Mid-summer update

Ahhhh, it's a little past mid-summer.  Much of the world goes back to school in the first half of August, but we are out til after Labor Day. We've settled into summer nicely.  By about this point of the summer I've almost forgotten the craziness of the school year schedule, with activities every night and early morning Seminary and every-minute-planned afternoons and evenings.  While I sometimes think longingly about the structure of the school day (when I have some hours alone to complete something I start), I am really in love with the laziness of summer. Here are a few bullet points about our mid-summer:

• I started the summer with a plan to do a science experiment/Pinterest craft project every day.  Well, we haven't done that.  What we have done is cover the kitchen table with newspaper and then set out all of the arts and craft supplies from the depths of our craft cupboard.  My goal is for us to use up some of the supplies this summer, freeing up more space in the cupboard and filling our days with something other than Lego Batman 2 (that comment is for you, Joseph.)  So far it's been pretty successful.  We tinker with projects on and off throughout the day and Aubrey has done an awesome series of mini watercolor paintings.  We don't actually have room on the table to eat meals, but it's a small sacrifice for us budding artists!
•  Joseph and I have attended almost all the free library events this summer. Our favorite was BJ the Clown, in which Joseph was a part of the show!  Pictures will be forthcoming, as soon as I get the gumption to upload the pictures from my phone.
• July has actually been fairly busy with camps and trips until the last few weeks. We started the month with a week-long trip to AZ for the Porter Reunion.  Then the girls and I spent a week at Girls Camp and Joseph did a week-long soccer camp. The next week Bailey was one of the teenage helpers at the all day Activity Day Camp (she was in charge of a group of 19 8-year-olds and she came back so tired at the end of the day that she fell fast asleep on the couch.)  The next week Aubrey started a month-long musical theater day camp (five days a week) and Bailey left for EFY.  Now, Bailey will be back from Utah tomorrow, just in time to start Drivers Ed three days a week for the month of August.  Aubrey continues her musical theater camp, and Joseph does a soccer camp a few hours each day this week.  
• Inbetween all of this, we renewed our OMSI (Science Museum) membership and have visited every week. We bought a pass which allows us to see unlimited Planetarium shows and also bring visitors for free, so we have taken friends with us each time.
• I have read a bunch of books and really liked a few.  And then there are some that I started and abandoned, because they weren't worth my precious summer hours.
• We have eaten way too many treats. Because summer just goes with snowcones, frozen yogurt, and all other forms of ice cream. And Aubrey has taken to making a decadent treat every Sunday, and then she takes around a few plates to people who need some love.  But that does leave a lot of delicious goodness for us/me to eat.  Needless to say, when school starts I seriously need to get back on the exercise wagon and repent for my indulgence. But it's been fun.
• Bedtime has been pretty much a fluid thing. I'm a night owl, so I like the fact that I can get away with staying up late to watch a show or read a book and still make it through the next day. Right now Aubrey's camp starts at 8 a.m. each day, so that has forced us to go to bed at a fairly reasonable hour.
• We accepted a challenge from our Stake President to read the Book of Mormon again in six months.  We are pretty much on schedule (well, we are 4 days behind, but that is pretty impressive considering the busy July schedule). The kids seem to have a great grasp of the Book of Mormon stories and we have had some nice discussions about gospel topics.  We have also had plenty of complaining and orneriness as we try to read our scriptures.  It's always uplifting and delightful when the majority of the kids are in time-out during scripture study. Which brings me to my next bullet point.
• There has been way too much fighting between kids this summer. I'm back to square one trying to remember all the tips for dealing with sibling rivalry. It's exhausting. Luckily, most of the time everyone gets along and plays together peacefully. It certainly helps to have plenty of distractions.
• We have seen two awesome superhero movies - Avengers and The Amazing Spiderman.  We all liked them, although Joseph spent half of each movie with his eyes and ears covered. I'm glad he is still bothered by violence, even comic book violence.  Dan and I saw the new Batman movie, and he enjoyed it but I seriously did not like it.  It was way too violent for me and I felt like I was watching a living nightmare.
• Aubrey and I finally devised an acceptable plan for the re-do of her new bedroom (Brandon's old bedroom). We found great bedding, chose paint colors, and this week I will finish painting the room. Then the big room switch begins.  Next up, re-painting Joseph's new room. 
• Our favorite missionary (Elder Brandon Porter) is doing great and working hard in the extreme heat and humidity of Ukraine.  He says that Ukraine is bipolar - freezing cold and then crazy hot. 
• We spent a fun day at the lake this last weekend.  I'll have to blog more about it later, because this post is getting way too long.

