Small Joys in Life

Today was another good day.

I appreciate good days.

We went to the park, walked to swimming lessons, cleaned the house, had school, played with sidewalk chalk, and relaxed.

Do you know what else I appreciate?  Sidewalk chalk.  Whoever came up with a way to turn sidewalk into artwork is amazing.  I end up tracing little bodies over and over and they turn themselves into ballerinas and mermaids or perhaps just do a self portrait.  It gives a chance to do a large doodle without using paper and making a mess of the house.  You can also use it to brighten someone's day with a random message just waiting for them outside their door.

Yes, I support sidewalk chalk.

...And you can tell that I also like to use them.

School, Park, Soup, Bunco, Treadmill

That's my day.

School was pretty good today, catching up on things we are behind on.

We met up with some friends from our homeschool co-op friends to play at the park.

I made soup for a friend and family since they are moving and their life is in boxes, including their kitchen.

And I went to Bunco night with some awesome ladies in the ward.

I came home and did my Couch to 5K run on the treadmill.

Oh yeah, and I got to watch the rehearsal of the ballet, The Swan Princess, somewhere in the middle.

Overall, it was a really good day.

Good Half, Bad Half

The first half of the day was full of fun.

The last half....not so much.

It started with cooking class (which the kids LOVE).  They made fruit and yogurt roll ups and cheese and pretzel samplers.

Usually they have swim lessons right after, but the weather was stormy, so swim was cancelled.

We headed to the YMCA instead.  I am signing back up for the Y and have a friend who is going to keep me accountable for making sure I exercise.

I took a Zumba class and then walked and jogged around the track for a half hour. (I am doing a program called Couch to 5K which was recommended to me by my friend, Rachel, so I can work my way up to doing a 5K, which I am signed up to do in September.)

While walking around the track, I got to watch the girls in the gym (down below the track) playing Duck, Duck, Goose and other games.

The girls were sad they didn't get to go swimming.  So, after I picked them up from Child Watch, I took them to the pool at the YMCA.  I was also watching the girl's friend, Bella, as well.

Then we took a quick run to the bank, then to Costco for lunch and some groceries.

We took our time at Costco because I was starting to lose energy.  We got a couple hot dogs and drinks to start.  Luckily, it wasn't a busy day at Costco, so the workers kept telling us to feel free to take as many samples as we wanted....including sampling, several times, all the different flavors of some natural juice drink.

Traffic was quite heavy on our way home.

We dropped off Bella.

I told the girls that they needed to do chores that were left undone this morning (since we hadn't been home since 9 AM and it was now 5 PM).  There was a hiccup in the chores and a misread on who was assigned what chore and children doing chores that weren't theirs...blah blah blah.  This caused a major riot.

Tyson got home and everyone was screaming and crying.

Me, who was also quite exhausted and ill equipped to handle the situation, hid and Tyson dealt with it.  Wonderful husband award.

I think we were all worn out by doing so much today.

...Not to mention that Molly wet her pants THREE times today.  THREE!!??  Yes, three.  Guess that's what happens when you drink millions of gallons of juice at Costco.

There was a lot of crying this evening.  Even a point today when Eden was crying and saying, "What would make someone want to cry even when they don't have any reason to cry?" Followed by my explanation of the sensitivity levels of being tired, stressed, and simply being a girl.

I think we did a little too much today.

But we did still have a relatively enjoyable day...at least the first half.

Experimental Molly School

Molly has recently wanted to do "school" like her sisters.

I've been able to ease her mind with a few worksheets here and there.

I decided that next year I am going to try a mini "five in a row" school for Molly.

Five in a Row is an actual curriculum that uses actual children's books as their textbooks.  For example, they may use the book "Blueberries for Sal" by first reading the book and then branching off of it by having a lesson on how different fruits grow or all about bears or perhaps how canning works.  At least I think that's how Five in a Row works.  I haven't actually done their curriculum...just heard about it.

I've been testing the waters the past few days to see how it will work out exactly.

I've decided to just let her pick out any book she wants from our shelves.

We read it.

I come up with a little "mini lesson".

And do a mini craft project associated with it.

So far, she really likes it.

Of course, I'm learning as I go.

Mine don't seem to have a lot of "learning".

I mean, we did talk about how we get ourselves dressed and ready in the morning (we did a picture of Huggly on the back of that paper dressed the correct way) after reading Huggly Gets Dressed.

After Ten Little Toddlers, we talked about what a toddler is and numbers up to ten.

After a Bad Case of the Stripes, we talked about being happy with who we are.

But not much else was said or done....

Then again, she's only three.

