He Ain't Heavy; He's My Bruder

Adam was the first to see her in person, through the lens of the video camera. He'd gone down the hall at the Lottery Hotel and found the room where the babies were waiting. He got her on film (click the link to see it) and ran back to tell us--in a voice that was still high and squeaky--

"I saw her! I saw Qiu Ju!"

They adored each other from the very first moment, like they'd always been together.

Adam treated her with such patience and love, giving me a glimpse of the type of Dad he'll be someday.

And at the mall when Maya turned heads with her Chinese squeaky shoes, Adam tried to look cool despite the persistent SQUEAK, SQUEAK, SQUEAK going on next to him. But he didn't let go of her hand.

Maya works very hard to keep up with him and Adam is good about waiting for her. I love when he comes home from school and shouts, "Hi ya' Maya Moogin!" And she shouts back, "Hi ya' Adam Moogin!"

But last night was a moment that rivals them all. It was a moment when I so wished I'd had a camera. Adam was wrestling (hence the lack of camera---Adam has banned them from meets) and he was doing fantastic. He had his opponent in the cradle (learning the lingo) and was straining every muscle. Maya was saying, "Adam! Adam! Adam!" It was a cross between a cheer and a whimper. The first round ended with Adam ahead in points. Adam fought and fought during the second round, but you could tell he was tiring. There was grunting and struggling and good moves by both sides, but ultimately Adam lost.

At this point I realized I'd had the arm of the man next to me in a death grip. I was smoothing his crumpled sleeve when Maya in her purple skirt/shirt combo and red Mary Janes jumped off my lap and ran for the mat. Adam's teammates were lined up, giving him high fives as he walked tiredly down the line. Maya positioned herself at the end and stuck her hand up. I debated running down to get her; I didn't want him embarrassed. Adam didn't see her right away (she's only in the 30 pound weight class), but Maya pushed past the wrestlers, calling his name. He smiled and gave her not only a high five, but a hug.

Earning him major points in my book.

What Every Mother Wants To See

I had a totally new experience tonight. I was a spectator at a wrestling tournament. Adam's been working out with the team for the past few weeks--except for when his injured foot was healing, and his split lip was congealing (stitched together by his dad)--and this was his first meet. He asked that I not bring the camera and when I saw his outfit, I knew why.

From a total newbie perspective, it's got to be the ugliest sport ever invented as evidenced by this:

And that was just the warm-ups. The official pummeling started soon after. When it was my son's turn to strut up to the mat in his singlet, I did something like this:

And through my fingers I saw my handsome son's head like this:


and his arm like this:


and his leg like this:

But then suddenly Adam did a very strong man move like this:


and what did Sarah Palin say about hockey moms? Because I instantly morphed into this:



"Oh yeah! Take him down!"


Which he didn't, but it was still impressive. So, wrestling is not pretty. Not even slightly pretty, but I may learn to enjoy it. In a barbaric, Day-at-the-Colosseum kind of way.

Casting Call

This morning I spent some time with Adam in the Cast Room. No, he hadn't earned a spot in a play and it was nothing similar to the "Green Room" where cast members might socialize, it was this type of cast room:

This is the first time we've ever had to have one of our children in a room such as this, and hopefully it will be the last. On Saturday Lyle and Adam were playing flag football over at the church when Adam dislocated his thumb. Just the description of his thumb's angle makes me queasy, so it's providential that I was not in attendance. Adam tried without success to put his thumb back into its rightful place and then Lyle took Adam's hand and told him that what he was about to do would really hurt. Then he YANKED it! UGGGGHHH. It gives me shivers just thinking about it. The yank did successfully snap his thumb back into place, but the next day Lyle decided that maybe a few x-rays should be taken. "Because," he said in all seriousness, "someday he may want to be a dentist." (For everybody else, the thumb on their right hand is pretty optional.)

