Fall Photo Dump

Some of these pictures may be repeats, but they make me so happy!  We had a fun fall.

Family Christmas Letter 2012

Here is our family letter we sent out to some of you.  I already know I didn't get it out to everyone we wanted (sorry), but we had a busy December and January so it just didn't happen....but now you can read it on our blog and check out our newest family picture:


The Zwahlen family survived the year of the Mayan Apocalypse with only two catastrophic changes.  We didn’t move and we didn’t change jobs. J

Abigail loves preschool, Music Makers, playgroup, and playdates especially because they all involve new and old friends.  We are continually impressed by her compassion and love for everyone she meets.  She manages to balance this uncanny maturity with Barbies, Tinker Bell, Princesses, and telling jokes.  She loves having a little sister (more on that later) and thinks her brother is ok.

Samuel has spurned the diaper and the crib much to his mother’s delight.  He loves Cars, Angry Birds, Music Makers, Kindle, playgroup, and insulting his father.  His favorite insults include, but are not limited to, “you have a big nose” and “goodnight stinky pants.”  Sam absolutely adores his little sister and thinks his other sister is ok too.

Lydia Jane was born March 21, 2012.  She is an angel.  Abby and Sam wear her out every day and she is by far our best sleeper.  Lydia loves to participate in Abby and Sam’s playtime by shrieking and trying to scoot to be close to the action.

Michelle loves being a mom.  Having 3 kids 24/7 leaves little time for anything else.  Michelle does teach Primary at church, preschool, leads Music Makers, and dabbles in new crafty things (thanks, Pinterest).  However, most of her day is filled with keeping her three little bosses happy.

Roy loves his job.  He is grateful and feels blessed to have found work he enjoys.  He loves the policy, politics, the crazies, and the lunatics (much worse than the crazies).  BIO  keeps giving him interesting projects to do and sending him to interesting places.  This year included a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, checking one item off his bucket list.

Our family hopes this year brought you peace, prosperity, and the love of family, friends, and associates.  Happy New Year!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Abby:

• She has this rock collection.  Because we are such fabulous parents (who can't say no), it has moved with us two times.  Now, in our defense, we were on this awful moving streak for a while and the collection started with only a few rocks.  When we moved to this place, Abby got a small box to put her favorite rocks in.  Turns out they all fit.  We have slowly added more rocks over the last year, but she still has a pretty nice collection of rocks she has deemed as special even though most of us wouldn't even notice them.  And, being Abby, she has special names for each one and notices when one is misplaced or missing.  I digress.  The other day she was going through her rock collection and sighed, "I'm just obsessed with nature!"
• We ate some yummy cheesy potato wedges for dinner the other night.  I was trying to be sneaky and get the kids to eat potatoes because they aren't usually lovers of potatoes.  I had both Abby and Sam put all the toppings in a baggie, throw in the potato wedges, and shake and toss that bag around until our little chefs declared them perfect.  So when we were sitting down, all nicely chatting about our day, and Abby asked what we were eating, I thought I had lost my battle of the potato.  So I told her, "Potato wedges.  You know, what you helped toss in the bag."  "Oh," she replied, "That sounds like potato wedgies."  We laughed the whole night.

We asked Sam to go get his pajamas on for bed.  He got a pair of my jeans, put them on backwards, and tried really hard to convince us he was ready for bed.

Sam:

*Disclaimer: It isn't that Sam is the most loved child, he just is at the stage of being hysterical most of the day.  As a result, I keep very close records of what he says because, frankly, when he's not being funny, I need to remember that those moments of pull-your-hair-out frustration are rare in comparison.

• One of the sweetest experiences of my being a parent is listening to my children pray.  I love to hear them as they sincerely express gratitude for their blessings and ask for help.  Occasionally, I have to hold in laughter mid-prayer. Tonight in our family prayer at bedtime, Sam prayed for Santa.  Tonight was one of those hold-in-laughter nights.
• We have been reading the Book of Mormon as a family each night before bed.  The one we have has some great illustrations and pictures, which has been great for teaching our kids (thanks, Mom and Dad!).  A few nights ago, Roy pointed out a picture of a white-bearded Lehi and continued reading the story.  Sam burst in mid-sentence with, "That's not Lehi--that's Santa!"  Are you sensing a theme?
• Roy was recently telling the kids the story of Samuel the Lamanite (a Book of Mormon prophet).  For those not familiar with the story, Samuel is teaching the people while on the city wall and many of the people were throwing rocks and shooting arrows at him.  Our Sam interrupted Roy's retelling of the story and insisted on finishing.  We were really proud as he was spot-on with the retelling...until he got to the part about people throwing missiles at Samuel.
• We were eating Cheetos at lunch the other day (awesome mom points right there) when Sam held up a Cheeto and said, "Oooh, it's a ghost!" in a spooky voice.  All the sudden, he took a big bite and giggled, "I'm eating the ghost's bottom!"

