November Tid Bits

The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled The Other Election Result: Christmas Starts Now. Regardless of whether Americans voted red, blue or something in between, everyone agreed it had been a particularly divisive and exhausting election so they were breaking out the Christmas decorations early. Years ago I realized that less than a month to deck the halls only to take it all down and face a long, harsh winter was wearing on me, particularly as a mom. 

I felt so much pressure to make everything magical for the kids but squeeze in all the concerts and end of term projects and service opportunities but I needed to be sure to slow down and contemplate why we were celebrating... for me it was an impossible task. Initially we started putting the Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving. Then I decided we wouldn't take any decorations down until Three Kings Day (apparently a tradition in the South). This year we pulled out the Christmas decorations on Halloween and you know what? It was perfect. We enjoyed a festive house longer, I had most of the presents and all the packages finished by Thanksgiving and per tradition, the Christmas cards mailed on Black Friday. It may not be for everyone, but it was definitely something that worked for us. So here are the highlights from November:

Winter peonies were poppin'!

Whitney attended the Era's Tour and sent the girls some merch which they adored!

Others in the neighborhood were celebrating TS as well. Seeing this on my walk around the lake made me smile.

We had a 504 meeting for Liesel and this one was rather intense as we look to high school graduation after next year. Super proud of this girl and all she has accomplished!

Our tree topper is an angel holding a star (so we get the best of both worlds) and Brent gave Gita a boost to place her.

Speaking of Gita- I love to bust her chops now and again.

When we came home from that game, she insisted on eating her pizza on the Christmas plates. If anyone is a fellow cheerleader of Christmas celebration, it's Gita.

I have questions... why would watching The Chosen make me a good candidate for watching any of these other shows?

 I follow The Points Guy and almost cheered aloud when I read this because I've always heard there's this secret time of night or day of the week where the flight algorithms reset and it's when flights are the cheapest. I've always just relentlessly checked over and over until the price drops.

Nothing says Christmas quite like the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window!

Again, the winter peonies adorned our kitchen table all month long and I loved it!

Sydney and I laughed at the Ages 10+ who was dabbing.

Yup- met my spouse at BYU!

Looking through my photos I realized I didn't have any pictures from Thanksgiving. That's another holiday we decided to make our own by having the feast on Wednesday evening. Rather than roast a whole turkey, we bought a roasted chicken from Costco and then focused on all the side dishes everyone loves. Then we spent Thursday eating pie for breakfast and watching the Macy's parade while eating sandwiches. Again, not for everyone but it really takes the stress out of the day and we really love it. After a busy November, we moved eagerly into December feeling much more prepared and much more at peace!

Mall of America and the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

 Our Thanksgivings have really evolved over the years and this yet again we thought we'd try something new. Logan and Krystal invited us to meet up at the Mall of America to do some holiday shopping. In the end they weren't able to make it, although we were able to connect with Hunter and Harley for a bit. You know what they say- the best laid plans of mice and men always go awry. 

We had fun despite the change of plans and it really was nice to try something new! As promised, the mall was pretty much deserted but all the Black Friday deals were already in place. It was ideal for Christmas shopping. Brigitta and Ireland were excited to see Liesel and Sydney's reaction to the sheer size of the place.

The first purchase was new shoes for Sydney because she wore the only pair she brought to the pool the night before and they had been thrown out. We briefly considered just letting her walk around in socks. We were staying at the Radisson which is actually connected to the Mall of America and it is an indoor mall after all! However, a mall of that size requires a lot of walking and we quickly realized it wasn't feasible. To be fair, the shoes she left at the pool were pretty worn and she was due for a new pair. A kids shoe store wasn't far from the entrance and lots of them were on sale!

The MnM store was right by the theme park in the middle of the mall. We never did any rides, focusing instead on the shopping, but there were some fun photos ops. 

Gita was annoyed we didn't buy any MnM's.

It was good to hug Hunter and Harley. We've all be in the trenches lately and there's something about actually pressing hearts together rather than sending a text. 

Pretty lights and cute (new) shoes!

While we never actually ate at Bubba Gump's. we took advantage of the Forrest Gump photo op!

