The
holidays are here, and once again, I find myself cramming too many things into
not enough time. As crazy as it gets, I
really do love this time of year. One of
my favorite things is going to the mailbox and finding cards and letters from
you, our loved ones. It is so much fun
to hear how you are doing and to see pictures of your beautiful families.
Our major news this year is that we are
expecting another baby. I know, I know…
we just had a baby! You don’t need to
tell us that. I made the mistake of
announcing to everyone I know that we were done at # 5. So, if that’s the last you heard from me, I
take it back. You might call this our
bonus baby (buy five, get one free). She
(yes, it is a girl) is due in April.
Looking ahead to the teenage years, things might be very interesting at
our house considering that we will have three girls that are just over three
years apart. Yikes! Although we have had to adjust to the idea of
having six children, we are so looking forward to this new spirit and all that
she will bring to our family.
Austin
(12) is busy with friends, schoolwork and eating us out of house and home. He is a great kid: easy-going and
good-natured. He has recently begun
negotiations for a cell phone. He swears
that “everyone” he knows already has one (yeah, right!). He works pretty hard to make his case, but
the poor kid has a dad who negotiates for a living, making it a pretty tough
sell. We finally told him that he can
have a cell phone when he becomes an Eagle Scout. No, we are not above bribing our
children. His latest passion is
lacrosse. He played in both a spring and
a fall league and has fallen in love with the sport. He is also hoping to squeeze in a season of
basketball this winter. Thank goodness
for carpool! He is still an avid reader
and loves to play chess, Risk, Monopoly, and video games.
Ashleigh
(almost 10) can no longer be described as our timid child. While she used to be a bit on the shy side,
she has developed a fair amount of flair.
She is fun and full of spunk. She
has a great sense of humor and loves to tease, especially Mom and Dad. She still loves art projects, singing,
clogging, and spending time with friends and cousins. She played soccer this fall and really
enjoyed it. The highlight of her year
was going to see the Broadway play “Wicked” in San Francisco. For Halloween, she painted her face green and
dressed up as Elfeba. Ellie, who dressed
up as Galinda, burst into tears at the sight of Ashleigh’s green face – not too
far off from how the scene played out on stage!
Ashleigh is a great sister to the rest.
They all love her to pieces and I am so grateful for the help she gives
to me.
Hayden
(6) is our little ladies man. He came
home from school recently and, when I asked him what he did at recess, he
reported with a big smile on his face, “I chased the girls… and they liked
it.” Another time he told us that he had
a crush on a girl in class that he described as having “dishwater blonde”
hair. When we asked him why, he said,
“Because she is popular.” I asked what
it meant to be popular, and he said he didn’t know. So I then asked how he knew she was
popular. He shrugged his shoulders and
said, “Because she told me she was.”
Hayden always wants to be in fashion.
He has strong opinions about what is cool and what is not. Even his hairstyle is important (so far this
year we have gone through the wave, the faux-hawk and a buzz). The fact that he is only six years old and
already trying to keep up with the trends could be very bad news for our
bottom-line down the road.
Describing
Ellie (3) is a bit like describing my favorite barbecue sauce: sweet and sassy
with a bit of a kick. She can be
adorable, making us laugh with all the funny things she says. She is often bossy, demanding sippy-cups and
such from anyone within earshot. She can
also be sneaky and smart. Several months
ago, I found her in the kitchen eating a banana. I wondered how she had gotten and peeled a
banana all by herself. I didn’t have to
wonder long as she did not bother to conceal any of the evidence: a barstool and a very sharp kitchen knife
with a banana peel lying neatly by its side.
After one very frustrating day of non-effective time-outs, I said to
her, with defeat in my voice, “Ellie, if only you would be obedient…” She
quickly interrupted, “Mom, I don’t want to be obedient. I just want to be happy!” At the end of another long day, I told her
that it was time for bed. Sensing that
she was being sent earlier than usual (I told you she was smart), she said with
complete sincerity, “But Mom, I’m too whiny to go to bed!” She also has some obsessive-compulsive
tendencies that can cause serious delays in the morning. Her hair has to be tight (this is a big
change from last year!); every button on the coat must be buttoned and the hood
has to be on (rain or shine); her backpack has to be zipped all the way closed;
and her pants must be rolled once. Socks
are the worst, because no matter how I try to make them smooth, there is always
a bump or a wrinkle that sends her into a tailspin. Most days, we skip the socks. We love Ellie and can’t imagine how boring
life would be without her.
Hadley
(barely 1) is such a sweet little thing.
She is never lacking for love or attention at our house. All the kids fight over who can get her out
of her crib in the morning or after a nap.
We like to say that Hadley is popular because everyone wants to be with
her – unless , of course, she needs a diaper change, then they all run for the
hills. For the longest time, she did
what would be described as an army crawl, using one leg and one arm to propel
herself around on her belly. It was very
cute, in a pathetic sort of way. It just
seemed like so much work for the girl to get from point A to point B. Cameron suggested that we strap a Swiffer mop
to her middle and turn her loose on the kitchen floor. Not a bad idea, but she finally mastered
crawling the regular way. She has
recently begun saying “dadda,” and says it all day long. She has many versions of the word, but my
favorite is when she says it just like those guys in the “Whassup?”
commercials: “Dadaaaaah!” I often try to
coax her into saying “mama.” She listens
closely and then smiles and says “dadda!”
Not even close. Little stinker!
I
recently attended a conference where they asked us to take a moment and write
down one thing we know for sure (I think this is something Oprah does in her
magazine). I didn’t write anything down
at the time because I couldn’t decide on the one thing that really mattered
most. This has been on my mind ever
since. Last week, I realized what I
would write. This is what I know for
sure: We spend so much time working
towards making dreams and goals come true – looking forward to that next phase
in life, to the promotion at work, to a Disneyland vacation, potty-trained
kids, a new car or a finished basement (if this list sounds a bit personal
that’s because it is). We tell ourselves
that all these things will make us happy, and at some level, they can seem
to. But, happiness really has very
little (if anything) to do with our dreams coming true. Happiness is all about our everyday
relationships with the people we love, with a God who holds the universe as
well as our hearts and lives in His hands, and with His Son, who was born, and
lived and died to let us live again. For
these relationships, we are most grateful.
Please know how much we love you and how thankful we are to be loved by
you.
Merry Christmas,
Cameron, Amy, Austin, Ashleigh, Hayden, Ellie and Hadley