The doctor said no bones were broken and he doesn't think the ligament was torn, so no surgery is needed. BUT, the ligament was stretched and the growth plate may have been damaged, so he'll be in a cast for nearly a month. The fun of homework time will surely increase as I act not only as the whip-bearing homework prodder, but now scribe as well. I hope to at least get a star for neatness.

Risky Behavior on the Weekend

Ever since I publicly stated my dislike for the board game RISK, my kids have been at me. "Do you really hate RISK, Mom?.... Have you given it a chance?... Maybe if you tried it just one more time...."

So, in the name of family fun and unity, our Saturday evening found us in battle formation with the following lines drawn in the sand:

*Eileen's Purple Terror was firmly entrenched in Europe.

*Lyle's Black Plague started in Australia and was prepared to spread northward.

*Adam's Green Machine was spread everywhere and ultimately went nowhere.

*Madeline's Yellow Fever was reaching epidemic proportions in Africa and South America.

*Abby's Blue Goo held the U.S. and was continually battling to stave off the yellow fever.

*And Maya Qiu's Red Spread had a strangle hold on Asia, which we thought was cute.

Adam's Green Machine reportedly had a strategy. Maya's Red Spread had absolutely no strategy. As a matter of fact, the Red Spread did everything wrong, boldly spitting in the face of all military know-how. And yet, looking at this picture, can you guess which army always rolled 5's and 6's, and which army couldn't seem to roll over a 3?

And so very quickly the Green Machine was shaking in its boots and licking its wounds up in its namesake country of Greenland. The Black Plague taunted the Green Machine's battle worn soldiers and in the voice of the Sicilian Vicini sneered, "Un-Emploooyyed in Greeeeenlannd," which seemed poor form.

The Purple Terror absolutely could have taken out the Green Machine, but the Purple Terror was hanging out in the Swiss Alps and wanted everyone to just live in peace and harmony. Against all odds, the Green Machine reved itself up and continued chugging away.

The Red Spread, however was becoming problematic. The Spread was up past its bedtime. Red Spread needed to meet bedspread. Yet anytime her father, Black Plague, would ask the Red Spread if she wanted to quit or keep fighting, the Spread always valiantly yelled, "Keep Fighting!" Because it's fun to roll dice and if you're not rolling dice you might just take your extra pieces and form little families and make up witty dialogue as did the Blue Goo.

The Blue Goo did this because a) the Goo does that type of thing often and b) RISK is really that boring. Besides, the Blue Goo just didn't have a heart for world domination and her troops were dropping like flies to the evils of the Yellow Fever. And no matter how much you dislike the game and wish you were doing something else, it's still sad to lose good men.

The Yellow Fever was ruthless. She killed her victims in horrible agony and then heartlessly tossed them into very colorful plastic graves, mocking their sad demise. Yellow Fever annihilated Blue Goo and began sweeping through the Green Machine. The Black Plague however gave the Fever a taste of her own medicine and the Fever reached a boiling point.

While the Fever was simmering away in South America, the Red Spread was out of control in Asia. The threat of the Spread made the rest of the world nervous and the Green Machine, no longer unemployed in Greenland, fell victim to one of the classic blunders. To once again quote Vicini, "Never get involved in a land war in Asia."

The Purple Terror moved in and finally the Red Spread was defeated. In the end, the once all-powerful ruler whimpered like a baby, sucked her thumb and called out for Mommy. It was a sad display. The leadership of the Purple Terror stepped down and her army was taken over by the fallen commanders of the Green Machine. Purple Terror carried the fallen Red despot upstairs to bed where she repented of her ways and promised to never again wish for world domination.

Meanwhile downstairs the Green Machine fell victim to injury and sickness and the Yellow Fever and Black Plague sneezed and coughed and vomited all over each other until both were so sick and tired they didn't care who ruled the world and they just wanted to go to bed.

