2010

2010

Simon, Joann, Jackson (8), Lauren (5), and Lachlan (1)

We have accomplished a lot in 2010 except for writing the Mudge Messenger. Here, finally, is our weekly turned monthly turned yearly newsletter (or you can see the version with pictures online at mudgemessenger.blogspot.com). Now that we are completely on top of the three kids, two jobs, new house thing I’m sure it will come out punctually in 2011 ;-) .

Crazy kidtalk

· The kids’ favorite Beatles song: “Hey, Bungalow Lach, when will you talk, when will you walk?”

· Jackson on the new house: "I can't wait until we move! My heart is thumping, pounding, pitterpattering! My heart is turning upside down!"

· Lauren playing “Who Can Name the Most States?”: Left Dakota!

· Jackson after being reminded not to eat too much dessert: “Eat too much? Are you kidding, Mom? I need to hibernate all night! I need to eat enough for the next 24 hours!”

· Jackson on his favorite books: “I like fiction because anything [jump in the air] can happen”.

· Simon: "Jackson, we are going to watch "Home Alone" and you'll totally laugh!" Jackson: "I might just snicker". He totally laughed.

Lachlan’s Milestones

· If you are going to smile, you might as well open your mouth as wide as you can while you do it!

· Put his body and soul into trying to sit up (February)

· Refused to do a typical crawl, but rather would swing one leg underneath him and jump it with the other leg. He was amazingly fast and surprisingly, never tripped himself up.

· Laughed out loud when he’d let go with his hands to stand momentarily on his own.

· Was very cautious about walking. First steps on October 1^st, walking waited until early November when he was certain he wouldn’t fall (at least not much!)

· November 24^th, Lachlan turned one, and unlike his mother, did not sit in his birthday cake (or pumpkin pie as the case may be).

· Loves to drink water and insists on nearly drowning himself each time he drinks

· Lachlan has one all-purpose word—“Eh!”, usually spoken with his arm extended toward whatever it is he wants.

· Is into sports: can throw, kick (step on), dribble (slap), and eat balls

· Can now give kisses, hugs and tummy raspberries, sweep the floor, pack random items in Jackson’s school backpack, hone in on dangerous items, empty the dishwasher, and start and stop the washer and dryer at inopportune moments.

Now that’s exciting!

· A mountain lion took up residence near Jackson’s school in March, causing cancelled recesses, “how to interact with a mountain lion should one suddenly appear in your face” training sessions, and Jackson and his friends finding of all sorts of “forensic evidence” that the animal had been on the playground. They caught it.

· We built a new house! With the aid of a not-for-profit group, Homewise, we were able to buy a home in an otherwise unaffordable region of unaffordable Santa Fe, midway between work/church and Jackson’s school. We have beautiful views of the sunset over the city of Santa Fe on one side and the rolling Pinon-covered hills of Santa Fe county on the other. We miss Lachlan’s friend Hector, but now have the Burkmans 45 seconds away (Stacy, Gilbert, Leif (8), Siri (5), Anders (2), Linnea (2)). We think we can finish moving in by the end of next year but are not confident that our mail will be delivered smoothly by then.

· Preschool for Lauren! She nearly died of disappointment when the start date was delayed because of construction. She packed 7 changes of clothes to put in her cubby, made friends with Pip, Brisa, Adreana and most of the class, and wrote out her birthday invitations in both English and Spanish.

Siblings

· Ignoring the rivalry and fighting, our kids have wonderful relationships. Jackson snuggles Lachlan before and after school—first thing. He brought Lachlan in for show and tell—beautiful to see how proud and protective he is of Lachlan. His class was very impressed that he had changed Lachlan's diaper. It was fine by me that he had put it on backwards.

· Lachlan loves to laugh at his siblings, be held by them, and occasionally pound on them with kitchen utensils. Lauren holds the prize for making him laugh while Jackson holds the prize for laughing at him!

· Jackson often reads to Lauren at night as they snuggle together in his bed. During the day they play with their “boyish” Ben 10 action figures or come up with other imaginative games.

Simon

· Simon still won’t reveal his age but Deanne and Gary Coles-Christensen were kind enough to throw him a surprise party anyway. Gourmet meal followed by favorite quotes from favorite books. Lots of fun!

· Simon’s birthday fell on the Panther Run (a race put on by Jackson’s school). Jackson pushed himself and ran his 1K at a very brisk pace. Lauren, in the preK division, had a much shorter race and came in third!

· Simon got a job teaching evening classes at Santa Fe Community College. In the fall he taught Indoor Soccer. Besides the money and getting out of the house, it gets him access to the gym and some free credit hours, which he’ll take advantage of as he starts the Teaching Certificate program next year.

