“Blue Hat, Green Hat”

The Mozingo family is staying with us for a few days as they’re recently sold their home and are waiting to close on their new house.  Erica is reading “Blue Hat, Green Hat” by Sandra Boynton to Trent and his cousin, Alyssa.

“Young Pioneers”

This is “Young Pioneers” by Rose Wilder Lane. This book was a 10th birthday gift from a friend for Sarah.

The Worley Family Library

A friend recently introduced me to this interesting website, The New York Underground Library.  The premise is simple; the results are so fascinating.  Of the thousands who use the New York subway system every day, a fair number of them pass the time by reading.  A photographer decided to create a sort of “library” of the books being read by the passengers and display them on a blog. One of the interesting things in so many of the pictures is the seeming contrast between the readers and the books they’re reading. Teenagers reading heavy classics; older folks reading Harry Potter; rough types reading love stories, and so on. 

Which brings me to today’s post. For months now, I have wanted to start a new series of short posts on this blog that chronicles the day-to-day stuff.  Blogging about the big life events is a must, but what is often more interesting over time is the mundane daily routine of life, which does change, but gradually, as family dynamics change and family members grow up. 

My parents bought their first (and only) camcorder in 1986, the summer before my senior year in high school.  It was the size of a small rocket launcher and cost $1,000.  (Contrast that to the last camcorder Mick and I bought a year or so ago for $300 which fits into the palm of your hand.)  They wanted it so much they actually financed the thing.  My parents, who I believe have never had more than one credit card, which has been used probably a half dozen times, took out a loan to buy a camcorder, which was pretty new technology in 1986.  Uncharacteristically cutting edge!

They now have hundreds of VHS tapes they’ve recorded, chronicling many of the important events in our family from 1986 on.  One of the most interesting tapes we kids like to watch was recorded not long after they got the camcorder.  It was a lazy summer day and all of us happened to be at home.  Several of us kids took turns recording random bits of this and that, some silliness and laughing, and just, well, family life as it was then. Chuck practicing his guitar in his room, Heather practicing her trombone in the basement, Mom making vegetable soup, a few of us making No Bake cookies and goofing off in the kitchen, Kelly making our waterbed (a neatnik even as a a teenager ), an impromptu game of Trivial Pursuit (dating myself here).  I don’t know why it’s so interesting to watch that, except that it reminds us how life was like most of the time in our family.  The big, important events of our childhood stand out the most in our memories, but it’s nice to be reminded that even a regular day could be satisfying, interesting, and fun.

So, back to this blog.  I’ve thought about tagging these new posts something like “Slice of Life”.  What I picture for this series is to be a sort of virtual snapshot on any given day of any different Worley.  I might post the latest piano piece Rachel is working on, what funny thing Grant said, that new milestone Trent just passed, what new recipe I’m trying out for dinner, new ballet moves the girls are working on, etc. The way I picture it has been with several different “Slice of Life” items for each entry, including links to whatever might be helpful or additional information e.g., recipes, web sites, books. Because the idea is becoming more complex, it’s becoming more daunting, which partially explains why I haven’t taken this idea farther than my thoughts. :-) Looking at this New York Underground Library website made me realize I could take this “Slice of Life” idea, simplify it a little and pair it with the premise behind the Underground Library project.  The result is what I hope will become a sort of Worley Family Library: taking pictures of the kids and the variety of books they read as a way to chronicle who they are and what they like, and to see how that changes over time as they grow.  Now I use the term “variety” somewhat loosely here.  Obviously there is going to be a lot more variety in the New York Underground Library than the Worley Family Library.  The riders of the New York subway come from incredibly diverse backgrounds, whereas our kids obviously have a lot in common by virtue of their having the same parents and living under the same roof.  :-)  But there is still quite a bit of variety here. Sometimes the books are meaty classics, sometimes they’re fluffy, sometimes they’re being read for school, mostly they’re read for pleasure.  Some of the kids read more than others (maybe this will even encourage those who don’t read as much to pick up a book more often ;-) But in general, there is a lot of reading that goes on around here: books, magazines (Highlights, God’s World News), reference books, even cookbooks sometimes. So I’m going to start grabbing the camera periodically and taking a picture when I can.