Things my kids make me do

Did you have a relaxing Saturday? I hope so. My day started out that way at a baby shower held in a lovely home overlooking Puget Sound. I was watching the boat traffic and enjoying a delicious chicken salad croissant when Adam called on my cell phone. He wanted to know when I'd get back because I was expected to participate in the first annual Beck Cross Country Run. I almost said "Wrong number" and hung up.

I leisurely chatted away at the baby shower hoping that the run would take place in my absence. No such luck. I arrived home to very anxious kids who said they were tired of warming up. I quickly changed and had a tag pinned to my sweatshirt and was marched out to race registration table. I'm quite sure this wasn't on my calendar for today.



Lyle, maybe because of his marathons (like that's a good excuse), was able
to opt out and be the official timer. The rest of us stretched, including Maya.....



....although since her attire was more fitting for a ball than a cross country event, she was the designated cheering section.




The wooden bears marked the start and finish line. The course went around the basketball court, over a hurdle next to the guest house, past the horse pasture and barn, up the hill, down the road to the big rock in front of the neighbor's house, up the grassy trail on the hill towards our house and back through the bear finish line.


Lyle shot the gun and we were off.


I knew I couldn't beat Adam, so I didn't worry about him. I thought about sticking with Abby but figured as soon as she got past the hurdle she'd be fine. I set my sights on Madeline. I was right on her tail past the barn but fell back a bit on the hill. I caught her as we passed the neighbor's rock and almost tripped her. Really, it was totally accidental. We were neck and neck until she pulled ahead to go first up the grassy hill. It's really just single file, so you can see my dilemma. Either knock my daughter over or suffer defeat. If the course was just a wee bit longer, I'd have caught her.


Here she's crossing the finish line with obviously nothing left and with me breathing right down her neck and coming on fast.


Abby finished strong and made us all proud.




I so deserve this Gatoraid.

At least I medaled. Nothing wrong with a bronze.

Until the gold medal winner rubs it in.

Humbling Milestones

Lyle is no slouch of a distance runner. He's finished 3 marathons and numerous 5 and 10Ks and all at a pretty respectable clip. Adam has been running cross country for the high school and we've been very impressed with the effort that he's put into it and how much he's improved. Still, he's only 14 and quite a bit smaller than his dad and has had pretty minimal experience with races.
Last Saturday there was a huge cross country meet with 20 schools participating. At each of these races there is an "open" event where anyone from the community can run. Lots of parents run right along with the kids. Lyle had mentioned he wanted to run in the open, but we weren't sure if Adam was going to be running in the open or in the JV race. Lyle and I agreed that if Adam was running in the open, it wouldn't be a good idea for Lyle to run in the same race and beat him in front of all of his friends.
I couldn't attend the race, but once Adam and Lyle got there Adam learned he'd be running in the open division, and so Lyle said he'd just watch. Adam told him it was fine with him and as long as he didn't tell people who he was, he didn't care if his dad beat him. Lyle ran with our little digital camera so that after he finished he could get a picture of Adam crossing the finish line.
Apparently the race was huge and Lyle estimated 300 participants. The race organizers made sure the cross country team members were at the head of the crowd for the start, so Lyle wasn't right with Adam for the beginning of the race. As Lyle ran he said he didn't notice passing Adam, but there were so many people that it would have been easy to miss him. Lyle crossed the finish line with a time a little over 20 minutes. He turned around and got the camera ready to take a picture of Adam when he came down the final stretch. He waited and waited and was wondering if maybe something had happened to him when Adam tapped him on the shoulder! He had already finished and beaten his Dad with a time of 19:58!
It's a memorable milestone when a son first legitimately beats his dad and Adam mostly avoided rubbing it in, but the picture does seem to scream, "In Your Face!", doesn't it? But to Lyle's credit, he wasn't the least bit upset. He was bursting with pride at the impressive young man Adam is becoming.

What a Great Morning

Our morning started early. Very, very early. Adam is now a high schooler and along with high school comes early morning seminary. Lyle, Adam, and I were up at 5:45. I made breakfast and put place cards on the table for each of our school kids.

