Pictures

It's been a while since I posted pictures. Summer is always, always different. A little more spontaneous, a little more exhausting, and a lot louder every year. 

James asked if we could go camping. James, Matthew, and I held a backyard campout with a tent one night, then a tent, fire, and s'mores soon after (Robert joined us that time). Bobby and Alex could not be persuaded to sleep outside *sigh*

I was originally planning to save the camping experience for my birthday week in August when we could ALSO view the Perseids Meteor Shower, but then I came to my senses...why camp in August in the thick of summer heat and humidity getting eaten alive by mosquitos somewhere far away from home?! It made a lot more sense to me to camp in our own backyard in June when the fireflies are still around and the mosquitos haven't quite taken over, and the overnight lows are still a comfortable 60-70F. Ahhhhh. So much better! I also used our air mattresses and cushions :) We may still camp around my birthday, but only if I really, really need/want to.

Here, James is proudly holding a smoldering stick. The kids are old enough now that we can explore fire a little more than previous years. James would light his stick, blow it out, knock off the ashy cinders, then draw on the concrete with the charcoal. Once, someone was startled by a teeny tiny cinder on the ground and decided to go put shoes on. Clever boys! Another moment that evening, James was a little lax with his cinders (again) and burned a tiny hole in his shorts. He decided at that point that this fire thing had taught him enough for the day. He tossed his stick into the fire and stopped messing with it. These are the experiences I want my children to have: exposure to low risk dangers under close supervision that engender critical thinking and a healthy dose of cautious responsibility. Will James want to be involved in the next fire? You bet. Will he know a little more about how to do it safely? Yes. 

Bobby, James, and Matthew joined me on a hike at Homer Lake on Juneteenth. Bobby had the day off, the weather was perfect, and I needed just one more hour of hiking to earn a badge on my silly exercise app. We saw a wild tortoise! And lots of birds. And a little bit of a deer.

Here is Alex on his second day of work as a Nature Day Camp Junior Counselor at the Anita Purves Nature Center. He has since worked with the 6-7 year old class and the pre-K class. He seriously LOVES this work and plans to be a Junior Counselor as many summers as he can. He's riding his bike to and from work now (3 miles each way) and that's really increased his sense of confidence and independence. The other day, he said, "I'm gonna bike to Meijer to get some raisins for my rats." And he did!! All by himself. It's only a mile away, but holy moly he's such a different guy than he was a few years ago.

Our neighbor's raspberries were great this year. They said we could have any on the side that faces our fence (they can't reach those). Matthew's being all smarmy for the picture. The strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries were ALL extra sweet and delicious this year. We ate them all fresh right off the bush and shared none with neighbors and friends. No regrets.

On our second campout night, the boys built a funeral pyre for an adolescent rabbit that somehow got into our garden and died. I didn't discover it until maggots were already writhing under its skin. I left it for a couple days longer and THEN told the boys about it. The maggots had left only a skeleton and a very thin furry overcoat. We examined the bones and couldn't find any trauma. It might have died of fright (thunderstorm) or sickness. We don't have a mammalian graveyard on our property (only avian and fishy ones), so James thought we could send this noble rabbit off like a Viking. The pyre didn't exactly work like they thought it would, but it got the job done. May you rest in peace, rabbit.

Matthew is a big fan of totally burned marshmallows. He does it on purpose. I remember liking that as a kid, but why? Why?!

June

What a month!

I pulled the kids out of school a day early (not on purpose!) to start our cross-country drive to Idaho and Utah. We met up with the Garners in Omaha so Rachel and I could bike 50 miles in that state, then took another couple days to get all the way out to Idaho Falls where Bobby's parents live. This time, with so many kids of certain sizes, we decided to rent a VRBO for our family. That worked well for me. We could keep a lot of our routines in place and still spend lots of time with grandparents and cousins. We went to the zoo, did baptisms for the dead in the Idaho Falls Temple with cousins, ate fantastic home-cooked meals at my in-laws' house, spent a day or two in Rexburg with cousins, sampled a ton of new things at candy and soda stores and ate waaaaaay too many Creamies. 

After a week with the grandparents, it was time for another 50-mile ride! This one started in Cache Valley, UT. I was riding it with Heidi, Rachel, and Rachel's sister-in-law Becky. The weather was great, the event was a party, and I've never had such a refreshing lime ricky. I loved chatting with Heidi for hours. We swapped cycling playlists, ate fantastic food, and checked out an international food shop.

