My Beautiful Five-Year-Old "Baby"

I would be remiss in my January blogging duties if I didn't make a blog post celebrating my sweet January baby. On January 15th, 2010, I gave birth to my third beautiful daughter Aurora. This year, on January 15th, we celebrated Aurora's fifth birthday, and marveled at how much she has grown and what an amazing kid she is turning out to be.

In many ways, Aurora was my most difficult baby. It took her a really long time to start sleeping through the night. She was the biggest "mama's girl," and for the first several months of her life, she wanted no other living thing but me. This meant she would never take a bottle, or even a pacifier. Nathan was never able to bottle-feed her as he fed Lorelai and Celeste. For the first year or two of Aurora's life, her daddy was convinced that she hated him! I, on the other hand, was constantly desperate for a little time away from my super-clingy, cuddle-craving daughter.

As Aurora has grown up over the years, many other aspects of her personality have changed, or been made manifest. But her cuddly nature has remained a constant. More than anyone else in our family, Aurora needs physical affection to feel included and loved. My other girls are usually happy with a quick hug or a pat on the back. Aurora craves physical contact with Daddy or I whenever she is nearby. She needs our arms wrapped around her, or our hands stroking her hair or giving her a foot massage. She thrives on frequent kisses and hugs, and she is not shy about doling them out in return. Even though she is a "big" five-year-old girl now, she still sits on laps whenever she gets the opportunity.

Aurora's love for physical affection is changing a bit as she grows older; she has slowly transformed from a cautious "mama's girl" into a social butterfly who can't wait to meet everyone. When we're grocery shopping, Aurora will strike up conversations with fellow shoppers or cashiers. When she sees her friends or their parents, she bubbles over with excitement and starts sharing the highlights of her day. Just tonight, our family was in our church building waiting for an appointment with a stake presidency member. Two older men (strangers to us) were sitting in chairs in the waiting area. Aurora walked right up to these men, shook their hands, told them her name and age, and started telling them about her day and about all the fun she was having at church! I know...perhaps she is a little too forthcoming! I will have to teach her about talking to strangers, and about self-restraint. But it has been a joy to see how friendly and welcoming she has become to all sorts of people.

And don't get me started on dogs. Aurora loves dogs more than she loves people, and will immediately approach any dog she sees. Thankfully, she has learned to hold back and ask permission to pet a dog before advancing; still, though, her affection for all the world's dogs can kindly be described as "smothering." When she goes to a friend's house, and that friend has a dog, more often than not Aurora will spend most of her time with the dog, sometimes ignoring the friend for long stretches of time. And if there's no dog at home, she has been known to be zealous about playing with cats as well.

My youngest daughter is generous; she is more willing to hand over toys or snacks to others than any of my other girls. In fact, she has given away some of her toys to her friends permanently! Aurora can have her "bossy" moments, but she also loves to work with a team and be included in groups. She cares deeply for her friends and loves to share her life with them. She has very strong opinions and is not shy about expressing them, but she can be a good listener too if you get her in the right mood. She has a mischievous streak a mile wide, and you can tell by the twinkle in her eyes if she is hatching some grand plot. Maybe for that same reason, Aurora is the only girl not fooled by her daddy's teasing; she can always tell when he's not serious (unlike our more gullible older daughters, who often fell for his jokes).

This year, her birthday celebration came in the midst of many other activities. It was a relatively quiet affair. We didn't have a big party or celebration; just presents with the family. I told myself I wasn't going to get our girls any more dress-up clothes, but I caved with Aurora. Seeing all the little "Queen Elsas" (the main character from the movie Frozen) last fall made me want to get a pretty dress for my little girl one more time! Luckily, she seemed to like it...

She got a variety of gifts, including a craft project, a cute outfit, a microphone (which she's been blaring around the house for weeks now), and a book or two. Nothing earth-shattering, but she loved all of it. She also loved the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting we baked for her; she added the sprinkles herself!

Since this was her fifth birthday, Aurora got to start a yearly tradition that the other girls have been observing for a few years now; they've gone out on a birthday dinner date with Nathan. Usually, he lets them pick the restaurant (or at least the type of restaurant, and then Nathan can search for a specific place). When Celeste turned five, she wanted to go to Red Lobster. What did Aurora choose? McDonald's! Clearly, her palate is not so sophisticated yet. Nathan humored her, though, and she had fun eating her cheeseburger and playing in the PlayPlace. Perhaps for her sixth birthday, she will choose a more *ahem* "grown-up" restaurant.

