Photo Dump 2014

 There have been so many things going on since May that I cannot keep up, in fact most days I try to keep myself from flipping out as I think to the future in the middle of the daily chaos. Yesterday I had to put together the schedule for the Fall.....it just seems too early to have to think of where to put the 8 music lessons, 11 soccer practices, 2 orchestra rehearsals, daily early morning seminary, before school jazz band, YM and scouts and all of it each and every week. But our music teachers are totally on top of their game and putting together their schedules now, forcing me into this exhausting mind set. Deep breath, deep breath.

This is all on top of Jared just having his computer, among other valuables out of his backpack, stolen last night in St Louis, Missouri. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing how much work was on there both for his job and personal labors and the fact that most of it was not backed up! It's just too painful to dwell on for long. Tomorrow I plan on calling some pawn shops to see if maybe, just maybe the thieves didn't decide to trash it after they took other more valuable things like cash and credit cards (not Jared's, but others traveling with him).  But, in my gut, I think the computer is gone, long gone and what's worse is that really, it's of little or no value to the thugs who broke into their van in broad day light in a paid parking lot. Apparently they also stole a backpack full of marked Book of Mormons and spiritual thoughts, so the only up shot is if one of them decides to make more out of their lives than robbing random people.

But to keep my head above water here is a photo dump reminding me that these last few months have been awesome, if not totally hectic.

I blogged about this in the Mother's Day post, but this was the weekend for the annual Fathers and Sons outing. Caleb was with his Philmont group and Liam stayed home with me to play in his soccer game that next morning, so it was Jared and the two "littles". They had a great time camping, staying up late, fishing and shooting guns including a .22.

Here was the final Youth Orchestra of Central Virginia concert held on Mother's Day. Gavin was awesome on a version of "Call Me Maybe" and really stole the show with his performance. He's a fantastic drummer along with Caleb who will now serve as one of three high school Jazz drummers. Gavin tried out for the next orchestra up (Evans, where Caleb and Liam play) and was pleased that he made it. He will be the youngest Harris boy to play in this orchestra, meaning Caleb and Liam didn't start until the were older. He will also be the youngest person in his cello section by a couple of years! Nice job Gavin!

Caleb on cello next to our good friend and carpool buddy Hannah on viola.

Liam is playing second violin this season and stuck in a very hard to see middle spot.  He loves his new violin and has had a great start to his summer ensemble where again he is the youngest player hanging out with all the high schoolers. He loves that and who wouldn't, really!

And of course we had the final Discovery Dash of Gavin's career. He started running in this race when he was in kindergarten. He has maintained his status as fasted kid in his grade and highest number on the pacer test: I think he hit 93 or more this year. His teammate kind of blew it for him when the he started complaining of a upset stomach right before the race (nerves is my guess) and ended up in last place after the first lap. So when Gavin started as the anchor he was needing to get past 7-8 other runners and ultimately came in third, quite a feat for this speed demon.

Our favorite Vegan gym teacher Mr W. I've had lengthy conversations with him about helping kids make better food choices, which much to his dislike does not include telling them that milk is bad.....sheesh!

One of Liam's summer ensemble pieces is 21 pages long...he looks happy here, but don't let that smile trick you into thinking that he's an angel when it comes to practicing! Good thing I like him!

Soccer season #8: Jonah was on a recreation team, Gavin and Liam on a upper level challenge team, and Caleb one step up from that on a travel team.

Gavin had a rough go with a problematic coach this year and one game got the chance to play on Liam's team when they were a man down. He loved playing for a coach that didn't yell all the time, or swear, make referees cry, or throw his hat on the ground in frustration. Yeah, he was a real winner of a coach, who thankfully is now out of the league as a result of those kinds of outbursts. For Liam's part he was awesome with Gavin during this game and they even had some good passing play together.

