Maggie Mermaid Turns Five

Maggie celebrated her fifth birthday this month in underwater style. She has been really into mermaids lately, so her birthday had an aquatic theme this year. She got a mermaid sandbox playset from Mom & Dad. It's a small box full of blue sand with rocks, seashells, a mermaid, fish, and other fun stuff for digging about. She and Gunnar both really enjoyed playing with it before the afternoon birthday party.

We had a fun after-(elementary)-school party with some very well-behaved, quiet young ladies--excepting our own Adah and Maggie who were bouncing off the walls in excitement. (Seriously, some of these guests hardly said a word!) The girls--and Gunnar--began the party by making seashell and jewel crowns.

Next they had a treasure hunt through the house, looking for marine items such as swim goggles, seashells, a toy whale, and flip-flops. The final prize was a treasure chest full of bubble bath, candy, pens, and other prizes buried under pasta shells.

After that, the real excitement began as each party-goer was equipped with their own mermaid tail. We had them step into garbage bags which we cinched and duct taped around their waists. Another, not-so-tight, strip of duct tape went around their knees. Then the kids had races across the family room to retrieve their crowns. It was so fun to watch them hop, squirm, and flip their way back-and-forth, giggling and bumping into each other. After the races, some of the girls were ready to be set free, but others--Gunnar included--kept their tails on for the duration of the party. Gunnar even requested another "mermay tay" later in the evening when the party was over, coming up to me with a new trash bag and the tape.

After opening gifts, we returned to the kitchen table for mermaid cake!

I am proud of this latest birthday cake creation, although I can't take creative credit for it. It was courtesy of Family Fun magazine. We did exercise some artistic license to cover the mermaid's top with Necco wafers, instead of strictly using them as tail scales. (For me, the frosting was a real hit. I get bored with plain old buttercream, but can't use yummy chocolate when colors are required. This frosting was a basic buttercream with cinnamon added. On top of chocolate cake: yummo! And it resulted in a nice skin tone for our mermaid, along with being easily dyed for the tail.) There is one warning that comes with this cake: it is HUGE!! It took me 2 trips to the shed to find a piece of wood large enough for laying out the entire cake.

It was all worth it, though. As you can see, Maggie Mermaid had a great time at her party:

95% Chance of Baby Girl

100% chance of baby

I think that most of my readers (3 or 4 of you?) already know about baby number four's expected arrival at the end of May. Perhaps you have not yet heard that now we're expecting a girl!

I had an ultrasound on January 6 that gave us the good news that baby is alone in there, growing at just the right rate, and has all the correct body parts looking as they should. Damon and the kids joined us in the tiny (and warm) room, but after pestering the doctor too much, they (the kids) had to be removed. Adah was very interested in knowing what every little image was, while Maggie was just confused. (Aren't we all, when we look at those things?)

The doctor tried for a long time to get a good shot of the baby's face to print for me. The circle at the top right is the head, with the two little circles below (and to the side) being the hands. That was the best he could do. I told him not to worry about it too much. I don't have ultrasound images of any of the other kids, so I knew I wouldn't feel a great sense of loss if I didn't have one of this baby either. With Adah, they forgot to print any for us. Maggie's got left at the hospital in Bedford when I went in with false labor (and never returned, since she was born at home). I had an image of Gunnar, but it was only of his private parts confirming he was a boy, and I figured we didn't really need to preserve that in the baby book. (I don't know why that's the only image the doctor printed for me.)

After looking for a long time, the doctor gave us a 95% confident prediction that the baby will be a girl. Of course, that 5% has left me a little anxious about totally throwing out the blue in favor of pink at our house, but we think the odds are in her favor, so that's what we're planning for.

Playing in Portland

We usually like to take advantage of the week between Christmas and New Year's to see family, but since we had just taken big trips earlier in the month, we opted for something a little more local. Although we've lived 60 miles east of Portland for over 4 years now, we feel like we've never really taken advantage of the city. So, on the Tuesday after Christmas, over the river and through the Gorge we went!

Our first stops were admittedly not unique to Portland. We wanted to spend some of the cash that had been gifted to us on Christmas, so we stopped at an outlet mall and Target.

The real fun began after lunch when we went ice skating at the Lloyd Center. This is the same place we went for Adah's birthday. She returned for another friend's party earlier in December, so Adah was feeling like quite a pro on this third trip to the rink.

