Merry Christmas 2013

I will have you know, I had my cards ordered before Thanksgiving, so technically I was all on the ball, but yet here it is just days before Christmas and they finally went in the mail. Such is my life.

 Hyrum (13) in true teenager fashion, has decided he doesn't really know what he likes to do.   I did however talk him into joining the badminton club at school and regardless of what he thinks, is still a pretty good violinist. He consistently beats everyone in dance on the wii and is looking for some more good competition. (hint, hint)

Hannah (10) continues to read through the library, doodle fairies, and dutifully practices her penny whistle.  She's quick to get her jobs done so she can disappear with her book and spends more time in the craft room than I do. 

Mark (9) has continued taking piano lessons this year and doesn't hate it!  He has made some good progress toward accomplishing his goal of trying out all the sports. He decided football was just okay, but likes basketball well enough to give it another go around this winter.  He loves tinkering with boxes of all shapes and sizes, building robots, rockets and a myriad of whatever else takes his fancy.

Hollie (6) loves riding the bus to school and school in general.  She loves coloring, My Little Ponies and helping mom with anything that looks fun!

Gavin (2) is developing his love of puzzles and the ipad.  He'll sneak into my room to steal it and I'll call him the iMonster, to which he adamantly refutes "I not a monster, I Gavin" but in my head I see it as iGavin.  Oh, he keeps us on our toes, especially when you consider all of his wonderful two-year old "whys?"

Its been a stressful year at work for Jotham, they've been understaffed for some time

creating more stress, work and travel than usual.   But to keep it all in perspective Jotham's finding joy in chopping and splitting the wood that will keep us warm this winter, and oddly enough, he says its gives him that same fulfilling joy that canning does for me.

The first thing everybody has said to me when they see our card this year is 

"Where are you and Jotham?"  and in all honesty, it was just too overwhelming a thought to get us all together (while looking nice) for pictures.  

So for your viewing pleasure one more of my favorite people instead:

 

And if we must:

Our most recent family photo from this summer

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

 We spent the Holidays with Jotham's family in Franklin.

I didn't take any pictures of the feast, but feast we truly did.

A trip to the Park, Black Friday shopping and Christmas Tree hunting with all the cousins filled out the weekend.

Happy Birthday Jot

I thought about listing 38 reasons I'm glad he was born,

 but decided to save you the mushy details.

Lets just say, my world is a better place because this amazing man is in it.

Happy Birthday Jotham!

snakes ALIVE

You know how in the movie Toy Story, Woody says "There's a snake in my boot!"  -  I've heard that saying over and over in my head relativity often the past few weeks, only in my head it says "There's a snake in my house" and it's not at all funny.  Its maddening, frustrating and... and just plain creepy. I HATE snakes, they are what my nightmares are made off.

Mice, on the other hand, I can live with for a few days until they start making a mess of my food storage, I think they are kind-a cute.  Don't get me wrong, I don't like mice, but if I had to make a choice it would be on their side, because snakes, no snakes don't EVER belong in my house, not even for a visit.  I hate them outside, but I understand we live in the country surrounded by fields, its understandable they might occasionally be in my yard, but in my house there is no excuse.  But they don't seem to be understanding and keep coming in.

1.  The first snake was found in the mud/laundry room downstairs after the door had been left open often that day as we were cleaning out the garage.  He was killed before I saw him, thankfully.

2.  I just came home from a church meeting and walked down the hallway toward my bedroom and then turned around for a double take when something seemed out of place.  It was a snake, upstairs, coiled through the cold air return in the hallway.  I screamed, I cried, I was mortified.  I felt like my home had been invaded by the devil himself.  Hyrum tried to kill it but it escaped into the safety of wall. I packed my kids up and we went to church very early that Sunday.

3.  Two days later, I spied with my little eye, a another snake (or maybe it was the same one?) coming up the stairs from the basement.  Who could of thought they could climb stairs?  I called Jotham and told him in no uncertain words he'd better get home and take care of it.  He was home in 10 minutes and did the deadly deed.  He'd left an important meeting with the CEO for a "family emergency." Ahh, finally I thought, and we saw no more snakes for 3 weeks, but then...

4.  Yesterday, Hollie finds one in the doorway on the way to the Laundry room.  I had a wonderful and now very beloved friend over, who out of pure kindness to me, killed and disposed of the nasty beast.

