Fallish Things

November 1, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / Leave a comment

Trees get bigger. Bigger trees=More leaves. Leaves=FUN!

There is something seasonally delightful about raking leaves on a warm autumn day. And there were no shortage of warm days this fall. But by the third or fourth day, delight is lost. Even for the kids, who were made to be my labor force. Stuffing leaves in bags is not a one-person job. Fortunately I took these pictures on the first day of leaf raking.

I had extra motivation from Cameron and Eli though, because they wanted a leafless football field. They spent HOURS outside playing football this fall. I was so grateful for the warm weather, so grateful they enjoy being outside, so grateful they play together, etc. When we introduced ourselves to some new neighbors at church they said

“Oh okay. You’re the parents of the boys who are always playing football.” Some other neighborhood friends and ward members will sometimes pull over as they drive past and say hello to the boys, or cheer them on.

Ducks

October 2, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / 3 Comments

A friend of mine shared this article with me and I loved the analogy of the duck. Above the surface the water is peaceful and serene. The duck even looks composed and content. But down in the water, under the surface, the duck is kicking her webbed feet with fervor to keep moving.

I’ve long tried to keep my blog real, I’ve never wanted to use it as a tool to make everything above the surface look perfect and beautiful. But this last year, I have been frantically kicking beneath the water. In my efforts to stay afloat and keep my life in order, I haven’t had time or emotional energy for blogging. I also felt like a blog post was hardly an accurate representation of my life beyond the laptop. Well, with the exception of posts like this one.

I hope to return to blogging- which might be a monumental task to catch up. But thanks for reading, thanks for asking about the blog, and thanks for whatever role it is that you play in my slightly dysfunctional, majorly chaotic life. I apologize if my relationship with you has suffered in the last year as I’ve been consumed by motherhood and self.

First Day of School 2013

August 28, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / Leave a comment

Because it makes sense to skip forward a year, right?

This kid was so pumped to go back to school. Of course he’s way too cool to admit that. He always played it off like all the other kids. But the tetherball was calling his name! His teacher this year is different than any teacher he has ever had before. She’s tough. And he’s sensitive. It’s been a rough go so far. I didn’t know anything about her, but I don’t think I would have done anything differently. It’s a tough balance in parenthood, trying to create environments where your children will thrive, while also teaching them to be flexible and adapt to difficult circumstances. I know he is learning a lot from Mrs. Hoiland.

In Eli’s case I decided to step in and try to set him up for success. When class lists were posted I saw that he was in a larger class, with neither of his two friends, and a new teacher. The new principal of their school is in our ward, and I was worried about him thinking I was trying to get special treatment, but I just really thought Eli would do better in the other class. He is timid and being in a class with some familiar faces, including Miss Hall who was Cameron’s kindergarten teacher, just gave me more peace of mind. It turned out to be an easy switch and I’m so grateful it worked out. I love our little community in Kuna, and I love that Eli is having a teacher Cameron had.

Didn’t I say something about hamming it up? And reserved pleasure?

RAGNAR: Round 2 – Wasatch Back

June 30, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / 1 Comment

This was actually my second Ragnar, and I loved my first Ragnar as much as I loved this one. I just blogged about this one first because I’m going backwards and this one is the freshest in my memory. Maybe it will help rekindle Ragnar Las Vegas memories…

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Years ago I met my friend Molly on an online forum on CafeMom. It seemed like we had everything in common and we started emailing. Then we started texting. And then phone calls.

When Molly’s Ragnar team needed some runners she asked me if I’d be interested and then we roped in our friend Jeni. (Who we also met online.) Erica and Josh were Molly’s friends, and part of the original team, but at the last minute Josh’s friend bailed so we recruited Chantel who was already in Utah. (And a marathoner!)

It’s hard to explain virtual friends. And how and why they became “real” friends. And how something about that transition has made a friendship that is totally honest, real, and vulnerable. Maybe because I had nothing to lose? Maybe because there were no expectations about what kind of person I was “supposed” to be? Maybe because Jeni and Molly are naturally open and forthcoming. But with Jeni and Molly I have no inhibitions. I had also spent a lot of time reading Chantel’s blog, and she had worked with Richard briefly during an internship. We had emailed too and our “virtual” friendship became real and meaningful quickly. I now consider them among my most loyal and dearest friends. They don’t know my family much at all, and we’ve never even lived in the same city. But we have long, in depth conversations about everything from politics to faith, marriage, childhood, parenthood and emotional health. These women were answers to prayers and friends I didn’t know I needed.

