Fun with the Girls

 First ice cream cone.  She couldn't get it fast enough and would cry if you took it from her lips.

 These crazy girls have two beds but nearly everynight Kate ends up moving closer and closer to her sister.  Most nights she sleeps in the crease between the two beds.  I guess she just likes knowing someone is close by.  Luckily, Emily doesn't mind most of the time.  Although, we did have one night when she woke up screaming becasue Kate was in her bed.

 I love this girl.

Fun at Grandma's house playing train and boat in her gigantic box.

Playing in the Snow

This winter has been so fun.  I have managed to get on the ski hill with my kids several times.  I loved spending a few days with just the big kids.  We could go almost anywhere- what a reward after so many years of teaching.  Best of all- they love it.  The fighting almost disappears, there are no electronics, just us and a bag of Skittles.  Life is good.

 I spent a lot of time with Kate teaching her the basics.  That process is always full of ups and downs but I love the one on one time and that feeling that I am teaching them something they can enjoy for the rest of their life.  I also discover a little about how they learn.  I just love being up on top of the world and sharing that with my kids.

Here are a few pics from my phone capturing the silliness, beauty, and fun.

Nice hair Mack and Natali!

 Here's my beginner.  It would seem that I took a million videos for her to show everyone - but this is the only picture.

 Andrew has been wearing these boots all season.  Lets just say that these boot might be older than I am and sadly, Andrew finished them off on our last run of the year.  Luckily he managed to get down the hill- but just barely.

This is my niece heading down the hill and look at that view- oh I love it.

Lily LOVED being out in the snow.  It didn't hurt that it was 45-50 degrees.

Good bye snow - can't wait for next year.

Best Books 2013

This posted is a little belated and maybe it is a little too late to try and do these book justice tonight, but here it goes.  My favorite books from 2013...

The Glass Castle : An amazing memoir by Jeannette Walls telling about her nomadic childhood.  It was shocking to me to read about intelligent people not willing to work to put food on the table for their kids.  Yet, I admired certain traits of her parents and the things they taught their kids.  It mad me laugh, cry, cheer, scream…I loved it.

Gifted Hands : I made Natali read this when I finished.  An autobiography of Benjamin Carson, a famous neurosurgeon.  This book is full of powerful lessons about faith, responsibility, hard work, determination, you name it.  I was inspired by his life.

Ender's Game : This one has been on my to read list forever and I finally got around to it.  I loved the twists and turns and the way the author really makes you think.  A creative and fascinating story.

How Will You Measure Your Life? : Clayton Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School and closes his students semester by discussing this topic, How will you measure your life?  In the book he outlines his observations about what things matter the most at the end of your life.  I really enjoyed this book and wish I had marked in it more so I could review some of the ideas and apply them better.

Turn Right At Machu Picchu :  Greg read this on his way to Machu Picchu last year so I picked it up and really loved it.  The author, Mark Adams, tries to reenact explorer Hiram Bingham's trip that put Machu Picchu on the map.  I learned a lot about the site and the area around it.  Interesting and well written.

Christmas in the Desert

This year for Christmas we headed down to Mesquite. The kids loved playing at the park and playing football with cousins.  They loved all of grandma's food and the buzz of Christmas.  But everyones favorite part was the day we spent at the sand dunes.  Digging, riding four wheelers, sledding in the sand, hiking, and just enjoying the warmth.   Kate conquered her fear of moving fast and soon became a four wheeling enthusiast.  She has requested one of her own for Christmas next year (probably not going to happen but a girl can dream).  We all loved it.

 Uncle Brad pulling Andrew, Ari, and Natali on the sled.

 Lily got buried in the sand and didn't really mind that much.

 Emily got her turn to drive.

 Mack digging and Kate climbing.

 Kate riding with Dad.

 Mack pulling a cousin off a jump they built.

Andrew climbing and hiding in the rocks barefoot.

We had a great week with Greg's family and a wonderful Christmas.

I love Christmas but I'm always trying to figure out how to reduce the number of toys my kids get.  So this year the kids made each other presents.  They were all supposed to work together to make one gift for each kid.  I put one child in charge of each gift.

It was so fun.  Natali made a book for Kate on Shutterfly.  She wrote a story and had the kids act stuff out while she took pictures.  It turned out great.  She also recorded a CD for Emily full of stories to listen to at night.  Here are a few pictures from the story.  Looks interesting huh?

