Camille's 8th b-day celebration

 

Just LOOK at that beautiful cake!  Uncle Ben brought it up special from Portland for the big 8 celebration.  She skied all day Saturday and was very excited to cozy up in her pajamas after she got home.  That’s why she’s sporting a more casual look in these pics.  She requested grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon for her dinner.  Now that’s a meal I can even make!

Sunday we zipped off wth her friend Logan to…. that’s right!  The American Girl Store and had dinner in the cafe.  She got to pick out an outfit for her doll and one for herself.  She was thrilled, even though she had to shop quickly.  We didn’t realize the store closed at 6 and were still finishing up dinner at 5:45 when the announcement came on.  Yikes, good thing Camille is a speedy shopper.

Well, turns out we did get a good bit of snow.  I measured 9 1/2 inches on our picnic table yesterday.  It was so much fun to go outside play in it.  Bitsy said Portland just got lots of rain, and now that it’s raining here, and melting all of the snow, I feel so grateful for the cold temps.  Snow is way more fun than rain.  You can ski, sled, crunch around, make snow angels and footprints, build snowmen.  What can you do with rain?  Not much of anything.  I’m sure after a while the novelty of snow would wear off, but I’m thinking we need to spend more time in the mountains this winter.  I also think we need to order some snow chains for the tires.

Elyse spent Mon-Thursday in her pajamas.  She didn’t go to school all week since Tues she was sick and the rest of the week school was closed.  She is feeling better now, and she finally did make it outside.  What got her out was an invitation to our neighbor’s house to play the game Life.  Thank goodness.  And then last night she did come out and stomp around in the snow for about an hour.  She is just not into getting all of the layers of clothes on and she won’t wear warm things.  She has a nice thick down jacket, but she wore a fleece lined raincoat last night instead.  Now, if I could only get her to wear that raincoat in the rain.  When it is raining, she usually wears her fleece jacket.  Ugh.   At any rate, she is either going to have find a friend’s house to go to, or toughen up because I see us Browders heading up to the mountains to play in the snow more often.

Camille did put on her skis last night and skied down our driveway, then down our front lawn, and then ventured over to the steep hill a block away.  I would have taken pics but it was dark out.  I wished I had skis to throw on.  I haven’t skied in so long, maybe 10 years ago!  It’s about time to get back out there.

Chris leaves for India a week from today.  My initial reaction was irritation at the thought of having to single parent all week.  But now, after having Chris home for most of the week, I am dreading his trip for another reason.  I am really going to miss him.  I guess this seems obvious to some people, but I think in the business of life, work, and 3 kids, it’s easy to forget that you really enjoy your spouse, not just the help they provide, but the actual person.  When he left for work today I was sad. I like having him home.  I like having him around.  Our family functions so much better with him.  When he is home, and the kids are home, we all get along (mostly).  And when the kids are home, and don’t have homework, everyone just plays.  There’s less nagging, less hurry up.  We work as a team.  We can have dinner leisurly, and then have a movie night, and Chris can read bedtime stories to Harry while I read to the girls, or vise versa.  I’ve decided that school and work just wreck homelife.

SO, who wants to come for a visit Jan 27-Feb 4th?  Anyone?  I guess I should just feel grateful that we didn’t have Snomaggedon while Chris was in India.  That would have really been a challenge.

Bits and I had a great weekend in the city.   Sat. we did a little shopping close to home, and then headed into the city.  After a snowy morning the sun peaked out so we took a long walk through downtown and over to Puget Sound.  We went to Wild Ginger for dinner.  We did not pop up to get anybody more milk, or have to chase anybody around with a spoon, begging them to eat something.  We slept in til 8:40 Sun. morning.  And then we just layed there for a while.  Nobody forcing us out of bed we gently eased ourselves down to the lobby where we enjoyed a complimentary hotel breakfast.  We headed out shopping and since there wasn’t much snow, I just wore my Mary Jane style Keens.  BIG mistake.  HUGE.  What started to be just a little snow, ended up soaking  through my shoe and leaving a puddle inside my shoes.  After hitting a few stores, we stopped for a quick bite to eat for lunch (where they did not have soup!!, on a cold snowy day!!), and then went for hour massages.  They were well received, but 60 min. flies by.  I could not believe it was 60 min. when Michelle said my deep tissue massage was all done.  But, afterward, we were all warmed up and ready to head out for more shopping.  I bought a hat, and some black boots, which the sales lady sprayed with waterproof spray so that I could wear them out the door and into the snow.  My soaking wet Keens, went in a plastic bag.  I’m not sure if they will ever be the same.

