Birth Order and Picture Taking

When I was a kid I loved perusing the pages of mine and my siblings' baby books.

Being the oldest in the family, mine was full of cute photos of me and  interesting tidbits from my early years. 

Did you know that Spencer W. Kimball (the modern day prophet at the time) tickled me and called me, "Angel" when I was a baby?  Although I was far too young to remember it happening, it was meaningful enough to read that it happened that we named our first son after him. 

I learned from reading my next younger brother's baby book that the first sentence he ever uttered was, "Lara did it."  While he was probably telling the truth about who did it, I used to tease him mercilessly for blaming me for everything from the moment he could talk. 

After that brother, though, the stories start getting pretty sparse.  By the time the eighth child rolled around my parents didn't go much past writing his name and birthdate in his baby book.    Baby pictures of him are few and far between.

In our family it's a bit different.  We have quite a few pictures of Spencer and Cami, then sometime before Emma was born our camera broke.  Digital cameras were still a bit on the pricy side and we didn't want another film camera, so we went without a camera at all for a couple of years.   All of the pictures we have from those first couple years of Emma's life were taken by other people. 

Eventually we got our first bottom-of-the-line digital camera and picture taking resumed again.  Baby pictures of Adam are poor quality, but plentiful.  Then I discovered blogging, got a better camera, and unlike my "baby brother",  Ellie is  by far the most photographed of all of our kids.  

So it shouldn't have surprised me too much, when we finally went raspberry picking on Labor Day when I uploaded the pictures from our Labor Day raspberry picking adventures that I found one picture of Emma with her friend Elena...

 and the rest were of Ellie.  

Perhaps I should feel guilty for not being better about photographing everyone...

but then again there's no one else who still happily and willingly poses for my pictures anymore.  

Except the raspberry jam I made yesterday afternoon...


it not only willingly submitted to me taking endless pictures of it, but it also allowed me to spread it over homemade bread for the berry best treat ever! 

And with that bit of cheesiness, I think I shall go to bed now or  I'm going to be in a real jam come tomorrow morning! 

First Day by the NUMB3RS

12th grade for Spencer!  We are so happy that he is healthy and well enough to go to school!  He is retaking physics, but is otherwise up-to-par with the rest of his classmates.  He missed the ACT and SAT testing dates in the spring, so he will be taking those sometime this fall. 

11 things I tried to accomplish while everyone was at school.    Unfortunately my list proved to be a little more ambitious than my energy.  

10th grade means my Cami Rose is a sophomore this year.  In addition to taking a challenging course load, she's also running cross country and trying to keep up her cupcake business (only for Saturday orders). 

9-years-old and way annoyed about posing for  first day of school pictures.  Despite the scowl though he's excited about 4th grade and hopes that he does not have as much homework as he did last year!

8 hours of back-to-school paperwork to fill out (and at least that long for my hands to uncramp)

7:30am--when we wake up the younger kids

6th grader, Emma and her friends, are excited to be the kings and queens of the elementary school.  Out of all of our kids, she was by far the most excited about going back to school. 

5:00am--our new wake-up time around here! 

4--how many miles I ran/walked with Glen today.  Man oh man, I  am out of shape!!!!!!

3 kids in elementary school this year! 

2 high schoolers up at the crack of dawn for the next 9 months or so. 

1 little second grader who was uncharacteristically nervous about starting school this year.  She'd had her first day outfit picked out for weeks, but spent the last few days so nervous about  having to officially let go of her beloved first grade teacher and have her first ever male teacher.   

Thankfully it seems that it turned out okay....

Last Week of Summer and Spencer Checkup

Backpacks are filled.  Class schedules have arrived.  They've met their teachers. 

The last week of summer is over and school begins bright and early on Tuesday morning and early morning seminary dawns even earlier on Wednesday morning. 

While I will definitely miss the carefree days with little on our schedule, we are good and ready for a semblance of routine around here.   Especially Spencer,  who may not admit it, but after 9 months without attending school is excited for his senior year! 

So other than going to bed way too late, breaking up yet another squabble among the kids, and eating breakfast around lunch time, how did we spend our last few days of summer vacation? 

Here's a glimpse: 

First and foremost, Spencer had another good check-up this past week!!!!!!    He had some more adventures with the Pentamidine infusion, but after 100mg of Benadryl and a very long nap, he was just fine.  His WBC was 4120, ANC 1740, Hgb 16.5, Platelets 117.  The platelet count is still lower than normal and than his last visit, but the doctor seemed unconcerned.  

I also continued experimenting with homemade fruit leather (grape): 

We had a little family get-together to visit with my uncle and aunt while they were in town. 

Much to Ellie's and my delight, that meant that we also got to see baby Jack again...

In fact, I daresay he was the most popular guy in the whole restaurant! 

Ellie also ate up the time to play with her cousins again...

