First Day of School

It has come all too soon. EmmaClaire could hardly let herself fall asleep the night before that first day. And she was the first one to wake me up, much eariler than she needed to wake up. She gently touched my arm, I opened my eyes in bed and saw her fully dressed, hair done (to a 5 year old's perfection-beautiful!), shoes on, backpack on, and lunch box in hand. She whispered, "mom, it's time!"

Time to go to kindergarten. Something she's been waiting for and thinking about for a long time. And now she finally gets to be with the big kids and do big things.

After she came home that first day, I asked her how it was. "Boring" was her first comment, but I could tell by her smile that she absolutely LOVED going to school. And she was proud of herself for making a new friend already.

Mason loved being able to switch teachers half way through the day. He said it felt like going to jr. high. Abby said everything was good except that a few of her favorite friends were in another class. Good opportunity to make new friends this year.

Taylor had a bad first day. He forgot his lunch on the bus and lost it. Because of the new bus route, he got home much later than he did last year and ended up sitting on the bus for almost 45 minutes. Way too long for a 6th grader. He decided that on his way to school, he would use that time to read the scriptures. On his way home, he would use that time to get his homework done. Good plan!

Cheers to a new school year!

Summer Fun 2011

Here's a few things my kids did this past summer that I don't want to forget!

Lots of beauty parlor with cousins. It didn't matter where we were or what we were doing. If there were girl cousins around, they wanted to fix each others hair.

A new game my boys made up. . . out of sheer boredom. They set up about 75 paper cups, then stood on the opposite side of the kitchen island and went for it. Ready, aim, FIRE! Rubberbands are a boys best friend.

One afternoon after chores were finished, Mason decided he wanted to have a "snow cone" stand. Being well over 100 degrees outside, I talked him out of it. But every day after that, the subject came up again and again. . .so I finally said, "go for it. You set it all up, and you clean it all up." The first time he attempted (without any shade, without any signs), he made a few dollars. But that was enough to motivate him to do it again. The second time, he set up shade tarps (notice that the kids aren't exactly hitting the shade-ha), he made a big sign, and he made some cookies and homemade Popsicles to sell alongside the snow cones. Since no one was out-it being SOOOO hot, he sent the girls door to door to publicise. He ended up pocketing about $12 this time. That's BIG money for a 10 year old. And more than that, it gave him the opportunity to work and think about how to make more money. We had some good talks after that first encounter, and he came up with some good solutions on how to improve and make his business better. Mason is becomming quite the entrepanewer. All those games of monolopy are finally paying off!

Summer Awards Program

Tonight we had our annual "Summer Awards Program" for family home evening. It's something I grew up with and am passing on the tradition. Right before school starts, John and I congratulate each of the children for their accomplishments and talents during the past summer, then present them with a few gifts and items needed for the following school year. It ends up being somewhat of a 'Christmas in July', and the kids look forward to it year after year.

So tonight, after handing out all the loot and watching the kids organize, then reorganize it in their binders and pencil boxes, we sent them up to bed and told them to put all their things in their backpacks for safe keeping.

A few minutes later, Mason came down stairs with two Tupperware containers in hand that he had found in his backpack. . . . . from a school lunch. . . . . . 8 weeks ago. Totally GROSS! Lids were still in tact, and we could see hair growing all over inside. We laughed, then I told him he needed to wash them out since he was the one responsible. He went outside, turned on the hose, plugged his nose, opened the lid, and started spraying. I watched from the window, totally cracking up.

Then he came back inside and said, "Mom, those things need to go in the trash. . . I'll pay for a new one". Then he returned to the backyard and, with nose plugged and rubber gloves, he disposed of the Tupperware into the dumpster.

The funny thing is, that's such a "Mason" thing to do. As disgusting as it was, I wasn't the least bit surprised.

And hopefully he'll be a little more diligent at cleaning out his lunch box (on a daily basis, not a bi-monthly basis) this coming school year.

Gotta love that 10-year-old boy.

Happy Birthday Sweek Cakes!

Kate turned one this past month. Wow, hard to believe time has flown by so quickly. I took her into her well-child check. She weighs in at the 85th percentile, and her height is at the 87th percentile. No "little" girl by any means.

But what made me laugh out loud was when her head was measured. Totally OFF the charts, big time. If there were charts, her head circumference would fall somewhere around the 130th percentile. I remember thinking her head, compared to the rest of her body, was pretty big at birth. Then at her 6 month check-up, it was off the charts. But I thought for sure, she would grow into it and become more proportionate. Still hoping. . . Maybe when she turns two.

We got Kate a few fun baby toys, then set her in front of a giant piece of strawberry short cake. She dug in and ended up eating about every crumb. It was fun to watch!

For journal purposes: Kate has four teeth on top and bottom, weighs almost 25 lbs, and is getting some nice thick brown hair. She is still quite chubby but is starting to loose those massive rolls on her thighs. She says "uh oh" whenever she drops something (sometimes on purpose) and is starting to say "mamma" a lot--melts my heart. As long as she gets her naps, she's very happy and content, although sitting through the first hour of church is turning into an absolute disaster.

Her nicknames are "sweet cakes", "Mrs. Potamus" and "Chubs". Tonight around the dinner table, the kids laughed because after trying to get Kate's attention by calling her by her name a few times, I called her "Chubs" and she turned right around. Quick response to that one.

This past year with her in our family has been an absolute joy. We love our baby Kate.

Summer Garden

I'm pretty sure that growing zucchini is fool proof. Because nothing else has survived in our box gardens, but the squash is growing out of our ears. Just today, I picked this:

We have had zucchini pancakes, zucchini bread, zucchini pizza, fried zucchini, zucchini muffins, steamed zucchini, omelets with zucchini, stir-fry zucchini over rice, zucchini in pasta dishes, etc. . . The list goes on. And the kids are getting a little tired of it.

So today, I turned that (above) into this:

I shredded most of it and filled 23 quart zip lock bags full. Now it's in our freezer for later use, when the kids aren't tired of it. Works great with bread, muffins, pancakes, and casseroles.

I've collected some great recipes and am happy to share upon request!

Buster

If you can't tell, it's a picture of my NEW cell phone in Andersen's water bottle. Completely ruined. And too expensive to replace too, so I'm back to the ole' flip phone.

When I asked him why he drowned my new phone, he said with a sincere face, "but mom, I was just washing it because it was really dirty". True, and great intentions too.

It's hard to get upset at those big three-year-old eyes. Darn it Buster!

The Wallow Fire

The area of my dad's cabin has been on "pre-evacuation" status for the past 4 or so days. Because of this, my husband and brother drove up a few days ago and removed some of our most meaningful "unreplaceables" and some furniture out of the cabin and into a storage unit away from the fire, just in case.

We're hopeful and prayerful. The cabin is tied to a lot of family feelings, experiences, and memories. And to see all that beautiful forest burned black makes me sick. But at the same time, the cabin is just worldly "stuff", and having it burn down would only simplify our lives. (I keep telling myself that, but it doesn't make me feel any better).

Now all we can do is watch the news and wait it out. And pray for mild wind and lots of early summer rains.

Here's a few pictures John took while there. What might look like nice big clouds is actually smoke rising from the burning forest. (not sure why the sizes are different).