We tried a few different places to eat but Sugar Factory was definitely a hit. We skipped the regular food and went straight for the famous shakes. This is the Cookie Monster which had cookies and cream ice cream blended with vanilla sauce, whipped cream, a blue glazed donut, chocolate chip cookie, a blue frosted cupcake served in a chocolate covered mug with chocolate chip pieces. Usually the girls fight over food but this was plenty to satiate all four of them!

Again, many photo ops in that cute place!

Liesel and Ireland had wrapped up their shopping and it just so happens Mall of America has a theater in it. They hadn't yet seen Wicked so they pealed off to take in a show while I finished up with the little girls. 

Mall of America is closed on Thanksgiving and that's when we headed home. Before leaving, Gita wanted photos at some cute spots. 

This cool chair is in the lobby next to a roaring fire which was lovely because it was really cold!

My favorite memory was actually on the drive home. We'd pulled over to gas up and a family had just met up in the parking lot. There were hugs all around and I said, "I'll give you $1 if you can get one of those people to hug you." Liesel challenged me right away, "I think that's worth more like $15- no, $20!" At this point I really wanted to see someone try so I agreed to the $20. Ireland was next to me in the front and she slowly opened her door. 

"No, nononononono, NOOOOO!" Liesel furiously whispered as Ireland slid out of the car. She even grabbed the hood of her hoodie in a futile attempt to keep her from approaching the strangers. Undeterred, Ireland got out and walked towards the family. She approached a girl about her age, said something and the girl gave her a big hug. 

Back in the car, we all cheered and laughed. Ireland came back to the car and in complete amazement I said, "What did you say to her?"

"I just said I saw them all hugging and needed a hug. So she gave me a hug!" 

I was so insanely proud of Ireland for her courage, creativity and gentleness. I do these little $1 challenges to get the girls to step outside of their comfort zone and Ireland absolutely nailed it!

Madrigals

Having never had a Madrigals group in my own formative high school years, I really struggled to grasp exactly what the whole thing was about- much to the irritation of Liesel and Ireland. I knew there was an audition and it was a big deal Liesel was in it this year. I knew there was a dinner and they told me there was like a show. Hoping it would sink in, Liesel showed me the thick binder of music they'd be singing. Now having experienced it I can confidently say it's basically dinner theater. When I announced this afterwards, Liesel and Ireland sighed the biggest, longest, exasperated sigh there ever was and said, "That's what we've been telling you!"

Liesel had a couple of different head pieces she was deciding between and ultimately went with the veil-looking one. 

Liesel and James

 We were exactly on time, which is to say we were late. Apparently we were supposed to arrive early so our names could be announced and we could get situated in our seats. So yes, we were late and getting frantic texts from the girls because we were holding up the entire program. Ireland wasn't in Madrigals but she was a serving wench and I personally think one of the cutest little serving wenches there ever was!

Not one of my best photos but you can see how decked out the table was. They served hot cider and lasagna and cheesecake. The music was truly lovely and the program was really entertaining- very camp. During the final song, several of the senior Madrigals shed tears since this was the last show. I don't mean one glistening tear, they were crying so hard they couldn't see their music. They laughed at themselves a bit but really it was heartening to feel the love these kids had among them. 

Mrs. Scherrer really has a gift and she loves these kids with all her heart. Brent stayed afterward to help tear down and clean up and snapped this photo once the girls were out of costume. You can just see how much love there is in this hug! She is definitely part of our "village" helping to steer these girls in good directions as they learn and grow. 

While we enjoyed this year's Madrigal's performance, I'm even more excited for next year when I will ensure we are NOT merely on time/late but military on time/15 min early. I also know what we are getting into so the girls should be a lot less irritated with my constant questions- haha!

Sydney is ELEVEN!

Technically we celebrated Sydney's birthday a day early- but she really didn't seem to mind! Let's start with the traditional breakfast in bed. Sydney requested eggs, toast, pancake puffs and sausage. Because we her beautiful holiday sheets were already on the bed, we snapped this photo and then immediately grabbed the tray, threw down another blanket and then let her enjoy her a little pampering. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the girls always get a card from their Wuehler grandparents as well as the Rogers who are old friends from BYU. For years and years Janeal has mailed cards to our kids to make their birthday extra special and I'm so very grateful to her for her thoughtfulness! 