But despite her questionable food preferences, I am so happy Aurora is mine. It has been a good couple of years, having her home with me while the older girls are in school. I have enjoyed our one-on-one cuddling and bonding time. I am glad my youngest is a cuddler; it means I can pretend she is small for just a bit longer! Our lives are all changing; later this year, my "baby" will enter kindergarten and start growing up even more than she has heretofore done. Part of me is excited for that day (Aurora, after all, keeps asking me when she can start kindergarten, "now that she is five"), but a large part of me dreads it as well. It means my girls are "growing up"...and I have more feelings about that than will fit into this blog post. So let me close by saying: Happy Birthday, my beautiful Aurora. I love you and can't wait to see your next five years...then your next twenty-five!

A Day Filled With Cows And Wildcats (That WILL Make Sense, Trust Me)

January 8, 2015 was a momentous day for my girls. It was to be full of long car trips, education, cows, ice cream, Girl Scouts, and basketball. Okay, I admit not all those things are thematically connected, but they still all added up to a long day of fun. The only drawback? We had to ditch Grandma & Grandpa Nash the entire day, due to our making event reservations long before we learned they were coming to visit. Thankfully, my parents were good sports about the whole thing, and found ways to entertain themselves that day.

The first full week of January is often a restless week for our family. All the public schools are back in session, having finished their holiday break. Most people are back at work full-time. "Real life" (for the rest of the world, at least) has set in. However, our kids' charter school gives our kids a three-week winter break, so we are sometimes the only kids in the neighborhood left at home. Thanks to a few recommendations, I had an idea for an exciting road trip to do that week...

...we would take a tour of the Shamrock Dairy Farm! Lorelai loves cows; they are her favorite animal. I'm not sure why, but there's no denying that she gets excited every time she sees one. At a dairy farm, I reasoned, she'd be sure to see as many cows as her heart desired. Besides the livestock, I thought all the girls would also be interested in seeing where our milk comes from. Plus, ice cream after the tour!

We invited a lot of friends to join us; most of the people who signed up were fellow charter-school students and their parents. In all, we ended up with a group of about 25 people. We met up at the farm, which is located in Stanfield, Arizona (several miles west of Casa Grande). It ended up being quite a long drive; about 90 minutes. My recommendation to anyone from Sahuarita who wants to take the farm tour: plan on entertaining your kids in the car for a while! And bring snacks, too.

When we arrived at the farm, who were the first to greet us? Why, cows...lots and lots and lots of cows...

The kids spent many long minutes "mooing" at the cows

Apparently, there was a group of cows out on a morning exercise circuit. They stopped by the fence to say "hello" before heading off to be fed and/or milked. All the kids were in heaven.

Before long, though, our entire tour group had arrived, and it was time to get on the tram and head out to the farm!

We got to drive past a large grain storage area, as well as several ventilated feeding areas. In January, all the fans weren't necessary, but I imagine they would be very helpful to the cows during the long hot summer.

After driving past the feeding areas, the tram took a short break at an educational playground in the middle of the farm. There was a playground, a maze, and even a cow statue fitted with an actual mechanical milker.

Kids were invited to put their fingers into the milker to get a sense of how it feels to be milked. It was an interesting sensation...it felt like a massage! Celeste especially liked the feeling...

 

After this short break, the tour took us into a large observation room, where we were able to look into a milking barn. It was quite a sight, to see hundreds of cows all lined up to be milked!

 

The cows only remained at their milking stations for a few minutes while being milked; then they were quickly released and moseyed off, at which time another large group of cows would mosey into position. It was all very regulated and orderly; I was impressed! The girls loved watching them walk back and forth.

Shamrock Farms was proud of the fact that the cow's milk was never once touched by human hands on their farm. They operate on a "teat to table" system, as our tour guide somewhat indelicately put it. These pipes coming out of the wall simulated the temperature of the milk upon leaving the cow (the top pipe), and the temperature to which the milk was cooled in order to transport it to the processing facility.

