A Year in Review

Dear 2012,
You treated us well and gave us a strong and calm canvas to create a beautiful and memorable year.  The time has come to say adieu and I must say I am ready.  I am ready for lucky '13.  Each year lays bricks for the next, and I thank you dearly for the foundation you gave us.  For I feel like 2013 may need this stability for all of the building we will be doing.  
Farewell with love,
Megan

2012 in Review

January

2012 began with a party and fireworks.  This month we went to the Natural History Museum - Cheyenne slept, and Chris reveled.  Cheyenne and Strider really started to form a friendship and recognize each other as playmates.  Grayson moved to New York and I returned to work - both of which I thought would be the end of me - but as most things go, day by day, it was fine.

February

February brought a 30th birthday for Chris and a first tooth for Cheyenne.  Oma came and stayed with us for a couple of weeks in the transition of me going back to work.  We did a lot of trips to the beach and to Farmer's Market and Cheyenne's scooting turned to crawling and crawling turned to standing.

March

In March, Miss Cheyenne was the bravest girl and went in for surgery to remove her extra little toe.  It is the most proud I have ever felt in my life.  She is truly the one who kept Chris and I calm through this potentially scary day.  I was in awe of my sweet girl.

April

In April we took the drive up the coast to Chris' family cabin.  My parents and Strider and the whole Sweeney crew joined in the coastal party and we explored here and there in Bodega and Jenner.

May

May brought about a trip to New York to see Gray.  We saw all the tourist sights - Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, Gound Zero.  We walked the Brooklyn Bridge and saw a couple shows.  We lucked out to be there the same weekend as Morgan and she and Grayson and Chris and I got to go on a sunset sailboat cruise, which is perhaps in my top 10 memories of all time (bold statement I know, but it was pretty amazing).

June

In June, Cheyenne and I tagged along on Chris' business trip to Sacramento.  We got to see family and a very pregnant Aunt Megan.  We took a detour to Monterey on the way home and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  The aquarium was better than we remembered it and Cheyenne was very impressed with the Jelly fish - as were we!

July

July and Cheyenne turned a whole year old.  Park City's summertime festivities called our name and we celebrated there with Main Street festivals, lakeside picnics and warm evening chats.  Chris and I even got to take an anniversary adventure of our own.
July also brought the arrival of our first niece, Lyla Rae.

August

In August we followed the War Horse tour up to San Francisco and we were able to see both sides of the family and have some classic SF sightseeing.  We saw War Horse for a 3rd time and were so proud of Grayson once again.

September

September and Cheyenne was walking.  I went back to school with a new part-time schedule and Cheyenne and I lived up the indian summer weather on my days off.  Our tans lasted the month and our beach picnics continued well into the following month.

October

October and the giant Sequoias beckoned us back.  This trip welcomed new members of the tradition with sweet Lyla and Gould grandparents!  We noticed the growth in the trees and in ourselves.

November

November brought us a move to a new house and unfortunately weeks of being under the weather.  We rotated the symptoms among each other and didn't really emerge into the land of the well until Thanksgiving... and even then we only got a day of this company before they all sunk into the land of the sickies themselves.

December

December and we searched for the perfect tree and decorated the new house in lights and spirit.  We traveled to both Sacramento and Park City to celebrate and ended the year in Laguna with the Sweeneys for a sweet and snug New Year's Eve.

Brothers and Sisters and Schooners

In the afternoon of Christmas day, the wind blew in the whole rest of the family.  And within 30 seconds, the house was full; full of voices and kisses and coats and boots. We all cuddled up and ate chili, told stories and played a round of Cranium.  My parents so graciously offered to watch over our sleeping babe, and the "kids" (6 original cousins, a husband, a fiance, and an Uncle Scott) snuck off to O'Shucks Bar for some off campus fun.  We drank very large beers, played shuffle board and billiards and even our fair share of drinking games. Christmas night brought much spirit and laughs.

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas.

A perfect morning.  Snow. Warmth. Bows and anticipation. Coffee and Cavanadash.

First view  at the top of the stairs.

We never had stairs growing up but I think that Christmas morning is why we have the bedrooms upstairs.  Every child should get this experience of looking  over the banister to this  sight.  The child in Chris and Grayson and I get it now and Cheyenne doesn't know anything different yet.  Pretty lucky, I'd say. 

A moment of pure childhood joy.  If I could bottle this, well I would take a gulp every day...

A new friend and comfort.

Merry and Bright

Merry Christmas from Park City

Oh this girl...

The Megans and their Girls

Cheyenne loves sweet Lyla dearly. 

Speaking of sweet Lyla...

Then and Now

We are lucky to have families that are flexible with holiday dates. Because of this, we get to have multiple celebrations in multiple cities and get to see everyone we love.  Christmas and Thanksgiving and Birthdays get celebrated on dates of our choice.  It is liberating to give the dates on calendars a shove this way and that.  And in this ever growing family, on both sides, it has become rather important to give ourselves this freedom to change dates from year to year.

There are a few things that remain the same no matter which date we decide is Christmas and which cake we add candles to.  In the big picture these things revolve around the feeling and the love that we share as we sit around a table or a tree.  On the smaller scale, there are traditions (especially on the Gould side) that ground us, things that we can lean on as the wind and the times change.

Frosty is one of these things.  I love driving up to Gamma and Gampa G's house and seeing Mr. Snowman leaning up against the porch with his scarf and broom.  He has a smile that says in a subtle shrug "I thought you guys might be driving up today..."