In the end, these posts may only be interesting to our family (for that matter, this whole blog may only be interesting to our family :-) but the main reason I’ve created this blog is to document our life together, and I hope these pictures will enrich that.

This was the first picture I took with this idea in mind.  Grant sitting by himself looking at “Hercules the Harbor Tug” by Michael O’Hearn. (I know he looks naked in this picture, but he does have something on down there.) What I love about this is that he was reading – well, “reading” – all by himself.  He just saw a book that looked interesting and sat down to look at it.  I love to see very young ones doing that – it’s a good omen that they’ll be future readers!

Turkey Run, June 2012

Quiet Sunday afternoon.  Spur-of-the-moment late afternoon trip to Turkey Run. Cool, clear day.  Dwindling crowds. Energetic kids. Ballet poses. Dirty shoes. Happy memories.

Timing is everything

When your toddler is sitting still … and he’s in a pleasant mood … and he has no bruises, scratches or bug bites to mar his lovely face … or a runny nose … and the late-day lighting is suddenly perfect … don’t think, don’t breathe – just Grab The Camera!

Note:  I somehow managed to get these photos last week, between 2 separate colds, and 2 separate head-bruising accidents.  Yes, indeed:  timing is everything!

Sarah’s long-overdue birthday post

So, here we are on the eve … no - make that the early morning hours of Grant’s 4th birthday*, and I suppose I should update the blog with Sarah’s 10th birthday post.  It has been just about a month since her birthday, so this post has been percolating long enough (more like sitting on the back burner long enough, but you get the idea).

Sarah’s Birth Story

First, her birth story.  There are certain details about each child’s birth which remain clear to all moms, even years later.  For Sarah, I remember having a doctor appointment the day before she was born.  Her due date was May 2, but my OB mentioned the possibility of induction, because she thought it would be more helpful for planning childcare for Rachel, Courtney & Erica.  Well, of course childcare decisions are much easier when there’s is a scheduled date, but I wasn’t interested in induction just for the sake of convenience. My OB decided to try a natural induction method that sometimes brings on labor (moms know what I’m talking about here) and after that, I headed home.  About an hour later, I begin feeling what I suspected might be the beginning of labor.  This shifted me into high-nesting mode and before I knew it, I was flying through our local Aldi’s, grabbing groceries left and right, unloading the cart, loading the cart, loading the car, unloading the car, etc., etc. I somehow made it through the evening routine and by 9:00 that evening, noticed more regular contractions. Despite all the symptoms (and having gone through this process three times already), I found myself still wondering after several hours if it was true labor. I talked to my cousin, who was doubtful since my water hadn’t broke yet (incidentally, out of 8 births, my water broke on its own only once), but things continued and I became more convinced.  We decided around 11 pm to head to the hospital. 
After arriving around midnight, the nurses checked me in, checked me, and paged my doctor.  I think by this time, it was about 3:00 am.  My doctor, Dr. Norman (who had earned the nickname “Stormin’ Norman” by the nurses) had arrived and … well, let’s just say she’s probably not a night owl.  :-D  After checking me, then breaking my water, she left to try to catch a few more winks (I assume) before her presence in the delivery room was mandatory.  By around 4:25, she was called back in and we were ready to go.
From this point on, what I distinctly remember thinking is “Why is this taking so long?” The first three deliveries had gotten progressively quicker, and I think I was expecting the same trend with #4 – at least I’m sure I was hoping that would be the case.  After 20 minutes of pushing, Sarah finally made her grand entrance – face up – much to the surprise of my OB.  “So that’s what took so long!” she said.  Beautiful Sarah Rebecca was born at 4:48 am on April 24, 2002.  She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. – the exact same weight as her big sister, Erica.