Anyway-

Spending a weekend in a minivan is to a friendship like wind is to a flame. It strengthens the strong and extinguishes the weak. Or something like that…

I LOVE Ragnar races. I really love them. I love getting to know people in intense emotional situations. (Can you say crazy adrenaline highs, total emotional meltdowns, sheer exhaustion, and ravenous hunger irritablity?) There is so much solidarity. SO much authenticity. No pretense. I had the time of my life.

So as it turned out our team was five females and then Josh. Josh has to be one of the most kind, chivalrous and patient men I’ve met.

Bright and early Ragnar morn. From Left to right- Jeni, Jo, Josh, Chantel, Molly, Erica. We were Van 1- so we kicked it off. Erica ran first, she is an experienced Ragnarian and she is legit. She is fierce and tough. but loyal and supportive. No one cheered like Erica. See below.

With Erica and the bull-horn, wherever we went we were the life of the party. (Like it or not. Which was sometimes not. Mood swings are status quo.) But team support is the kind of thing that makes my throat get tight and sentimental tears start to fall. Even after two exhausting days and 19 miles of running.

We got our new van just in time for Ragnar. Despite my inability to operate it’s complex (not really) technology it suited us well. Close proximity made for hilarious/intense/emotional conversations. And it only took a month and some major elbow grease to get off all the car paint.

The scenery was awesome. The race went along the Wasatch Back, through small towns and farms and reservoirs and other things we couldn’t see because it was night.

The other team was all women, leaving Josh the lone man. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet them or know them very well. But they had the toughest legs (pun intended)- so cheers for them!

This was my first leg. It was my toughest, which didn’t make much sense because it was my shortest and it was flat. But it was hot, and I think the elevation was really hard on me. My second leg was okay, it was in the evening and also relatively flat. My last leg was my longest, and had the most incline, but for some reason it was my best. I whined about it all weekend, leading up to it. I was super anxious about it and wondered what I had been thinking. But maybe by then my body was adjusting to the elevation, and I knew it was my last leg so I could leave it all out on the table. I had major adrenaline surges that carried me through and I OWNED it. If I do say so. I injured my knee but didn’t realize that until a month later when I tried running again. It was worth it though. It was one of my best running moments of my running history.

Sporting some festive night-time accessories.

Chantel’s running style is a perfect model of her approach to life. She is quietly confident, without guile, and so unassuming that those who encounter her can’t help but be totally impressed. She is unquestionably competent and unbelievably gentle and compassionate to others.

It also has to be said that Jeni ran this Ragnar just a couple years after being totally paralyzed from the waist down. After an emergency surgery she had the problem resolved, but running still requires serious strength, and a deliberate and conscious effort to lift her left foot with each step.

The whole gang in the van while I ran. What happens in the minivan stays in the minivan. Including iPod idol. Google it though. And then play it. And then laugh REALLY hard at your friends.

Molly was the glue that held our team together, the common link between us all. The diplomat and decision maker and sense of humor initiator. She never lets me take myself too seriously and isn’t afraid to call anyone out on obnoxious behavior. And since this blog post apparently turned into a brag-fest about my Ragnar teammates- Molly is employed at Stanford and humors me when I think I’m being intellectual.

If I’m being totally honest – which these friends would encourage me to be- I sometimes have doubts about God’s hand in my life. MY life. Jo Bird’s life. How much does He really do for me personally? But when I think about the way I met these women and the way we became friends I know there was divine influence. Love you guys so much.

So Long Family Van

June 4, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / 3 Comments

We’ve been talking about getting a new van for awhile.

This last January was the coldest January since 1987 or something like that. There were days at a time where it didn’t break freezing. The heater in the van wasn’t quite heating so on the really cold days I would put all the kids’s coats in the dryer to warm them up, then put them on really fast and load up to drive to the kids to school.