 

 

I was impressed by the relative cleanliness of the farm. I've been on other farms before, and they often are very filthy and smelly. But while Shamrock Farm had a definite "bovine" odor throughout, I actually thought it was relatively clean and comfortable looking...at least as far as these things go. I confess to being more favorably inclined towards Shamrock Farms products after this tour; even though their milk tends to be more expensive than the store brand, I was more tempted to buy it after seeing the farm in operation.

After spending a while watching cows get milked (and watching an instructional video), the tour group headed for the last part of the farm: the "maternity ward," where pregnant and/or sick cows were cared for. And, of course, the "nursery," where the new calves were kept. There were hundreds of calves there; it was amazing! On my grandfather's farm, it was always a big day when a new calf was born. Here in Shamrock Farms, dozens of calves are born every week! Maybe it is no longer exciting to the farm workers to greet all these calves...but I thought they were adorable.

And the kids even got the chance to feed a few new calves up close and personal!

After all this excitement, the kids reluctantly headed back towards the main barn at the farm's entrance. There, each visitor was given an individual serving of flavored milk (I chose the protein-fortified chocolate milk...yum!). Also on the menu was Shamrock Farms' ice cream, for only a dollar a scoop!

The girls loved their ice cream, the cows, and the entire tour. Due to the size of our tour group, we paid a group discount, which I thought was an excellent deal given the quality of the tour. I am sure we will visit the farm again someday. On this day, though, we didn't linger too long. Eventually, we piled into the car and headed home...

...but only for a few hours! As it turned out, we had another big event to attend that very same evening: a women's college basketball game!

This game was part of a special promotion by Girl Scouts of America, as a way to get everyone excited about the upcoming cookie sales (those sales started the following week; more on that later). Since we have a Girl Scout in the family, each of us was able to get game tickets for only $3! That night, we drove to campus and met Nathan at the McKale Center (he took the bus over from work). Despite not being a huge basketball fan, Nathan decided to join in so we could have a family fun night together. Our church friends the Hardys were also at the game (their daughter Sophie is also a Girl Scout, albeit in a different troop). After halftime, we managed to meet up with them and sit near them for the remainder of the game.

The girls all enjoyed themselves, especially Lorelai. For some reason, she has become obsessed with basketball lately. The basketball she received for Christmas was her favorite gift, and she often goes outside and dribbles it around our street (our neighbors have a hoop that she will frequently shoot at, too). She was able to follow most of the game's action, and clapped and cheered loudly throughout. Celeste and Aurora lost interest a lot faster, but they did enjoy watching the cheerleaders perform! (sigh). All three girls also loved watching the spirit band; Lorelai kept an eye out for all the trombone players and cheered loudly for them!

The girls even got the chance to meet the University of Arizona's mascot:

There were Girl Scout-related activities going on in the upper decks of the arena; lots of cookie-related crafts, booths & the like. We were a little late to the game, so we didn't participate in any of them. It was still pretty impressive to see such a large gathering of Girl Scouts and their families together.

The only downside to watching the basketball game? The game itself! The University of Arizona were playing Arizona State University, their arch-rivals from up in Tempe; even so, it was a complete blowout by the visiting team. The U of A girls were outclassed in height, reach, speed, rebounding, and points scored (obviously). The Lady Wildcats ended up losing the game by more than 40 points, and it was never close. It was disappointing; the men's basketball team is usually one of the best in the nation, so I'd had high hopes for the women's team. But alas, it wasn't to be. No matter; we all went out to celebrate the evening with cheap tacos after the game was done, then (finally!) drove home, where our warm beds (and Grandma & Grandpa Nash) awaited us.

It had been an incredibly busy day, filled with lots of driving, but lots of exciting events as well. We learned a little bit about where our food comes from, and we had a great time cheering for a local sports team. It was a great way to wrap up our holiday break; after this, it was time to start getting ready for school (and real life) again.

A Visit From Grandma & Grandpa Nash, Who Helped Us Paint A Room (Again)

My parents came from Colorado to visit us during the first full week of January this year. This was the first time they've come to visit us since last spring, when they attended Lorelai's school play and celebrated Easter with us. We, on the other hand, still haven't been back to Colorado for a while...not since my parents sold my childhood home and moved into the nearby retirement community! With any luck, we'll make it back to Colorado multiple times this year, but for now it was good to see my parents again.