Mack created this awesome mountain out of salt dough.  Now Andrews animals have a place to roam, sleep, drink and hunt, but don't try to pick it up - it weighs a ton.

Andrew made Mack some marshmallow guns out of PVC pipe and then covered them in camo duck tape. And Kate and Emily helped me make some skirts for Natali.

It was fun to help them think of things the other child would really enjoy that wouldn't cost a lot of money.  We had a lot of fun - especially with that salt dough.

For New Years one of Greg's sisters and her family came to visit.  Teresa brought a ton of things from an Asian food store.  So we had a Chinese feast complete with some Japanese treats for the kids try :)  It was so funny watching everyone try to suck these little Jello like treats out of their tiny package.

We loved the time together playing games and just hanging out.  Andrew love playing with the babies and the girls had such a blast together.  Too bad it ended early because of that stomach bug…the bug that lasted forever.  We had it before Christmas, brought it with us to Nevada, then our hold out child got it the day before the cousins came.  Sadly, they picked it up and left early to nurse themselves back to health.  We had such fun while they were here!  Sorry we got you sick.

Pudding Party

Every now and then I have to give Andrew a reason to get messy - I don't do it often enough, poor kid.  Today after school I told the kids they could have a bowl of pudding but no spoons.  It was fun to watch them get messy.  Andrew made a nice Abraham Lincoln beard.  At some point Kate started using her fingers to create polka dot face.  Natali licked the bowl clean with hardly a smudge.  Its good to be silly.

Lily's 1st Birthday

So hard to believe my baby is one!  Our little girl is a joy to all of us.  No one can resist kissing, hugging, carrying, helping, smothering this baby with love.  At church each week the kids fight over who gets to hold her.  We sit on a bench than can probably hold ten people but I usually have five kids mauling the baby and I in the space allotted for two people.  This usually leads to me taking her to the back of the chapel where she can breathe and everyone else can find a seat.  Yet, I can see why it's hard not to try and get one more smile out of her.

She spent her birthday doing her favorite things - taking a bath, eating grapes and minestrone soup, loving her kitty, and scooting all over the house.

 Here she is devouring her soup.  She often out eats a few of the other kids combined.

 In the last few weeks Mack has started to call her Billy.  It is hilarious now because she is called Billy half the time.  Weird - probably- but when you hear Mack say it, somehow it doesn't sound weird; it just sounds sweet.

The kids gave her some hand-me-down treasures- Pokemon cards, stuffed animals, bracelets, you name it.  She also got some wonderful books about other girls named Lily and a xylophone.  I never would have guessed it but she loves this thing.  She scoots around holding it and she totally plays it.  It is adorable.

 She enjoyed her first cupcake.  Natali and Mack wanted the cupcakes to look like grapes, in honor of her favorite food, hence the purple cupcakes.  She loved them and made a fantastic mess.  I love how she puts her foot up on the tray.  It makes me laugh every time.

My sweet baby is less than 16 lbs. but we can't love our little shrimp anymore than we do.  If only we could bulk her up a bit…Happy Birthday Lily!

Christmas Letter 2013

Family and Friends,

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Atlanta waiting for the Christmas Letter Muse to arrive.  She must be delayed due to winter storms.  Sorry, your loss, as the letter must go on.  I just finished face-timing with Lisa and the kids.  She kept giving the kids the phone in a desperate attempt to divert them long enough for her to get dinner on the table.  She is a miracle worker.  Looking through that window into our kitchen made my hotel room seem awfully quiet the moment we hung up.  I hope they know I do miss them. 

My Christmas letters are having the desired effect—my kids are interested in something I say (ok, maybe only write).  Last Sunday while shaving a two-week beard there was more gray hair than I had remembered.  Truth be told, my memory seems to fade more and more so as I write in my journal less and less the Christmas letter will have to be our family record.  Maybe that’s why the kids are so interested. 

   

I won’t forget the trip to Peru with my brother Brad.  Machu Picchu is definitely bucket-list worthy and managed to exceed my inflated expectations.  Every once in a while I can still hear the pipe music that is played incessantly for tourists across the country. Not surprisingly the Amazon Basin is quite wet during the rainy season.  We waded through water that poured in over the top of our knee-high rubber boots, retired several pairs of socks that never came close to drying out during our stay, kept appropriate distances from poisonous snakes but not a small caiman (Crocodilian) that Brad caught on a night time boat ride, and generally enjoyed being boys.  I involuntarily donated my glasses to the Amazon River while taking pictures of macaws and parrots at a clay lick, I hope someone finds them and puts them to good use.