After the race, Heidi and I headed back to Salt Lake City where our families were waiting. We all met up with Kristin for dinner at The Red Iguana 2. Mmmmm. Our kids are too picky to take out to eat. I asked for plain chips with melted cheese on top and a little beef, thinking it would be plain ground beef. Well, they brought a plate of chips doused in white nacho sauce and topped with half a pound of well-seasoned shredded beef. Delicious to most people, but almost entirely inedible to 3 of my 4 kids. Ugh. This is one of many reasons my kids aren't too thrilled about family vacations.

That evening, we spent the night at my sister's cabin in Heber City, UT. My kids thought it was pretty much heaven on earth. First off, there were friendly dogs. And horses we got to feed. And a hot tub. And a queen-sized bunk bed for each member of our family. Then they discovered the gun safe and the Rumba and the entertainment room with whack-a-mole, pool, and shuffle board. The indoor pool wasn't ready, and they're a little young to appreciate the pickleball court, but they were thrilled with everything else. And THEN they discovered the 4-wheelers. They seriously begged to come back next summer to ride horses, shoot guns, ride on 4-wheelers, and swim their hearts out. I didn't dare tell them about the snowmobiles or the theater room downstairs...their heads might have popped off right then and there. 

The next day, we went to church with my sister's family and then headed to American Fork. We stayed in a cute little VRBO in Highland right next to the mountains. That's the place Alex, Robert, and I fell in love with the game "Bohnanza." We played tourist at Thankgiving Point, hiked to Timp Cave, and drove around a little as I pointed out places I remembered from my time living there. I also got to spend an evening with my good friend Marie and visit my first ever dirty soda shop. Very tasty!

The drive home was punctuated by a stop in Des Moines, IA for the third and final 50-mile cycling ride on this trip. Des Moines has a TON of really nice trails all throughout and around the city. It was a very pleasant ride :) 

We got home in time to enjoy a weekend before the first of the summer camps began.

Robert has had Advanced Math Academy at the school, which he hates, except for the days they spent designing new treat recipes or building mini electric vehicles. I'm sure they tied it in to math somehow...

All three boys are at "College for Kids" right now. It's a summer program put on by our local community college. All three moaned and groaned and gnashed their teeth at the idea of any summer camp of any type, but I insisted that this was important to the health of our family this summer and it was time to take one for the team. After the first few days, they were less miserable. Robert really likes coding for websites and building robots. James and Matthew have fallen in love with geocaching and hooked me into it as well. All that AND I get a few glorious hours completely alone in my house to regenerate and work on things uninterrupted.

James and Matthew had a week of swim lessons at our friend's house and loved it. Matthew actually jumped off the side of the pool into the shallow end. He's collecting rings off the bottom of the shallow end now and capable of doing a 6-second backfloat without assistance. I kinda thought this would never happen. I kinda want to give his swim teacher a hug. Would that be awkward?

James and I have a goal to get Matthew comfortable on a pedaled bike by the end of the summer. That's not going nearly as well as swim lessons. This boy insists that bikes hurt his bottom. We've tried at least two seats and they're both fine for 5 minutes, then it's over. I've pushed him to go a little further, encouraging him to toughen up his tender bits, but that typically leads to crying, irregular balance and a crash. The crash creates more physical and emotional injury and then he's barely able to walk his bike back to the car 100 feet away. The most recent attempt at this ended with Matthew in a puddle, looking up at me crying and frustrated, "Can't you see, Mom?! I'm just not a bike rider!" I had to admit, it never occurred to me that one of my own kids wouldn't enjoy riding a bike. I let him know that riding a bike was an important skill I wanted him to learn before he became an adult...just like swimming and music lessons and rudimentary cooking and cleaning. That didn't help Matthew in the moment, but I realized that it doesn't have to happen this summer. Maybe Matthew just moves at a different pace.

My big project the last week or so has been swapping out our 15cuft chest freezer for an upright freezer and an upright fridge. Alex rolled his eyes and jokingly quipped, "Oh, so we're one of THOSE families now." Uhhh. I guess so. Whatever that means. I've had to go through the garage and get rid of a lot of stuff to make everything fit. I've also been going through our "room of requirement" and donated a van load of old books, baby gear, games, toys, and clothes we've outgrown. I originally held on to it thinking we'd have friends with small kids coming over all the time. Nope. Then I held on to it thinking that it would be handy for when I'm a grandma...10-15 years from now, with no idea how physically close I'll be to my grandkids at any point in their lives. Nope. I don't need to keep it. 

