Shaky Seth

Seth has some energy.  He's working on harnessing it:

Thanksgiving and Ruby's blessing

This year Grandma Zonda, Grandpa Cliff, Kristal, Casey and Kami came for Thanksgiving. We had a great meal and went to see the movie "Megamind" on Thanksgiving and we had a nice time being together. Saturday night we went to see the Cactus garden at the Chocolate Factory. Our kids look forward to that every year.

Then Sunday, Ruby was blessed at church. It was a wonderful blessing and nice to have family there with us. Ruby looked beautiful.

A Dream Come True!

Some nice ladies from church brought us dinner tonight - BBQ Chicken.  Little did they know that Rachel lives for drumsticks.  She repeated "This is a dream come true!" at least two or three times.  I had to take a picture to document her giddiness:

Seeing that picture got me thinking about some things.  One thought was that in about 15 years time some lucky man will look over the table at a KFC somewhere, stare into Rachel's blue eyes and say "This is a dream come true!" 

Let's say 25 years instead - I'm in no rush for that dream to come true. . . .

Ruby Jean Cox

Ruby has arrived!  She was born on Thursday, 11/11/2010.  She weighed in at 7lbs and 13oz and measured 20.5".  Jean was induced in the morning, but nothing exciting happened until 5 - then it all happened rather quickly.  Mom and baby are doing great and come home tomorrow (Saturday).



She's been a sleepy, quiet girl so far.  Long eyelashes, long toes and dark hair (for now).  The kids got to meet her today - all of them were excited, especially Seth.  He went nuts over her (see video below). 



Click on the photo below to see additional pictures:

Kids These Days

Here are a little sampling of conversations held in our house during the past few days.  Yes, you're missing out on some gems. . .

"It is pretty hard to control your drool when you're swinging a bat and everything." - Danny after both he and Aaron had a problem losing control of their salivary glands.

"You did bring something to eat!!"- Aaron after looking for a snack in Jean's purse and finding gum.  Apparently gum is a snack food in our house.

"Everybody farts sometimes." - An eternal truth spoken by Danny after the kids were discussing whether chilli induces gas.  They decided that it doesn't.

Halloween

This year we had two star wars guys (Danny was Pre Visla and Aaron was Bobba Fett), an Indian girl and an elephant. Our elephant wasn't too excited about his costume, though. But he did think it was pretty great when he held out his pumpkin bucket and people put candy in it.

Here's a happier picture:

We went to the ward trunk or treat for our main activity this year. And this is the mandatory examining and trading of the candy after the event:
Since Halloween was on Sunday, we didn't do our usual trick-or-treating. We had dinner with a few families in the ward and then we trick or treated to all the cute older people on our street who would notice if our kids didn't come to their houses. Bob says we can count it like visiting the elderly.

Mr. Excitement Turns 5!

When in need of entertainment, excitement or simply something to talk about Aaron is your man. He's full throttle in everything he does. Aaron has two gears - neutral and overdrive. Once he's in, he's all in. He drives a hard bargain in negotiations and petitions. I've often thought that he would be a great salesman or businessman - he almost always finds a way to 'make the sale'. He can focus like a laser beam - almost to a fault.

His personality, red hair and freckles act as people magnets when he's got his game on. He has a knack for saying things that can make you laugh and can add a fresh new take that will get you thinking. Just be careful in laughing - he's sensitive and can interpret your laughter as laughing at him, not with him (as Uncle Rico would say of Napoleon - "He's a sensitive guy.") He's very observant and attentive to detail. He's got style and likes to look nice (nice = Star Wars shirt + shorts + combed hair).

He has a fierce love for his siblings, especially Seth. He enjoys playing with his Legos, games on the Wii, riding his scooter, jumping on the trampoline, dancing, playing living room soccer, watching America's Funniest Videos and getting tossed on the couch by his Dad. He lives on a steady diet of granola bars, apple juice and any candy he can find in the kitchen cabinets. If you're looking for some energy food, that's the formula.