Spencer attended his school's first football game of the year all decked out for Black-Out night!   He also hung out with friends and went on a date. 

Cami made and sold 16-dozen cupcakes in one day. 

It was a lot of hard work, but she was so thrilled with the results and couldn't stop smiling at her own little "bakery" table.  :)

Oh yeah and we worked....

A LOT! 

Besides sweeping the deck and painting Cami's room, we also emptied out and organized the hall closet, are still in process of trying to finish up the kids' room, cleaned up from Cami's cupcake escapades, prepared church lessons (YW for me, children's chorister for Glen), and....

took a picture of a bug on a window at the request of my very cute 2-year-old nephew.  :)

Tomorrow we hope to go raspberry picking (if the remnants of Hurricane Isaac don't rain us out), visit baby Jack and family one more time, go to the fabric store (for Cami and Emma), and have our special back-to-school Family Home Evening night. 

Sweet News!

VIRGINIA
September 1, 2012

According to bewildered sources near the fifteen-year-old Cami's home, the smell of cupcakes has been emanating through the air both night and day. 

"I just really like baking," said the jovial teen, who, judging by her upbeat attitude and easy-going manner, has no idea that using 8+ pounds of butter in one day just isn't most teens' idea of fun.   

"You folks are going to love sampling all these flavors," the girl continued over the dull hum of the mixer. 

 When asked what was so special about this cupcake sale compared to others she'd had in the past, she replied, "Usually people have to order a dozen of one flavor, but for this one day only people can buy individual cupcakes, in any one of a dozen flavors.  It's a great chance to try one or all of the flavors!" 

Witnesses to the baking spree confirmed that the teen could be found cheerfully singing along to Coldplay songs and chatting amiably with siblings, all the while keeping a steady pace baking.   

"More powdered sugar?" the teen's mother has been overheard to inquire throughout the day, in a tone indicating that another trip to the grocery store would not be welcome news. 

"Other than the trips to the store, the extra 10-lbs around my middle, and the sticky counters and floors," her mother continued, "we are very supportive of her baking endeavors."

"...we just don't want any more leftovers." 

"I just want everyone to know that I still have dozens of cupcakes available to buy," the lightly freckled teen added with an encouraging nod.  "Just give me a call and come try a few." 

Patrons of her cupcake business are often known, after sampling a cupcake,  to make such exclamations as, "These are better than Georgetown Cupcakes," and "mffmmmfhmedm."  

With flavors such as Carrot with cream cheese icing, Andes Mint, Greek Yogurt Cupcakes with Strawberry Icing, Red Velvet with cream cheese icing, Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cookies and Cream, Funfetti with swirled frosting, German Chocolate, Key Lime, Lemon,  and White Cake with chocolate icing, there is sure to be a flavor to please the most discerning palate. 

At press time she reportedly is still baking and still smiling.   To order she can be contacted at cupcakesbycami@yahoo.com or by phone. 

Honor Flight Heroes

I spent the first few years of my life as a "military brat" while my Dad faithfully served in the US Army  stationed in California, Texas, and Germany.  Although I don't remember much of that time of my life, as part of that heritage I was taught from a young age to appreciate the sacrifices that our servicemen and women give in order to protect our freedoms. As a parent now I've tried to instill the same values in my own children. 

So last year when Adam's Cub Scout pack joined with two other packs and got involved with a program called "Honor Flight Network," I was thrilled.  I don't know the full extent of what Honor Flights does, but part of it is that they bring veterans from all over the country to DC to visit the monuments of the wars they served in.  For many of them, it's a once-in-a-lifetime trip  that is very meaningful to them.    Then to cap off their trips, Honor Flights also arranges for groups to meet them at the airport to clap and cheer for them. 

And that's what these Cub Scouts did yesterday for a group of WWII veterans arriving for their flight back home. 

Adam may have been a little shy about talking to the veterans....

but he was quick to make sure he shook hands with as many of them as possible...sometimes even running to the end of the line so he could shake their hands again.  :)

The smiles on the faces of the veterans (and the scouts) was priceless...

It was amazing to watch the lineup grow as many passers-by stopped to pay their respects as well (Spencer wasn't a passerby, but happen to have them on either side of him)...

It was a meaningful experience for all of us there...

and one I hope we will never forget. 



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O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

Plan B

It's getting to be THAT time of summer. 

It's the time of summer when all semblance of productivity or creativity seems to have flown right out the window with the final vestiges of my patience.   

It's the time of summer when the kids ask for computer time or a treat or a movie and I say yes without hesitation, just because it's easier than keeping an eye on them while they play outside or making the effort to find them a healthier snack. 

  It's the time of summer when any shred of a routine would be a welcome reprieve from the sleep havoc we've been wreaking on our bodies lately with the über late nights and random wake-up times we've been keeping... if only I could roll out of bed before 8:00am to make it happen.      

