Things I like

There are all kinds of things going on here that I really should be adding to my blog list of things that make me smile. But here I'll just do a quick two.

268. This video. I found it on another blog, and now we are all singing it.



269. Settling down of the S-Train. He has been so helpful lately. And I'm seeing him grow into himself. He helped paint scenery today, and was finding things to do to help out. I love to see kids sort of settle into themselves.

Great Problems to have

265. Arguments. This is on the list? Yes. Two children were arguing over who was going to WASH THE KITCHEN FLOOR. "I want to wash the floor." "Get out. It's my room. Get your own room." Tell me that's not wonderful.

266. Water in the Basement. Which actually turned into win win win. There is a sump pump in the front basement window well. It did its job great! I thought there was a sump pump in the back window well. There wasn't. The window well filled up during a four inch rain and overflowed into the basement.
Mostly all there is between there and the drain is plastic food storage buckets. But this time there was so much laundry there. . . Well, the water didn't have a chance to make it over to the carpeted half of the basement. (WIN)
And the laundry got done much more quickly than usual. (WIN)
And because there were a few cardboard boxes of cans, and we wanted it to dry out quickly (cue the fans) part of the basement was taken apart and vacumned - forced spring cleaning that I tried to avoid earlier this year. (Clean basement - WIN).
Which just goes to show there may even be a silver lining to a small stream in the basement.

267. Unexpectedly hiring children to work for me. My budget says, really? But when you have a motivated child who has finished their regular chores and then looks around for things to do to earn money. And you get this

and this(which had been overflowing) and this.

You say, OK. (Still need a picture of drawer for hair stuff. It's a thing of beauty.) Hopefully by the end of the summer we'll be out of projects! We can hope!

(Dream Dream Dream. Can you you hear the Everly Brothers? (I thought it was the Beatles, but I looked it up))

It's Been a Hard Day's Night

262. The Land of I Cooketh Not. I love love love love love summer. Because it means I cook only one or two times a week. Everyone takes a day of the week to cook. We award points for various categories and whoever wins for the week doesn't have to do dishes the next week. They are doing a great job! Last year no dishes was enough motivation. This year they are really getting into presentation. Our nectarines were arranged and our potato salad was garnished with oregano, thanks to Sue. Our ants on logs marched in pretty circles, thanks to Lou. My dinner is even smiling at me!

263. Working Children. The girls are mowing lawns now. And taking care of the neighborhood animal arsenal. This weekend we have three cats and a dog to take care of. (We almost had a special plant too, but then its owners decided not to go out of town.) (and yes, it was going to be Mr. C's baby, because we all knew that then it would have a fighting chance.)



As for lawns, the father of a boy in Lou's class saw her out there mowing. "Lou's mowing! Wow. We need to get 'George' out there mowing too!" I wonder how George feels about Lou mowing lawns?

(And are any of you out there noticing Mr. C's invention? He blended an old lawn mower frame with a trash can. What you can't see is the ingenious board and hinge system underneath the trash can. It allows him to lift the can full of lawn clippings up and dump it onto the garden or compost heap, while still being attached to the base that gives it stability while he drives it around. So much creativity up there it can't be contained!)

264. Cleaning together. Chores look like they might be manageable this summer as well. Ownership and personal responsibility are a marvelous thing.

Working together, Then taking a break

260. The beauty of people working together. This weekend I got to see how beautiful it can be when people work together for a greater cause. There was a large garage sale benefit for a child at our elementary school with cancer. They had to turn away donations for lack of room - and made enough money that it was definitely worth it. Then we also had a primary activity. Everyone pulled together to produce an activity that seemed to stick with the kids. This is what happens when people work together for a greater cause.

261. A quiet couple of days. This weekend was BUSY. Friday and Saturday we had the garage sale, primary activity, a friend who had a baby, shopping for fourth year camp and grocery shopping. Mr. C trimmed the bushes, thinned out the daisies (thinning turned into clear-cutting - they're gone.), cooked dinner - including potato salad, mowed a yard or two, came to a primary activity, and I'm sure a few other things I've missed. So Monday, we did nothing. Dropped the oldest off for camp, went to swim team, and were done for the day. Cleaning was all we did. We needed it!

259. Another Video. Clicked over to Katherine Center's web page. (She did the last video.) And found this little gem. Cool. Only - I wanted to change the end to "Discover what the Lord wants you to do - and go do it." The rest I liked.

