The End of Summer is Near

I was at the store and on a whim bought Noelle and Julia a matching outfit. It is their first one. I found that it was hard to get the right sizes when Noelle was small, but now that she is easing into 12  month stuff, it will be a lot easier. I think I am going to look forward to many more matching clothes. It is just too cute.  

We had Breken stay at our house last week and it was a lot of fun. He is just the best kid and fits right in with the rest of us. By Thursday, the house was so trashed. I finally told everyone, including Breken, that if we cleaned it up really well I would take everyone to Leatherby's for some ice cream. Bingo!  They all pitched in and helped get our place tidy again. And the ice cream wasn't too bad, either.

Right after ice cream, I took the little kids over to Katie C.'s house. Her daughter Molly was having her 4 year-old birthday bash. Katie rented a bouncy water slide and the kids had a blast playing on it for a few hours. It was hard to get them to leave.

Then on Saturday, I dropped Raef and Zach off at the Carolina Hills trailhead to help build a trail for their merit badge. The volunteer coordinator Mike sent me this picture of my boys working hard. He said they did a great job. And like a mentioned before, they now have their merit badge for this one. Thank goodness.

Things are starting to fill up on the calendar for this fall. I guess that is what happens when you have 5 kids doing five different things. Life is about to get crazy for a few months. Raef and Zach will be heading off to Draper Park Middle School this fall. We are going to try out public school this year because I need a break and a chance to really focus on my little kids and get them going academically. I just can't see myself doing it well if Raef and Zach are home and I am pulled in a million different directions. It is just too  much for me right now. I know my limits.

Eli is finishing up the 100 Easy Lessons book and he is becoming quite a good reader. I am very pleased. I would like to have that done before the end of next week. I also ordered his school books and they should be here soon. My plan is to send the boys off to school early every day, then get the little ones up, do a few chores, practice violin, and then head off on an adventure every morning to get all of the wiggles out. Then we will come home and put Noelle down for a nap and do school work. This time I plan on doing most things separate. That means I am going to set up little stations and rotate them through each one. One will be with me and then there will be an electronics station for educational games and then a hands-on puzzle/game type station. I hope that I can keep all three of them intellectually engaged for a few hours every afternoon.

This is totally going to work...right?!?!?

The bottom line is that all of my kids are ready to have some mental stimulation and challenges to help them grow. My school room and play rooms are all cleaned out and I think I am about ready to go. I sure hope it works out even somewhat close to what I am thinking. But I guess the most important thing with homeschooling is the ability to be flexible.

We shall see.

Ice Cream, Camping, Walks, Moments

I was going to blog a bunch of stuff last week and then I got derailed with computer stuff, cleaning things out, plugging things in, excavating office space. And then what do you know? Another 5 days has passed. Whatever!

Harry loves his little sister, and so does Julia.

And this was a funny moment. Zach just came into our room and was trying to tell us something and apparently it really cracked him up. He could barely get out what he was trying to say, he was laughing so hard. Yes, Zach is generally a pretty hilarious kid.

And then sometimes it is just really nice to slow down and get down. I was able to do that this past week as well. Rinar took all the other kids out somewhere and I stayed home with my little sweetie. I just watched her wiggle, squirm, grab, roll, and just move non-stop. This was my favorite move. She was working on her yoga form and really had the downward dog looking pretty darn good.

Raef and Zach went on their second Scout overnighter and it was at Spanish Fork Canyon. They have hot springs up there and it seemed like it would be a perfect camping weekend, until the rain and snow hit. I don't think they brought enough warm stuff. I was a little worried for them. But they came back the next day all in one piece. That was a relief. And they still like scouts and camping.

But while they were gone, we took the littles to the newest restaurant in Draper, Leatherby's. I have to say, I highly approve of this joint.  The ice cream looked amazing and Rinar and I shared a fish and chips entree, which was really good. Noelle had her first little bite of ice cream and the first time it went into her mouth, her eyes popped wide open. She was pretty darn happy.

And so was everyone else. Julia was a meticulous connoisseur, keeping it neat and even all the way around. She also was pretty speedy and had hers polished off in no time.

As for the boys, it was a melty mess by the end. But they loved it all the same.