Some things we love about Aaron

• He loves Star Wars and Legos. He can build with Lego for hours.
• He plays Lego Star Wars on the Wii. He jumps constantly while he plays.
• He doesn't like regular breakfast foods. For breakfast he usually eats a granola bar or asks for a hot dog or chicken nuggets.
• He's a good faker. Whenever he's tired of walking or doesn't want to clean up or other work, that part of his body starts hurting so he's unable to use it. "My arms hurt; I can't clean up the legos!"
• He gets compliments on his hair everywhere he goes.
  

Aaron's birthday party was at a park this year. He had six little boys come. It was Star Wars themed. He helped make the lego star wars flags to go in the top of the cupcakes. And he filled all the treat bags. He was so excited. We played on the playground most of the time, but we also did some duck, duck, goose and red light, green light and did presents and cupcakes.

We love our red man. Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Tennis Star!

Rachel has been going to tennis practice for a month and a half now and has been enjoying her lessons.  She's been able to show off her skills for visiting family members and has a good time running around on the courts every Saturday morning.  She earned Most Improved Player at last week's practice.  This set of lessons ends today, but she'll pick back up for another 6 weeks lesson set in a couple of weeks.  Rock on!

Princess Lea & The Letter 'M'

Jean bought Aaron a couple new Star Wars t-shirts a few weeks back.  He'll wear them for days straight.  Danny was very impressed with one of the new shirts (pictured below) - the conversation went something like this:

Danny:  Oooo, Aaron I like your new Star Wars t-shirt!

Aaron:  Yeah, I like it too.

Danny:  I like all of the pictures of Hans Solo, Darth Vader . . 

Aaron:  I like them, too.  I look at all of them - Hairy Chewbacca, Jabba the Hut, C3-P0.  I look at all of them except for Princess Lea.  I pretend like I can't see her, but I like to look at all of the other ones. 

We have our set places at the dinner table.  Every now and then we mix it up and sit in another family member's spot.  When we do this we play a role playing game (no, not with 12-sided dice) where we take on the persona of the person who's chair we are occupying at the time.  In the latest round of this game I was sitting in Aaron's spot.  I was talking up Star Wars and Legos and how I love to play with them.  Aaron rolled with the generalizations and statements until I started to talk about how much I loved girls.  He'd had enough.

He said:  You're Dad and not Aaron.  I know that's you, Dad!
Me: Ohhh, no.  I'm Aaron because I like Star Wars, Legos and girls . . 
Aaron:   Nuh-uh!
Me:  Yuh-huh!  How do you know I'm Dad?
Aaron:  Because you're bigger and you have an 'm' on your hair (referring to my male-pattern baldness)!

Guilty as charged, guilty as charged.  Point, Aaron.

Marvelous Rachel!

Rachel recently completed a packet at school that showcases her personality, likes, thoughts, etc.  Here are some of the highlights (original spelling):

Favorite sport:  ballet
Favorite resaurant:  McDonld's
Favorite thing I own:  radeeo
Favorite song:  rudof the red nose raindeer
One thing that makes me very special is:  I am nise and I have lots of firends.
Here are five things that tell about me:  sister, play piano, nice, like to go to sleep and 2nd grader
I know a lot about:  planets
I used to:  like peperony
I have never:  ran into a car
I worry about:  Seth and Ruby
I can jump:  3 feet
The best age to be is: 16  because I get to get a horse
The biggest mistake I ever made was:  getting Seth out to early
One of the greatest people I know is gramda and mom because gramda is fun and mom make me dinner.
I wish:  I had all teh pets in the world
On report card day:  I get a report card
If I could call the President I would say . . . Thak you for watching are state, Mr. President.
If I could be an animal I'd be a dog because all of the kids would like me

And here's our favorite:
If I could be any person in the world I would be . . . myself.

We love our marvelous girl!

California Adventures

We took a quick trip to California Adventures this week. We've always just stayed at Disneyland when we've gone before, so this time the kids were ready to try something new. We had a great time.

