Treats

My blog makes it seem like all us Wigginton's do is eat treats. And that's not totally true! Sure, we know how to eat our way through a party, but to be fair we mostly eat rabbit food around here and we eat it in plenty, so it's all good. Fruit for breakfast, veggies for snack, protein for lunch, veggies for snack, a salad for dinner and a whole bowl of cookie dough for dessert...that's how it works at your house too, is it not? These last couple of weeks we've had a couple of good reasons to get a treat, here are a few:

A "Because Mema's Here" Happy Meal

A "Because We Made It Through the First Week of School" Slurpee

A "Because We Cleaned the Church So Good" Donut

And another donut pick, because they're just such adorable little friends

A "Because It Is Fill-a-Bucket Day at 7/11" Slurpee

Our last day at Disney

If I would have known that this was going to be our families last day at Disneyland with our Annual Passes I probably would have had my camera out a little bit more, gone on a few extra rides and bought myself an extra Dole Whip. I had planned two more Disney days after this adventure, but I didn't know at the time that we would be moving within the month and those plans were ex-ed out in favor of more packing, womp womp. 

I probably should have had my camera out regardless, because this Disney day was extra special since Mema, Pepa and the Provo McKee's joined in on the fun. I love time spent with family more than just about anything else. But things were crazy with the two little girls and I just didn't have enough hands to hold, nurse and photograph. Luckily I got a few special ones and luckily so did they and luckily I have masterpieces of this fun adventure painted on the walls of my memory bank.

One in particular happened at the very end of the long day. Half of the group left to ride a few more big rides and my half stayed to watch the sleeping babies and the light parade. I sat near the back of a large crowd of people propped up against a wall with a heavy Quinny in my arms and watched the magic through cracks in the crowd. At one point I noticed my Mom was on tip-toes and swaying to the music to my left, and my Dad was on my right with still feet but dancing eyes. I felt safe sandwiched between them, and felt so grateful for the fun we were able to share together that day. Without even realizing it I started singing along to the sounds of the parade, almost like the words were meant for me, "When can we do this again? Oh, oh, oh-oh. I never want this to end. Oh, oh, oh-oh." There may have been some misty eyes, but we'll just blame that on exhaustion! Hopefully we can do this again soon!

While everyone else rode the Toy Story ride Ever and I played some games and won some prizes!

Heart eyes for these two Minnie's.

Two sleeping girls on Pirates.

This is how Quinn fell asleep after a spastic few hours at the end there. Her energy is always surprising, even when she's utterly exhausted.

The only picture we got with everyone was on the way to the car at midnight. For shame! I love these people so much. What a fun, fun day!

One Good Woman

I'm grateful for my words; not always the ones that come out of my mouth but always, always the ones that come out through my fingers. Two nights ago as I was unpacking a box of books I came across the binder my Mom filled with every letter I wrote her during my entire mission. I started reading the letters and before long I was completely entranced, unable to part from the pages that once were the story of my life, but now only a far-distant memory. I remembered the long days at the MTC and my longing to forget myself and enter the mission field in Taiwan. I was reminded of great miracles I thought at the time I would never forget (and somehow had) and my urgent desire to make a difference in the world, one scooter contact at a time. I felt the pain of heartbreak, betrayal and disappointment right along with my 21-year-old self and before long I was weeping at my dining room table, feeling so much empathy for the naive young girl who thought she knew something about love and about life. I was overcome by the faith and the testimony that was so evident in every last letter. This was a girl who knew God. This was a girl who loved Jesus. This was a girl who had complete trust in Their ways. And this girl was me. Ten years later, it was humbling indeed to feel my spirit strengthened by words I wrote in a small internet cafe in Taichung.