Visitors and Visiting

· Simon’s parent’s came to help as I transitioned back into work. It turns out that it wasn’t quite as much of a transition as we had expected since my work has bent over backward and allowed me to bring Lachlan in the morning to facilitate nursing him. Yeah!

· Both our parents and my sister Bengte came for Jackson’s Baptism and Lachlan’s Blessing. Simon performed the baptism, confirmation and blessing. He and my mom talked at Jackson’s baptism and my Dad participated in Lachlan’s Blessing. It was great to have the two events together. Jackson’s comments: Going under the water wasn’t hard like Babbo said it was going to be. Sitting still with everyone’s hands on my head was the hard part. Indeed, he had had a hard time keeping a straight face.

· The parents were back again, this time staggered, to help with the move-in process. Thank you! Unfortunately my parents had to return early to help my Grandmother, who is not doing well but is hanging in there for the moment.

· We went to Utah in August to see my parents, my grandma, long lost cousins, friends from Spain doing a short sabbatical at Utah State, and lots of local friends. Lachlan got to meet his “cousin” AJ (Pahola’s son), who is younger than him by a day.

· Paula, the youngest of the three Spanish girls came back to Provo with us for a sleepover. She is the same age as Jackson—to the day—having been born about three hours before or after him depending on if you account for the time change or not.

· I took all the kids (including Paula) and my Grandma out to eat at Bamboo Hut, a treat for my grandma who spent a significant portion of her life in Hawaii. The kids were great until the end when they were full and started to get antsy. I knew we were over the edge when the kids started slurping noodles up through their straws. I was just about to drop the hammer when I heard someone chuckling and turned to see my Grandma shaking her head and exclaiming, “That is so funny!”. She loves kids!

· We also went to my parents' cabin where we hiked Cohab Canyon in nearby Capitol Reef National Park. Jackson and Lauren hiked the whole way while Lachlan fell asleep partway through and slept soundly in my sling.

· In December I finally had to start pulling my weight with business trips again. An overnight trip to North Carolina was preceded by two nights of vomiting children. I left for the airport knowing that I had at least gotten little Lachlan through the first vomiting episode in his young life. Unfortunately, unlike his sister he followed up with diarrhea after I left but Simon rose to the occasion. After catching up on some sleep on the airplane, I squeezed in some visits to friends. I saw my night owl friend, Jennifer Wadsack and her kids, then returned back to Cambria and Nathan Reading’s home where their boys get up at 5:30 to practice piano. Luckily, I can sleep through anything! It was great to catch up with both of them.

It’s great to be a kid!

· Turning eight, suddenly all the old birthday party standbys didn’t appeal to Jackson anymore. As it turned out, I didn’t need to plan much at all as the piñata and impromptu sword fight kept the boys busy most of the party.

· Lauren had her two good friends, Solveig Amia Coles-Christensen and Siri Burkman, at her party. Horse cake, horse piñata (she made a second one herself out of an overturned toy bucket because she was just sure that mine wouldn’t turn out), and squinkies (some of which were horses) for the pot game prize (blindfolded, you have to bang the floor with a wooden spoon until you find the overturned pot with the prize underneath). She joined her two friends at their parties as well, including a trip to see a production of “Annie” and high tea at the Chocolate Maven where they each got their own little mini pot of hot chocolate.

· I coached Jackson's AYSO soccer team this summer. The difference in his focus and effort was incredible versus last year. It helped that I was coaching but also that 8 is a lot older 7 plus he is the older half now of the 7-8 team. The uniforms were bright orange--it wasn't hard to spot my players! Team name nominations were "The Cones", "The Prisoners", and what won the vote, "The Tigers".

· Lauren played soccer, or "clump ball" as it is for her age group for the first time! It was low key and she did great. Both she and Jackson scored some goals and somehow I managed to miss all of them.

· For Halloween, Lauren was a cat and a bunch of other stuff depending on her mood. Jackson and Lachlan were both Phoney Bone, a comic character, who actually looks a lot like Lachlan.

· And Christmas! Wonderful! The Burkmans let us tag along on their tree hunting expedition. First year we have cut down our own tree! Besides the fact that all three kids (and nearly Simon) had meltdowns at some point it was great. Jackson and Lauren loved finding the gifts from clues in our Christmas Advent calendar while Lachlan loved pulling out the drawers and sitting on them. Jackson is beyond Santa and was my little elf this year. Apparently elves don’t put presents under the tree, they carry them in from the garage—I had it backwards. The kids were nearly as excited about the gifts they picked for each other as for the ones they got to open. Lauren sulked briefly on only one gift this year, a vast improvement. Lachlan did not understand that we had to untwist the ties holding the toys in the box and was very frustrated that it took us so long to let him take them. All in all a great time! We look forward to New Year full of possibilities. Happy New Year!