Birthdays for Dallin & Hayden

We celebrate two birthdays in November.

Dallin turned 12 on November 20th.  He chose "Frootinnannies" for breakfast.  They are basically German Pancakes, but my Grammy calls them Hootinannies, and when Dallin was little, he mistakenly called them "frootinannies" and the name stuck.  I had to wake up pretty early to get those on the table for him before he had to leave (at 7 a.m.) for show choir practice.  And that night he chose "Green Noodles" for dinner.  (Pasta with grilled chicken and homemade pesto sauce--my kids LOVE green noodles.)  We also shared cake and ice cream with some of our favorite people EVER, the Carters!  Harvey and Dallin share the same birthday!

Let me explain the candles on the cake.  I was experiencing a candle shortage, evidently, so I was creative with the candles that I had on hand.  So, 5+1 is 6, so that stands for 60.  60+8 is 68, which is the birthday that Harvey was celebrating. And 8+4 is 12 which is the birthday Dallin was celebrating.  So there you go.  68, and 12.  

Happy Birthday!  ;)

Our birthday tradition is having everyone in the family say something they love about the birthday boy or girl.  But since it's been awhile, I can't remember very well what everyone said.  So I'll brag on him myself a little bit.  Dallin is a good guy.  He is responsible and does his homework and practices his violin without me having to remind him.  He gets up early each morning before the sun rises, and is ready for show choir which meets before school starts.  He comes home and plays "chase" with Sydney (who adores him) and then gets busy on his homework.  He recently finished the Book of Mormon for the first time and has made a goal to read 2 pages a day this year so he can finish it again in a year.  He is happy and friendly and kind and we are so glad he is in our family.  

And because he is 12, he is old enough to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.  He was found worthy by our Bishop to be ordained to the office of a deacon and Arthur ordained him this last Sunday.  Later that night, Arthur told me that it had been a special experience for him to do that.  As he gave him a blessing, he felt strongly of Dallin's goodness and of Heavenly Father's love for him. 

Since 12 is a party year, Dallin also got a party that weekend.  He invited 7 boys to come have pizza, cake and ice cream and then go ice skating.  Good times.  :)  

(as you can see, I had replenished my candle supply by then)

Ice Skating was pretty funny.  None of us are very good, and most everyone spent a fair amount of time on the ground.  Hayden's pants were soaked by the time we left.  But he kept a smile on his face and would get up and try again all night long.  So endearing.

Shirtless Wonders!

We were leaving at 9:30, so at 9:28, a few of our party took off their shirts and did a few laps in just their skins.  Awesome.  It was a fun and exhausting night!  

And I have to say that every time one of my kids has a birthday party, I congratulate myself for initiating the birthday party system that operates in our family:  5, 8, 12, and 16.  Four parties each.  

I can do it.  I can do it.

On November 30, we celebrate Hayden's birthday.  He turned 6 this year!  (not a party year.  whew!)  He ordered waffles and whipped cream for breakfast, and pizza for dinner.  He opened his presents in the morning and played with them all day.  It was Saturday so you can't ask for a better birthday present than that!

As is customary, we each say something that we love about the birthday person.  Here are some of the things we said about Hayden:

Sydney:  I love Hayden because (mumble, mumble) and Jesus loves Hayden.
Sean:  I love playing with Hayden.
Daphne:  Something good about Hayden is that he tries to make me feel better when I am sad.  (that is very true.  Hayden really looks out for Daphne.)
Dallin: I love that Hayden is so energetic and happy.
Me:  I love that Hayden loves to help and that he makes me smile with the things he says.
Arthur:  I love that Hayden is a hard worker.

After his dinner of pizza from Dion's, we shared cake and ice cream with the Esplin family.  

Happy Birthday, Hayden!  We sure love this boy.  

And it's gone.

Bam.  Just like that.  November is gone.  21 more days until Christmas and 28 more days until 2014.  It's going so fast!  And since there never seems to be enough time, this may be the new format for my blog.  2 posts a month: One for quotes and one for everything else we did that month.

Here's a quickish run-down of our November:

Enjoyed the beautiful New Mexico fall weather:

Meet Tiny Trevor, our toad.  Sean's school teacher had five that they watched transform from tadpoles into toads, and sent an email out asking if anybody wanted to take them home after they were grown.  So we took one home, and honestly, I expected him to be dead by now, given our previous track record with pets.  But it turns out that Trevor is quite a resilient little fellow, and three months later, he's still here.  So I thought it was time that I introduce him.

Sydney.  She dresses herself.  And it's so her.

 

Another introduction:  

We sold our 7 passenger minivan (which if you are counting, is one seat short for our family of 8;  We've been making it work for the last 9 months of Bennett's life,) and got a 9 passenger Suburban.  

It's big.  And I feel very tall when I drive it.  And now nobody has to double buckle when we go somewhere all together.

Field Trips!  Three of my kids had field trips this month.  I made it to two of them, which was pretty big accomplishment for me.  

