Writing on the wall

There are mothering moments I know someday I will be thrilled to put behind me. The deafening noise. The never-ending laundry hamper. The disagreements over what constitutes dinner deliciousness. The necessity to find a babysitter if I want to do anything. Ever. So many late afternoons see me praying out loud as I walk through the house. I ask for peace. I ask for patience. I ask for strength and clarity and grit. I ask that someday my babies will remember all the good times, and maybe forget the late afternoons all together because it just never shows me at my best.

But there are also some mothering moments I have a hunch I'll always cherish, and maybe even miss. A few weeks ago I was cleaning the house after another long day when I saw the smallest and most darling little person drawn in pencil on the wall, courtesy of my Quinny Cat. Don't get me wrong, I do not condone wall drawing and only a week before this discovery she had gotten in major trouble for scribbling all over the smooth wall leading to the backyard, but there was something about this little person that made me smile, that tugged on my heart strings. It was so teeny tiny, barely as big as my fingertip, and I wondered how long it had been hanging there before I found it. I could just see that little Sunshine Kitten, tongue out in concentration, trying to make her new little friend as small as possible so as not to mess up Mama's walls like she was instructed. Call me crazy but I just found the whole thing so adorable that I ended up leaving it there for weeks and seeing it in the hallway reminded me how much I love having little people in my life and in my home. They make life interesting, unpredictable and just so stinkin' cute.

Laundry and dinner are still on my naughty list, but believe it or not I may just miss the writing on the wall.

Sunday School at the Tidepools

Quinn's new thing is to tell me what she loves me more than. I think it all started when I told her that I loved her like a fat kid loves cake. It was literally like her mind was blown! Now, every time I tell her I love her, she replies back with something she loves me more than, usually cheeseburgers because, duh, greater love hath no Wigginton. We end up going back and forth with I love you more than cheeseburgers and fries, and then Quinn adding a shake, and then I add a cookie for dessert. It's really endearing and I love that Quinny likes to play along. We were in the middle of playing this game at bedtime when Cora said she wanted to do it to. "I love you Coco!" I said as I turned on their ocean sound machine. She took her binky out of her mouth, sat up from her pillow and said, "I wuv you more dan oatmeal, Mama!" Oh my heavens, that baby girl! I scooped her up and couldn't help but nibble on her cheeks (I tell her they taste like strawberries!) And lest you think she was mocking me by saying oatmeal, you have no idea how she begs for that breakfast food at every meal and can down two or three bowls of steel cut goodness every morning. She loves her oatmeal, and she loves me. And if it wasn't apparent enough, I love her. And her sister. And those brothers of theirs who are too big for nibbling but are adored just the same.

Anyway, this post had nothing to do with that story but I just needed to record it before I forgot it and thought, what the heck, let's do it here and now! 

What this post is really about is how we turned our Sunday family scripture study into beach time and how any feelings of skepticism about two-hour church faded when I realized the potential for awesome family time on Sunday afternoon. James learned that Abalone Cove would be experiencing the lowest tide of the year so we hopped on the opportunity to see the sea. I baked some apple cinnamon muffins, James prepared a lesson, and then we were off to the most beautiful landscape to read and study the scriptures together. We're still getting the hang of teaching our children these lessons so that everyone is learning something, but each week I think it gets a little bit better, and when your view is basically a spiritual experience in and of itself the teaching is way easier. Here's to 2019 and trying something new!  

Room with a view, huh?

These two were everywhere, with a blonde little puppy following closely on their heels.

We saw three octopi, a bunch of starfish, anemones, a sea slug, fish and crabs and so many other things. It was the most successful visit to the tide pools that we've ever had. 

We are Harry Potter fanatics right now, and Ev goes almost nowhere without his round glasses and list of spells. 

Another scout in the family

A few days ago Everett grasped me tightly around my waist and said, "Mom, I just never want to stop hugging you for my whole life." He's getting older, wiser, more mature and so ridiculously tall lately, but he's not losing that innocent, all-consuming and tender love for me, the luckiest Mama in the world. He's always been my little love bug, so content to cuddle up in blankets on the couch all day, and the older he gets the more I realize that these are his traits, this is him. Everett is love. Everett is acceptance. Everett is a calm afternoon and a warm embrace. Everett is a slow, late, lazy morning. I feel so lucky to know this kid, and to continue getting to know him each and every day.

