Mom's out of town

And Abby has declared it sock week. Any sock without a friend by Friday is off the island. A Smart wool sock may get extra time. If you only have one foot this is the place to be!!!!

Cousin Bekah Visits the "Compound"

So the rest of our family affectionately--well we think affectionately, calls our home the family 'compound'. In truth my mother was the one who started calling it the compound--I have consistently said that this makes us sound a like a bunch of weirdos...again perhaps I am making assumptions that this is not what we are :-)

However, we have failed to find another or better word. I suggested Family Estate--but that sounds entirely too fancy for what it actually is... trust me on that one! I also hear that Nana Cake would like a family compound and we whole heartedly support the idea because it can be fun to automatically have a party whenever you need one... but you definitely need a good mix of border collies and golden retrievers to successfully navigate the waters of multi-generational living (for an explanation we will need my mother to post on the personality traits of humans that relate to different kinds of dogs...)

Bekah, our cousin from WA came to visit us despite our inability to be defined, named, or categorized simply. Here she is at the Butterfly Pavilion holding a spider--no this is not an initiation right to come and visit us...! (The actual initiation rite was that my mom whisked this sea level dweller immediately up to 9,000 feet to enjoy the snow and temperatures in the mid teens!)

Bekah did manage the incredible feat of actually seeing all her Arndt cousins and all their offspring (although not all in one place). And we were all delighted with her presence and definitely sad to see her head back home (Ok, John is happy to have his room BUT I know you miss those Star Wars sheets Bekah!)

She spent much time with the littlest cousin offspring bringing her videos from the shelf over and over. We had warned her that Sophia, the eldest cousin, was perhaps more like her than she realized and she did not believe us until one moment at dinner where Sophia gave her absolute "Bekah" look and we only wish we'd capture it on camera! Bekah also taught us how to make vodka gummy bears for which we will be forever grateful to her for doing!

Thanks for coming to visit us dear cousin and you are welcome anytime! We will be sure to have the sheets  clean and Girl Scout cookies handy!
xoxoxo
L

Sophia is 11... and her parents feel old!

This is Sophia as a baby. She is about three months old here, I think. I really can't remember. And I never, ever imagined I would forget anything when she was this age! She was a pretty happy baby--well ok, that is kind of a lie. This picture is deceptive--she was a little fussy. She wanted to be held ALL the time or sleep on her stomach--she was born in the wrong era for that! Since babies HAVE to sleep on their BACK until they roll--she was much happy by this time when she was rolling and I probably was too--but like I said before, I don't remember!

This is Sophia today, pictured here with yet another American Girl doll that she wanted more than a cell phone or new iPod! Her Great Uncle Tom is credited with gifting her this wonderful doll and I hope he sees the joy on her face! I am amazed and delighted to see her grow into such a creative, funny, sweet young lady. It's interesting to me that when she turned 10 last year, I didn't really get all nostalgic or reflective but 11 has hit like a ton of bricks! Must be that she is headed to middle school and into the reality of changes.

This is a family photo when she was a baby and we went to the beach. You can't really see her but the point of posting the picture is to point out that I feel old because here I look so young. And my husband looks so young! This really was one of our favorite spots when she was a baby. Fresh air made her sleep and we didn't the quiet time to walk the beach. As she grew the beach became a favorite place for Sophia.... once she was over not wanting to put her feet in the sand.

Sophia is the first grandchild on both sides of the family (although her cousin Brady on the Behrens' side came a quick six months later!). So the generation shots were fun and important. The first photo is the Behrens side of the family and she is held by her Great Grandmother Sophia Monson, the woman she is named after. The second photo is of my side of the family, just the generations of women in this photo. She is held by my maternal grandmother June Veal. My grandfather also got to know her until she was 2 and half and they were great friends!
I love seeing these photos now since two of the great grandmothers in these photos have passed away. She still has a great grandmother and great grandfather in Denver, which is the third picture of her with my dad's mom.

Sophia was born into a pretty good sized family tree with aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, and great aunts and uncles and cousins. And many of them see her regularly and love on her today! We often tease her when she does things EXACTLY like her Tia Emily (which she does often!) or her Cousin Bekah-this is new but there are some strong resemblances! But really she is her own unique, kind hearted, bright, confident self and we adore her!

