Callista turns Seven

"Honey Muscle" is Seven!! Once in a Blue Moon...

Pretty exciting to have a birthday on a blue moon...she was very honored.

Everyone in our family now has "honey" attached to a nickname.  It all began with "The Honey Fat" which is of course Berkeley (we are trying to drop the fat...don't want to create any long term insecurity issues :))  Ellery is "Honey Love."  Emmett is "Honey Badger."  And I guess I'm the Queen Bee and Brent is my worker ;)

But back to the subject at hand...

Honey Muscle turned 7!  This little lamb is an absolute treasure.  Of any of my children she rushes to hold me and secure my happiness.  She is as devoted to me as possible.  The other three children would take Brent over me any day.  

Her birthday began with streamers and songs...

Socks and new shirts and shoes were the presents...(picked out by Brent of course)

 We had a great family outing to the dinosaur museum where we were joined by Grandma and Grandpa.  I think all of the adults privately admitted to falling asleep during the gripping 3D dinosaur adventure, but the kids enjoyed it.

The day ended with a campfire in the canyon with her two closest friends and Mimi.

Things to remember about Callista...

You cant just wait outside to pick up Callista from gymnastics.  She would flitter around socializing for an hour if she isn't hounded and rounded up!

She breaks down nearly every night if I don't snuggle her to sleep.

She loves the color turquoise.

Math is a piece of cake.

She is incredibly brave and was a soccer star, with amazing aggression and confidence.

She can't bear to watch anyone cry or be sad so she immediately tries to attend to their needs.

Is rarely jealous.

Hasn't a single ounce of fat on her body

We love you our Honey Muscle!

"The Honey" is 2

We aren't going to tell her until she is older, but The Little Honey had a very neglected birthday.  Swamped with our house, there was no birthday cake or presents, but there was a whole lot of love to go around and a little photo shoot at the park with big Brother.

These two are quite the duo...

Things to remember about Berkeley...

She is full of personality and ummph!

Loves to say "Okay Mom" a wonderful habit she picked up from Emmett

Is lightning fast to say she is sorry and give any necessary penitence

Idolizes Emmett

Is crazy brave, and loves to flatter adults with her snuggles

We love you our Honey!

A New House

It is finally official!  We closed on our new home last week and today the transformation begins!

The home is full of light and has a wonderful floor plan.  It sits on over 1/3 of an acre, so we have plenty of outdoor living space.

I've been obsessing into the wee hours of the morning about this house for almost a year now.   It seems a bit surreal to finally be moving forward.  Our neighbors are still living in the house for a week or so, so I still don't have the keys, but work on the outside began today.

I am going to try and chronicle the transformation on our blog.  I cant wait!  I have a strict budget, it will be interesting to have the give and take it will surely require to keep under that number.

Finishing With a Bang

These two little gals finished out a fantastic gymnastics season.  Their first year of competition had a learning curve, but all we wanted to see was improvement each time.  That we did.

Ellery ended the season in the top of her class and 3rd in the State for Level 4 eight year olds.

Callista competed level 3 which stays within the gym.  She finished 3rd overall, but most dramatic was her ending bars routine.  She needed a 9.2 to advance to level 4.  That was a very high score for her.  In an unbelievable personal best she scored a 9.25 with the best dismount I have ever seen.

Happy Ninth Ellery and a Perfectly Pink Party

Ellery on her new Beach Cruiser.

A Perfectly Pink Party.

The girls went on a wild scavenger hunt all over the neighborhood.  Tasks included things like "touching a dirty boy," and "forming the number 9 with your bodies."

We opted for a very layered, frosting free cake.  It was dyed pink with beet juice and smothered in fresh raspberries and strawberries.

A few little personal notes on Ellery.  She... 

...has the poise and confidence to match many adults

...is learning intellectual integrity and courage by being unafraid to act and think and speak differently than her peers

...plays the piano with intensity and reflection

....loves to write poetry, especially poetry she considers extremely deep, romantic and metaphorical

....memorizes amazingly

...likes to be alone a lot

....has an intensely emotional connection with her physical body, she wears her emotions in her health

....drives her mom to jealousy because she favors dad

....worries incessantly over safety, which translates into being very responsible and very strict with her siblings

....is known to let out piercing screams when she feels something or someone is in harms way

....loves to perform and be in the spotlight, but wouldn't be labeled as outgoing

....perseveres through scary doctors appointments, and adamantly adheres to treatments, but is also very self conscious of coughing in public

....devotes herself to gymnastics

....loves to sew clothes, flowers, headbands, and pillows for herself and others, but doesn't love following a pattern

....watches and eavesdrops on her parents like a hawk

...loves fashion, dancing, pop music, and takes all of it quite seriously

....begs to sing solos in church

....has an uncanny, tender gift of connection with the elderly


We love you Ellery.  We are better parents because of you.  You've taught us how to love so much deeper.  A first child opens your heart in a way it never has been before.  Each year you grow opens our heart to more pain with an equal balance of love.  We've wept over your pain and struggles from day one battling PCD.  But your talents floor us in kind.  It's a risky game to be a parent but one we gladly take on.

Happy Mothers Day 2012

 I am so grateful to be a mother by choice.  I respect women for all of their choices.  God did not create me just as mother.  It is one of my roles, and one that brings me tremendous joy but also the burden of myriad menial duties and frustration.

 Emmett insisted on having a "dress" made for himself.  So actually both he and Brent got a homemade tie.  Brent was equally as adamant and actually the driving force behind his own matching tie.  We were a bit on the corny side at church but who cares!

My own mom and sisters.  We must have taken 150 pictures to get one we all approved of.  I'm not sure if this was one of them.

 I wish I could say I always have this big of a smile on my face, even when we are piano practicing...  But I do have this smile in my heart, even when I'm a bit grouchy.

Boston Triumph

On what was possibly, historically the most difficult day to run the Boston Marathon course, in record high temperatures, I ran in a personal best, by 3 minutes of 3:13.

I'll post a full race report later, but I must mention I was the 85th woman to finish the race today from a field of 10-12,000 women. Now that is something to feel amazing about.

Unfortunately I lost a very sentimental and valuable earring on the course and my iPhone. Two definite dampers. I will be unreachable for a time except through email.

It was a fantastic day. My legs aren't even sore!

Up the Maine Coast

Ladies and I headed up the coast line today. We browsed the shops and ate at a very legit seafood house.

My love of all things Colonial is solidified. My next house Colonial hands down.

I'm trying to put tomorrows temps out of my mind. Why don't they start the race at 8??? We keep waiting for the email to announce a changed start time. It hasn't come yet.

Heat acclimation

They say 10-14 days of heat acclimation for you to be safe running tomorrow. Do you think running in the sauna for 20 minutes will expedite the process??

At the Expo

Woo hoo! Josse, McKenzie, Erika and i had a blast posing at the expo. I will only post the tame ones :) You wouldn't believe the scare tactics going on out here. Race organizers are worried. We are sitting in our hotel room stewing over the 19 minutes they expect the heat to add to finishing times. Maybe this will be a training run.

It's gonna be hot!

Well all goals thrown out the window. It looks to be 78 degrees at start and almost 90 by finish. No PR's for this race. They are asking people to defer and not run. It's a whole new beast now. However nothing can take away from the excitement. I'm running Boston for goodness sakes!

The girls and I doing the "Duck Tours"

Why???

Why oh why does Utah not have a single restaurant which is organic vegetarian? I enjoyed a great first meal including mushrooms, beets, kale, brown rice, and tamari almonds. "Life Alive". You can't go wrong with a name like that.