Tis the Season

The Christmas season started off with some beautiful little voices singing for all to hear. This is our second year to be part of a children's choir & we are loving it. One fun part is that Owen & Anson got to join Eloise in the youngest choir! We started practice in September & began our Christmas tunes right away.  In the youngest choir they learn a song then are rewarded by singing a silly one.  Due to the boys' constant requests to hear them at home I videotaped one week so I could actually remember the words & motions. I think I could lead that portion of rehearsal now! Owen's absolute favorite song is the boomerang or as he says with much excitement, "booma-ring!!" The motions require pretending to throw a "booma-ring" & show it is spinning then pretending to run & hide. It is perfect for bedtime ; ) That is when he most often makes his requests known & no matter how many times he promises to sit still, he is overcome by the booma-ring flying through the air. Another that we love & that I often sing is the patience song. Patience is a virtue & can often be scant around here. There are more but I will spare you the details yet confirm (if shared) they would be stuck in your head....for-eeee-ver to quote "The Sandlot".

 

Not a day goes by that we don't hear someone say something that makes us chuckle. The boys deemed that the performance be called the "beh-foremance" which sounds like it could be the performance before the performance. After a quick dress rehearsal Friday night we were ready for the big "beh-formance!"Anson was not excited to go to practice every week which made us nervous he might be less excited to get on stage. He has just about the meanest & most grumpy looking scowl you have ever seen so I was predicting that if he even got on the stage he would stare us down. Thankfully we were pleasantly surprised! He makes us laugh everyday with his trying to figure out if lunch or dinner is next or if it's today or yesterday.....seems simple but he is working on it! On Friday we kept telling Anson that his performance would be tomorrow. He asked a few million times "Is it tomorrow yet?" We would tell him that it wouldn't be tomorrow until after we slept all night & the sun came up again. Partway through Saturday he asked "Is it tomorrow yet?" We tried our best to explain (AGAIN) that it is now the tomorrow we talked about yesterday. He looked perplexed for a few minutes then exclaimed "Is it tomorrow now? Oh no! The beh-formance is tomorrow! I'm not going!" We try to help him understand but on occasion Rob & I answer him in something of the sort...."no buddy, it's yesterday tomorrow now tonight when we eat breakfast before the sun comes up"

 

 Again, it was a feat to get everyone ready & out the door to make it on time so we were shocked we arrived early. We had a slew of family that joined us including Grammy & Papa, Auntie Deb, GGran, Aunt Sandy & cousin Kelly. I think the kids felt very loved! Grammy got a picture of us before the show started. Arlo looks like he fell asleep. He certainly did not do anything that resembled sleeping....Mr. Busybody! 

 

 

It is a battle to get Charlotte to wear a dress so I let her pick whichever dress she wanted. We looked at dress shoes & she almost melted to the ground when I had her try a pair on. She found these boots instead & I figured they would look great & keep a smile on her little face. Elo on the other hand is so easy...and hilarious. Just the other day Robby told her to get ready to go to Central Market. I was upstairs 10 minutes later & she came out in turquoise exercise shorts, a camo shirt & her Bass Pro hat. I said "Lolo, Daddy told you to get dressed." She looked at me with a straight face & said "I did! I just need to find my shoes!" I reminded her that it was 40 degrees outside & that she looked like she was on a squirrel hunt. I will admit she was adorable though. She did look extremely beautiful all gussied up for her beh-formance! Long story short, Charlotte ended up wearing one of my pairs of tights. After quite the discussion about tights & boots vs. dress shoes I was done. I didn't tell her they were my tights until we were out the door! No time to complain & rip them off right?

 

I was given the honor of lining up the littlest choir & getting them on stage. I'm glad we practiced five times the night before! While we were waiting in the back of the chapel I glanced at Anson & noticed he was sucking his thumb. I gently reminded him to stop & continued eye-balling the rest of the kids to make sure no mischief was in the making. A minute later I heard a little girl starting to cry. I immediately noticed that a certain little boy had coupled his thumb sucking with twirling the lovely locks of the girl in front of him so much that his fingers got stuck. He had the sweetest look on his face which made it all the more hilarious. I couldn't help but laugh as I got her hair untangled.

