Summer's Out, School's In

Confession: I have been counting down the days until school started like a kid counts down to Christmas. Or maybe more like a pregnant woman counts down to her due date. I was just not up to summer this year. I had neither the energy nor the enthusiasm nor appreciation for the long, hot, unstructured days. I like the school year. My kids like the school year. It was time.

I'm looking forward to the quiet afternoons until the baby is born. It will be nice not to have to yell "shut the door!" 48 times a day at my kids and their friends. I won't miss the popsicle sticks and wrappers on my garage floor and my kids complaining that they're bored or pestering each other to cure their boredom.

So to wrap up the summer and officially say goodbye, here's a few things we did.

Earlier this month we went to the county fair. 

After sitting in the sun for awhile watching a slow monkey show, we found some air conditioned displays. Legos are always a hit.

 Henry loved the trains.

 Actually they all did.

 Then we went outside to look at the animals. I'm always impressed at the variety of chickens and rabbits. Sarah liked this one.

 Henry is turning into quite the photo-bomber.

 Isn't this the quintessential rooster? Belongs in a folk art painting.

 Erica liked these ones.

 She also liked the pigs and commented often on the smell.

 Then we went to the taxidermy demonstration but then we were all hungry and hot so we went home.

I made this list with the kids during the first week of summer. It wasn't so much a bucket-list (because kids make their own summer magic) but a place for me to go to for ideas when I just didn't know what to do with them. Last week I checked off the things that we got around to doing and I think we did pretty well considering my aversion to heat and being in the car with all of them for extended periods of time. If things like "watch Full House" and "jump on Violet and Dexter's trampoline" and "ride the dump truck down the driveway" and "play in the neighbor's kiddie pool" and "write notes" and "ride bikes up and down driveways" were on the list, they'd have 81 check marks each.

 The day before school started for Sarah, I asked her which of the things on our idea list she would like to do. Of course she picked the activity that required me to make 3 dozen cookies and a batch of frosting. They frosted them and set up their stand while I put Erica down for a nap so they did pretty well unsupervised.

In two hours they had sold (or eaten) all 36 cookies. We have some very generous neighbors.  I made them split their $7 equally even though Henry bailed after 30 minutes and I did all the labor.

Sarah's first day of 2nd grade! She had a minor meltdown over her outfit that morning (she was torn between wearing new pink pants she had picked out and risk being too hot or wearing old shorts but being more comfortable). But by the time we left, she was all smiles and jitters.

Erica didn't want to be left out and I love her hair. Sarah didn't want to be walked in so I said good-bye from the car. I didn't cry but my heart goes out to Erica every day when she says she misses Sarah. I do too.

When I asked her how her first day went, she starts, "Well, after I got inside, I hung up my backpack and then I saw Macie so we walked out to to the playground together. Then the bell rang so we went to our class and I saw Katie......" and on and on, play by play. I love her.

Saturday was a "Six Job Saturday" where I give each kid 6 smallish chores all within the same room and reward them handsomely. (Sometimes it's "5 Job Friday") Henry got the living room which is a good fit for him because he loooves the vacuum. He is very thorough.

 Although I think he may just like it for the comedy.

Today was his first day of school. I've been a wreck the past few days. I kind of feel like this kind of snuck up on me. It took nearly 6 years of parenting before Sarah went to kindergarten; I want 6 more before sending the next one. And why is it that finally when Henry is mostly tolerable and reasonable, I have to send him to school? Just when he's fun to be around again? I would have gladly shipped him off when he was 3.  I whined to Justin about how I'm not ready to let him go. "But he's going to get on a bus! With a backpack on!"

It didn't help that he came down dressed including shoes at 7:30. I could hardly look at him without losing it.

It was the longest morning of his life (He was asking how much longer as soon as Sarah left). After he ate lunch, he asked me to set the timer which at that time was 30 more minutes. Then he took it outside and sat on the porch chair staring at it. Then he moved it to the steps so he could keep me updated through the front door. (This is the same kid I had to bribe for months to go into preschool)

Here's the cutout he colored to look like him. When Sarah did hers, we added yarn hair and cut clothes out of fabric. Henry colored his all red in like 2 minutes. When I asked him if he wanted to cut out clothes to glue on he said, "No, I think I did a good job." Can't argue with that.

Ack! He's so big!

The bus is here! It's finally here! I was hoping he'd back out at the last second and let me take him.

But nope, he didn't even look back.

So I hustled inside and grabbed Erica's shoes and we raced to the school. We got there just in time to see him get off the bus. Yes, I guess I am that mom. But in my defense, Luke's and Myer's mom did the exact same thing.