Of all the teams this year, I was happiest with Caleb's crew. The parents and kids were just really great people. We all worked together like a well-oiled machine getting the boys to their 3 practices each week and games that were not always in Charlottesville. The boys always showed stellar sportsmanship even when other teams were not, and more than once they were recognized by other parents and coaches. I really believe the boys were strongly influenced by their great coach. He was always a strong quiet presence during games...we rarely heard him yell out to the boys and often if they were well ahead of another team, he wouldn't let them attempt a shot until they had passed it at least five times.  During the final 3-day tournament that was over a Sunday, Caleb invited his entire team to church! No one took him up on the offer, but I know he was happy that he'd bravely made the invitation.

With four games every Saturday there ends up being down time on the fields as there is no point in going home. So the boys find their friends and play away.

This was Liam pre-summer buzz. The heat and humidity are just too much for long thick hair.

Gavin's grade had this awesome parade of states. Gavin chose Utah and placed his display on skis to pull down the hallways. I thought it was such a clever idea! We also made jello being that Utahans eat more of the stuff per capita than any other state. In fact there was another boy who was into dinosaurs who chose Utah and also made jello...funny. I have loved his teacher, Mrs. Carey, as she was the only 4th grade teacher we've had that has made writing really enjoyable and fun. She spent the year writing letters back and forth as she taught them the basics of everything from sentence structure, plot development to various way to structure a poem. We will miss her and her giant burmese mountain dogs.

Caleb is at Philmont and in preparation his crew hiked the Priest, which is the highest peak in Virginia. The elevation gain was 1200 feet in just 4 miles, so a hard hike, but perfect to get them used to hiking the 10 miles each day at Philmont. Caleb was thrilled with all his new gear from his backpack, sleeping pad, boots (he and Jared have the same boot in the same size), and other light weight items. The technology has improved so much since Jared and I hiked all over during our first year of marriage that his pack including his tent, weighed less than 20#.

This look is classic Caleb.....sometimes he zones out and this is how I know it's happening.

While Caleb and Jared were hiking the Priest in the Shenandoah, the three of us took the 2.5 mile hike up to Monticello. It was a perfect day...cool and the humidity was no where to be found. We spent much more time than I expected in the museums and having lunch. Jonah was a trooper hiking the 5 miles on a graveled slightly sloping trail, but not enough that I think he's ready for Table Rock in Idaho and he totally agrees :) Maybe next year!

This was an evening when I was at Seminary graduation. Jared really wanted to have some snicker doodles, so I pulled up the recipe and gave them a few of my tips and off I went with Caleb in tow. They did a great job and we enjoyed them the entire week being that they doubled the batch!

Finally there was a week of Cub Scout Day camp. Jared loves going with the boys which is great because it's the last thing I want to do. It's the heat that keeps me at bay and it was wicked hot (10 degrees above normal, meaning upper 90's) and the humidity was suffocating. But I have realized that the boys are not fazed by the heat....it's all they've ever known. They don't know the joy of opening up the windows at night to let in the cool air, they don't know the joys of a dry heat. It's a sauna in the summer, but I'll never trade it in knowing what I get the rest of the 9 months. It just means Jared will be the go-to for day camp :)

This year Gavin and Jonah were in different groups and Jared was assigned to be with Jonah, but he managed to find Gavin a few times during the day. One of Jonah's leaders told me at church that she loved when he told her that he "rocked it" on the shooting range. Apparently he never hit the balloon (the ultimate goal), but still felt that he "rocked it". This describes Jonah so well and I realized today that I think that has an inborn sense of positivity in the same way Jared does. I remember writing about this earlier this year during a soccer game when Jonah was the goalie and he blocked one, but let three goals in. Expecting him to be completely distraught and vowing never to play goalie again he took me completely off guard when he told me how great he thought he was. So the kid doesn't hit the target and he doesn't block all the goals, but he still values what he does do right...block some goals, and get close to the target. He just loves being part of life and I adore this about him.

Now that I've got that out of my system I think I can sit back and enjoy the summer. We are in full swing with morning swim team followed by tennis team on top of a little violin, but we are usually wrapped up by 1:00. Not bad, really. It's nice to have a break from the normal routines so that we can watch movies in the middle of the day, play tennis at night and get 7-11 slurppes! Here we go.......

