Tball's back!

Lucy's joining her oh-so-athletic brother this year for a round of torture. Er, I mean games.



She loves this sport because it's not so aggressive as soccer. She gets her turn and doesn't have to fight with anybody for the ball.



She does have to wait in line, though.



Don't ask me how, but the head honcho of our league talked me into coaching again. "He talked fancy to me, I got confused!" Here I am trying my hardest not to have to go into the outfield with the other coaches.



I swear, she looked like a strawberry lollipop with that giant helmet on.



It's amazing she didn't topple over while running with that thing on.



They had a great first game, and amazingly enough, they had lots of fun TOGETHER!

The best thing about Aunts. . .

. . . is they will do anything you ask. Lucy was dying to straighten her hair to look "just like Eleanore", so while having a special playdate at Aunt Claire's, she begged for this hair style. I think she looks like a whole different kid. She LOVED it!

What we missed whilst I was teetering on the brink of death. . .

I know nobody cares at this point, but for the sake of journaling I have to squeeze these in here.



We had so much fun playing with our long time friends, the Hacketts. We played kickball with them, ate their yummy food, and Steve, Janell, and I all discovered it's not really that hard to speak French! You just use a french accent, wave your hand like you're better than the people around you, and use "le" before each word. Lucy and Emma became inseparable and Tate and Matt must surely share a brain, as they think exactly alike. I took the boys to see Nim's Island on Thurs. night and they giggled all through it.





We played lots of "Old Maid" in Safford, which I'm sad to say must be added to the long list of games at which my mother can be beaten by a 4 year old.
Oh, and while there, a baby owl flew/fell down from it's nest and couldn't get back up. We spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to see how close we could get to it before the mother swooped down at us from her tree.



My mom must have gotten the closest, because I've never seen that woman move so fast as when that momma bird came down towards her.

We also got to stay in a lovely resort that I don't remember (except the bathroom), while my parents helped with the kids. Thank you a MILLION times!



We rode scooters on the basketball court,



we dragged kites through the dirt,



and we did lots of other things that were really fun but apparently not very memorable because I can't recall them. I just know that by the end, we were pooped.

B.F.O.

After hearing about other's love or hate of their nicknames, I thought it important to document the long (sad) history of mine. My kids may think it funny one day. (this isn't that day. I'm afraid they'd use them against me.)

My children all have lovely nicknames. Tate started out as "Bubba", which was pretty unavoidable since he spent his first year doing a pretty good imitation of a baby manatee. He has since thinned out and taken on "Tater", which doesn't seem to bother him in the least.
Lucy has always been Lucy Bird. Since the day she was born. I don't know why she wasn't just officially named that, since that's all we call her. Oh, wait, I do call her "Boog", which I'm sorry to say, is short for booger. Long story, long ago, allergy season, don't ask.
Miles is "Miley" or "BooBoo". Mostly Miley. For a long time, Tate thought that really was his name and we had to start making a real effort to use "Miles" so our kids weren't confused.
Jake is Jake. (but when he was a kid, it was "Jacob wears Makeup". Rhymes if you say it real fast. Shhh, don't tell him I told you.)

Anyway, with the exception of "Boog", these are all really nice, non-mean names.
Here's a little window into the childhood of Alison. I was 6 feet tall in high school, had bigger feet than my dad by age 15, and although I was sickly skinny, I was not quite as sickly skinny as all my younger siblings. My brothers and sister and parents were all MUCH shorter than me through adolescence (most of them still are.) Apparently my dad thought this wasn't funny enough. He started calling me "Big One". And if that isn't bad enough, he'd shorten it in public. "Hey, B.O! Can you bring me that?" I complained enough, however, that he changed it. I became, and remain to this day, "BFO". Yep, Big Fat One. Thank you, Dad.

Not dead

No, we haven't all fallen off the face of the earth, but close. EVERYONE got sick. Even my mom, dad, and sister got it. I haven't been that sick in 5 years, and Tate and I haven't recovered all the way yet.
Anyway, the remainder of our trip was a horrible blur. We had lots of fun for the first part though, and are sad to be far away from our families again.



