December

Our December started quite deliciously, with lots of cooking and baking in response to the short daylight hours and cold temperatures.  In the photos below from top left in clockwise order: ginger syrup in one pot and cranberry pear sauce in the other, homemade blueberry pie and apple pie, Lucy making homemade biscuits, and a standard Saturday morning on the stove top - oatmeal for me, sausage and pancakes for Will and the kids.  I love making the cranberry pear sauce in bulk, and then putting a little bit in my oatmeal each morning - divine!  Sadly, cranberries are already out of season as I write this, so unless I can find a frozen source, I will have to wait until next November to make my favorite cranberry pear sauce again.

Here are all four girls below, on a typical homeschooling morning.  Opal keeps things interesting with her demands and short attention span, but with three older sisters, there is always someone able to take a shift with Opal while I work one on one with someone else.  The best innovation I have stumbled upon this school year is recording the girls' spelling dictation on the voice app on my phone, so I do not have to read them the same thing every single day for the week.  I can't believe I didn't come up with this sooner.  To have three different grades going at one time definitely requires efficiency and planning, especially when you add in a toddler on top of it.  We are still able to finish our school by lunchtime most days though, and I love how the girls seem to be motivated to be efficient as well.

 

There has been lots of indoor play this past month, and I just love it when all the sisters find ways to play peacefully together.  The next best scenario is when all four girls are content and playing on their own.  I wish I could say that these scenarios are typical, but as I feel the need to take a picture when it occurs, it is more rare than I would like.  The photos below in clockwise order from top left: all four girls settling in with their new library books, Will painting Opal's nails for the first time with all three big sisters encouraging her, paint by number "Van Gogh" artwork that the older three created, all four girls watching something on TV, a mermaid Violet drew, the older three girls building a craft project that Uncle Joe and Aunt Beth sent them for Christmas, a pile of "snowflakes" on my desk that probably added up to an entire ream of paper, and finally, Will and I depicted in Lego figures made by the girls. 

Violet continued with her mouth therapy this past month, and is doing a great job with all of the homework.  She can now hold a water bottle filled with marbles (that equals over a pound) with her lips!  The photos below in clockwise order from top left: Violet at mouth therapy, sitting proudly by a giant LOL toy she won as a prize, Violet and Opal doing yoga at home (with Charlie looking on from the door) when our yoga class was canceled due to sickness, and finally, Violet in a fort she made at the chiropractor's office.

We celebrated St. Nicholas on December 6th.  The girls were excited to find that their lists to Santa that they had left in their shoes the night before were replaced by chocolate coins, oranges and a new Lego Advent Calendar.

The girls had their annual dance benefit concert this past month, and it was the first time that Violet got to dance on a real stage.  She did great, and it was so nice to have three of my girls backstage with me while I volunteered.  It was an added bonus that our next door neighbor is now in dance with Violet, and that her mom can do some amazing makeup, a skill that I struggle with.  My kids were more than happy to let Ms. Fauzeen apply their makeup instead of me!

 After the recital, it was so nice to have hugs and kisses from their cheer squad - aunts, an uncle, grandparents, and of course their dad and little sister!

Will's dad's birthday was this past month, and the girls and I made three different kinds of cookies for his birthday present.  Grandpa T. has a sweet tooth, and the kids and I do too, so it was a really fun birthday present to make.  We split it up over several days, but made peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, snickerdoodles, and oatmeal M&M cookies.

We also had lunch with our friend who has ectodermal dysplasia like Violet and her mom this past month.  I had never met her mom before, and so it was a fun and happy meeting.  The simple fact of sharing a genetic mutation with someone instantly makes them feel like family, and it is such a wonderful feeling to know that you are not alone in something.  It doesn't hurt that they are sweet, funny, and fellow foodies.

My cousin, my friend who is like a cousin (honestly they are both more like sisters to me) and I had a holiday craft day this past month with our kids and some of our husbands in tow.  It was such a fun afternoon.  Each of us brought a craft and/or food to share and we enjoyed eating and drinking holiday treats, good conversation and laughter, and some gorgeous crafts to bring home to decorate our houses.  I hope that we make this our new holiday tradition.

Things took a turn before Christmas.  We all got a cold, and our holiday prep was seriously crippled.  I did pull off a Christmas card this year, which was an improvement over last year, however the rest of the holiday prep went down to bare bones.