I would like to come up with better lessons at some point, but it may just depend on what book she brings out for me to read that day.  I'm sure some lessons will be better than others.

Realistically, I need to make sure her lessons are fun and short....because school days keep getting longer....and longer...and longer....

We'll see if this continues.  But Molly loves to have "school" and to read books.  My main goal is to continue her love of books.

Learning to Tie a Bow

Leila was so excited today to learn how to tie a bow.  There were some strings dangling from her skirt and she asked me to help her learn to tie a bow.  After only a few tries, she succeeded!  She was so excited and has been practicing all day.  She doesn't get it every time, but she is improving.

Leila is so full of expression, in her face and voice and everything...it makes it so fun when she learns to do something new.  I love my Leila.

Other than bows today we went to church (where Tyson and I will be lone rangers for a while in nursery since the Thornes are moving this week and got a realization that I need to up my game to prepare for also being a lone ranger when it comes to being the den leader of the Bears since the Popes are leaving).

After church we were invited to a friend's house, the Barnharts, for dinner.

They are so amazing.  The kids absolutely ADORE them and we love talking and just having a good time with them as well.  Orin taught Eden how to play Jenga and Chess.  And Molly tried to find a way to re-organize their house so she could live at their house and use one of their beds...but her plans were foiled when we eventually needed to head back home.

Night School

I love when unexpected "school" activities pop up during non-school hours.

Tyson worked overnight and the girls wanted a relaxed family movie night.  Eden had learned a little while ago about King Alfred the Great of Britain during the Middle Ages.  There was a story that has been passed down (that may or may not be true) about this king hiding out in the woods and acting as a help to a lady there while secretly figuring out how to deal with invading enemies.  The story goes that he was pondering about how to defeat his enemies and became so distracted that he burned the cakes that he was supposed to be watching in the oven.  The woman scolded him.  She had no idea that she had in fact, scolded the king.

There was a recipe for "Alfred Cakes" just for a fun activity.

We didn't have the ingredients at the time.

But Eden decided that for our late night activity, she wanted to watch Brave (because there are a lot of little historical things in the movie that we've been learning about as well as a "cake" that Merida feeds her mom that turns her into a bear).

So, we made "Alfred Cakes"....watching them carefully, so they wouldn't burn them like the king did.  This is probably the first time I had Eden do MOST of the baking.  She measured all the ingredients (Leila did a few) and mixed it together.  It was pretty sticky dough, so I split them into pieces and helped them get it onto the baking sheet.

They made sure to take their first bite of Alfred Cake at the same time Merida's mom, the queen, took her first bite of Merida's cake.  They said the cakes tasted like scones...in a good way.

It is always nice and mix school with fun.
And to mix up a batch of cakes for dessert.

The Party Bus

This is our party bus.

The party being the kids and the bus being the stroller.

I bought this double stroller when I was in Utah. I planned to get something temporary and then just sell it right before we came back out to Kansas City.

That didn't happen.

I became addicted to my ridiculously LARGE stroller.

It's the storage underneath that makes it impossible for me leave it behind.  I'm addicted.  I store lunches, towels, library books, blankies, crafts, rock collections, roller blades, water bottles, ...and sometimes even children find their way inside that storage.

I mean, the thing is a BEAST.

And I shamelessly take it with me EVERYWHERE.

I apologize and make excuses pretending like I don't like my bus...but I really do.

One day I'll have to say goodbye, but not anytime soon.

Eden's Soap Scrub

Eden's been waiting for this moment for WEEKS.  She had an idea that she wanted to make a homemade body scrub.  She took her own money to Target and bought herself the perfect jar for holding this beloved scrub.  She talked with the librarian to find a good recipe on how to make a scrub.  We didn't have all the ingredients, so she waited until we could go shopping for what she needed to make it.  And then I've been busy or timing was off and it was put off for a while.

FINALLY, it happened.

I promised her today would be the day.  I couldn't let her down.  After making the scrub, we decided to make the video just for fun.....She's not really selling it.

Although for $1.50....you'd be getting a steal of a deal.

Trust me.
I know.
...I paid for the ingredients.

Then she said, "It looks like throw up....am I really supposed to put this on my body?"

But she's excited to try it out anyway.

I don't have high expectations....but she enjoyed making it.

I'm Pretty Amazing

In the morning, I'm the mommy who takes the kids to the library.

Molly and her friend, Addy, reading together.

At night, I party

Michelle's farewell to Colorado party.

Gonna miss Michelle

I'm pretty awesome. 

My fan club even sent me some mail to let me know.

Summertime

Living life at the pool is pretty awesome.