5. And that evening, while doing laundry, the most recent piece of  my madness was discovered dead and stuck to a glue trap behind one of the baskets.

After every incident, we search the house looking for a way in.  We sealed off the sump pump thinking that was how they were entering, checked the weather striping around all the doors, screens and locks on the windows.   We think we've solved the problem and then BAM, Satan sneaks in again.  I hate it, I hate it, I really, really hate it.  I think I'm ready to move, I can't live like this. And then in agony, I realize who in their right mind is going to buy a snake infested house. I'm stuck and now that I've shared my nightmare I won't have any visitors either.   I've never had such strong feelings of hatred before in my life.

Whew, its off my chest...I am done...that is all...maybe they'll go into hibernation soon...but, please feel free to pray for me.

PS Out of kindness, I have chosen not to post pictures.  You can thank me later for not creeping you out anymore than I already have.  Bleugh!

Hollie Jean

Its her Birthday Shout Hooray!

One year older and wiser too!

Happy Birthday to You!

Six Silly Somethings about my favorite Six-year old:

1. When she is tired, its best to just treat her like the princess she is 

or you'll both be crying before she actually makes it to bed.

2. She thinks her favorite color is Orange, but really its still Pink.

I let her sleep through this beautiful sunrise 
of her two favorite colors on her birthday,
 because of the aforementioned mentioned silliness:

3. Her mom sometimes calls her "Lollie" or "Jeanie"  

and her dad calls her "Princess" and "Peanut"

4. She's our best helper with the chickens, bar none.

5. She loves watching My Little Ponies,

but oddly enough she wasn't too impressed with my childhood pony 
collection when I pulled it out the other day to show her,I mean, what six year wouldn't be enthralled with thirty-year oldpink ponies with crazy, out of control hair?

6.She loves to dance.

When I asked her if she'd like to sign up for dance class again this fall,

she told me no, she prefers to make up her own dance moves.

Except when dancing with Hyrum, I'm pretty sure she lets him lead.

as time goes by...

Fifteen years ago, I had this really amazing boyfriend who wanted to take me birthday shopping to celebrate my 21st birthday.  While at the mall, I showed him a nice Fossil watch that I'd had my eye on for quite some time.  It featured a two-toned, silver and gold, metal link bracelet, with a small white face. Only the even numbers were represented, raised dots stood in for the others.  It was fairly small and simple in design. Feminine and lovely!  I remember secretly hoping he'd get it for me, but feeling a little guilty at the price tag.  Of course we came home that day with the watch, especially when considering he was still trying to woo me and talk me into getting married.

By the time I finally did accept his proposal, I'd been wearing that watch for almost three months. I wore it the day I got married, the day my first baby was born and the second and the third baby and almost every day in between.   I was sad when the mechanism wore out and I realized how scratched and dinged up the crystal front had become.   Thinking it would be cheaper to repair than replace it we went to SE Needhams Jewelers to check out our options.  With a repair bid at well over $120, I sadly realized it might be wiser to just buy a new watch.  While trying to decide what to do, Jotham and I halfheartedly browsed the display cases there at the store and lo and behold: Would you believe it?  There was a brand new, exact replica of my watch for sale for less than the cost of the repair!  Okay, it wasn't exactly the same, the new one was all silver whereas my first watch had been two-toned.  But definitely close enough, it looked and felt the same. It was random and felt like a blessing. I was thrilled.

So, now in essence, I've now worn that same watch for over 15 years. We are pretty attached. While all my friends have converted to iphones, and wall clocks have come and gone, my simple silver timepiece has graced my left wrist, constantly reminding me of how I'm always running just a few minutes behind. But then, about two weeks ago, I kept missing Hollie's kindergarten bus and couldn't figure out why.  I was always just a few minutes too late, even when I thought I'd left on time.  But then I came to the sad realization that this time I wasn't running slow, my watch was. Already knowing the repair cost exceeded the value of the watch, I started mourning the loss of a good friend, one that has kept time with me almost the whole of my adult life.