At the beginning of the year Everett met a major milestone--he started cub scouts. In our church troop, we usually start the boys in scouts when they turn 8, but recent changes have allowed these young boys to start the January of the year they turn 8 so Everett was in, six months earlier than expected. To say he was excited is just such an understatement, and when the day finally arrived he was dressed in his scouts garb hours before we left. Those almond eyes, round cheeks and beautiful smile get me every time but the addition of a little yellow neckerchief nearly did me in. I love that baby boy of mine, and I'm so excited for a full and fun year of scouts for him!   

The cutest little wolf I ever did see!

All the heart eyes for these brothers in uniform. 

Chasey and Ev, partners in crime! I'm so excited that these little besties are once again on a grand adventure together. 

Strike School = Mom School

The teachers in LAUSD went on strike and I chose to keep my kids home and have Mom School for as long as it took until they were ready to come back into the classroom. I'm rarely political and not nearly as educated as I should be on anything, but I love the teachers at my kids school and if they felt passionate enough that change was needed then I wanted to be there for them. The strike ended up lasting a little over a week and as silly as this sounds, I was sad to send my babies back to school. You know me, always up for an adventure and with them home I was planning one every day. In just a week we went to the Peterson Auto Museum, the Autry Western Museum, the LA Zoo, the La Brea Tar Pits, Franklin Canyon, the Annenberg Space for Photography, the Vasquez Rocks and the Abalone Cove Tide Pools...plus a few parks, the library and lots of play time here at home. I planned daily lessons, projects, reading and tests for formal education and the boys and I continued our Harry Potter reading (which we've called our Harr-athons). Quite a few times during the week I wondered whether pulling them out and homeschooling them would actually be a better experience for our family because I loved having them home so much, but I think at least one of them was definitely missing the constant stimulation that a school atmosphere provides. Anyway, school is back but I'll always have the sweetest memories of our random week in January when we pretended like it was summer and played all day, e'ry day! 

The Peterson with pals.

We had a constant flow of children and friends in our home whose parents had to work during the strike but didn't feel comfortable sending their kids to school. I kept telling my boys how lucky they were that I was at home to watch and teach them, and I know they were grateful. 

Quinn goes to a private preschool so she still went to school during the day while the boys were home. She kind of hated having to leave them, but if I wanted to get anything done with the boys academically then it was better for her to be at school with her friends. I tried to keep the big adventures to when she was there, but on Tuesday we went to the Autry and I was all sad seeing Quinn's dairy without our little Quinn with us. 

My little flamingo with some of her flamingo friends. 

This is the best swing around and T pumped Cora for almost an hour, bless him! All she wants to do is swing, swing, swing when we are at the park.

Cutest birthday cake!

We put the training wheels on this bike and Quinn and I went on all sorts of rides around town.

James' first time to Franklin Canyon and it didn't disappoint. It was so clear we could see the ocean from the top of the hike!

Annenberg Photo Exhibit was amazing!

Vasquez Rocks

The day after Talmage came home from Catalina he was pretty down in the dumps. Believe me, I get it. Post-vacation blues are the worst. We decided the best way to jump back into real life was to have a Saturday family adventure, and James had the perfect spot: Vasquez Rocks. I had never heard of this place, and how is that possible because it was massive and gorgeous and not super far and so impressive?! It was a little hard for T to remember how to follow parental directions and be a good example for little ones after being on his own for a few days, but it was still such a fun trip and I'm so glad we got in a few hours of hiking before the rain. (I know, rain...random, right?)

I felt like I was in St. George with the stunning rocks. The kids, they felt like they were in heaven!

I love her guts so much. That girl is alllll adventure and fun and keeping up with her big brothers.

T wanted to do all the dangerous things, because "it's not fun if I'm not hanging off a cliff." Yep, so there's that.

This sweet little baby just begs to be held. I try and tell her that when Quinn was her age she was a big sister of a 1 year-old, but it just doesn't phase her! Oh well, stay little my little.

We nicknamed Everett the mountain goat because he was jumping from rock to rock and having so much fun hiking around. He's getting so big and his love and concern are being met with such a great sense of adventure recently. I'm loving it, and him, so much!

