Happy New Year!

Didn't really make any major resolutions.

Just the usual--stay on top of life and laundry.

Enjoy these amazing little kids more.  Accumulate less stuff.

Do my best on the thesis process (even if a thesis result doesn't happen), Rachel.  Collin work on getting a job abroad and move a family even further away from family.  Have an adventure or five, family.  Learn to write Davy's last name.  Learn those tricky lower-case letters, Eddy.  Sleep through the night (all of us but mostly Eliza).

You know, the usual.

In any case, if it is half as wonderful as this last year has been it will be one great year for our family.

Happy New Year!

Christmas This Year

Christmas was magical, as it should be.

Our family spent Christmas Eve with our traditional "new world" dinner (Mexican food), an acting-out nativity, and visiting our adopted grandma, Abuela Lily.  The boys set out eggnog and cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph then happily went to bed.  After they finally settled for the night Santa's helpers brought out the lovely gifts that drowned our little dowel tree.

Christmas morning came bright and beautiful.  We opened breakfast in stockings and then set to opening gifts.  There were so many thoughtful presents for all of us from family.  We felt so loved!

The boys begged for some time to just play with the toys they had already opened about halfway through the pile, so we took a break and let the kiddos enjoy their Legos, books, superhero dollhouse, etc.

Collin had visited the oldest toy shop in London still in operation on his recent business trip and brought back several special gifts for the boys.  I think we adults actually enjoyed this drawing board the most.  It takes patience to play with old-fashioned toys, what do you know.

Baby girl's first Christmas was wonderful.  She loved the crinkly paper and soft ribbons.  And watching her brothers be excited and hyper about everything.  Easy to please, that princess.

Grandma sent two wonderful books, one she narrated for the children (it was listened to over and over.  I think Grandma has a new career path as a read-aloud-recorder!) and one Davy can read called "Back to Bed, Ed!" that is sorely needed in this house of night-time wanderers.

The two gifts Collin and I gave to the kids were homemade and, man, we had fun making them!  We took an old little shelf and created a place for a super-family to hang out and put the bad guys in prison. 

The teepee was a fun project.  I think I'd make it a lot different next time, but I was using things we already had for the most part.  Overall I'm okay with the result.  Most importantly, I think the boys will like to play in it this winter, which was the whole purpose.

Christmas always leaves too fast.  Faster every year, it seems.  I'm so grateful for a time to pause and remember and make memories.

Taking this Hobby One Step Further (?)

My mom is a very wise woman.  I'm sure I've said that and proved it many times already in previous posts.  One way that she was super smart was in raising us to have interest in many quality endeavors.  (And lest we forget my amazing dad, I want to stress that he supplied a good deal of the passion and verbosity in speaking of these hobbies.)  I think my mom and dad wished their children to find enjoyment in life and be able to serve others with the gifts God gave us. 

Also, my practical mother wanted us to be able to become proficient enough to (ideally) have our hobbies pay for themselves.  For example, my mom teaches enough piano to be able to have it tuned regularly.  I taught horse-back riding lessons through high school and college (and when first married) to supplement the cost of boarding a horse. 

I'm sure I could think of other examples but honestly it's getting late . . . 

And too bad I don't really know of a way to make money reading because I'm awfully good at that and spend a great deal of time.  Thank goodness for libraries and free Kindle books!

Anyway, I'll stop tangentializing.  I have all sorts of hobbies and passions.  Just the other day (okay, fine, just one more tangent) I was moaning to Collin about the fact that my project pile has gotten beyond my control yet again and I have no time for needlework any more and yadda blah blah.  After listening so patiently he said something in return that stopped me in my tracks and made me think.  (He's so good at that.)  He said that photography is my needlework right now.  Meaning that, everything has its season and one hobby and good endeavor doesn't supplant another in the grand scheme of things, but life is long and we/I can enjoy doing a variety of things at different times of life.  Some bloggers and friends make it seem like it's possible to do it all all the time but that's just a persona, a glittery public image.  (Oh goodness, but that's a whole 'nother tangent for another night!)

So, my newest hobby that has taken the majority of my passion and time and energy is taking pictures.  Mostly of my own kids, obviously.  But I've also been taking pictures of friends and for friends for a couple years.  Recently, this past fall, I serendipitously branched out into taking pictures for families I had never met before.  Wow, were those stretching experiences of the best kind.  I learned so so much about myself, being behind the lens of a camera, and other people from those interactions.

I've been building a photography portfolio for some time now and it's time to unveil the files.  I put together another website that will hold the best of pictures of my own children, as well as those I take for family and good old friends and new-met acquaintances and friends. 

It's in it baby stages now, with just a few highlight slide shows and a couple posts of sessions.  I'll add to it as time goes on.  It's honestly mostly for me, as a sort of gallery of how I'm growing in this hobby.  If somehow--from this website or otherwise--I get to contribute to the costs of this hobby (including a coveted fancier upgraded camera, etc.) then that's fantastic!  If nothing else, though, I feel happy seeing all those people I love best and have been blessed to know in one place!

Drum roll, please . . . Come on over to my first attempt at a professional-ish photography site!

(Feedback on improvements very welcome.  Seriously, bring on the ideas for how to make it good.  Thanks a ginormous brownie sundae!)

