2014 In Review

We have yet to mail out our 2014 Christmas letter.  I would like to blame holiday craziness, a trip to Utah, and the fact that we don't have a good family picture to throw in the envelope, but it's my own fault even though the other things are true. :)  So, without further ado, here is our family Christmas (Valentine's?) letter!

2014.  The year of Sharknado 2 (still trying to figure that one out), the continuing Frozen frenzy, the ice bucket challenge, and great dancing songs like "Happy" and "Shake it Off".  

Andrew Joseph Zwahlen was born on July 29th.  He has dirty blond hair, blue eyes and looks very much like his siblings (and his dad, but don't tell Michelle).  Andrew thinks he is one of the pack and will be challenging the alpha male soon.  When the kids start running he starts kicking his feet to keep up.  He has just started to laugh and giggle.  His preferred sound of merriment is what I will describe as the deep jock chuckle.  The kids have all fallen instantly in love with him and have even been willing to share lap time with dad and mom.

Lydia fiercely enjoys life.  She has mixed terrible two ups and downs into her daily routine and has recently been potty-trained.  Lydia loves to sing, dance, yell at her brother, cuddle with dad and mom, and display her blond curls to all admirers.  Since Abby has gone to school, Lydia and Sam have found a friendship full of play time, lots of laughter and jokes, and an imagination their parents are deeply envious of. 

Sam spends his days rolling back the daily estrogen tide with endless bouts of boyhood hilarity.  The arrival of his "buddy" has brought out a maturity and helpfulness we did not know existed inside that little 4-year-old body.  Sam started soccer this year with his sister Abby and was the youngest (and smallest) one out there.  He enjoyed time with his coach (dad) and tried not to heckle the opposition too much (turns out it was the only thing he excelled in).  

Abby, our first grader, continues to find ways to shine.  New social challenges at school have provided important teaching moments.  Abby devours chapter books and excels in math and science (much to her father's excitement as he has been looking for excuses to blow money on robotics kits).  Abby has become a moral compass for her siblings as she demonstrates love and kindness to them daily.

Michelle serves as both captain and first mate of this motley Zwahlen crew (with the appropriate dose of femininty of course).  When she is not running a full household, Michelle spends her time volunteering and raising money for Abby's school.  The leadership of our local congregation also recently asked Michelle to help lead the program for the children.  She looks forward to a very busy 2015. 

Roy recently celebrated four years at his current company.  Michelle was grateful that there was less international travel this year although he did manage to squeeze in a trip to Korea.  Roy even managed to convince his current company to let him develop a new portfolio for the company to invest in.  The CEO and VPs approved and he just found out he will be promoted.  Roy also coached Abby and Sam's soccer teams this year and tried not to inflict any long-term psychological damage.  Due to threats of PTA leadership leaving their posts and a very convincing wife, Roy also became the Vice President of Membership and Fundraising (yes the community has stooped pretty low).

That is all the news for the Zwahlen's 2014.  We hope this letter finds you well and wish you a wonderful 2015.

Labor Day

We went out to Burke Lake Park to celebrate the birthdays of Grandma and Baba Z back in August.  We loved the train and mini golfing.  If you ever want to be simultaneously frustrated and laughing, take 6 kids ages 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 to go miniature golfing and be sure to put yourself behind the group of four who is methodical about mini golf.  Be sure to do it when it's blazing hot.  Then while you wait and wait and wait for your turn, tell the kids to go ahead and do the same hole again for practice and you will find yourself laughing at the ingenious ways they golf, or, in Sam's case, cheat by putting the ball in the hole by hand.  Again and again, each time so excited to have gotten the ball in before anyone else.  It was hilarious.

Andrew Joseph

I can hardly believe this was Andrew not even 6 months ago.  He's growing up so fast.  Andrew is a calm, happy guy who loves us all (especially me) and who no one can be sad around.  If the kids are ever sad or frustrated or stressed, it just takes an Andrew hold or cuddle or hug or slobbery kiss to flip their mood.  We love him so much!

Here are some of the classic pictures of his first day and week:

In Summer

Roy got a new phone last week so we did a big photo dump of the last six months.  I have no idea where to start with blogging these pictures so I decided to just jump in.

