memories

Ahhh, memories. This is one for the fiance someday...

The other day I was on the phone with my mom in Phoenix and Evie got up from her nap. Evie usually gets up first when I make both her and Katie sleep for a bit, so this was not unusual. I was chatting with my mom for about 15 minutes or so when I started to hear this wailing coming from somewhere. Liam and Evie were both sitting on the floor having a snack and were fine, so I started to look for this noise. I got down the hall and yelled for Katie and asked her where she was, she replied back that she was in her bed and was stuck. (I had thought that maybe she was in the bathroom.) Anyway, I walked in her room and she was red from yelling for me and crying. I told my mom to hold on a minute, as I was still on the phone, and climbed up the bunk bed ladder to see what was going on. There was Katie tied by the drawstrings of her pants to the bed frame. I started laughing (it's a response that I just can't help sometimes) as I simply pulled her pants off and asked her why she didn't just take them off herself. She looked at me kind of dumbfounded for a moment and then said she'd never thought of THAT. As soon as Katie was freed, she started yelling at Evie and asking her why she didn't "tell mommy" that she was stuck? I asked Evie if she was supposed to have come and told me that Katie was tied to the bed and she looked at me and said, "Yep."

rock christmas party

Jason and I have had the privilege for the last few years to work with another couple and then on our own with the Jr. High and High School youth at our church.  At our very first meeting we had like 20 kids, after that we averaged 2 or 3 for the next couple of years, except when it was movie night!  Now, we have about 6 that come regularly and when they bring friends or older siblings are home for holidays, we have more.  We celebrated our 3 Annual ROCK Christmas Party a week before Christmas and as always had a ton of fun!  Most of the students got here on time, but then all the guys left to go get one of the other guys out of the ditch where he'd gone off the road.  After they came back all safe and sound, we dug into the food and continued on with the games.  We did the typical Bible "sword drill" this year and then followed it up with a devotional before we got into the rest of the games.  The devotional was on Eph. 3:20, which in the New King James version doesn't sound all that exciting and is kind of confusing- "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us."  So after the teen who found it the fastest read it in that version, I read it to them from the Message- "God can do anything, you know- far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!  He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us, His spirit deeply and gently within us."  Great verse for the end of the year in my opinion. 

Instead of loading a ton of pictures and videos on here, I've posted a Smilebox of the evenings festivities!

 

Make a Smilebox slideshow

nutcracker

The girls and I had the opportunity to attend a performance of the Nutcracker a couple of weeks before Christmas.  It was presented by the Sate Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, CA - growing up, I spent time in Santa Barbara visiting my grandparents who lived there.

I convinced a girlfriend of mine to attend with me and she convinced her girlfriend to come along too, so it was Katie and Evie, myself, Sherry and her little girl Asia and Aimee and her little guy, Titus.  Asia and Titus- who are both under a year old- behaved better than Evie did! Katie did great and had a wonderful time.  I would have had a wonderful time except for the 4 year old who sat next to me for 2 hours asking when we were going to eat.  At one point after intermission, Evie would just not sit still.  The Prince and the Sugarplum Fairy were dancing and I told Evie that it was almost done, after they danced it would be over.  I have not seen the Nutcracker in a long time and completely forgot that after they dance a pas-de-deux, they dance and individual dance and then another pas-de-deux.  Well, as the Sugarplum Fairy came on stage to begin her solo, this Evie let out this loud "uuggghhhh" much to my dismay.  She though it was over and we could go eat now!  

We eventually did get to go eat.  The "older" ladies gave the little ladies the choice of where they wanted to go- a fancy restaurant or Applebees.  Katie spoke for both of them and chose Applebees, and informed us that it was fancy restaurant, it had posters on the wall and stuff. Ahh, reasoning of a 6 year old.  It was a good choice as Evie took 3 bites of her dinner, put her head in my lap and fell asleep for the rest of the meal.

I once again found myself learning the lesson that what one kid can do, another kid cannot and will not be taking Evie to anymore ballets anytime soon!

Earley Family Christmas Letter 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You All!

In early 2008 I got hooked on reading my friend Sherry's blog and decided to do one of mine own and thus began New Nothings.  No one has asked me about my blog title, but I feel some explanation is required.  My life is full of NEW -sometimes meaningful and sometimes insignificant- NOTHINGS.  I enjoy just logging on to type- to let loose how I feel.  And sometimes what I have to say means much more.  That's just me.  So this year, I thought I'd save a tree and post my Christmas letter on here!  I hope that you all enjoy!