This is his best friend Myer Morse. The Morse's moved into the new development south of us several months ago and these two little freckled redheads have been best buds since.

I can't wait to hear how his day went but I'm sure all I'll get out of him is "good."

I'm not as ornery in this post, I promise.

Erica turned 2 1/2 this month. I thought I was getting off pretty easy with the terrible two's until about now. She's still super cute and sweet and funny but man, can she throw a fit! And I don't think any of my kids can stay ornery for as long as she can. She literally whined and cried about dumb things for 2 1/2 hours straight yesterday after her nap.

We took these pictures August 5 to commemorate the day and to capture her personality.

Later that day I came home with a brand new package of underwear for her. She's been asking to wear underwear since her birthday. Every week in church when Henry asks to leave sacrament meeting to go to the bathroom, she declares that she too needs to use the restroom. So I finally let her try it out.

I wish her enthusiasm would have translated to actually getting the idea of going to the toilet when she actually needed to. She sat on the toilet forever declaring "I want to get a marshmallow!" but with no success. But 10 minutes after hopping off, I'm cleaning up a mess. After 3 accidents in a row, I called it. We'll try again in a month or so.

Justin's July pie of the month was a French silk pie. Because I was sick the last week of July, he got July's pie a week ago. After I finished putting on the cream, we all ran downstairs to watch Michael Phelps and then came back up to see this:

I guess all of us didn't go back downstairs.

The pie tasted good but I thought the chocolate silk was a little soft and gooey. I've never had French silk so I'm not sure what it was supposed to be like.

I got this backpack for Erica at a yard sale for $1. She packs around her favorite little toys (magiclip princess dolls, tea set pieces, Daniel Tiger figurines and books) and takes them everywhere she can. I love this stage.

I put Sarah and Henry in swimming lessons at a different place this year. We've done them with Spanish Fork city but I just wasn't impressed. So this year we went to a lady who does them in her own pool.

Henry loved it. He was always smiling. They implemented a lot of toys and theme days in their lessons. And they taught breathing techniques right along with floating and simple strokes.

They got to go down the waterslide every day and went all the way under the water and had to climb the "water ladder" back up before the teacher would help them float/swim back to their spot.

Sarah didn't like the first day because she wasn't allowed to plug her nose and they made her open her eyes under the water. By the end of the week, she could kneel dive into the pool, do a couple of breast strokes then roll onto her back and swim on her back to the other side of the pool. And they both jumped off the diving board and surfaced on their own.

Plus I got these hilarious pictures of them.

Here Sarah is finding flowers that match each of her new school shirts. She's kind of excited about school starting.

I ordered her a couple of pairs of boots and made her choose which one to keep and which one to send back. She wanted to see a picture of her wearing them, not just look in the mirror, to help her decide.

Justin's August pie of month was a peaches and cream pie. It tastes good but if I were to make it again, I'd make more custard part and really fill up that crust. And this is my first homemade pie crust this year so I think that helped in the deliciousness portion but not the looks department.

Sarah is kind of a reading nerd and I mean that in a proud mom sort of way. She came out of her room last night at 10 declaring she's on chapter 4 of Harry Potter #3 when we thought she'd been asleep for 2 hours. Here she is today reading the next Little House book she got from the library while she eats her lunch.  She made a goal to read 1,000 pages this summer and made a spreadsheet to keep track of all the books she's completed. She reached her goal in July and now is "just reading for fun" but is still recording things on her spreadsheet because she's kind of an Excel nerd too (Justin is so proud).  I'm proud of her, especially since she'll read just about anything I pick out for her but she really likes stories about the frontier and horses and anything by Beverly Cleary.

While Sarah was reading/eating in the kitchen, Erica was eating her lunch of scrambled eggs and peaches on the porch. We had a loooong weekend with her pretty much being an ornery bear every waking moment so I needed to capture her actually being pleasant.

Apparently my kids think it's time to go the grocery store and started my list for me. Sarah wrote "mush" which means packets of oatmeal. Henry added apples and chicken soup. I love his handwriting. Seeing my kids learn to write and read is just as exciting to me as when they learn to walk and talk.

I finished the biggest sewing project for the baby. I got the top pieced before Pioneer Day but didn't do the machine quilting until last week and then finished hand-sewing the binding this weekend while I watched the Olympics. The yellow I chose for the binding is little "out there" for me but I think I like it.

For some reason it makes me feel like less of slacker while watching all these incredible athletes who are much younger than me. Betcha Michael Phelps can't make that.

And I failed to mention last month that we finished the Book of Mormon as a family! It took us about a year to do it but we did it. This was Sarah's second time.

Here's what the kids said about the book:

What is your favorite part?

