Much of February in One Convenient Post!

Remember when I used to post almost every day and a month like February would easily have 20+ entries?  Well, here you go-- our whole month captured in 6 pictures! :)

 We made Valentines.  Though they're old enough that this is now optional, I love my girls' desire to continue giving Valentines. And not just give them, but HAND craft them each year!  Ella did drawings of cute little animals.  Delia did emojis with chocolate heart eyes.

 We battled that nasty flu.  Thank you, Lord, that it only took down Ella.  But she had it bad-- 5 days of misery and several weeks until her energy level and appetite returned to normal.

 We celebrated surviving a rough week with a GNO at the fancy seat theater.  We saw "The Greatest Showman" and have had the soundtrack on a pretty much continuous playing loop in the car ever since!

And Dave took his annual trip to Guatemala.  They had one of their best times ever this year, with a big, energetic group and Dave feeling the healthiest he's ever felt.  Investments in relationships were continued, a family prayer partnership program was established, and funds for another new school building were delivered. 

Our February also contained an Honor Band concert Ella was selected to perform in with schools from all over our area.  She was one of only a few from our school picked for this and played second chair saxophone in the huge group.  We were proud! No pictures and my videos of it are too long for the blog, but they actually sounded awesome for a middle school band!

Babysitters, Meatballs, and Prayer Boxes (Intrigued? Keep Reading!)

Hello, Faithful Blog Readers (or just me in a year feeling nostalgic and scrolling through old posts)!  Tonight Delia was in a very fun school performance, in which her extreme enthusiasm for being on stage had her glowing.  I'm excited to post about that so far away family who could not be at the program can still get a glimpse...

BUT before I can do that, I need to go all the way back to January and write about the other things we've been up to.  It has to be in order, sorry, blame my OCD. :)

One thing keeping us busy this winter has been our involvement with the girls' group at church.  In January we hosted a CPR and Safe Sitter Certification Class for our girls.  We hired a teacher to come to church and spend the day training our girls to be the best babysitters ever!  Seriously, the class was so thorough, Ella now knows how to handle everything from a bee sting to cardiac arrest!

 Practicing the Heimlich Maneuver on each other.

 A whole crowd of certified Safe Sitters!

Then our group hosted the annual Soup Supper,  Ella actually had some oral surgery related to her braces the weekend of the Soup Supper, so she was unable to attend and serve.  She still helped out by making many many pounds of meatballs for the Dutch Soup in advance with me.  This may have been torture for the pup.

And recently, Delia's class, the one I teach, finished the Prayer Badge.  I always like to reward my girls with some fun project after they've read and discussed a bunch Bible passages and thought about and written answers for a bunch of pages of questions.  We made these sweet little prayer boxes!  The inside says "When your head starts to worry and your mind just can't rest, put your prayers down on paper and let God do the rest".  My girls really enjoyed creatively crafting these at our last meeting.  Special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for collecting and mailing us all the Altoid boxes!

Christmas Break, By the Numbers

Our second week of Christmas Break was just as eventful and fun as our first week was!  Tomorrow we return to the routine and I feel good about it.  We had lots of adventure and lots of time to relax this past week.  And now it is time to jump back in and rock our second semester!

To chronicle the happenings of the second half of Christmas Break, I thought I'd do a by-the-number breakdown.

Number of fresh Olie-Bollen eaten on New Year's Eve: about 12!

Number of hours spent playing Capture the Flag in our friends' yard and pasture: 2

You know how I like to organize the New Year's Eve activities.  This year's NYE, theme was "The Great Outdoors".  Friends were told to come with warm clothes, flashlights, and shoes they could run in.  We kicked off the night of outdoor games by stuffing ourselves with warm, fresh-out-the-fryer, Olie-Bollen and Apple Flappen (two traditional Dutch dishes made on New Year's).  Jetta's oldest girls were our chefs and they did awesome!  When it was time to run off all the fried treats, we divided into teams of Parents vs. Kids and played the LONGEST GAME OF CAPTURE THE FLAG EVER.  The kids totally outnumbered us, so though we parents were strategic, we just could not keep ourselves out of their jail.  The game was super fun and eventually (after 11 pm!) we located our kids' hidden flag and ended the game with a Parents Victory.  I had a bunch of other outside group games ready to go, but we didn't even need them!