It been killing me, not knowing the time of day, I even looked at the ten dollar watch display at Walmart earlier in the week.  But I just couldn't commit to another watch, even a temporary one, no, not just yet. And then a few days ago, I was bemoaning this fact to my best friend (aka that same amazing boyfriend) after he came home from a hectic day at work.  And then guess what this amazing man did? He pulled out my watch, wished me a Happy Birthday and asked if I'd been missing it.  Bewildered, I wasn't sure how to answer, of course I'd been missing it, but since it was broken, I'd quit wearing it, so I hadn't noticed its absence.  It was then that I realized it was set with the correct time and was just ticking away as normal.  He had secretly taken it into be repaired. Practicality and price aside,  he knew I still loved that watch, he didn't even have to ask.  He's that kind of wonderful!  I guess I don't really change much, fifteen years later and I'm still thrilled to get the exact same watch again, for the third time!   Happy Birthday to me!

another Halloween

We celebrated in fine style this year as always.  

Starting with the Robertson Halloween Party.  

Matt and Emily hosted this year and it was Fab.u.lous!

We carved Pumpkins for FHE

On Halloween we went Trick or Treating in Mendon with Jill and Family.

Can I just say Mendon is a great place to trick or treat.   Multiple full size bars, a free haunted maze,  and a haunted Hallow.  The Headless Horseman even made an appearance riding through town on his horse wishing everybody a Happy Halloween!  How sweet is that?!  What is even sweeter is the fact that Hannah came home with over 5lbs of candy in her bag.  FIVE POUNDS!  Yikes, no wonder Hollie was tired.

On Halloween day, I had just planned on wearing a cute but simple and very comfortable skeleton shirt I had made thanks to Martha Stewart, but that morning Gavin questioned what I was wearing.  When I told him it was my Halloween shirt, he said "that's no good, go change" - very demanding.  But, oddly enough I obliged and I listened to my two year old, realizing it's really just about the kids anyway.  So I donned my witch hat, wiggled into my striped tights and successfully applied false eyelashes for the first time, they were fabulously long and purple.  And Gavin, I mean Superman, was happy. 

Happy Halloween!

A teenager

Now that his childhood is "officially" behind him, a quick stroll down memory lane:

1.  When he was a newborn baby his grandfather dubbed him a Mary Poppin's boy:  "practically perfect in every way."

2.  When he was two he used to bite.

3.  He caught his first fish when he was three.

4.  When he was four years old we went camping in Yosemite and he tried to catch a Squirrel by leaving a little bit of bagel in the tent, the squirrel got away with the bait and chewed a hole in our tent.

5.  When he was tired, he used to twirl his hair.  And when he was five, he developed a bald spot on the top of his head where he'd pulled out all his hair from over twirling it.

6.  His Power Ranger fixation evolved into a Pokemon fixation around age six.

7.  The seven year old Hyrum loved to play, create and discovered a love of fantasy books.

8.  He started playing the piano when he was eight.

9.  And moved onto the violin when he was nine.

10.  He's always had rhythm and when he was ten and eleven he cut the rug Ballroom dancing.

11.  In fifth grade our mad scientist built a chemistry lab in the attic with his Dad. 

12.  When he moved to Benson just before turning 12, his list of "girl"-friends became extensive,  and most of those girls tend to giggle a lot when he is around.

13.  And at thirteen, he is still a Mary' Poppin's boy, if only in his Momma's eye.

Blackout

I've come to the conclusion, that the only thing in Benson more plentiful than mosquitoes are blackouts.  I'm not talking about little glitches in power but several hours with no electricity for no apparent reason.  Thankfully in the past its usually been in the middle of the day, but this last time it happened at night and right in the middle of dinner...

So I quickly lit some candles and the kids enthralled with the novelty of it debated back and forth whether it was spooky like Halloween or fancy like Christmas Eve.

Gavin enjoyed it so much he kept saying "tanks, Mom!" like I'm the greatest mom in the world and had planned on eating by candle light all along.

The whole time the younger set is relishing their peas in the flickering light, I'm thinking...do I even know where a flashlight is?  Do the batteries work?  How long am I going to have to make these three tapered candles last? Where does Jotham store the camping lantern?  What if this in the beginning of the end?  And on and on and on...

Everybody went to bed early.

Except Hyrum.

He had to picturesquely finish up his homework by candle light.

Milestones

It was bound to happen, its just offical now!  Look who's taller than their Momma!