I'll add pictures to illustrate some of the above at some point.  Right now Joseph and I need to go paint a wall.  Long live summer and hooray for sunshine!

The story about garbage cans and bread

A few months ago Joseph started talking about a video game coming out in the summer that he was dying to have.  DC Superheroes Lego Batman 2, I believe.  As he doesn't have a birthday or Christmas coming up, we told him he would either need to wait or work hard to earn the money.

And thus commenced a great lesson about work. First he asked me to give him a chore worth $50.  Yeah, I don't think so.  I explained to him that the people working at McDonald's - working really hard (and I should know because I worked plenty of fast food) - make around $5 for a whole hour of work (after taxes).  He moaned and whined and then finally got serious about working.

Every day since school was out Joseph did his daily chore and then came to me wanting a list of "for money" chores.  At first it was easy for me to come up with chores.  Vacuuming, dusting, bathroom cleaning, etc.  Pretty soon I had to get creative and find some deep cleaning chores which usually get neglected.  So, I gave him the chance to clean out the refrigerator, clean the baseboards, clean the doors and trim around the doors through the house, etc.

Finally, he was down to $10 left until his goal. I brilliantly thought to have him scrub out all the garbage cans in the house for $5.  He enthusiastically agreed, and rounded up all the cans and lined them up outside on the grass. 

Then he spent an hour scrubbing each can inside and out.  And some of those cans were downright nasty.  Our garbage cans are seriously sparkling now.

But, that left $5 more to earn.  And, to be perfectly honest, I was exhausted by this point. Because most of these big chores required the Mama to be present to teach and instruct and direct the process. I really appreciated the chance to teach my youngest child how to do a variety of hard chores, but I was really tired of deep cleaning my house every day. It just wasn't really on my list of how I wanted to spend my summer.  After all, I have a whole stack of books I could and should be reading.

So, I had an even more brilliant idea.  The prior day we had driven all the way to Clackamas (half an hour away) to run an errand, and we stopped by Great Harvest bread.  Yummm.  We had two varieties of delicious bread on our counter, so I told him that if he ate just one bite of one of the breads - Honey Whole Wheat or White with Tillamook Cheddar Cheese - he could earn the last $5.  Wow - that is quite a deal, isn't it?  I wish someone would pay me to eat delicious things!

Oh, the drama.  The tears and lamentations.  The deep sobs as Joseph lay prostrate on the ground, insisting that eating a bite of the bread was way too hard for just $5.  We told him that he seriously didn't need to eat the bread, and could choose instead to wait till the next day to do one more big chore to earn the money.

Finally, after almost an hour, he dragged himself over to counter and dramatically choked down one bite of the white bread (a bite with no cheese).  And Dan drove to Target at 9:45 p.m. to buy the video game.

And that is a glimpse into life at our house. Where cleaning garbage cans is preferable to bread.

Summer So Far

We're preparing to head to a family reunion soon, but I thought I would document our summer so far, in pictures.

We persuaded Joseph to try a tiny bite of crepe filled with sugar and whipped cream. He claims he didn't like it because it was too much like bread, but we know he can't be serious.  How could he not like it?

 Driveway art.

 Walking around the neighborhood.

 Being goofy on the trampoline.

 Yeah, summer.  It's the best!