Lyle and Adam left for seminary at 6:25 and I went running. Really, truly, I did! I have a goal to exercise every morning now since I need to be up early with Adam and the girls can sleep until 7:30. Despite my groggy legs, I went around our 2 mile loop. I ran the first mile and walked the second. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed being out as the sun was still coming up. I'll admit though that I was a little nervous every time I heard a branch crack in the woods since a cougar was recently spotted just a few feet from our house. I did have about 160 pounds worth of canine with me, so I figured the cougar would eat the dogs first, right? If I do see a cougar, maybe I can count myself among the great African distance runners......"One morning I was running and came face to face with a lion......"

Here is our freshman. I'm so proud of Adam. He's excited about seminary and has some great goals for his first year of high school. He's been running with the cross country team this summer and is getting so strong. He's also made some great friends and told me yesterday after I picked him up, "You know Mom, there are just really good people in cross country." I've prayed several times today that he's having a good day. Lyle and I were looking at our high school yearbooks last night and remembering that it's a fun time of life, but it's also pretty tough.

I had second breakfast (Hobbit style) with the girls and then we dropped off Maya at preschool. I thought she might get teary-eyed or even fall apart, but she was all smiles as she confidently took her teacher's hand in the drop-off area and skipped into school. She didn't even look back.
Then it was off to the big girls' school. Both said that they felt a little nervous, but I know they'll do great. It was a perfect morning. Now I need a nap!

Adam Turns 14, etc.

I can hardly believe that Adam is FOURTEEN! How could that possibly be right? Admittedly, he's looking and sounding 14. I've mistaken him for Lyle several times when I hear him talking downstairs. I've told him he needs to shave more than once and he's now taller and bigger than his dear old mom. He's been a pretty nice teenager so far and his sisters think he's great.
Adam got a fancy nerf tag game from Abby and Maya and enjoyed a lasagna dinner.

I have to do some explaining with this picture! When Adam turned four years old, he got a "big boy" bed. To go along with the big boy bed, I made him a new quilt. I used patches of denim that I'd cut from old pairs of jeans, mixed with different plaids. We gave it to him on his birthday and he was SO upset! He yelled, "I don't want a blanket made from Dad's old pants! And I don't think blankets should have POCKETS!" He could not be swayed.

Lyle had the great idea of hiding candy in a few of the pockets. Once Adam found the candy, he decided he REALLY loved his blanket and asked if it could have MORE pockets! Well, ten years later his poor blanket was looking very well-used and worn. So, I created another jeans quilt for his 14th birthday and Lyle put some candy (and Home Depot gift cards) in the pockets. Here Adam is crawling around on the blanket, sniffing for candy!

Adam's been on the junior high track team and runs the 800 and mile. He's done great and we've been so proud of him. But his first meet, unfortunately, didn't go as he would have liked. He had just finished the first lap of the 800 and was going right by the bleachers when he was tripped by the runner behind him. Adam got a pretty severe case of road rash on his face and side and shoulder. He'd been in third place so it was pretty disappointing. In his handsome track photo you can still see where he's healing up on his face. At the next race he got third in the 800 (they only do one heat so there are usually about 20 people in each of his races) and got 6th in the mile. At the next race he got 5th in the 800 but improved his time to 2:38. His time in the mile also improved and he got 5:58. Go Adam!

Obviously it's been awhile since I posted anything and I'm kind of jumping around a bit! A couple of weekends ago Abby went to a birthday party at our local Skateland. Lyle was working and Adam was at a Boy Scout gun camp of some sort, so I took all three girls. I even rented skates so that I could skate with Maya. Maya thought the skates were wonderful for about 10 minutes and then she abruptly decided she was done. I was surprised because she was really good at it! I think the loud music was a bit much for her. Or maybe it was that she saw someone putting birthday cake on the table.