When it was our turn we walked down the center aisle, got all lines up & the music began. All three little Valentines did a great job with the singing & the motions. Their favorite song was called "Be a Hilarious Giver" where there is a lot of "hee-hee-hee-ha-ha-ha" sounds. Arlo even joined in on the car jam sessions.

Owen made a scene once we made it to the back of the chapel with his choir.  Just to the left of Owen in the picture above is sweet Amelia. Both boys love to play with her but Owen is smitten. He first asked us quietly "Where is Amelia?" I answered that she was with her family but he insisted that she was not & got louder & louder saying things like "I NEED TO TALK TO AMELIA!" & "TAKE ME TO AMELIA NOW!" Oh my goodness, haha! I had to take Arlo & the video camera while Robby escorted the rowdy young lad out of earshot. The video footage of Charlotte's choir was a little bumpy, more like enough to make you nauseous due to chasing a new walking baby & restraining a three year old. Owen was disappointed we never saw the missing Amelia the rest of the evening but I assured him she will be back at choir practice in January.

The performance by the Junior Choir was fantastic. The favorite song chosen by the whole Valentine family was "Go Tell it on the Mountain." We also jammed to it in the car & it happens to be full of Irish flair with a fiddle. Eloise had us in tears on more than one occasion playing her air fiddle like a maniac from her booster seat. Charlotte worked really hard to learn her songs & was so excited to perform. She's grown in confidence so much in the past year. They also sang Come Thou Long Expected Jesus & Jesus Tender Shepherd, both so beautiful. 

 

Fast forward a couple days....we spent the afternoon at the Arboretum then the plan was for Rob & Eloise to drop off the rest of us & go out on a date.  She picked a burger joint down the street so casual was the plan or so we thought. I told Eloise to change her shoes so she ran upstairs while I was busy in the kitchen. A few minutes later I started to yell up the stairs to tell her to get a move on when she burst out of her room saying "I can't get this zipped mommy!" She had put on her Christmas outfit complete with a matching headband & bow. I rushed her back into her room to keep it a surprise & when we were ready I announced the arrival of Daddy's date. She walked down the stairs smiling so big while he complimented her again & again. He was in jeans & tennis shoes but decided a wardrobe change was necessary to take such a fancy young lady on a date. I'm sure she was the best dressed girl at the burger place!

We love to get the Christmas décor out the day after Thanksgiving & I was bouncing with excitement to set up our NEW tree.  I've mentioned it before but we started with a $29 tree from Target in 2005. We replaced it once in Florida with none other than a $29 tree from Target. We decided that the first year in the new house warranted replacing the scrawny old thing.  We got it all set up & lit then I separated the kids individual ornaments into their own baskets so they were aware of how many they could hang. It really was a great idea until one of the boys came around the corner holding two of the four baskets & crashed onto the wood floor sending ornaments everywhere! Thankfully for them, mommy was upstairs & nothing actually broke. That's pretty amazing considering that ornaments usually break when carried a child from my hand to the tree ; ) We should be in good shape this year with carpet below instead of a hard floor.

We ended up with two new ornaments for the year which is super fun. Last year we had a hand painted ornament with  a sleigh filled with seven Valentines documenting the year we added Arlo to the bunch. I got back in touch with that same woman & emailed her a picture of our house. She was spot on & I love it!

The other new ornament that is hung far out of reach of little hands is one Bob & Jeannine brought back for us from Poland. It's beautiful & it makes me smile to think about the Polish Valentines.

On Sunday we got movin' on some gingerbread house making. Last year it went flawlessly. This year it did not. The icing wasn't right, I dropped a bag of graham crackers on the floor, we wrapped parchment paper around cardboard to serve as the "foundation" but the tape peeled off & we had to start over with tin foil...and so on & so forth. Once everyone had enough sugar they didn't care about all the frustration in the room

 

The boys' self control grew leaps & bounds from last year. They were able to last at least 5 minutes longer before attempting to consume the entire house. Really though, they actually did some intentional decorating that they were proud of as did the girls.

