's tennis class had a party.

K didn't get to trick or treat. She was too tired after the neighborhood party. But she LOVED staying home and handing out candy with me. She would jump up and down when the bell rang, grab the candy bowl, and insist on putting each candy in every bag. Then she would high five the trick or treaters, close the door and high five me. That little one had such a blast and I had a blast just watching her.
There are so many children in our town. We handed out over 200 pieces of candy. We eventually ran out and had to turn off the lights. When Mike was trick or treating he said the neighborhood was a total zoo. I have to say, I love living in a zoo.

defining moments

I had one of those moments today that remind me in the most simplest of ways that there really is no greater joy than motherhood. The two big girls were at friends' homes for play dates. K and I took advantage of having the trampoline all to ourselves. It was the perfect setting: a beautiful autumn afternoon, a trampoline, a mom and a one year old. K and I had such a great time just laughing and singing and playing. I kept thinking while we were out there that it was sad in a way that she will never remember this moment. She is still so young it is inevitable that she will forget that perfect moment, on that perfect day during our first fall in Colorado. But the more that I have thought about our little time together, I have realized something important. Even though K will not remember this moment, I have a feeling that someday, when she is all grown - I will. And although it may not define her childhood, it will be one of those small, everyday moments that will define my motherhood.

Our basement "before photos"

Halloween Party

The girls invited friends over the day before the party to help bake treat. Most of the dough ended up in the tummies, though.
Wrap the mummy. I felt bad for the kids who had to wrap Benson and Charles. They are really tall men.

These are the brave few who made it to end of the movie, Haunted Mansion. Most the little ones thought it was too scary. (It's not really all that scary for the record.)

The donut eating contest.

We played a Halloween movie for the kids outside. While all the adults watched the Red Sox game inside. I love Halloween.

School break and the return of childhood

The girls have the next two weeks off from school for Autumn Break. I love having a break at this time of year when the weather is so nice.
I was asking our neighbor what she planned for her children to keep them busy during this time off. She told me aside from a few day trips and hikes that she really did not plan anything. The children are happy to just play with the other children in the neighborhood all day.
This response is so different than what we experienced in Boston. During the summers in Boston children are so scheduled. There is tennis day camp and swim day camp (not just lessons), and music camp, and reading lesson and math lessons. Not that there is anything wrong with this, our own girls started day camp at three. But Mike and I noticed that this was so different from when we grew up. When we were younger, parents let their children play outside from morning to night, only calling them in for meals. Children were left to wander, imagine, get dirty and play make believe. Your neighbors were an extended family. If giving the option between television or being outside, the outside always won.
Maybe times were more simple then but certainly you never heard of ADD or Internet addictions or childhood obesity.
Needless to say, I am grateful that is neighborhood is an extended family. Where the swing set is more than just a slide but it is also fortress. Where everyone has a fence with a gate between the neighbors' yard. And where television is "boring". I love hearing the girls play tag and watching the parade of neighborhood children come in and out of our house.
I love the story time that happens on our trampoline when the girls and their friends gather to hear the older girls read books and pretend that they are teachers and our daughters and their friends are their students. But mostly I love the spontaneous laughter that seems to ring all day long.
I guess childhood is making a comeback. I couldn't be more happy.

Saying goodbye to a most beloved Grandma

This past week we did a very difficult but a very happy thing - we said goodbye to my Mom. My mother entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center) on Monday. She will be leaving us for 14 months to serve in the Canado Toronto for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have known for a while that this moment would come, and yet somehow on that day saying goodbye to a beloved grandmother and mother was much harder than we ever anticipated. Poor E cried for days. At the MTC she would not let Grandma go. R wanted to go with her.
Words cannot began to express how proud we are of our missionary. We are so grateful for the example she has set for her grandchildren. We are so grateful for the way she lives the gospel so completely. Even though it is hard to be apart from mom and grandma we know she is exactly where she should be. We love grandma and mom. We will miss her hugs and help. She always makes each of us feel like we are the very best thing in the whole world.
My mother has called the girls every single of day of their little lives. We will miss her calls. But we know that she has more accomplish right now. Our girls keep saying that they want to be missionaries just like grandma someday.
Grandma, we love and miss you already. But we know that there are families in Canada just waiting for you. So we will share you. We really really love this sweet woman.

"Someday I want to be just like Grandma."
We love you.
Poor E, she literally wouldn't let Grandma go up until the very end. She told me afterwards her heart was broken. But she was going to write to Grandma everyday.

grandma and grandpa's visit

One of the nice things about moving to Colorado is that we have been able to see family quite a bit. Grandpa and Grandma came recently. Grandpa had a conference but the girls went to 1870 Reenactment Farm with Grandma and Daddy. Poor E was in school.

a little homesick for New England (but still love Colorado)

I really love this ...

but this time of year I really miss this ...
Autumn in New England ...
I miss the all the excitement that only happens there this time of year, like pumpkin patches ...
and pumpkin festivals with your favorite friends ...

and hayrides ...

and apple picking (a time honored New England tradition) ...

with amazing friends ...

and nothing compares to baseball in October ...

being played by your beloved team ...
I love Colorado and am so glad to call it home but I really ache for New England right now. I guess I always will this time of year. I guess a part of me always will ...