Sun night for dinner we went to a nice little place near Pike Place Market called “Il Bistro”.  We had a very nice meal and with the dim lighting, Bitsy said my hat head hair was barely noticable.  We stopped at the book store on the way home to the hotel.  I couldn’t believe the book store stayed open until 11 pm on a Sunday!  Wow, city living!  We spent a little time going through some baby clothes and reminiscing about when Elyse and Camille were little.  Crazy to believe that some of those clothes were 10 yrs old!  Monday we went to University Village to go to Pottery Barn Kids.  We were hoping to find bedding for Emi Jane’s nursury, but no luck.  And Babies R Us left us empty handed as well.  But the joy of being able to pop in to so many stores with no time schedule and no little people pulling us in a different direction was so leisurly!  It was a great couple of days of sister time.

By the time I got home Chris had the house all tidy and had rearranged the furniture in the family room.  Apparently while I was gone, they set up the 6 person tent in there and had to clear out most of the furniture so it would fit.  They also played in the snow and made this cute little snow family that greated us when we got home.  I asked Chris if he took any pictures over the weekend, and he said they were too busy having fun to take pictures.  The same went for Bits and me.  No pictures, just fun.  I did snap these pictures when we got home though.  Camille had a great 2nd day of ski lessons on Sat.  She got to ride the bus with Annika, and then she had a semi private lesson with Hugo because the other kids in her class were delayed with an oil leak on the other bus.

Emi Jane due April 8

So we showed up and Sat. morning looking for Anika, but never found her.  Camille was a little sad about this.  But she hopped on the bus and sat by a different little girl and I waved repeatedly from the sidewalk hoping that this little girl would also become her friend.  Looking at all of those kids in their ski coats and bibs, crowded with their gear packed around them like sardines on the bus gave me a moment of panic, but didn’t seem to phase any of them.  They drove off and that was it.  We picked her up at 4:45 and she had a GREAT time.  She and Iris (the girl from the bus, did become friends).  They sat together on the way home too.  Anika never showed up, but Hugo told her she could move up to the next level.  She told him she didn’t want to because she really likes Hugo, but I am going to try to convince her to move up, especially since Anika may have spotty attendence, and clearly Camille is going to be a very GIFTED skier:)  We need her on the fast track so she can make the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.  Or maybe I’m being overly ambitious, maybe 2022 is more realistic.

Yesterday we had a gaggle of girls (and one 18 month old brother) over to build and decorate ginger bread houses.  I was feeling very Martha Steward when I whipped up a double batch of frosting (the second Christmas miracle–usually frosting and I don’t get along very well) and set out about 20 different candy toppings and let the girls get to work.  I think I may have gotten overly ambitious though, when, midway through the party, I offered to let my friend Kelli leave her 2 girls and her 18 month old son while she ran an errand and I cleaned up all the gingerbread mess, and made lunch for everyone.  Everyone being:  7 girls, Harry, and 18 month old Landon.  Kelli was gone for maybe 5 minutes when Landon realized she was no where in sight and started to cry.  I was able to distract him with Tickle Me Elmo, and then tried to hold him while sweeping the floor.  Eventually Landon wanted down, but then he pinched his finger in the toy motorcycle, started crying again, and so I gave up on cleaning and read a couple of stories to him.  This worked for a little while, but eventually he just wanted his mom.  I was just  about to call her on her cell, when she walked in the door, Landon crying.  I don’t know how long she was gone, maybe 30-45 min. but next time I will be less ambitious.

Camille, little Hannah, and Logan

Sophia, Hannah, Elyse & Mimi

Lucky for me Elyse got invited over to a playdate and Camille too, so it was just Harry and I in the afternoon.  I was really hoping and counting on a nap from him, but no such luck.  He could feel my desperation.  Chris and I had gone out on Monday night to a 40th birthday party for my friend Katy, who is home from Singapore for Christmas.  There were probably 20 people at Purple, a restaurant and wine bar in downtown Bellevue.  It was a great excuse to go out on a Monday night.  A couple of the women are good friends of mine, and some I hardly know at all, but I enjoyed seeing everyone and getting to know some of the women and their spouses better.  But, I neither Chris nor I had a very good sleep that night.  So, I would have napped too, but that was not in the cards.  At least it was quiet though.