That is just the beginning of the things that didn’t work in the van.

So a few weeks ago after it started making a new noise, one that was embarrassing when you drove through a parking lot with the windows down, (with the windows up you could forget the high pitched squeal everyone else was hearing) we decided to amp up our search. We did our Consumer Reports research and scoped out Craigslist for a few more weeks before we test drove a car.

After spending one evening, and test driving one car, we decided car shopping was not something we did well together. Richard buys a car like Bill Cosby. Play hardball. Don’t give anything up. Take your time. ALWAYS walk off the lot.

I buy a car like a woman who has no time and who is easily impressed.

“Lumbar support! Fantastic! Our old van leaks oil! Bluetooth technology! Exciting! Our old van has a broken parking brake! Automatic doors! LOVE it! The gas gauge doesn’t work in the old van!”

I was giving everything away about our trade-in and I was an easy sell. I fell in love with that first van. When I realized Richard had no intention of buying THAT particular van I felt disappointed and delegated the car shopping to him.

Fast forward a few weeks and we had hardly said ten words to each other about the new car situation. I get a text

“I just bought a van.”

Then a phone call.

“You have 30 minutes to clean out the old van and bring it in to pick up your new one.”

So the kids and I frantically cleaned our stuff out of the old van while visions of that episode of Wonder Years passed through my mind, making me all kinds of sentimental. I cried on the way to the dealership.

It was a good thing that I only had 30 minutes to mourn the loss of that van. That van was the third generation of the Hall Family Dodge Caravans. All three drove across the country and back. They all were the vehicle of so many family memories. And just like the kitchen table, we inherited it making our own memories inside. Three of our four babies came home in that van.

I don’t have it in me to write out all the miles and moments known to that van. It will be missed. But I gotta say, the lumbar support really is fantastic.

Camalamarooski

April 11, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / 1 Comment

Cameron turned eight this year. EIGHT is a big one around here. He started Scouts and his baptism is scheduled for May 4th. He couldn’t be more thrilled about his opportunity to be the center of attention. I think he’s excited about the ordinance too.

Cameron is a sports announcer in the making. He lives, breaths, sleeps, reads all things sports. Driving in the car there is the constant hum of Cameron’s color commentary from the back seat. It’s intense people.

He is also Mr. Social, always wondering when we can invite people for dinner, when he can have a play date; making sure we attend every church and school activity. He loves to be busy with social things. He also loves structure, he asks me incessantly about what our “plan” is. What’s our plan for lunch, what’s our plan for the weekend, what’s our plan for the day, the homework plan, the chores plan, the reading plan. Someday our little Mr. Organized is going to rock the spreadsheet.

Cam continues to have a hypersensitive conscience. He’s the kind of kid that you just give him “the look” and he falls in line. He is prone to guilt and eager to please. (These are the things I know he gets from me, and it gives me a little anxiety worrying he will be insecure.)

He is also a bit of a manipulator. As demonstrated by the contract below, he exercises dominion over his desperate younger brother. He is the oldest child, I think bossy is written in his code.

Cameron does well in school, and we really feel so blessed by his genuine desire to do the right thing. Sometimes a little ego and self-absorption keep him from feeling empathy and compassion, but we’re going to assume that will develop with age.

For his birthday he got a basketball hoop, a “real” one that he plays on the back patio for hours at a time. Before school, after school, whenever he can sneak away. It was well worth the $$ that’s all I can say…

Scriptures from Baca and Grandpa Bird for the big #8. Let a new tradition be born!

There have been similar contracts about Eli keeping the room clean while Cameron is at school, and Eli choosing Madden 09 instead of MarioKart when it’s his turn to pick the Wii game.

March madness has invaded my house. I’m finding homemade brackets everywhere.

Cameron and I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters together. He loved it, therefore I loved it by association.

Eli Eli Puddin’ ‘n’ Pie

April 11, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / Leave a comment

Eli had a birthay- shout hooray!

When I pull out the hand-me-down clothes for Simon, enough time has gone by since Eli wore them that I am sometimes overcome with nostalgia, and the realization that time passes so quickly. Because of the gap in years between Eli and Miriam, I feel like Eli and I had a really great year when he was two. So now that Simon is two, and wearing those cute little clothes, I have been reminiscing about those days with my little buddy Eli.

