Spring: as told through Instagram and incomplete sentences

Because how else am I going to catch up with this darn blog?!?Making lemonade with our backyard lemons.

Surprise visit from some Dallas Birds!

Nanny!

Nanny's ice cream cure for teething went over pretty well.

Papa!

Luke's 2 week business trip necessitated the call for reinforcements. What would we do without grandparents?

Playing in the hose.

Into every life a little rain (or Norovirus) must fall. 

Luckily everyone was well for St. Patrick's day and laughably elaborate hairstyles...thank you Pinterest!

And thank you Burchjerks

You guys sure know how to throw a party!

The photo wall was his favorite part.

Fr. Francis! And Giraffes!

My girls' personalities epitomized by one photo.

The happiest little girl I know.

Charge, Simba!

Not too grown up to pose with the waterhole sculptures.

Our little St. Joseph's day altar...nothing takes me back to my New Orleans childhood  like the taste of an anisette cookie.

Isaiah's magic shirt

Here is Isaiah in what we call his magic shirt, so named because of its apparent inability to be outgrown. The tag says 3-6 months, but he is 16 months now and it is just starting to get too short in front.Twelve years ago, when Luke and I were two giddy newlyweds expecting our first child half a world away in Italy, we were huddled together over the sluggish internet connection in the RA office at Due Santi, doing some online shopping at Baby Gap. We weren't going to find out the baby's sex (much to the shock and horror of every Italian we tried to explain this fact to) but we decided to order this shirt and a little sweater vest "just in case." We both had a hunch baby #1 would be a boy. Then Lili was born and I packed the little shirt away, thinking, "maybe next time." 

After daughter #3 was born and I packed up her baby clothes, I almost gave the little shirt away, since I was by this time positively convinced we were going to be a family of all girls...like the Bennets, or the Marches, or the Ingalls. After all, if anyone fit the feisty, second-born-of-a-house-of-daughters mold cast by such literary greats as Lizzy, Jo, and Laura, it was my Audrey. I am still kind of hopeful/terrified that she will someday write a book about her childhood and skewer us all. But I digress.

I decided to pack the shirt away one more time just in case. So it was there in its plastic wrapper ten years later when Isaiah surprised us all by being a boy. I REALLY was convinced he was a girl, so convinced that I found it annoying in the midst of contractions that my midwife kept calling the baby " he." It just goes to show that you never know what (or who) God has in store for you. I'm still a bit surprised that, twelve years later, we have a son to put into that magic shirt, a little mischief-maker whose eyes match its particular shade of blue perfectly, and who has rolled around in the grass and ground bananas into it until it is battered and stained. I'll never be able to get rid of it, and I'll probably be pulling it out and weeping into it when Isaiah is a big stinky teenager. It will always remind me of how surprised I was when God gave me Isaiah.

And boy, was he ever worth the wait!

Closing out 2013: Christmas and California

 Christmas 2013 was a happy whirlwind. Luke's whole family was able to be together, including all seven Winterings all the way from North Carolina. It was such a blessing to be able to spend some nice quality time with all of the aunts and uncles and cousins. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: my children are so lucky to have such an amazing extended family who makes them feel so loved and cherished. I've said this before, too, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll say it again: I wish I took more pictures.

 Two days after Christmas, we packed up the car and set off for the California coast. It was Grandma Marceen's 90th birthday, so the whole Speier clan gathered to celebrate.

 Most of the family are based in Santa Barbara, a beautiful spot which I wish we could have had more time to explore. Uncle Kurt and Aunt Jan gave us a tour of their church, St. Athanasius. Getting to see their beautiful icons and was a highlight of the trip for me. It was amazing to see so much beauty tucked away in an unassuming building. Their community is moving to a new space, and I hope one day we can visit there as well.

We had a great time catching up with all the extended family, although we missed Aunt Brit and the Winterings.

We took a little walk on the pier before Grandma's party, and the girls tried to make a new friend.

Kateri's flip flop flew off of her foot and into the drink, a minor tragedy which caused a few tears from Kateri and me to clutch my wiggly toddler a little tighter. After the weekend festivities, we drove down to the Newport area.

 

Here is Isaiah at Little Corona. This beach is amazing. If you go at low tide, you can see so many gorgeous and interesting creatures in the tide pools. We saw sea hares, bright lavender sea urchins, starfish, anemones, and little opaleye fish. Then, after we hiked back up to the street and were chatting with Uncle Justin, Uncle Travis, and Aunt Stephanie, a little girl standing nearby pointed out a whale spouting just beyond the kelp line. The wildlife in the Pacific never ceases to amaze me...it would seem like the population density of Southern California would drive all the creatures away, but no.
All in all, the trip was a big success, and a great way to close out the year. Here's to a great 2014!