Happy Fifth Birthday, Davy

In our special globe walk tradition for Davy's fifth birthday, he counted very carefully how many times around the "sun" he went and wanted a story or anecdote from each year that he's been alive. 

He is extremely pleased to be a whole hand old.

Davy celebrated on Monday with friends.  His best buddy, Calvin, was born two days before in the same hospital (I got to hold baby Cal when I was laboring with Davy and didn't feel a single contraction the whole time I was holding him, so excited about the prospect of a real baby I was).  Those boys get along really well, and Cal's family is just the coolest family in the world. 

They set up their huge tent in the living room so we could have story time, camp songs, and sleeping bag "rests" in between doing a bear hunt, making pretzel fires, and eating s'mores.  

Blowing out candles in marshmallows was the highlight of the party.  Right up there after a peppermint pattie s'more.

For the family celebration Davy requested a Spiderman cake.  Man, those webs are deceptively tricky.  In the end, though, Davy said it looked just like Spiderman and so mission accomplished.

I don't know what Davy wished for as he blew the candles on his cake (probably a Lego set with handcuffs.  He's been obsessed with a friend's police set that has handcuffs.) but my wish was that he go into this next year with the same enthusiasm and determination that he has his whole life so far. 

What is it about kids that have this hunger to grow up and become more?  Our spirits come seriously driven.  Our souls must be more energetic and whole and powerful than we can fathom.

You know, I was talking with my sister today about how I sometimes tell my kids to just stop growing up.  Just stay right where you are and never get any older.  And I do mean that in all seriousness.  We could just freeze frame right here and I would be pleased as punch--for a while. 

But growth and stretching and failing and triumphing are way too thrilling to put a pause on life. 

And yet, as much as I love where we've been and where we are headed, I'm learning to love this moment.  This very moment in the present now.

So how do I reconcile the fact that I don't actually often really truly want Davy to go back to being a baby Davy or a toddler Davy.  I love his layers and facets.  All the experiences that he has gone through to become who he is now are too important to want to go back.  He is richer, deeper, broader and more whole every day he does wake up.  Older, yes.  More stubborn (or at least more able to express the stubborn and getting too big to pick up and carry and boss around)--every morning.  Stronger in all the great Davy qualities, definitely. 

Rewind time?  No thanks.  Bottle up a few precious moments from baby and toddler and little kid-hood?  That would be awesome. 

So I guess this is just part of parenting and the process of growing up, to figure out how to weave the past, present, and future into one good lifetime.

I think I can get used to the fact that he loves stories and pictures and memories of him as a baby and little kid, because I love those as well.  And ultimately, five-year-old Davy Lambourne is the perfect place for all of us--for now.

Getting Really in the Spirit of the Season

Like, really in . . .

I had a beautiful light bulb creative moment when driving back into our driveway after dropping Davy off at preschool this morning.  There is a lovely big fresh evergreen pine on our door from our church's annual Wreath Making event (which is THE event of the season in Belmont and has been for 50 years).  I thought, let's put some kids inside that massive wreath and get more than our money's worth out of the thing!

So I ran inside to tell Katy my idea and she looked at me like I was crazy then helped me set up a makeshift studio on our dining table pushed against the wall.  The kids thought I was equally as nuts, but I guess they are more used to it already so they just went along with it pretty well.

And, bonus, I finally figured out how to get rid of the annoying sepia pictures that have been ruining my gorgeous black and whites.  (There is a button on google+ that by default "auto-corrects" your uploaded photos that you have to turn off, in case anyone else is having this problem.)

So enjoy our little winter elves!

I'm a real black and white kind of girl, but there are some pictures I like in color, too.  Rarely, but sometimes, I can't decide if I like a picture better in color or in black and white.  There are nice things about each of these, photographically.  Either way though, the kids shown absolutely rock my world!

And some out-takes, because honestly who doesn't love the real behind the scenes stuff:

Eliza was so done being tickled by the needles (though they were fresh and actually quite soft).  I love how this is pretty much as bad as it gets.  Just, "Uh, Mom, I'm a little ready to get out of here!"

We don't do Elf on the Shelf (seriously, yet another thing to keep track of and do?) but this picture totally reminded me of that holiday craze.  Adorable Eddy.

A little juggling practice and sweet big brother.  I'll have you know that it was Edward who insisted we get these hilarious hats from the dollar bins at Target.  And Katy said yes, so there you go!

 

Eliza wasn't quite so happy to return to the photo studio center stage when it was Davy's turn to hold her.  Davy did his best to keep her happy and quiet her down.  By sticking his finger up her nose.  Hmm.

And I giggle every time I see that look on Liza Bee's face, looking toward the ornament Davy is holding.  We were pretty strict about keeping them and their cheap glitter away from her mouth but she was hungry for them! 

I was commenting to Collin that it's virtually impossible to get a great picture of all three kids now I don't know how we'll do it when there are four.  He looked bemusedly at me and said, "That's the thing you're most concerned about thinking of adding another kid to the mix?"  Well, yeah!  Grocery store, whatever.  Two hours of Stake Conference meetings on the hard chairs in the noisy cultural hall, bring it on.  Seven hour car trips, no biggie.  But pictures?  Now that's serious stuff.

Oh these children are just about my favorite part of life.  They are the main reason I wake up in the morning--for so many reasons good and annoying and beautiful and painful all wrapped up together in the most poignant and perfect gift imaginable.