Mid-Coast Maine

Photo taken outside our hotel room. 

Ryan was recently offered a job in a little coastal town in Maine. It was just too good for us to pass up, so it looks like we will be making our second cross-country move in less than a year. I can honestly say that until this job presented itself, I never once thought about living in Maine. But I also never thought I would live in Iowa or Connecticut. Life is funny that way. Arizona is a great place to live and I have loved the desert. I'm sad that we haven't lived here quite long enough for it to feel like home.

Both Ryan and I were able to go to Maine when he interviewed and it was really, really beautiful. The hospital is located in this cute little tourist-y lobster town. Other than on my mission, I have never lived in a small town. It looks like I'll be trading in my convenient suburban life for one in the country.

I guess I better learn how to raise chickens.

I'm really, really excited.

From the Mouth of My Babe

Ike and Dave before school. We live close enough to walk and if they are ready on time in the morning they get to ride their scooters. Isaac is pretty much always ready on time. 

I made sushi last night and when Isaac saw what was for dinner, he groaned and asked, "Is that the totally disgusting food that you have to shove in your mouth all at once so it doesn't have to taste so horrible?"

We are anxiously awaiting a visit from Ryan's parents this weekend and the excitement level is through the roof. Yesterday morning when Maddie woke up she said, "Ican'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twait!!!! I wish I had a time machine so I could go into the future and Grandma and Grandpa would already be here!!!"

Maddie @ 6 1/2 Years Old

Maddie with her bow and arrow at the park on Christmas day.

While the days are sometimes long, the years seem to just speed by. I can't believe my only daughter is six and a half. I was reading through the blog, reminiscing about what she was like when she was three and a half and it seems like it was just yesterday. At least once a week (sometimes it's more like daily), I can't help but think how this parenthood thing is the hardest, most humbling, soul-searching, challenging job I have ever had. I hope it is refining me in good ways and helping me become a better person. That said, it sure is rewarding to watch my children learn and grow. And our little Madelyn seems to be learning and growing so much lately. Here are a few things I want to remember about her at six and a half:

• She loves bacon. She told me it is her favorite food. I indulged her on New Year's Eve and wrapped Little Smokies in bacon and baked them for her and the boys. Now that is her favorite food--processed meat wrapped in more processed meat. Her second favorite food is snap peas. This girl can down a pound of snap peas in a single setting. Do the snap peas balance out the bacon?
• She loves to ride her bike outside, play Legos and "house", read book after book (The Ramona series by Beverly Cleary is a current favorite), and play with her baby brother. She thinks everything he does is adorable. 
• Her new favorite TV show is Studio C.
• Most of the time she is a peacemaker in our home. Except when she's not.
• For Christmas she got the card game Sleeping Queens and has wanted to play it almost nonstop ever since. Her brothers seem to love it as much as she does, and frankly, so do I. 
• Maddie is very outgoing and makes new friends wherever she goes. 
• She still loves to be tucked in at night.
• She told me that her New Year's resolution for 2015 is to learn to play hockey. That might be tricky here in the desert but we'll see what we can do. 
• She is a great teacher to her younger brothers and is usually very patient with Davis and Nathan. She loves to teach them new things. 
• Listening to her use big words (in or out of context) is comic relief for me. And she has recently taken to using air quotes (usually incorrectly) and I have to hold the giggles in every time. 
• Getting her out the door on time each day is a monumental feat. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just a phase she will grow out of. 
• We took the kids to a fun center yesterday to celebrate the new year. They had a very small indoor roller coaster. Having never experienced the thrill of an amusement park before, Maddie jumped on the coaster and had her hands in the air seconds after it took off. They remained high above her head the entire ride while she squealed with delight as it went around and around. That is how I always want to remember my Maddie at six years old.

Christmas 2014

Christmas Jammies, Dec. 24, 2014.

Christmas 2014 was the first year that, aside from getting together with friends in morning to decorate cookies, our little family spent the holiday with just the six of us. I wasn't sure how it would all end up going down (i.e. would I get desperately home/friend sick during those two days?), but we looked for to spending time with one another. And while we did miss our family and friends over those few days, we had a really nice time together. We took the kids to the park on Christmas Eve and just let them play and ride bikes until the sun went down (thanks AZ sun!). Then, instead of heading home to cook our usual Mexican feast, we headed to Cafe Rio and let them cook it for us instead--it was awesome!. No clean-up and everyone was happy.

Christmas day we spent the whole day playing and building (Legos) and eating and just hanging out (confession: I didn't even take a shower!). We ate a nice meal that I had mostly prepped days before so I didn't have to spend hours in the kitchen. I was worried that this would be the first Christmas of pure disappointment because none of my kids were getting anything with an "i" in front of it (they all had primarily electronics on their initial Christmas lists. When I told them that wasn't going to happen, they revised the lists to include Legos and action figures). Luckily, all three of the older ones declared it, "the best Christmas ever!" just like they do every year. I'm sure that won't last forever so I am clinging to those words as long as I can.

I love this time of year and I'm always a little bit sad when it's over, but I think January can bring an excitement all it's own. We aren't celebrating the birth of our Savior, but we are celebrating new beginnings and new resolutions to be more like Him. I have high hopes for 2015. I can't wait to see what this next year brings.

From the Mouth of My Babe

Maddie and Davis at her school's Fundraiser fun run. 

Ryan and I were reprimanding Isaac after he hit Maddie, reminding him that it is never OK to hit his sister. Davis chimed in (as he almost always feels inclined to do when someone else gets in trouble), adding "yeah, but if you say you are going to hit someone then you need to do it, because if you say you are going to do something and then you don't do it then that would be lying, and it's not ok to lie."