Juniper Gayle Age 1

Joren's nighttime creative juices brewing:

"My head is so heavy because i have so many heavy ideas. I want a cave to live in. In my next house I am going to cut it in half and make half of it a museum. I will have a whale skeleton and a cave. I want my own real dinosaur skeleton. I want my own pet turtle that's real and alive and I want to study sea turtles and I want a real mermaid suit that moves around. It needs to flexible so I can move around and twist.I just can't sleep because my head is exploding!" Joren

like a hundred dozen special

I like to make sure Teig knows how much I love him. I asked him if he knew how special he was to me and he said, "I'm feeling like a hundred dozen special to you." Teig

This will make you feel old.

I told my kids, "When we get back from winter break it will be 2014!! Wow! I was born in 1977. That sure makes me feel old!"

"I don't get it. How could you have been born in 1977, doesn't it have to have a 2000 in it?" Eirik

An attempt to get a longer playdate:

"In 65 million years Hudson can let me come home.."
Teig

The roller coaster ride of motherhood

"Mom you are so old I used to hate you so much, but now I don't.  Now I wuv you, wuv you, wuv you."
Teig

Remodel complete!

We finished and sold our remodel project this week! What an absolute adventure! I feel so completely blessed to have been a part of this. First of all, the team of investors agreed to let me do the design work.  I count this as the first miracle. Second, they said it needed to be high end with quality finishes and that cost was not to be so limiting that it would hinder the quality of the result.  What an opportunity! The next best part was that the team was so amazing! Robert Allan and my brothers Dave and Michael Law did a huge amount of the labor. We hired landscapers, inspectors and painters as well as some specialists along the way, but the credit for the craftsmanship and quality of this house goes to these three men. We also hired a team of stagers to bring in furniture when the house was finished to help it sell.  We hired "On Stage", a wonderful staging company that had all the pieces I was hoping for for the house. They saw exactly what I was looking for and set it up beautifully.  I am so proud of the way everything turned out. I take every chance I can to go visit the house and enjoy it. One of the last nights of working, Michael and I were painting and doing touch ups late at night. We turned on some good music, turned on the fireplace and just enjoyed every second of being in such a beautiful house. At night the whole house just glows. The lighting is gorgeous! I was not surprised that the house sold 4 days after going on the market! It sold for full price with a cash offer. I hope we get to do more. It was such a fun project and I learned so much!

 

AFTER: 

Teig at 3 1/2.. Already!

I wish I could record somehow how absolutely ridiculously cute Teig is. He is very serious about life. He doesn't like people to laugh at him and hates being three. He wants to be big like his brothers so bad. He hates his carseat more than life. Getting him to sit in it is the worst. He has this adorable way of using an H sound at the beginning of words like use, so I died when yesterday he asked me if he could "huse my Hobo dryer." (use my hair blow drier.") of course it would kill him to think I was laughing at him so I have to bite my lip when he is so cute. I bought him a new pair of skinny jeans and I'm telling you, there is nothing cuter in the world than his little legs in these jeans, except maybe when I get him to wear his suspenders with them. Teig is a candy lover. He has some sort of magical candy finding magnetic devise in him. I can't keep anything hidden from him. He would eat cereal for every single meal, unless there was anything sweeter around. He "woves" his sister Juni more than anything. He can not stop himself from constantly hugging and kissing her and rolling over her and smothering her and "helping" her all day long. When he accidentally hurts her he says, "I can't help it, I just wove her so much!" Teig is younger than his brothers but that never lets that stop him from getting right in the rough and dirty mix of everything. He is tough and fast and eager to try everything. I am looking forward to getting him into soccer, his first sport, next month.
I do have to say that I have spent a good deal of time worrying about Teig because he is quiet and so... "easy". I am used to so many demands and requests and feeling like I can't possibly live up to the "needs" of some of my other children, that when it is just Teig and Juni and I, and we're all just hanging out and Teig is not pestering me to death, I can't help but wonder if something is wrong. Is he ok? Is it ok that he sits and plays by himself or that he is fine not being"entertained" all the time? It's weird and great and such a relief that I have to consciously not take advantage of it and remember to engage him and stimulate his mind enough. Weird and wonderful. I love my sweet T.

Valentines day fondue party 2014

What does romantic mean?

"I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with shooting paintballs guns."