Nov. 8--Hayden's class went to the zoo.  It was a perfect sunny day and we saw lots of animals and had lunch and because I was chaperoning, (and there wasn't quite enough room in the bus,) I got to drive Hayden with me in the Suburban.  He wanted his whole class to come look at it because it was new, and he was SUPER excited about it.  Our favorite thing we saw at the zoo was the brand new baby elephant Jazmine.  She is adorable.  I could have stayed there and watched her the whole time.

Nov. 21st--I went with Daphne to a local historical museum called Casa San Ysidro.  It was really neat, but they asked people to turn off their phones while we were there, so I didn't get any pictures.  But basically it is a big hacienda over in Corrales, (a little village neighboring Albuquerque) and they have it filled with historical items and artwork that depict what life was like for the New Mexican settlers in the 1700-1800's.  I love that kind of stuff, so I ate it up.  I had lots of questions I wanted to ask, but was trying to hold back so the kids could ask their questions.  But once in awhile I asked Daphne to ask a question for me.  :)

On Nov. 11th, there was no school because of Veteran's Day.  So we went to the zoo (again) with some of our friends. (Esplins, Trapnells and Breinholts)  It was a a beautiful day and fun to be there with friends.  Here is most of our group.  (There were 4 babies in strollers and two other kids who went to go check out another exhibit during this picture.)

 

Nov. 15th-- I got to fly to CA to be there for my brother Jacob's missionary farewell.  It was a super fast trip because I had to leave right after church in order to get back in time for 2 stake choir rehearsals that evening (Stake Youth Choir and Messiah) but I got to hang out with Jacob on Saturday.  We baked cookies for his missionary open house that evening, and also practiced the song he sang in Sacrament Meeting.  He sang, "I Will Not Be Still" and did a BEAUTIFUL job.  He is serving in the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  

 

So that means I have two siblings out on missions right now, and I am so proud of both of them!

Nov. 24-30th--My elementary kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off, due to parent teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday.  I LOVED having them home and was sad when the week was over.  It went too fast!  

Monday was conferences, Tuesday we met the Esplins and McEntires at the church and let the kids play basketball and other games in the gym. On Wednesday we got together at the Esplins to have lunch and make carameled apples.  

Thursday was Thanksgiving, which I'm never good at documenting.  We had a different holiday weekend than we've traditionally had.  For the first time in a long time, Mike and Amber couldn't come spend Thanksgiving with us.  (we missed you guys!) So we had the Esplins and the Madsens over for the feast, and then went over to the Shepherds home for pie.  

Friday we went to see "Frozen" with the Shepherds and McEntires--it was so cute!  We went home and bought the soundtrack and have been singing it ever since.  "Do you wanna build a snowman?"

Saturday was Hayden's birthday, which I'll post about separately, except to say that Bennett took his first series of steps on Hayden's birthday!  He's taken one step here or there for the last several weeks, but that night he just decided to go for it and take 6 or 7 steps!  His face was the best!  He was SO proud of himself!   

 

And Sunday was December 1st.  

BAM.  

November gone.  Just like that.  December has so much to enjoy and look forward to, but I don't expect it to slow down at all.  So I'll be trying to keep up with everything and enjoy its magical moments all at the same time.  Wish me luck.  

And here's to January, when life will take slower pace.  hopefully.  :)

Family Pictures 2013

I think this year was the most unprepared for pictures I've ever been.  It's such a pain trying to coordinate everybody's clothes, and the more kids we have, the more coordination it takes!  So I was scrambling at the end to find everybody's outfits and had I been more prepared, I probably would have made some different choices.  I especially wish I'd found a different shirt for Hayden, checked to make sure that Sean's jeans weren't flood, and that I'd had more time to fix Daphne's hair, but whatever.  Despite my poor coordination efforts, Erin still manages to make us look pretty decent.  :)  (Thanks Erin Schmutz!)

From the time we take the pictures to when we get them back, I'm like a little kid waiting for Christmas.  I just can't wait to see them!  So without further ado, here are a bunch of this year's family pictures.

The Gorgeous Gariety Girls:

The Good-lookin' Gariety Boys

Six Glorious, Good-natured, and Galactic Garietys

(alliteration is awesome.)

Dallin-12

Daphne-10

Sean-8

Hayden- 6 (in 1 week)

I couldn't narrow it down to just one for our two littlest.  You should be amazed I could narrow the older four down to just one!  narrowing is a very difficult and time consuming process for me.  :)

Sydney-3

Arthur said, "Is she really wearing that tutu for family pictures?"  Um,  OF COURSE!  It's Sydney!  And she's three.   And we are documenting her tutu-ness while we can!  Oh, and a funny story about getting Sydney ready for pictures--We could not find any two of her shoes that matched.  When I told her to get her shoes on, she came out with one pink tennis shoe, and one glass slipper.  Well, that might work sometimes, but not for family pictures.  After looking and looking, and not finding any matches (how is that even possible?!?) we gave up and had to make a stop at Payless Shoes on the way to get our pictures taken.

love these glowing curls

Bennett-9 months

 

So glad we got a few smiles out of this kid.  

You should have seen the ridiculous things we were doing to break his stone-face.  

