Peas!

The Crozier girls got to spend four blessed days in Bellingham last week while Graham worked. We were all a bit sick so it was wonderful to have helping hands to take care of us. My mom is always so creative. It's now wonder Isla always loves going to Grandma and Grandpa's!

This time the big hit was the tub of dried split pea with stacking cups for digging.

Isla scooped away for over an hour I think (a record for her typical attention span!) and even Emma got in on the action.

She had a good teacher to show her the ropes.

Pretty soon she was scooping away too.

My Dad and Ben were also there and we enjoyed some good family time playing games and doing the hardest 1000 piece puzzle ever (it took all 4 days!)

I didn't have to prepare a meal or do the dishes once (mostly because someone was conveniently needing to be changed or fed or go down for a nap at just the right time) and it was wonderful. I had the most down time I think since Emma was born and now I'm wondering why I haven't gone up there more often for a little "vacation."  Both girls get so much attention and Isla hardly needs me because she has so many fun toys to play with.

My girls managed to pee or poop on some article of clothing or pjs every single day we were there (4 for 4!) but my mom was there so I didn't even have to do the laundry. Needless to say, I think I will be going back again soon! Thanks for letting us ring in the New Year with you, Mom, Dad and Ben!

Wilson Christmas 2011

We arrived home from Mexico late in the evening of the 23rd and then dove right into a Christmas celebration with my family the morning of the 24th. Both our Sweet Peas were sick (look at Emma's sickie eyes!) but still in fairly chipper spirits.

Josh, Silver and Ben, giddy with excitement as if it were Christmas morn.

Because our family has increased to 11 (twelve including Silver!), we set a strict monetary limit of $15 per gift. Someday I'm sure we'll move toward drawing names but we weren't quite ready to do that yet this year. It was a fun challenge trying to pick out a meaningful gift for only $15. Emma's first gift was this adorable "Sherpa" blanket and pillow set from Julia Roberts.

I did not take this picture but found it on my camera. It makes me laugh and I thought it sort of captures Christmas from the perspective of a 15 month old (Gideon).

Then there's this shot...it definitely won't win any photography awards but I thought the chaos of cramming 12 people into our small living area needed to be documented. I love how everyone is just doing their own thing (sorry Lani!)

I needed my coffee something fierce that morning!

Josh felt quite jubilant after opening his exercise bands from us.

And look what Isla got! Her very own leather chair from Josh, Ben and Silver. Love it!

Of course she also had to try out all of Gideon's new toys to make sure he was using them right.

Make sure you read what's written on Graham's new shirt. And I am his proud wife! Mom got a new photo calendar created by yours truly. I think I've created an annual tradition for myself.

Lani got a calendar too and I have no idea what my Dad is opening. There's a pretty good chance it's a HUGE wrench because he got two. 

Snuggles (note my stocking is the only one with anything in it--lucky me!)

They'd make such a cute family, wouldn't they? I just had to post this series of pictures because I could not get a good one. Isla kept closing her eyes and then Gideon sneezed...glamorous!

Remember the picture of the chaos also known as the living room? Imagine adding 6 peanut-firing trebuchets to the mix. The gift exchange closed with these killer homemade gifts (see Silver's below), thanks to the woodworking skills of my Dad! It was nuts. Literally. Ha! I found peanuts hiding throughout the house for a week following and there were also quite a few in our tree. :) We decided our trebuchet is going to be a special toy we pull out at Christmas time and hopefully it will become a great tradition our kids look forward to. So cool, Dad!

Following the gift exchange, we had a hot breakfast of chocolate-filled croissants (thanks to a wonderful baker called Trader Joes), eggs and bacon. Graham had to rush off to make chord charts and get to church in time to do the music for 3 Christmas Eve services. The rest of the group dispersed and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon unpacking and repacking and vacuuming up peanut shards while the sick girls napped. I managed to attend one of the church services (if you count watching the service on TV from the nursing room where I was stranded with Emma who was naked because had pooped through her entire outfit and Isla who was prairie doggin' it but refusing to complete the task as "attending.") :) All in all, it was a busy yet fun Christmas Eve!

Oh, and it's definitely worth mentioning despite her illness, Emma had a GREAT hair day!

My 2012 Resolutions

I know a lot of people hate making resolutions because they are cliche or overdone but for me they are very useful. I love the idea of a New Year to start fresh, make changes. I know I'm a little late in establishing my resolutions for this year seeing that we're almost a week in already but, hey, that's just how I've been rolling lately and I'm ok with it.

Truth be told, I've been in a bit of a funk lately. I think it's a combination of the gloomy weather, sleep deprivation and the evaporation of what little alone time I possessed pre-Emma. These things together have created a rather on-edge, anxious version of the Kelsie I'd like to be. As 2012 begins, I'd like to do a better job of remembering that my life is really, really good. I have two beautiful (and challenging!) children, a very supportive and handsome husband, a wonderful family, and a cozy place to live. I've been doing some reflecting and praying over what the Lord is teaching to me, what He wants me to learn this year. I think He has a lot in store!