Often times I'll go to wrap my arm around him and give him a hug and I can feel these man muscles in his upper arms that always surprise me because they weren't there before.

Hannah first sewing lesson was a success, she's received many accolades on her Maxi skirt.  

In other news: She was also accepted into the gifted and talented program at her school this year, as if we were surprised.  But what is surprising is that just two short years ago she was in a Tier Two reading group (or resource, for those not familiar with the term). I guess all that reading is really starting to pay off.

Mark's been busy learning how to play his first season of flag football.  After his last game he came home and excitedly reported to me that he'd caught the ball... with his face!  Jotham said he's really starting to get his head in the game...hehehe.

Hollie's enjoying school and comes home every few days with a new puppet and a silly song for whatever letter of the alphabet they are learning about. 

She's enjoying riding the bus and making new friends, but we've had this conversation more than once.

Hollie:  Can I invite my friend over?

Me: What's her name?

Hollie: I don't know...

Her bus driver has had keep her on the bus for the whole route more than once because somebody's mother can't seem to remember to meet the bus on time. But I've since learned I'm not the only one.

and my baby... Gavin!

is almost, just about, kinda, dare I say it:  Potty Trained!  Oh, yeah!  We are not accident free but my diapering days are definitely disappearing!  And that's a milestone worth celebrating! I wonder if  Fruit of the Loom will ever realize that two year olds don't want cars on their backsides, they want them on the front where they can see them!  We've worn ours backwards more than once, just saying...

Nashville

Two, week-long business meetings, back to back, in Tennessee equates to a good excuse to fly me out to Nashville to escape for the weekend and keep my man company.  Ever so grateful to grandparents who love our kiddos as much as we do and are willing to hold and rock a croupy child on the front porch in the cool night rain to sooth and comfort while the other one runs to the store in the middle of the night for medicine.  Truly we are blessed.

In our hotel room after Honky-Tonking

I arrived at the hotel Thursday evening, just as Jotham was headed out to go Honky-tonking on Music Row with the Franchises.  After a private dinner party at one of the Honky-tonks, (where we showed off our boot-scoot'n moves,) the party migrated over to a place called the Dueling Pianos where we watched some amazingly talented pianists improv and entertain.  After a while we tired of this (probably because we weren't drinking) and decided to ditch the group for a bit and walk up and down Music Row by ourselves.  We popped our heads into several different establishments and listened to several different bands.  All too loud, too fast and in all honesty: noisy! Not at all what I was expecting and I love about country music.  I was looking forward to all the live country bands and dancing, but was much disappointed on this account because nobody was really dancing since the music was too fast and more of the head bopping variety and less country.

The next day while Jotham was in meetings I had a fabulous time shopping at the outlet mall.  That afternoon after Jotham got off work, and a long nap, we went for a walk to the Parthenon, a life size replica of the original made famous by Percy Jackson.  We then stayed and watched some Shakespeare in the Park, followed by dinner at a pretty fabulous restaurant called Chuy's. We had the most amazing waiter, I've never been served so well in all my days.

The Parthenon, that's me on the steps, it was huge!

Saturday morning we bought a tour package to visit three historic homes, ehemmm, I mean Mansions.  A.maz.ing!   Loved it, every single house... fantastic.  Didn't even realize we forgot to take pictures until the last house.

at Belmont, a 20,000 sq foot antebellum Mansion

That evening we lived it up big and went to the laundry mat to get Jotham ready for the next week, ate fast food and watched a movie in bed.  The prefect, easy ending to fabulous day and trip.

FHE

Jotham was giving a lesson last week on Moses and the 10 commandments (particularly "honoring thy mother" - because it had been one of those days)

As the lesson starts, Mark innocently corrects Jotham,  stating "Moses didn't free the slaves, Abe Lincoln did!"

A few minutes later, Hollie is getting in trouble because she's disappeared.  We find her clambering in the hall closet,   "Hollie, what are you doing? We are having Family Home Evening."

"Dad, I have a bad scratch on my leg and it really, REALLY, hurts, but I can't find a band-aide, so I'm getting a cough drop to make it feel better."

By  now we are nearing the end of the "not so effective" lesson, and Jotham is telling the kids I love them so much I even know how many pairs of underwear they have in their drawer and Hyrum quips "why do we call it a pair of underwear if there is only one?"  Ughhh.....