Seth took a 1 hour nap, but was happy all day. He had a great time in the Monsters Inc ride, which we did four times. And he loved the parade. We were buddies throughout the day because between him being less than 40 inches and me being pregnant, we weren't allowed on many of the rides.

Rachel was our dare devil and loved all the scary rides. Her favorite was the California Screamin Roller Coaster that goes upside down. She also went on the tower of terror three times--more than Danny did.

Danny was a trooper and never complained about walking everywhere. His favorite was the California Screamin Roller Coaster too. Danny and Rachel went on it together. Bob was going to go with them, but that would make one of the kids have to ride by themselves, so he just let them go together. I was a little worried about that, but they did great.

Aaron was brave too and loved everything. His favorite was Mullholland Madness, a fun roller coaster that had no wait at all; so they rode it at least 5 times. The kids also loved going in the redwood forest where they had a zipline that never had a wait, so every time we walked by they went in and rode it a few times.

Back to School

The kids all started school just fine two weeks ago. Danny has Mrs. Wolf for third grade. I think we'll both really like her. She seems like a fun, good teacher. He likes his class and knows some of the boys in there already. He settled in really quickly this year.
Rachel has Mr. Esquibel for second grade. He seems pretty good. He really likes to play the guitar, so if he brings music into the class I think Rachel will really like it. This is her first year not being with her best friend, Jaclyn. She's doing just fine. She's making new friends and having fun. She's likes to be responsible and organized about her homework. She also loves to get dressed for school. She comes out in cute outfits with her hair done. She even asked to have her hair curled one morning. She used to hate it when I'd try to spend more than two minutes on her hair.
Aaron started preschool with Miss Kathy. Rachel went there for preschool too. She's wonderful. Aaron is really liking it. She keeps the kids more active than his last teacher did and I think he needs that. He's also excited because Miss Kathy said if he does the homework program this year, he'll be reading by the end of the year. Aaron was really excited about learning to read.

Seth had a hard time when the kids left. He cried several times when they got out of the car and he didn't.

End of Summer Party

We had an End of Summer Bash this year on the last weekend before school started. We had silly string and a pinata and rain trampoline. It was a great night!

Rachel is 7

Bob and I keep telling Rachel that she can't get any older, but she isn't obeying. We sure love her. She is such a kind, fun, beautiful girl. She loves to be with her family and friends, she's always thinking of things she can create and she has such a strong testimony and sense of who she is.

Rachel had a birthday party at our house again this year. The girls had pizza and cupcakes and made bracelets. Bob loved his young audience and was cracking jokes all over the place. And the girls thought he was hilarious. Bob was in heaven! He also entertained by playing "rolling log" with them and letting all the little girls jump over him.

Rachel chose a fish theme this year. I love my girl. We went to the party store a couple of weeks ago and we went down the girl isle and there were all these pink and purple and frilly and princess-y things, but all she even noticed were the themes that included animals. She was deciding between fish and kittens because she's already done horses and dogs. Then we went to the trinket isle to get some little gifts for the treat bags for her guests. I pointed out necklaces and sparkly bracelets, but she went straight to the rubber snakes and that was it--All she wanted in the treat bags was candy and rubber snakes.

Between all her grandparents and friends, Rachel ended up raking in over $100 this year. And she is not a saver. So after her party, Rachel and I went to Target. She wasn't interested in saving any of her money, she knew exactly what she wanted: a huge hamster house for her zhu zhu hamsters. The kids have all been playing with it constantly since it was set up.

Woolley Family Reunion

We had a family reunion at Bryce canyon this year. Everyone came to our house on Thursday and then we all drove to Zions and rode the tram and did the little hike to the entrance of the Narrows. Then we continued on to Bryce. We had cabins rented the first night. We had a campfire and the kids ran around with cousins. The next day it rained and was cold most of the day. Bob and lots of the other adults tried to hike in Bryce canyon, but they got really wet. We went swimming in the indoor pool and we hung out under the pavilion with everyone and tried to stay warm. That night it cleared up and we sat around the campfire and listened to the brothers and grandma Donna share memories and watched some family movies on the projector. Sunday we got up and drove home. Everyone came back to our house Monday for Girls Day. We went shopping, had massages and went to see a show.

