Let it SNOW!

Last winter brought more snow than we had seen here in years, and it was the first year we had a white Christmas.

It was beautiful to see the neighborhood covered in a fresh, white blanket of powder:

And the kids had a blast building snowmen:

And snowduck:

But it was also cold:

And three snow days leading into Christmas break meant a longer winter break, a longer school year, and less time for a procrastinating mother to finish up last minute holiday preparations without four pairs of curious eyes watching her every move.

We were grateful for the roof over our head and warm beds and all of the things we take for granted that so many others must do without. And we were grateful for the snow. But I think I would be just as grateful if this year we saw a little less of it. I'm perfectly content with one good snowy day where the kids can get their fill of snowmen and snowball fights and I can get my fill of bundling up children and cleaning up their wet messes afterwards. Yeah, one day ought to do it.

Elise is seven!

So she's been seven for seven months. Seems like a perfect time to write about it. (Plus, I've got to squeeze it in before I can post about Sydney turning four last week.)

Elise has the misfortune of being a December baby. Not only a December baby, but a post-Christmas December baby. We try not to let her birthday get too lost in the holiday hubbub. I hope we've succeeded somewhat.

Lucky for us, my brother, Uncle Sam, was in town for Christmas and was able to celebrate Elise's birthday with us. We played around at the Pacific Science Center, then came home for presents, cake and ice cream and a little Rock Band.

At the Science Center:

It's hard to believe she's seven. She still seems so small!

Opening presents:

The haul:

Celebrating with the Lohberg cousins (You can always count on at least one of them to be hamming it up--Kenzie's usually a safe bet):

Cake (I always go all out with the cake decorating):

A few days later, she took a few friends to see The Tale of Despereaux and back home for brownies and ice cream.

I made a goal last year to write something about each one of my children for their birthdays, and I actually did it! (I know, I can't believe it either.) Here's what I wrote for Elise:

They say every good story has to have a conflict. I guess that would explain why out of all that I’ve written and said about my children, I usually have the most to say about Elise.

The last seven years have been a roller coaster ride with squeals of delight and screams of terror, arms raised high in joy and victory, and eyes covered waiting for it to be over. I sometimes worry that I’m spending too much of this ride covering my eyes and waiting for the end. The thing with rides is, the end always comes before you know it, sometimes before you’re ready for it, and ultimately almost always before you want it.

Some days I feel like I should know this ride well enough by now to anticipate the twists and turns, to look forward to them or at least ready myself for them. And some days I do. But there are always those other days where I’m thrown for an extra loop or maybe I just ate one too many churros before hopping through the turnstile. That’s not the ride’s fault. I love this ride. In my right mind, I know no matter what I never want to get off.

Elise is seven today, and I’m determined that seven is the year I’ll figure out how to be her mom. Or maybe she’ll figure out how to be my daughter. Yep, seven is the year. Lucky seven.

I promise that even when I push you away, I’ll always be standing right here, waiting. Promise me you’ll always come back.

Happy Birthday, Elise! I love you!

I'm still not sure we've figured things out, but so far it's been a pretty great year.

Sumsions got the music in them

Tyler and McKenzie have continued taking piano. Tyler's in his fourth year and McKenzie's in her third. For this year's spring recital, McKenzie played "The Tide Is High", made famous by Blondie (I think someone else sang it before Blondie, but Blondie's the version I know and love, besides Kenzie's, of course). She did a great job.

Tyler played a piece called "Phantom of the Keys". He also did a great job, very smoothly recovering from a couple of very small stumbles. I've been impressed with their progress despite their resistance to my requests for more practice time, and hope that they'll stick with it for a while. I keep telling them, "No one ever regrets taking more piano lessons, but everyone always regrets quitting piano lessons!" I'm pretty sure they don't believe me, but they're humoring me for now.

Just like they're humoring me posing for these post-recital pictures:

And here's where we pretend they're actually playing (I couldn't very well disturb their actual performances with my flash photography!):

Middle school band concerts rock!

Tyler was in concert band this year, and performed in a winter and spring concert. This past year's winter concert happened to fall on my birthday. Happy birthday to me! As I’m sure you know or can at least imagine, middle school band concerts are a very special treat. One might even say an almost indescribable experience. I won’t get into too many details because I think you need to experience it for yourselves. After all, hearing is believing.

Any guesses as to what the Jazz Band is playing here? Come on, guess. I dare you. (By the way, Tyler is in the Concert Band, so he had no part in this particular performance.)



The Concert Band was the grand finale, and rightfully so, I think. At least I recognized the song. Tyler's playing clarinet, second row, fourth chair from the left:



By the time the spring concert came around, Tyler was section leader. He enjoyed this last minute addition to their set list (he's second row, third chair from the left):



Can you believe they only spent a few days learning "Spider Pig"?!

Unfortunately, Tyler's decided he's had enough of band for now. I hope the girls enjoy playing the clarinet, too. Because they will. Be playing it. Oh yes. They will.

Elise is a poet and we didn't know it

This year Elise's first grade class studied poetry. They learned how to identify and write all kinds of different styles of poetry. At the end of the unit, this past March, they had a poetry reading to show off their masterpieces.

Here is Elise reciting "Spring":

Apparently, she found Spring to be an inspiring subject. Another Spring poem:

Spring
by Elise Sumsion

Flowers sprouting
Through the earth.
Animals born.
Snow vanishing.
Cherry blossom trees
Coming to say, "hi."
Saying "bye" to
Winter gear.
Green ground all
around.
Blue skies before my
eyes.
Birds chirping in my
Ear.
Spring is here
For the year!

Kara Lohberg graduates!

Somehow I'm old enough to have a niece graduate from high school. (At least I'm not old enough to have my own kid graduate from high school. Kidding, Kim!)

This particular graduation was of special significance to me because this particular niece was present at my own high school graduation (in the womb, but still). This particular niece will also be heading off to BYU at the end of this month, which puts her exactly where I was at when she was born. It's a full circle of sorts that kind of trips me out.



Here's Kara and me post-commencement:

Isn't she cute?


Here she is with her equally adorable siblings, Jessie and Aaron:

And the proud parents, Kim and Jeff:

I was so grateful to be able to witness this milestone in Kara's life. Totally worth enduring the three hours of typical high school graduation tedium. Totally.

Kara's a niece anyone would be proud to claim as her own. She has done and will continue to do great things with her life. I can't wait to see what they are. Good luck at BYU, Kara! We're all going to miss you!

The blog that just won't die

Sometimes I wonder if maybe I'm hoping this blog will disappear from neglect like so many Mother's Day seedlings I've let shrivel up on my kitchen window sill over the years. But every time I check back, it's still here! Darn it.

I've made a list of 17 blog-worthy events from the past 12 months that I have yet to post about. Some might say I should just forget about the past and move forward, but the whole reason I started this blog was to journal my family's life and it just seems wrong to leave out entire sections. I've been so sporadic and random in my posting that I'm afraid there's no way to put things in order, but I'm determined to try to fill in the holes, chronology be darned!

(And, yes, I realize this is the fourth post I've written with these same sentiments in the past several months. Just shhhhhh.)

So here goes, in no particular order...