Lydia:

• Lydia doesn't say a whole lot yet, but she is certainly funny.  If Sam is within reaching distance, she reaches for him.  Somehow she can always manage to pull his very-short hair.  She waves at herself in the mirror and waves to us as we walk into and out of a room.  She adores Abby and always has a smile ready for anyone who happens to look at her.
• As with so many young children, Lydia is extremely interested in technology.  She grabs for my phone whenever she can.  I love that she will hold it up to her face and say, "Hi da" every time.
• Lydia is 10 months old, but she doesn't crawl more than a few inches.  She scoots on her bottom with this awkward-looking leg formation and can spin to get whatever she wants.  She is really interested in walking and squirms to be put on the ground holding our hands so she can practice.  She pulls herself up to stand when she can get herself close enough to big objects.  Unfortunately she doesn't have the best luck in picking stable objects--so far she's gone for toys with wheels and a play table that turned out to be a little tippy.

We feel incredibly blessed to have such happy kids.  Life really is beautiful!

Now that it's mid-January...

I feel like there is always so much catching up to do on the blog!  My sense of always being behind on it is helped along by the fact that I always have a list of funny things the kids say or do that is just waiting to be posted.  I am going to try to use Sundays to catch up and while I might not be totally consistent, at least I can capture moments of these little lives that we are so lucky to be apart of.

Here are some of our random moments of December:

I don't think this needs any explanation other than the fact that this is pure Sam.

Go ahead, turn your head.  Our picture editor is being crazy. 

Lydia got a wagon for Christmas.  As you can tell, it has turned into a gift for all the kids.  And it has been quite the gift to Roy's arms as he lugs them around our neighborhood. :)

Abby got some Lego Friend sets for Christmas and her birthday.  She also got the gift of a whole day of a dedicated Baba Z helping her build a house.  The house has been with Abby constantly and she has found a new love of building.

Abby turned 5 on December 30.  We had a friend party and a family celebration.  It's always so fun to celebrate with Abby because her enthusiasm brings us a little closer to heaven.  She is positively grateful and exuberant.  We are so very blessed to have her in our family!

Turn your head again. :)  Abby got a locket for her birthday.  She had been asking for a locket for probably 6 months and wears it proudly several times a week.  This girl makes me smile.

Brings a Smile

• We were eating some really twisty noodles for dinner tonight and Sam all the sudden said, "I have a BOING in my mouth!" as he was using one noodle like a spring.
• Last night I had the kids try a bite each of refried beans.  Abby said they were too squishy.  Sam chewed it for a minute, decided he wasn't a fan, and leaned over to Abby's tortilla and deposited it there.
• Sam loves to say prayers now.  The other day he prayed while holding a car in his hand.  My missionary brother and the food each got blessed 3 times because he was so distracted.
• Lydia now loves to walk around holdings hands.  She's 9 months old now and I can hardly believe it.  She loves to scream at Abby and Sam and belly-laughs when they scream back.
• Lydia does this funny thing at meals where she turns her face upward and opens her mouth wide and makes a funny sound.  She does it to make us laugh.  It works every time.
• Abby can hardly wait for both Christmas and her birthday.  She still likes having a December birthday and is very caught up in planning every second of her celebration.  She cracks me up.
• Abby decided to teach Lydia how to clap this week.  She spent less than a minute and Lydia now claps a lot.  Abby is a really good big sister.
• Abby and Sam have had an especially fun time playing together and Lydia jumps in on the fun.  If they are  on the ground, she worms her way over to them and tries to tackle them.  If they are running around making noise, she squeals and laughs.  Abby and Sam are so good to involve her and usually come up with some role she can play from her mostly-stationary position.

Merry Christmas!  

One-liners

I feel like we have some really funny kids.  I love to capture those tiny moments that crack me up because they give me insight into the people I spend most of my time with.

Abby is growing up entirely too fast.  I am only partly joking when I tease her that she can't turn 5 on her next birthday.  She is so fun to be around, even when she gets on her joke-telling binges.

• While I was helping her get dressed for church recently she commented, "I like when you tie bows.  Dad doesn't really know how to tie them so well."
• She learned how to braid recently.  I have to note that Roy taught her how to braid.  She was so proud to show me the braid she did in Rapunzel's hair that I didn't even have a chance to step out of the shower before she burst in to show me.
• We went to a Tiny Tots concert that the high school put on.  The band played a bunch of Disney songs and various high school students walked around in costumes.  Abby was beyond excited to meet Belle, who was sweet enough to pose for a picture at the end.  We also got to meet Prince Eric and Ariel.
• I overheard Abby say this this afternoon, "Sam, do you want to snuggle under my blanket with me?"  I had a very proud mom moment rejoicing in the other room.

