Pizza, Tracy fam style

Documenting the pizza madness we have around here.

We make three, well, four kinds of pizza.

First: normal pepperoni, with sauce and cheese. And a happy pepperoni smile. This would be for Aaron, and Caroline, and sometimes James and Henry.

Second: half Canadian bacon and pineapple (me)/half extra sauce and pepperoni with no cheese (William)

Third: pepperoni and cheese but no sauce (Laurel, James and Henry)

It's kooky, but it works for us.

June Updates!

It's been far too long!

I'm a busy girl over on my sewing/quilting blog, and maybe I love the readers I have over there and I'm addicted to the comments.

But we won't overanalyze. We'll just document!

More on the individual boys in a minute, but I just loved this picture too much! These two are partners in crime. It's awesome. Best Brothers.

Okay, the lil' peanut. This girly is a busy one. Stringing big ol' sentences together, asking "Why?" all the time. If you ask her where something/someone is, she says, "Not me." I know she means "I don't know," but it's still too funny. She is a fierce one too - she has a fierce face when she wrestles with anyone, and you'd better watch out. Still a cuddle bug, but sleeping in her own bed (most of the night!). 

This beauty of mine may have blue eyes and blonde hair, but we are two peas in a pod. She loves being outside - she takes quilts out in the backyard, lays under a tree with a pile of books and reads. She's expanding her reading library: it was all dragons for a while there, and now we're moving on to owls (Guardians of Ga'Hoole), classics (Mark Twain), and lots and lots of magic (not just Harry Potter!). She writes, she draws, she sews, and she's excited for the fair again this year. She's got big plans!

She's finally got a piano teacher she loves, and who motivates her. They get a punch on their punch card for each week they practice every day, and she's in the lead of all the students right now. $5 is the prize, and she's determined to get it! 

Oh, Hank! This little guy is the absolute ham of the family. Every dinner time is the "Henry Show" and he keeps us laughing. He's working on his reading and writing and just loves to play. Mostly in mud, although he'll just settle for climbing trees mostly. In fact, on our short list of things we want in a house, good climbing trees are essential. This boy is a monkey.

He's also my JFK Jr. This boy never has a shirt on!

My sweet James. Happy to play all by himself (sometimes, I think he sneaks away so he can be alone for a bit), but in the thick of it all too. Loves being outside. Loves riding his bike. And he is just like his big sister already: a reader! And he really is teaching himself. I help him out when he asks questions, but he loves to figure out words. 

He's still my shy guy at church. Happy to be there and sit with his class and answer questions, but doesn't want a whole lot of attention on him. Doesn't like to come help with games and puzzles and things. He's just content, this little guy.

My Scout! Boy does he love scouting! Just attended day camp and we haven't heard the end of it. He's also a tinkerer, like his Papa, and likes to take things apart. He just disassembled our old toaster and now carries the little circuit board around in his pocket. 

He's also liking piano, but Scouts activities are his favorite. And Legos. Lots and lots of Legos.

In official Tracy family news, we're waiting.

Aaron takes the bar on July 29th and 30th (please keep him in your prayers!). Then we wait some more. Results come out in mid-September, and if he passes, he gets sworn in sometime in October. Phew. That's a long time!

But in the meantime, Aaron has found some jobs (and by Aaron I mean me, and then I e-mail them to him) working at Mountain Home AFB. Not as a lawyer, although they do want an advanced degree, so the JD helps nonetheless. He's applying for them, so hopefully he'll have a job regardless of the outcome of the bar. Not that I'm doubting. I know he'll do it.

I'm keeping busy with the kids: zoo, science center, playgroup, piano, Scouts, activity days for Laurel, prepping for the fair. And when there's time, I do family history. I've found so hundreds of records of our ancestors and have been busy attaching them to the right files. All the indexing that members of the LDS church have been doing with government and church records the world over has been an amazing gift to family historians. I even found our great-great-great-grandmother on the Pofahl line. Pretty exciting stuff! And when I'm not doing family history, I sew. A lot. Here's some of my latest creations:

Aaron's sister has been so awesome, letting me use her longarm machine as often as I can. So, come winter, at least we'll be warm!

I solemnly promise to update at least once a week. There's just too much going on that I need to share more often.

Blue and Gold Banquet

William attended his first Blue and Gold banquet. Aaron has a Thursday night class that he's only allowed to miss once during the semester. We figured he ought to miss it for Pinewood Derby. Still, Nana and Grandpa were able to attend with us, and it was lots of fun.


William got to decorate a cake (all the boys did). Our theme was a Wild West Round-up, but there was no arguing with my Will. He wanted to do a pigeon cake (of Mo Willems fame), and so we made the pigeon a sheriff to keep with the theme. I wanted to title it: Don't let the pigeon have a gun!


Lots of fun for all of us, and we're getting excited for the pinewood derby in March. And guess what? His car will be a pigeon car!

2013 Year in Review: The Tracy Family Christmas Card!

I haven't done Christmas cards in years. Here's my blogging solution: The Tracy family year in review.