Popes + Thornes + Finlinson

Woke up (though challenging).

Shower.

Clean.

School.

Text from Michelle....

"We wanna go to Red Robin with you!"

Kids eat free night.

....Count us in.

And of course the Thornes are coming as well because we have become quite the posse.

Popes + Thornes + Finlinsons = Pure Awesomeness  

They are my cub scout buddies.  Home school and devotional buddies. Nursery leader buddies.  Swimming lesson buddies.  Drive in movie buddies.  Field trip and going to the park buddies.  Service day buddies.  Late over buddies.

We've done a lot together.

...and of course they are both moving this month....rude.

The Thornes are technically only moving to Liberty. But 25 minutes makes a big difference when they currently live down the street from us.

The Popes are headed to Colorado.

I'm not sure who will be more sad, me or my girls.

Tonight, for the Pope's Kansas City bucket list, we all went to Red Robin for Kids Eat Free Night.

Not to mention the more amazing balloon artist EVER.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Boys went for weapons.

Dad and Paige's straw game after full and happy bellies.

We had a lot of laughs tonight.

The kids had a blast as well.

Thanks for the fun times.
I'm so sad you are leaving us....

Happy Fathers Day....Seriously.

Today was the real Father's Day (although, I was actually much more prepared LAST week for Father's Day).

I was able to mow the lawn for Tyson a few days ago.
Made Tyson breakfast in bed today AND yesterday.
Made him Zuppa Toscana with Rosemary bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic.
And ate blueberry apple pie with vanilla ice cream.

Outside of father's day, we also gave a card and kid-made flowers with pipe cleaners to our neighbor, Lisa, who found out she has cancer as well as gave her some pie.  And we also invited over another friend who was alone on Father's Day because his family is out of town.

It was a good day.

Tyson is a wonderful dad.  The girls think the world of him.

I think he's pretty great as well.

As for my own dad, I got pretty darn lucky in that department as well.

I love my dad.

Growing up, everyone always commented on how he always smiled.  Some of my favorite memories with my dad are when we went bug collecting for my Jr. High bug collection project (I was required to have at least ten bugs with basic labels....but since my dad studied bugs quite heavily in school, I came to school with a large garbage bag FULL of boxes of bugs, properly classified and my teacher bringing me forward to say, "Can I take your bug collection in case any students argue that the grade they were given was unfair so I can show them your collection and say, 'No, THIS is what an A looks like!'.")  Another favorite memory was helping him build our shed on the side of our house and hopping from roof to roof.  I also remember being little and helping with paper route.  He would wake me up by just carrying me in front of Rocky and Bullwinkle to gently wake me up each morning.  Then there was the time he helped me build my own computer for school.  Not to mention all the times he helped coach my team in softball and often came straight from work so he would be at the third base still in his suit and then spend free time later practicing pitching, even though I never got good at it.

So many great memories.

My dad is amazing.

Explaining the Day With Food

Crepes for breakfast.

Stake women's conference luncheon.

Quick spaghetti (and leftovers) dinner.

Popcorn and treats at the drive in theater with friends (watched Finding Dory).

Overall, a fantastic day.

The Birthday Party

Leila decided she wanted to have a party this year for her birthday. We made it a low-key party with water and cupcakes.

It is nice to have friends...and cupcakes.

My Leila is Six Today

My Leila is six.

I love my six year old.

Leila's dinner of choice...make your own sushi.  Along with a few dress that she got to pick out from from a friend of ours.

Leila's birthday presents...new bike with helmet, a coloring book, and Mambas.

Leila's birthday lemonade ice cream pie (which wasn't what she really wanted, a blueberry pie, but I forgot one of the ingredients...so we are going to have it for father's day instead.)

I'm not sure what to write about Leila.

Leila is shy when you first meet her, kind and friendly when you get to know her, rough and tough when you live with her, and a best friend when you need her.

She loves to build forts, ride bikes, and climb trees.
She also loves to cuddle, hug, and stuffed animals.
She's an organizer with a pretty good eye for aesthetics and a perfectionist.
She fears anyone being left behind, not doing as well as others, and being the leader.
She dreams of one day living in a tree house in Hawaii surrounded by fruit trees and beaches.

She's my Leila.

Heat Wave

We've got quite the heat wave around these parts as of late.

Quite unfortunate. 

Kansas City sure knows how to heat up.

So, some friends decided to go to Dagg Park where they have a new splash pad.

We were ready before our friends, so we ran a few errands.

Apparently, we were also ready before the store was ready too...

