Last Week of June 2017

It was our first BUSY week of summer.  Ben had his first Cub Scout Day Camp.  He LOVES scouts.  It cracks me up how much.  He worries about if we will be late or he will miss it, and this boy doesn't normally get excited about much more than video games, so I can't help but think he's leaders (a husband/wife team, the Sanders) must be doing a great job.  He did great at being away all day and having the time of his life, didn't get much sunburn at all, and, as you can see, thought mom trying to document the momentous occasion with glaring morning sunlight seering his baby blues was not cool.

 I keep telling him he is the middle child like his Aunt Ja and he will be able to handle anything; perfectly balanced, able to fit in with all sorts of situations and people, an accomplish anything he'll set his mind to human being, and so far it's true.

This here's, um well, I don't know that Lucas names his cars, but Lucas has had this car since we were pregnant with Matt, so over 11 years.

 I remember test driving it (note the 2 doors) with Lily riding in a carseat in the back with her pregnant mom (me) and Lucas and the car salesman in the front.  Lucas got it detailed this week in order to sell it (he bought a new car at the end of April) and it was gone in 2 days.  Bam!  Good car but the V6 did make me a little overexcited in my accelerating maneuvers, I'll admit.  Her sunroof will be missed, but 4 doors, newer and better gas mileage just made sense.

Below we have Matt, my victim (or helper) for a Family Home Evening lesson.  One of my biggest desires is for my children to always be strong in the knowledge that God loves them, the Savior died for them and now lives (meaning his Gospel is true), and that we have modern-day guidance from a living prophet, not to mention the ability to pray and receive answers any time we are willing to put forth the effort.  I see some friends of ours losing their faith and some of them appearing quite lost and unhappy.  I don't want that for my children.  I want them to always feel loved, always have the ability to access power from heaven and to know what they need to be doing personally whenever they desire to.  I want to be contributing members in families, communities, society, church, etc., and to never get so self-centered that all they care about and all they see is the person in the mirror...So for our lesson we talked about how to stay spiritually strong, and every time someone gave a way, like serving others, saying we're sorry, etc., I gave Matt some more muscles.  It was pretty giggle inducing but hopefully got the point across.

Daphne started swim lessons this week.  The last time I will have a child take their first swim lesson.  Sniff, sniff.  Here are Daphne and Shawn being silly in the back of the van afterwards.

 And here is Daphne enjoying her Starburst from her swim teacher for trying everything.  She LOVES her teacher, LOVES going to lessons but thinks her head under water is totally bogus.  Hopefully she loves it more this 2nd and final week.

She is so squishably, perfectly wonderfully adorable.  I get the squeeze the cute kitten tight feeling when I look at her way too often (if you think this sounds weird just look it up, scientifically proven, psychologically studied fact).

And speaking of squishable adorableness, a short clip to remember her loveliness forever.

The Stand

Matthew decided to do a lemonade cookie stand.  His current dream is to be a pastry chef, and he is obsessed with baking.  Bad for the waist (potentially) and the grocery bill, but good to encourage a child in their dream.  He talks about going to BYU (or wherever has the best baking school which I think it's safe to say is NOT BYU).  He has baked for many neighbors, and his piano teacher was even kind enough to encourage him by paying him to bake cookies for the final piano recital of the year.  He was sure a cookie stand was his next step.  I told him he had to be strategic and pick a cooler day because no one is going to want cookies when it's 95.  Matt said he needed a high traffic area, and I said he'd need a permit or something so please, PLEASE just do it on our lawn and see if that would be sufficient.  We are on a corner of the main neighborhood road (isn't that good enough?).  

Thankfully he listened to my advice, plotted and made signs with his brother and then we threw stuff together the morning of and he baked so the cookies would be fresh.  It wasn't his best batch because he softened the butter too much, but the PEOPLE CAME AND BOUGHT!

 Ben:  Caller, sign and booty shaker extraordinaire.

 The main sign.  He was so excited when he had one left he crossed out the dozen offering.  He also made signs to put on both entrances to the neighborhood.

 Lily:  DJ and background gymnastics, along with her friends.

 Shawn:  Calling master, "Cookies, fresh cookies!"

Daphne:  Hanger outer.  And, of course, Matthew, calculatingly counting his sweet moola. I took it inside when there was too much so he could be more customer-service oriented and less Scrooge McDuck.  I mean if he started swimming in it, he could have lost some customers.

Matt did really well, thought things out for the most part and sold EVERY LAST COOKIE in a couple hours (almost 6 dozen).  So I guess our neighborhood works for selling cookies, eh?

