happy 2012

We brought in the New Year a couple days early with some friends! Hope you all are having a fantastic time celebrating. We finished off our celebrations with a little Burger King and some nice mommy chatting.

Every New Year's celebration should have noicemakers, singing, colorful accessories, and

the inability to look in the same direction?

No, we can look in the same direction, mom.

And, because I think it's an awesome message: Just look forward this year! Good things are going to happen. And for any not-so-religious readers, just listen to the first part, because even if you aren't religious, you shouldn't get hung up on the past, right?

happy holidays

{We're sending out Christmas Cards, this is basically it, but if you'd like a copy, let me know.}

Dear friends and family,

We’ve had a good year here in the Tunnell house.

Britton joined the ranks of school age kids. She loves her school where she takes Spanish, Art, Gymnastics, and Cupcake classes along with the core subjects. She’s also working on her piano skills. Her current favorite song is ‘Old McDonald’.

Lucy started preschool this year. She’s in a little co-op preschool with five other sweet little three year old girls. There is a lot of pink involved in most of their classes. She is my best sous chef and is adept at all sorts of pouring, stirring, and stealth tasting. But her very favorite thing to do is to play.

John is moving from being a little smiling lump, to a rough and tumble boy. It is amazing what the first year of a baby’s life brings. He went through the crawl, walk, run phases and now jumps, dances, downward dogs. He loves to play catch, eat dirt, chase chickens, and glare at anyone he doesn’t know or doesn’t meet his approval.

James is still working at Sonosite. And he still plays his guitar and trombone on occasion for us. He’s given up on the ’62 Falcon, but he’s taken up yard work in it’s place. Someday we will have a fantastic yard, once we get rid of the last bits of rhodedendron forest (he just has to convince Beth that rhodies are actually a pest plant once you get more than 40).

Beth is expanding her repertoire from housewife and book snob, to primary educator and Mary Kay consultant. She’s missing her books. But it’s turning into a good adventure. Britton isn’t quite as sure about it, though Lucy doesn’t mind. And in her spare time she dreams up more plans for the yard, not including removing rhodies.

And the house turned 100, so for a present we painted her green.

Merry Christmas Everybody,

Beth, James, Britton, Lucy and John

early present

Christmas came early in the Tunnell household.

Everyone thinks of refrigerator boxes. But hot water heater boxes are just as good.

The whole family fit in it!

grumps

John hasn't just mastered the pouty face, he is master of all sorts of stink eye glory. At library story time, instead of sitting on my lap and listening, he likes to stand in front of the audience and stare them down with the greatest look of scrutiny I have seen on anything but a chicken.

Worm?

I suppose it's all about who you hang out with. Man! I've been grumpy lately.

wiww

Today I am linking up with The Pleated Poppy. I've really enjoyed the encouragement that she gives to all of us moms to get out of our slumpy old sweatpants and into something respectable. I need it!

So here's a few things I wore last week:

hat?

Or no hat?

I had some Kohl's cash burning a hole in my pocket, so Nichole and I went out for a shopping adventure. Did you know Kohl's is open until Midnight every night until Christmas? A sure recipe for two sleepy moms, that's what that is.

Anyway, she encouraged me to try on some cute pieces from their new Elle line, and I can't decide if they are super cute or just adding more bulk to the mid section.

Hat: birthday present from my adorable Sister in Law Rachel

Boots, Ruffle cardi, floral shirt: Kohl's didn't cost me a dime!

Pants: Aeropostale, Last year's Christmas present

I call this our "cutting up the rug" look. We were off to a dance party at the studio from which we've been taking lessons. So fun!

On My handsome dance partner: Macy's suit, I'm not sure where he acquired the shirt and tie

Jacket: Vintage from a sweet old lady, I wish you could see just how cute it is! She had all of her clothes tailor made in the thirties and forties. Not only did she have wonderful taste, but she had well made clothes.

Dress: Fred Meyer Clearance

Pants, and unseen flats: Target

Scarf made by me

And this is my "I wish I could be in sweats" outfit.

But I had to take my kids to school and it was cold.