And this was my view on the way home from church on Sunday. I am really committed to walking every week, as long as the weather is not wretched. Looks were very deceiving, as it looked beautiful but was freezing cold. I think it was actually colder at noon when we went home. And then I checked the temperature when I got home and it was 40 degrees, with a wind chill. Whoosh. But my kids were troopers and didn't even complain. 

Farewell Galena

Saturday night we had a lovely evening at Chris and Kimberly's house. They hosted a farewell party for us and we had so many wonderful people come to wish us well on our journey to Utah. We had fun eating and visiting. I have been very blessed with the many associations I have made in Reno. And I can say that I have definitely learned a lot about myself over the past two years.

Gloria, Steve, Rob, Anna, Sariah, and Leah

Kelli, Larae, and Kimberly

Rinar and Rose

Paul, Brett, and Brian

 Rachel and Rusty were not able to make the party because they had a long drive back from Sacramento. So Rachel invited our family over on Sunday for some cake and ice cream. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their family and that gave us time to visit with each other. Rachel and Rusty are fun and we enjoying hanging out with them. I wish we had been able to do it some more. We will really miss them a lot.

But the kids sure loved the dessert.

He Loves Hot Dogs!

I took the kids shopping and bought them some hot dogs.  Harry was really, really  happy.  He was hugging those hot dogs, caressing them, cuddling them.  Aaahhhh! HOT DOGS!!!!

Eli really likes to go to Cub Scouts with Raef and Zach.  He started becoming aware of Cub Scouts over the past few months when we take the whole family to pack meeting.  He just loves it. Now he wants to go every week. I took him with me when I dropped them off. Of course, there is nothing for him to do there, so I took him to get some frozen yogurt instead. 

He really loved the frozen yogurt. Yummy!

Then we went back to pick up the boys and we stayed a bit so that they could play with their friends.  Frozen yogurt, friends, fun.  A perfect night for a 4 year-old boy.

My Little Con Artist

You know those days when you just don't want to go to sleep and ice cream sounds so much better? Eli had one of those days last night. We put him to bed and didn't hear anything from him for about 30 minutes. After that amount of time has elapsed, you would think the kid had gone to bed.  Uh...no.

He pops his little head out and stands there all demure and innocent. He says sweet little nothings and whispers so meekly.  What is he whispering as he points his finger gently towards the kitchen?

"Ice cream."

Here he is settling in to a delicious bowl of Mint Denali, carefully spooning out each bite, because he knows he is walking a tight rope.

 But as the ice cream starts to course through his veins, he feels more secure in his position on Dad's lap.

Mission accomplished!

A No School Day

It is Monday and school was out today. I woke up a little before 7am to feed Eli and then I was up for the day, even though I did not want to be, compliments of the baby. Yet, by the time I really got things going it was approaching 10am and it was time to go to the park. We usually go to playgroup on Mondays, so that is what I decided to do. The boys had a lot of fun at Green Valley park. They really wanted to take their bicycles, and I really made Raef's day by shoving his new, larger bike into the back of the Tahoe. Then Zach asked so nicely if he could take his bug catcher, which is currently occupied by a very dead and very squished cockroach. It made him happy that I said yes to that too.

We got home from the park at around 1pm and I had already faithfully made my appointment at the gym. I have got to lose the baby fat so that I can start wearing clothes with no elastic. So, we ate lunch, and I fed Eli, and then we were off again to LVAC. Hey, I ran 20 minutes today without stopping, and I pushed it hard at the end so that I can get faster and so I won't always be stuck in 2nd gear. We returned home at 4pm and I had to feed the baby again, make dinner, and then race off to the city pool to find out about a tryout for the boys so that they can do competitive swimming. They couldn't try out because they have to learn the strokes, but I now have a new goal. I need to teach them the strokes so I can get them in a sport that will tire them out and get them stronger. I have my work cut out for me.

We ended the night at Dairy Queen. Yummy! And by the way, Raef really loves ice cream. He finished his cone lickety split, then helped Rinar and I finish our blizzard, and then he got mad at Zach, because Zach would not give him a bite of his cone. I think Raef is made of sugar.