The other day I was making dinner and I heard talking and giggling outside. I peeked out the window and saw Adam and Madeline lying on the hammock on the back porch, just relaxing and talking about their day. I snuck around the house to get their picture. It's not a great photograph, but I love the moment.

May 16th- Maya feeding the koi at one of her favorite places, Clear Creek Nursery. Not long after this photo was taken, she wandered off and caused quite a panic. All of the workers were on their walkie talkies trying to locate "the 2 year-old in the orange shirt". Finally she was found heading up the hill to a waterfall. When I reminded her that she's not supposed to leave Mom, she sighed and said, "yeah, I just forgot."

May 17th- I spent my birthday attending parades! Madeline was in the Armed Forces Parade in Bremerton this morning and then in the Viking Fest Parade this afternoon in Poulsbo. it was 84 degrees which is an all-out scorcher for Western Washington and we all were feeling pretty wilted!
Maya and Abby were good parade attendees, but Maya was definitely maxed out with one parade (who wouldn't be?). I dropped her off with Adam (Lyle was at work) before we went for parade #2.

Beautiful Madeline on the float before the Viking Fest Parade. She was with the 6 other children from the Sound of Music Choir. She plays Louisa and she had her "My Favorite Things" solo right when they were going by us. It's kind of funny that Madeline's singing voice sounds different to me when we're away from home. I think I'm just so accustomed to hearing her singing around the house, that I hardly even notice it. Today she sounded so beautiful and I heard numerous people comment on her lovely voice. We were very proud of her.

Easter 2008

Our Easter Sunday started in typical northwest fashion with gray skies and cold, rainy weather. Also in typical northwest fashion, the clouds have now cleared away and we've had a sunny afternoon. I thought the kids looked so cute (don't tell Adam I used that word) this morning. I was proud that both Madeline and Adam joined Lyle in the church choir today, a first for Adam. Although Abby was physically present on the stand during the primary musical number, I did not see her lips move even once. Abby, on the other hand, told me that she DID sing, she was just trying to see how little she could move her mouth and still make noise.



We colored eggs last night and the little girls made a horrible mess.....

....and enjoyed every minute of it!

Madeline always shows a great deal of patience with her eggs and gets the deepest colors.

Adam is confident enough in his manliness to use pink.

The kids went downstairs at about 8:00 this morning and were very pleased with their Easter baskets. Adam got a new basketball that's touted as the ball that never needs inflating. The first thing I heard him say when he bounced it was, "hmmm, it's seems a little flat." Madeline got the game "Blokus", Abby got a set of little fairies, and Maya was thrilled with her very own backpack! She may sleep in it tonight. Here she's enjoying Lyle's delicious German pancakes while wearing the beloved backpack.



Each of the girls got an Easter dress and they all looked so pretty. Maya does not seem capable of a normal smile when the camera comes out. In this photo she was laughing because it was about my 20th attempt to get one decent picture. That little stinker!

I'm the primary nursery leader in my ward and so I get lots of Qiu time on Sundays! She loves nursery and is always very happy to arrive and eat her snack. Notice once again the backpack. And the picture face.

I was able to sneak a shot of her listening to the lesson. She really pays attention and participates. She loves learning. Oh, a kind of funny story from today. During the sacrament, a little boy a few rows back was very loudly reciting the alphabet. He was going strong through "G" when his mother quieted him. Maya didn't even miss a beat and when he stopped she yelled out, "H, I, J...."


Back home I tried one last time to get a normal smile out of her. This was the result. I give up.
Happy Easter to all. I've really felt the spirit of the day today and the joy of the resurrection.

*Just a couple of hours after I finished this post, we got a phone call that dear friends of ours from church had just lost their precious 13 year-old daughter. She had been in the hospital in Seattle for the past month fighting MRSA pneumonia. She was an amazingly talented young lady--state champion gymnast, dancer, honor student, and just a wonderful person. Our hearts are aching for this sweet family tonight