So Happy Birthday my sweet girl! 

Life in the Family Tree is wonderful because of you!!

The Ice Cream Scoop

This is a picture of an ice cream scoop. Notice where it sits on the counter. I would venture to guess that many people have a pot of coffee left out on the counter during the day to be enjoyed or just waiting to be refilled the next morning. 

We have a coffee pot as well (that is often empty waiting to be filled because we drink coffee up pretty quick around here!). 

Next to the coffee pot though is another common object in this house, the ice cream scoop. Life in the family tree includes ice cream. There is not one of us who does not like ice cream. The children will eat just about any ice cream you put in front of them, but the adults are a bit more picky preferring the Blue Bell (I blame friends who hail from Texas for the introduction of this addiction--you know who you are!) variety and an occasional Ben&Jerrys.  Much like a coffee pot, which is left out in case others want to enjoy and partake of the drink,  the ice cream scoop is "an everyday tool" left out in case others want to enjoy and partake in a bowl of ice cream. 

I share this with you because it makes me chuckle each morning when I see the ice cream scoop on the counter left from the night before. No one willing to put the scoop in the sink or dishwasher just in case he/she is not the last one who needs to use the scoop that night. Or maybe not willing to put it away in an effort to make sure that he/she is not the only one who succumbs to the beckoning ice cream. It's like this little reminder that there IS something yummy in the house to eat (and there is probably more in the freezer in the garage if you happen to not like the variety in the house). 

Rob and I first learned of our ice cream addiction when we offered friends who were visiting from Oregon some ice cream after dinner. They laughed and said, "We knew YOU would have ice cream in the freezer. Every time we have ice cream we think of you because YOU always have ice cream ready to go!" Rob and I think this is totally normal. It never occurred to us that not everyone has ice cream in their freezer at all times. We realize now that perhaps we are bit spoiled and self indulgent in this way but as evidenced by the counter... we are in good company... at least in this family tree!

The 8 year old trip...

You know... that trip you get to take when your 8 where you pick the place, the sites, the food, the adventures...
               Yep, well I didn't have an 8 year old trip either! (Although when saying this to one friend of mine, she said, oh, yes--well, we were 13 for ours...!) However my lucky children get to have an 8 year old trip with their grandparents (and their cousins will get to as well they just aren't 8 yet!)

This January was John's 8 year old trip. He got to go to the Everglades in Florida because he wanted to see alligators. His goal was to see three gators--but he was pleasantly surprised because he was "Gator Good" and got to see way more than three alligators and he even got to hold one! This was a highlight for him.

I am not sure how the 8 year old trip idea got started. I think I remember my mom saying something about how wonderful 2nd graders and 8 year olds are so that must be a good age to get to spend some special time with the grandparents. We were the first to experience this event with Sophia who got to go to Williamsburg, VA to see all the places her American Girl doll Felicity would have experienced. She also got to the go the beach and eat whatever she wanted--which might be one of the most things that the 8 year old experiences! The report from the FL trip was that John's mouth never stopped moving--he was either eating or talking the entire time! I got a text at 9:30 am on the day they left telling me that he had ice cream and Papa had pizza and so it began!

There was also some time for John at the beach. I have to admit I was quite jealous of his being in 80 degree weather while I was home with cold and the threat of snow. We have heard many stories about his trip and most of them make us laugh. I hope to get a picture of him riding a camel so that I can post that as well--not only was there a camel at the zoo but he got to RIDE it! ("but you can't sit on the hump, it's full of water"). I am told there are many, many more stories as well, but we only get one a night! I love how he loves to tell stories and savors his trip by stretching out the amount of time he gets to talk about it.

Rob is wondering why he doesn't get a "38 year old trip" and that is a good question! However, I think this was a brilliant idea and it seems that 8 is a good age to embark on this adventure. There was no homesickness (they were gone Wed-Sunday) and only reports of funny stories and sweet comments given by the grandparents. So it seems that 8 is a good time to go on a trip away from home and mom and dad and sister (who missed him so much they have shared a bed the last two nights!) to have an adventure. And what a fun memory to have, spending alone time with grandparents who adore you and buy you pretzels with cheese sauce whenever you want!