Raspberries

I have always wanted to grow raspberries.  I have great memories of picking raspberries from the gardens of my Grandpa Palmer and my Grandpa Springer. Every summer we buy a flat of raspberries from one of the berry stands and the kids and I stand in the kitchen and eat them, one after another.  I have never actually made raspberry jam, even though it would be delicious, because it seems like a waste of fresh raspberries. There are few things as delectable as fresh raspberries in the summer.

Lucky for us, raspberries grow well here in the Pacific NW. Tomatoes, not so much.  But berries are awesome.  This year we finally planted a row of raspberries, and we can't wait for them to ripen!

Let the Summer Reading Begin!

I spent a week gathering recommendations for good books to read this summer, and then I put a long list of books on hold.  To my surprise, many of the books came in within a few days.  Those books added to the three books my mom just sent me added to the two books I downloaded from the library onto my Nook . . . . . a heavenly selection of books for me.  Now that's what I call summer!

A room without books is like a body without a soul.  Cicero

Honoring Dan

We did our best to spoil Dan on Father's Day, and he deserved every moment of it.

Our children are very lucky. They enjoy the profound influence of a remarkable father.  Dan is the perfect mix of fun-loving, kind, and spiritual.  He has a deep testimony of the restored gospel. This is evident in his thoughts and actions.

His priority is always his family. He works very hard to provide for us, but there is never any question about what comes first in his life.  If our kids are involved in a ballgame or a concert or whatever . . . he will do whatever it takes to be there.  Work and his own recreational pursuits never take precedence over the needs of his wife and children.  

He is known in our ward as the person to call if anything is needed.  A Primary sub at the last minute?  Dan will do it.   Nursery?  Yep.  Help with moving or giving a ride to someone?  Of course.   Help with a Youth Conference?  He would love to.    Dan is happy to serve wherever he is needed and he loves talking to people and learning more about their lives.

I'm a lucky woman to be married to such a man!

After church Dan was able to take a nap, and then we presented him with our cards and gifts.  He received a CD (okay, he picked this one out himself), a gift certificate for a detail of his car, and a few shirts for work.  But, the best thing he received was the cards from his family.  Here are a few:

Joseph made this book at school and presented it to his dad at "Dads and Donuts Day."

Aubrey found a super cute idea for a card on Pinterest and re-created it.  She traced her own hands, and the span between the hands is the same length as her arms length.

I hope you CTR

Last month we attended the baptism of a friend.  After the baptism, while the little boy was getting dressed, they had everyone write a message to the boy.  This is the message Joseph wrote to his friend.

I love it!

Other end of school events, in random order

I already talked about the large number of baseball events we attended at the end of the school year.  Here is a roundup of some other things that kept us busy.

1.  Awards assemblies.  Joseph got a Reading Olympics award for reading 2,428 hours during the school year.  Only one other 1st grader read more than him this last year.

He especially likes Magic Treehouse books right now. He's almost finished every single Treehouse book in the library.

 Sometime he reads himself right to sleep.

2.  Field Trips.  I chaperoned two first grade field trips during the last few weeks.  First we rode a bus with all the other 1st graders into Portland to watch a rendition of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  It was very cute and I had a serious headache after the loud and crazy bus ride.  1st grade teachers should definitely be better compensated.

The second field trip was to an elementary/middle school dance festival.

 Joseph's class was selected to represent their school by performing a freestyle dance.  I have to say, it was the hit of the entire dance festival - what could be cuter than 1st graders enthusiastically boogeying across the stage?  Somewhere I have the video I took of that - I'll look for it and add it later.

3.  Aubrey got braces.  Before and after

 Ouch. Soft food for a week.

4.  Bailey participated in a science fair.  Not because she wanted to, but she did it anyway.

**picture coming . . .  I need to have Dan download it off his phone.

5.  Joseph learned to mow the lawn.  Well, sort of. With significant help.

6.  Bailey attended lots and lots of parties with her great group of friends. And yes, she and her friend Nina are way outnumbered by the boys in this picture. And yes, that is exactly how they like it.