141 Del Prado

 For the past few months my family has been working on a home remodel in  Lake Oswego. It has been a huge undertaking. We bought the house filled to the brim with old gross stuff.  It had to be completely gutted and everything was replaced.  We could see the potential and working with my mom, dad and two of my brothers, Dave and Michael, and a good contractor friend of ours, we made it beautiful. I am so proud of how it turned out. The craftsmanship is unbeatable and they were gracious enough to let me do the design work and then they followed it thoroughly which seems to rarely happen. We are excited to show it off and to get it on the market today.  We are looking for a buyer.  :)

See the home tour and photos here: http://pdxvtours.com/leedav580/small2.htm.  Make sure to use the scroll down button to see all the rooms and photos

Christmas Lists

This year, everyone started making Christmas lists in September.  I have to admit, I got pretty impatient about hearing what everyone wanted every 5 minutes. I told them to keep their ideas to themselves and on Dec 1 we would all make our lists and mail them to Santa. That did not stop Eirik from making an Amazon wish list about 200 items long. I think Eirik made about 8 different lists.  A couple of times he made his wish list really long and then widdled it down to about 2 items and then did it all over again. He really did not want to seem greedy and he did not want to ask Santa for more than 2 or three things, but he had a really hard time deciding.

This is the list I wrote down as we went along: 1. Moultrei M-880 Low glow Game Camera!
2. master Lock 84170. 3. Python Adjustable locking cable G-Foot, Pocket knife, Sparing gear,  Thermometers, Camo clothes,whetstone, Belt, Pocket knife comb (that was actually my idea) walkietalkie/ watch, I  pod  touch or an I pad, anything else Santa thinks I should have,Toy rifle that shoots birdies, Pop gun, Birdies, Aquabot blue, His watch set, Go to shooting range with rifle and 22, Play baseball with family,A place to shoot a bow and arrow or gun,Pedometer,New light laber toys, Alarm clock, Snowboard, Skis, Bike with kick stand, Baseball bat stainleas, Black leather warm up jacket with fleece inside, More arrows, Quiver, BB gun / snowboarding goggles, Wolfs tooth, I phone charger, Remote control helicopter, Pack of gum- watermelon, Cereal frosted flakes, $50 cabelas coupon, Money for an iPhone app, Headphones, Stuffed sparrow, nerf gun pistols, Converse black
Nike socks, Science lab - beakers -tubes

Joren's list:
Crossbow with arrows, Two watch batteries, Dirt bike, Mermaid suit, New awesome suitcase- adult black, Tiny remote control car, Alarm clock, Lipstick, remote control helicopter, pet lizard that likes me, blue nerf handgun, a safe that can be locked, Black ninja suit, Bottle of rice with no labels, Bow staff black and white stripes, Build a tree house, When I'm 18 can I read that 39 clues, Black and silver and gray suitcase black and silver pedometer, Black and silver UAV that takes pictures
Pet bird with things birds can stand on, My room to be all blue and black and purple with lots and lots of jewelry, Black with white stripes superlong suitcase to hold a weapon like vectors squid luncher suitcase, I want to make a drying rack, I want a room with nothing in it., I want to give all of my stuff away., I want a spy room.  A bedroom that's a spy bedroom with nothing in it onwy black and white and grey and silver and purple and blue., I want a lot of things that Eirik has. Pocketknife, Axe, For my next bed I want a cat bed, Pink full body wet suit with creature power disk in pink on chest with purple fins and pink stripes -has the shape of a dolphin, Blue  full body wet suit with creature power disk in blue on chest, Beaker for my science stuff, Invent a science lab for everyone, My own office
My own radio to fix- use the parts to fix over fings., Origami red tailed falcon, Pink pillow pet, Surfboard, Boogie board- mini, Messenger pigeon, Brown purse, Nothing on my desk, Eep costume
Lizard blue tailed With container, Science kit, Dream light

Teig's list: Pet Giraffe. 

What Eirik actually got: Bike, airsoft pellets, walkie talkie watches, remote control helicopter, more arrows, quiver, night vision spy glasses, alarm clock/ charger, samarai wooden training sword, bay blades, Nerf gun and bullets, shooting glasses, whetstone, dreamlight, Skylanders for the Wii, Percy Jackson books, Nike socks, sweatshirt, Pjs, fake rubber knife, Pocket knife comb, light saber, lots of stocking stuffers

What Joren got: Crossbow and arrows with quiver, glider,  remote control helicopter, Pocket knife comb, bay blades, dreamlight, Skylanders for the Wii,Nerf gun and bullets, alarm clock/ charger, samarai wooden training sword, wetsuit top, pj's, hexbug, rainbow loom, binoculars, dinosaur digging kit, light saber, lots of stocking stuffers

What Teig got: dream light, lots of games and puzzles, candy, stomp rocket, Nerf gun, pocket knife comb, bay blade, cash register, lots of stocking stuffers

We really got to spoil the kids this year. It was fun to get them so many things from their lists. It's the first year where everything was not second hand. They were really happy with all their gifts! 