Cora was watching her siblings carefully, carefully, carefully. I thought she'd stay on the bottom of the boulder but...

Off she went! Loved seeing that baby grit.

And then came rain, SO MUCH RAIN! So grateful for the morning spent in nature, and equally grateful for the hot cocoa, popcorn and movie afternoon.

T's CIMI Adventure

I often talk about miracles on this blog because I believe in them, I see them, I know that they're real. Miracles can manifest themselves in great and marvelous ways, but I also see them in ordinary life: my children getting along, my extra dose of energy around dinnertime and a few weeks ago, in my oldest getting to go on a field trip we were sure would be cancelled. Recognizing miracles makes me a happier, more grateful person so I choose to see them and praise them always. And to me, Talmage's adventure at CIMI was a miracle.

The LAUSD teacher strike was supposed to start on the second day of a three-day, two-night field trip for the fourth and fifth graders at our school, meaning it had to be cancelled. They were going to take a ferry to Catalina Island and stay at the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) for an adventure straight out of my nine-year-old's dreams. There would be squid dissecting, rock climbing, snorkeling, shark petting and night hiking and if that wasn't cool enough, there was juice and cookies at every meal and a campsite bedtime that was hours later than the one enforced at home. Yes, this trip was going to be everything. And up until the night before, we were convinced it was not going to happen. 

I don't know how we got so lucky, but at the very last minute the strike was delayed by just two days, two small days that made all the difference for hundreds of Westwood children. I know it's silly to think there was some divine intervention when in actuality it was just a legal hang-up, but I choose to be grateful for whatever miracle allowed this trip to happen. Sure, the day before the trip I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get him ready for what felt like a surprise adventure but it was worth it because I just knew he'd have the best time. And he did. 

Sending your baby into the world and relinquishing control is an interesting experience, and nearly ten years into parenting this was new territory for me. On one hand, I hated not knowing what he was doing every moment and missed seeing the joy and excitement on his face when he did something fun. Every night I fretted over whether he'd remember to put on extra socks if he was cold and was sure he'd lose every sweatshirt I sent with him, as he does. At the same time, I marveled that he was old enough to independently embark on a trip I know he'll always cherish and my heart swelled with pride at his growing goodness and sense of adventure. I was so excited for him! T has a big personality and our home was quiet and empty without him. We missed him BIG. 

When I picked him up at the Long Beach Pier late Friday afternoon he and his friends were abuzz about every detail of the trip--the tame bison walking around camp, the perfect location of their dorm room, the camp directors dancing in their onesie pajamas and playing human fusbol during free time. Leela told me about the constellations she saw on the night hike, Lucas A. saw some Garibaldi fish while snorkeling, Talmage couldn't stop talking about all the names of the rock walls (The Beast!) and Lucas B. talked about touching real live sharks. We took turns going around the car telling a memory and this lasted the whole two hours home, until Talmage could barely talk anymore his voice was so hoarse and all the other friends were giddy to get home and tell their own families these stories again. There was so much energy in the car and it was electric, oh I loved it!

After a shower and a few hours at home I found Talmage cuddled in his new CIMI sweatshirt crying. I was sure he was hungry and tired, but he said he was neither. Finally, I said, "T, what's wrong? I don't understand why you're so upset." He looked at me with sincere and tear-filled eyes and said, "Mom, isn't it obvious? I just had the time of my life and I want to go back!" I couldn't help but smile because I have felt those same emotions so many times, and isn't it wonderful to have had such an incredible experience that you just want to live it again and again? I'm so grateful T got to go to CIMI, just so sincerely grateful. 

These happy friends were so excited for the adventure awaiting them. I got this picture the morning Lucas' mom dropped them off in Long Beach and looked at it a million times over the next three days.

T taught all his friends gin rummy on the ferry and even had a pretty heated game with Mrs. Thyer!

I was standing on a bench screaming when I saw their ferry pulling up to the dock. I almost started crying. I'm clingy, it's cool!

Oh my gosh, I LOVE HIM!!! I may embarrass him with my squeals, but this smile is just everything to my mama heart. 

The triumphant explorers, back home at last.