This is my 1000th blog post. ONE THOUSAND POSTS! No sooner did I come home from my mission than I was married, working, retiring and having my first baby. {Those things really did happen in hyper-speed!} Talmage was just a few months old when we moved to Cambridge and this blog was started in part as a way to share our European adventure with family and friends back in the states. Over the last seven years this space has served as a communication tool with family and friends, but it has also been an outlet for my soul, a travelogue of our life and adventures and a journal of all the amazing things my children have done and said. This blog has seen me through richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, and if this is sounding a little like a marriage vow then you've got it because ask James, I'm a little married to this space! I've had four kids, I had a traumatic miscarriage, I've moved 11 times, I was a "law school widow" and a penny-pinching clerk's wife and now I'm treading through the big law lifestyle and through it all, this blog has been my sounding board. I hope that just as the words of missionary Heather touched my soul this week that the words on this blog will someday lift the spirits of a future Heather in need of a reminder of everything that she was, is and can be.

 "I know that I can never say that I'm the only one who's prayed for pain to end, or love to last, or for time not to go by so fast. But it will fly and in a hundred years from now, will there ever be someone who reads my name and wonders if I laughed? Or if I believed in Jesus? Or it my heart were ever broken? They may never understand what I go through but I will live the best that I know how for one big lifetime. It's not too much to ask of one good woman." --Cherie Call

Thrifty Ice Cream

The name of the game is bribery, and usually it works just fine. Sure, there were still puddles of Ever tears on the floor and T hid underneath the big chair in the corner, but we did the deed and then we got our reward. The deed = flu shots. The reward = Thrifty ice cream at the Rite Aid next door. And Quinn should have gotten a double scoop because she was a straight up boss. She sat in the chair, got the shot, let just a tear or two fall from her big browns and then asked for a Batman sticker. You can tell she has brothers because she doesn't want a princess sticker even though they have those in plenty, but she does ask for Batman on the purple background, so there's that. Ice cream choices should you care to know: Black cherry for the baby. Birthday cake for the boy in the middle. Cookie dough for the T. And for some reason I got mint chip even though I don't even like mint chip (why did I do that? I'm serious right now.) So then I tried to trade my mint chip with Quinny's black cherry, but she refused to trade. "No! No fank you! I wan, mine!" I didn't get a flu shot with the rest of my lot so I had little bargaining power and just ate the darn mint. Next time I'm letting my little girlfriend order for me.  

Our today

I have so much to catch up on documenting. We went to Disneyland for the last time with our annual passes a few weeks back. Jordan and Madelyn came to visit with the sweetest Lu. Our Cora Nicole was blessed at church. The kids are busy looking cute, saying witty things and being involved in awesome things, all of which deserve deliberate documentation. So much from yesterday I need to remember, but I'll worry about back-tracking on a more boring day (tomorrow, most likely). Because today...today was a wonderful day and I want to write about it right now.

{In all honesty I kind of want to be sleeping right now, not writing. I'm so tired all the time these days! But if I must write (and I must--Wigginton's are not quitters) then I want to write about today. Just keeping it real.}

A while back Everett won tickets to the Santa Monica Pier for our whole family--rides and food included--and since James was off of work today we decided to make it happen. The kids were over the moon thrilled. We stayed for four hours, ate greasy food in all it's varieties, went on a slew of carni rides, played a game as a family and did not win a prize and left feeling very satisfied. Things I learned about my children at Pacific Park today are as follows: 

• Talmage now loves to take pictures and asks me repeatedly to take photos of him at various locations, but he is either not looking at the camera or purposely being ridiculous in all of them. His future wife and their wedding video will not be happy, but he doesn't seem to care! 
• Everett, who is notorious for crying at theme parks and being a little bit of a wet blanket, LOVES fast rides that spin. This was news to me since he despises nearly every ride at Disneyland and would usually weep when we even mentioned going, but sure enough his favorite ride today was called the Scrambler and boy was it crazy fast. You learn something new every day.
• You can expect Quinn to look like she's in pain, scared and miserable through 90 percent of any ride she goes on, but the second it's over she's clapping, cheering, asking for more, and fighting about having to take off her seat belt and get out. The process had me seriously LOL-ing. That girl is just so, so fun. 
• Cora is a saint of a baby. As long as she's not in the car, she's not out past bedtime and she's not being put down, you literally will not hear a peep from her. That girl is along for the ride in all the right ways. I love her!