And now he is six!

Eli is smart. He is shy. He is detail-oriented and either focused to a fault or totally distracted. He is a wandering soul, easily absorbed in the world around him. He is the kid who literally stops to smell the roses. He is sensitive. But hell hath no fury like an angry Eli. He would do anything for Cameron, or any of his siblings. He is nurturing and kind. He will play for hours by himself in his bedroom while the little ones nap. I love the days when he doesn’t go to kindy because he keeps Mim and Si entertained.

A few months ago as the kids climbed in the van after school Cameron shouted to a boy in his class something about the boy’s “annoying sister” – who happens to be in Eli’s class. Cameron started wailing and this is how it went

Cameron: Eli hit me for no reason!
Eli: No I didn’t….There was a reason!

The reason turned out to be that it bothered Eli that Cameron had said something rude about his classmate.

On another trip home from school Eli informed us that he was going to go to 1st grade for reading groups.

Cameron: Are there any other kids in your class going?
Eli: Nope.
Cameron: Are there any other kindergartners going?
Eli: Nope.
Cameron: Are you going to be shy?
Eli: Nope.

Richard and I are banking on Eli’s intelligence to compensate for what he lacks in size, to help him have self-confidence.

Eli is myterious, and parenting him feels like a crapshoot. He can be hard to discpline because it’s hard to find consequences that really reach him. But a few things we have discovered that he really cares about, that we can use as leverage are nickels, Richard’s nightly ritual of reading Narnia, the Wii, and all things Star Wars.

Because speed is not his strength we thought Chess would be just the kind of game for him. For his birthday he also got a Star Wars X-Wing model, a couple books, and some Star Wars legos.

Obviously we love our Eli-Pie and love the way he stretches our limits and shifts our paradigms.

At the wedding of “Q” and “U”. Eli sometimes wears his gloves for hours at at time.

The R2D2 valentine box. He was so proud.

Easter… again. Every year it comes. Imagine that.

April 4, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / 1 Comment

Is there anything in life that isn’t some sort of balancing act? The sentimental, traditionalist, secular, sugar-addict part of me loves Easter. So does the spiritual part of me. It’s tricky making holidays be about what they are supposed to be about while still enjoying the… um… commercialized part of them.

I had a hard time with that last sentence. Is there any justification for consumerism?

What with Facebook and Pinterest it’s super easy to get caught up in the adorable and fun ideas for holidays. So when I saw an article floating around making a request to mothers/parents everywhere to chill out a bit with the holiday festivities, I was worried it was going to rain on my over-achiever parade. It wasn’t like that so much, though. It just politely asked that together we all tone it down a bit to settle the expectations of our entitled children. For example, do we really need a leprechaun to bring gifts for the kids? Can we just stick with wearing green on St. Patty’s day? Fair enough.

So we combined plastic eggs full of chocolate and jelly beans with our Resurrection Rolls from last year and had a wonderful morning.

Whatever we decided to do on Easter, we couldn’t have asked for a more glorious spring day. It was so beautiful. Just like these hooligan children of mine.

wee babes

March 20, 2013November 16, 2018 / Jo Bird / 1 Comment

There is nothing to signal spring quite like baby lambs and goats. Baca Hall took Cameron and Eli out to a friend’s to see the sweet little animals. As typical, Cameron jumped right in and Eli was a little more cautious. But Eli’s apprehension is no indication of his heart, I’m sure he loved the creatures as much as anyone.

My mom told me that there were some baby lambs whose mother either died or was unable to care for them, so the owner of the animals introduced the lambs to a mother goat and she took them right in.

I’m sure there is a great analogy in that, but analogies aren’t my thing. Regardless, I found the story heartwarming.

From the phone – February

February 28, 2013 / Jo Bird / 2 Comments

I discovered it’s much easier to get the pics from my phone on my blog if I just blog from my phone. But that’s a pain to do all the time so I’ll just do a blog feature of “From the Phone.” (I’m sooo creative,huh?)

P.S. If you follow me on Instagram this might be redundant.