My main takeaway aside from my kids are VERY cute is that our neighbors are the best.  Everyone smiled and waved and the eager kids even if they didn't buy cookies, and so many different kinds of people did stop and support them and it just warmed my heart to the max.  GOOD PEOPLE ALL AROUND.

Summer 2017 So Far

We get 2 weeks of slow, slow (in theory) summer before our summer activities kick in for several weeks in a row.  That is mom heaven for me, I tell you.  Below we have children eating fresh bread...not just any fresh bread but my grandpa's recipe which is divine (thanks to extra sugar, extra oil and powdered milk, I think) with white honey and butter just like he always served it.  We did it for dinner one night when I had lost track of time sewing.  Lucas had to take a picture because they were super abnormally quiet which never happens around our table, but the bread was just too good.

 Matt graduated from 5th grade and Lucas, Matt and I were always surprised when he got the Presidential Award.  He's obviously super smart but applying himself at school...we just didn't know.  I want to remember forever that he randomly wears the pin on his tshirts when he goes out into public.  Cuteness indeed.

 Our children's school is a STEM school (whatever to me, charter schools, magnet schools, etc., don't really impress me.  I think a well-rounded education is best for my kids and this school just happened to be our neighborhood school when Lily started way back when) does a cardboard challenge every year.  I LOVE IT because they used to do a yearly science fair and it just was not a pleasant experience...especially for someone who knows what a science experiment should involve.  It was always a last minute nightmare for many parents, but the cardboard challenge has been nice.

 I'm glad we actually went this year...I tend to avoid school activities (having to work at night helps that along), but I committed and am glad I did.  They were each proud of their teams works and eager to share.  Plus the librarian was getting rid of old library books.  I was so surprised that Daphne was way into the games even.  It was fun for all ages.  Happiness all around.

 Ben's shaggy hairdo makes me feel a wee bit neglectful but it's a nice buzz cut now for anyone who's worried.  This picture will be great for blackmail later, but I LOVE IT because he normally refuses to smile in pictures because he hasn't figured out how to real smile for pics, just the painfully fake ones that kids this age tend to do.

 My heart was extra happy at how much pride he took in his contraption.  It was a pretty big game and fun, almost like a hole at a mini golf course.  When we found it he started to fix all the things that had broken as people had played it the hour before we got there.  "It's all wrong!  This isn't supposed to go there!"  So sweet.  Pride in a job well done maybe doesn't happen often enough around here, so I loved that he had worked hard and wanted to keep it nice.

 Shawn graduated for kindergarten, and speaking of all these graduations, fun fact:  We will have a 5th and K graduation in the same year 3 times with our 3 oldest and 3 youngest.  Kind of cool timing that.

It has been an usually wet spring, many gloomy days, lots of greenery, not too hot and some gorgeous days in between.  It's been a pretty blessed spring actually.  A poorly captured sunset, and this is facing east.  Who knows how cool the western colors were that night?

 And we are in full summer gear.  This year that means giant poster board charts.  No tech Monday through Friday afternoon.  It means I am very needed and very involved and am sometimes expected to entertain (which doesn't happen too much), but it also means they are having to stretch and reach and imagine which is good.  They have been extraordinarily awesome on working on their charts.  Once they collectively reach 500 dots then they get a free day where I am at their disposal if they need driven somewhere (or they could play tech all day I guess).  They also get a $20 budget to spend  or save how they choose.  It seems to be enough motivation to keep them plugging away and not vegging out.  I LOVE SUMMERS WITH MY KIDS!

 And me, I am taking a starting/growing your business class which has been quite eye opening.  It started with someone just inviting me to go, and I had no idea what I would even do for a business, to brainstorming, to deciding to give it a go as cheaply as possible.  In some ways I have no idea what I'm doing; in other ways I've done a ridiculous amount of research; and I am learning many, many things about what makes a successful business (whether I actually own one or not).  So I am sewing and sewing and sewing and plotting and searching and will see.  I think ideally I would like to at least make back the money I invested (if not the time), and if that happens, I will call it a success...and if it is a royal flop I'm not spending much money, learned a ton, and will have some fun things to donate to a charitable organization.  Win, win!  Doubting Marianne um doesn't feel so confident but she is dealing with it okay.

Hope my compatriots out there are having a great time and I'm sending lots of love to those who are struggling.  You are stronger and better than you think you are, and there is beauty all around us.  Just look, find and embrace it.