December

Ryann lost her first tooth! She accidentally swallowed it with a bite of pizza. The tooth fairy came anyway.

 Lately we've gotten these huge boxes filled with "boring stuff for Daddy's school." (It's surprising how well that little fib worked.) They're not even curious about what came in them, they're just really excited about playing with boxes.

Ryann's b-day, and other things

 Ryann had a birthday. She and Randy have been reading Harry Potter (she's on book 2 and loves it) so we did a Harry Potter party with her school friends. I made wands  for each of the kids. Ryann helped me make edible snitches and sucker ghosts to go in the party  favor bags.  She loved having her friends over.

 Here she is holding the golden snitch from the game where Randy holds the golden snitch and runs around outside while the kids chase him and try to catch it. She's also holding her wand, though it's hard to see. When we do these kid parties, we really ham it up. Each kid wore the sorting hat and was sorted into Griffindor house. Randy played the part of Olivander and helped the kids select their wands, then taught them a couple of spells to practice. They worked on leviosa with balloons. They went outside and played freeze tag with the spells, "petrificus" and "animate." We had a potions class where each student added exploding rock powder (baking soda) to unicorn's breath (vinegar) and stirred it with a black spoon that had food coloring dried onto it. They LOVED that one. We played red light green light but called it "Sneaking Past Snape." (Ryann came up with that one and was so pleased with her idea.) We decorated everything with yellow and red and our cupcakes had sorting hat toppers (hand-molded carmels). We also served mini wands (pretzel sticks) and jelly beans.

We almost called the party off, but I didn't have phone numbers for all the kids. Ryann got an infection and was in a lot of pain the day before the party. I took her into the instacare the morning of her celebration and thankfully, the antibiotic was fast acting and she felt well enough to play. This week, she's missed school because the antibiotic makes her sick. She's been very brave about taking her yucky medicine. 2 1/2 teaspoons twice a day is a lot to swallow, but she's done it.

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Although this is the first photo I've posted to document it, Ian really does smile a lot. He has a cute giggle and his tickle spot is on his neck. He's a sweet little snuggle bug and is now learning to sleep longer at night. (Except he just got a cold and has been miserable the past couple days. Poor little fella.) We've figured out that I need to supplement with a little formula to keep him full. That's kind of frustrating and I'm still trying to feed him as often as possible so that I can keep a milk supply. Why do I care to keep breastfeeding? I don't know. But I really, really do. 

 We saw Mrs. Santa. Lucy told me before hand that she wasn't going to talk if Mrs. Santa asked her a question. I thinks she was true to her word. If you've not met her, Mrs. Santa reads stories at our library at the beginning of the Christmas season, then she takes photos with the kids and gives them a bag of candy. It's a sweet evening.

Ummm we blessed Ian in church a month ago and I finally got around to putting him back into his tux for a photo.

We saw Santa!

A small thing

I was dancing around with Ian when I noticed a little sparkle of glitter on the painting of Ryann's face that hangs in our front room. It reminded me of Ryann, dancing in a beautiful glittery dress with her daddy right before the Halloween party. We turned on Rapunzel's song, daddy moved like a prince, lifted her high into the air and Ryann couldn't keep an awestruck "wow" from escaping.

Halloween Costumes

I splurged and bought the girls' costumes from the Disney store this year. What sewing impaired person could resist? 

Ryann as Rapunzel

Lucy as Minnie Mouse.

And Ian as a dragon

An honest look at how they are all together. Poor Ian is always being loved a little too much.

And another group shot. 

Fall

We finally saw the leaves this year. Yay!

Brave

I know I already mentioned about this Marshes being brave thing, but it's kind of a big deal around here, so I'll tell you more.

Ryann has had a hard time going to kindergarten. The first day was really exciting and she didn't seem too nervous. The next day was harder, and the next week got a little bit harder still. She was clinging to me and crying. I had to walk into the class room (you're supposed to say goodbye at the line outside) and put her in the chair and try to get out before she could grab me again. She comes home happy, so it's not the case that she doesn't like school. Mornings have been rough though with her whining and crying and being mean as a result of her anxiety.