~ Brynn

It's hard to think of what to say when it's been a year since you last had to write it all down.  Kids have grown, jobs have happened, hair has been cut and colored, tears have been shed, laughs have been given, lives have changed, people have been moved to different houses.  And more.  

Let's go youngest to oldest!

Liam turned 1 this past September, so his year has been full of new adventures.  Liam is all smiles and is never really unhappy unless it's time to change his diaper.  He brings constant joy to this home.  Our boy decided to take his time learning about life.  He didn't roll over till he was almost 6 months old and finally got his first 2 teeth right after we celebrated his first birthday.  We thought that he'd heard too many stories about his Uncle Jared and decided to emulate him by doing the "army" crawl FOREVER.  It was wonderful to see him eventually get on all fours.  He just started walking this month.  Brynn is overjoyed at this as he has been the biggest of all three kids and the slowest to walk- she now says she could do an arms of steel DVD (though buns of steel is what she wants.)  He is a hoot to have around and brings MUCH "boy" energy to the predominately female enviroment.  We all love his grunts and yells, nothing can top his dinner time ritual of clenching his food in both his fists and saying, "AAAARRRRRGGHHHH."  Ahhh, to see him tackle Evie and take her graham cracker away is priceless (she only weighs about 5 lbs. more than he does.)  How has Brynn coped these past years playing only with Barbies and holding tea parties?  How we look forward to our little man's growth into a big man and we wait eagerly for the day when we can tell him (and his future wife) he once ate toilet paper out of the toilet when he was a baby...

Evie is our mischievous, stubborn, happy little stealth ninja who prefers to run around in princess dresses and swing like a monkey from what ever she can find to swing from.  Her favorite thing is snuggle time with Jason or Brynn whenever she can get a moment.  Evie is one unique kid.  Eating fried eggs with Jason is something she LOVES- as long as there is ketchup.  Ketchup is as important as air in Evie's life.  Thanksgiving dinner was eaten with ketchup, all of it.  Mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, biscuit, turkey, sweet potato casserole.  All of it.  It's a mystery.  We had the major accomplishment of getting her potty trained at the age of 4 in 2008. Brynn learned the valuable lesson of "what is easy with one kid might not be so with the next one" when it comes to this subject.  Having only one child in diapers at a time is a precious thing.  Evie is still at home this year as Grandma Nancy asked her once if she wanted to go to school or not and Evie replied that she just wanted to stay with Brynn and eat snacks.  Life with Evie is never boring!               

Katie. What can we say about Katie?  Where as life with Evie is never boring, life with Katie is never quiet.  She is our chatterbox!  Jason once noted that every thought that runs through Katie's mind comes out her mouth.  Even if you walk out of the room Katie continues to talk to you.  Her imagination is like no other!  And she flit-floats from one thing to another always finding joy in life.  She is a huge ball of energy that flattens Jason and Brynn everyday!   She has continued to grow and have adventures in first grade this year.  She is back at Our Savior Lutheran School and is doing very well.  We found it interesting when one of her teachers sent home an award certificate this year for Halloween naming Katie and her costume as "most EXOCTIC."  Katie usually makes perfect A's on her spelling tests, and we have high hopes that Katie will one day be the most special and "exoctic" person that people know!  We feel confident that Katie's love of the Lord and love of others will take her far in life and we can't wait to see the Father's plans for our first born. 

Brynn is.  Her year has gone up, down, sideways, backwards and forwards as she wears the many "mom" hats.  She and Jason still enjoy time with the Jr. High and High School students at their church as youth group leaders.  They named the group R.O.C.K.- which stands for Relying On Christ the King.  Brynn had a ton of fun and lost 5 lbs. when they took everyone tubing on the river for a day.  Acting is still a priority for her and she was able to participate in a play this Summer called "Dora the Dishwasher."  Brynn can now do an entire grocery store run and speak in a Southern accent the whole time and fool all!  Acting at church has continued too, ask anyone at Pagosa Bible Church about the cheerleading skit.  It's famous.  :-)  Bringing smiles to faces this year has been something Brynn has really enjoyed. 