Alex started his first job. He LOVES it. Everything about it. He loves his manager, his coworkers, the kids, the lessons/games, and all the tasks assigned to him as a junior counselor at Nature Day Camp. He loves the positive feedback he's getting from peers, adults, and kids. He's also thrilled about the generous $12/hour he's getting paid for all of this fun. His first paycheck is today. Wahoo!

So that's been June for us. This is week 5 out of the 13-week summer *deep breath* so far so good.

Good

It's been a good couple of weeks...

Alex finished his second high school musical. He hated the rehearsals, he loved the performances. He loves, loves, loves the on-stage-before-a-live-audience bit, the applause, and the bows at the end. He's enjoyed having his afternoons and evenings back this week. He'll go with a friend tonight to see the most recent Marvel movie.

Robert grew another quarter inch. He's cracked a thousand hilarious jokes. Some of my favorites are the dry and quirky observations that he delivers with just the right amount of realism. I'll see if I can record a couple of them here at some point... He's been clever and playful lately. He craves physical fights, physical play. In the last couple of weeks, he and Bobby have had a few hilarious wrestling matches on the living room floor. Robert feels *almost* strong and wiley enough to beat his dad, so it's great fun for him. Robert has several very, very obvious and potent ticklish spots, so if he ever gets close to overturning Bobby, the mere mention of one of these spots causes him to cringe. The matches are fun to watch.

James is proud of his progress learning his times tables and division tables. He's mowed the lawn twice already, helped me cut down a dead cherry tree, and built his own functional brick oven on the back patio He cooked things on it! Also, every one of his meal prayers lately includes the request that our food not  be poisoned. James went on another 5 mile bike ride with me. He's traded a few Pokemon cards, collected a hundred tiny fossils from the playground gravel, and spent several peaceful moments wrapped up in the hammock. This afternoon, we will bury his fish Nightmare. Nightmare passed away yesterday after a long and difficult battle with cancer. We miss him, but we're all grateful his suffering is over. 

Matthew is finally reaping the benefits of learning to read. This last couple of weeks, I often found him sitting on the couch with a stack of library books just reading through them one by one. He still loves people to read to him, of course, but he can do it well enough on his own to scratch the itch. He had a friend over last week and I found them sharing a big, squooshy chair in the front room as he read to his friend from one of his favorite graphic novel series, "Cat Kid Comics Club." Matthew is developing a quick wit and quirky sense of humor, too. He's started learning to ride a bike...again...but I think it's going to stick this time. He can't stand the idea of staying home while James and I go for a ride around the neighborhood. 

Bobby got approved to return to work in-person AND they are paying for the equipment he needs to make a second work setup at home. It looks like he'll be at work in-person for most of the week and at-home maybe 1-2 days a week or as needed (e.g. future Covid outbreaks, snow days). We're pretty lucky to have that option.

I've been working in the garden and on some landscaping around the house. Irrigation is almost up and running. Always more weeding to be done. I'm also ramping up my exercise routine to get my heart, lungs, and legs ready for our vacation in June. The vacation includes 3 long bike rides in 3 different states. Anxiety-wise, it's been a very mild couple of months. I've made some important breakthroughs in therapy and worked consistently to keep my physical life and routine balanced. No panic or waves of anxiety leading up to this trip so far. Don't want to jinx it, though, so I'll stop talking about it! I have been asked to work in the Relief Society Presidency. We're a new presidency, but I know two of these women pretty well and they don't mess around. We're old (64, 46, and 42 years old...13 kids between us) and our secretary is not (26 years old, no kids) and that led to quite a few laughs at our first presidency meeting. The president wanted a printed agenda and the secretary could not fathom why, "I'll just share a Google Doc with you." 

"Yes, but I like to write out meeting notes on a printed agenda and put it on my kitchen counter so that every time I pass it, I'm reminded of the things I'm working on." The secretary could not comprehend how or why anyone would want to do it that way, but she just raised an eyebrow and printed off a copy. I think we'll be learning a lot from each other :)

Spring Brings...