 

Robby gave out awards:

 

Charlotte- happiest path to the front door

Eloise- gaudiest, just gaudiest

Anson- best kept lawn

Owen- best sun roof



Arlo being the good little boy he is took an extra long afternoon nap providing enough time for me to make another batch of icing after the first disaster. He was really entertained by all the sugar consumption going on around him.

and then it got even better....

 

Thanks to Owen, the little guy now knows why we like to decorate gingerbread houses! He was so happy after that!

We celebrated our twelfth anniversary on the 18th & it happened to be the coldest day yet of this season. It was below freezing all day which means I didn't want to open the door to let Bella out let alone go outside!  We decided to venture out for breakfast at a new place around the corner but after that we stayed put, hot tea in hand & a fire in the fireplace (when deemed safe). We watched our wedding video with the kids that afternoon. Anson referred to it as "your married video" & had lots of comments.  Both boys were making us laugh with how many times they said "Daddy, you look handsome. Mommy, you look handsome too!"  They loved seeing Daddy's old race car that over time Mommy inadvertently destroyed. With as much siblings picking at each other as can be in a given minute, we had to smile at each other over the pile of kids on the couch between us. How did we get here?

We fed the kids dinner, got everyone "jamified" (in jammies) & headed to the car for some Christmas light looking. Andrea Bocelli & Josh Groban sang beautifully to us as we moved along slowly admiring everyone's hard work. We now feel inspired to decorate outside next year....it would be a first for us!

Once we made it home we played the "put them to bed as fast as humanly possible & hurry back downstairs" game. I was the only player this round though because my teammate was preparing a feast to celebrate those 12 years.  After visions of sugarplums were dancing through their heads we, by candlelight enjoyed crab cakes, sea bass & the best potato salad I have ever had. Rob has been in chef mode since Thanksgiving (woohoo) & is on a winning streak with fancy date nights in. I'm loving that!

After dinner we had some good laughs watching never before seen footage of me in 2003. We started dating in April of that year, Robby moved to Australia in September & I was apparently on a mission to remind him how silly I was via video. Long before the days of an iPhone, this video was kept safe on a VHS tape. At some point it was converted to DVD & we had no idea it even existed! I was chatty, really silly & most certainly in love.  It was great to watch not just for the laughs but also for the snapshot of our relationship at that time.  I basically retold our story to him (as if he didn't know) & shared many details I had forgotten about. It's like a video blog, haha! It was a relaxing end to our special day. It concluded like many nights with our saying to one another "goodnight & good luck!" You never know whose side of the bed they will sneak up on first! Actually that's a lie, they always come to my side. My goal by our 13th anniversary is to figure out a way to funnel them to someone else's side. That "someone else" is the guy I'm so thankful for.

"P" is for pumpkin

A post with more pictures than words....

 

The Dallas Arboretum is a lovely place to spend time. We decided to buy a pass & look forward to enjoying the beautiful surroundings throughout the year. We caught the pumpkin patch on the tail end of the season which meant that you might pick up a pumpkin to move it or hand to a child to hold for a picture or witness a child hurling it into the air only to squish or splat in hands or on ground. We will file that away for next fall & go when it opens!

 

Rotten or not, we so enjoyed our visit! Grammy & Papa joined us which made it all the more fun.



 

 

 

Turkey Day

November has come & gone in this part of Texas. The cold air has blown in and the leaves are finally changing...just a couple weeks before Christmas. North Texas is a strange place! Before it snows or something let's recap the mild weather months that have passed us by. 

Thanksgiving week was wonderful around here. It included a week off for Robby, a trip to the Arboretum with his parents, my parents & brothers staying at the Valentine Hotel for a few nights, some yummy cooking & lots of laughs. This year was about a million times better considering that last year we had been insomniacs with a newborn AND I had a horrible sinus infection & was unable to smell or taste anything. This year far exceeded our expectations! 

We shared lunch on Thanksgiving Day with my mom's family. It was relaxing& we were thankful to have my Aunt & Uncle hosting. The 25 side dishes were delicious along with the turkey & ham...it's fun to have so many contributors!