Although we'd talked about them coming to visit in January, they ended up making the final decision to travel at the very last minute. For a while, I had been worried they wouldn't be coming at all. Over the last few months, my mom and dad have both had some major health problems. In two months, my dad has spent multiple nights in a hospital. Last November, he was visiting my sister in Utah when he stopped breathing at church one Sunday(!). It turned out he was reacting badly to some new medication. Then on Christmas Eve, he was hospitalized with a nasty strain of the flu that had been going around Colorado.

Long story short, I have been pretty worried about my parents' health lately, and though I wanted to see them, I was on pins and needles at the thought of them traveling during the cold winter in their vulnerable state. When we called them the weekend before they were scheduled to arrive, they were still on the fence about coming at all. But then Celeste got on the phone and pleaded with them to come, and her sweet earnestness apparently won them over. They flew into Tucson very late Monday night, then rented a car and drove to our house, arriving at about two in the morning on Tuesday, January 6th.

To my relief, my fears about my parents' frailty turned out to be a bit exaggerated. Although they were definitely still tired out and somewhat low-energy, they were in good spirits and enthusiastic about playing with the girls. They also wanted to help out with whatever home projects we'd been putting off due to either time or budgetary constraints.

It may make me sound immature to say I love being spoiled by my parents, but...I love being spoiled by my parents! They have helped us out in many big decisions in life, and it is so nice when they can help out with many "little" projects that we have been putting off due to a lack of time or money. It is so nice to get assistance with home projects (even the easy ones), since it frees us up to get bigger, more immediate concerns dealt with later on our own. Plus, they take me clothes shopping, which is always nice. It is great to get some new, smaller-sized clothes now that I have lost some weight.

There were two small-ish home improvement projects that my parents bankrolled. The first was putting up new curtains for the balcony door in our master bedroom. In a way, this has been the most eagerly anticipated home project since Nathan and I moved into this house! Before my parents came, our balcony door was covered by these gigantic, heavy, incredibly flimsy vertical blinds:

Nathan's parents helped us install these blinds when we first moved into the house in 2011. We were certainly grateful for the window covering. The morning sun shines right through that door, after all, and the blinds did an excellent job of blocking out the light. However, we have had to tread so lightly around those blinds over the years that they've long since worn out their welcome. If I walked too quickly past them while going into or out of the bathroom, the force of my passing would jar one of the panels loose. And when one blind panel fell down, more often than not, most of the panels would fall down. The panels are heavy and unbalanced, and are a huge pain to reattach to the slide.

This was an especially big problem when the girls had friends over to play, and they'd run into Mom's room (already a no-no), and then offer to show their friends the balcony (another no-no). Invariably, this would end with the kids tripping over a huge pile of collapsed blinds in a guilty retreat...and with me re-hanging the blinds alone, cursing under my breath.

Now, thanks to the intervention of my parents, I will never have to deal with collapsed blinds again! We took a trip to the local Bed Bath & Beyond, and purchased some new blackout curtains, along with a new rod.

In the last several months, few things have given me as much savage satisfaction as taking down all those blinds and cutting them in half...so they would fit in our trash can! No, we never planned on selling the blinds to anyone else...I wouldn't wish that fate on anybody! Hopefully, they are minding their own business at the local landfill as I write this.

Here's what our balcony doors look like now:

Since we haven't painted our bedroom yet, I wanted to choose a fairly neutral color for the curtains, and one that didn't clash too badly with the blue inside the master bathroom, which I painted a few months back. I think these curtains let in a tiny bit more sunlight than did the blinds, but overall it's a huge upgrade. Now we can move on and off our balcony much more freely, and our room looks a little homier than it did before.

The other home project was a little more ambitious, but yielded even better results; we painted the girls' bathroom and bought some new matching towels to go with it!

We have been letting the girls' bathroom mats get gradually junkier and more unraveled over the last several months...we knew that a bathroom remodel was coming, but we didn't have the exact date. When my parents showed up and offered their assistance (both in labor and in financing), we decided to move forward on the project!