...outdoor fun! I just want to be outside all the time. All the time. I was sitting on the front porch last weekend. Robert, James, and Matthew came out to join me. There was a light rain. Just enough to send a trickle of water out the downspout. We checked on a new mound of citronella ants, watched sugar ants take a Goldfish cracker apart piece by piece, and did some chatting. Robert and James got interested in the downspout water and started collecting rocks. Then they invested some time in the mud. Matthew flitted about on the periphery...lightly engaged in the play, but not quite part of it. Robert and James got dirty and asked to use the hose to rinse off. I knew it would lead to more mud play, but if I stayed outside with them, it wouldn't get out of control. I said yes. It got a lot muddier pretty fast. They were wading ankle deep in the muddy pool, raking through it with their fingers to find new rocky treasures. Matthew, again, kept his distance but conversed and played along. He didn't want to get dirty. He's also a very sensitive guy and stays on the periphery if there's any chance someone might yell at him for doing something wrong.

Washing rock treasures next to their brand new mud mine.

...indoor ants! Sugar ants are exploring our floors for food and water. Most of them are scouts just looking around, no real trails of ants yet. The other day, Matthew found a single ant in the bathroom which had somehow lost 2 of its legs and had trouble walking around. He gently picks it up and places it in his cupped hand, then runs out to me with intense concern asking how we can help the ant heal. Ummm. Matthew urgently wants to return the ant home so it can rest and recover comfortably. James turns to me with a knowing look, eyebrow raised, and then he turns to Matthew and opens his mouth to begin to speak, but then he shuts it again. I tell Matthew that I don't know how to help an ant heal. We don't have the right tools. I say the ant's best chance of getting home is being placed right where he found it. Matthew thinks he might have seen an ant-sized hole in the bathroom and he runs back to put the ant down. James turns to me again and I already know what he's going to say, "I was going to tell Matthew that the ant was most likely going to die before it got home, and that IF the injured ant ever DID get home somehow, it would probably get eaten or kicked out by its siblings anyway. But I didn't. I thought that would only make things worse." Yup, sometimes it's best to keep it to ourselves. 

One cold morning in April, Matthew fended off the icy wind with his cozy hat and face mask.

...edible flowers! Alex baked a double-layer orange cream cake and decorated it with pansies from our yard. He's been baking every weekend pretty consistently for the last few weeks...garlic knots, turtle-shaped dinner rolls, and cakes. He has plans to make a carrot cake this weekend. Mmmmmm.

Doesn't take long to eat a cake so tasty and pretty as this one.

...gardening and landscaping and chicken fun. I like to exercise in the morning and come home to do gardening/landscaping/farm tasks. Last week, I planted and transplanted, weeded and cleaned out beds, set up irrigation in the garden, and ordered a few more parts to expand the irrigation in the front landscaping. The whole yard is up and growing...kinda like Robert. I took a picture of him standing next to Matthew just to record the stark contrast:

Matthew only comes up to Robert's armpits!!

...the end of fencing class! Alex and Robert enjoyed their fencing class, but felt done with it all by the end. Robert did pretty well in the final tournament (Alex did not compete). He has a talent for seeing patterns in an opponent's behavior. It helped him get through some tough bouts. And a few pointers from Robert gave his friend a leg-up in the semi-final. I saw his friend approach him afterwards for advice regarding his new opponent in the final bout. 

Robert is in red. He landed third place and his friend took second. 

...summer plans! It is delicious to me to have a good plan, even though I know things will have to change out of necessity (and sometimes whimsy). Plans bring me peace. It's the illusion of control :) Alex has a great job and plans for Kid Camp. Robert has Advanced Math Academy and some code/robotics/webpage/app camps. James and Matthew have swim lessons, math/art/science/treasure hunt camps, and Wild Child Survival Camp (i.e. wilderness survival skills for elementary kids). We have a 2-week long car trip out west and a 1-week long family reunion in the midwest. There will be video game days, pool days, a demolition derby, star gazing, one short campout, a few weenie roasts, and at least one afternoon at a go kart racetrack nearby. We may also throw axes. Maybe. 

This is Alex with his two rats on his shoulders. Erin said she'll take care of our animals while we're traveling this summer. It's kind of a menagerie: 2 old hens, 3 young hens, 2 adolescent rats, a crested gecko, an aging fish, and a jar of sea monkeys.