So, not to worry, we're still alive and while "kicking" may be overstating it, we're at least twitching anyway.

Oh so much fun in the desert.

We've been so busy lately, writing has fallen down on my list of "to do". Today, I am so thankful for saltines, pedialite, i.v. nausea meds, and big plastic bowls. That's right, we're all (except two uncles) suffering the joys of the stomach flu. ON VACATION! ick.

The Sushi, the Cowboy, and Prince Harry

Apparently our reputation has not spread as far west as the Children's Art Museum in Mesa, AZ, because they let us in.
Ten kids in an art museum may not sound like fun, but it beats going to the gym. There were lots of touchable exhibits and fun things to do,



(pretend sushi was a hit until Miles decided to see if plastic was yummy)

and other than Miles eating sprinkles off one of the pieces of artwork, we were fairly well behaved.

Well, almost.




The whole section we were in was entitled, "Table Manners" and was all about food. So many things to mess with!



We bid a temporary farewell to Aunt Leslie's family (just in the nick of time, I suspect. I imagine she's taking a 9 or 10 hour nap.) Grandma picked us up and we headed out to Safford. Miles swapped his crocs for boots and permanently assumed his throne as King of the Jeep.



Our friend, Gina, was kind enough to let us practice our city slicker skills on her pony, Prince Harry. Tate was very excited, needed no coaxing, and rode him three times.



Lucy screamed and cried, hiding behind a tree. I finally told her she had to ride the horse or the dog, her choice. She took one look at the old german shepherd and opted for Harry. Once she was on it, she had fun and actually asked to do it two more times.



Miles, my king of the jungle - fearless animal man, was less than thrilled. He couldn't decide who was more terrifying, the dog or the horse, but screamed y and tried to climb me when ever the dog stood up.



Move over Jeff Corwin.

Splish splash, we're lovin' the warm weather!

Grandpa's very adaptable, King when they play princesses, horse when they need a ride, or whatever the heck this was when Lucy was stuck on the top of a climbing thing.



Lucy and Kaisa were like monkeys the whole time, climbing, swinging, screeching, and a little bit smelly.



Cousins are a wonderful thing, especially when they like to do all the same things you do. Running, yelling, splashing, and torturing siblings.







Sophia refused to touch the water. Now we know why she's so sweet - she's made of sugar.





"Hey guys, what are you doing?"



I had to teach Lucy what an Arizona Towel is. You find the warmest piece of sidewalk and lay on it until you're dry.



Sorry, Jake, but we're loving the AZ weather right now!

Hangin' out in the Woolf Den

We survived the pre-dawn awakening, the 5 hour plane ride, and the smelly guy who stood in line right next to my air-sick nose while he waited in line to do his business in the 1 foot square lavatory which I had to visit 7 times to help Lucy finish her business and change 2 Miley diapers. We are now here at Jake's sister, Leslie's, house, enjoying the cousin fun, the hospitality, and waking them up at 4 am when my kid's think it's really 7. Gotta love jet lag.
One thing I will say, is I LOVE JetBlue! Room for my Amazon legs, SpongeBob nonstop in a t.v. screen in every seatback, nonstop flights, lots of running around room in the terminal, and above average plane food made this a rather endurable experience. I will never ever fly anyone else.
Here's some highlights from the last two days.

Sophia being mostly brave:



Tate being extremely brave:



Lucy being barely brave:



Miles being a giant chicken:



My favorite roommate of all time ( I can say that because none of them read this!), Courtney, met us for the lizardstravaganza. It's hard to describe how much fun this girl is!



Persephone (?) was sportin' this rick-rack onesie during the show, and I could see the covetesness emanating from Courtney and Leslie. I promise to make you each one.



Courtney's most adorable child to walk the face of the earth (who my kids call "funny looking") played with me during the show.



Miley enjoyed the park right up until the nose/mouth full of sand. The fun kind of ended there.