And I could live in flannel and my chucks.

Flannel shirt: Hurley, from a friend

Jeans: Aeropostale

Chucks: Freddies

And because my children are infinitely cuter than I am, I give you Lucy on her way to a Pink Princess/Fancy Nancy party:

She has adorned herself in only the finest princessy fluffy attire. The purple shirt layer is an 'I believe in sugarplum fairies' shirt, she couldn't live without.

And to top it off, a pink fur coat and handmade headband.

better not pout

John has mastered the pout face. Which is really good for the red carpet some day. (See Running Wilde Ep. 7) But I don't think he understands how much Santa doesn't like the pout.

This year we are doing one of those story Advents. The kids love it. What I didn't love was finding out how many Santa books we have and how few we have about Christ's birth.

I need book suggestions, Please!

mr. martha

I had such a sweet birthday this year. The girls excitedly handed me their blankies when I woke up. Blankies are excellent reusable gift wrap. And I spent a wonderful Super Nacho Night (Everything but Nacho Libre), with good friends, family, and the missionaries.

But the sweetest present was James getting off work early to make me a special birthday cake that I had picked out from the latest edition from Martha. A couple days earlier I asked him if I was making my own cake, because I had picked out a recipe and didn't know if he wanted to make it. He usually doesn't spend much time in the kitchen except to wash dishes.


And check out what he made! The picture doesn't do this ganache-y goodness justice! It was so good that my picky mom requested it for her birthday. And he even made it with whole wheat! Just in case you wondering.

chicks!

We have chicks! Nine of them, for now, but 6 are going to Jim when they are ready to be out on their own.

The girls have named all of them despite that. Lucy is trying to pet her yellow chick, Daisy. The other two are probably just Bush and Tree. The girls aren't as fond of the Amauracunas for some reason. The other chicks have pretty botanical names like Rose, Petunia, and Flower.

But what John calls them is definitely cutest in his little baby lisp: CHIXZZ! And he always says it like seeing them is his favorite part of the day. Which it probably is.


But their tractor does get a little stinky sometimes.

...but life goes on

Although you wouldn't think so from my blog!

It's been a long, eventful time since Disneyland. That just seems like a pleasant dream now.

We are on to bigger and better things.

School, for instance. Britton loves it. I love it. Although, it is a lot of work being a primary educator (that's what her school calls parents, it's like a home school coop on steroids). That is where most of our time has gone.

I've decided one of my favorite parts of being a parent is watching my children learn new things. When that lightbulb of understanding goes off and my children surge forward into uncharted territory of knowledge, I get so excited. James says that I need to keep it hidden a little more or else they will always crave that attention for every minor accomplishment.

But John isn't even 18 months old and is a pro jumper! And Britton now counts piano beats in Spanish, and does her math in Spanish, and reads books.... But not in Spanish. And Lucy has finally mastered mouse usage.

Ahhh. It's great being a mom!

real life is not as fun...

as eating fruit loops and donuts for breakfast while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (i tried to get them to do the hotdog dance every time, but the breakfast room was always so crowded. We did sing the Jake and the Neverland Pirates theme song to everyone, though.)

as having Grandma and Grandpa with us everyday, and the Kang clan not far from us, either. We miss you!

as being treated like royalty all of the time. Target customer service sucks in comparison to you, Disneyland. I miss you and all of your great themed costumes and polite employees. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of any employees but the characters. Let me tell you, I would work at Disneyland just to wear some of those uniforms.

as Balboa park and all of the amazing gardens, 15 museums, and mostly the turtles sunning themselves next to lily pads, and the giant fountain that you really can jump in. Thank you for having us over Allicia, and showing us one of the most beautiful parts of San Diego. I wish we could have stayed a few more days and looked around some more and ate more home made yummy bread sticks and tried out some other items from the ihop menu. I had no idea there was such an amazing wonderful thing as cinnabon french toast and pancakes.

as having a churro or ice cream stand on every corner. I am so glad we waited until the last day to try those churros.

But, you know what is better in real life?

Home cooked food.