Elyse and I got to have some time together this afternoon.  Chris worked from home so while Harry “napped” Elyse and I went for a long walk.  We were trying to meet up with Hannah which we did eventually, but we did most of the hiking just the 2 of us.  Poor thing had a cramp the whole walk, but she was a trooper.  She walked through the pain, at a fairly good clip.  Harry never did actually nap, but quiet time in his room is better than nothing.  Hannah got to stay for dinner and watch The X Factor with us.  It was a late night, but this is vacation, and we are livin’ it up.

A couple of  pictures from the church pageant

Elyse as Mary, on the left, Harry the "angel", and the back of Camille, the shepherd

Camille, the shepherd

Tomorrow our family is doing the lighting of the advent candle and reading, and I imagine I will be up in front of the entire congregation with a bruised black and blue nose.  Swell.  (no pun intended).

I went ahead and pounded in a few more nail holes, despite the first incident.  But on my last hole, I nearly knocked the entire tree over pounding the nail in.  I was hammering too hard.  SO, I suppose it could have been worse.  Instead of a vertical tree losing lots of needles, the tree could have ended up horizontal on my living room floor.

I should have realized that tonight was not the night for creative home remedies.  While giving Harry a bath and supervising the girls’ showers, I decided to try to fix a broken light bulb that was stuck in the socket.  It has been like this for probably a year.  I read on the internet that you can get the rest of the broken bulb out with a potato.  SO, I sacrificed one of our good, organic, farm potatoes in hopes of bringing light back to the bathroom.  Instead, I ended up with bits of potato all over my bathroom, when the potato fell out of my hands and splattered all over the counter after several unsuccessful attempts.

While driving home from yoga today I was composing this blog post in my head.  It was going to be entitled “Best Day YET!”.  I was going to write about how I woke up to sunshine, headed outside to rake leaves, watched the kids run around in the front yard with the new puppy from across the street, visited with my friend who happened to be jogging by, got to see Elyse’s best friend Hannah who is back from Singapore for the holidays, got to take Harry to the park just the 2 of us, had lunch and dinner prepared for me by Chris, and got to go to an awesome 90 minutes of yoga where I flirted with a handstand.  It really was a fabulous day.

But just after dinner Elyse went to go practice her flute and realized she must have left her flute on the bus on Friday.  It is Christmas vacation, and there is no way we will be able to get ahold of anyone to try to locate it or get it back.  She was so looking forward to practicing, and maybe doing a little Christmas concert with Alice and her harp when we go up to Bellingham after Christmas.  She will lose 2 1/2 weeks of practice.  And here’s something interesting:  Thursday night she played a little for Alice and Rody.  One of the songs she played was “Joyful Joyful”.  Alice was checking out her practice book, and said “Where’s ‘Joyful Joyful’ in your practice book?”  “Oh, that’s not in there,” Elyse says.  “I just figured that one out on my own.”  WHAT??  You mean to tell me she just figured the notes out with no music to follow?!  These kids never cease to amaze me.

At 10:55 we all loaded up into the car. And guess who pulls up? Chris. All sweaty, still in his sweaty soccer clothes, and unshaven. So much for the adults setting a good example. “We’re supposed to be there at 11″ I say. “I know,” he says casually. I drove off, without him, figuring Chris could explain to his own mother why he isn’t in any of the “family” pictures.

Merry Christmas. These were going to be some great pictures. 3 frowning kids and one mom, who is less than pleased with her spouse.

We all eventually cooperated, more or less. All was ok, until about 4:10 that afternoon. I was all set to get to my 4:30 yoga class when Chris called, saying that despite the fact that he was supposed to be home by 4:10, he still hadn’t left the store. GRRR. So I had to load the kids up in the car, and have him meet me at the yoga studio to exchange the kids. This sort of last minute rushing was not how I wanted to arrive at yoga. Luckily after 90 minutes of yoga, I was able to reset.