Juni 11 months

Juni is growing up so much. She is almost 11 months. She has 6 teeth. She has finally started sleeping through the night this month regularly. She has been wheezing since before thanksgiving and I think she has finally almost kicked it. Juni is one tough cookie. Teig loves on her like she is a big stuffed animal meant to be sat on, pushed around and constantly squeezed. She does not complain except to cry out when he is hurting her. She is happy and loving. She always greets everyone when they come near her. She makes about one sound..."uh" for her speech, and her laughing sounds are adorable. She gets up and cruises around everywhere. She loves to play and explore the toy room for hours as long as we are with her. Juni is a very good eater. She is starting to drink well from a sippy cup but she still wants to nurse exclusively. She loves bananas and cut up sandwiches. She likes to feed herself and loves the squeeze pouches of babyfood. I think overnight her hair turned from duck feathers to hair.. Well in the back; the front still looks like wispy little duck feathers. She definitely has light brown hair. She is a little angel and we all adore her.

2015 New Years Resolutions

Paul:
read more
Play less video games
Buy a new practice
Make my body a priority
Buy a house

Eirik
Read Percy Jackson series
Play more skylanders giants
Work harder to earn more money
Coach pitch baseball- spring
Tae Kwon do- year round
Swimming- summer
Willow brook- summer
Soccer- fall
Basketball - winter


Joren:
controlling my temper
Help mom
Keep my personal space
Get better at math
Be a better reader
Get a full body wetsuit
Baseball- spring
Swimming- summer
Willowbrook- summer
Gymnastics-?
Soccer- fall
Basketball- winter



Teig
Better at listening
Learn all my letters
start reading lessons with mom
Swimming- summer
Tumbling- winter
Baseball -summer
Preschool- fall

Juni:
walk, talk and feed myself

Mom:
Be present and not distracted with my kids
Plan FHE lessons ahead
Make book with pictures and stories about ancestors
Get deeply involved in my kids sports endeavors- help them succeed
Design our dream home
Pay off high interest loans
Put more time into my relationships with my grandparents
Develop more friendships outside the church
Focus on teaching kids principles
Have a great time in lake Powell and Disneyland
Be more involved at the kids schools
Once a week yoga class in spring
Make some cute things for Juni

Joren 6 years old

I mentioned in my Christmas post that Joren has been "naughty". He has put on full display his nonconformist personality at school this year. He continues to refuse to wear anything I choose, mostly just because he did not choose it. His clothes all have to fit snug therefor he likes to wear teigs clothes even when the arms go only to his elbows or the legs are far too short. He likes Teigs winter coat best too and will dig in his heals and throw a fit so I pick my battles and just get him out the door looking mostly decent most days. He hated for me to comb his hair and rhns away or screams when i do, every morning. He gets in trouble at school for things like butting his head into his teacher, hiding under her desk, teasing people, getting in peoples space, jumping in people, taking things that font nelong to him, hiding in the closet, pretending his ears dont work and refusing to do what he is asked. His recent report card said he frequently misses instructions and needs to be helped individually because he was not listening. I have had frequent phone calls, emails and conferences with his teacher, the school secretary and the principle about how to help him get his behavior in line. Jorens teacher Ms. Edwards devised a program where he would receive compliments for good behavior and when he received 15 compliments he would earn a paper airplane throwing recess. He worked hard and when he reached his goal he made a paper airplane for every kid in the whole kindergarten and first grade. Joren thought is was pretty awesome that he could make better airplanes than many of the older kids. He felt pretty important! When he had earned 25 compliments Ms. Edwards made a giant volcano explode in their classroom. Joren got to stand up at the front of the room and got credit for earning it with is good behavior. I like to think that the incentives helped. Im not sure, but its bound to get better. Last week in his prayer he said, "please help me learn how to listen better." I am proud of him for his efforts but even more than that I am frustrated because he is so belligerent and deliberately ignores me and does the opposite of what I ask. Well, he did respond when I told him he lost presents. He is such a huge charmer! He makes everyone fall in love with him with his earnest creative nature. It was fun to spoil him at Christmas and I love to see him happy. I have learned a lot from Jorens school team and I am continually amazed by his awesome teacher. Look what she wrote to me yesterday by email:

"I received a new book -- one I have been longing to read (Counting by 7s) -- I am a super dork for kid-lit. As I started it, I could not stop thinking of Joren. I imagine school does not always feel like a good fit for him, and it is my dream that through this year he finds a way to hold on to all the wonder and curiosity and imagination he possesses, and find ways he can make school work for him, without losing any of who he is. I treasure that vision, and only hope I can be a helpful guide in his journey.What a glorious year lies ahead for all of us!!"