Summer Goal Posters

Some of Cy's goals this year are: "incurage people in sports
play with people that don't have alot of friends
study every brain q[u]est
read 400 pgs this summer"

The bottom of Cam's poster says,
"p.m. prayers
BOM storybook
tie my shoes"
"Swing lessons" mean "swimming lessons," but I like swing, too :)

Elle's goals are:
"play outside
play with Sienna
learn from Mia to do cheer
umm... I love mommy and daddy
read books
say prayers by myself every night"

This year, M&M are keeping track on their bedroom whiteboards.

MK's goals are basically about how to afford her summer plans :)

P.S. I like Shawni's idea about bubbles to fill in for goal tracking purposes. Gonna get on that...

Happy 21st Anniversary!

Okay, not my car. But I did enjoy doing the Miss America wave throughout the ride :)
So, Rob and I forgot our 21st anniversary this year until two days afterward. We were in Lake Powell that week, and within an hour of arriving home, he re-packed for his 5-day business trip to Chicago. We'll celebrate eventually. In the meantime, I'm posting a few things I love about Rob:

1. I find your blue eyes, blonde eyelashes, and white scruff highly attractive, not to mention the way you look in your BYU hoodie :)
2. I love that you're so even tempered and "moody" isn't even in your ballpark
3. I love that you talk to me for extended periods of time about girl stuff, just to be nice
4. I love our Friday night dinner dates, where we mostly prefer to be with just each other
5. I couldn't ask for a better dad for our kids
6. I always have the feeling that we're in this together—the good, the bad, and the ugly
7. I love that you get just as proud as I do over the kids and you want to hear even the minor details
8. I love the way you write to me in cards
9. I love that you're the kind of man a woman can trust, and I love that our daughters will know for themselves that good men are not just in fairy tales
10. You're a better friend, a better spouse, a better parent, and an all-around better person than I am, which inspires me to be my best self
... but I married better :)


So, since this man of mine returns all gifts, I decided awhile ago to do a service project for him on special days (birthdays, Father's Day, etc.). My anniversary gift to him was a total garage clean-out. I took pictures, so tomorrow when I have to pick my way through an obstacle course of bikes, scooters, muddy shoes, and recyclables, I can take some comfort in the fact that I have proof that it once was neat and tidy.

 Now all we need are some shelves :)

(He also requested that I iron on patches to his jeans, so he doesn't have to buy new ones. See what a waste a gift would be in his world? :)

A Cleanie!

Rob and I were at MK's soccer game when I got this text from Mia: "Elle is bawling because the house is messy and the boys didn't put away their bikes. hahaha"

Elle's been known to do this, and we all think it's too funny. A cleanie! One out of six kids. My prayers have been answered :) In these photos, she's distraught about the bikes left in the yard (gonna be a long summer, haha).

A few days ago Cam told me, "Elle doesn't like me and Getty because we didn't help her clean up, and I gave her that bunny, but she still doesn't like me."

Elle replied, "I wike you, but I don't wike what you did." She's brilliant, no?

Lake Powell Preview: Good-bye, Elle; Hello Vacation!

Cam dashed out of the tub, frantic that he didn't get to say good-bye to Elle before Rob took her to Granny's house. I called Rob, and he turned the car around so Cam and Elle could hug it out.

Sweet houseboat, Mike!

The Happy Dance

We figured our boat was sitting on top of the equivalent of a 22-story building in the channel. Yipes.

The first night was windy with 6' waves in the channel, so a couple of stranded boats ended up on our shore. Mike invited them all over for a barbeque.

Rob took this picture just as we landed a group jump. Awkward :)

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Just over a month ago, I got a call from Mrs. B telling me that Getty had about 18 missing assignments and was basically just goofing off during school. His grades were: B-, C-, C+, and N (F). Nice. So, Getty got a little surprise when he got home. Life as he knew it (come home, pretend his homework was all done, go play with friends) was over. He was grounded. Indefinitely. And how could he entertain himself at home? By doing homework, of course. I did allow (require) him to go back to school after-hours for math tutoring Tuesday through Friday. 
Over the next several weeks I became his personal secretary on another level. One day he mentioned that a couple of friends of his got paid for straight A’s. I laughed (inwardly ;) and told him, “I’ll give you $100 for straight A’s on your final report card.” It was a safe bet.

Or so I thought.

Or, maybe I’m just being outsmarted. Getty is a 5^th grader, you know ;)

Seventeen

The day before MK's birthday, the Fab [Four] snuck over when MK was at soccer practice and decorated her room (and cleaned it up, so you could tell it was decorated, haha).

Then they asked permission to climb her balcony and surprise her at midnight with some friends.

I put a ladder out there, bought "all you can stuff in a box" donuts and kept the kids mum. Around midnight I heard a loud chorus of the "Happy Birthday" song outside her balcony door, and then they tackled her in her bed. The 5 PG boys, the Sexy Six, and some others totaling about 20. Kim took three pictures, and this was the best one :/ The other two were of a cup of milk and of Sara's head.

MK told me with a grin, "Ya, I have some dece friends."

Rob was in Chicago, and MK didn't want to wait for me to round up the kids, so she opened her presents (clothes she picked out and gas money) with me and Cy.

She couldn't commit for sure to the pool party our Home Teacher offered, so I was left on stand-by. "Mom, teenagers don't make plans."

This is when they decided to dress up for the end-of-year black light dance at school that night. I heard them come in sometime around midnight with more friends, and then some more comings and goings until they fell asleep sometime after 3:30 a.m., when I lost consciousness for good. (She took full advantage of my unusual leniency on her birthday.)

Ten Things I Love About MK:
1. She makes people feel important
2. She has crazy energy, a contagious laugh, and makes anything fun
3. She only likes boys who are active, smart, fun, and have a plan for their life
4. She trains hard for soccer
5. She pushes herself at school and stays on top of her grades
6. She has broken us in gently on the teen frontier
7. She takes initiative and runs her own life
8. She and Mia are best buds (but are currently feuding over sharing clothes)
9. She's been driving for a full year now with zero tickets, crashes, or incidents (knock on wood)
10. Even though she can't keep her curfew to save her life, I never worry that she's up to no good
Love you, Girl!

P.S. You know, I hate to brag on her and stuff, but when things go well or when you're proud of your kids, you've got to celebrate it, because sooner or later things have a way of falling apart, and you might forget that life was ever so sweet. So, thanks MK, for this sweet patch of life.

Elle = Delicious

I get such sweet satisfaction watching that little blondie of ours skirt around the house in her high heels with her purse of Princesses and piles of stuffed animals in tow. She’s always tossing her hair back from her face and pursing her glossed-up lips. She completes us. She’s the melt-in-your-mouth dessert after a lip-smacking five-course meal.

Raking in the Cash

The big kids have been scraping the bottom of their budgets lately, especially MK who's always out of gas money. Luckily, Grandpa stepped in and offered them a job opportunity. So, the kids have been sleeping over at Grandma's on a couple of weekend nights to rake leaves...

paint Ashley's bathroom...

and take down Grandma's Christmas village (more like a metropolitan area :)

They cleaned up! (Grandpa pays really well.)