High fevers, coughs, body aches, chills and low energy were the trademarks of this cold, and Will was the only one who didn't catch it.  But, we had to cancel babysitters who were scheduled so that Will and I could finish up our Christmas shopping, and we had to cancel or postpone family gatherings.  Christmas Eve was probably the worst day of the entire sickness, not helped by the fact that the previous night Will and I were on one hour shifts to get Opal through the night as her cold turned into croup.  To make matters worse, a pipe burst in our basement, and I was still not completely recovered from my own cold.  The older three girls really pitched in to help, and we did what we could.  I was bummed to miss one of my favorite church service of the year - Christmas Eve mass, but we were in no shape to go anywhere.

Fortunately, Opal's fever broke on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning, we were all at least healthy enough to open presents and enjoy a quiet day together.

We ended up having one of the best Christmas's I can remember, with no place to go and no timeline.  

The kids seemed to really love their gifts from Santa, Will and I, and their sisters.  It is so lovely to see the sisters buy each other such personal and perfectly suited gifts with their own money for each other.

Highlights of the gifts include Lego sets and favorite books for all of the girls, a 3D pen and "real" nail polish (I found a brand that is the least toxic) and real pearl earrings for Lucy; a pogo stick, a "real" Craftsman toolset for Emma, and a Frozen drawing set, a scooter and a Calico Critter house for Violet, and everything Elmo for Opal.  Will made me frames out of old barn wood for some art prints I had bought earlier this summer, and Will got a new wallet from me.

The below photos perfectly sum up the Christmas day that we had.  In clockwise order from top left below: Violet testing out her new scooter in the house, a marble run set that the entire family received as a gift from Will and I that uses our existing Duplo Legos, complete with baking soda sprinkled on a fresh puke stain on the carpet, a gorgeous sunset walk we took, and the kids all playing with their new presents at the table.

Next year I hope to keep the sunsets and laid back feel of Christmas day, but ditch the puke, the burst pipe, and the up-all-night croup.  The rest of our Christmas break was equally laid back, as we slowly got better.  We had movie nights complete with picnics in the living room, almost every morning the girls and Will played a game before breakfast, I got to make two zippered pouches for Opal that I initially was going to make for Christmas presents for her, but she was equally as happy to receive on a random Tuesday of our break.  One pouch is for her little Sesame Street characters, and another is for a chicken and egg balancing game that was missing it's box.

It snowed over Christmas break, which was awesome, as it gave the girls lots of fun outside.  You can see in the below picture of Opal that she was still not feeling well.  Poor baby!

This was the first Christmas in our 12 years of missing Luke that we didn't get his grave blanket decorated and on his grave before Christmas.  When we were finally feeling up to it, we did simple ornaments made out of buttons (it is always a challenge to come up with a new waterproof ornament for his grave blanket each year, but this year my nieces and nephews inspired us with their homemade button ornaments), and then decorated and brought his grave blanket to the cemetery.  I love that we have this tradition to include Luke in our holidays.

Luke is never forgotten, and there is not a day that goes by when we do not think of him.  The holidays always magnify the missing, but it is a comfort and a joy to have so many opportunities to include his name - from ornaments on our tree, to signing his name on our Christmas cards, to hanging a stocking for him along with the rest of ours.  

A few days after Christmas we were able to celebrate with our families.  Christmas is not a day, it is a feeling, and we definitely had that feeling when we were with our families.

 Although some siblings of mine were out of town, state and even country, we enjoyed seeing our parents, two of my siblings, and Will's brother and partner.  We also were fortunate that our extended Timmerman side postponed their holiday get together for us and we got together with some aunts and uncles for a fun game night.

Will's uncle snapped this photo of us at their house for the game night, and would you believe that it was the only family photo we got the entire holiday season?  We usually get a family photo at church, but since we didn't go this year, we had only selfies from the holidays.  What a bonus that Will's uncle got this great photo of us!

Here's to a healthy and happy New Year for all of our friends and family, and for the ability to create laid back days without sickness forcing it upon us!