There was a lot to capture by camera or just in general....like these two who need to be restrained at times ; ) They are starting to smile more similarly & making it more difficult for people to tell them apart. On first glance when I'm not fully paying attention I too have identified them incorrectly. Never thought that would happen!

Talk about needing to be captured, Arlo took off on two feet the week of Thanksgiving. He was moving quickly all over the yard, squealing (or crying) with the overwhelming attention of siblings & cousins, haha!

My cousin Kelly graduated this month with a doctoral degree in Physical Therapy. It most certainly earned the gift Scott wrapped in Ferbie paper & placed in her hands. For years & years my mom & aunts re-gifted this ceramic potato set which originated as someone's wedding gift. Over time the collection grew to include matching pieces, a potato peeler etc. When Robby & I were engaged I received the first potato of our generation & twelve years later it now belongs to Dr. Kelly Hall.

Here are the four sisters plus their beautiful mama....

Kelly has been so kind to spend some evenings with our crew while we go on dates. They LOVE her & I'm pretty sure she loves them too.

Charlotte was the first to require Grandma to be re-named "GGran" for Great Gran. In just under seven years she has become GGran to 11 little ones including two sets of twinkies! We tried & tried, took a break & tried some more to get a picture of 11 children seven & under. It was a hoot...

Left to right- Luke, Charlotte, Owen, Anson & Landry, Lyla, Boone, Arlo, Eloise (hiding), Aubrey, Hallie & Allison tossing Hallie back in view of the camera, haha!

This is my absolute favorite because it most accurately portrays our photo shoot. For the record GGran wasn't really throwing a fit. Does anyone remember "You can pick your friends & you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose!" Arlo decided that is a false statement...

Shockingly we got a picture with my parents & brothers with ALL smiling & most looking!

 and a few more.....

Little Lyla got lots of attention...as she should.

Throughout the month of November we (again) struggled through actually hanging leaves on our Thankful Tree. Sometimes it would be a once a week, write it all down & hang it or mommy forgot to punch holes or tie the string on. Keeping up with the pace at which we once moved feels impossible now with our big bunch. That being said, we gave it a good try!

I loved our leaves this year. Last fall when Arlo was brand new, my mom & Grandma kidnapped some girlies to give me a break. They used tissue paper to make them beautiful then hand cut each leaf. Beautiful outcome! One thing we are so very grateful for is what feels like a new beginning in a home where we hope to be for a long time. A few specific things the kids said that they were thankful for regarding our new Nest were a cul de sac where we can play & dirt to dig in. Simplicity at it's finest!

 

Also high up on the list is the following....thanks Owen.

 

and because I am too lazy to type them all....

 

It's been another year of transition with much to be thankful for.



Calling all campers!

The Valentine party of 7 survived our first camp out.....just barely. At the end of October Rob took a few days off. We were not sure of our plans but decided that we would surprise the kids with camping out in the backyard. Just 36 hours prior to our "camp-out" we decided that the backyard was lame & we should head to the east Texas piney woods. We ordered a tent & had it stashed in the office until the big reveal. The kiddos were all lined up on the couch with their eyes closed when Rob carried out the perfectly packaged tent in a bag with handles. They were all so excited to open their eyes but were clearly disappointed when Rob said "It's a new pack n' play!" It looked exactly like one, ha! He then turned the bag around to show the picture of our new tent & they all squealed as they shouted "we are going camping!" It was so fun! We ate dinner then headed to Walmart to pick up some necessities which included some kid sized camping chairs, sleeping bags for the boys & yummies to snack on. 

Once the kids were in bed we got to work with the official packing which continued in the morning until we headed out the door around 10am. Oh my goodness, what an ordeal! Rob & I agreed to set our expectations extremely low like so low that if we made it out of the driveway to actually go camping we far surpassed them. We did just that! 

I hopped in the Expedition with two girls, a cute baby & and an old dog & gave a two thumbs up to the driver of the "boy truck" as Owen & Anson called it. He held up his hands with his fingers crossed in response. I laughed out loud & thanked the Lord for the dad who was up for camping with five children seven & under.  