That night as I climb into bed, I couldn't help but wonder what, if anything, am I teaching my kids.

Nine Fun Facts about Mark in Honor of his Birthday

 On the first day of school he was asked to bring three things to show the class 

so they could get to know him better: 

1. He took a TV remote control because he likes to watch TV shows

2.  a plastic piece of cheese from the play kitchen because CHEESE is his favorite food

3. And a screwdriver because he likes to build things. 

4. He wants to play all the same sports as his Dad

5. He doesn't think he'll ever learn to like to read

6. His favorite color is Green

7. He leaves his shoes and socks all over the house and/or yard

8. He likes to chop wood

9. Is constantly telling me "Mom, that's too little kid-ish"

My brown-eyed boy thinks he is growing up, but 

I swear it was just yesterday he was my brown-eye baby.

Happy Birthday Mark!

Mark and his friends at his party.

Chick here for more details on his party.

Back to School

I felt the summer just slipped away too fast.  Mark, on the other hand, said it was long...and couldn't even remember anything we'd done...ah, the perspective of childhood. 

School started a week ago last thursday for everybody but Hollie.

7th Grade

5th Grade

3rd Grade

  It was another long week before Hollie was able to put on that new backpack and wear that outfit she'd laid out.  She was excited but nervous she wouldn't make any friends.  Her first day report of kindergarten came back as "we sat a lot and listened a lot and walked a lot, it wasn't that much fun."

Kindergarten

That first day after everybody went to school Gavin and I came home after taking the kids to the bus and our daily walk, and Gavin headed straight to the playroom, but returned to the kitchen only moments later to ask, "where's my friends?"  realizing in the quiet that he had no one, not a single sibling, to play with him.  Poor guy.

Facebook

I check facebook regularly, more often than I should... really.  I think about posting things but never actually do, I'm not sure why, maybe its too public.  So I thought I'd keep track up my pretend status updates, the things I think about posting but don't...


Thursday
4.  I'm having issues, I finally took the crib down today, after a month of it sitting empty since my baby decided he didn't want to sleep there any more.  It was bittersweet moment.

Wednesday
3.  I saw my first, live and in the wild Bald Eagle today.  Pretty cool.

Tuesday
2. We have a little boy at our house who often has tantrums about watching Go, Diego, Go.  Lengthy tantrums   But last night when Gavin woke up crying in the middle of the night about its being his turn to "Watch, Diego!" - it was a little over the top. Its getting a little too excessive and drastic measure will need to be taken.

Monday
1.  My van is broken and in the shop, my dishwasher is broken and we are waiting for a part, my doorbell is broken and I'm waiting for by husband to care, my vacuum is broken and I'm tried of taking it to the repair shop and having them tell me nothing is wrong.  My motivation is broken and I'm waiting for it to fix itself.

Elder Perry

Today I shook his hand,

An apostle of the Lord.

He told my daughter

"Your eyes are beautiful"

Her eyes are just like mine.

At ninety-one years of age,

He spoke of technology and education,

He wished the kids the roughest,

And toughest school year yet,

Because it would make them

Stronger and smarter, than ever before.

But, the best part of conference

Was after we stood in line.

And I stood in his mists

And felt his hand on mine

Thirty-five years I waited

But my children will wait no more

For they have met an apostle of the Lord

Hatch Hero Homecoming

Every summer the Hatch side gets together for a reunion.  This year Jotham was in charge and decided to spend the weekend of the Fourth together at the Hatch's house in Franklin and work on some projects for Darren and LoaLee.   

We built and painted a small riding arena, put hardwood floors in the living room, cleaned out some cupboards in the kitchen, washed windows, the little kids even moved (played in the) sand.

We all went to the parade on the 4th of July wearing our matching shirts

We laughed and laughed at our nephews when they started telling the beauty queens
how pretty they were and how the girls would blush and then look away, but then look back again.

Later that night we did fireworks at home:

The kids moved a lot of rocks and will have memories of priming 

the gates of the arena with sticky primer that wouldn't come off their hands or out of their hair.

We also cleaned up the flower beds, installed a hardwood floor in the living room 

and did I mention we moved a lot of rocks, a...LOT of rocks.   

But for some reason when you are working together, the time passes quicker and tasks are never as hard. 

 We had a good time and it wasn't all work: