Garvin Gobble 2016

I'm convinced that I have the best nieces and nephews on this earth. My kids are so lucky to call these little people their cousins! For five days this Thanksgiving, it was non-stop cousin mayhem in San Francisco. 

We left the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and headed up the California coast. Thanks to L.A. traffic, it turned into a twelve hour drive, which might have (and really should have)killed me, if not for a sweet little system I've nearly perfected over the years. I'll fill you in on the inside scoop... 

1) Movies

We go to the library and pick out a stack of new movies the kids have never seen before. Every time the kids start to get restless or irritated, I say, "Okay! Who wants to watch a NEW MOVIE!?" 

-cheering, variations of "you're the best mom ever", "I'm so happy we're driving in this car", etc. It's magic.

2) Snacks

I pack all of our food in an ice chest, in the half sandwich sized ziplock bags. I pack crackers, carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, grapes, craisins, little sandwiches--with a serving in each. SO when my kids tell me, "Mom, I'm STARVING", I throw a little baggie at them. They think our game of catch is hilarious, especially when the food hits them in the face. Everyone has their own sippy cup of water.

3) Breaks

We try to take our potty breaks somewhere family friendly, like a rest stop. I let the kids get out of their car seats to run around on the grass while everyone takes turns in the bathroom. If potty breaks coincide with gas stops, I let the kids go crazy and climb all over inside the car instead. 

4) Toys

My kids are all still little, so we are pretty limited on activities to do together in the car. For now, I let the kids pick two toys and a coloring book each. This keeps our car relatively clutter-free, because everything they need fits in the little cubbies next to each car seat.

The fact that I have zero pictures of our actual Thanksgiving feast is kind of lame! I was clearly just a teeny bit busy that day. I've said it before and I'll say it again- cooking and baking with aunts, moms, sisters, nieces for an entire day is just about the best thing I can imagine doing. On a side note, this year I discovered a new-found confidence in my baking, and it was wonderful!

My favorite outing during the Thanksgiving holiday was our trip to Muir Woods. It reminded me of beautiful Maple Valley! We took all the kids on a little 5 mile loop through the forest. Kyle and I each wore a twin, and Elle was passed back and forth from uncle to uncle because she was "too tired" to keep walking. At one point, Uncle Mark had his daughter, Millie, on his shoulders and Elle riding piggy-back! All the other kids were real troopers, braving the cold and the mud, while pointing out every giant banana slug along the trail. It was such a beautiful and peaceful morning.

All the kids slept in sleeping bags in the playroom!

 Another highlight of the trip was the first-annual Garvin Bocce Ball tournament. Aunt Kay and Uncle Tom play a game called Bocce Ball, where a pallino ball is thrown down a court, and each team tries to throw their bocce balls closest to it. One point is given for each bocce ball that is closer than the opposing team's bocce ball. Kimball even had this state-of-the-art trophy sculpted from real plastic for the winning team. The adults really enjoyed themselves, and we all agreed that it should become a family tradition.

Kyle is a natural.

The twins were pretty hard this trip. I'm hoping it's just their age right now, but the twins were so overwhelmed by all the "new" faces and places and didn't want to do anything but hold on to me for dear life. Sweet cousin Kayla tried to be so helpful all week, and this is pretty much the "thank you" Juliette gave her in return. 

I love our Garvin family. I love how there are so. many. small. children. I love the inside jokes, the incessant teasing, the jovial storytelling. I love the childhood memories shared and the sports references in every conversation. I love how everyone is genuinely kind and helpful, that we share the same faith and teach our children the same values. And I love that we shared Thanksgiving together this year!

Cruella

The Halloween season kicked off with a carnival at London's Elementary school. When I went to school there, the carnival had cute little games run by PTA moms and a cake walk on the kindergarten playground. Now, the school has a legitimate fall carnival, with food trucks, real carnival rides and bouncy houses fifty feet high run by carnies. The girls were too scared to go on all of them except one. And the twins? They squirmed with all their might to escape our arms and run across the blacktop into the abyss of moms and dads and grandparents and very small children. 

Lets talk costumes.

London decided over a year ago that she was going to be a cheerleader. One stop shopping at the BYU bookstore, a high ponytail, glitter and mascara-- and London can't stop looking at herself in the mirror. Bam.

