Summer update

It's time for an update post...

Little Gem is growing fast.  He's not even close to walking though.  He'll be 15 months here soon so we're beginning to wonder if he'll show some interest, but so far he much prefers crawling.  All of my kids have been late walkers - I attribute it to the fact that they all have tiny feet and big bellies.  It throws them off balance.

Ice cream on his birthday

Watermelon was one of his favorite treats over the summer

Waiting patiently for a table at Olive Garden on my birthday

Looking over the side of a bridge and making me nervous

Spice took these pictures at the duck pond - cute smile

I thought this was a cute picture, but I can't quite figure out what he's got in his mouth...

Ray is still a ray of sunshine.  He thinks of the cutest things to say.  He loves for me to tell him certain stories - Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood.  We also talked about the good Samaritan once for FHE and he loves to talk about that story when he says his prayers.  He'll say "Hevny Fader, tenk you dis day. Anoder guy came, he not help him, anoder guy came, he not help him, anoder guy came, he not help him (etc), and anoder guy came and he help him! Jesus Cwist, Amen!"

One of our chickens laid a tiny egg, Ray was so excited that he made me take a picture

He got a Winnie the Pooh on his birthday.  He loves Winnie the Pooh stories and episodes.

He also got a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, a bubble gun, and some Swedish Fish

We went to pick up one of my brothers from the airport who flew in for my youngest brother's wedding.  On the way to the airport, I looked back and saw that Ray had done some art work on himself an his baby brother with a permanent marker.  I took a picture before grabbing the wipes (which didn't quite clean it off)

Summer hike with friends

The other day he asked me to tell him a story, but I was tired and asked him if he would tell me one instead.  "About what?" he asked.  "About a boy who has to fight a troll?" "Okay! Der was a boy and he had a blue horsie, and he was riding and he saw a troll and he fight him with his sword and anoder guy came and he not help him, and anoder guy came and he not help him, and anoder guy came and he help him! Den there was a wolf and three pigs and [his own name], and dey had swords and put der swords in der pockets they went very quiet (some motions with his hands as he whispers and he acts out how they walk with his hands) and der were fireworks and a dragon and dey went to his cave and it was hard and they hit it with their swords - bink, bink, bink, [lots of binks] (there are a lot of sound effects and hand movements through his stories) and dey got in and stabbed him.  The end."  If was very cute.

He also loves the stories I make up about Stinky James in which a stinky mouse wants to play with the other mice, but every time he approaches, all of the mice say, "Ewww!  It's stinky James!" and they run away.  A little mouse named by Ray's real name always approaches Stinky James and plays with him even though he is stinky.  He makes James very happy.  Then all of the mice see how much fun they are having and they join in the fun too.  Sometimes it's climbing trees, sometimes playing soccer, sometimes playing in the sandbox, or playing trains or fighting dragons.  He asks for a Stinky James story every night.  Sometimes when he's telling me a story, he can't finish it because he turns into the character that he is talking about..."And da big bad wolf come and say 'Blow your house down" Phhhhh...." and suddenly he is transformed into a wolf and he's off to play as a big bad wolf.

Bazinks is my sweet, tender-hearted boy.  He loves cuddles and stories.  He always shares.  A little bit ago, I gave all of the kids a piece of chocolate and Ray cried because he wanted a bigger one so Bazinks gave him his own piece.  He is also still working on obedience.  He is grounded from friends right now because he played with them when he wasn't supposed to.  The other night he said, "I wish I could just be obedient" :-)  Me too.  My friend, Mary, just told me about an obedience game she's been playing and I'm starting to try it with my little ones.  They seem to like it, hopefully it will help.  It goes something like this: "Ray, touch your belly button" and then he says, "Yes mam" and he does it.  "Bazinks, touch your ear with your toe." "Yes Mam", etc.  Hopefully it will start rubbing off on the other areas of his life.  He is a very good child and he wants to do the right, but he also wants to test the limits, so he is conflicted :-)  He is observant and asks thoughtful questions, "How can Heavenly Father hear people when they are talking at the same time?" or things like, "What would you rather have - no arms or no legs?"

Trying on some armor at a booth at the park during a July 4th celebaration

summer hike with friends

Patiently waiting at Olive Garden on my birhday

Little Miss is still reading during almost all of her spare time.  She's currently in the middle of Howard Pyle's Robing Hood.  Her love of language is becoming evident in the way she expresses herself or in the humor she finds in different situations.  She is also getting quite creative with words.  For example, the other day I asked them to make up a continent and label it with different map symbols.  She made her continent in the shape of a pumpkin and called it "Pumkinoppolis."  I thought that was pretty clever.  She also just got a bunny to take care of and she's being very responsible with him. When she's not doing chores or reading she is often climbing trees, playing with the boys and taking care of the little ones.  She is so nurturing!  The other day her dad took her on a daddy-daughter date to purchase a car (his broke down) and I certainly missed her help with the two little ones.  She does a lot - and she likes doing it!  She is such a blessing. 

The kids were in a play over the summer that was written by one of their friends.  Spice and Little Miss were servant girls.

Spice, Bud, Little Miss and I went to a concert with some friends.  While we were waiting they threw a football around and rolled down the hill.  We had so much fun - the company was awesome and the music was inspiring.

I didn't get any good pictures of the band so I pulled this one from online.  It was Ryan Shupe and the Rubberbands.  Great concert!