So, without further adieu, in 2012 would like to.....

1) Read more. I somehow managed to read 3 books in the month of December and it felt so good. And then this week (one week!) I read another book from start to finish (it helped that Emma is nursing every 2-3 hours round the clock again due to milk supply issues). I can't remember the last time I finished a book prior to this. I was gifted a Kindle complete with a reading light for Christmas and I have a feeling it is going to play a huge role in helping me accomplish this goal.

2) Run a 10K. Now that I'm so close, why not keep going, right? The current plan is to run the Mercer Island 10K in late March with a couple of friends.

3) Make peace with my emotions. I am an emotional person. There. I said it. I do a pretty good job of hiding my emotions as a whole but then poor Graham gets stuck with the mother load. This year, I want to learn to be ok with the way I'm feeling and let it out. If I feel like crying, I will cry. If I feel like laughing, I will laugh. If I feel (righteously) angry, I will be angry. I'm a pretty good stuffer and I don't think it's working for me. I have this deep longing to know how people really are and I want them to know the same about me as this is what creates incredible richness in relationship.

4) Read through the entire Bible, cover to cover. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I've never done this before. I've attempted a couple of read-the-Bible-in-a-year plans in years past but usually gave up once I hit Leviticus. Thank you Kindle yet again for your assistance with this one. I purchased a One Year Bible and so far I'm 5 for 5! (I must also give a little shout out to Emma--her frequent night wakings have facilitated lots more opportunities for quiet time!)

5) Travel alone with Graham. I have been either pregnant or breast feeding for a good majority of the last 3 1/2 years and I would love to set aside an extended period away to reconnect with just my husband.

6) Blog more. It is so therapeutic for me to write and I love having the events of my life and the thoughts that pass through my head documented.

7) Foster a servant's heart. You would think I would have rid myself of selfishness after having 2 kids. But far too often it rears its ugly head. The Lord is really nudging me in this area and I hope to learn to serve without expecting anything in return. No more keeping score!

8) Find some good slow cooker meals for work nights. I was crazy after going back to work post-Isla. I cooked a meal from scratch every work night and totally stressed myself out. This year, I'm committing to crockpot meals or leftovers on work nights for sanity's sake!

9) Give up. Give up trying to do things on my own, that is. This is another area where I really need to grow and remember that the Savior of the Universe is just waiting for me to let go and let Him take over. I need to be constantly reminded of this!

10) Be a really stellar mom and super awesome wife. I'm still working on the practical applications of this one but hopefully I can make some improvements this year! 

Out of the mouths of babes

I'm a firm believer in teaching kids the actual names of body parts. I'm sure there will be times when our kids identify things in public where we temporarily regret this decision but as a whole, I think it's the right one. But today I accidentally slipped up. I was nursing Emma while Isla looked on, doing her usual "What's that?" routine. She pointed in the general direction of Emma and asked me her number one favorite question. I thought she was looking at the design on Emma's onesie so cheerfully told her "It's a cupcake!" I finished feeding on one side and was about to switch to the other when Isla pointed at my chest and asked "Mommy feed Emma on the other cupcake?"
It sort of has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? :)

Cabo Part 2

And so it began...

Poor Isla spent 3 days of her vacation feverish and coughing up a storm. She was quite the sport and tried not to let her illness slow her down (though it did significantly). She took looooong naps (of course she would when it required one of us to stay back in the room during the sunniest part of the day!!) and I've never seen her sit in one place like that before. She still wanted to play in the "cool" but did a lot more standing and staring at the other kids than actual playing. But, the show must go on! So we played as best we could between nursing our sickie. I spent a lot of the trip nursing actually, it all senses of the word! Anyhow, I love this shot of Graham running into the waves with freakishly reckless abandon.

My mom and I successfully managed 2 barefoot beach runs and a bunch of us also walked the beach one morning. The weather was surprisingly coolish (like low to mid 70s as a high) so no one was really ready to get in the water until 11 anyway.

The four Croziers didn't make it too far on the walk but we were out long enough to introduce Isla to footprints. She was much less terrified of the sand this time around but still preferred the pool to the beach.

Gideon and Grandpa

Toward the end of our trip, we attended the dreaded timeshare presentation with our lovely host Jesus. He initially booked separate appointments for all of us married couples but then got in trouble with his management so thankfully (for Michael, Lani, Graham and I!) we were able to go together. We were planning to divy up the kids one per couple anyway to try and keep the meeting short and sweet but man, we must have been their worst nightmare!

