A Summer Gone

Can you believe it? And where do I start? With a move? A trip to PA? Or today when I promised myself I would never take all four kids to Walmart (even though it was really only the three-year-old that I don't want to take shopping. ever. again.). How about how Ammon is scooting around but still not grabbing for things?

July 2: We moved. Glad that's over. Joe knocked down the brick-encrusted mailbox with the 26 ft. U-haul truck. We got to pay $200 to get that thing fixed. It'll be funny someday, right?

July 7: Joe went to pick the kids up from his parent's house and got off a turn too early. That cost him a visit from Mr. Cop and a "donation" to the state of Texas.

July 14: Joe and I celebrated 10 years of craziness. My mom flew out the day before, which meant we were able to do sealings in the temple and enjoy a short dinner together without any kids.

July 15: My mom, the kids and I began our trip out east. We stopped in Louisville and stayed with the Yearsleys. My kids keep asking when they can go back. :)

July 16: Arrived in PA!

July 19-22: We went camping at Cayuga Lake in Seneca Falls, NY. While there we kayaked, did endowments at the temple, went swimming in the lake, visited church history sites, and spent some time with the Cobbs and Christensens (friends from BYU). It was also uncomfortably and uncharacteristically hot (100 degrees and 70% humidity). I complained a lot.

July 22: Went to watch Cars 2. Cute, but over the kids' heads.

July 23: Molly and Matthew drove out to PA to visit us. The kids had a blast playing in the woods, jumping on the trampoline, and having water gun fights.

July 22-Aug 5: The kids started swimming lessons at the Brokenstraw swimming pool. 9:30 a.m.-10:15 a.m. It was pretty chilly and sometimes raining, but they went everyday!

July 26: Joe flew out to Buffalo and Ammon and I picked him up. We ended up "camping" at a state park on the Canadian/US border and were visited by Border Patrol the next morning.

July 27: Joe and I visited Niagara Falls, went on the Maid of the Mist, drove by a Frank Loyd Wright house in Buffalo, NY, and ate at the original home of the Buffalo Wing.

July 28: Joe helped to finish a pavilion that was being built in the girl's camp that is on my parents' property.

July 29: We went canoeing and had a family party, which consisted of homemade pizza, homemade ice cream, corn hole toss, hide-and-seek, water gun fights, and playing on the wii.

July 30: Joe and I took my grandmother and cousin to the Cleveland airport. By chance, we saw the Russells in the airport, and they just happened to be on the same flight my family was on! Joe and I went out for lunch and did a little bit of shopping.

Aug 1: Joe went in to work at my mom's school; the rest of us met them for lunch at McD's. Then we went to see my dad's new and very awesome classroom, and everyone but Grant held Julius Squeezer, the snake. Then Mom took the kids to her playground and the rest of us went to hit the 70% off clearance sales at the mall. Spent too much money.

Aug 2: Everyone, including the kids, spent time varnishing the deck. While the guys finished and the kids napped, my mom and I canned chicken and stew meat. Soooo easy--I think even I can do it on my own! The kids went to watch The Smurfs with Grandma and Grandpa, Joe, Brent and date, and I went to watch Harry Potter 7 part II. Great movie, but the double date was a little awkward. Sorry lil' brother.

Aug 3: We went to my mom's secretary's campground. We ate a picnic lunch, paddle boated, and fished. It was fun! The boys had intended to go camping up in the woods, but it started raining so they didn't.

Aug 4: We celebrated Ben's birthday with steak and potatoes and ice-cream cake. Yum! Then we spent some time telling stories about him and wondering who he would have been; this year was his 29th birthday. We miss you, Ben! My mom and I spent hours and hours making Star Wars costumes for the kids for Halloween. My mom did most everything while I pretended to help. They turned out pretty good. Also made strawberry jam. yum-o! We spent the evening on the deck, ate smores, and enjoyed one last evening of wonderful weather.

Aug 5: We went to swimming lessons and were on the road by 10:45. We spent another few hours with the Yearsleys, and now my kids are begging me to let them spend the night. Yearsleys: you are invited anytime you'd like! They fed us a delicious dinner and breakfast, but my favorite was the fruit and spinach salad with the candied pecans. Delish!

Aug 6: We got home late late at night. Grant was a pill and Ammon was done traveling, but the van made it and we are home safe and sound!

In between all of that were lots of four-wheeler rides, tractor rides, hikes in the woods, laughter, stories, outside time, and fun fun fun! Now it's just a matter of days before we celebrate Madison's birthday (SIX!!)* and return back to school. I am (not-so) secretly elated to get back on schedule and to hopefully return to cooler weather soon. I have to keep reminding myself that I can't get these days back, so instead of trying to keep the house clean (pointless), I need to enjoy these last few days home with everyone. Today was a pretty big fail, which is why I'm blogging while everyone else is in bed reading at 4 in the afternoon. Ah well.

*I bought Madison a huge wooden Barbie house (that I need to paint) off of Craigslist. It's supposed to be hidden, but she has seen it in my closet. She asked me what it was for and I told her it's a shelf to put my shoes on... haha... I think she's going to like it!

Also, blogger is not letting me upload any more pics. I will try again some other time.

Summer Schedule

Some of you know about the fun jar and chore jar that we've used in the past. This summer I decided to do things a little differently. My kids are always asking to play the computer, watch a movie, go to the splash park, invite friends over. . . well you get the idea. This summer they get to earn those fun things, which means they also do what I want them to do without any (much) complaining.

I wrote up a chart with activities and the points each activity is worth. Some of the activities are:

• clean room (1 pt)
• read for 20 min. (1)
• 1 page of homework (1)
• write in journal (1)
• exercise for 10 min (1)
• read scriptures (1)
• chore for mom (2)
• practice piano (2)

They "buy" rewards with their points (which they are in charge of keeping track of on a separate piece of paper). Here are some examples of the rewards they can earn:

• snack (1)
• 10 min on computer (2)
• watch a 20 min show on computer (3)
• watch a movie (4)
• stay up 30 min. after bedtime (10)
• retrieve a taken toy from the box (10)
• go to splash park (15)
• invite a friend (15)

What I've learned: Logan and Madison think it's fun; Grant, as expected, doesn't really get it. We might have to adjust a few things. . . homework is apparently the easiest thing to do. Logan can go through several pages in a matter of minutes (even when I'm picking out the pages). Logan is my saver. He has a lot of points, but he isn't really willing to spend them. Madison enjoys doing it, but she isn't concerned about racking up points. Basically, she doesn't mind not getting to play on the computer or watch a movie. We are still trying to figure out what to do if, say, Logan wants to spend his points at the splash park, but Madison doesn't. Does everyone have to use their points to participate (like watching a movie), or can one person's 4-point movie count for everyone? I also like how the kids want to be helpful/read/do homework--and I wanted them to be able to set their own schedule and practice being responsible--but my controlling self wants to make them sit down in the morning and read or do homework. So we still have a little ironing out to do, but I can say, happily, that I do not have kids begging for extra privileges all day.

Camping Trip June 27-28 (I think)

Ok, so we are way behind here.  My plan of attack is to do a post every other day or so until we are all caught up. 

Here we are making s'mores on a camping trip to Mosquito Lake... yep, we all came home with enough bug-bites to validate the rightness of its name.  We went with the Larsens.  It rained most of the time (hence the eating breakfast in the tent), but the kids still had a blast.  Grant was a stud and slept longer than he'd ever slept ('till 7:30 or so). Logan and Madison also were super at going to sleep, and even more super at getting up right before the sunshine.  All in all--I think we'll do this again.