Trick-Or-Treat, Gobble, all the way to Ho Ho Ho

Yikes. No posts in almost two months means this is gonna be a hefty one. Of course, its only because the kids are all so amazingly darling and I just have such a high paced exciting life and so many interesting things to blog about. Or something like that.

Guess I will start at Halloween and work my way through. Guess what? I am not a fan of Halloween. I dont really think orange and black spooky decorations are cute, and if it were up to me I would skip it all together. But...I do have four goblins who happen to like dressing up and getting ALL THAT candy, so of course, we find ourselves knockin' on doors along with the rest of our neighborhood friends each year.

This year, Katie was on the fence as to whether she was too old for dressing up. She decided she could be an '80's girl...you know, the really wierd girls from WAAAAAYYYYY back in the 80's? I mean, like...ohmigod.

Ryan, no surprise, was a Superhero again..this time Captain America. Cute as ever.

Ethan chose Thor. I am not sure why, because he hadnt even seen the movie, but I guess it was an impulse decision while staring at Costco's selection. ( I have no clue where he gets that trait from by the way)  Again, cutie patootie.

Owen was the most adorable gap tooth toddler lion ever.
So we costumed. We tricked, we treated, we tossed a good 75% of their candy when they all went to bed. Shhhhh...   Here is a photo of the group all gussied up ready to take on the hood.

On to the next fun event. This year marked the start of a new tradition on my side, the Beehlers. Because dad lives up in Washington and all of us kids live here in Cali., he is unable to be with us on Christmas every year. Dads favorite holiday, however, is Thanksgiving, so we thought it was a splendid idea to celebrate "Chris-Giving", and combine the two holidays in the middle of November and have all of us together. So Dad,Cathy, Keleigh, Mikie, and our clan all had a great time together. The best part for me was seeing how happy dad was having all of his kids together. We had a great time...all of us. Memories to cherish for sure.

Lots going on here...a little music, a little Legos...and of course a little iPhone "stuff" between Kel and Dave.
Ryan saw this as an opportunity to strike up a band, and brought everyone out an instrument and had them play along. I am pretty sure we all looked quite spectacluar, but the look on Ryans face when everyone played along with his game was priceless.

                                      Ethan never misses a chance to get the Legos out and play with Uncle Bub.

                                    Cathy is so great to join right in. I am pretty sure she had no idea what kind of group
                                    she married into but we are glad to have her!

                            In the blurry iPhone pic below, dad  has been instructed by Ryan to do some ridiculous
                            dance...and like a great Ampy..he does.

Aunt Kel is quite popular with all four kids. They actually each argue over who's turn it is to have "special time" with her. Ethans turn~

                                         Owen cuddles with his Ampy before heading to bed.

                 Its customary around here to leave the turkey-cooking to dad. He is pretty proud of this one (from
                 a few years ago...)

I am just going to say right here that I really love my daddy.  Its always interesting how once we become adults ourselves our love and respect for our parents is different. We accept their imperfections because we realize that we are also far from perfect, and we are just plain glad to have them around when they can be. I guess I have an even stronger bond with dad because for so many years....all my growing up years, really, it was just he and I.  He stepped up to the plate as a young 22 year old and became a single father...when so many other options were out there for him he traded them in for a little toe head he called Pokey. (he said I used to take forever getting anywhere or getting ready...hence the nickname). 

Me and my dad. Lovin' the pork-chop sideburns on him, eh? And I am pretty sure this was the last time I wore a mustard colored terry cloth shirt. Thanks, 70's!

OK, back to now. Our little Katie Rose has become quite the pianist. She is taking lessons once a week but has a natural ear for music, and can usually re-create a song after just hearing it a couple times. Amazing. She had her very first piano recital, a casual one, in November and we were just so proud of her. She played Fur Elise without any sheet music, along with Taylor Swift's song, "The Best Day", which we always said was "our song" (just try listening to it without crying), and she was flawless. I have a video of her playing, but no picture...boo.