Number of books read (by Jen): 4
Number of new movies watched: 3
Number of hours spent playing Wii games: too many to count!  (Unplugging and getting back on schedule is one of the reasons we need to go back to school!)

No pictures, but a highlight of our second week of break was seeing The Last Jedi in the theater.  It took some convincing to get the girls to go since they were so distraught at the loss of characters in the last 2 new Star Wars movies, but we talked them into it and we all ended up loving it!

Number of delicious meals eaten in restaurants: 2

A sweet and generous couple from church gives us a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant we'd never try on our own for Christmas each year.  Dave and I got all dressed up and enjoyed an elegant dinner one night over break.  The steak I ordered was the best one I've ever eaten in my life.  It was also about $50!  Another night we loved taking the church staff and their spouses out for dinner.  Dave opened our meal by saying what a blessing it is to work with people who are good friends.  We stayed late at that restaurant talking and laughing with our partners in the church ministry.

Number of days spent in the company of friends: 3

One day our girls spent an entire day playing at their good friends' house (giving me time to work in my classroom and then go on that date with Dave).  Then we were excited to have Dorina and her girls join us for a day!  We took them to our local ice rink and were totally impressed as, by the end of the session, our 5 girls were ice skating strong and independently!  Some time to catch up on all the ways God has been working in their lives over a big pot of Dutch Meatball Soup and a tray of Dutch goodies took us into evening with these dear friends.

Again, no pictures, but another day we loved having Jeff, Amy, and their kids over for some smoked ribs, brownie sundaes, and game-playing.  These are some of our inner circle people and sharing/hearing about each others' lives, challenges, and dreams while our kids played great together was an honor and another highlight of the break!

Average number of hours slept each night (for me and the girls, at least): 10-12! 

We are in for a world of hurt this week as our lazy, sloth selves must again get used to doing more than sleeping, watching movies, reading books, eating yummy food, and hanging with friends!  But...

Number of ways we've been blessed by our work and loved ones this year: Countless!

We trust this new year and second semester will bring our family another abundant share of adventure and joy, and God's guidance and presence in the tough times too.

Christmas Adventures at Home

We did keep busy kayaking, escaping, touring, and hiking, but there was plenty of down time at home too over our week with family!

Since we open our gifts on Christmas Eve, I am always challenged to find an activity that will keep the kids busy while they wait out their present-opening anticipation.  This year we decorated ugly sweater cookies with Auntie Heather and Uncle Andrew!  So fun to hear them try to outdo one another with insults for these truly ugly cookies: "Whoa, that is atrocious!" or "Your cookie is horrifying!"  Their ugly artistry is pretty impressive!

I'm gonna say I was trying to be PRESENT during PRESENT opening and that is why I have so few pictures.  That sounds good, huh?  I did get this sister hug captured, as well as Delia's victorious smile when she figured out that Auntie Heather was actually thrilled to build all her LEGO sets for her! :)  In seriousness, our aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents were once again outrageously generous and absolutely every gift was LOVED and has been used many times already.  Thank you!

We also watched lots of movies at night!  The girls were introduced to some Christmas and 80's classics.  After a busy day of activity, nothing was better than jammies, a fire, and a movie we all fell asleep to! 

Heather got lots of time with our pets!

Kayaking was Heather's fave, the Escape Room was Dave's...this impromptu dance party night was mine!  We started with a game of Just Dance (a gift from Grandma-- thanks!), and it turned into a late night, glow stick dance party, complete with costumes for the 80's songs.  We were laughing (and sweating!) SO hard!