And a bedroom just for me and my sweet husband. (although we rarely make it through the night on our own. Do kids ever sleep through the night?)

Departure

Well, it has been a great, fun, interesting, and crazy vacation. Today we ate one last continental breakfast (an amenity enjoyed by everyone), took our last ride down the elevator (enjoyed mostly by the kids), and played one last time in the pool. On the way out, we stopped by the gift shop to get postcards. Maybe next time we should do that on the way in. Finally we said goodbye to our hotel, Disneyland, and California (including their yucky water) and took one last drive in our nice rental van with the nifty backup camera (enjoyed mostly by me).

Mercifully, the security screening at John Wayne Airport went smoother than SeaTac! The plane ride also went smoother, mostly because we strapped John into a car seat at the very beginning. Britton made friends with the woman next to her, we had no potty accidents, and I presume my parents had a nice peaceful flight in a different (distant) row.

It can be sad coming home from vacation, because that means returning to reality, but it's so nice to be home! Unfortunately we were away long enough that our house smelled old (because it is) when we came inside. Now the kids are asleep (along with Beth) and soon I will be too.

First Day at Disneyland

We made it through our first day at the Happiest Place On Earth. We went with Sarah's family (Kangs) and some of their friends (twenty people altogether). You'll see the Kang cousins in many of the pictures. It was so nice to have friends for our kids to enjoy Disneyland with. This is Beth and our kids' first time, so I'm happy to watch them enjoy it.

We spent the first 20 min getting autographs and pictures with a few of the princesses around Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The princesses lived up to their reputation for being friendly and patient with the kids, much to our delight. It's so much easier to enjoy the experience when your expectations are exceeded.

Later in the day we visited Pixie Hollow and saw Rosetta, who was very friendly and polite with the girls. Despite how much they enjoyed meeting her, they want to go back when Tinkerbell is there.

We took a while in Fantasyland and then Toon Town, riding a lot of the classic rides (Peter Pan's Flight, Tea Cups, It's a Small World, Gadget's Go Coaster, etc.).

The small kids in our group we split into buddies, which help keeps them from wandering off too much. John's buddy was primarily Grandpa :)

Not surprisingly, Everyone enjoyed those rides. But Britton and Elise went with the older kids on The Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain! That means next time we go back we can take her on Splash Mountain, and maybe even Space Mountain when it opens on Friday. Beth and I had a fun time on Splash Mountain (alone), and thanks to a FastPass it was a short wait too.

We stuck around for the Soundsational Parade on Main Street and were quite blown away. The kids got to see all the characters go by right in front of them. The coolest part (in my mind) was a personal greeting from Peter Pan, who in perfect character gave each kid a high five (he was tricky with Britton at first, moving his hand to the side). Unfortunately, by that time we had run out of room on our memory card and I was unable to capture that nice moment.

We started at 9:30AM and went until the park closed at 8PM. Let's hope we'll have enough energy to do it again tomorrow!

Update from Beth:

A couple funny moments to remember: When Princess Aurora told the girls that Ariel was just outside her castle, Lucy yelled "Ariel!" so excited to see her very favorite princess, but a bit like Aurora was chopped liver.

Britton sat next to me on the Nemo ride, which was very fun, but quite sedentary and in the dark. When we got up to depart our submarine she let out a huge yawn. Afterward she looked at me and exclaimed: I'm not tired! I'm not tired!

And all three of the kids were talking in their sleep last night. I heard Lucy ask to go on the caterpillar ride, Britton talking about the rides, and John making some of his cutest noises.

At the Beach

Our first day in Anaheim was pretty relaxing. The kids were enjoying just being away from home and staying at the hotel. they haven't spent much if any time in hotels, so the hotel experience was exciting for them. We all enjoyed the novelty and convenience of eating a continental breakfast (though the kids stuck to Fruit Loops).

After trying out our pool, and testing the distance from our hotel to Disneyland, we decided to try one of the famed California beaches. Not knowing which one to pick (Laguna, Long Beach, Huntington, Santa Monica), we just headed for the closest one in Newport. This turned out to be fine. I'm sure even the cruddiest beach in California would seem "beachier" than what we have in Washington.