Opal at 21 Months

Opal's love for Elmo remains strong.  In clockwise order from top left below: Opal trying on a tutu that friends dropped off for her when she wasn't feeling well, Opal reading Elmo books, Opal finding a stuffed Elmo and Cookie Monster on the store shelves while I try to figure out how we are going to leave the store without them, and Opal finding a way to bring Elmo outside with her in the snow.

She also loves playing with her sisters, and demands nothing less.  Sometimes her sisters play with her willingly, and sometimes Opal coerces them with screams and persistence.  In the photos below in clockwise order from top left: Emma rocking Opal while Opal says "gain", "gain", "gain" anytime Emma tries to stop, Violet posing for a photo with Opal on our back door steps, and all four girls playing with Opal.

If I had only one word to describe Opal, it would be "intense".  She doesn't compromise, and feels every emotion under the sun as intensely as possible.  She knows what she wants, and she doesn't settle for less.  Here she is below, feeding Elmo his breakfast along with hers, and in the right hand photo below, we found Opal half dressed and into the Halloween candy.

Opal still doesn't like baths, but Lucy has enticed her into a shower by blowing bubbles for her while Will or I wash a reluctant Opal.  Opal also prefers to only wear Elmo pajamas, day and night and so we have to get creative to put daytime clothes on her.  In the right hand picture below, I had just bought Opal pants with real pockets - a definite selling point in getting Opal dressed, and can you believe that she's never worn pants with pockets before?  The entire first day of wearing pockets, she utilized them to the fullest and casually walked around the house with her hands in her pockets.

 Opal seems to get sick at least once a month.  This past month she had a stomach bug.  It was short lived, fortunately, but at 21 months old, it finally clicked for Opal to puke in a bucket and not all over the bed, her mom, her dad or the carpet.  Now, anytime she has the smallest cough she yells, "BUCKET!"  That's not to say that she got her throw up in the bucket - she just knows that's where it's SUPPOSED to go.  Baby steps.

It's so hard to see my baby sick.  I feel like her memory is so short, that when she is sick, she doesn't remember what it feels like to not be sick.  Of course her sisters spoil her and take great care of her, despite the fact that Opal only wants Will (and if he's not available, me) when she is sick.  She will even push a sister away by her face if her "no" isn't listened to.  In the above picture, Opal's sisters made her a blanket and pillow nest in a basket for her to rest in when she wasn't feeling good.  Opal may feel a tad smothered by love in our house, but don't for a second feel sorry for her, as she takes full advantage!  Opal, we love to spoil you!

November Happenings

We started off the month of November with Violet having a mouth procedure.  Violet was resigned yet brave, and did an amazing job.  As I sat in the waiting room, waiting for the dentist to come out and tell me that Violet was finished, I had a very small glimpse of the worry that parents have while their child is in surgery.  It is a terrible feeling, and I would have rather had the procedure done to myself, than to wait while Violet went through it.  As minor as her procedure was, it was still quite painful afterward, and my heart broke on the drive home with Violet crying in the backseat.  When we arrived home, Will, Lucy and Emma greeted us in the garage and led a sad Violet into the house where there were blankets, a comfy couch and a bowl of ice cream waiting for Violet.

Watching the love and care of my daughters towards their sister filled my heart with such pride and amazement.  If the last ten years of parenting have led us to this moment, then I can say without a doubt that all of our hard work has paid off already.  Violet was so cared for, and lots of family and friends sent their love, prayers, and get well gifts and cards, making Violet feel so loved and special.

For the first couple of days, Violet had a lot of pain and could only eat soft foods and liquids.  After that, she started to improve and after eight weeks of stretches and mouth exercises, she is completely healed.  We had to do the stretches and exercises six times a day, which was brutal when it was painful for her.  We resorted to bribery, and we got through it.  I am so glad we are past that now.  Violet did such an excellent job.  It is hard not to get caught up in the thoughts of how unfair it is that Violet was born with birth defects.  However, I try to remind myself that it could be so much worse (she has the most mild gene mutation documented as everyone else with this specific mutation was born with a double cleft lip and cleft palate).