Maggie is also getting pretty confident on the ice. In the picture below Damon and Maggie hadn't been skating for very long, but by the end of the session she was getting around without holding onto anyone else's hands or to the wall!

Gunnar even gave it a try...and did quite well. (Who knew they made skates that small?) He had a fun time and several times skated a short distance solo, although each time he did he got scared and applied a death grip for the next several minutes. (Oh, and I did skate, too. I just didn't make it into any of the good pictures.)

Tuesday afternoon it began snowing in Portland. They don't get much of the white stuff, so it caused quite a slow down on the city streets. We, of course, left the ice skating rink right around rush hour and took over 30 minutes to drive just a couple miles to our hotel. By bedtime it had begun raining, and by morning the snow was gone. (Not at home, though. We had to shovel when we got back Wednesday night.)

We spent the night at the downtown Embassy Suites, enjoying a tasty Thai dinner just a few blocks away. In the morning we ate the yummy hotel breakfast and then took advantage of the heated indoor pool, which we practically had to ourselves for 30-45 minutes before the late breakfasters started trickling in. We actually had tremendous luck on this trip, seeming to get in line for something just before everyone else showed up--whether it was at a restaurant, the pool, or the zoo (see below).

After checking out of the hotel, we visited a Portland toy store and found some lunch downtown. Then it was onto the Portland Aerial Tram. It travels 3300 linear feet between terminals at two OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) locations. Primarily used to transport OHSU staff and patients, we rode the tram as tourists and then got a treat in the hospital cafeteria before descending!

Our final adventure in the city was attending Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo. This is an annual holiday lights display that begins at dusk. We arrived just before dark and were able to visit a few of the zoo animals that are on display--not many are due to the cold weather--before the lights started coming on. They were really quite amazing and included several animated vignettes, such as a giraffe putting a heart atop a Christmas tree and a bird flying from one tree to another.

A peacock:

This shot of an elephant spraying water was actually the last bit of a whole series that made it look like a group of elephants was at the waterhole and bent their trunks down to get the water.

Finally, we rode on the zoo's train to see even more lights. It was a great night that the whole family really enjoyed.

When all was said and done, we felt like we had really done what the city had to offer us. (Portland is suprisingly low on points of interest, seriously.) There are a few things we want to be sure to see and do when the weather warms up, but we no longer feel like we have neglected the big city.

We were also tremendously grateful for the GPS navigator from Damon's parents. We never would have found that tram terminal--or several other places--without it.

Christmas Day--and more

We had a very Merry--and messy--Christmas this year. Knowing the inquisitive nature of our two-year-old, we waited until all the children had gone to bed on Christmas Eve before putting any gifts under the tree. It was a good thing.

Once the unwrapping began, Gunnar really went for it. It was all we could do to keep him from opening every package. I don't think he thought all the presents were his; I think he just had fun tearing off the wrapping paper. So, whereas I enjoy opening the gifts one-by-one and taking a moment to admire them before moving onto the next, we seemed to just open in quick succession as we snatched a gift from Gunnar's hands and gave it to the true recipient, or as we held him back and urged someone to quickly unwrap so Gunnar could have the next one.

I think I'm making it sound worse than it actually was. Truly, we had a fun time and enjoyed the bounty. We really are blessed to be able to provide such a nice Christmas for our kids and to have such generous family members on top of that.

Here's Gunnar grinning with the Christmas mess behind and around him:

Santa Claus brought the family a wannabe air hockey game. I say "wannabe" because there's no air involved. The whole thing goes on the floor and uses elastic bands for bouncing the puck around. It's loads of fun.

The one thing that Adah and Maggie both consistently asked for this Christmas was an American Girl doll. Those babies cost $100, so I found more affordable substitutes at Target (love that store) that were just as happily received by the girls. Here they are (in new slippers and Maggie in a new Tinkerbell nightgown) with their dolls, Eva and Mary:

We received lots of books this Christmas and a couple of movies that we enjoyed reading and watching in between playing with all the new toys. Damon and I also got some much-needed naptime after staying up way too late wrapping presents on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas was extended a bit by a package arriving after the official day. If you thought Christmas morning sounded hectic, you should have seen this. The package came in the house just a few moments before some guests--old college friend & spouse--came for a quick visit. The kids couldn't wait and they tore into the presents while we tried in vain to referee. In the melee, Gunnar removed several of the labels and we weren't even sure which gifts were for whom. Nevertheless, we've enjoyed all the fun puzzles and science experiments from Grandma and Grandpa.