 As mentioned in this recent post, I truly do enjoy having the kids home with me during the summer and I treasure the family memories we make together each summer, but there comes a day when I just have to say....

it's time for school to start.  

We've still got another week before it begins, so to assuage my guilt for being so lazy lately, I thought it would be fun to take the kids on a fun outing today.  I did the research, made the plans, bribed the kids to clean their room, packed lunches, and took them to Butler's Orchard so we could do our traditional  Labor Day weekend raspberry picking (a little early). 

Too bad I didn't read the fine print...

We'd traipsed over 30 miles to get there and it seemed too sad to just turn around and go home, so we opted for Plan B and decided to stop at a playground that happens to be not too far from the pick-your-own farm. 

The Adventure Playground at South Germantown Park is a humongous, unique playground that is fun no matter how old you are.  We've been there a few times over the years and it never fails to impress the kids.  

The younger kids ran, slid, jumped, swung, and in general had loads of fun burning off energy and exploring the humongous playland. 

It was a little toasty out there, but that did little to slow them down. 

On busier days, there's a line of kids for these super fun saucer swings, but we practically had the playground to ourselves today...

What's not to love about a swing built for a crowd?! 

Cami and her friends made the best of the unexpected detour by allowing me to snap some fun photos of them...

They only agreed though, if I promised to put them on the blog....

Which when you're as lovely--inside and out--as Cami and her friends, Katy and Ashley, it wasn't too hard to convince me to blog about them.   The three of them are great friends and it's always a delight when they hang out with our family.    In particular, I'm always impressed with how sweet and accepting they are of the younger kids.  That's an unusual trait in teens and truly my younger kids consider them to be their friends too. 

The cute guy in this picture thought the girls were pretty fun and cute as well, since he followed them around and "flirted" with them the entire time we were there.  It's a good thing he wasn't any older or Glen might have had to start shooing him away.  :)

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Now I either need to get unlazy enough try raspberry picking again later this week or I need to stop daydreaming about homemade raspberry jam on my toast!

Baby Jack

A few weeks ago Ellie's primary teacher allowed her to hold his couple-month-old baby while he taught the lesson.  She was instantly enamored with baby Josh and ever since that day,  Ellie has been begging us for a new baby brother or sister.  We didn't beat around the bush telling her that that she would always be our "baby" and not to get her hopes up on that front.  Eventually she started begging for baby playdates instead.  She insisted that she just wanted to play with a baby and that she would fully take care of him while he was at our house. 

Once again, I had to squash her enthusiasm when I told her that most mommies didn't let their tiny babies play at people's houses yet and that babies were a little harder to take care of than it seemed.   

Luckily where her Mommy and Daddy were unable to help, Uncle Matt and Aunt Karey came to the rescue. 

On Thursday night, my sister-in-law Karey gave birth to a very prompt (on his due date) little guy.  It was a whirlwind delivery, taking place a mere 5 minutes after arriving to the birthing center, but he was healthy, strong, and big (8 lbs. 13 oz.) and they were inviting us to visit as soon as we could get up to their house. 

So, today we went to visit.   

...and we were all enamored.    It may be 7+ years past the birth of my last baby, but I still feel right at home snuggling a little newborn.  

Baby Jack slept almost the whole time we were there, which did nothing to dispel Ellie's notions that babies are anything more than cuddles and cuteness. 

None of us could  get enough of this little bundle of sweetness and we often found ourselves just staring at his tiny little features...

Even Spencer was in love, bragging that baby Jack was one of the cutest babies he'd ever seen in his life. Although I agree fully with Spence's assessment on Jack's cuteness, I think Spencer was extra in love because Jack's middle name is Spencer. 

The only one of the kids who showed no-interest in holding or ogling over Jack was Adam.  He came close a couple of times, once to see if his pointer finger was longer or shorter than baby Jack's foot (longer), but other than that just did his own thing and ignored all the baby talk. 

 Glen tried to convince Adam to try holding him by demonstrating  how it is properly done.  The demonstration did get the "baby" to laugh, but did not change his mind about wanting to hold a baby himself.

And the happiest kid of all there was Jack's big brother, Lincoln....

He was so mad at his Mom when, after experiencing some false labor, they came home from the birthing center without a baby.   Now that Jack is here though, he was all smiles and bragged about how his parents had chosen his favorite name for his brother.

I left their house with a huge smile on my face and feeling a little nostalgic, not only for the warm cuddles of a newborn and the entertaining conversations with a 4-year-old, but also for the comparative simplicity of parenting in those early years.  I'm not saying that those early years are easy by any stretch of the imagination, but looking back on those years from our current parenting standpoint,  they just don't seem quite as complicated as enforcing curfews, teaching morality, driving lessons,  and worrying every time they came home a few minutes late.    And even those seem downright simple compared to the life-and-death worry that has consumed us through most of this year. 

Afterward I was thinking though that Ellie might have been onto something...

....maybe a baby playdate every now and then is a great idea. 




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