Sunday we went out with neighbors to a downtown restaurant called Cuoco. I realized as I walked up to it that I think it was the same restaurant my Oakwood friends and I went to last summer for our Girl’s Weekend in Seattle. Of all the restaurants in Seattle, I suggest one I had been to before! Anyway, we ended up sitting in an area with couches and chairs instead of at a table, and eating mostly appetizers. It was a very inexpensive way to do a nice restaurant, but, in the end, I think I prefer a table. It was great to go out though, since we don’t get to linger with them very often.   All 9 kids were having a group playdate with 2 babysitters.  Elyse said it was a little overwhelming.  I can imagine.  5 boys, and 4 girls all between the ages of 10 and 3.  Yikes.  I’m glad I wasn’t babysitting all those kids!

Last night we went to see Garden D’Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens.  It is truly spectacular.  Alice and Rody were in town and so we got to have dinner with them here and then all go together to walk through the display of lights. 

Tonight I have dinner book club, so I am very excited for that.  Chris will be going to “guys” cards night tomorrow.  Even Steven.  Everybody wins!

After the ballet, we drove over to meet Chris for snacks at Whole Foods, which is right across from his office.  It was fun for us to see Chris in the middle of the afternoon, even if it was just a short visit.  Then the kids and I were really excited to ride the street trolley through South Lake Union and see the sights.  A unicyclist was riding right next to the trolley and we delighted in watching him fall behind and than catch up with our trolley whenever we made a stop.  We loved the sights and sounds of the city.  What we didn’t love so much was Camille stepping in dog poop and having to clean that off, and then Harrison doing the same, only at a running speed, which caused the poop to fly up and also hit his hand.  This, we didn’t love.  But it didn’t tarnish our memory.  We got to pick Chris up from work early and head home in ahead of the traffic.

Saturday the kids and I “lollie-gagged” (not sure the spelling on this family term, but it’s what you call doing nothing and remaining in your pajamas not moving around much) all morning while Chris played soccer.  Then we headed out to get Camille’s skis, boots and poles.  She is signed up for 6 weeks of lessons starting Jan. 7th.  She has been out in the garage practicing putting on and taking off her skis since we got home.  She will be an expert by next month.  She won’t know how to ski, but she will look competent nonetheless.

We also did some shopping for some children whose names we took off of our church’s Christmas tree.  The girls totally understood and enjoyed the buying of gifts for someone who has much less than we do.  Elyse had a 9 yr. old boy who wanted a coat, and she and I weighed the pros and cons of the various choices and ended up picking one that I think will be “cool” yet warm and practical.  Camille was buying for a 5 yr. old girl who requested Barbie stuff and jewelry.  Camille pondered over the Barbie stuff for 20 minutes until finally I told she had to pick something already!  Harry had a little 3 yr. old boy who wanted “bay blades” which I am not really sure about, but also socks and underwear which just made my heart sink.  To think of a little boy who is going to be excited about this for Christmas just makes tears form in my eyes.  Anyway, Harry and Chris went and picked out Star Wars underwear and some good practical socks and his “bay blades” toy, and I hope this little guy isn’t disappointed.  We are just to wrap the gifts and attach the tag and leave them at church, but I sort of wish the kids could be more a part of the giving.  I want them to see that some kids just get 2 things and that is their Christmas and they are grateful.  But, that is not how this program works.  I will just have to verbally explain it instead.

Sat. afternoon I went to warm yoga which was very rejuvenating and then  Sat. night we all drove back to downtown Bellevue and walked along Bellevue Way, where the shops are.  It is all lit up with snowflake lights and toy soldiers, and they had Christmas music playing and there were lots of people and energy.  We must have walked a couple of miles, but the kids didn’t complain about being cold or about having to walk because there was so much to see.  There were also Christmas trees for sale and so on the spot we decided to just buy our tree while we were there.  The kids got little candy canes, and it saved us from having to do another errand later.  Plus, the guy did all of the work–he bundled it, and put it on top of the car single handedly with a lift clean and jerk.  I was impressed.  It’s a very full, 7 ft. tall tree.  I asked Chris if he could do that and he said, “Well, I would, except I have a bad shoulder:)”

Today we had church, and got the tree up and lit and decorated.  The girls were really helpful and enthusiastic.  Camille and I walked to the little grocery in search of candy canes for the tree.  They didn’t have what we wanted, but it was great for us to have some one on one time together.  When we got back I asked Elyse if she wanted to go for a walk just the 2 of us, but she wasn’t up for it, so I went alone.  I will have to find a different activity for Elyse and me to have our special time.

We are very much in the Christmas spirit now.  I am so grateful for such a happy Christmas filled weekend.

right before the Nutcracker Ballet

Looking out the trolley window