All of those children & an old dog were mostly well behaved while en route until they hadn't eaten for an hour. Why are they always so hungry? We made a quick stop at Sonic to grab lunch, checked in & started to set up camp. Here are the campers minus Arlo & his favorite member of the family (me). They were snacking on some fishies, go figure. 

Our destination...

Tyler State Park- a place full of history for Valentine family camping. Nearly 10 years ago we took two trips back to back, brought two dogs along each time & experienced a good amount of rain BUT we did have fun! A post from 2014 recounts our camping trips which were full of frustration or hilarity... or both in the same moment: Roughing it

A camping trip really changes when you add a small herd of children to the mix. Here they are....

Ol' Bella girl was along for the ride & we were pleasantly surprised by her good behavior. In fact, she & Arlo (the two we were most worried about tolerating a big camp out) were the easiest to tend to! She barked ONE time & you could barely hear it. Bella will be 12 in March & physically has seen better days but she did great "hiking" with us. She spent about 99 % of the time like this...

We loved looking at her white snout resting just above the "orthopedic foam" tag on the bed, haha! We just love her. She & Bennett joined us on our previous trips to Tyler State Park & we actually ended up at the same camp site we had stayed when they were puppies. It was really special to have her with us & felt as though we had come full circle returning with a tent full of little ones. She enjoyed herself. 

I told the girls that the best part about camping is that you are outside with nothing to do or rather nothing you HAVE to do.  That might be my favorite part! There are endless opportunities to explore & play yet it was challenging to do so. We ended up at a site directly nextdoor to a young couple with dogs....used to be us back in the day. They looked extremely relaxed, they weren't whining, they had their feet propped up in front of the fire & were probably holding hands & smiling at each other without a care in the world.

Just 100 yards away we were trying to keep the boys from falling off the cliff behind our site, to get Arlo to stop crying & go to sleep in the tent & tell the girls that we were sorry that two members of the family (not to point fingers but they might have been the ones nearing the edge of the ravine) made it difficult to have fun. Rob & I were far from holding hands, haha! We joked once we were home & swapping stories that it was like we went on two separate camp outs, me with three boys & him with two girls. That arrangement allowed the girls to do a lot more exploring while I kept Arlo from eating dirt &kept those twins from causing the tent to collapse.

The favorite activity by far was the marshmallow roasting or "marsh-mow-low" as Owen says. He also says that he sleeps on a "poh-low," has a "bow-lee button" & a sister named "O-low-ise." Robby taught them how to catch the "marsh-mow-low" on fire with the sole rule being to not fling the burning squishy sugary treat high into the air. This is an extremely safe activity for young children.  For obvious reasons Charlotte ended up being the only allowed to attempt this feat & she performed it with grace & burned four of the mow-lows for the campers. I think the burned ones are disgusting so I roasted my own & ate it while holding a baby & trying to keep children from falling into the fire. Rob was a team player & did all the cooking, phew! So many moving parts to figure out with this camping business!  

Here they are waiting for s'more time to begin...

We basically had no game plan for sleeping other than hoping to sleep. The tent was a great size so there were lots of options. Here is the play by play of what we ended up doing....

- put Arlo down in his pack n' play while we were around the fire until he screamed so much we were forced to get him out so as not to disturb the young & in love next door
- I got in with all three boys, got Owen & Anson's sleeping bags situated then laid down next to Arlo's bed thinking he would calm down....more screaming
- I got ready for bed then laid down with Arlo on my mat. Anson passed out in about 3 seconds while Owen was still bouncing of the walls.
-Rob came in & said it looked like a huge storm was headed our way & should be upon us in about 15 minutes. This did not come as a surprise to us since it rained nearly every time we camped! All the kids & Bella stayed in the tent while we tried to figure out the rain fly of the brand new tent that did not come with instructions. Arlo was crawling all over the place & all four were squealing while Anson didn't move a muscle. I was jealous ; )
- We got the fly on then huddled up with the iPhone Weather Channel app only to see the rain disappear on the radar. All that work for nothing, though it was better to be prepared than experience a major down pour inside our tent!
- I'm pretty sure most of the kids & I fell asleep fairly soon after the almost torrential rainstorm
- The next 9 hours were full of Arlo occasionally sleep crawling away from me & snuggling up with Owen.  While in his assigned sleeping spot, he drooled all over me, my sleeping bag & mat I was on! Overall he did really well & I was thankful he didn't make more than a few little noises.
-Rob was the escort for the nighttime trips to the bathroom with the girls while I held down the "fort" if you will...I was happy to be covered in baby drool than venture up the hill to the creepy bathroom in the dark!
-We were grateful when the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon & we didn't have to keep five children quiet any longer. Tummies were grumbling & were ready for breakfast!

