Independence Day

Today:

One walk.
Two loads of laundry.
Three trips to the hardware store.
Four "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" (played heavily during the afternoon non-nap hours).
Five kids watched "Mary Poppins"
Six times I said to Nathan, "I can't believe how bad the smoke is today!"  *****
Seven happy mouths
Ate (8) our first homemade ice cream.

We wanted a quiet, stay at home and get work done kind of day--it was nice.

My mom gave us her ice cream maker, too. We are going to use it.

In TX, a neighbor gave us a loft bed he'd built. We love it and have used it ever since. The first modification was to add a ladder. Today's modification was to add a bunk at the bottom for another bed. It's not done yet, but it's a lot closer.

Every picture of Nathan was blurry . . . except when I asked him to stop moving. I can't keep up.

****The fires are not very close to us physically, (ie we are not in direct danger). The biggest change is the air quality. Most days are not too bad, we carry on as usual. Today was one of the worst I've seen. I didn't want my kids outside longer than they had to be, which isn't typical for this time of year. The smoke was strange . . . not too bad in the early morning, but changed during the 30 minutes we were in Lowe's. It is like the campfire you can't get away from--so smoky. You think things are OK, but sometimes when you are out driving you think to yourself, "Hmmm, I can't see the mountain today."

I've been praying for help for the firefighters, but perhaps I should pray for rain?


Dear Dad: I did wash all those dishes. They are back under control. For now.

Good food

Takes time.
Disappears quickly.
Often uses many dishes.

This became a sausage/pepper/onion pizza. It was all gone at the end of dinner. So good while it lasted.

Sometimes, I wish the only thing I had to do each day was make dinner.

"You've got quite a posse!"

What the worker at the UPS store said to me when I went in to make a copy. I think she felt overwhelmed for me, because she wouldn't let me pay for it. (And at that point, I only had 4--little did she know).

Note the part of the posse at the far left who doesn't want to participate . . . . not always that one, but usually one who would rather not participate

Shopping with 4 or 5 kids is less easy than shopping with 2.
In some ways.
We've had some readjusting to do to each other over the month of June.
I am sure we'll get it down just about the time the craziest of all time crazy shopping trips comes--shopping for school supplies.
Or this year I will get smart, hire a babysitter and do it one at a time.

Someday I will miss days like these
Saying "NO" one hundred times in half an hour at the store
Nearly losing an 11 year old who had to check out the toys
Putting back the no so secretly placed donuts that made it into my cart by small, sneaky hands
Listening to them tell me I should give something better than granola bars to the guy with the "NEED HELP" sign
Helping me carry in the groceries
Apologizing later for being unkind. (Their apologies and mine).

Quite a posse, yes.
My posse.

(merriam-webster.com gave me a laugh when I looked up posse because it says
"a large group often with a common interest" and I feel like I am in the middle of 6 very conflicting opinions all day long until Nate gets home from work and he and I have some of the same opinions) 

(This photo was taken in the parking lot of my mom's public library. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of a box of canning jars in the rear window. This was the day my mom gave her canning jars away, we bought 5 pairs of sunglasses, and went to chess club).

122

The number of June photos I took off my camera this morning.

First visitors of the summer

This weekend we had visitors.
I hope they didn't catch the cold that has swept through, including fevers, cough, and sore throat. Ed described a sore throat as his "teeth" hurting. 

They came to attend a professional conference, getaway, visit other local friends, see where we live, and let cousins play. All of those were accomplished. 
We also took them to Old Town, but there happened to be a large motorcycle rally, so not really our crowd. After "Freakshow Tattoos & Body Piercing" handed my hubby a business card, we decided we weren't going to stay long.
We took them to Woolly Mammoth Park, showed them the temple site, and opening day at the pool. They also saw some great things in the city to the south, which we did not join due to unseasonably high fevers. 
We also spent time sewing, cooking, and laughing at memories and each other. The men went running up high hills early in the morning and joked about how they were going to go running twice that day. (They didn't). We almost fit around one table, but decided to let two children at a time have a break from the crowd.

 Thank you for visiting, see you later this summer!!!!

Wacky hair

I found this wacky hair look on a blog I read . . . . we wanted to test it out.

can you spot the animal descending the staircase?

pictured with brother for comparison . . . . so you see how tall it really is

I hope I can remember it for the next wacky hair day. . . . .. . . .the trick is using an empty toilet tissue roll. It works.

MVP

Another sports season concluded today . . . . spring flag football is over. This season we had a great coach who really knew how to win games. He was also very good at encouraging boys. Andrew improved a lot this season and scored several touchdowns and extra points. (He has a complete tally in his personal journal). He got to play running back, and told his coach in the thank you note that it was a blast.

After the game was over, his coach told them in the huddle that if he had to choose an MVP, it would be Andrew. He appreciated his hard work, attitude, never got down on himself or others if he/they made mistakes, he earned it for work on and off the field.