Here is the 2011 and 2012 family photo with Frosty.  It seems that Cheyenne has grown and I have shrunk (I'm gonna hope this is a trend every year!).

Until next year dear Frosty, we will miss you.  Thank you for being a constant in our Christmas memories.

 P.S. - A then and now of a red

christmas bow!

Cheyenne 2011
Lyla 2012

My Little Elf

Oh Christmas Tree...

We searched high and low, artificial and live, close and far, for the perfect christmas tree.  

We are proud to say we found him late in the evening.  He's nice and fat and full and smells like mountain air.  We brought him home and although I think that Cheyenne thought it funny to have a "T-t-t-t-teaaee" (tree) in the house, he looks like he was meant to live here, wedged right in the corner all dressed up in sparkles and lights.  In fact, we have a feeling, our house will feel a bit empty without him, come the new year.

Each morning, Cheyenne turns the corner into our living room and, fresh and genuine every time, gasps with eyes wide open and says "Wowww."  It is darling - it is what Christmas cheer is made of at its core.

Santa's Early Visit

Our new neighborhood has been so welcoming and spirited over the past month.  We feel like it is going to be such a great little home for us.  If that wasn't enough, we came to find out that the one and only Santa Claus feels at home on our street as well!

We were feeding Cheyenne her dinner and we heard amplified Christmas music and cheer happening and so we opened the front door to see several kids running past our house and one sweet girl yelled, "Santa is coming any minute!  It's a neighborhood tradition, and Cheyenne will love it!"  And sure enough by the time we put socks and a sweatshirt on Cheyenne, we ran out and Santa was coming down the street.  Torrance Police Department has been welcoming Santa for an early visit and ushering him around our neighborhood for over 15 years.

Here is a little clip of the excitement!

In the know...

Cheyenne is very in the know.
She is disappointed as of late with the state of the economy but is hopeful for the upcoming fiscal year.

November Hibernation...

The Gould family unintentionally went into hibernation for the month of November.  We have now emerged wearing our Christmas gear and ready for an exciting holiday.  We are going to make our best effort to make December a drastic contrast to our fuzzy November.  December will bring health and  adventure we hope.
On the upside we moved into a sweet, charming house that feels a little more like home each day.  We also had a nice trip to NorCal for Thanksgiving.  On the (very) downside, the Gould family was sick and in bed nearly the whole month.

Here is November in pictures...

Halloween Morning - The plan to dress as a polar bear was short lived,
but she did enjoy her skeleton tutu.

The Park

 Thanksgiving

A new big girl chair

Growth

What a gift it is to have gone on this same trip and sat on this same tree exactly one year later.  I have learned more... grown more... this year than any other.  Chris and I talk all the time about how before we became parents, there were so many threats about how our life will change and how "hard" it will become and how little time we will have for each other and ourselves.  These things couldn't be further from the truth in our experience.  Our life has only evolved and grown. Change is not the word that I would use.  For change and growth are both so very important, but they imply very different things.  Being a parent has not changed us.  We do all of the things we did before only now we get to share them more fully and we believe all of the same truths that we did before and now they just seem even more deep and important.  Trees grow taller and wider and the roots grow deeper, but they don't change.  And time has just become more rich, more complete.  Being a mother has been having time for myself - because I am more myself than I ever have been.  Time for each other and time for ourselves have never been more real and plentiful.  Time is exactly what we have and it is filled to the brim and just grows each year*.


we all truly have grown
even the trees.

*That is not to say that time doesn't fly so fast that I can barely catch it by the tail before it is gone into memory-land...

Sequoia, welcome us back!

Last October, we traveled North, and the Fishers traveled South and we met in the middle in Sequoia National Forest.  Cheyenne was just under 3 months and the wilderness and crisp air next to a campfire was something that we are so happy that we exposed her to so young.  The cabins we stayed in were perfect.  They gave us safety and comfort while still allowing us to feel some of the rustic adventure of camping.  So naturally we decided if something is good - more is better.  So we are going to do our best to make it an annual trip and this year, grandparents and a brand new cousin will be joining all of us.  Our hope is that each year as the leaves start to change and the Fall season sets in, we all start to get jitters of excitement of what new adventures we will have that year in Sequoia.
We saw 3 bears last year and walked through trees that were wider than our house and taller than we could see.  We leave in a few hours and I feel like a little kid that can hear the ice cream truck a couple of blocks away.  What wildlife will we see this year?  Will Cheyenne be able to appreciate the deliciousness of s'mores? Will Tyson spot all of the raccoons again?  A report to come!

Sequoia National Forest
October, 2011

Crib Kisses

Zucchini Muffins

Cheyenne has been touch and go about her veggies and so to move along the process, we decided to add some cinnamon and sugar.  You know what they say about a spoonful of sugar... well try a cupful and you are golden!


Zucchini Muffins are now a good friend in the Gould household.

Here is the recipe I used:

Zucchini Bread 
(Recipe adapted from smitten kitchen)
2 cups grated zucchini
3 eggs
1 cup cinnamon apple sauce (you could use veg oil here)
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
(raisins, nuts or chocolate chips might be nice addition as well!

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line muffin pan with holders (For tutorial, see pics below)

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in apple sauce and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt

Stir this into the other mixture. 

Pour in prepared muffin pan

Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean - about 20 to 25 minutes.

(It made about 18 muffins, but you could do it in loaf pans too!)

Of course, they won't taste quite as good without this little helper...
I can lend you mine for a small fee.

A new pair of shoes

the first in fact...

Such a big girl sitting on her own little couch,
sleeves rolled up
in her jeans,
with her shoes,
and  her phone.