Breakfast consisted of a yummy batch of Arkansas & breakfast tacos we made before we left then heated up. It was pretty delicious! We were not sure what to do with Arlo to keep him from scooting on the ground all over the place. Robby's idea was to strap the booster seat onto the picnic table which was a fantastic place for the littlest of the bunch. He actually spent a good bit of time there observing the rest of those crazy kids & he never voiced a complaint!

Once everyone had first breakfast we got ready for a little hike....before they got hungry again ; ) There was a trail just down from our site close to the water & it was the perfect terrain for old puppy paws & little kid feet, or so we thought. Anson fell every ten feet. Like, no joke, EVERY ten feet. There were a lot of tears & whining which promoted him to the shoulders he preferred to ride on instead of walking in the first place. He does love to be outside but it was a rough day for that handsome fella.

While hiking one direction Owen went exploring a little too far down a slope covered in pine needles. He hollered for Eloise who provided a swift rescue. She showed off her muscles & was proud of herself. Once we were headed back to our campsite we  passed the same slope Owen pretended he was sliding down & yelled "help me O-low-ise!" She stopped and stared at him with a look that showed how irritated she was. He continued to beg for rescue & she finally gave in. Her face in the second picture is priceless! Do any other parents feel that way when they have to play along with something that's ridiculous?

I enjoyed my walk through the woods holding onto these precious tootsie cakes.

He was a good rider & eventually couldn't hold his eyes open for another second. He fell asleep right at the end of our hike & I told Rob that I would need to continue for another hour at least to insure a well rested baby. Sweet boy even if he drools like a St. Bernard.

Muscles Eloise hauled around logs huffing & puffing the whole way but refusing to put them down. Char & Owee got a little silly with chasing but I flagged them down in front of the old truck that each of the Valentine babies came home from the hospital in.

Once we returned, our neighbors were gone & the kids could scream loud & run free as they wanted to all along. They resorted to a favorite outdoor game of dinosaurs. They each picked a rock that was their "teh-wit-tory" as Anson says with a growl. They were happy as they could be & we were much more relaxed knowing it was impossible for them to bother anyone.

We made it home in the early afternoon & took about 24 hours to recover. Once recovered, we set up camp in the backyard for the night which was fantastic.  It was a cooler evening, Arlo slept inside with the baby monitor on, the bathroom was closer & didn't have spiders in it & if we bothered our neighbors we had the option to relocate or could rest in the fact that they are already used to our shenanigans.

All in all it was a decent first attempt. Figuring out how to camp with our crew is a priority in the coming years & we are glad to have the first adventure under our belt.

A few take-away's from the trip:

• don't forget paper towels
• bring bubble wrap for Anson's knees
• offer ear plugs for the neighbors or better yet pay $15 bucks a pop for each of the campsites in our little cul de sac & not have to keep the herd quiet- their voices carry extremely well at campgrounds!
• remember that it's just a relocation of the regular chaos 
• bring a snack per hour & benadryl for bedtime & a mini-potty for night time use
• it may be more fun to have extra grown ups around for the next couple years
• it may have been a better idea to camp in our backyard instead of someone else's for trip #1

If it's not enough that the kids are looking every which way, Bella really showed them up with the way she expressed her disdain for a family photo. 

There is currently no trip scheduled for the coming year but it's a given! Just need to recruit those extra adults & stock up on bubble wrap!