The twins were a little trickier. I knew I wanted them to be Tinker Bell and Peter Pan because Juliette's little hair has grown into the cutest little blonde bob, and I wanted to take full advantage! But a Peter Pan costume for a little boy? They don't exist. Google it. I think that's why the universe invented Etsy. I found his cutest little costume, hat included, for $30, in South America. It was destiny. 

Oh, Elle. My child who thinks outside the box. You know what she wanted to be? A scary dragon. Do you know how many scary dragon costumes there are for sale in the girl variety? Zero. Luckily, a good friend of ours let us borrow one! Did she look more like an adorable clown than a scary dragon? Yes. Mom fail? Nope! Because Elle thought she was the scariest, most powerful dragon in all the land.

Only one person knew we were Chip & Joanna Gaines! 

The best part of Halloween was, believe it or not, my mother. Although she claims to have dressed up for Halloween before, I think this year was (cough, cough) actually her first time. And let me tell you, she went all out. She dressed up like Cruella De Vil: wig, costume, fishnets, pretend cigarette--- it was epic. I did her make-up, with blue gody eye shadow, huge false lashes, and bright red lipstick. She looked absolutely amazing. I forced her to give out candy for the first time too- I decorated her front door with 3-D spiders and lined her walkway with jack-o-lanterns, and she sat in a tall-backed chair and greeted the neighborhood kids as Cruella. She had the accent down, made references to puppies all night, and had all of us laughing out loud. I love that woman.

Unicorns

Elle turned three last month. The only person she was really interested in having at her unicorn party was this sweet little boy from church, Cade. Taryn, OJ, baby Layla and "grandma" Caroline (thank you for the pictures!!!) came from Orange County, and we all ate an Elle-inspired lunch: Homemade gouda mac-n-cheese, star-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit salad, and white chocolate-dipped pretzels. The cupcakes were funfetti with marshmallow buttercream frosting, tiny star shaped sprinkles, and toppers from the Land of Nod.

Who is this little human God trusted me to raise? She is everything I am not- silly, spunky, hilarious, brave, confident----and just plain good. Not too long ago, I had the idea that I was going to impart all of this goodness onto my children, that it was my calling in life to direct their every little step...but what I've found, with the help of my Ellie, is that raising children actually changes you so much more than it ever changes them. They are who they are, and you change like crazy. When I'm moody, Elle makes me laugh. When I'm impatient, Elle makes me take a deep breath and calm down. When I'm running late, Elle stops me every. single. time. for a hug and a kiss. "MOM! Don't forget HUGS AND KISSES!" When I'm frustrated, she is always the first to apologize, saying, "Sorry, Mom. Sorry you're mad at me, Mom."

Elle is brilliant and articulate. I blame it on her obsession from birth with reading books. She is constantly surprising me with her vocabulary, saying things like, "Mom, what was that strange smell?" And, "Mom, I love her! She's gorgeous!"

I can't talk about my child with mentioning the h word...horse. Let me share what she said in her prayer last night, so that I can always remember it.

This is Chief.

"Dear Father,
Thanks for the day. Thanks for the horses. Thanks for Bella and Chief (the horses she rides in her lessons). Thanks for Santana (her riding instructor). Thanks for Nana and Mom and Dad. Thanks for the blessings.
Jesus Christ,
Amen"

I asked her the other day what she wants for Christmas. She wants a real horse. A black one, to be precise.

The conversation went like this: 

Mom: "Honey, what do you want for Christmas? Do you want some toys? Or a new doll? New stories?"

Elle: "No. I just want a real horse. A black one. That's it. Okay, Mom?"

For her birthday, Elle got new riding boots with pretty pink trim, a unicorn to ride, toy horses, a stable, horse books and a horse necklace, and birthday cards covered in horses. She played with them until the sun went down, and then she tucked them all in bed under her covers.

Even though she turned three, she'll never admit it. "I'm not three, Mom. I'm two. I don't want to be three, I want to be two. I'm just two. I'm tiny." She shakes her head at me, laughing, and holds up the number two on her fingers. "See?"

Yes, Ellie. I see.

Kindergarten

Homeschool! Yes, that was the answer! After all,  how was I going to give my child to someone else, every day, all day long? What if she was confused about something and needed help? What if she fell down at recess and scraped her knee, and I wasn't there to wipe her tears and put the neosporin and band-aid on just right, the way that only a mother can? What if she got sunburned at recess? What if her shoes came untied? What if she didn't have enough food at lunch, and she was hungry or thirsty? What if kids were mean to her?! I was a wreck.