As with the master bathroom painting a few months ago, Nathan was caught off-guard somewhat by the suddenness of this painting project. Painting rooms has a sort of freight-train momentum for me; once I get started, I just can't stop until the job is done! Nathan helped out as best he could, and he helped install some new wall hooks in both bathrooms after the painting was done. He installed a new towel ring for the girls' bathroom as well. Now they have more places to hang towels/bathrobes/etc. I suspect this will come in handy the older they get, and the more accessorizing they do.

Most of the taping and actual painting was done by my father and myself. Grandma, as usual, kept the kids out of our hair for the most part. The job went much faster than I thought; from start to finish, it probably only took us a day and a half (including breaks for sleeping, eating, & socializing). Maybe because I'd already done the master bathroom almost all by myself, but the girl's bathroom felt so much easier to do! And we even painted all the walls this time! (Nathan and I have often left one wall of a room unpainted, both for contrast and because we're lazy.) Taping around the mirrors, sinks, & light fixtures was definitely more tedious, but my dad ended up doing a lot of that. Thank goodness for some extra helping hands.

After the main painting job was done, and after all the wall hangings were re-attached, we went shopping one more time for the cosmetic finishing touches. Once again, my parents were super helpful in this regard.

We already had three larger purple bath towels (they were monogrammed, one for each girl; a gift from our sister-in-law Molly). We had to buy brand-new bath mats, hand towels, and toilet seat covers to finish the purple motif. We never quite got a complete set; there was no toilet seat cover in the matching purple color we chose. Oh well, we settled for a white cover, and it looks fine. And although the new bath mats and hand towels don't quite match the purple towels we already had, they don't outright clash, either. And both types of towels match nicely with the purple walls. We got really lucky with this paint color; it is a very accommodating hue of purple!

The nice final touch was getting a new shower curtain. For many years, we've gotten by with a flimsy boring white plastic curtain. It made the whole room look very washed-out. I wasn't really sure what type of shower curtain I wanted, but I definitely wanted more color! I didn't really find any curtains with any good purple accents, so I went a different direction and got a loud black-and-white pattern:

Everyone loved the new room; friends, family, and especially the girls! I'm so happy they can have a nice room of their very own. And once again, I'm super grateful to my parents for all their help. It is so nice to have this project completed! Our next task is an intimidating one; Nathan and I are hoping to paint our stairwell by the end of this year! We are not looking forward to it, but we are wanting to get it over with!

Besides those projects, we made no other large-scale plans with my parents. We hung around the house; played with the kids; spent most nights playing board games (we had lots of fun with Stone Age, which we played several times); discussed our respective health/family situations; and ate out a few times. They attended sacrament meeting with us, but went home afterwards to avoid exposure to more illnesses (a wise move, in my opinion, given the number of young children in our ward). They also attended the girls' very first volleyball game (more on their volleyball adventures in a future blog post). And of course, we went out to eat a few times as well.

These pictures were taken after dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. For some reason, I keep forgetting to take lots of pictures of my parents when they come to visit. Luckily, I think these pictures turned out great and say a lot about who my parents are and how much my girls love them. They are always so happy to see my parents, and we are all so grateful for this time we have together.

We celebrated an early "birthday" with Aurora, by opening her present from the grandparents the Sunday night before they headed home. The next day (Monday, January 12th), "normal" life began again. The older girls headed to school, and Grandma and Grandpa packed their bags and loaded up the rental car, in preparation to head back to the airport. Aurora was eager to climb into the car and go with them; when she realized just what was happening, she burst into tears and was inconsolable for long after her beloved grandparents drove away.

Deep inside, I was crying right along with Aurora; I always miss my parents when they leave. Not just for their gifts and financial aid (although those have been wonderful blessings as well), but for how much love they leave with us. I hope my parents know how grateful I always am for all the things (both big and small) they have offered us over the years. Everything they do and say is filled with kindness and concern for our well-being. They want so much to be involved in our lives in whatever way works for us; they want to know us, understand us, help us, laugh with us, and share things with us.

I am so glad for their generous spirits, their hard work, and their sacrifices they make for us. Coming as it did just a few months after my father-in-law's death, I was especially grateful for this visit, and for the chance to enjoy every moment with my parents that we have left. I am glad my mom and dad were healthy enough to make the trip, and I pray they will recover quickly and have a healthy and prosperous year. Hopefully we will see them again this spring!