As a semi professional photographer, Fall is usually my busy time of the year, taking family photos for the upcoming holidays. Of course, its always MY OWN family who I am trying to cram in last minute to get some type of decent photo to send out for Christmas. We went out to a friends ranch who has the coolest old rusted trucks, and here are a few shots from that day. Let me just say two things here, Owen is TWO. He needs to be bribed by lollipops to even sit still for five seconds while you try posing everyone for a family photo. And, never expect a group of young boys to arrive on a big ranch and then just "sit still". Didn't happen, but it did happen for JUST long enough to snap a good one of all four. Whew!

                           
         You can see that Owen was about to get up again...but he wasn't faster than my cameras shutter :-)

                                                                   Ryan David~ 9

                                                                   Katelyn Rose~ 12

                                                           Owen Scott ~ 2

                                                                Ethan Michael ~ 6

                           Ugh! My heart almost explodes when I look at these four kids. Love 'em to pieces.

So now we were ready for the Christmas holiday. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas. Love it! To the point of over-decorating the house way too early, bringing out the Burl Ives and Elvis Christmas CD's on the night of Thanksgiving, and all that....really. Love Love Love. And with four magical little ones to help light up the season, who wouldn't be intoxicated by it all? Things like bundling them all up in their jammies to drive around and look at the lights at night, watching them put on their holiday music performance in the living room...complete with antlers, Santa hats, and blinking Rudolph noses. THIS is what its all about. Every year when its time to decorate the Christmas tree I bring out the video camera and just let the kids all do the decorating themselves. Katie, of course, is the orchestrator and hands each little brother an ornament. Then they sing, chat, and decorate while I sit back and watch. Oh yes, the little Type A elf comes out later once they are all asleep to help "move" some of the ornaments up a little bit.

                                           
                                           Katie is looking like she is a girl with a plan over here...

                                             

                                       

                                               Baby it's cold outside....we love those nights by the fire

                     
                           We made this handprint Christmas tree (I know, its more of a bush) this year and I am
                           so happy with how it turned out. All the hands helped make this gem.

                                                           
                                                                          Smooch!

And so the tree got decorated, and now it was time to do some baking. Katie and I thought it would be fun to do a little holiday baking with some good friends of ours, Daniela (Katies friend since first grade) and her mom, Gail (who just happens to be my buddy). Super fun...

                                                   Wha-la! Check out the sugar on that table!

                                   
                                                                   Katie and Daniela

One of the best moments of this seasons was when we got to go caroling to homes of the elderly in our town. It was a COLD and WINDY night, but with hats, gloves, coats, and our best voices we headed out along with several other families from our 4-H club and had a great time. Ryan LOVED this, of course, because it involved music and being outside. The looks on the men and womens faces when they opened their doors to the sound of "Silent Night", "Rudolph", and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was awesome.

Check out Ryans face below...

Another highlight to our holiday break was being able to visit my sister April and her family. April and Tim welcomed their first baby, Olivia, in July, and because of kids schedules, Daves work schedule, and geographical distance I had not been able to meet this sweet babe yet. So we were all thrilled to be able to be together and celebrate our own little Christmas...a couple weeks early. And OMG..Livy is sooooooo adorable...and CHUNKY! We hope we can keep this tradition going...I love my sis and seeing her just makes me wish we lived closer. 

Cousins! 

                                            Super cute family...Tim, April, and baby Livy

Auntie and Livy

Quick photo with Santa while we were visiting...Owen isnt too sure about this and Katie was no longer willing to be part of the "mall Santa" picture deal. 

Christmas was full of family, friends, and good times. Here are a few photos from this year...

Uncle Louie surprised the kids when he drove up from Los Angeles and spent the holidays with us. We were all so happy to see him! 

A pretty typical "post gift opening" scene...things being put together, batteries being installed, Owen stealing the pretzels-again. 

                                     And no holiday season is complete without several viewings of Polar Express
                                                in the theater room...Ryans favorite room of the house.

                          .......pretty much the ONLY time Owen will get a lolly for breakfast- Christmas morn when
                          he finds one in his stocking. Score!

                                                     Checking out what Santa brought them...
                                                     our little bedheads on Christmas morning

                                                       
                                                      Showing Aunt Kel some love

                                                         Ethan reads the letter Santa left....

                                                                     present time!

After cleaning up from Christmas Eve, we headed down to Santa Rosa to celebrate Christmas Day with Nana and Papa and extended family. Always fun to see everyone, and with 14 grandkids running around there is no shortage of fun for the kids. 