    

Sam is at this really funny point.  He talks so much and tells me about his day.  He confesses when he's done something he shouldn't.  He apologizes even if he doesn't have to.  He tells me how he's feeling (mostly when he's really, really happy or really not).  It is funny to hear him say, "I'm so angry!" mostly because I know the only reason he  knows that word is because of Angry Birds.  He also acts like you would expect a boy to act: farting and laughing, burping in your face, and smearing boogers on you.

• Today Sam told me, as he was stroking my cheeks, "I love your face!"
• While attempting to dress himself, he put his jeans on over his pajama pants.  Backwards.  He literally had to squirm around the floor to get them off.
• He gets really mad when Abby sings the "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" song and has to sing it extra loud by himself when she finishes.  Sam's version is: "Santa Claus is coming to store!"
• Sam's imagination is taking off.  In the first picture below, he is being Guido (from Cars) and fixing Abby's roller skate "tires".  He occasionally fixes our van tires on the way in or out of the car.

Lydia is also growing up too fast.  She is starting to realize that she can pull herself up to stand.  We've only had a couple of successes with that, but she keeps trying.  Lydia cracks up laughing when Abby and Sam are around.  She will ditch baby toys as soon as she sees a big kid toy available.  She loves me and kisses me in all her slobbery glory.  She will repeat "Bye-bye, Dada" when I ask her to.  I realize she doesn't really get what she's saying, but the sweetness of the moment wins out over logic.  I feel like a supermom when I walk by her or go get her from her crib and she smiles her big, face-encompassing smile.  I'm pretty sure I have a perfect baby in my family.     

Fall Festivities

We have had a busy fall!  I love all the fall colors we get to enjoy in northern VA.  It seems like every year I forget how breathtakingly beautiful it is, how the crisp air feels, how many fun things there are to do...and then we have a booked-every-weekend sort of fall and I remember how much I do love it.  Roy and I joke that fall is the reward for having put up with a yucky, humid summer.  So here's what we've been up to!

The kids love to camp out in our bed before jumping in the bath or shower.  Lydia is still getting used to the idea, but she adores being able to participate more and more with Abby and Sam.  

Sam decided to teach Lydia how to watch cartoons.  Of course he had to sit practically on top of her to do it.  He's really developing into an excellent big brother.

We went to the fire station for an open house and the kids got to see a fireman put on his uniform (is that what you call it?) in something speedy like 78 seconds.  I was impressed.  They also got to "drive" a fire truck, learn about fire safety, and meet firemen.  It was a lot of fun and a good reminder that we should talk more to our kids about escape plans, what to do in a fire, and just some basic survival things.

One of our traditions is to take a bathtub picture of our kids at 7 months (odd age, I know, but we got a cute picture of Abby in the tub at 7 months and a tradition was born).  We print them in black and white and hang them in our bathroom.  I'm still trying to decide which Lydia picture to use, but here are two of the ones in the running.  She's such a sweetheart!

And of course we had Halloween celebrations and a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Here's our pink dinosaur Lydia, red Angry Bird Sam, and Cinderella Abby.

For our ward Trunk or Treat, Abby was complimented as being regal.  She asked me what that meant and I explained that it meant it was like she was royalty.  She began walking very slowly and stood a little taller.  I couldn't keep my smile contained.  Before we even left for the Trunk or Treat, she prepared for her role of Cinderella by singing "Bippity Boppity Boo" in the bathroom (at the top of her lungs).

Other Bits and Pieces from the month:

• Abby is really into joke-telling lately.  The other day she asked Sam, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"  In a very no-nonsense, duh sort of way, Sam replied, "Um, chickens live on farms."
• Sam has been extra loving lately.  Most of the times I love it.  On one of these occasions, he was squeezing my face and kissing me and said, in a very loving voice, "I squeeze your face and squeeze your bottom."
• On a related note, Sam got to be potty trained last week.  The stuck-inside-because-of-a-hurricane was the motivation to get us going.  I do not enjoy potty-training or the stress induced by the whole affair and I was most certainly not looking forward to a week stuck in the house talking about potty.  Plus the guilt of intending to do it at the end of September was eating at me.  So we did it and I must say my boy has done great.  Halloween candy is such a great motivator for toilet success!
• And last but not least, Happy birthday to my littlest brother Steven (aka Elder Freebairn)!  You, my brother, are the reason for this post today.  I may not get your birthday envelope to you in time, but at least I can send a blog to you for your birthday week preparation day.  We love you!