Celebrating 8 & 10….efficiently

Dwayne and I had his holiday work party the night before, but we decided to make both that and the youngers’ co-birthday party happen the same weekend.  I love that family is willing to drive this way for a small birthday party.  We had make-your-own panini sandwiches, which Dwayne quickly, rationally, rechristened “porninis”. 

Since they spent the night at Gramma’s the night before (and I spend the week working), I sent them over with pans and brownie mix and Gramma helped them make their own birthday cakes.  When they came to their own birthday party, I gave them frosting and candles and they did their own decorating.  I’m not sure I’ve ever made any of my kids (or hubby) a birthday cake, but even at ages 8 and 10, they do a better job than I would.

It’s a tough call if Wesley likes presents or time with Parker more.  But both, he can handle!

Thanks for celebrating with us, family and friends!

Happy 8th Birthday, Son

Wesley woke up as an 8 year old today!

Since I’m posting this months later, I don’t remember many details, but he got compliment cards from everyone in his class

before we invited his class to walk home and enjoy cake and ice cream.

Funny, now I have a recollection of vowing not to invite that many boys inside my house again after that afternoon.  Bad luck, kid, having a winter birthday.

The one thing Wesley really wanted was a drumset, so he got both an electronic one (that he could plug in headphones for my own sanity) and a small bongo drum that has so far been indestructible.

[Funny story, when Wesley packed his suitcase for a two-night stay at Great Wolf Lodge with another 8 year old friend, I found those bongos right in the middle of all his clothes and toys.  He sadly listened while I tried to explain why it’s not a good idea to bring drums to hotel rooms.]

Keep on Rolling, Wesley!

It is still a toss up who found this the most amusing: Mama, Wesley, or Piper, but much laughter accompanied this little excursion. 

Polar Bear! Or, What the Kids Swear They Will Do Never Again

What’s this?  Beautiful, clear skies?  Blue water?  Double Bluff Beach?  Dwayne wearing two winter coats?

Must be time to

POLAR BEAR!

We met fellow bears and friends Matt and Emily at the beach. The kids abandoned clothes immediately…ids

…and then made a girl pile with their towels.

I think my face gives a good indication of the temperature.

I’ve had this bikini since my twenties.  It’s a bit ironic that the smaller an item is, the better it can fit.

It’s noon!  Time to….

…Holy CRAP that’s cold!

We quickly come back in. First picture stamped at 12:04, Kyla is out of the water at 12;05. 

First back in!

Wow, this kid makes me smile.

Vivian really tells it like it is!

Piper’s smile must just be frozen on.  You can see Matt and I both helping Kyla back.  Her legs were pretty numb.

Easy to believe she’ll be a teenager soon, right?

A hug from this guy is as good as the complementary hot cocoa!

Whidbey Walking

You’ll just have to believe me on this, but that’s a bald eagle circling overhead.  But you can just admire the blue, blue December sky I got to enjoy walking down Sandy Point to do my Mama Loop. 

I love being able to leave everyone at the cabin and go for a walk with my best friend—me! (Occasionally, when Dwayne and I go together, he tells me to walk circles around him so we stay together.)

A week later, the weather wasn’t quite as nice, but here in the PNW, I can appreciate dry!

Love this island.

Christmas Letter, 2017

He ate the last rum ball She swears at the ?#$#@$ tax overhaul. Not one kid will flush the potty. Yeah, we’ve all been a little bit naughty.

Dear Loved Ones,

I should not have announced my intention to start my annual letter, because almost immediately, 1) the toilet overflowed, 2) the TV stopped working, and 3) the toaster set off the smoke alarm. Daily, I question my life choices.

The kids continue to age exponentially faster than Dwayne and me. Kyla received her acceptance to Hogwarts on her 11^th birthday. Thinking I was writing a letter to Santa, she advocated that she had been really good this year. I started to scoff, but realized that she was speaking truth. She works hard to love Piper and initiates compliments to everyone. She does her chores quickly so she can get back to her audiobooks, and is the estate’s head gardener. She’s prepping for middle school next year and wants to take lots of math and chemistry, and last summer, attended a living history camp to experience 1880.