That evening we celebrated with cake and I have to say my baby girl is looking older and older. She threw off the last vestiges of babyhood long ago but the innocence in her eyes and that unbridled enthusiasm of youth lingered. Lately I definitely see glimpses of a teenager. 

I'm rather proud of her present. All of my girls have varying levels of diva in them but Sydney's shower routine irked pretty much everyone. She'd start the water and while it was warming up, throw her towel in the dryer so once she was ready to get out, it would be warm and fluffy. The only problem is she had to yell for someone to get it for her so she wouldn't drip water from the bathroom to the dryer so inevitably someone (usually Brent or I) was rather annoyed. In thinking of a good gift for Sydney, it occurred to me that a towel warmer would fit between the toilet and shower. Thank you Amazon! As you can see, Sydney was absolutely delighted!

We went around the table sharing our "I Love Sydney Because" and "I Remember When" while enjoying the cake with bright blue frosting. 

I'm not really sure at what age it is that people decide to lessen the fuss around their birthday, but for Sydney it definitely is not at age eleven! She asked me to dig out this sash which yes, she wore all day to school. She counted up approximately 75 well-wishes, particularly from strangers and she was proud as punch to be celebrating. 

I love this girl with all my heart. Being the youngest of 3 independent and strong-willed sisters can't be easy. Someday they will all be gone and it will just be Sydney with Brent and I for a couple of years- something no one else will get to experience. My own youngest sister Whitney talked about how yes, it was nice to be around when Mom and Dad were more financially stable but also about how lonely it was for her when everyone left. So that's heavy on my mind and I hope to make those years with just Sydney something special. 

For now we love watching her grow. She has the most creative little mind and she's such a joy to be around. Happy Birthday Sydney! Enjoy another spin around the sun!

Ropes Course

 Ireland's troop had a lovely, crisp, fall day for a ropes course with her Girl Scout troop. I volunteered to drive so luckily I was able to snap some photos and chat with her amazing troop leader. She's really loved these girls she gets to hang out with now and again. 

Gearing up!

Practicing safety with the carabiners.

It didn't take too long for Ireland to really get the knack of things. This ropes course was huge so the girls had a lot of options from pretty basic to much more advanced.

Just before this photo, I grabbed the two carabiners, rubbed them together and yelled, "CLEAR!" then placed them on Ireland's chest. She just blinked back at me quizzically. Sometimes I feel like I'm only funny to myself in my head.

You can see the pink knee brace Ireland was wearing. Near the end, she was limping like Quasimodo in the bell towers of Notre Dame. We really need to figure out what is going on with that dang knee!  

Ireland stuck to the intermediate courses but every now and again she enjoyed doing a zipline.

For the most part, Ireland thugged it out because she didn't want to miss this activity. Eventually we snuck back to the car to warm up a bit and give her knee a break and honestly, that was kind of nice too!

Chicago Style Pizza and the MOSI

I decided to take advantage of Election Day and try another deep dish pizzeria- Gino's East. They definitely have the vibe down! Tufted banquet seating, table of wood and penny tiles, obviously the whole place smelled like delicious pizza. It was great.

 Love lunching with these cuties!

Check out that cheese pull!

From there we headed to the MOSI and visited some of our favorite exhibits like the Mirror Maze.

Science Storms

Blue Paradox is new and absolutely stunning!

The girls had already been with Brent and they told me we could stay for the presentation more than once so we did. 

It's an almost overwhelming experience with all the different scenes projected all over that room.

I think this view of the earth and sun is my favorite!

Neal deGrasse Tyson has talked about how the images of earth from those early moon missions motivated people to take better care of it. I can see why- it seems so precious and precarious all at once.

Before we left we stopped by You! The Experience. Next to each of these video screens of people are sensors and the more you move, the more they laugh. 

It was such a lovely way to spend the day. Did I vote? Absolutely! And this cartoon summed up my feelings exactly.