This wasn't taken at home, but close to it.  Another day we took Auntie Heather to our favorite indoor roller rink for a couple hours of rollerblading.  Just because I suspect we did not wear our company out enough already! (I don't know about Heather, but when I returned from dropping her off at the airport, I crashed on the couch for several hours!)

What a wonderful first week of break!  We're so thankful Heather and Andrew took the time and effort to share Christmas and so many amazing outings with us!  Lots of laughs were had and lots of forever memories made.  

Christmas Adventures in the Mountains

And then it was our Christmas Baby's birthday!  On his birthday, Dave said what he'd most like to do was show us what our favorite camping spot looked like in the winter.  He's been before with the youth group, but the girls and I have never seen it not in summer, or completely covered in snow.  Pinecrest in the winter, without snow, was indeed something unique to take in!

We took this picture of our December 28 outdoor picnic just to torture you Midwest and East Coast friends, freezing in sub-zero temps!

We do need the snow really badly, so even though the day was beautiful and perfect temps for a vigorous 5 mile hike around the lake, we were sad that this tiny bit of snow was all we could find.  Isn't this photo amazing, by the way?  Auntie Heather even got our bouncy puppy perfectly posed!

Yes!  We brought the dog!  She did SO great on the long hike!  And so did our other baby!  Delia didn't complain once, even when the terrain was rough and the uphill climbing tiring.  We had a goal, set on December 28, 2016, to hike 40 miles in our 40th years of life.  This hike around the lake definitely pushed us over what we needed to meet the goal!

The birthday boy finding the hardest way across the river possible.  I love this about him, but I took the bridge just a few steps up! :)

Happy hikers!

This is why Dave wanted to bring us here in the winter.  The lake is actually a dammed reservoir and, in the winter, the controlled water is drained quite a bit.  So strange and interesting to hike on areas that are under water in the summer!  Where Dave and Ivy are above is our fishing spot.  Where the girls are below is the buoy we always swim quite a ways out to.  Weird!!!

This was another fantastic outing to share with my sister.  She's never been to Pinecrest and the day's hike was just strenuous enough to be exciting, but quick enough to not exhaust us completely.  It couldn't have been a prettier day.  Bringing the puppy and seeing the lake in such a different state added a new element of fun that I suspect distracted Delia from all the miles we once again made her walk!

Christmas Adventures in the Capitol

Sadly, Andrew's time with us was short as he had to get back to work the day after Christmas.  We LOVED hanging out even a few days, though, and getting to know him better.  And as long as we were driving through Sacramento to get him to the airport, we decided to make a day of it!  Delia has spent the last month memorizing her states and their capitols.  Though she's been here before, she doesn't really remember, so we thought a tour of our state's capitol would be appropriate.  Always learning, we are!

Pretty Christmas tree outside the capitol building.

The always fun-to-see rotunda.

The state legislature chamber, where a docent explained to us how laws are made in as fair a way as possible.  Given the insanity of some California laws, I'll refrain from political commentary.

Auntie Heather getting attacked by the grizzly outside our governor's office. 

We also wandered around the gorgeous capitol building grounds a while too, learning about all the different trees and plants represented in the state garden.  Not the most exciting of our outings, perhaps, but still a pleasant day.

Christmas Adventures in the Tomb

If Heather will tell you that kayaking with otters and jellyfish was the coolest thing she's done in a while, Dave will tell you that the Escape Room we did on Christmas Day is the coolest thing he's done!  For Christmas last year, Kyle gave our family tickets to an Escape Room.  We put them to good use during Heather and Andrew's visit.  I can't give too many details because upon exit, we promised not to reveal things to people who may want to give it a try.  But I can tell you these 3 generalities about our time in King Tut's Tomb:

1.  This was Dave's JAM!  My husband is a puzzle-lover and he's incredibly smart.  He was flying around solving clues like a master escapee.

2.  Even though I do believe Dave could have probably single-handedly escaped, we did all contribute something.  I especially enjoyed seeing even our youngest team member pitch in in her own special way.  Delia somehow quickly memorized a hieroglyphic/alphabet stone that had her breaking codes at record speed.  Or Andrew, who works with his hands operating on people, whipped all the wooden puzzles together.

