First Day of Summer

It's the first official day of summer (not by the lunar calendar or anything). No school for another 3 months, so what do you do?  Sleep in? Relax? Take in the moment and chill?

Not my kids. 

They were up at 5!  I have to admit it was absolutely adorable how happily they were buzzing around the house, so I didn't let it ruin my morning although I was so tired I could have cried. Finally at 8:30 I let them loose in the neighborhood. I was afraid if I did any sooner they'd wake everyone up.  My children are not quiet outside.  I don't let them holler in the house, I always tell them to go outside if they want to holler. But 7 AM hollering would not be cool.

So out they went with their hollering and squealing lungs, wearing their costumes. Savvy's in a princess dress and cape (with pants and a coat after some coaxing) and Cade is wearing a Spiderman costume and a monkey leash.

This is the little contraption they created: Cade drives, Savvy rides.  Nice.

We played hard today and surprisingly even after Savvy's nap this afternoon she moaned, "I didn't get enough sleep today." No kidding?

I compensated. They were tucked in at 6:51this evening. Cade was asleep by 7:08 and Savvy by 7:27.  

I am officially done folding and putting away ALL of our laundry which means I can finally start packing. I'll save that for tomorrow. 

P.S. Pics are up from Cade's last week of school, minus my totally essential commentary to narrate all the excitement. Don't worry, that's forthcoming.

LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!

From what I recall, this is what I had Cade wear on the first day of school.  I just thought it would be cool to do that. Fortunately, he still lets me pick out his clothes if I have the need. :)  Savvy is not nearly so accommodating.

Cade pointing at the flowers we are going to snip to put into a bouquet for his teacher...

Cade holding the bouquet and a water color painting he did...

Nothing like some homegrown love to spread to our favorite teacher!

This was taken right after Savannah snuck up behind him when we went to pick him up on the last day of school. He was so excited to see her.

Hanging out watching all the buses leave

Cade and Mrs. Headman, the greatest Kindergarten Teacher.  She is truly a wonderful educator.

Savvy had to get a shot with her, too. She was an honorary member of the class anyway.

Each of the bus drivers would lay on the horns as they were pulling out of the parking lot. It was loud.

 Savannah doing a celebratory "cartwheel" as she called it:

There's a park next to the school and Cade and Savvy decided they wanted to play there before we ran a few errands.  They played great together  (it was just them on the playground) and Cade loved pushing her on the swing.  So adorable....

After our errands, we went to BYU to eat (Savvy had her token bread with butter from Sugar and Spice, btw) and then bowling at the games center to celebrate the last day of school. We had a great time.

Savvy just wanted to go inside--- no more pictures!

The final bowling scores:

Cade: 80

Savannah: 85

Mom: 70

With bumpers. No kidding.

Last Week of School -- Day the Fourth -- Field Day!

This was one of those days I really was grateful for living so close to everything. Field Day is a nostalgic  time for me so I wanted to take Savannah with me to watch Cade take part in it.  We had a few other things going on (a drs. appt. for me, for example) so I decided to go in the morning.  I had just missed the leg race in which Cade took first place in his heat.  He was pretty excited about the blue ribbon he had gotten "with Gold letters"

Savvy and Cade happily hanging out in the school yard during field day.

Savannah running through the obstacle course. She LOVED it.

After the obstacle course, I had to head to my Drs appt with Savannah in tow wearing her tutu of course. After the appointment I hurried back and made it JUST in time to watch Cade in the finals for his running race.  He placed 6th and was far from pleased. (it was a purple ribbon this time).  Have I mentioned how much Cade hates losing?! Yes, still the case. He was a mess.


After Cade's disappointing race I swooped them both into the car for swim lessons and we made it just in time.  My children take lessons in our neighborhood from a wonderful teacher who is in HIGH demand. She had an opening  this afternoon and I had to take her up on it.


So it was home to field day to drs office to field day to swim lessons to home again in a matter of 3 hours. 

Last Week of School -- Day the Third -- Awards Assembly

"I think I see my Mom..."

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure that's her..."

"It IS my mom! And my name was just announced. I'm pretty special!"

Last Week of School -- Day the Second -- Dance Festival!

Last Week of School -- Day the First -- Wacky Weather and Bodacious Bodells

Already?

What a week! We went to Cade's school every day this week for something--- field day, awards assembly, dance festival... it was a fun week for not only Cade, but for Savvy and I as well as we spectated. (why is spectated coming up on spell check as misspelled?  I swear it's a word....isn't it?). All of that should translate to Kyle that I have an upcoming post with a million photos just for him.

Cade's last day of school was today. Being  my oldest, this big "last week of school" was a first for me and I was quite liberal with the "capturing of moments" with the camera.  I was a bit self conscious because I noticed many other veteran moms in attendance to these events for their third, fourth and fifth year simply watched and clapped. No camera or camcorder. Just them smiling, and being there for their children.  Really that's all that matters. But since Kyle couldn't be there, I feel totally justified in attempting to capture all the moments... I think.

For the time being, I am retiring to bed.

In the mean time, will someone cry with me that I am sending my baby to school all day in the fall?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I'm not ready.

Sunday Funday

Sundays can be hard for my children, and consequently, a bit tiring for myself. After 3 hours of having to sit still, listen and behave, my children come home from church hungry and restless. I have been found to spend a great deal of energy and voice encouraging them from one Sabbath appropriate activity to the next. I don't want it to be a day of don'ts and can'ts. If it is, then I am not doing my part to teach them the blessing of being able to worship, remember the Savior, and make it a special day.

This last Sunday they caught the creativity bug and it was great! In the morning before church, the kids hoarded all the blankets and pillows in the house and covered every square inch of Cade's bedroom floor with them. They called it, "Blanket Land."  So adorable. When asked what you do in blanket land, Cade responded matter-of-factly: "You go there to get warm."  Of course.

