I wish I could show you a flip book of Rachel in the attempts at group shots, to illustrate how truly challenging she was being. Jumping, crouching, gathering sticks and making faces. I had to work with the photos in which she wasn't totally blurry-in-motion, which sadly cut out a lot of great smile photos for the other kids. Also... that look on Ruth's face? I don't know where that came from, but it was pervasive this afternoon. I kept asking her to relax her smile and start fresh, because it would get strained looking very quickly. I'll quit making excuses, though. I have five beautiful, healthy, vibrant children, and I am grateful beyond measure for them! If they refuse to stand still and smile like normal humans, so be it.
I adore this photo of Marianne. Her smile is so natural here! She's nine months into a 24-ish month stint with braces, and seldom complains about them anymore unless they've recently been adjusted. Sixth grade is proving much more challenging than any prior year of school, but she still manages to top grades. She's participating this year in MathCounts, mostly because we're bribing her to, and she's doing very well! She is one of three 6th grade girls who qualified to compete in February (10 students from each school may compete individually; she beat out a few 8th graders and several 7th graders for a spot, though she fell just short of making the 4-student "competing team"). Now that she's proven her abilities, she's getting more excited to be a part of the program. Marianne has become our go-to babysitter, and she is enthusiastic in the role. She encourages us to go out more often and stay out later, despite not getting paid to watch her siblings. I try not to take advantage of this, as I don't want her to burn out early.
Ruth still declines to cut her hair beyond a small start-of-school trim. She nearly sits on it now, and I'm debating how long is too long, but she cares for it herself so I let it go. Ruth joined Chess Club this year and continues to lose matches, but is an enthusiastic member of the club, nonetheless. I love that she doesn't have to win to want to play! She has become an excellent skate boarder since receiving a penny board last spring. She continues to spend large amounts of time in our front tree, when the weather allows. Her natural state is "in motion". She has formed a tight group of friends at school, yet she reaches out to other girls when she sees them without someone to play with. Ruth makes me smile. She has not altogether avoided the pitfalls of the 'tween life; her emotions can be volatile. She swings from joyful to tearful in the blink of an eye, sometimes for no apparent reason. Nathaniel and I occasionally joke with her, "Ruth, don't be a stressful teenager". I can't remember where we read it, but the idea was to help kids learn early how to cope, so you avoid these issues in the teen years. I'm not sure the intention was for us to make sarcastic remarks to our pre-teen when she's sad, but we're doing the best parenting we know how. And really, is there actually such a thing as a teenager who is NOT stressful?
Margaret, Margaret, Margaret. She was one of the trouble kids at the photo shoot. She was much more interested in collecting flora than posting. And that, despite her wearing a fabulous pink tutu skirt and cowboy boots! This picture is classic Meg, though. She prefers her smile with her mouth closed, probably because when it's open you can see the gaping hole where her two front teeth should be. No two front teeth for this girl yet for Christmas. Maybe Easter. She is the girliest of my girls, but she's training Rachel to follow in her footsteps. She'd rather wear skirts with tights or leggings over pants any and every day. She wants her shirts to have a slim fit. She seldom leaves the house without a headband. Meg loves to scooter and ride her bike. She thoroughly enjoyed soccer this fall, so I should probably see if her classmates are playing again in the spring. She still dreams of being a ballerina, despite knowing we can't swing dance classes. Someday she'll make the same jokes I did in my 20s, about how she'd have been a prima ballerina if only her mom had let her take lessons. In her ample free time (you know - where dance classes could be) she reads and draws and reads and draws some more. She is seldom far from paper in some form. She is in a class full of wonderful girls, and her "best friend" changes from day to day, but the girls all seem to get along wonderfully well so far. I consider that a huge blessing, because I know there are other classes in which that is not the case.
Oh, Peter. This boy. He is so needy, but so loving, and so wonderful. (He was a good sport for photos, but has a terrible fake smile and a high energy level, so he's squinty or squirmy in many an otherwise great picture.) Peter, as you can see, is still missing his front two teeth as well. Only two more years or so till they grow back in... so that's something. Peter is clingy with me, and still gets sad when I leave, but he's doing much better at giving me "one more hug and a kiss" (or sometimes three or four or five more) and letting me leave when I must, or leaving with the girls when he needs to get to school. Peter is an expert light saber battler, but is being drawn in by the allure of blasters as we've just begun showing him the old Star Wars movies. I realize we're light years behind most of his class on this (pun intended). He's hilarious to watch the movies with. Every time there's a gun battle, he's leaping and crouching and shooting and flinging himself bodily across the room, acting out his own version. He has so. much. ENERGY. I wish we could bottle it for sale.
Rachel was the main problem child for pictures, the adorable little punk. At least her hair looks fabulous in every picture. Rachel is the doll baby of our family. She is doted on, and probably spoiled. Except by Peter. The two of them share a room and a dresser and most of their toys, so they are natural adversaries. They love each other well, but they get into some mighty screaming matches along the way. Then they go back to riding bikes together or coloring together or leaping down the small flight of brick stairs as superheroes together, and all is right with the world again. She is obsessed with Halloween, specifically with what her costume will be for next Halloween. Anything that comes up in conversation can become her next costume idea. Sometimes they make sense ("I'm going to be a spider for next Halloween"), or at least sort of make sense ("I'm going to be a zombie princess sword fighter for next Halloween" - thanks "Chasing Fireflies" catalog for some quirky ideas). Other times, they are hilarious weird ("I'm going to be a fork for next Halloween"). I keep telling the other kids to let her forget these ideas. For the love of pete, please don't remind her of them. I need her to move past the crazy stuff so I can talk her into whatever I want her to be when next Halloween actually rolls around.
As luck would have it, my favorite shots of all the kids together were the handful that I joined them in. I like to get one photo with me in it, whenever I have them done, so that I can update a frame on Nathaniel's desk at work. Usually it's not my favorite, but it serves its purpose. This year, it's my favorite. Some friends joked that I should photoshop Nathaniel in. Given his long work hours the past several months, it would almost make a humorously accurate image of our year. He's been in town, but he hasn't been home much, and much of his time at home has been spent working. We're soaking up the time we get with him over his winter break, because next semester doesn't appear to be improving. We thank God every night for his job and for him, for the time and energy he puts in to support our family. And I pray that his superiors realize how how hard he works for them, and appreciate him, and that his load gets lighter in the coming semesters.
Thanks again to Sarah for the photos and the fun we had hanging out while she shot them.
Thanks to the rest of you for reading my little Christmas letter update, let's call it. Merry Christmas to you all! I hope your families are all healthy and well and together for the holidays!
1 comment:
Good updates and pictures!
Post a Comment