Sophia commented at dinner a few nights ago--"So when's the teenager trip?"
That's my girl!

New Year's Resolutions

1. Well...one resolution would be to actually post on the blog! I was waiting to give others a chance to post but I might be the only true blogger in the house :-) So I will put together a post once a week minimum to see how that goes! I think that it might end up being some interesting cultural news for an American family multigenerational living experiment--expect we really don't have enough drama to be that interesting...

2. The biggest resolution in the family tree is to get stuff out of storage and to declutter our lives together. We have made great progress on this in 2011 but it's time to let go of all that stuff collecting dust and costing us money every month! We are going to be out of storage by the end of January! Even if we do not always all live together, I think the cost of keeping storage will out pace the true value of the c**** I mean precious heirloom junk in our storage shed. I can hear my grandmother yelling at me from heaven--"Throw it away! Why do you still have my old dishes???!!!".. Because I love and miss you grandma and I have this strange thing where I grow emotionally attached to stuff (I am starting to think I inherited this from father.... can we say 'pool table'... ha! Love ya Dad!) But really, there are only two things I miss from storage that I know are there--my nativity set (so sad we didn't find it in time for Christmas!) and the mixing bowls from my grandmother (I know, I know but I did get rid of the blue dishes so just let me have the mixing bowls..!) Oh, just thought of one more thing--the picture of Cripple Creek which has a lot of wonderful childhood memories tied into it, but that's it! I have boxes and boxes of books and I have no idea which ones they are (although I could look at my hand iPhone app which would tell me, but... it's not like I am at lack of things to read)

3. Enjoy our new puppy! Lola is wonderful and she does a good job of getting us outside a LOT! We are looking forward to training her to be the most well behaved dog on the planet and she is well on her way!

Ok.. well that is a good start to a list and perhaps once family study time resumes in a week I can gather other resolutions from other parts of the family tree!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And May you know the grace and love of God throughout your days in 2012!
~L

Highs and Lows

Life in our family tree is not one where we are all together ALL the time. For example, this past week we had people in Breckenridge and Tacoma,WA and Bar Harbor, Maine! We do though (when states don't separate us!) make an effort to have dinner together. I plan meals out for a week, people write on the central calendar their meetings, dates, etc. and whoever is home gathers to eat. Most of the time during the week it is all six of us at the family table (as a side note, it's WAY more fun to cook for 4 adults than just 2 and the kids are learning to like more foods because I don't just pick things I know they like!)

So whomever is gathered for dinner participates in Highs and Lows. First we say grace (often our standard "Come Lord Jesus" but we have a prayer dice to roll too and sometimes the Holy Spirit blows and we have a free form prayer--that's happened like twice :-)!) Then we go around the table and share our high and our low of the day. The kids started another tradition of 'popcorning' so that after our turn you get to 'popcorn' someone to go next. JEB, the 7 year old, likes to go first so that then he can popcorn his Mama and the Abby claims that 'no one every popcorns her'... but we hear her highs and lows every day so SOMEONE must popcorn her! (see we now we have inside jokes about dinner, it's great!)

When we started this, I could tell the Papa was a little skeptical. Yet it has turned out to be a great way to check in with each person and to know what is going on in their lives. The children no longer think that the adults sit around a play on the computer all day and think up chores for them to do--they hear about our day and we hear about theirs. They participate in the family wholly as who they are but not as the only place where attention is paid giving them a sense of who they are in the larger family and larger world. Now, after a year, the Papa is the one who makes sure we do highs and lows even we are not at home for dinner. One night we were all going to a BBQ at a friends house and so we did highs and lows in the car on the way there!

This is not a new concept nor is it something that is unique to our family or to a multigenerational household. I highly recommend this practice in your own home (we do have people who visit our home at dinner join in as well!). It is a connection point that is simple and fun and makes it so that we are not just six people existing together but six people who know and care about how each one experiences daily life. Try it... you just might like it!  

~L