Bud is still a little scientist.  Currently in his room there are geckos, crickets, water striders, mealworms (he's breeding them), three praying mantises (in different containers), a frog (that belongs to Bazinks), a grass spider, and a wolf spider.  He takes care of all of them and observes and researches all about the new things he finds.  He just let his snake go because he kept escaping.  I found it on the stairway once and also on the tiles by the entry way.  For some reason, that wasn't nearly as scary to me as when I was cuddling Ray on his bed the other day and I saw a giant grasshopper next to my head (apparently he had brought it in his room to feed to his geckos and it jumped out and he couldn't find it so I was the lucky one who did).  After that I told him that I wanted the bugs out of his room, but he cried such big tears that I had to retract my words and leave him with a stern warning to keep them contained.

Helping Ray be a knight

He was a knight and narrator in the summer play

One of his reptiles.  He pointed out to me that we have insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals at our house.  Joy!

He's pretty crazy most of the time - he keeps us laughing.

He's also very into football and is always trying to get boys together to play it with him.  He wants me to sign him up for a team, but I'm not ready for the time commitment yet - those practice times are pretty intense!

Spice seems to be getting more grounded on "scholar phase" (a term that refers to a youth who loves learning so much that they want to study almost all of their spare time).  When I fist heard of such a thing I wondered just how realistic it was, but it felt true to me so I trusted that it would happen and I built my educational philosophy on that premise. I have seen enough homeschooled kids that actually do choose to study in their spare time that I no longer doubt that it works, but it is neat to see Spice studying so much from her own desires with no pushing from me.  Our Vanguard group gives her the structure she needs and she is taking it and running with it. 

Bridal Veil Falls with her dog while my brother and his wife were visiting

With her homeschool youth group at Saint Mary Cathedral

Baptismal font at the cathedral.  It was a beautiful Church

She also loves to draw in her spare time.  Right now she is into anime.  When she first asked me for Sharpies so that she could draw anime, I was worried about encouraging this form of "art".  I wanted her to use her talents for something more real, but I felt that I should let her explore it.  I'm glad I did.  I have loved seeing what she creates - she makes pictures of things that mean something to her.

Baby Gem before his hair cut

This one is hard to see because it's just a sketch, but I loved it

 

She also go into some sidewalk art during the summer :-)

I also had a great summer.  Starting the homeschool youth group kept me pretty busy, but I have enjoyed it.  I also went to Florida for my brother's graduation from medical school.  I took Gem with me, and my other 2 brothers and one sister-in-law and my parents all stayed in a hotel in Ft. Lauterdale.  We played in the waves on the beach there, went kayaking, saw Miami beach, and did some shopping.  I loved being with my family again, we have so much fun together.

Later on in the summer, my youngest brother got married.  It was a beautiful wedding and they both looked so happy.  I love my new sister-in-law.  She is really laid back (which is good for my somewhat intense brother :-)  )  and she is kind and good.  I think they will be really happy.

I've also been trying to figure out how to eat more healthy.  I've been making my own Greek Yogurt and granola, trying to keep a garden (maybe someday I'll get good at it), and I even bought some Coconut Oil that I need to figure out how to use.  We made popcorn with it today - so good!  I also put it in our waffles and that was yummy too.

I also got called to be the emergency preparedness person for our Relief Society.  It has been a good calling for me because I am getting my food storage organized, I put together our 72 hour kits (we just need some batteries for our headlamps now, and clothes), I now have a car emergency kit, and I almost have enough water storage and I have something to filter water with.  Yay!  It feels good to feel like we're getting prepared and that if there was an emergency, my kids would have water and food.  Now maybe I can ask my ward to get prepared without feeling hypocritical!  I got to do a booth for an emergency preparedness fair yesterday and I got some cool ideas while I was there (I learned how to can butter!)  I'm getting excited because as I buy this stuff, I am also making it much more doable to go camping and maybe even backpacking with my family.  In fact, we've decided that we'd rotate our 72 hour kids by going on a three day camping trip around general conference time.  Isn't that an awesome idea?

Rock has been busy car shopping and is happy to have finally settled on one.  He is busy being a kind husband and a caring dad.  He has been staying really busy at work so we're not seeing him as much as we used to, but we're grateful that he works so hard.  He took the kids shooting with his dad a few weeks ago and is planning to take some gun safety classes with the kids because his dad won a gun for him.  They also went fishing a few times this summer and he's hoping to some day catch a fish with them ;-)  He is usually also busy this time a year with BYU football.  He and Bud go to all of the home games and watch all of the other games on TV.  Sometimes Spice goes as well.  I tried getting into football once, but I gave up on it so I'm glad they can share the hobby together. 

That's pretty much the summer in a nutshell.  I'm sure I left some cool things out :-)  I need to write these updates more often so that I remember the cute things that are said and done, but they take so long!  I do want to remember this stuff in the future so I'm glad I finally got around to it :-)  I'm sure there are typos and grammar mistakes all over, but I took so long writing this that I'm just going to post it.  Besides, who am I kidding? I'm sure there would be mistakes all over even if I took the time to edit so I may as well just ask you to overlook them and I'll not worry about it.  Besides, I doubt too many people are going to read through it all anyway, and those who do are just going to be close friends and family so you'll love me anyway right?