What I love about this photo is that Owen has NO IDEA what is in the box and yet he is already THIS excited. LOVE two year olds. They are just magical.

                        Here is proof that I have greatly lowered my standards for the photos I post on my
                       blog. This is about it as far as a family shot of us that day, but as you can see...there was too
                       much going on to focus on the camera in front of us. Kids looking in every other direction.....

                                       
                                           In this photo, Papa is reading Santas letter to all the kids (and us adults).
                                           With so many kiddos, Santa must have had writers cramp after that one...

                                                         Nana and Papa...we love them!

                                                    busy stuff going on over in this corner....

Ryan trying out a new game on his DS

To be sure nobody ever suffers from the "post Christmas blues" over here, the L.A Hurtados come to visit and the festivities continue with a little "after Christmas" celebration with the cousins, lots of good food at Tita and Abuelo's house, and---on this particular trip, some mean match-ups of "Family Fued"--Wii style. Oh ya, we know how to party over here y'all! 

So as I look at the now clean and empty looking dining room where the tree was just standing a week ago, one feeling strikes me....the need to clean MORE. Organize. I want one of those label makers...BAD! Can you imagine? I would go nuts with one of those things. We would have clarification everywhere we looked...And bins. I need more bins. I almost need a bin to put my bins into. And shelves....you can never have enough of those.....I feel this way every January.

OK, so its getting late. Almost midnight and I need to be up early to get all four kids up and out the door (Owen has no choice) to get them to school by 7:45. So for now, this is it. 

But not before I put just a couple more random cute photos up. 

With all the cleaning and organizing going on over here, the kids needed to get outside and since its California and still in the 60's (ha!) we headed to the park at the end of our street....here is a shot of the kiddos and their rides....

My sweet Katie. We had a girls shopping day recently and I LOVED every minute. 

look...no little brothers at lunch...whew! 

She turned 12 in December. Ugh! Where did THIS baby go?...

                                                                            I love him!

                                                                  two monkeys in the tub...

Life is full right now, lively and full of noise, love, and movement in all directions. I have to remind myself every time I want to say "when will this slow down???!", that someday it WILL slow down. That day will come suddenly, I am sure...and I will probably be caught wondering where time went.

It will be quiet, and I will miss this. Even the noise...

For God's great gifts I give thanks. 

Happy 6th Birthday to Ethan, and reasons why Katie is awesome...

Today Ethan turns six. I actually sat down and realized I was not ready to be finished with my blogging that last time but as you read...nature called and I went and dutifully responded to the booty-in-waiting.

Its so weird how a child's birthday takes a mom back to that exact moment when we held them for the very first time. I remember Ethan coming emerging (via C-section) and the doctor holding him up for us to peek at for the first time. And that memory is still CLEAR as day...even six years later. He was brown and fuzzy, and really teeny. And sooooooooooooo dang cute. I mean...REALLY cute. This was my first C-section and let me tell you...those babies fare MUCH better than the ones delivered naturally all squashed and cone headed. At 6.2 pounds, Ethan was a sweet furry ball of monkey-ness.  How can  you NOT fall in love with this precious face...

Daddy snapped this picture of Ethan one week old looking at me....melts me every time!

                                                    Ethan and daddy, Bodega Bay 18 mos old

                         Proof that big sis LOVEShim, no matter what type of tormenting happens

                                                                Silly goose...two years old

  What a handsome dude he is now...which he actually knows because he will randomly strike poses like the one below, requesting a photo. No kidding!

So the plans, as requested by the birthday boy himself...is to have his party at the bowling/recreation center where he will be joined by six or seven of his best buds and we will eat pizza that tastes like greasy cardboard and a Star Wars Lego cake. (if I can FIND one....shhhhh....he doesnt know that I havent actually FOUND a Star Wars Lego cake yet....)

Good times! Dave and I added up the number of birthday parties we have thrown for our kids so far and it was something like 26.  Granted, not all of the parties are "away"...we do take turns and some years they celebrate at home but I admit, I am getting pretty good at this now....:-)

So happy birthday to our awesome sweet Ethan Michael. We love you to the moon and back. Fifty hundred times (as he would put it).