We waited for 10 minutes outside Payless (Eden needed new sandals). The girls didn't seem to mind at all. Eden read her book and Leila brought her Book of Mormon but had finished reading the chapter so she let Paige "read" it. Paige thought she was so big and funny reading outside the store like Eden!

We got the shoes and left to the splash pad.

Turns out he water wasn't working until later that day. So the girls just played at the park until they couldn't stand the heat any longer.

After, we got a few needed groceries.

Came home.

And tried to hide from the heat.

Oh...and did chores and school...of course.

Summer Swimming and Cooking Lessons

Leila during her lesson

Molly, Eden, and friend Bella lounging during Leila's lesson.

I love Riverside.

They offer free swimming lessons over the summer to kids who live in Riverside at the community pool.  The kids end up living at the pool...Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 9-12.

Even better, the girls are also signed up for free kids cooking class on Tuesdays, also at the Riverside Community Center.  Eden and Leila have cooking class during Molly and Paige's swimming lessons and then they come right out when they are finished to begin their swimming lessons.  Today they made mini pizzas and strawberry smoothies.

The only issue we have run across is that they don't get a lot of "free play" with the lessons going on.  They close off everything but the kiddie area of the pool during lesson time.  So, we are rather tempted to get a pass.  Although, I have learned that they will let you SHARE a pass with another family as long as it is under 10 people total.  I believe you end up paying $35 (or so) dollars for a swimming pass for the entire summer.  Then they can just stay after lessons are over for free play.

The girls have lots of friends who have passes...but I'm currently very poor.  This month may run into issues....like..."how do I pay for food" kind of issues.  You know, minor issues.  So it goes.

Blurry Vision

Today was kind of a blur....

And not just because Paige found my glasses and ripped off one of the sides.

I think I've seriously been lacking sleep.

Tyson came home and said, "I think you should go relax in our bedroom for ten minutes." Which I fell instantly asleep for several hours.

Oh yes, the dentist.

Eden and Leila went to the dentist today.  THAT'S what happened.

Eden was thrilled when the dentist told her that there was a tooth that was a LITTLE loose.
Poor girl, wants to loose a tooth so bad.

But reports are good, no cavities.  Healthy teeth.

I still feel drowsy...so, I'm gonna head to bed.

Happy Un-Father's Day

Eden woke up this morning....found out it was NOT Father's Day....and said,

"Mom, you should title your next post 'Happy Un-Father's Day'."

My most faithful readers are probably my children.

I figured that I'd have to decide if I was going to pretend today was Father's Day or save it all for the REAL Father's Day.

The choice was made for me.

While getting ready for church, there was a knock on our door.

*Knock. Knock.*
(Answer door to Luisa, the best neighbor EVER.)

"Sorry such late notice, but we are having a surprise retirement party 

for Jeff at the clubhouse at 3:00 and wanted to invite you.  

I kept wanting to invite you earlier but I never got the chance."

Then off to church we went.

We were late because Leila left her primary talk at home, so we had to turn around mid-drive.

We came in right as they were passing the sacrament and opted to sit in the hall today.  Tyson didn't come because he got less than two hours of sleep last night and needed to sleep.

That's when I met a new friend, Along.

Along and her family are from Africa.  They aren't members of the church but their oldest son, Agok who is ten, recently decided to be baptized.  She brings the rest of her family to church and supports Agok.  I found out they have kids close to all my kids' ages and by the end of sacrament meeting, I made a new friend and the kids were possibly a lot more crazier than I probably should have let them get during sacrament.  But I'm assuming that since Along isn't used to going to church and the classic "sit still and be quiet" method isn't ingrained into their non-Mormon brain that she didn't find much harm in it.  We weren't terrible. And when they did start to get a little too rowdy, we had them tone it down.

By the end she invited me over to their house around six or seven to have cake and celebrate Agok's tenth birthday today.  I told her I wasn't sure because of the other party I was supposed to go to but that I would contact her and try to come.  All I knew is that they haven't been here long, don't really like Kansas City that much, and feels like she doesn't really have a lot of friends around.  So, I wanted to be there for her.

She wanted to show me how to get to her house because she didn't know her address or how to explain how to get to her place, so she asked me to meeting after church and follow her to her house to show where she lived.

Leila gave a talk in primary.
I was in nursery.
I met up with Along to follow her to her place.

We drove and she INSISTED I come in for some water because it was such a hot day (95 degrees is way too hot for me).  I came in for a small minute, but had to get home for Jeff's surprise party.