It was supposedly only 90 minutes (yeah right!) so when an hour and a half had passed, Graham was getting ancy and my eyes were glazing over. Emma was getting hungry but I didn't want to start nursing her and therefore lock in another 20 minutes of time. This was right when they started sending in the big gun managers. One was a nice Canadian who couldn't stop commenting about how cute the three kids were while happily announcing that his wife was 11 weeks pregnant with their first and that he was a bit nervous. Right on cue, the kids began to give him an eyeful. First, Gideon pooped, sending rancid fumes around the table. The manager gladly encouraged Lani to please go ahead and change him! It was then that Dad noticed it was too late. A dark round turd had made it's way between Gideon's behind and Lani's lap. Dad tried to discreetly let Lani know but of course all eyes were on her and when the manager saw what had happened, he jumped up, gagging and covering his mouth at the sight (I honestly think he nearly lost his lunch). Cheerfully, Lani picked up the turd and exclaimed "Oh! Don't worry! It's only a raisin!" The only thing that could have made it better would have been if she licked it just to be sure.

Lani got Gideon cleaned up just in time for Isla to take center stage. She burst into a tremendous fit of coughing that was so forceful she began puking in her lap. Now, I think it's important to mention that she has never puked in all her 28 months of life. Ever. How ironic that her first time be during a horrid time share sales pitch? Her timing is impeccable! I rushed her to the bathroom, stripped her of her shirt only to have her leave another gift on the floor. I put a bib on her (for modesty of course!) and asked if we could please be excused from the meeting as we were not interested in buying. And wouldn't you know it, they actually LET US GO!! Just like that. No high pressure, no endless "I'll give you a better deal" offers. I think they were quite happy to see us walk out of there actually. Little did they know we could have been good targets since we'd actually fallen for and purchased a time share in the past (ha! a story for another day!) I guess Lani and Michael were freed to go a few minutes later after Michael told them he'd have to start donating some vital male organs to be able to afford a vacation home. Oh but my poor parents. They didn't show up at the pool for three more hours. I thought for sure they'd bought a time share!! Unfortunately they just couldn't get away and kept getting sales pitch after sales pitch thrown their way. I don't think they tried puking in anybody's lap though. Good plan for next time I think!

So anyway, Isla was totally fine after emptying the contents of her stomach so us young-ins returned to the pool to enjoy the rest of the day. 

There was always entertainment to be had at the pool. I'm pretty sure the resort entertainer guys probably have the best job on the planet in the minds of some. They literally got to goof off all day and play games with guests (which often involved them drinking on the job) and they got paid for it. Personally, I didn't enjoy their let's-go-see-how-many-people-we-can-get-to-take-shots-of-this-tequila antics. I tried to be conveniently breastfeeding whenever they played this game.

 But I did participate in the group water aerobics one day. It sort of happened by accident. Michael, Josh, Silver, Ben and I were in the pool when they started the workout and we were jokingly doing some of the moves from across the pool. We got called out and were told to come closer (and when these entertainer guys called you out, no was not an acceptable answer!)

Lani and I spent a lot of nap time hours on our poolside patios reading. I finished some books for the first time since Emma was born and it felt really good. My parents packed walkie talkies which provided a means of communication to those poolside if we needed to be relieved.

It proved a bit challenging to find places to gather for games as a group. But we did manage to play some card games in the lobby area on a couple occasions (it involved us taking matters into our own hands and moving around some couches to seat our group!) We even had to split up for a lot of our meals because we were told "It it not possible to seat this many people together." It sort of became the joke of our trip and also our catch phrase. "It is not possible....!" It really depended on who the meal hostess was and we lucked out a few times and got them to move some tables together. That gave us ammunition when others told us no. Actually it is possible because we moved tables together yesterday!! :)

Most of our meals were buffet style but weren't really Mexican dishes. They usually had 4 or 5 protein options, 3 starch options and a couple hot vegetables (always zucchini and bell peppers). By the end, I think we all just wanted to have plate served to us with a protein, starch and veg as we never really knew quite what was supposed to go with what and sounded nice to have someone else make the decision for us. They had a couple of restaurants on site (one Mexican and one Italian) that served a la carte meals but they were really hard to get into (and the one night we did get in, they'd changed to the service to a "special" buffet). We were finally successful in making reservations at the Mexican place on the last night and wished we'd made it happen earlier on because we had a good time. One evening they put together a special Caribbean nice (another buffet!) outside. We were all able to sit together around a round table and watch some fire dancers which was fun.

It was really fun for the grand kids to get to spend a week together. Isla LOVES bossing Gideon around and he's a good sport. He can say both Isla and Emma's names and so liked identifying each one over and over. They played lots of little games together....

...including hide and go seek!

HUGE thank you to G&G Wilson for taking us to Mexico!! We loved spending time with you !! And we're sorry we abandoned you in that time share presentation! :)