Downward Dog Nuggets of Wisdom

258. Lou cracks me up sometimes. Today Lou and the S-Train were doing P90X with me. Lou had a lollipop in her mouth. We went into downward dog pose. (Like a giant upside down V with your hands and feet on the ground and your rear end up in the air.) Lou stopped. "I can't do that," she said. "The juice from my lollipop goes up my nose." I guess she won't want to drink from a cup upside down either. :)

New Mom Video

I was going to put a video of the S-Train riding a bike the first day on here. But glare on the screen was excessive on our camping trip. Apparently I thought it was something else and DELETED IT BY MISTAKE!! ARRRRG! I need to take another video quick. Before he's way to good to see that he's just beginning. I might be to late already. : (

257. Video. Found this on another blog. COOL PICTURES. Tear jerker. A little pressure, but the video is so cool I think I can handle it.

It was the end of school. It was the beginning of summer.

249. Soccer. This is what happens when you are goalie and your team is good. You have to occupy yourself somehow! I love the picture of him talking with the fans.


and this is my favorite picture from the last day of soccer for the season. They let them play in the rain! This is Lou's half time.



250. Opera camp for a shelter. The local opera company did a camp for kids at a local shelter. They asked any kids that had gone to camp last summer to come and help sing. So - Sue and Lou showed up with three other kids. They had a great time. My favorite was the actor who played both the stepmother and the prince. With a beard.

251. Very last end of school stuff! Class picnics - check! Awards assembly - Check! Final final of everything at school - check! Report cards home - check! (Watch out Krispy Kreme!) Movies with friends to celebrate the beginning of summer - check! Some of the back packs cleaned out and resulting tonnage taken out with the recycling - check! Whew! And SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

Now the process of scanning in everything begins! Digital is awesome for the stuff you aren't going to want - but can't bring yourself to get rid of quite yet.

252. Memorial Day weekend. We took Friday and Saturday and went camping. Took a couple of friends. Great fun. Caught catfish. Swam in the lake. Went canoeing. Drank more soda pop than Mom will let us have in a year! (Thanks Dad!) Came back tired and happy.

After we got home we unloaded, cleaned fish, and the girls and Dad went to mow a lawn. Then we all went to the pool for an hour to cool off. When we got back and everyone had showered, Mr. C sat down. He said, "It feels early to go to bed, but I'm tired! So he went up and fell asleep just as soon as his head hit the pillow. Lou just laid on the couch with her eyes open. I'm not sure if she was awake or asleep.

253. Happy extended family news! Just as we were getting ready to leave on our campout - the final worms were being dug, the bug spray was being found - the phone rang. It was Mr. C's parents. Their mission call had come! They are off to see my aunt and uncle at the Family History Center in SLC! They will be there later this year! It seems the perfect mission for them. They know so much about everything you'd ever want to know about geneology. We know they will help lots of people with their family stories. Serving people as they find their stories will touch hearts. And those hearts will soften toward the church through their service. Congratulations, Grandma and Grandpa!

254. Look Mom, no training wheels! Mr. C threw in the younger kids bikes when we went camping. He took the S-Train's training wheels off. A very patient friend walked him around on it while we were setting up the tent. And - Voila! Second try and he is up and riding! I'm so in awe of my children's ability to learn to ride bikes. Almost always it's their first day out and they are doing great.

Once the S-Train knew he could ride he spent the rest of the camp out ignoring the fish in favor of the bike. His legs showed the effort he was making to learn this new skill. Lots of falls. Lots of frustrated growling. Lots of picking ourselves up and starting all over again. Lots of big glowing smiles and asking, "Mom, do you think I'm good at bike riding?" Darling, you're fabulous.

255. Protection from fish. I don't fish. I don't like to clean fish. So - When Mr. C was cleaning the 4 or 5 fish we caught, the kids came in and told me. "Mom, you don't want to go down there. It's gross." They are tough. I am apparently a delicate flower they need to protect. If I get out of fish cleaning, I'm all right with that.

256. Chance encounters at the jail. As a last hurrah to the fabulous weekend we took the kids up to Liberty Jail on Monday. Sad but true, we haven't taken them since we've been here. We decided to remedy that situation. Some people came in on the tail end of our group looking at the jail. They were all in yellow and green (even the cute baby!). It turns out that grandma and grandpa were up here from Brazil visiting a new grand baby! They live in what was Mr. C's mission. They didn't know each other, but they new some of the same people. Mr. C did an impressive job of pulling out the 20yr old Portuguese and communicating. Portuguese was spoken, and a good time was had by all. It was very cool. It's fun to watch our Heavenly Father bring people together to give them spiritual experiences.

How was your Memorial Day? Are you ready for summer?