Maggie loves her new fairy dress-up:

This remote control flying saucer is the family favorite--even though it's gotten tangled in the girls' hair at least twice. Grandpa always sends great gadgets!

Beeswax Christmas Candles

Early in the Christmas season, Adah announced that she wanted to make something, sell it, and then use the money to buy toys for kids who didn't have any. What a charitable kid! However, being the realist and skeptic that my husband has taught me to be (sorry, dear; it's true), I wasn't sure what a 7-year-old could make that would actually sell for enough money to make the whole venture worthwhile. I mean, we'd done lemonade stands before, but that never really yielded enough to go out buying toys to donate.

After scouring the Internet, asking crafty friends, and looking in magazines, we settled on making stacked cookie cutter beeswax candles. Acquiring the supplies was a little bit tricky, as most candle suppliers discourage you from shipping beeswax in the cold winter months and no local stores were selling sheets of beeswax. Eventually we just went for it with the shipping option and everything arrived in one piece.

We spent a Saturday mass-producing the candles by cutting layers with cookie cutters and then sandwiching a wick in between them. Damon and I were both impressed at how well the girls did. They really contributed to this project--it wasn't just something they tried for a few minutes and then left Mom & Dad to finish.

Here's Adah with a finished Christmas tree candle:

Here are many of the finished candles: stars, trees, gingerbread men, reindeer and sleighs. We also made some mittens.

We made several sets to look like a reindeer pulling a sleigh, which we packaged together:

By the time the supplies arrived--and by the time we'd returned from our VA/UT trips--it was kind of late in the season and we didn't have much sale-time left. Still, after all day making candles, Damon & the kids went through the neighborhood at dusk making a sale at every door!! (Damon said he'd like to see if people would buy them when they're not being sold by cute little girls.)

We still have a supply of candles (and more beeswax), so we'll have a jump on next year's holiday bazaar circuit for earning that money for donations.

This Year's Holiday Travel

Earlier this month, all five of us went to the airport and got on two separate planes. Gunnar and I flew to Salt Lake City to visit my parents while Damon & the girls flew to Virginia. Damon's brother dances in the Richmond Ballet, so they went to see him in "The Nutcracker." Justin plans to retire after this season, so this was a last-chance opportunity for Adah and Maggie to see their uncle dance.

Gunnar and I lolled about my parents' condo, enjoying my dad's cooking and my mom's dish washing--along with their company. The highlight of my trip was attending the Christmas concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. The guest artists were singer Natalie Cole and historian David McCullough. I am a huge McCullough fan and we were surprised to learn that there was a book signing after the concert. My parents and I rushed through the post-concert and Temple Square holiday crowds and lined up to buy books and meet this great American historian and author. It was a thrill.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family enjoyed a jam-packed time touring Richmond and Washington, D.C. Damon's parents were also there from California, which only added to the fun of the Richmond Science Museum, ice skating, monuments, and the Smithsonian.

Maggie and Adah backstage with Uncle Justin (as the Spanish Dancer) after the performance

Damon and the girls outside the Washington, D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Justin, Adah, and Maggie outside the halls of the Supreme Court

Maggie, Justin, Joanna (Damon's mom), and Adah stroll along with the Capitol Building behind them.

Adah and Maggie look over the Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

More Yuletide Cheer

As if seeing Santa Claus and getting our Christmas tree weren't enough holiday activity for one day, on Saturday afternoon we headed out for the annual "I'm Dreaming of a White Salmon Christmas" event downtown.

The local library was having its annual holiday open house and we got there in time for a final song by a bell choir and then, afer a few goodies, went to the children's area for crafts. Adah and Maggie decorated ornaments and strung beaded necklaces.

Maggie got her face painted with Christmas trees.

Our neighbor led library-goers in some Christmas carols. She is a remarkable piano player.

After leaving the library, we walked up the street where the girls roasted some marshmallows for s'mores before the lighting of the town Christmas tree.

It was such delightful, Norman Rockwell kind of day. What a way to kick off our Christmas season.