Well, we went youngest to oldest so that means it's Jason's turn!  (We have the wonderful task of celebrating Jason's 30th birthday in 2009!!!!)  Jason has been a busy man this year.  Always a hard worker he has continued in his apprenticeship as a plumber and should soon be getting his residential license.  Jason also had his first experience of building a fence to keep our kids off the street after we moved into a new house this past June.  Working and moving with 3 small kids and an insane/perfectionistic wife is not an easy thing, but Jason survived to recommend not doing it to any one else.  As most of our R.O.C.K. students are guys, Jason has had a really great time getting to hang with them and go snowboarding in the winter and wake boarding in the summer.  As Brynn is typing this Christmas letter at 12:11 am- Jason is at work with his brother, shoveling snow and helping to plow the parking lots at the 2 local grocery stores.  Brynn thanks the Lord for the hard working husband and loving father her Heavenly Father has blessed her with.      

Except for our R.O.C.K. "responsibilities" we have taken a break from previous years service at Pagosa Bible Church.  Jason has taken a break from his ushering duties and Brynn has taken a break from teaching preschool.  God impressed upon us that our focus needed to be at home, so home- for now -is where it is. 

Thank you for spending a few moments reading about our crazy, somewhat disjointed lives!  Feel free to read more about our past year in older posts.  (There are pictures in them!!!)  And make sure you check back often, you never know when there will be a funny family story to bring a smile to your face!

Love to all and God Bless, 

Jason, Brynn, Katie, Evie & Liam

                  

halloween vacation

I decided to take the kids to Arizona for Halloween this year to see my parents. I needed a sunshine with warmth break and I was also in need of serious retail therapy. That and Katie and Evie wanted to be fairies and it's difficult to bundle a fairy properly so that her dress still shows when it's 35 degrees at night. So I thought we'd go trick-or-treating one time where the weather is more like 80 degrees at night. We all had a great time except for Liam. He was sick for the whole vacation. Liam was supposed to be a monkey for Halloween, but he wound up with a fever and so went as himself and sported an orange and green pacifier as his costume.

Liam also didn't get to join in the swimming fun. Katie loves the water! She jumps in, dives under and splashes everything in sight.

Evie spends her time on the steps. My little girl Evie. She is like none other. Only once did she decide to "jump" into the pool and have me "catch" her. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Would you like to jump to me Evie, I'll catch you?

Evie: Yes (as she stands on the edge of the pool) but come closer.

Me: (Already about a foot away) Ok (I move up 6")

Evie: No, closer!

Me: Ok (As I move ALL the way up to the edge of the pool)

Evie then puts both arms around my neck, wraps her legs around my waist and without ever entering the water says, "Whee!"

Shopping was fun, fun, fun!

Except for car troubles that made me leave a day after I was supposed to and the long drive there and back by myself, oh and the fact that Liam was sick, we all had a wonderful vacation. It was hard to leave the 90 degree temps to return to P-town and SNOW the next day, but it was nice while it lasted!

travel tips

Ok, so it's been a while since I've posted anything and there is a good reason for that. I've been busy. Really, really busy. Part of the busyness was getting ready for the Silver Ring Thing, but I will blog about that later. This post is about vacations and how you should take them. First: you should not take them BEFORE any event you are helping with. Something will inevitably go wrong and you will be late getting home or not make it at all. You should go AFTER the event. Then you can truly relax. Second: If you have more than one child and you are traveling by yourself (with no spouse) you should NOT drive in the middle of the night. Especially on a windy pass. Sidebar- I do not like windy, mountain passes. This is a slight problem as I live in Colorado. I can handle Wolf Creek Pass, I cope with Red Mountain Pass. These are the "local" roads I must deal with. However, I refuse to ever again drive through Salt River Canyon in Arizona, at night and by myself. As I mentioned before, I live in CO. I've seen my fair share of elk, I have however never almost hit one as big as a horse going 75 miles an hour... I have also not had to deal with psycho semi-truck drivers who sit on your bumper. Never in my life have I ever felt so excited to see the "AZ State Prison- Do Not Stop For Hitchhikers" sign, it signals the END of the canyon -end sidebar. Third: If you are having car problems before you leave, you should fix them before you have to drive 9 hours to get to where you are going or vice versa. (Or you might end up leaving for home, getting an hour away and then having to drive back an hour to take your car in to get fixed. As I did.) These are helpful tips to traveling. Traveling sanely.

crazy hair night

Katie attends AWANA and a couple of weeks ago they had crazy hair night. Katie won. Enough said.