THOU SHALT NOT!

Just when we thought they weren't listening to morning Bible study...


...discovered in somebody's journal.


...and the midget David, with the ill-fated Goliath - the morning after a dramatic reenactment for Family Night.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Okay, I'm the first to admit that I'm biased. But isn't this the cutest face you've ever seen? Sam turned one - with a mixture of excitement from his siblings, and a little sadness from me. How did my baby get so big this fast? I so clearly remember having him just 12 short months ago - he has been the BEST thing for our family. The other kids are in love with him, and he returnes their affection (mostly). With a big gap in his front teeth, a gymp one foot/one knee crawl, and a huge head relative to his skinny little arms, this kid is one darling package. And Sam is a total ham - he makes goofy expressions all the time, and just waits for you to notice and laugh. When he hears the other kids laugh at something, he joins in just to be a part of the gang. We know his brothers and sister will teach him lots of tricks in the years to come, and we can't wait to see what becomes of The Sam.

We sure love you, Babe Sammy. Happy 1st Birthday!

KATHRYN SPEAKS

I've been reading James Herriot with the kids lately, which is a little over their heads, but we all love it. Last night's story included this passage, "...[I] then gave her an antitetanus injection to eliminate any risk of later infection," and asked the kids what that meant. Kathryn confidently explained, "It means he gave the horse a shot so the sore wouldn't get infected." I asked her how she knew that. She cocked her head to the side, rolled her eyes, and in a "duh" tone, said, "Context!" That is so Kathryn!

ANNOUNCING...

...the commitment of Nick and Miriam to the P90X way of life. In consideration for our gentle readers, we'll spare you the "before" pics, and just reveal that the above appetizing picture is all too true. We're actually enjoying our mornings together, sweating with Tony (the host) and wondering if we can, in fact, look anything like these folks on the videos. See you around Thanksgiving, hopefully new and improved!

JACKISM

Jack, assigning family members to play roles in 'The Lion King,' "We'll need the fatest person in our family to be Pumba." Then he walked over to me, squeezed the back of my arm, and declared, "Yep - you'll do." Thanks, Jack. It's an honor.

INTRODUCING SAM

Okay, so this kid has been around for a while now... seven months, to be exact. But since this is the first post in a whole year, he will now be officially introduced. Samuel Finn joined us on October 5th, weighing in at 9.5# and 22". He was a funny looking little guy in the beginning, as they all (especially my kids) are.Someone had a little too much fun with a decapitated doll... We were all in love with him from the beginning. Since day one he has been sweet and calm. What more could you ask for in a fourth? He wasted no time chunking up - by two months he was already this round. Best of all, Sam's siblings are CRAZY about him. And the novelty hasn't worn off yet. Every morning Kathryn comes into my room, doesn't even make eye contact with me or Nick, and asks, "Where's Sam?" He is affectionately known as "The Sam" to Jack, and "Babe Sammy" to Max. This baby gets a lot of lovin'. After having Jack, I couldn't imagine loving another baby as much. Then Kathryn came, and I was through - nothing could top my girl and boy. Then Max came and took us all by suprise, and now Sam... I am obsessed with him. I drive Nick crazy by making him look at how cute Sam is, many times a day. I just cannot get enough of this baby.And now you've met him!

DAVIS DIVAS

Over Christmas break, several of the guys in our family went to Panama for a two week guys-only vacation. We were excited for them embark on their adventure, and of course took pleasure in the IOU potential from such an exotic trip. Bethany finally took the initiative to coordinate the girls for our pay-back time. Europe? No. South America? No. If we could chose one place to spend a weekend, it was universally agreed upon that we head south to Davis, CA to spend our vacation with Grandma.