Why Katie is so awesome.

Now, that sounds like a subject line she thought of herself, right? But actually...its all me. I am amazed sometimes at what a great kiddo Katie is...really. I have heard the stories of first-borns being the leaders, the compassionate ones, the ones driven to succeed. But I am not going to give in to the birth order myth so easy...this girl is a true gift from God.

She actually ASKS to hang out with me...to chat...and to "do my hair" --not always a pretty result but lots of good conversation along the way.

She WANTS to do well in school. She cares. Maybe a bit too much in the area of getting to school on time. Holy smokes, that girl is a clock nazi and if I EVER got her to school late I dont know what would happen. But guess what? I have never, in SIX YEARS of driving kids to school in the morning, been late. Through pregnancies, morning sickness...regular sickness, newborns having blow-outs just before heading out...I have always made sure she was on time.

I am sure there will be an award ceremony for that some day, right?

She is always CONCERNED about her brothers, her family. Especially Ryan. She notices when something he is doing may be "dangerous" for him. She worries....maybe a bit too much for her age. She catches baby Owen as he toddles down the hall with something in his hands that is deemed to be a "choker"...and removes it from his slobbery clenched fists, not flinching at the slobber part.

She TEACHES. She loves to give Ethan "homework", and play school in her bedroom. She spends hours making sheets of letters, matching, phonics, etc. I am pretty sure Ethan is only ok with this because in the end she gives him some type of treat.

Katie insisted on being there for her brother Ryan when he had some dental work done in the hospital. She woke up EARLY in the morning and remembered to bring his favorite stuffed animal. She kept a smile on his face and he wasnt even afraid for a minute. The funny part of this whole story is that--upon seeing Ryan in the recovery room all groggy and with some blood still on his face from surgery, Katie began to pass out, and it was SHE that had to be wheeled out in a wheelchair by the nurse. :-)

                                           
                                                  Entering the tweens.....my silly girl

                     She is a true animal lover...and is most at home on places like this...the farm in Sebastopol  where I grew up.
                                   

         And just check out the little lunch note Katie made for her brother to stick in his lunch box. You just cant ask for better stuff than this.....

 So my sweet Katie, I hope you know how much you are loved and how amazing you are. Dont ever think about changing, because you have SO much substance at such a young age. I'm just so glad you belong to us.

And while you are at it, we are about to enter the pre-teen years...so if you ever need to remember how much you LOVE ME, and how cool I am to you...just read this. :-)

Birthday boy, family visits, and Fall is here

I admit I had to do a double take when I saw that the last time I updated my blog was in August. Really? Maybe that explains my "flowers" that are so pathetic in the backyard. They always look so nice right after I plant them...but I guess they eventually fall victim to the speed at which life is moving for our family nowadays.

There will be a time to plant, and actually have success with it, but apparently NOW isn't that time.

OK, so on to the updates. Or maybe a sweet quote from Ethan, who will shortly be turning six.

..."mommy, why does the ground have so many big cracks in it?"

Me: "well, the ground gets old and run over alot over time so it cracks"

Ethan: "oh, it cracks...like the cracks in your face?!"

Me: "um, sure. Oh darn, looks like Baskin Robbins is closed, sorry bud"

Ok, so the Baskin Robbins part is a lie, but the rest is true words, as spoken by none other than Ethan. Charming, eh?

Owen celebrated his second birthday in September with a pirate party and all the fixin's. We had it at home with just a few people over and of course Owen just loved every bit of it.  Big sis Katie even got in on the festivities and made the CUTEST treasure map quesadillas (remember...it was a Pirate party)...check out some photos from his big day....
                                              
                                    Big Birthday Boy cheesin' it up for mommy's camera.

        Katies fabulous creation...treasure map quesadillas! Move over, Martha!

 Owen had two of his toddler besties over...Henry and Jacob. Apparently they didn't get the memo to laugh hysterically in this photo. Henry is under-enthused, and has clearly been to better parties. Jacob is just confused at whatever Owen is so dang happy about.

           Mommy and daddy take a moment to have a photo with the man of the party....