If you look closely, you can see his two little top teeth in this picture.

(ready for more g-words?)  

Good, Gleeful, & Goofy  Gariety kids

I'm so, so thankful for these little, medium and big people in my life.  They are my favorites ever, and I can't imagine my existence without them.

October Quotes

Sydney:  Mom, can I make a mess, please?

Sydney:  (Bennett had gotten a DVD and was eating it.)

Aw, Man!  Babies NOT allowed to touch movies!!!

Daphne: My teacher said that a good math magician does it this way.

Sydney has a good way of asking me to do things for her and making me feel like it's a special treat that I get to do it.  When she says it, her voice inflection says, "I  know!  I have a brilliant idea for you!"

"You can sing me a song."  

"You can make me a peanut butter sandwich."

"You can scratch my back if you want."  

Sydney:  (during general conference). Again!?  We are watch the people talking again??

Me: Let's get outta here, Sydney.  I don't like shopping!  
Sydney:  No, I don't want to go home.  I like shopping!

Sydney: let's run some errands, mom.
(who's child is this?  I hate running errands!)

Sean: How do you have a perfect memory and I have a stunk memory?

Hayden: Mom you are gonna love this!  I shared the gothpel with Tyler today.  I told him that Mormonth are people who don't drink coffee or beer.

Deciding where to pick up some dinner on the way home from somewhere.  McDonald's or Chick-Fil-A.  Of course Chick-Fil-A is better but McDonald's is cheaper.

Kids: (chanting in the car) Chick-Fil-A! Chic-Fil-A!  
Dallin:  Guys, guys, if you yell they won't go there.  We have to use persuasion!  (to me and Arthur): So, guys, there's a Chick-Fil-A around the corner and it sells chicken also.  
Daphne: And it's better than McDonald's because its mascot is a cow instead if an M.

I was telling the family that when I went to vote that day, pushing a stroller with Bennett and holding Sydney's hand, I was approached by a lady asking me to sign a petition protecting a woman's right to choose.  I told my kids that I was a protector of children.  Not a women's right to choose.  Dallin's response:
"Well, she didn't use her context clues, did she?"

Dallin: Sean can you plug this into the sound?  
Sean:  I don't know where the sound is.  I'm not a cord master!

Sydney: I'm scared of balloons. (Hot air balloons)

Me: why?

Sydney: Because the dragons blow them up with fire.

Sydney knocking on a bedroom door 
Daphne: Who is it?

Sydney: it's Sydney Gariety Hazel

At church one day, when the kids, (particularly the two middle children,) were being AWFUL:

Hayden:  Why are you crying, Mom?  

Sean: Hayden sometimes people cry cause they are happy.  Wait, why are you crying, Mom?

Me:  NOT because I'm happy.

(They lost screen time for the entire month of October that Sunday.)

Daphne:  I wish we weren't muggles
(Me too, Daph.  Me too.)

Daphne: I call shotgun! 
Sean: I call Bob (Bob is the middle seat in the back of the van that has the most leg room.) 
Sydney: I call carseat shotgun!

Hayden: Know why I don't like night time? 

Me: Why? 

Hayden: Becauthe I love you tho much and don't want to be away from you becauthe I like to look at you.  

Sydney: Booyah!
(don't know where she even heard that, but she has been repeating things that she hears and saying them at funny and sometimes not entirely appropriate times.)

Ward Boundary Change Quotes:

We recently had a lot of changes in our stake including the formation of a new ward.  As part of those changes, a little piece of La Cueva Ward was moved to the Cherry Hills Ward.  We were in that piece.  And Arthur was called to be in the Bishopric of our new ward.  I keep thinking I will write an entire post about that, and maybe I still will.  It's been an emotionally tough month for me, and I'm not sure if I want to put it all out there on a blog.  But I at least want to remember these quotes from my kids:

Sean:  Our new church has stairs in it?!?  
I LOVE our new building!

(I love his reaction, because the building we are going to was built in the 50's and is one of the oldest buildings in Albuquerque.  It is far away from us.  It has lots of . . . character.  And lots of issues.  Sean has a good attitude.  And I am still working on a good attitude.  I'll get there.)

Daphne:  We are going to the Cherry Hills Ward?  (excited gasp) That means that Zeda won't be the only girl in her class anymore!  

(What a sweetheart, right? I was so proud of her that her first reaction was for someone else.  We since learned that Zeda's family actually got moved to another ward, so now Daphne is the only girl in her class.)

After our first Sunday in our new/old ward (we were in that ward 5 years ago) I asked Daphne how her primary class went.  She pretended to shoot herself in the head with her hand and muttered something about "obnoxious boys."  It made me laugh.  In La Cueva Ward she was one of 8 girls her age and 2 boys.  Now she is the only girl with two boys who are both a little bit crazy.  ;)  I said that maybe the Lord gave her all these brothers to prepare her for her new primary class. Her teachers told her they hope she can help balance the class.  She asked me, "Mom, how do I do that?"

Sydney:  I don't want you to cry today, Mom.

(I cried a lot of days in October.)