3.  We did in fact escape!  Given 1 hour to solve a long series of clues that unlocked various things, we succeeded in finding the treasure and unlocking our room's (tomb's) door!  WITH 6 minutes to spare!  And in so doing, we joined the elite 23% of people who are actually able to escape the room!

We are a surgeon, a nurse, a teacher, a pastor, and 2 straight A students, representing quite a few college and advanced degrees.  I'm proud of us for escaping, but not too surprised. :)

Christmas Adventures on the Sea

Yay!  We made it!  I am actually blogging about things that happened THIS WEEK, not a month ago!  This year for Christmas, Heather and Andrew were able to join us!  I knew I wanted their time with us to be special and to show Andrew some unique parts of Northern CA, since it was his first visit here.  Moss Landing  has long been one of our favorite spots to view ocean wildlife.  Remember the summer of the whales?  Or how every time we stop by we are greeted by otter friends?  Kayaking the Elkhorn Slough, which is the salt water wetland system connected to this unique piece of ocean, has always been on my To-Do List.  My friend Amy did it with some friends this fall and gave me all the tips and advice I needed to finally pull the trigger on this grand outing.  And it exceeded our expectations in every way!

Sea kayaking in December can be chilly.  We were excited that the company we rented from offered skirted kayaks, to keep us nice and snug and dry while paddling.  And dang, don't we look gooooood in these getups?!

My sister, the queen of selfies, snagged this one of the whole group.  

Andrew is already a wonderful uncle, agreeing to paddle with Ella.  We got such a kick out of their conversation, which was mostly Ella pumping him for every detail of his schooling and career.  She has now decided she wants to be an orthopedic surgeon too.

So, I had my phone in this handy waterproof case, attached to my arm with a floating buoy.  Unfortunately the inevitable splashing of salt water with each paddle, did sprinkle my phone, and while it was in no danger, it did fog the case and make my pictures of this awesome day less than awesome.  While the above pic is a bit blurry, I still love it because it shows the rafts of otters we floated RIGHT by!

Heather and I had a blast together on this day.  We unintentionally even wore the same shirt, joking that we truly dressed as a team!

My amazing view for about 3 hours.

Okay, let's' talk about the wildlife.  It was incredible!  A while ago, a tide brought millions of sea nettles into the Monterey Bay and the entire time we paddled, these huge, orange, tentacle-y jellyfish would float right by.  Along the banks were constant clumps of hilarious seals, cracking us up with their "yoga moves" and funny noises.  Once, Heather even laughed her big infectious laugh, and several popped up RIGHT next to us to see what the noise was!  The otters were everywhere too.  We saw too many to count, some super close up, one mama with a baby riding on her belly.

And then there was the show going on in the sky.  Huge white and black pelicans were fishing RIGHT around us-- a little unnerving actually as they would seemingly fall from the sky and dive bomb the water to catch a fish.  It made Delia nervous, but was sure something to see.  

Heather's been visiting us almost yearly for 15 years now.  We've taken her all over our state, but she said this was the neatest thing she's done with us.  Somehow we scored a perfect day on the slough-- warm enough to be comfortable, no wind  or current, and wildlife galore!  Not promising every day has these ideal conditions, but I'd enthusiastically recommend this outing and the kayak company we used!!

Christmas Videos

These are 3 of my favorite videos from our Christmas season.  They showcase the girls and their musical contributions to various concerts and programs.

The school Christmas Concert is a long one-- 5th-12th grade, ALL bands and choirs.  The grand finale, and our reward perhaps for sitting through several hours of a school concert :), is when all the students get on stage for a mass choir performance of "Peace Peace."

This is Ella playing "O Holy Night" for the Sunday School Program prelude.  She worked hard on this song and "rocked it", as her piano teacher said!

And here is Delia singing in her girls' ensemble at the Sunday School Program.  She too did a wonderful job singing her heart out!