Sarah’s 10th Birthday

Our birthday celebrations typically feature a nice meal, completely chosen by the birthday child (even down to the beverage).  Grandma and Grandpa Griffin are the much-anticipated guests and they are seated on either side of the birthday child at the dinner table. After a nice meal, we move on to the cake, then the gifts.  Sometimes, we watch a video of the birthday child’s birth day, and if the weather is cooperative, we almost always take a leisurely walk.  For tenth birthdays, in addition to our usual cherished birthday traditions, we have the “friend birthday” party.  Sarah’s birthday guests included 4 cousins and 1 friend.  We also had 2 daughters of some friends who had gone out of town for a couple of nights.  The boys were highly outnumbered! 
The day before the party, Rachel, Courtney & Erica put their creative heads together and came up with a really fun treasure hunt that had the girls putting together handmade puzzles to find out where the next clue was located. The girls also spent time running around outside and playing games, since it was a beautiful, sunny day.
After most of the guests had left, the kids spent the rest of their time wrapping up production of a new story they wrote and filmed which was called “The Secret of the Violin.” They did a very good job on it!  Plus, it was a great way for them to occupy their time, especially on Friday (the day before the party) since it rained quite a bit and they were even able to work the the rain into part of the storyline.
This has been an exciting year for Sarah as she has been enjoying her first year of ballet lessons, and doing very well.  She has also blossomed into an independent reader, most recently enjoying a book in the Elsie Dinsmore series.  We love her very much and look forward to what God has in store for her!

Visiting some friends' dairy farm in the summer of 2005 (Sarah was 3)

This is a classic Sarah toddler pose:  left thumb in mouth, right hand rubbing ear.  :-)

I've always loved this picture of Sarah (even though she looks sad) - her eyes look so beautiful!  She was warming up in the van after an unsuccessful first attempt at sledding.  :-)

I love these 3 pictures! We had them taken at Celebrity Kids when Sarah was 21 months old.  In the middle picture, she is demonstrating her "funny face." 

Sarah holding baby sister Brooke in January 2004.

Smelling a tulip at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the Spring of 2005.

In the backyard at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

This was from Summer 2008, during the Olympic Games.  Sarah was inspired and came up with this gymnast's outfit, complete with gold medal, flowers and American flag. 

Sarah and cousin Ellie

This was taken when Sarah was 5.  She was the flower girl in a dear friend's wedding.

Sarah dressed as Charlie Bates in our 2009 production of Oliver Twist.

Standing in front of cousin Sophia at ballet. 

Virginia Beach

Spring 2011

I'm honestly not sure where this was taken.  Hopefully far, far away from our house.

Sarah and cousin Cameron in 2011.

* Full disclosure here:  let the record show that I actually didn't publish this post (needed to add the pictures) until the wee hours of the day after Grant's birthday.  Which makes it ... May 24th .. which is ... exactly one month after Sarah's April 24th birthday!  Um, yeah, I planned it that way.  ;-)

The Boys of Summer

I had a lot of fun this year getting the boys’ Easter outfits.  I imagined both of them sporting matching newsboy caps and lo and behold, I was able to find 2 that matched in their sizes at Children’s Place!  The icing on the cake was that they were on sale for $5.00!  I couldn’t get out my wallet fast enough.  :-)

We started ooohing and aahhhing the moment we tried them on the boys that night (still feels weird to write and say “boys” :-)  They were absolutely adorable!  But with Trent being a tender 17 months old, I was worried he wouldn’t oblige us and wear the hat on Easter.  So, we put the hat on him on Saturday to desensitize him to it before the big day. 

I had one of the girls take him outside to play so he would be distracted and hopefully forget about the hat, and it worked!  A little while later, I looked out the kitchen window and spotted him standing on our front path holding an old baseball.  The effect of the hat and the baseball immediately brought to mind the baseball players of the 1920s.  His pants were even pulled up a little, making it look like he had knickers on!  My hands were soapy wet and I was in the middle of meal prep, so I told Courtney to grab the camera and get whatever shots she could of him.  It was in the early evening and a little overcast, so the light was in our favor (always a bonus!).  Courtney ended up having some good ideas for shots, and we ended up having quite a few very sweet pictures of our little guy.

and my favorite …