Wesley is ridiculously cheerful and charming, and even when he was stung by ten yellow jackets (he wanted to make sure you knew that), he was brave and even somewhat philosophical. Contrarily, his grip on reality is a bit tenuous, as at last count, he’s had over a hundred “worst day of my life” whines, usually as he’s served something he doesn’t love for dinner. A casual observer would note that this almost-8-year-old is an inventor—of course, the casual observer is not usually getting her stuff broken. My favorite retractable hose became his personal bungee cable for daring stunts, and no rubber band, cardboard box, or even innocent coat hanger is safe from Wesley’s, ahem, creativity.

Piper is finding a niche for herself in the family through music—she’s started piano and violin this year. Not quite ten, she hasn’t fully tilted toward “human” yet, and has been caught in pouncing stance on the stairs, ready to hiss and growl at any passerby. After months of saving, she is now the proud mama of a leopard gecko and declares him “cuddly”. When that girl decides something, she’s all in. She taught herself to type this year and really took to snowboarding in a few lessons. She conquered the bunny slope, on a day that ended with me snapping, “Everyone stop crying. Get in the car and start eating cookies. Eat lots of cookies NOW.” That may have been my parenting apex.

Dwayne, who has been faithful to one phone for 6 years, managed to hilariously go through 4 phones in 2 weeks.[1] If I die first, I grin to think what would happen to women when he starts dating. His work building is being gutted and so his whole team is working in Bellevue now, adding a lot of time to his commute. Dwayne has failed National Swearing Day—the day we get our Christmas tree—for a few years now. He’s thinking he needs a new challenge, something that actually makes him swear. I’m encouraging him to try parenting more than a few hours at a time.

I work as a substitute teacher just a day or two a week—enough to justify a cleaning lady and premade dinners. Denise-ing includes PTA-ing, volunteering, and serving in a few capacities at the district level, both as part of our schools’ foundation and a special education advocate. I haven’t run Heartsease Properties into the ground yet; in fact, we may have made too much money on the cabin this year. But since I do a lousy job of bookkeeping until Dec. 31, I can’t be sure.

Our biggest excitement this year was a brand-new kitchen. In a nutshell, we went from 1975 cheap bid to 2017 mid-grade, which is practically a new universe. The kitchen was only out of commission for a little over two weeks, but I will confess that with a fridge and microwave, my family didn’t eat much differently than usual. Basically what I’m saying is that when you call me “goddess”, you shouldn’t prefix it with “domestic”. And if I didn’t make it clear, the contractor did 100% of the work, which is why it was done early and mostly on budget. Dwayne and I can’t fathom that sort of professionalism.

The star of 2017 may be the dented, filthy, crusted minivan, that took us to San Diego and back this summer to spend time with family on both sides of the tree. We did our first amusement park together as we spent a spectacular day at Lego Land, and loved playing on SoCal’s beaches with family. Besides many adventures with loved ones, our best takeaway on this vacation was the invention of “ice cream o’clock”—a summer hit no matter where we were.

Fun family news: I’ll be an auntie again when Brian and Sandi’s second daughter is born late winter. The anticipation of that birth, as well as the Christ, is hard to ignore and my children’s excitement is more contagious than their colds.

May your traditions, family, and friends bring you both joy and peace this season!

With heaps of love,

Denise for Dwayne, Kyla, Piper, & Wesley

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[1] Wesley pipes up that after all that, Wes himself got Daddy’s original phone to work again.

White Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It slowed down sometime during the night, but we woke up to this on Christmas morning. 

After breakfast clean up, the kids went out to play, and Dwayne and I took ourselves for a walk.

Have I mentioned how much I like decorating the outside for the holidays?  To be truthful, it’s more how much I enjoy having it decorated.  And, honestly, once it goes up, it doesn’t come down until 1) it’s warm enough, and 2) my to-do list is otherwise short. So I’ll get to enjoy my ducklings for quite a while yet.

Oh, I think for next year, Mama Duck needs a Santa hat.

And maybe she’s not the only one.

Thanks, Snow, for finishing the decorating for me.  I love it!