Mandalay Bay

This year our hotel of choice was Mandalay Bay. We had a great time. They have a wave pool, kiddie pool and lazy river. There was something for everyone. And Seth loved it too. All summer he's tolerated swimming, but never had much fun and never lasts more than 45 minutes. But he was great the whole 2 1/2 hours we were there that night. Then we went back to our room and ate PB sandwiches and got a pay per view kid movie--The Spy Next Door with Jackie Chan; the kids thought it was hilarious. The next morning we got up and ate and were back at the pool at 8:00. The second day Seth was so tired from our late night that he just laid on us while we floated around the lazy river; a couple of times we thought he was asleep, but not quite. By check out time everyone was worn out and they all fell asleep on the way home.

Lake Tahoe Vacation

Amanda and Kevin recently moved to Truckee, CA, just a few miles from Lake Tahoe. They graciously invited guests to come visit and we jumped at the chance. Bob and I went there for our honeymoon 9 years ago and it was beautiful.

We had such a great time with the Smiths'. They had a great place for us to stay and our kids had a great time with their kids. And I loved having so much time with Amanda!

We went to a couple of different beaches. The kids loved the sand and venturing out into the lake. We went to Sutter's Mill and the kids panned for gold. They thought that was so exciting until they realized it's hard to really find gold. But they still had fun and Bob was a great guide and helped them find what little flecks of gold they did get. We went to Carson City to a train museum, which all the kids liked, but Seth loved. And we went and saw the capital building and all the other important state buildings and had lunch on the lawn there.

The weather was perfect and every night Bob and Kevin took all the kids and walked around the golf course in their backyard looking for lost golf balls. They loved it and they always found several balls. Then after the kids went to bed, the adults would play games. It was such a great vacation!

Announcement

We're having a baby girl! She's due in November. We're all super excited!

Careers

At dinner tonight the kids talked about what they want to be when they grow up.

Danny--Either a hunter or a fisherman

Rachel--A person who works at campsites. And she already know what she'll buy when she has a job: a horse and a motorboat. Then Danny says, "You mean a boat like the Dean's have?" Rachel, "Yeah". Danny, "But yours won't be red right?" Rachel, "Definitely".

Aaron--a Policeman ("then I get to taser people"), a fireman and a guy who lives in a cabin.

Getting Black and Blue

We recently made a couple of trips to Central and Coastal California. I had wanted to take the kids down to see Grandpa Cliff's workplace - Munger Farms - east of Delano, CA. Their primary crops are blueberries and pistachios. They just happened to be in the middle of blueberry harvest, but we started the day out by picking blackberries. Years ago they planted blackberry bushes as hedges to keep people out and, more importantly, to gain a competitive edge on their new cash crop - blueberries.

It was an ideal Saturday with highs in the mid 80s. We picked blackberries for nearly an hour. The kids really got into picking berries that were as long as their thumb and twice as thick. Rachel ended up adopting a 2:1 policy - two blackberries for her bucket and one for her mouth. The kid's faces were all smiles - with spots of purple/dark red.

The kids were interested in picking blueberries. Grandpa Cliff was kind enough to take a break, take us over to some of the blueberry rows and teach the kids about the different varieties (star, emerald, jewel, santa fe, etc.) and the finer techniques of picking the ripe blueberries.

All three of the kids liked picking blueberries more than the blackberries, as explained in this video:

We had a great time - we ended up with five full one-gallon bags of blackberries and almost two bags of blueberries. We've been eating and enjoying the berries fresh, frozen, in homemade blueberry ice cream or blueberry dessert bars, etc. Come for a visit and we'll be happy to share.