This isn't the first thing that has made Ryann nervous. Remember the primary program last year? Well since then, she's also had kindergarten shots and a couple of dentist appointments that made her cower. (She had cavities and we had to have a general anesthetic to even get x-rays. Hard.) She used to be afraid of the wind and wouldn't go outside if there was a breeze, but she mostly got over that. At t-ball this year though, her first game happened to be on a windy day, plus there were a bunch of strangers there so she kinda froze up. There have been LOTS of other times when childhood anxiety has made Ryann's life just plain hard.

Ryann's not the only one with anxiety issues. Today, at preschool, Lucy had a meltdown too because a police officer was there to visit the class and teach about safety. Who knew she was afraid of cops? We talked about it a lot on our walk home, and this evening, when we were telling dad about the day, he asked, "what were you afraid of?" She pointed to me to do the talking, and I said that officer Brown had been there to visit. I asked Lucy, "Are police officers bad guys or good guys?" and she said, "Yeah mom, you got it right." Apparently she's still not sure.

Randy and I have both had our own encounters with anxiety and we're doing the best we can to be sympathetic and help the kids through it. Sarah, my sister, is a counselor and she's been able to give us a lot of good advice. Here are some of the things that have been helpful lately:

1. If Ryann goes to school, no matter how nervous, that's a win. We can reward her for staying at school.

2. Try to be sympathetic, calm, and patient.

3. Describe the nervous feeling and let her identify how long it lasts so she can realize that it goes away.

4. We made a Brave journal where we're recording instances when people in our family have overcome something that made them nervous or afraid. (She laughed a little when I told her something that makes me nervous but she thinks is fun. She was also surprised that there was something that made Dad nervous.) Ryann told me yesterday that I could write in the brave journal IF I went up into the attic at least two more tries to find the Halloween window stickers, so I guess it can be used as a bribe too.

5. We help her through the experiences that make her nervous, but don't let her avoid them. For example, she doesn't miss school or primary or quit t-ball. But we can stay with her for a little while until she feels ready for us to leave.

6. Play therapy. I don't really know a ton about this, and she'd probably benefit from going to a professional, but even my attempts have paid off. Basically, I give her focused, individual attention for 15 minutes. I describe what she's doing, refrain from asking questions, and let her direct how I should join in her play. She has very sweetly and sincerely thanked me the couple of times I have done this with her.

Anyway, we chant, "Marshes are brave." because that's something we hope to become. Really though, I think Ryann's already done a lot to face her fears, maybe even more than the average 5 year old.

(Also, we don't buy a lot of movies, but we're buying Brave. Who cares that it scares the kids? The story of compromise and the beautiful red hair! We NEED it. Just like Randy thinks we NEED to design and weave our own tartan.)

FHE tonight

Ryann was in charge of our activity for FHE tonight. She chose having a tea party at Grandma's house. I made cucumber sandwiches while Ryann put toothpicks in our cheese squares. We were outside together WITH daddy, so I got him to snap some photos of the kids.

 I don't know why, but it always makes me smile to see the kids running. We walk to and from school and I try to cheer for them every time they take off.

We love the teeter totter too.

Grandma was so sweet to host the tea party. She made hot cocoa and cookies for us. I still haven't printed any photos of Ian, so that was the real reason we needed daddy to take the camera.

  He smiles and coos now. It's adorable! I was wishing today that I just didn't have anything else to do but hold him.

Our latest family focus has been on being brave. Sometimes things like kindergarten are scary and make us anxious so we have a new family motto for the year, "Marshes are BRAVE!" We chant it.

We also learned the scripture, Phillipians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (And Lucy adds, "All by myself.")

Then we asked grandma and grandpa to share a couple of stories of times when they were brave. Grandma remembered going back to college after her kids were in school and taking the bus all the way there. Grandpa remembered a time in Jr. High when some boys tried to get him to smoke. When he refused, they tried to force him to by pushing him down to the ground. A bigger kid came and told the bullies that our grandpa didn't have to smoke if he didn't want to and helped get the other boys to leave him alone. See?  Marshes really are brave! 

Lucy

Lucy loves her baby brother. It's hard to keep her from squishing him too much.

 This is Lucy at the preschool open house.

 And this is Lucy walking with Logan to their first day of preschool.

"It's backwards day."-- Lucy

 She didn't seem to be nervous at all, just really excited and grown up. She came home and told Randy that everyone at preschool had said a potty word (in the alphabet).