May Spectacular: 17th anniversary, Mother's Day, 42nd Birthday

May is one busy month! Not only is there a celebration of our marriage, being a mom, and getting older, it's when all the music activities culminate in recitals and concerts and soccer ends in out of town tournaments.

To celebrate that we are more in love with each other after 17 years, Jared surprised me with a fun dinner at the Clifton Inn where he arranged to have us sit at the "chef's table" which happened to be in the kitchen. We both found it fascinating as we watched the activity ebb and flow as the night wore on. And the food....oh my, words will never adequately describe the dishes. Flavors I never dreamed of introducing to each other like an appetizer of shiitake mushroom and strawberry with sorrel simply delighted our tastebuds.  My main dish was grouper atop gnocchi made with garlic and croissant-like dough, totally different from traditional gnocchi, but in my opinion ten times better. I was swooning over the food and of course my soul-mate during the whole experience.

After dinner we still had an hour before picking up Caleb from his 8th grade dance, so we decided to pop in early to check things out. It was eye-opening to say the least. Most of the kids were dancing in a giant moshing spectacle while smaller groups were dancing in ways that shocked me. But what I found interesting was how the song changed the dance moves. The club songs with their droning beat lead to a lot of twerking while songs like YMCA or rock songs by Van Halen and others just lead to hands in the air and bodies jumping around, moves I was much more comfortable with. And to think how my seminary teachers railed against classic rock.....     Caleb didn't see us until the very end and thank goodness I never saw him twerking as I'm not sure what I would have done, but being that I can be a bull in a china shop, it likely wouldn't have been pretty.

The week leading up to Mother's Day was exhausting. In fact, we were all so worn out that we spontaneously took off Monday, well "we" meaning everyone but Jared who unfortunately couldn't get out of work.  He had spent the prior week in Chicago and then Notre Dame and flew in Friday in the nick of time for the Father's and Son's campout. While he was gone, I went through nearly two tanks of gas for all the music lessons, soccer travel tryouts, scouts, and orchestra.....and in case there was any question of whether the curse of Jared's travel was still alive, our dishwasher went out and wasn't fixed for two weeks. The boys picked out one cup that they could rinse themselves and then we were in the land of paper products and minimalist cooking. It was a long two weeks.

Mother's day came and things were moving along quite nicely until Jared leaned over on the church bench and told me that a member of the high council wanted to meet with me. I knew in my heart what was coming even before Jared told me what they wanted to talk with me about. To pretend that my anxieties didn't shoot through the roof, and that my focus wasn't suddenly usurped by the future, would not paint a picture of me in that moment. Talk about having my favorite day torpedoed! For some reason the rest of the church meetings became a glaring mirror where all my inadequacies were staring back at me. I don't cry often or easily, but I was hanging on by a thread. After church and the boys final orchestra concert (something else I couldn't really focus on unfortunately), I went home and had a little breakdown. Why did the Lord have to send this calling on the heels of an incredibly hectic two weeks. My first thought was how in the world can we do this...it already takes the two of us to manage the morning routine every week. I mean, I had just spent the week without Jared managing everything and it's too much for one person. There are hot breakfasts to be made (not necessary, but important to me), there are four packed lunches to be put together (more necessary as school lunch is...no comment), there are before school piano lessons twice a week for Liam and Caleb, and we've got into such a good rhythm with morning scripture time. And that's just the morning, not everything else that takes place every day from 2:30 onwards and not to mention the fact that my job is taking on a whole new project in the fall that I'm basically creating from the ground up. But.....but, I cannot deny the suggestion that the spirit made to me just a few days before the calling came. I was stretching after a bike ride and felt this impression pop into my mind: if you have 2 hours to ride your bike, you should be able find two hours to devote to studying the gospel. Impression noted, calling accepted, anxieties calmed after a much needed blessing from Jared. So early morning seminary here we, not I, because let's he honest, this is a family calling, come!