So we pirated and we partied, and we celebrated our babiest of babies as he enters into true toddlerhood. Oh how we adore you, Sir Owen! OK, this calls for a mini-trip down memory lane....a few snapshots of the past couple years with our dude...

        A freshly born Owen Scott...September 5, 2009.  We were all instantly in love with this sweet boy.

                                    ............random crib photo of Owen at 2.5 months...grins galore!

 This photo was actually an accident, but it came out so completely funny we used it for our Christmas card that year. The kids came into our bed in the morning and I thought it would be cute to fit them all in and snap a photo. Check out Owen's facial expression here....we used to say he must have just heard that Santa knows who's been misbehaving...

One of Owens favorite things to do is to go out in the backyard and pick "berries" (we have strawberries planted) and "matoes" (yep. tomatoes too).

I couldn't resist grabbing the camera when I spotted him outside, in his glory as he engulfed a big juicy red tomato...eating it just like an apple. Atta boy!

                                                                  YUMMY!!

 OK, I guess I should wrap up this "ode to Owen" and move on. But I have SOOOO many more cute photos..where oh where will I ever find a spot to use them...???

September marked a month of family visits from Dad and Cathy. Dad has been down several times over the past couple years but his wife Cathy has not been able to join him due to her work schedule. We were happy to have them both here for a week, and it was fun having my side of the family all together...not something that happens very often. The kids had so much fun playing Legos with Uncle Bub and just plain tormenting Aunt Kel with their relentless requests for individual "special time". I am pretty sure, being that Kel is a college student at Chico right now, that any visit down to see her MUCH older sister with four kids is pretty good birth control. I love family...and wish we could have more of these times....

Ryan orchestrated an all out Beehler family jamboree...handing Ampy and Grandma instruments and getting himself a drum. Let the rockin' commence!

                                        Meanwhile, Uncle Bub played Legos with Ethan and Katie...
                                       and Owen snuck in some time with Ampy and Uncle on the sofa...

Ryan was relentless...only allowing Ampy to sit and rest for a moment, before having him get up and dance in front of him. Because I grabbed my cell phone for this shot, its not the best, but the memories it invokes are crystal clear.

 One of the perks from Ampys visits....HOME MADE JAMS!! Straight from their berry farm in Washington...absolute heaven! (just don't get my dad talking about his berries...that will be a LONG conversation).

 So my dad even brought one of his Washington blueberry bushes down for Katie to plant for herself. Here is Katie finding one of the seasons first blueberries...hooray!

And now that Fall has descended upon us, we find ourselves settling into the school routine, winding down another season of soccer (Ethan played, Katie did not this year), and bracing for the upcoming holiday season. I find it ironic that, as a photographer myself, I am most pleased by the very "amateur" photos that seem to be the result of my grabbing either the cell phone or a hastily taken photo with my other camera. Not technically stellar, but the memories spoken are perfection. Here are a few recent snapshots...


         Homework descends upon the house of Hurtado....busy bees at work.

   Knowing mom was preoccupied with the homeworkers.....Owen found something to keep him busy too...

                                  He had JUST had his bath, too.   True story.     Ugh.

In June Ryan had a Batman themed birthday party to celebrate turning 9, so...in true Hurtado spirit we all got really into it. Here are a couple shots from that fun day....

And although I have more to write, more thoughts and memories I really want to jot down here before I forget them, I will need to end this blog entry for now because I have heard the "call"........you know.....from down the hallway- it goes a little something like, "mommy, can you come wipe my butt please?" - from Ethan.

Hey, at least they say "please". Ahhh...the joys of mommyhood, and this wonderful life. With all its facial cracks and butt wiping, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to school they go....

A new school year has begun! Katie is a 6th grader, Ryan goes into 2nd, and Ethan begins his school journey as he enters into Kindergarten. Following tradition, the kids all gathered in the backyard with their clean and new uniforms and stuffed backpacks...some tackier than others (Ethan would not budge on the Darth backpack, ugh):

"mom,  how many more sleeps 'til I am in kindergarten?"....

Repeat daily for one month, and count down. This question was asked by Ethan with big eyes of excitement and anticipation. However, when the day came to actually step out as a big Kindergartner, those brown eyes welled up (OK, and then mine did too) and his face of excitement looked a little more like panic and fear as he lined up in front of his classroom for the very first time, ready to sit "criss-cross applesauce" for the first time, open his own yogurt container at lunch for the first time, and.....well....you get it.  Here is Ethan, killing us all with those darn huge brown eyes...