Tate had quite a bit of energy to expend after being cooped up for 6 hours!

Leftovers from Grandparent visit

So, I've forgotten the blog in favor of actual life, but there are a few things I don't want to leave out entirely.


Okay I got a little lazy this year. I recycled the leftover funfetti cupcakes from the party the night before. My mom cut them up and made a trifle with LOTS of yummy strawberries. I just couldn't bring myself to bake another cake. This may be the first year I didn't bake a cake from scratch for somebody's birthday. Oh no, my standards are plummeting!


Jake's feeling much better. Not all the way recovered, but not hovering near death anymore. (Food Poisoning. I like to think it wasn't anything I made since nobody else got it.)


He swims! I know he's not actually swimming here, but it's the only picture that came out at all. We can't wait for summer to test out his "skills" in our pool (the atlantic.)


One other thing:
I miss a season of my life. I love love love being a mother, but I miss being able to watch all 4 sessions of conference, take notes, and have a conversation about it afterward. We hauled all the kids down to the church yesterday to watch it. I must say I was glad to see nobody there but 5 sets of missionaries. We had the whole place to ourselves (in the kid dept.), so I didn't mind letting them sprawl themselves and their crayons on the floor in the aisles. Miles did great (after Jake drove him around until he passed out.), and even Tate had a wonderful attitude.

It was a great meeting. I barely remember the last Solemn Assembly. I watched it in my parents' living room, and I remember being embarrassed when it was my turn to stand. This time was wonderful because I had been anxiously waiting for it, praying to have a confirmation of the Spirit, that these were the men God had chosen to lead His church. I was not disappointed. I have never appreciated so much, the opportunity to find out for myself if this was from my Heavenly Father. I know lots of people think that "Mormons" follow their leaders blindly, but personal revelation is a wonderful thing.

The appetizers, the beans, and the escargot.

About a month ago, I bought tickets to go to Arizona with my kids (Jake can't come because he has to finish a HUGE project. The trip is to get us out of his hair.) for Spring Break. I didn't tell anyone except my sister, Claire, my s-i-l, Leslie, and my m-i-l, wanting to surprise my family. We gave this trip a code word, The Beans (as in "don't spill the beans"), and vowed not to tell. I assigned Claire the job of making sure my parents didn't make major plans during our visit.
About two weeks ago, I got a phone call from my Dad, telling me, "Suprise! We're coming to visit you!"
AACCCKKK!! Our visits don't overlap, but JUST BARELY. They had kept it a secret from my sibs, so my mean dad had a little fun at Claire's expense. He told her, "Hey, we're going out to visit Alison and Jake, but don't tell, because it's a secret." He wanted to see who's secret she'd keep longer. From what I hear, she almost fainted, but finally they told her. We had to keep this a secret from my kids too, so we gave it the code name, The Appetizers (because you eat that before the beans!) We didn't do a very good job keeping the secret, but thankfully kids aren't that smart, and they never caught on. They showed up on our doorstep on Tate's birthday, while on the phone with him, telling him his birthday package was on the porch. He freaked out, and Lucy about had a stroke, but it was the best surprise of their lives. We've spent 4 fantastic days playing with them, but this morning we bid them farewell before dawn. Lucy sobbed last night because, "I'm gonna miss Grandma and Grandpa! I won't see them for a long time!" It was all I could do to not say, "Cheer up, you'll see them next week."



While they were here, we took Tate shopping with all his birthday money (from far away grandparents), played Two-man Movie Charades (Gone With The Wind was only a good idea until my mom dropped me on the stairs), lost a tooth


(Grandpa pulled it so I wouldn't throw up),


made a 4am dash to the E.R. for Jake (he's okay now, but still in bed), took lots of naps,



and most exciting of all, We ate snails! It took me a while to convince Tate of his guaranteed coolness among first graders if he would only eat one small bite. Once he finally tasted it, he loved it and asked for more.
We had so much fun, and now I can't wait for The Beans next Wednesday!