Finally, about turning 42. It seems old for some reason and I'm not sure why. I don't feel old, but looking at the numbers 4 and 2 together seems old and saying aloud that I'm 42 seems really old. I had a great birthday with the best gift ever: getting to sleep in on a school day and being surprised with cards and breakfast in bed. They used our scripture reading time to put it together for me and I did feel so loved. I then went on a 7.5 mile run to prove that even at 42 I can still do things like that, then headed up to Culpepper to have lunch at Chick-fil-A with my great friend Em who came down from DC. She has a 19 month old baby, so the indoor play area is the only way we can spend 2 hours together in a location that is equidistant for us both. I headed back to get G and J to swim practice which started back up this week on top of the final week of soccer and got L to violin before making it home in time to say good-bye to C and Jared before they took off for a three-day soccer tournament in Columbia, Maryland. The rest of us then had breakfast for dinner and the boys watched Doctor Who while I packed the car for L and G's soccer tournaments in Richmond. Luckily they were playing at the same complex and on neighboring fields, so I could set up and stay put for the most part of the day and watch the four games. I think what I'll remember most about those games aside from Gavin scoring and Liam playing so hard despite painful heels from Sever's disease, was that I never heard Jonah tell me he was bored the entire 8 hours we were there. He did tell me a few times he didn't know what to do or that he wanted his iPad, but when I told him no on the iPad or suggested things to do, he was content. Thank you Jonah!!

The following pictures are from my phone and they seem to fit well in this post as they give a brief snapshot of my life at 42:

Cartographer's at work:

One day I looked back and saw this: I just love when I glimpse in the boys a sense of childhood freedom.

Gavin  cashing in on one of his straight-A dinners. He wanted bang-bang shrimp from Bone Fish Grill.

Nickel Creek in concert: we all agreed that it was one of the best concerts we've seen, which says a lot knowing how many live performances we have watched.

Making shadows in the early spring before this hillside was covered in grasses. It was Wednesday, cello day, where Jonah and I are buddied up for 90 minutes while Caleb and Gavin have their lessons.

Jonah's self-portrait from the van. He likes to sneak my phone whenever he can and the last time was very clever. He asked if he could use the keys to go sit in the van while we waited for a parade to start. I said sure, then about 5 minutes later was in a panic because I couldn't find my phone and I knew I had it with me earlier.  When I found him in the van with the phone playing some game, he thought he was a rock start for sneaking the phone right out of my pocket!

Jonah has been telling me all about the new Minnesota flag which as far as I can tell is not the image below, but he believes that it is, so of course it went on the phone.

I start my run here a few times a week. This was the morning of my birthday run.

Finally here is a photo of where I like to walk with Jared on Sunday evenings:

Cinco de Mayo boy turns Eight

Last Friday was the beginning of Jonah's 8th Birthday celebration. We decided for the first time we'd have a party that was not at our house. Jonah was keen on the idea of seeing Spiderman 2 on opening night. So we rented the little birthday room that was already decorated and Jonah a his buddies went crazy over the video games while I made quesadillas. When they came back they devoured what I had made and took me seriously when I told them they needed to eat as many vegetables as they were old if they wanted popcorn, soda, and fruits snacks during the movie. I'm pretty sure their moms would have done the same.

Here they are watching the last person spend their tokens on the Spiderman video game:

The next day was Saturday and nothing outside of soccer happened. But, Caleb was away on a band trip, Liam was away on a camping trip which meant that for the first time this entire soccer season, meaning Fall and Spring, Jared and I got to go to both Gavin and Jonah's games and sit together to cheer them on. We didn't know what we were missing....it was so, so nice!!!

Sunday was a big day as Jonah has his interview to get baptized with Bishop Evans, our good friend. He was all decked out in a suit and tie and freshly clean.....Jared always does a good job with church preparation. They headed off and the rest of us joined them after I got the Ken Johnson tacos started for our  Cinco de Mayo meal. It was also the last Sunday Jonah didn't need to fast with the rest of us and he was not at all interested in starting that practice a month earlier. And who can blame him, really?

Once home, Caleb helped me make the angel food cake, Gavin prepped the strawberries, Jared put together the "chasers" and organized the gifts,  Liam did the dishes while I made the tortillas and started the 3 batches of cinnamon rolls for teacher appreciation week and to take some into Jonah's class. It was definitely not a day of rest after 8 hours in the kitchen, but Jonah's gratitude made it all worth it!