7.  End of year Core Presentations at Aubrey's school - Vancouver School of Arts and Academics:

8.  Joseph perfected new acrobatic moves while waiting in the car to attend events at the girl's schools (no - he did not stand on his head while the car was moving):

9.  Aubrey participated in a very entertaining vocal concert t VSAA.  As is usually the case with her awesome school, the vocal concert was well done and included other art forms.  In this case, all the different choirs danced to "Jai Ho" while singing.  Aubrey is on the floor in the front in a pink top.  (I just spent an extraordinary amount of time figuring out how to convert the movie I took on my iphone into a format readable by blogger, and then I had to figure out how to rotate the movie so that it wasn't sideways.  And now that I watch the finished product, I realize that the quality is so low that it's hard to even see the action.  Oh well - I tried!)

10.  Piano recital for all three kids.  Unfortunately, Bailey was feeling sick, so she wasn't able to attend.

 

 11.  End of semester recital for Aubrey at her musical theater academy.  I am working on getting the video to convert and then upload to the blog.  She did a great job performing several pieces, including an encore of "Home," a song from Beauty and the Beast.  It was gratifying for her to be able to sing the song with the full strength of her voice (since she was sick for the play performance).  She also had the chance to perform the same song at another community event.

It's been busy.  But a good kind of busy!

Baseball is over . . . we now resume our regularly scheduled life

Who knew that baseball was such an time hog?  Even 7-year-old Little League takes an awful lot of time.   Joseph's final baseball event was last week. We were all ready for the season to end, including Joseph!

Joseph's team won the final tournament and they are the the Pac-7 Division champions.They were presented with a special medal at the closing ceremony.  They were very excited!

Joseph played his best friend Alex's team for the championship. There were no hard feelings when the Cubs beat the Pirates by a large margin.

Joseph's other good friend Jack came to watch the final game. Jack's team was third in the playoffs.

We were lucky to have some sun for the final game and the closing ceremony.  But most of the season was all about rain and mud.  For the first month the ground was so spongy that balls didn't bounce on the ground - they just sank into the ooze.  And our shoes looked like this.  I'll let you imagine what the floor of our van looked like all season long!

There were some skills learned, some friendships made, and some invaluable time spent supporting the efforts of our youngest child.  We're glad for the experience and happy to get back to normal life!

Celebrating the last day of school

Ahhh . . . . . I love the sound of that.  The last day of school.  We did our best to celebrate the occasion.  Dan was out of town for a business trip, so the kids and I partied on our own.  After school Aubrey found an awesome science experiment/craft on Pinterest. She, Joseph, and I worked together on making "Bubble Snakes," and they were super easy and fun!  This is the link to the blog where she found the idea. 

After awhile, we tried adding food coloring.  It is so cool to see the bubble snake up close. It quivers and sparkles as individual bubbles pop.  You've got to try it!

Festivities earlier in the day included an all-day luau party with Joseph's 1st grade class.  Parents and kids shared a luau potluck lunch, sitting on picnic blankets on the floor.  Then they played some games and receive their 1st grade scrapbooks.  Remember my story about the over-the-top 1st grade scrapbooks?  Well, the kids were presented with the finished versions.  They are amazing.  Each child received a 3-inch binder filled with pictures and projects from the entire year.  In all my years dealing with elementary schools, I've never seen anything like it.  The good news is that it completely absolves my guilt about not having scrapbooked any of Joseph's schoolwork or school pictures from this past year. The bad news is that I heard almost every parent mumble, "now I know to never volunteer to help with scrapbooks, because that is so intimidating." 

 The kids had a great time looking through their scrapbooks.

 Joseph and his best buddy Alex.

 The kids also had their classmates and teacher sign the "autograph" page of their scrapbook.

Goodbye 1st grade!  It was a wonderful year. There is something really unique about a 1st grader.  They aren't self-conscious or insecure yet - they are just authentically themselves. And they are full of joy and enthusiasm.  I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the 1st grade class this year!

Joseph with his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Clarkson.