 Now that she is healed up, we will soon be starting the next phase of her dental plan, which includes some mouth appliances and some cosmetic dentistry on her teeth.  Violet is at the point now where she is struggling with other kids and even adults comments about the way that her teeth look, and it breaks Will's and my heart to see her go through this.  When you hide your smile, or hold back your joy because you are afraid of what people will say about your teeth, it is heartbreaking as a parent to witness.  It's as if other people's comments make our Violet wilt, and we want more than anything to instead watch her bloom.  We are currently fighting our insurance to cover Violet's dental needs, which is another added stress in an already unfortunate situation.  If Violet's teeth were lost or damaged due to decay, our insurance would cover what she needs.  But because Violet was born with a genetic condition that left her with missing teeth and misshapen teeth, not a cent of her dental work is covered.

November was emotionally tough on us, and we are glad to be moving on to the next phases for Violet.  We were also glad that Charlie stayed close to home, and we have yet to take for granted that he is back with us.  A friend of ours gifted us a book which arrived in the mail this past month, and is called Six-Dinner Sid by Inga Moore, which if that doesn't sum up Charlie, I don't know what does.  It's a story of a cat who has six different families who all feed him, and believe he is theirs, and theirs alone.  Sound familiar?

 We enjoyed time with friends this past month, with the girls putting on plays with their friends, and an impromptu pizza and movie night as well with other friends.  Note in the top, right hand picture below that our friends humored us and wore blue-light blocking glasses right along with our kids, which is our rule when watching any screens after dark.  Now that is true friendship.

 The below two photos show views out of our front window.  The first are our Halloween pumpkins, covered in snow and the second is a large buck that sits across the street each day.  We feel so lucky that we live in the house that we have - we feel like it is perfect in so many ways - with Green Space directly across the street from us and yet the close proximity to downtown that allows us to walk to most things.

 I was busy this past month prepping my inventory for Christmas, and sold out of beeswax ornaments several times.  I have to melt the beeswax outside, due to my honey bee allergy (the airborne particles when the beeswax melts provoke my allergies), and let me just say that next summer I hope to remember to do this part, as it was FREEZING outside.  It took me a full 24 hours to warm back up when I was finished with a weekend of outdoor beeswax melting.  Unfortunately, all of my bees have already died for the season, but the good news is, because they died early in the winter, we were able to harvest the remaining honey.

 The kids and I spent most of November at home, due to an unfortunate run-in I had with a landscape rock and Will's car.  I was pulling into a parking lot, and somehow hit a landscape rock that lined the driveway.  Will's car is old, so it was the equivalent of a 90 year old falling down the stairs.  And, due to the GM strike earlier this year, the parts that we needed to fix the car were on back order for a solid month.  We made do, and I have to say that thanks to family and friends, we were able to pull off having only one car for four weeks.  In the photos below from top left in clockwise order: Lucy hugging Opal in between her dance classes, Opal sitting next to the little boy statue at our library, all of the words Violet can read so far, cut up and made into a few silly sentences by me, the landscape rock that almost totaled out our car (a friend told us we should from here on out refer to it as a boulder for the sake of a good story), all of us on a walk, and a typical homeschool morning with all four of my girls working at the table.

 We had a snow day this past month, which helped with our one car situation.  If it's going to be cold out, I would much prefer there to be snow.  It gives the kids endless hours of outdoor fun. Take that same backyard with the same cold temperatures but no snow, and you would have to bribe them to go outside.

 We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  Below in clockwise order from top left: Opal dipping her Thanksgiving breakfast bacon into a pile of whipped cream (a new twist on buttering your bacon), my dad, brother and niece, celebrating my brother's birthday, and finally, Will's entire family celebrating Thanksgiving.

 We spent Thanksgiving day with Will's family, and then a few days later we celebrated my brother's birthday which was a great way to spend Thanksgiving weekend with my family too.

 Thanksgiving weekend we put up our Christmas decorations...

... and ushered in the holiday season.  I have such strong and happy memories of the holidays when I was a kid, and everything from the smell of the Christmas decoration boxes brought up from the basement, to time sitting by the Christmas tree, while reading a book and watching snow fall outside the window.  The foods and treats that my mom would make each year, and the anticipation of Santa and time off from work and school are some of my most happy memories.  Now, as I am the creator of my own kids memories, I can't help but long for some quiet by the Christmas tree that I would never take for granted again.  Here my four daughters are below, making some of their own memories, and I can't help but hope that they are as great as mine are.  

If you had told ten year old Liz what future Christmas would be like, I'm not sure she would have believed you.  Now to find some quiet time for myself, while living a life better than I could have dreamed!