I mean, the eyes are one thing, but he is tugging on his heart...ugh. Surefire way to send a mommy into tears right there...good thing I was sporting my big sunglasses. I wonder if he knows how sad I was that day, and how hard it was for ME to leave him. Its that way with each one as they venture off...weird how some things just dont get easier no matter how many kids you have. 

Ryan was all ready to roll into second grade. He had several of his friends from first grade waiting for him as he got to school, and Ethan soon learned that Ryan was the cool kid to hang around. He has a great side by side aide, Ms. Leanne, who stays by his side all day to help him be as much of a part of the "typical" students day as possible. She worked with Ryan all last year, so this year they join forces again to conquer the days. Here they are goofing around with one of their poses...

And then there is Katie. WOW how we 6th graders become wayyyyyyy too cool to give mom a kiss or hug in public quickly. Geez, ya wouldda thought I had asked her to kiss her brother or something but she gave me the whole, "umm,mom, I will just give you a kiss in the car and then go to class...you don't need to walk me there, ok?".  Now, mind you...I was raised by a dad who---after I myself tried pulling the same antics with him on my first day of 6th grade showed up to the bus stop wearing his STRAW COWBOY HAT and  singing as I got on the bus in front of my friends. It worked, though. I NEVER made a stink about giving him a hug before catching that bus again. 

I tell Katie that story so she knows how nice I am. But...I also tell her I cant promise I wont ever do something cool like that...just to keep her on her toes. :-)

So they are all back into the school routine now, and life is quieter during the day with just Owen and I at home. Its still too soon to tell if I will have more time to actually relax, as I am now working on all the clean up from the whole summer...we were always coming or going somewhere and the house surely got missed along the way. I am pretty sure Dave wants to fire our house cleaner (me), and our gardener (ditto), and probably the cook too at this point, as all efforts lately have been just keeping above water. I used to have such a clean house-all the time. Even after Katie was born things were always spiffy and cute, ready for the random visitor at any given moment. But now I am always chasing the ball...spraying the stinky playroom couches with Fabreze five minutes before company arrives and re-loading the laundry basket with the unfolded clean clothes so I can hide it in our bedroom. With every other pile of random papers and kids artwork and things to be filed away. Oh, and by the way, our bedroom is certainly a "no fly" zone....not pretty. 

But then I realize that someday I will have that clean house back. 

And it will be quiet.

And I will be sad sometimes.

...just the thought of what it will be like when Owen goes to school and I have NO kids here with me at home. 

I will have to find who I was BEFORE I was a mom. And figure out who that person is now. Somewhere between peg jeans, big hair, and becoming a mom to four children there is a person who I will need to reconnect with. That will be weird. But I cant really worry about that moment now, it will be here soon enough. 

Wow that was a bit of a Debbie Downer moment there...yikes. OK, on to more happy things. 

Back to school was not the only event that August saw for us, as Ethan and Owen were baptized at the local Catholic church. Godparents Fran and Stacey, along with cousins Alex and Jessica made their way up from Los Angeles which made the occasion a fun one for everyone. Here are a couple photos from the baptism day...

OK, so we all joke a little about the boys in their baptism outfits. Especially Ethan, who we say could have at any moment ran outside, looked up to the sky and yelled,"le Plane, le Plane" a la' Tattoo from good ol' Fantasy Island. Their abuelita got them all their special clothing for the day, and they both looked so handsome! 

Here is our brood...all gussied up.
And the fabulous Godparents Fran and Stacey and cousins Alex and Jessica

Baptism boys with Tita and Abuelo

...and with Nana and Papa!

So with a goodbye to the vacation season of summer and hello to a new school year, we once again look forward to more excitement and adventures in our family. Soccer has started for Ethan, Katie continues to take piano and will take 4-H in the fall, and we hope to get Ryan into Special Olympics Swimming in Davis. 

Owen will just continue being an almost-two-year-old wall painter, garbage pillager, table climber, and slobbery kissing little boy. 

For God's gifts we give thanks.