Sarah:I don't have a favorite part. I don't think Captain Moroni is my favorite part anymore because I hadn't read the whole book when I said that before. I just don't have a favorite part anymore.

Henry: When Captain Moroni was in. When the Lamanites were good and the Nephites were bad.

What does the Book of Mormon teach us?

Sarah: You can always believe in prayer and that Christ is real.
Henry: To do good things.

What do you like about the Book of Mormon?

Sarah: I like the Book of Mormon because it tells about hard choices and it talks about prayer. It can also be examples for you and think of those stories and how it can help you in your life.

How did reading the Book of Mormon make you feel?

Henry: Good

Sarah: Sometimes it was hard to sit still because Henry was always smiling at me and making me laugh.

Do you want to read it again?

Sarah: I just want to read other stories because we read it two years in a row so I want to read other scripture stories before we read it again.

Henry: {shrugs} Sure.

*We celebrated by getting Kong Kones at Macey's and are currently reading "other scripture stories" out the Pearl of Great Price.

Good-bye July

{{Me lying down on psychiatrists sofa}} When bad things happen, I always look for the possible positive outcomes. I think it's because I've noticed a pattern with God taking really bad situations and making good come from it, whether that be on a worldwide scale or down to instances in my very life. Even though our country is facing a worse candidate selection than most communist countries, I can't help but shrug a little and think, "Well, gets us even closer to Jesus coming."

But when it comes to little things, I'm a big complainer. As Justin and I were sitting on the couch the other night after the kids were in bed, I couldn't think of anything to talk about that wasn't a complaint. Granted I'm pregnant in 100 degree heat and I've been sick for 9 days but still.

Get fired from a job and I'll help you see all the benefits from starting a new career and how this will be so good for you in the long run. But ask me how my day was and all that comes to mind were the stupid things the kids fought over, the lady in grocery aisle that wouldn't move, how two flights of stairs is way more than any house should ever have and is IT EVER GOING TO RAIN AGAIN??

Anyway, the point is, I did not like July because it was too hot and then I got sick on the only day I like so now I'm bitter and glad to see it go. But I really am a positive person, really.

So I will tell you what I do like. Pioneer Day! It makes July worth it. That and Costco grapes.

Pioneer Day in Mapleton is so cute. Pancake breakfast in the park.

Sorry Sarah but Henry's smile is just too cute.

Erica could not get over how weird it was to drink from these little cartons.

The grandmothers discussing how horrible humidity is and aren't we glad we don't live where it's humid?

Then waiting with cousins for the parade. There were some tears shed over candy and no horses.

Then back to the park for some games. Erica won a taffy right away. This is all she'd show me.

You have to play the fishing game. It's the only game where you get a good prize every time.

I don't even remember what they got. Pretty sure they ruined/broke/lost it by that night.

And then there's plinko for a slap bracelet. I may or may not have thrown them away a few days later.

Then we I got too hot by 11 am so we left the park to go home where I started to feel sicker as the day went on. By dinner time, I did not feel up to going to the fireworks and then Sarah threw up. But since we made a special trip to the dollar store for glow toys (I really think this was a deciding factor), we went to the fireworks anyway.

Henry was feeling fine and pretty stoked about his glowing trident.

Erica loving her glow wand.

Sicky McPukeface was quarantined to the blanket. She threw up two more times (once during the fireworks show) plus once we got back to the car. She only complained a little and would have cried a ton had we stayed home so I'm pretty sure I was a good mom in this instance.

I spent most of the time sitting very still and not eating any of the treats I brought.

And then we got to see a lot of this. If you like fireworks that reverberate in your chest and ash landing on your clothes, this is the show for you. But it's getting pretty crowded so you should just stay home.

And then I went home and tried not to cry myself to sleep because I ached all over. By Tuesday I was running a fever of 103, Thursday I started coughing and did not stop coughing until about 7:30 this morning. My abs hurt. Thanks to the antibiotics and the ambiguous diagnosis of "Well it's not bronchitis but there is some inflammation of your bronchial tubes" I feel like I'm on the up and up. I'm kind of tired of sleeping with my face in the sweltering heat of my vaporizer so it will be nice to kick this for good. Plus it's August and we know what that means....

Peaches. (Justin is back there somewhere hanging up bird repellers)

They're not much to look at but they taste so good. I'm gonna make a pie and some fruit leather and what we can't eat, I'll give away.

And I'm not sure when it happened but now when I get down to just one gallon of milk or a dozen eggs, I'm "almost out". So I go to Costco and buy 4 gallons of milk and 5 dozen eggs and everything is right in the world again.

Mmm grapes.