The Last and the First

Today we temporarily hung up these:

we recited this (taken and adapted from my clever friend, Jill):

"I, (state your name), hereby promise to do my part to
help my family have a fun summer.
I will treat my siblings like I treat my friends
and will not touch them unless it is a hug or a high 5.
I will be nice to my mother so she can let me do really cool things.
I promise to go to bed nicely because I will wear myself out playing all day.
I will be kind and honest, so help me.

and then the girls got these:

The chalk is self-explanatory, but kitchen timers?
What's that about, Rachael?
The girls were pretty confused at first, too.
But I had an AHA moment this week when I realized how
PERFECT a gift these timers will be for questions like:

How many circles can I color in on my Summer Reading Chart?

How long do I have to play with Carver?

When are going to go?

AND I am switching piano practicing to be by the minute
rather than by how many times they play each piece.
(They might not think that one is quite as much fun.)

A couple weeks ago, I dreaded this LAST day and it's simultaneous FIRST day.
But now that it's here, I think it'll be okay.
I'm excited to have slower mornings and late afternoons at the park.
I can't wait to do projects with the girls and read books,
eat popsicles, go to the beach, take a million pictures,
visit with family far and near and maybe, if we're really lucky...
enjoy a little sunshine.

Carnival Rides

Saturday, I took advantage of naptime and took just the girls to our city's annual carnival in the park. Daddy supervised the sleeping around here. It was really a marvelous thing to walk around with them and let myself truly relax. They did a big bouncy slide and we looked at different booths, they fell in LOVE with a couple stuffed animals that provided a perfect discussion about the dangers of impulse buying. :) We decided to make stuffed snakes over the summer instead of spending all their monthly allowance on one.

I let them each pick a carnival ride and Ellie insisted on a 4 ticket fast moving one
similar to the teacups at Disneyland. She was very excited.
She smiled getting on, then mostly she looked like this:

Very worried! Then a boy near her lifted his arms and she bravely followed his example.

It was too cute to see her try and lift her hands off the bar, even though she wanted to feel safe.

The funniest/worst part was when it slowed down, much to all our relief, and
then started in the other direction. She just looked sick and resigned after that point.
She was pale and holding her tummy when she got off.

Lydia chose the carousel next for 3 tickets (that's $3!!) but the nice man there said it was only one and then told Ellie to go ride, as well! She was holding her very sick tummy, but couldn't pass up a free ride and on she went. I think that tainted all of Lydia's ride, though. She looked troubled and distracted the whole time and I'm SURE she was thinking she'd gotten the short end of the stick! Especially since Ellie got on long after Lydia had already picked a horse.

I knew that we weren't done yet and went back for a couple more tickets
so Lydia could pick another ride, too. She chose the same as Ellie and off she went,
but she LOVED it. I think she felt a little better about the fairness issue, too. :)

I love this one! (click on it to see it better)
It's too bad they didn't ride together, I think they would've had a blast!

Latest and Greatest

June is jam-packed around here. Besides a hectic schedule, we're creating our own craziness.

Our neighbor gave us a huge box to play in. It was pretty hilarious to put all the kids in it BEFORE I cut a door and turned it into an igloo. Stamped and ready to mail to Timbuktu! :)


And if you can't see it clearly, Ellie got one of her front teeth knocked out. Apparently, she was hiding under a blanket when Carver sat on her head. I came down to blood, tears and a loosely dangling tooth. A little tug and out it came! It was already a little wiggly, but hardly. She'll have that gap awhile, I bet. The other is a lot more wiggly now, too. She was very brave and I have to admit that I really like skipping the whole "it's hard to eat because my tooth hurts and bleeds every time I take a bite" phase of loosing the front teeth! I'd consider loaning Carver out if you'd like a turn at your house. :)


Then I took our craziness to a new level the very next day by cutting Lydia's hair, then waxing overly confident and adding stacks of layers in the back. Oops. My generous and flexible friend, Melain, saved the day and gave her the most darling cut ever. Lydia feels about 12 now.

Carver fell asleep yesterday on his bed while I chatted with my mom on the phone, so I scooped him up and moved him to the stroller to get the girls from the bus stop. But he didn't wake up! I took his pacifier and he didn't wake up, we got them and walked home and I took a million pictures and finally shook him awake. Aw... he's so sweet when he's sleeping.


Last week was H-O-T around here and Ellie complained one night about the wind from the window keeping her awake. I didn't know what to tell her and said, out of pure exasperation, "Sleep under Lydia's bed then!" So she did.


Ellie also got to celebrate her July birthday one month early at school. Despite the picture, she GLOWED getting off the bus on her pretend special day.


Last, but not least - Lydia finished up her second session of swimming lessons. She loves it and it's been neat to watch her improve. She loved hamming it up for pictures on the last day.

Whew! That's only the beginning. It's going to get a LOT crazier around here soon.
Birthdays, baptism, graduation, field trip, art project in school, endoscopy for Carver, vacation!
I hope I live to tell about it all.

Oh, what to do in the summertime!!

You know that feeling when you're about 8 months pregnant and starting to feel really uncomfortable? And you finally begin to think that even all the sleepless nights and diaper changes associated with a newborn are better than enduring another week of pregnancy?

Well, that's where I'm at with the school year. I love sending my kids to school - I love the independence that it gives ALL of us! :) And I always loved school growing up, so I can't help but be truly excited for each of my kiddos getting to enjoy the schedule and routine of it all. And it's all going to end in just 6 more days of preschool for Carver, 13 for the girls. YIKES!

I have to admit that I have another feeling that I also get at the end of pregnancy - my life is OVER in just a couple weeks and I'll never be able to do anything else again. Ever!! I know that, in large part, my dread of the summer months stems from my anxiety about keeping Carver happy and under control. It is always a big job, but 24/7 sounds exhausting and sometimes downright impossible. I really wish that summer vacation meant lots of freedom to go and do, but that's easier said than done with him.

BUT... the school year is getting so hectic and nutty that I guess it's probably worth it. Right?

What do you LOVE about summer vacation? What makes it special or memorable? Or at least manageable and worth it? Or maybe you don't like summer vacation (shhh... I won't tell your kids if you don't tell mine!) - how do you survive? What are you excited about this year?

I am excited to go on stressful family vacations to see extended family. The long car ride will be worth it for the few evenings that the kids play nicely and we get to visit. Okay, I'm a little cynical this afternoon (maybe because I JUST got Carver down for his 1st real nap in a week and Grace is yelling "MOMMY!" from her bed and we all know that's just not fair). I really am very excited about that trip. Seeing family is always worth the effort!

I also love going to the beach, I love having the girls home to do projects together, to play in the backyard and have picnics in the park. I love that we can go camping on on family outings (hurray for vacation from seminary, too!) and that the weather is PERFECT for evening walks. I love seeing the kids be together instead of all their separate ways. I'll have to run a tight ship to keep us all sane, but I hope that I can still have fun. And that the kids will think summer vacation is as magical as I always did.