Our Hobbit Halloween

First off, if you would like to see some non-blurry shots of our evening, along with a far more appropriate post title...Emily has posted her lovely photos here

Our Hobbit Halloween was an absolute blast, and while I never want to see another piece of brown craft foam, I had so much fun making these costumes (with the exception of Bilbo's waistcoat, which was all Nanny.) We had a little party the weekend before so the kids could play in their costumes to their hearts' content.

Kateri and Finn were my favorite...they are at that magical age where their imaginations are so vivid and they truly believe they look exactly like their characters.

I loved watching Kateri's dress float behind her as she ran from house to house in the dark on Halloween.

Thorin and co.

Those burchjerks sure know how to sell it. Audrey couldn't keep a straight face. I'll miss her singing her own theme music as she plays. She and Lucy were so excited about their costumes it was hilarious...instead of saying "Trick or Treat," they actually bowed and said "Fili and Kili, at your service." I'm sure they completely confused most of the nice people giving out candy one Halloween, but I guess it beats dressing up as a flirty candy-corn or whatever other abomination Party City is trying to market to eight year old girls...

My favorite part of this picture is how proud Finn is of the sculpey ring his mom made him...he reeeeally wants to make sure it gets caught on film.

Lili and Jack went as Mirkwood elves: Tauriel and Legolas. We only know Tauriel from the trailer for the Desolation of Smaug, so I am crossing my fingers that her character isn't lame. Come on, Peter Jackson, don't let us down! I kind of want to take Lili and Jack to the midnight premiere and let them dress up, but that might be taking things a bit too far. Plus they have school the next day. Plus they would probably get super embarrassed.

 

Bilbo having a chat with a hobbit lady-friend and mangling his pipe.

Let's not forget Smaug the Adorable

who was stolen by Tauriel for a few minutes, naturally.

 

Bilbo and Legolas, who is a big softie when it comes to babies hobbits.

 

I think it was our best Halloween yet...maybe we should retire. I hear Party City has some lovely selections to choose from.

It's the craftiest time of the year...

'I was recently given a hard time by one of the two people who read my blog about what a terrible slacker I've been lately. So, sorry, Uncle Justin...we've been using most of Isaiah's precious nap times to work on Halloween costumes. This year, we're continuing our streak of doing a group theme with the burchjerks, and it's The Hobbit. Since I've been in love with Tolkien since the 5th grade, I'm almost as excited for Halloween as Kateri:

Kateri is going to be Galadriel. I think she might be even more excited about this than when she was Astrid. She is totally convinced that she looks every bit as tall and willowy and gorgeous as Cate Blanchett in her getup.

But seriously, I love this time of year. I have hot glue gun burns all over my fingertips, and most days Isaiah seems to be succeeding in his campaign of household destruction, but it's the only time of year I force myself to make time for any sort of creative outlet. True, I probably waste way too much time poring over Lili's book of conceptual  art from the movie, and laughing at awesomely cheesy cosplay photos, but maybe forcing myself to draft patterns and try new techniques just might help me stave off Alzheimer's.

This has happened more times than I care to admit...over the past few weeks he has also learned to both climb and remove his own diaper, so our quality of life has taken a serious hit.

 

We still have a lot of work to do...

Isaiah at 1

Our baby turned one last week. I'm afraid to write too much because I know my words have the tendency to turn maudlin and sappy when reflecting on how fast all of my babies are growing. Instead, here is a little snapshot of our little man at one:

(enjoy my pinterest-fail-worthy cupcakes and our family's dirge-like singing)


P1030693 from Allison Speier on Vimeo.

continued here:


P1030694 from Allison Speier on Vimeo.

As much as I am mourning the baby months that have flown by too quickly, I am loving the toddler months, in all their messy, hilarious, infuriating, accident-prone, snuggly, adorable glory!

Kateri

 The week before school started, after I had written tiny initials in Sharpie on approximately 3 billion back-to-school items, I looked at Kateri sitting at the dinner table and had a little mini panic attack about her leaving me forever starting half-day kindergarten. Heart palpitations, cold sweat, nausea...she just still seems like a baby to me...maybe because of her Elmer Fudd speech impediment, or because her daily necessary quota of snuggles is still pretty high.
Anyway, I got a grip on myself, and my little girl went off proud as can be with her big sisters for her first day at school.

Thank goodness for Mrs. Hundelt. If Kateri had started school with any lesser teacher, I probably would have been sobbing into my coffee after I got home. By the way,  don't let Isaiah fool you in this picture. He might look like he is posing agreeably for a family photo, but I am fairly certain he was scheming about how much destruction he could wreak upon those nicely organized shelves before we grabbed him.

The following week, Kateri turned five. I feel a little bit guilty that we have never had a party for her, but she was so happy about the blobby cake we made together (avert your eyes, Aunt Katie) and her new pink boots, I don't think she minded. Happy birthday, sweet Kateri! Thank you for making our lives that much brighter for these past five years!


P1030666 from Allison Speier on Vimeo.