Hello again

Hello again! It's been a while. So long, in fact, that I feel burdened by the multitude of stories, blessings, experiences, and lessons that that I didn't get to record here on the blog over the last 6 weeks. I talked to my mom this afternoon and she helped me see that I could just start fresh. Start with today. So, here I am.

Things are good.

A few highlights from the last 6 weeks:

Alex turned 15, had his first job interview, and got his first job offer. He'll be a Junior Camp Counselor at our local park district's summer camp for kids. I can't imagine a better fit for Alex's talents and interests! He's in the high school musical this semester, too. It's "Anastasia." He loves taking voice lessons. He loves sleeping in on the weekends. He loves baking on Sundays. He also loves his two pet rats that he got for his birthday, but they keep escaping from their enclosure!

Robert turned 12 and grew another inch taller. Or more. He's officially taller than Alex now and the difference is growing every week. He's doing well in his advanced math class and got invited to a summer program for kids going into advanced math next year. His English teacher tells me Robert writes well enough to skip a grade in ELA, but he's less enthusiastic about challenging writing assignments. We've been doing some Khan Academy pre-algebra together a few evenings a month. It's pretty fun. I love algebra. Robert likes it, too. We laugh and tease each other a lot during these sessions. Robert's way of bonding with people is through verbal teasing and physical play. He has no problem understanding the math concepts. He gets in trouble, though, for not reading the questions carefully enough. Doing well in school requires that you 1) understand the material and 2) understand how people will test you on that material.

James' annual physical revealed that he had lost 13 pounds over the last year. My anxiety kinda went haywire over that. He routinely skips dinner because he's afraid he'll feel nauseous all evening and night. He's not motivated by or interested in treats anymore, either. What kind of kid (besides Matthew) isn't that interested in treats?!?! James and I have therefore developed an eating routine that gets him all the calories and nutrients he needs by 4pm. If dinner appeals to him, he'll eat a little of that, too. He's happier, I'm happier, and the doctor will be happier. The doctor ordered blood tests that all came back normal. And wow, James' courage and self-control was tested to the limit preparing for those blood draws. They botched the first one and we had to go back another day. He was SO frustrated and angry and brave and calm and so stinking relieved at the end of it all. 

Matthew is only 7, but that also seems pretty old. He plays and jokes around like the older boys, but still lets me hold his hand and snuggle him when he's hurt. He lost his first tooth! And his second tooth. The adult teeth actually started growing in behind his baby teeth (like shark teeth). Once the baby teeth were out, the adult teeth kinda shifted into the right place. Whew. 

Bobby built a gaming computer and the boys helped him build and test drive it. It's brought the boys together as they watch each other play new and interesting games. Bobby has been running regularly with a couple friends from church. He's also been approved to go back to working onsite but there are a few tricky hurdles that need to be worked out first. 

My anxiety kept us from taking a Spring Break trip to the Gulf Coast *sob* but it's been pretty low since then. I'm working closely with my therapist on this travel anxiety. I do NOT want to stay home for the rest of my life, y'know?

I've been able to exercise regularly again! I'm getting back on the bike and taking a few mild classes at the YMCA: strength/conditioning, body combat, and gentle yoga. The exercise is good for me physically and socially. I get out of the house and make eye contact with people who aren't my family. I even make friendly conversation or crack a joke now and then :)

My interest in gardening has returned. I've got some veggies already in the ground, some ready to transplant, and some getting started this week. 

We have been raising a new flock of chicks. Our friendly neighborhood hawk killed one of them, sadly, due to my overconfidence in predicting how a hawk would hunt. We lost James' chick named Curry. She was one of the most adventurous, curious, and people-friendly chickens we've ever raised. She learned pretty quickly that people bring food and water and treats. Whenever you came into the bathroom where the chicks were living, Curry would be the first to the door eyeing you up and down looking for treats. The other chickens ran away from visitors and huddled in the back of the cage whenever the cage was opened. Curry liked coming out of the cage just to explore. She also liked flapping up to the tallest point and perching there while all the other chicks looked around nervously and cheeped at her, "Get down from there! You're going to fall and break your neck!" She had the craziest habit: whenever we offered her something tasty (e.g. a cricket or worm) she would grab it in her beak and run around screeching. I think she was concerned the other birds might take it from her, but all her fuss just got their attention and created the competition she feared. Silly chick. I'm gonna miss her. James certainly does.