After the pier we hit up Salt & Straw, the fanciest and yummiest little ice cream shop in Venice. Ice cream for dinner is definitely the right way to finish off a day of healthy eating choices, cough cough. But believe me, this place was worth every calorie and has now made its way onto my tourist list when company comes a-knocking. The flavors were so interesting. For example, I had almond brittle and sea salt, James had lavender rocky road, Ever tried bone marrow and black cherry and Quinn had cinnamon toast with apple butter. T had ooey gooey brownie, which while not totally weird was amazingly good. We ate ice cream, then headed to OSH to pick out flowers for our new house. Life has changed so much in the last month, and I'm still breathing in the beauty of it. 

Shake Shack, baby, Shake Shack

My love for Shake Shack runs deep. Not as deep as my love for that grumpy Gus of a Cora Nicole, but close! In fairness, she is a serious soul but usually not all that grumpy, making this photo all the more hilarious and pathetic. Also to note, she looks like Talmage when she cries, Quinn when she smiles and Ever Knight when she's doing neither of those. So basically there's no denying that they're all Wiglets. Yum, I love her.

And yum brings me back to Shake Shack. I reeeaaa-he-he-healy love a Shack burger and cheese fries. I thought moving back to the West Coast would remind my taste buds that I was raised on In 'N Out, but every time I eat a Double Double Animal Style I think, meh, and start daydreaming about our next trip to Hollywood. Last time we were there the manager emptied his pockets full of coupons onto our table when we struck up a conversation about how obsessed we were with his establishment. I'm talking lots and lots of coupons! He also gave the boys hats, the girls t-shirts (Lucy was visiting this weekend, so she got one too) and Coco this adorable little onesie. I mean, you can't make up that level of niceness.

In a few months a new Shake Shack is going to open up right down the street from our home. Not as close as the Natural History Museum location was to our apartment on West 70th, but not much further either. If you have any doubt about whether or not I'll be at the Grand Opening then you really don't know me at all. Just look for the fan-girl and her four crazy fan-babes in tow, we'll be wearing our swag and singing our Shake Shack song (because we really sing songs about the Shack in our family). For everyone's sake I hope that Coco isn't pouting as loudly as she was in that picture, but she told me it all depends on whether I agree to let her guzzle down some cheese sauce. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

The First Day of School: Kinder and 2nd Grade

Ever Knight would not go to Pre-K without a fight. Ever Knight through a tantrum of epic proportions when I took him to check out the Kindergarten classrooms last year at T's Open House. Ever Knight kept telling me all summer long, "Actuawy Mom, I am not going to Kindergarten." With some kids you could just laugh that statement off, but Ever Knight is not afraid to make a scene and shows no mercy. I knew he would "actuawy" go to Kindergarten because like it or not I am still the boss, but I knew it could get really ugly. And yes, I was scared!

With exceptionally high maternal anxiety I woke up on the morning of the first day of school to two little boyfriends who were more excited than I could have imagined to meet their teachers, make new friends and learn interesting and exciting things. I kept waiting for Ever's grand protest, but the little boys walked hand in hand to school, hugged us at the door, smiled as they walked into their respective classes, and never looked back. I chalked it up to being first day enthusiasm and figured it would fade, but we're going on week three now and both of them are rockstars. Hallelujah! And maybe a little sad that they were so anxious to get away? But mostly hallelujah!

At the dinner table after the first day of school we were debriefing on all of the minuscule details of their days and I nonchalantly asked if they had seen each other at school (but didn't think they would have because they don't share play yards, recess times, or anything else!) T got really excited and said, "YES! When I was walking to library and he was walking to the Kinder-yard for recess I saw his class and I ran really fast, gave him a big hug, and then ran back to my classes line. It was so cool!" Ever Knight was beaming and said, "Yah, I tode evewyone dat he is my big bwutho." Talk about a heart-melting mama moment. I've asked myself a million times why the transition this year has been so much smoother for our baby brother than it was last year, and I think I've finally realized that the answer is with T. Those boys are so lucky to have each other and I'm so glad they're at the same school and can sneak in some mid-day loves. Here's to another successful year at school!