One time when she was playing doctor, I was a patient with a broken leg. She said she hoped she had the right tools to fix it and asked whether I wanted glue or tape. I chose tape and she did some motions with her hands to show that she had "put my leg back on." I told her I still couldn't move my toes. "Oh!" she said and lifted her own foot up onto the couch by me, "I can.  See?" Then she wiggled her toes to show me. She'll make a fine doctor don't you think?

Ryann's 1st day of kindergarten

Ry Ry gets really nervous sometimes--like at her testing for kindergarten when she wouldn't even tell Miss Hunter her name. She pretty much sat on my lap and squirmed for the full 30 minutes. 

She looks so grown up though right? She's had 2 years of preschool, which she LOVED, and I'm pretty confident she'll enjoy kindergarten too. Daddy gave her a school blessing last night and I believe that those priesthood blessings really help. 

So I guess she's feeling a lot of different ways, but one of them is excited, so we'll take it! Here's hoping for a lot of good learning and new friendships.

Why don't you marry it?

Anna, my niece, introduced the hilarious "why don't you marry it?" joke to my girls a few weeks ago. Ryann's first response was the best, "Why would I marry it? It doesn't even have lips!"

Lucy tried to tell the joke to me the other day but it didn't turn out that well for her.
Lucy: "Do you like your brush?"
Me: "Yes."
Lucy: "Say no."
Me: "no."
Lucy: (pause) "Oh. Say yes."
Me: "Yes."
Lucy: "Then why don't you marry it?"
Me: "Because it's not a person, it's a brush.  Besides, I'm already married to dad."
Lucy walks out of the room, with no one laughing.

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I got mastitis this week.  Wow, that was rotten. I'm so thankful for antibiotics!

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I was just released from my calling as YW 2nd Counselor. I'm going to miss the girls and leaders a lot.  I know we're all still in the same ward and it's not like I won't see them anymore, but I'll miss having regular activities and lessons together.

Primary pianist should be really fun.
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Ian's sleeping MUCH better at night. Usually more like 5 hours which is totally manageable and just in time for school to start. Thanks buddy!

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I'm downloading new talks from speeches.byu.edu in hopes that I'll start running again YAY! Randy and I tentatively put another 100 mile bike ride on the calendar, but I sort of forgot that I'm breastfeeding and can't be away for more than 3 hours at a time. Duh. Also, I've got lots of training to do before I'm ready for that, so maybe next year. I have been able to do a couple of rides again and it's felt great. And sore. I love biking and running. So why don't I marry them?

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Youth conference this year was awesome.  It was about family history and really got me interested and excited about my family! Randy and I found a couple of names that were temple ready and now I'm extra excited to go to the temple for them. I'm also really interested in understanding my ancestors better and reading whatever stories about them I can find.

Summer time

So a newborn really changes things. 

I'm tired and starting to feel a little panicky about ever being able to sleep or complete a thought again.  Thankfully, I've had a lot of help from loving family members.  They've given me a chance to take some deep breaths and remember that this doesn't last forever. 

Sometimes the girls are best buddies like this:

 And sometimes they're a little more like this:

 (Actually, if I'm being honest, one or both of them is usually screaming and trying to hurt the other, but that's not a good moment for taking pictures.)


We've been busy having fun the past two weeks while we had cousins in town. We stayed up late and played outside all day. On Lucy's b-day we played at Trafalga and on the way to grandma's, she fell very soundly asleep.

After her brainstorming and dreaming up perfect party ideas all year long, she ended up having a very simple party. I kinda ran out of steam and I have a policy that parties should be fun and not stressful. So she was happy with her princess table cloth, pink cake, and pinata. (I had a really fun Dora the Explorer party planned out on paper but I never found the time/energy to get to the store for all the supplies so we just scratched it. That was a little disappointing for me, but I don't think Lucy cared one bit.)

The day after Lucy's b-day, we went to the Zimmerman cabin and had a great time. We love the mountains.

With our out-of-town cousins, we spent time at Trafalga, Thanksgiving point Dinosaur Museum, Thanksgiving point gardens, swimming pools, and Grandma's house. The kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline and swinging on papa's tall swings. Really there's been no shortage of fun, just a shortage of quiet sleeping time.

Today, I tried to snap some new photos of Ian since he's practically grown up now.

I did try to take some boy photos with no pink at all, but somehow, the little fingernails and blanket found their way in. I guess that's life Ian.