London did get sunburned, she did fall and scrape her knee, she got lost at the lunch table and cried, her double-knots came untied, and she missed me a lot. BUT... London's kindergarten teacher is kind and patient, and London simply adores her. Everyone at school likes London, and she has the sweetest little group of friends! I taught her how to tie her shoes, I pack way less in her lunch because I learned that she eats about two things each day, not seven. And the best part of all? She loves Kindergarten. And I love when she comes home and tells me allllll about it; who she played with, what art projects she did, all the worksheets she completed, and all the new things she learned. And then we sit together at the kitchen table and do her homework and I feel like a million dollars because she is killing her sight words and no one does math worksheets like my girl, London.

And you know what? I can do hard things, and so can she!

Something I certainly wasn't expecting to come with Kindergarten was the change I saw immediately in Elle. Let me preface this by saying, I had been really struggling with Elle. She was acting out, throwing tantrums, and being disobedient, and I was angry at myself for losing patience with her each day. Elle is a really really good girl, but the poor thing has to share my attention with crazy one-year-old twins and a bossy older sister, and, time after time, there wasn't enough of me to go around. Enter Kindergarten. London is gone for seven hours each day, in which time the twins also take a nap and a half, and suddenly, me and Elle have hours of time together, just the two of us! We read books, play horsies, watch Paw Patrol, and she is back to her wonderful self! And the girls, after being away from each other for most of the day, are so happy to be together once more, that even they are playing more peacefully. THANK YOU, Kindergarten!

After much prayer, I also felt inspired to sign Elle up for horseback riding lessons... But how was I to find someone willing to take on a two-year-old student? I finally found one trainer about twenty minutes away, named Anna Baker, who listened to our story and immediately offered to teach Elle! Riding a horse is the absolute highlight of Elle's life. She tells everyone who will listen about "her horse", Bella. She'll say, "Bella's my horse. Her name is Bella. She's a good girl. She had a haircut. Santana gives me treats for Bella. We ride on saddles. And she has a howter(halter) and reins. And I say 'whoa' and then she stops!"

The entire drive to her lesson, Elle cheers, "I'M SO EXCITED!" And the moment she sees Bella, she calls, "BELLA! MOM---LOOK! It's my horse! I'M SO EXCITED!" And she gets right up on that horse with the brightest smile I've ever seen. It makes me teary-eyed every. single. time.

With the new school year, came something else we didn't expect... Our dearest friends, the Adams, accepted a job offer in South Carolina, and moved away! We have always remained close, no matter how many states separated us, and I know this time, it will be no different. But sheesh, we miss them! 

 Someday, when we've finally figured our lives out, we'll buy houses right next to each other at the end of a darling tree-lined street, and our 13 children will play together in the cul-de-sac every night until the sun goes down. But until then, it's wonderful to know that they are always only a phone call away.

Sunriver, Oregon

Kyle's mom and step-dad generously booked a beautiful home for the whole family in Sunriver, Oregon, for our first ever Garvin family reunion. It was 15 hours of driving, all while Tangled played on repeat, but it was so worth it! For five days, thirteen cousins played from sunrise until way past their bedtimes!

Juliette was Kennedy and Sydney's
 doll for the week!

Each morning began with a special devotional prepared by an assigned family. We talked about faith, service, kindness, and love, and it truly set the tone for our time together.

We spent our days riding bikes, going on family walks, relaxing at a tiny water-park, and playing at the park together. We had two special outings: one to Bend for school shopping at the outlets, and the other to the Sunriver Observatory for stargazing. We also drove to the breathtaking Crater Lake for an afternoon.

The highlight of the trip was a game tournament, where we all played a round of Happy Salmon, Memory, Chutes and Ladders, and Candy Land. The tie-breaker, which I was lucky enough to be a part of, was the game "Pie Face". You rest your chin on a little contraption, turn a handle the prescribed number of times, and wait for a handful of whipped cream to hit you square in the face! And though I made it to the final round, I was finally pied in the face for the first time in my life, but probably not the last.

Other memories include a talent show, where the kids played the piano, sang songs, performed stand-up comedy, and magic tricks. Then Kayla put together a playlist of everyone's favorite song, and we had to pick which song belonged to each family member.

There was a lot of laughter and teasing and practical jokes, but mostly, there was love. And that's why family reunions, I'm convinced, are a tradition we Garvins will continue for years to come.