The kids were of course happy to take advantage of the opportunity to play in the sand and water. The girls splashed in the water and ran around looking for seashells. Then they all dug a great big pit in the sand, which John considered his pool.

Grandpa Jim and John got along quite well, even if Grandpa made him wear his hat.

John was in heaven with all the sand to play with. He even swam on it and stuck his face on it. He was not so fond of the water, to the point that if you tried to put him down in it (or near it) he would start yelling like a monkey. It was actually pretty funny when I set him down on the sand and the waves were approaching. He ran, looking over his shoulder and yelling. I was tempted to do it again but I felt bad.

I got to have my fun too, burying Beth in the sand and giving her a mermaid tail. The girls of course wanted tails of their own...

After we cleaned off the sand of (most of it) we had dinner in Newport at Original Pizza and took a walk on pier.

We are enjoying these last days of 80 degree summer (or first days, whichever way you want think of it). And as I watch everyone's kids going off to their first days of school, I am reminded that I have a kindergartner this year!

Tomorrow I am starting out bright and early to attend a Sky Valley Education Center Orientation. We are very excited for Britton being part of this home school co-op, I mean, Monroe School District Parent Partnership. Not only will we be walking to school, but the parent is the primary educator. Which means that if I wanted, Britton could just be taking gymnastics and I would be in charge of everything else. We have actually signed her up for a couple other classes. She'll be taking a drawing class. I don't want my kids to feel crippled by stick figures (like me), and a few hours each week in a regular classroom environment learning a bit about math, reading, and social studies. I like to think of it as reinforcement of what she is learning at home. I need all the support I can get! This homeschooling business is a little scary to me, but I also think it will be a good choice for our family.

And after orientation, the girls and I are going to get our hairs cut. At a real salon. Their poor little heads are so sensitive that they never want their hair brushed. I'm trying not to think too hard about their lovely hair getting chopped off (when it is brushed it is quite lovely) and how much it is going to cost.

And we are leaving for Disneyland in 2 days!

visitors

Last month we had some of my favorite visitors: the Brownellers. Cynthia and I have been friends for more than half of our lives now, and we've been living with a few states in between for more than half of that. But somehow when we get together it seems like we still lived in the same small town.

And our other bestie, does just happen to live in the same small town as me. So while the Brownellers were here, the Muskababes were reunited once more. For the full story of that embarrassing name, please look back a few years to the last time we got together. We did fun things like rush to get all seven of the combined kids to bed so that we can rush to the nearest (15 miles away) Cinnabon so the pregnant lady can get her fix, only to get there just a few minutes too late. Then drive around for half an hour, getting to another place just too late, and coming home to make some delectable cookies that wasn't a Cinnabon, but did the trick for that day. I'm the only one not pregnant in that photo. And unbeknownst to the rest of us, the last time we were together I may have been the only person not pregnant. I am not feeling any pressure. I am not feeling any pressure. I am not feeling any pressure.

Here's mine and Cynthia's sweet kids. We are missing Lindsey's little Elliott. The kids mostly got along ok. Except Lucy wanted to chase everyone around no matter what they were doing. And the boys wanted to watch Batman and the girls wanted to watch princess movies. I swear I did not enforce gender identities on these girls. Britton's second birthday was fish themed. I'm not sure what happened after that.

Jonathon actually didn't want to have anything to do with getting his picture taken.

While they were waiting, Lucy and Hunter had a great time chatting on a log. Aren't they adorable?

This is the closest we got to everyone smiling and looking sort of towards the camera. By the time Jonathon came in, they had really lost interest.

This is how we got them to sit. Every mom should have an arsenal, right? I totally don't. We can't keep candy in the house long enough. Cynthia is full of all sorts of good mom advice, though. When I grow up I want to be a little more like her.

My hero. Isn't she a cute little pregnant lady? This is before we found out what she was having. So far she has three boys.

Who make her eyes very sensitive,



And her tummy about this big,

And her smile this big.

Good thing she's having a little boy. The only thing that could make it better is if she lived closer to me!