My dad grew up in the house my grandparents have lived in for over 50 years. As kids we'd visit every Christmas and summer, providing plenty of wonderful memories for all of us . Grandma was gracious enough to consent to our company - all eight of us descending upon her in one minivan!We're on our way! Bethany decorated the car with a magnetic bumper sticker which read "Diva Driver" - which set the tone for the rest of the weekend as "Diva Time." Before doing anything, we'd ask, "What would a Diva do?"Ten hours in the car later, we arrived in Davis - in varying degrees of disarray, and very full of Cheetos. Let the party begin! We spent the rest of the weekend:...coordinating outfits. Actually, we all got a healthy dose of Grandma's taste when it comes to choosing clothes (unfortunately, without all her class). The stripes were totally unplanned, and two others had stripes of different colors. It can be so creepy when family gets together!...congregating in the bathroom. Isn't that what Divas do?...playing at the bead shop. We were actually here for three hours, much to the dismay of the shop keepers, considering none of us spent more than $15. It was a blast....posing as Divas....playing with Esme (Bethany's daughter). She was the only child allowed because she is so perfect and sweet - we loved having her along. Here she is posing with Liz....celebrating Easter Sunday with Grandma....partying it up on Anna's 30th birthday! Weeks from delivering baby #6, and still looking this good = cause for celebration.
Way to go, Anna - it was an awesome party.We all had a wonderful time. Thank you, Grandma, for making it special. (And yes, two people in this picture are pregnant.)

SPRING IS SPRUNG!

Who lets their kids go out like this? Well, I do - on a frighteningly regular basis, actually. On this recent spring day, we grabbed the opportunity to plant a few cherry trees before the ominous clouds let loose on us. The kids had a wonderful time - especially Max. The instructions on the trees said to fill the hole halfway full of dirt, fill the rest of it with water, let it soak in, then fill in the rest of the dirt. The problem was, our already saturated ground took a long time to soak up the water... during which time, Max took a mud bath. He was having so much fun that I couldn't stop him - besides, it was too late when I discovered what he was up to.

A DAY WITH DA VINCI

A few months ago, I received a flyer announcing a special Leonardo da Vinci exhibit coming to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). In attempt to turn my children into complete weirdos and train them early to love art history as much as I do, I decided we'd have a little home school unit on da Vinci, the culmination being a trip to see the exhibit.

What I didn't anticipate was how much Jack and Kathryn would enjoy their study! I checked out all the books the library had to offer for kids, which - combined with my own collection - amounted to plenty of information for us to learn in three weeks. We watched parts of a BBC documentary on YouTube, learned a little Italian, and talked a lot about the importance of the Renaissance. My favorite comment during our studies came from Jack while I was explaining da Vinci's sketch of the Vitruvian Man. "Leonardo was creating the perfectly proportioned man." Jack's response was so characteristic: "Well, I don't think that man looks perfect - he has four legs and four arms, but only one head and one bottom!"Finally, the big day arrived... The exhibit began with a time line of da Vinci's life, with his major paintings and works of his contemporaries. It was fun to see them squeal when they recognized their favorites, and Kathryn's contempt that Michelangelo's David was included in an exhibit about da Vinci.There were lots of hands-on reproductions of da Vinci's inventions for the kids to try out, which especially thrilled Jack. Kathryn was more interested in the art, which Jack had enough of after locating his favorite painting and testing the theory that wherever you are in the room, Mona Lisa is looking at you.We ended the day with a picnic and play in the Science Playground - the Waterworks, to be specific, which is all Max really cared about. We always do this last, because he ends up soaking wet in no time.
Over dinner that night, Nick asked the kids for a report of their trip to OMSI. Jack concluded his adventures by stating, "I think Leonardo is the best painter ever." To which Kathryn piped up (characteristically opposing her brother), " I don't - I think Botticelli is." The debate still continues, but we all agreed that we had a wonderful time!

THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH

... or at least that's what Disney is desperately trying to get you to think. I got a kick out of the tired, under-paid, housekeeping receptionist's voice at the end of the line, who concluded our fruitless conversation with, "Have a magical evening." As we exited the Magic Kingdom one night, I overheard the gatekeeper say, "Welcome - have a magical evening" to a group coming in, and, "Thank you for coming - have a magical evening" to a group leaving. I just may start using the word "magical" in my working vocabulary.

This all leads into our wonderful vacation to Florida in January, just when we Oregonians really needed an escape from the rain. We were met in Orlando by Nick's parents, as well as sunshine and weather in the 60s. We packed in the fun at the parks, spent lots of time swimming, and thoroughly enjoyed all Disney has to offer.

However, the most "magical" part of our trip were moments like these:...spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, cousins, Aunt Nikole, and Uncle Nathan. You could have put us all in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and we'd have come up with fun just being together. Of course, Disney World is a blast, but so is our family.

And some favorite pictures of just my brood, compliments of Nick's dad and his fun camera. Thanks Dad!









We'll return for more "magic" in a few years, but until then, the memories of the wonderful time we had are keeping us all happy.