In the pre-Andrew days of summer (on a side note, it feels weird to think of life before Andrew, just as it does for each of our kids...they have just always been a part of my life!), we tried to take advantage of some of the fun places around us by cashing in our county library coupons.  I must say, I'm super excited to get 4 coupon books next summer.  On one hot Saturday, we went out to Green Springs Park, which has a fun trail with a creek, a children's garden, and a fun nature center with a library.  Besides it being hot, it was the perfect summer activity.  We ended up at Rita's Shaved Ice Shack afterward to cash in another coupon, went home to play and do chores, and then had McDonalds ice cream as an afternoon snack.  Ice cream cones are a totally acceptable snack, right? :)

3 Lydia pictures seems unfair, but I have to admit I couldn't choose between our options because she's just so funny :)

And then, less than 2 weeks later, we had this little bundle of baby officially out and part of the family. 

Birthday Bowling

Abby couldn't decide how she wanted to spend her birthday so we fed the kids breakfast, hurried to get dressed, and told them to get in the car.  We told them we were going to do something special but they would find out what it was when we got there.  Roy and I like to act like it was spontaneous, but we really decided the night before. :)  We took the kids bowling.  They have done miniature bowling before (is that a thing?  The lanes are shorter and the balls are smaller), but this was everyone's first time in bowling shoes and at a real alley.  It was so fun!  They all did surprisingly well (of course having bumpers and a rolling cart helps...) and everyone was an immediate expert and demanded that there was no parental help.

Look at these snazzy shoes!

Abby's 7th Birthday

Thanks to Grandma Z, Abby's 7th birthday party was documented :)  I filmed some of the dancing, which was probably the highlight of the party.  I could tell they liked it because they requested a Round 2 before the party was over.  It was a lot of fun to plan with Abby and even more fun to see her having so much fun with friends.  I can hardly believe my girl is 7.  It's crazy because at various points (you know, the stages that are not fun at all...sleep training, terrible twos, emotional threes, days of whining, to name a few), I wondered if we would ever get out of the ruts of grumpiness and frustration.  Now my Abby acts grown up and mature and I want to force her to stop growing up, at least so quickly, so I can make sure I have time to soak it all in.  I'll save my sappiness for another post or better yet the journal I keep for her, but I love this girl and the goodness and love that is a natural part of who she is.  I'm grateful for my angelic Abby!

The following are some fun pictures from her party.

There was painting of nails - the dolls had their own party!  My mom will remember doing a Teddy Bear Picnic birthday party...every kid brought a bear and at one point during the party, the bears all went missing and we discovered they had made their own picnic.  When Abby said she wanted all the girls to bring a doll to the party, I just had to make the dolls do something crazy.  Thank goodness 7-year-olds still believe in the magic of dolls and giggled at them painting their nails.

Uncle Steve-O took over the care of Andrew - Baba Z was his moral support.  In all my planning for the party, I had not made a plan for what to do with Andrew (whoops).  Thankfully, 2 grandparents and an uncle were quite willing to cuddle, wrestle, and distract my mama's boy.

And he was very successful.

The highlight of the party was most definitely playing "Just Dance Kids".  Everyone loved it and got into it.  There was such extreme concentration!  We got some pretty great video of everyone grooving and laughing.  And no exaggeration, we did at least 8 songs and they still wanted more.  Next time, that's all we're doing :)

Then the boys got into some serious gaming.

When we asked Abby what she was looking forward to the most for her birthday, she said it was the decorations.  We decorate the house the night before each kids' birthday so they walk downstairs and see the house decked out in their honor.  I didn't realize she loved it so much.  We did some decorating for her birthday and then added more for her party a couple of days later.

My attempt at a balloon chandelier (thanks, Pinterest!)

I Love to Laugh!

Moments from the last few months from some pretty funny kids:

• Sam: "I love fart words."
• Lydia, when I asked her to come brush teeth, said with all the passion a 2-year-old can muster: "I don't understand!"
• Sam telling a story: "He shivered with joy.  It was snowing!"
• Lydia was accused of cheating when playing a racing game: "No, I'm not cheating!  I'm Lydia!"
• Abby got pinkeye and an ear infection.  The doctor warned Abby that the medicine could make Abby have red poop, which made Sam cackle. And inspired Lydia to make Abby a pooping chart when we got home.
• Abby loves to lead the kids in exercises, which is just hilarious.  Just picture 3 kids who can't do push-ups do them all lined up, trying.  Each new exercise is broken up by a screaming, racing, parade-like dash around the house.
• Andrew laughs and seems to be full of smiles.  He recently started giving delicious, slobbery kisses.  Yesterday, he started making a "mmmmmuh" noise when he kisses.