Mandrew (shorthand for Mack and Andrew) and I had two trips to Yellowstone, one in early May with 75 degree weather and one in late September with a tent covered in snow—go figure.  The boys seem to enjoy it as much as I do and are generally willing to hike despite the weather. 

In a story far too long and truthful or justice in the Christmas letter, Lisa and I made a last minute drive (instead of flying—who knew kids need passports to fly to Canada but not to drive?) 14 hours with an infant in one day to Banff National Park in Canada.  The story also involves a sturdy iPhone case, a few large cracks in the windshield, devastating floods that destroyed bridges and caused landslides stranding everyone in the town, and a return trip with two new friends who needed a ride back to the US. 

I couldn’t pass up 25 lbs. of chocolate peanut caramel clusters for $30 at the Sweets Candy factory on a family trip to Utah.  Lisa was tired of me telling her what a great deal it was long before we finished eating them.  Come to think of it there may be a few left for the kids’ stockings.  The only better thing to do in Utah was to watch BYU finally beat Boise State in football.

Natali (11) transitioned seamlessly to middle school.  She hasn’t skipped a beat academically, ran cross country, began viola lessons, and continues to sing in a children’s choir and play the piano.  She’s mostly independent and always helpful.  She’ll be thoroughly pleased with this drab but truthful account of her year (she’ll roll her eyes and say, “Daaad,” when she reads this).     

Mack (10) moved up to tackle football with his friends despite qualifying to play flag football for an extra year because of his girth.  He made a few tackles and thoroughly enjoyed himself.  He also played spring soccer which I coached, indoor soccer, basketball, and golf—who needs video games?  He lasted about 8 months without a haircut—during which time we learned that his hair has more curl and body than is fair for a boy.  He was the only kid on his team who looked better after wearing his football helmet.  His Dame Easton Dame temper flared one day and left his glasses in enough pieces that Duck Tape couldn’t salvage them. He loved explaining why his glasses didn’t sit on straight while he waited for a new pair.

Andrew (8) was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in June.  A few months later he grew out of an old belt.  When we threw it away we noticed the size on the label: 6-18 months.  Sounds like he may get the chance to play flag football again too!  During parent/teacher conference at school his patient teacher told us about his lack of “impulse control.”  That’s not how we describe it at our house…

Kate (6) learned to ride her bike after the summer was over without the help of extended family (my brother had to teach Andrew last year).  To our surprise and excitement Kate has decided that jumping rope is fun—she detests all other activities in her PE class at school.  She decided a short haircut would be better than allowing Mom to comb her hair, so off it went.  When Andrew used a green marker on her hair she tried to use Chapstick to remove the color but it only left a greasy mess.  It is fun to be 6.

Emily (3) found a new favorite book titled The Uglified Ducky about a moose calf raised by a family of ducks.  We made several efforts to find a Gronk Aroo (the noise the moose makes in the story) this year but she’s still looking.  She wakes up each morning with a simple request, “Can you read to me?”  None of us are good at turning her down.   She absolutely refuses to eat fruits or vegetables so we let her eat Vitamin C pills to keep the scurvy away.  We keep thinking she’ll lose her favored sibling spot to Lily, but she’s so sweet they may end up sharing it.

Lily (10 months) —Lily Ellen, the 6^th and final member of this Easton generation was born February 4^th and after 10 months I’m ready to concede to Lisa that we finally got a little brown-eyed baby to match her (1 out of 6, so much for dominant genes). Though our heaviest child at birth, 7 lbs. 11 oz, she quickly slipped off the growth chart like the rest of her siblings and has since settled in at the 2^nd percentile for weight.   After 6 kids I’ve decided that I love the babies best.  Taking baby duty is also a great way to get out of other less pleasant tasks around the house.   

Lisa (33 and decidedly unpregnant!) drove a hard bargain to be excluded from the letter in exchange for her editing contribution…maybe next year.

Greg (35) tried hard not to be a fun vacuum this year but probably didn’t succeed.  I needed the Heimlich maneuver from a swift thinking colleague at dinner on a trip to Brazil—luckily I didn’t need to say “Help! I’m choking!” in Portuguese.

Books of the year—Turn Right at Machu Picchu, 1493, Approaching Zion, If you Lived Here I would Know your Name, Glass Castle, and Gifted Hands.

Merry Christmas with Love,

The Easton Family (Greg, Lisa, Natali, Mack, Andrew, Kate, Emily, and Lily)