The Reader's Digest version!

What happened this year:

We discovered Goblin Valley in March. We really want to go back.

We moved to Meridian in May. I never want to move again, unless it's into my very own house. In Meridian. Preferably in the Sunnybrook ward because these people are some of the best!

Aaron and I celebrated our anniversary in July. We also had a visit from some Seattle friends (who are now California friends) for the 4th. Good times, all month long!

Henry turned 4 in August.

We renewed a long-lost friendship from our NY days (he was one of "our" missionaries and has since married an awesome lady and made a family!) in August (and fell in love with Montana in the process).

Laurel and Will entered their first, but not last, fair projects. Some big victories for them, and plans for next year are already in place.

At the end of August, Aaron began his third (and final!) year of law school and I ran my first 5k.

Caroline turned 2 in October.

In November, Laurel hit double digits at 10, William got baptized and became a scout at 8, and James is ever happy being 6.

And throughout the year, we've been busy with homeschool, quilts, new callings at church (I'm now in the Primary presidency, so very busy, but very happy with it), Cub Scouts, activity days, piano lessons, etc. Life is busy and beautiful.

Plans for 2014:

One heckuva graduation party for Aaron in May. And then a "passed the bar" party. And a "swearing-in party." He's going to get a lot of parties this year.

A quilt retreat for me at the end of January up in McCall. I'm a bit giddy about this one, to tell the truth.

More homeschool, more quilts, swimming lessons this summer, more piano, more Cub Scouts, more activity days, more fair projects. More life!

Puff

This is Puff.

Puff and Caroline are besties.

Puff was a gift from Gran and Opa for her birthday. An early birthday present!

If Caroline is, let's say, climbing all over you while you are trying to sew something. Or holding onto your legs while you are cooking, all you have to say is "Where is Puff?" and she's off in search of him. She drags him around by the foot, tail, and neck. Not at the same time.

Sometimes Puff is tired and needs to take a nap.

She even shares her blanket with Puff.

Silly little peanut. Time for night-night.

She's totally faking it, although I wish she wasn't!

Love this silly girly of mine.

And Puff.

What makes life awesome

A little story of two men in my life.

The Sunday before Labor day, we were leaving church. We have those awesome/annoying automatic sliding doors on our van. Aaron pushed the button to open them, but then accidentally pushed the button to close them. Will, being the very typical impatient almost 8-year-old boy that he is, pushed back on the door while it was closing.

Yep. Disaster. He's a strong boy. He killed the motor.

A new motor is $500. A used motor from a junk yard is a lot less. Still, Aaron spent ALL DAY on Labor day trying to fix it without ordering a new/used motor. Didn't work.

A very unhappy Aaron. And a very sad and repentant Will. (Note: no one EVER berated him or was hurtful about it. We did have a rather serious talk though, and he did accept his responsibility in the matter)

Fast forward to last night. The motor arrived and Aaron installed it. It didn't work. We didn't know why. We thought we might have to suck it up and buy the brand new one instead of a used one. Aaron was frustrated and hot and tired. Facing $500 (especially after our transmission fiasco) was not a pretty thought.

And then the amazing William stepped in. Wednesdays are his days to pray (it simplifies thing a lot around here!). So during family prayer, he prayed that Papa would be able to figure out how to fix the van. And then, after the prayer, he offered to give Aaron his $12 and change to help pay for a new part. Will has been pulling weeds, moving canned goods for Nana and generally working hard to buy a Lego Hero Factory guy. And he didn't even blink an eye, or shed a tear, at the thought of giving it to his dad to help fix his mistake.

Yep. I'm crying right now, because this boy is some kind of awesome.

But the story has a happier ending.

Aaron went out to the garage and Will went to bed. Thirty minutes later, Aaron came in and called William out to the garage. After a few minutes, William came bouncing in to my room. "Papa fixed it! Papa fixed it!" I said to him, "Well, it sure was a good thing you asked Heavenly Father for help. I'm glad he answers your prayers." And my awesome boy til the end said, "Mommy, he answers ALL prayers!"

Love this little man. He sure is a keeper.

p.s. I'm sorry for not posting more often. I intend to remedy that. While I do post on facebook, I like having the option of writing more and sharing much more personal stuff on the blog.

Little Miss C and a Self-Portrait by James

Caroline is turning out to be quite the helper. She loves setting the table, and here she is helping me mop the floors (I've taken to hand-mopping the floors lately):

And we have another little scrunchy-face girl:

She likes to be big and color with her siblings:

This green bowl has been the alien helmet for quite some time. She likes to wear it around the house.

We had stake conference today. Now normally, I only have a few books for the kids. No coloring, no snacks. But 2 hours is a LONG time, so I bend my rules for stake conference. I let the boys color, and James did a self portrait. Isn't it awesome?

If you can't tell, he's wearing an orange tie (because James wears an orange tie every Sunday). I love it!

Have a great week!