We all went to Jeff's retirement party, which was a blast.  They know how to party.  Lots of really good food, balloons for the kids, cake and ice cream, and just good company.  They are so nice and friendly.  They often have parties with lots of family and they invited us to come join them many times as well.  I love how their family is so welcoming and unafraid to just invite extra people to a family party (they also invited their dentist and his family along...which we found out also happens to be our dentist).  And they make sure to have PLENTY of food so no one could ever go home hungry, in fact, they will almost always give us leftovers to take home.

Us with the Officially Retired Man

We left the party with smiles on our faces.

I was trying to decide if we should go to this other party since we had already had cake and ice cream and we would have spent approximately a half hour at home before we had to leave to go to the next place.

I decided to go.

I'm so glad I did.

I came and when I pulled up, Along came out to meet us saying, "I'm SO grateful that you came to the party!  I was so afraid that you wouldn't be able to make it!"

She and her friend continued to make us feel loved.

They gave us water, soda pop, and the kids a Capri Sun.  Talked to us about how to braid and bead hair (and said that we should come over and they could do it to my girl's hair sometime), taught me a little about Africa, and just made me feel at home.

They gathered a few other neighbors to help celebrate and they had cake.

You could tell their birthday culture wasn't the same.

They had a cake, cut into it (realizing after that usually you sing Happy Birthday first), then sang the song (realizing after they never lit the candles), and then just decided to cut the cake (never have lit the candles or blown them out).  But everyone was totally fine with it, no big deal.  It was just fun.  Very laid back and happy.

We invited them to Leila's birthday party on Friday.

They insisted on sending me home with leftover cake and even snuck in a Coca-Cola into the bag (which is funny because I don't even like it, but they wanted to be extra nice and just give something extra to us).

Eating cake....for the second time.

My new, adorable little friend, who is a little older than Paige but is a head taller with a full set of teeth.

The birthday crew....at least the ones who weren't too busy playing in the other room.

It was a great night.  I learned a lot and I wish to be more like both families we spent time with.

But it definitely was NOT Father's Day.

Guess that's next week's party.

Wait....WHAT?!?

So, I found something out....

...like less than an hour ago...

Turns out, tomorrow is NOT Father's Day.

I spent the day prepping for Father's Day....

I may celebrate Father's Day tomorrow anyway.

I made a special, bigger breakfast of sausage and egg on English muffins and then sent Tyson off to work for his 24 hour shift (he gets off around 8 AM tomorrow morning).

We then got ready for swim lessons, swam, then started on the BIG Father's Day prep.

He told the girls he wanted a clean house for Father's Day (probably because he knew we couldn't afford the BBQ he REALLY wanted).

I got the weed wacker from the townhome office and PLANNED to mow our little backyard.  Come to find that they gave me a weed wacker with a cord that didn't fit.  Round hole, square peg....

I thought maybe I was just doing something wrong.  Because....umm....I've never used a weed wacker before.  This was going to be a big day because I was going to learn to trim our own yard so I don't have to make Tyson do it every time.  Then, it didn't happen.  Who knows, maybe I did do something wrong...but as far as I can tell, the plug didn't fit.  Could have easily been a something stupid on my part...

Then we did an elbow greasin' DEEP clean of the kitchen.  Dishes, wiping cabinets, emptying out and cleaning drawers then reorganizing them, de-junk our counter tops, mopping, dusting vents and baseboards and light fixtures, washing walls and our sliding glass door, cleaning the appliances, even cleaning under the table (which the kids believe is a substitute for a napkin during mealtimes).

We did a basic clean up of the rest of the house (the kids participated in all the cleaning, including the deep clean, and did a FABULOUS job all in the name of "Father's Day Gift").  Would have loved to do the whole house...but its quite an event to have me and four littles deep clean.

Finally, we felt good about our cleaning job...

I had to bathe the kids and feed them dinner.

I told the girls we could watch a late night movie since it was dad's late work night and they invited some friends.

...Then I realized I didn't get the ingredients for Tyson's special Father's Day dinner and dessert.

At 7:30, we went to the grocery store for the ingredients.  Paige was SUPER tired and CRAZY.  If it weren't for Eden there to help me out, I may have died, right there in the grocery store.  And of course with a wild, screaming child who wouldn't sit in the cart, didn't want to be held, was running around almost getting run over by other shopping carts and pulling down items from shelves, I ran into two people I knew at the store....and I offered for them to take a child.  Didn't work.

I finally made it out of the grocery store....alive.

Put things away, and the friends came for a VERY late over.

They other kids had to take off before the movie was finished, but my kids are still up (well, Paige and Molly are asleep) finishing the movie...now that its 11 PM.

Well, at least the house is clean, I have a good meal planned for Father's Day (whether we celebrate tomorrow or next week), and the kids are plenty tired.

Happy early Father's Day Tyson.