Then Monday May 5th finally rolled around and to make the day special I brought in cinnamon rolls for his class and even though I wouldn't let him out of his piano lesson, after dinner we did take a trip into town to pick out new shoes (the ones I bought were too big) and hit Sweet Frogs for frozen yogurt topped with candy. Jared and I find it disgusting, but there are two locations here in C-ville, so it's obviously a hit with some people, including my kids. Everyone else was off at orchestra rehearsal or soccer tryouts. So it was just the two of us which was nice as I love spending time with this boy. I love to listen to him chat in the car about all sorts of ideas. Right now he's always asking me if they have made a decision yet if having wild animals for pets should be legal or not. He'd read an article in National Geographic about people who keep wild animals for pets and the ethical, legal reason for either allowing it or banning the practice. If he could, he'd bring in all sorts of wild animals into his life for his pets. For now, his stufties will have to suffice.

Jonah at Eight:

1. You love animals more than most anything else. You love to carry around your stufties, arrange them in your bed, beg for me to bring ones down from the attic, bring them to school, and when friends come over at some point you play what you simply call "Stufties".

2. You are looking forward to being baptized this summer at the Harris family reunion. Being with cousins and grandparents is one of your favorite ways to spend a vacation.

3. You still love toast and if there is cookie butter the house that is your topping of choice. You are a pretty good eater with the exception of PBJ's, coconut and tomatoes. You just told me about the coconut and tomatoes as I couldn't think of anything other than the PBJ's. Funny to me as I never would have thought of either of those two foods.

4. You sleep on the top bunk with Gavin below and the two of you spend lots of time together because your both still in elementary school. You have one more year together before Gavin heads to middle school. If we don't have music or soccer after school, the two of you come home and usually head to your bedroom where you grab a book and just read for a bit. I think you like the peace of silence after a busy day at school. But soon after you head out to play on the tramp and will often be out there for an hour or more before coming in for music and homework.You are only 19 months apart so for the next 4 months I have and 8 and 9 year old.

5. You love to read How to Train your Dragon, American Chillers and Spirit Animals. You also read anything you can find about any kind of animal. You are trying to finish the Book of Mormon before you get baptized and you are making great progress.

6. You like to pretend you are a big-time fiddle player at some point during our violin practices and you also usually cry at some point as well. I'm really hoping that you move out of that sooner rather than later. It's usually when you are forced to read the music and not have someone play the piece for you or recall it from memory. Most of the time the violin pieces have been in your head for years from listening to the brothers, so when there is something new, it throws you for about 5-10 minutes, but boy are you mad and pouty during that time.

7. You are a good friend and never shy away from playing with someone new.

8. I think you share dads sense of adventure as you are the one most likely to talk about taking a trip somewhere on a plane or train or getting up early in the morning to get in the car to drive to a new place. I love this about you especially because it's not something you've learned, it's simply who you are.

9. You have the most infectious laugh and during your birthday dinner we all agreed that it was one of the things we all love about you. You are simply a happy child, full of life and curiosity and wonder.

10. You collect things: rocks, pieces of string, wood shavings, pine cones and you worry that I will thrown them away and sometimes I'm sorry, but I do. Wood shavings.....they are just messy. But, I keep the rocks on the kitchen window sill, and I dust around your pine cones.

I have always said that you are the boy who I have the hardest time watching grow up, because you are my marker of lasts: my last eight year old, the last the be baptized, the last one who will want to have collections of silly things like wood shavings, and the last to giggle with the freedom that comes with the innocence of childhood. Happy birthday, Jonah! I love you!!

 New scriptures from Grandma and Grandpa Harris:

A new Okapi stuftie from Gavin (named stripe):

A new big horned sheep from Liam (named lip after cousin Sol's sheep by the same name):

A new Penny Board from Caleb:

And finally a new photo from dad of a dinosaur and a boy....a random roadside art sculpture in South Dakota that Jared picked up from the artist at Portland's Saturdays market.

My gifts included new shoes (not shown) and this cake with a candelabra candle. I never dreamed I'd be out of regular candles.....Jared thought of this on the fly.