After church Cade had a hay day with the sidewalk chalk. He created "Yoshi World."

Savannah woke up from her nap and took her daily visit to the neighbor for her all-day sucker. Her mission proved successful!

Then she decided to see what Cade was up to...

And rode around Yoshi World for a bit...

Until it started raining. 

Cade had a good idea though....

BALLOONS!

Savannah wanted two balloons, too. We were out, darnit. The world to Savannah was over as we knew it.

But then Daddy called!

And that always makes everything better.

What do your children like to do on Sunday to keep it Holy?

What are the don'ts and can'ts of your Sabbath?

How do you make it special without your children feeling deprived of things that bring them joy?

Where do you draw the line of Sabbath appropriate and not?

Errand of an Angel

Early yesterday I was in a bit of a funk. Nothing particularly awful. I wasn't feeling surly, depressed or grumpy. Just in a funk. I suppose the funky feeling seeped in after making some calls to find a babysitter.  Babysitters are in abundance here, yet for some reason, I was unable to nab one for my two particular time slots. (When that happens I can't help but wonder-- are my kids monsters? Do I not pay enough?  Is the babysitters union striking against me because I don't have a good enough junk food stash for the sitters?)  I promised myself last week that I was going to get out-- without the kids. I've been in a horrible habit lately of dragging my kids absolutely everywhere with me and it's not too fun. For them I mean. I don't mind it so much (or as much as I thought I would in my brief stint as a single mother). As mothers we all have to do it, it's part of life and having children. You have errands and the children join you on errands. But you see,  I've been nesting lately, and with nesting comes a lot of errand running. Just about every day last week Cade would come home from school and 20 seconds later I'd say "okay! Time to go!" and it would break his heart. The poor kid just wanted to PLAY. So anyway, I still had quite a list of things to accomplish and some meetings to attend, and my intention was to do them, this time, without my children. They would get to stay home and play to their hearts content with a choice sitter, and I'd cross some things off my list. Win-win, and we are all happy.  But to no avail, a sitter was not to be had.

And I was out of Oreos.

And the kids were almost out of sidewalk chalk. 

The chalk pieces were down to stubs after Cade's grand Yoshi World rendention on Sunday afternoon and when they are down to stubs it's akin to being down to your last inch of milk in the carton on Saturday night.

Wo is me, right?

Not really. Which is why I am choosing the word funk rather than some pitiful phrase to overdramatize the feeling I was feeling. (then again, isn't writing about it kind of being dramatic?)

I was NOT about to go to the grocery store. I had plenty of actual milk in my fridge and I was determined to use up the rest of my perishables before heading to Chicago WITHOUT a trip to the grocery store.

But still, Oreos are very important. And sidewalk chalk is like oxygen here.

And I wanted sitter!

I was about to go back to the drawing board and make some more phone calls when I noticed I had a message from Bethany. Sweet, sweet Bethany. She's one of those people who just radiates love and kindness. She was wondering if she could drop by. (Of course!)

Bethany comes over and what does she have in arms? 

Sidewalk chalk for the kids. Oreos for me. 

I wanted to cry.

It gets better. She told me she was available to babysit the kids. Both days I needed one.

When that happens you cannot wonder God's love for you. I'm not being fecetious. I mean it. How on earth could someone know exactly what I needed when I needed it without my saying so if God was not involved? Bethany is one of those great souls who is just always in tune. Perhaps to her it was just a random thought because, hello, Michelle can't go two blog posts without mentioning Oreos. And sidewalk chalk is universal fun for kids. But because she is so good, so thoughtful, so aware and sensitive the timing was just perfect and in that moment I knew God loves me and knows even the most trivial desires of my heart.

Needless to say, the funk dissipated and all was right with the world again. :)

When I grow up I want to be like Bethany.

After the Afters...

Finally--- here are some after shots of our downstairs bathroom!  To refresh your memory this is what it used to look like:

We hired our friend Brad back in January to do the tile work and he was nothing short of amazing!  He is a perfectionist, a quality in which I adore, and he worked fast. That is the ultimate combination for anyone working on a project in the home, isn't it? This transformation happened in a total of 2 or 3 days. Talk about instant gratification! Kyle shocked me and installed all the new fixtures. Everyone was telling us we needed to hire a plumber to do that, but I guess not. I really should give my man more credit when it comes to handyman stuff.

I love this place! Sometimes I am overindulgent and turn on both showerheads. I know. Naughty me. Draining our world's water supply one shower at a time. At some point we'll install glass doors, but for now the shower curtain works just fine because of the lip Brad tiled in. Brilliant!

Some other changes have taken place around here that I am excited about. After seven years of marriage we decided to buy some bedroom furniture.  Remember our bedroom in our Chicago cottage?

This was the extent of the furniture inside:  A nightstand (technically it is called bathroom floor cabinet, but I thought it worked nicely as a night stand) courtesy of Home Goods, which is where our bedding was purchased, too I believe (I love that store! Here there is just a little home section in TJMaxx, not it's own store. I miss it.), a super queen bed on a frame, and 3 segments of a picket fence to serve as a "headboard".  That was it. Nothing else. We managed just fine but oh how I longed for the day when we each had our own little nightstand to store our books and treasures and such. A dresser or chest of drawers would have been nice, too. But moving around ruins furniture so we kept our belongings at a minimum.

After moving to Happy Valley, I began the hunt. When I finally found what I was looking for, Kyle gave me the go ahead after only so much as looking at a picture I took of it, so I took the plunge. A bit later I added Kyle's favorite...a few extra pillows. Happy Anniversary to us!

• Kyle likes it simply because we no longer are sleeping on a mattress that is resting on the floor. (Nothing wrong with that. You do what you gotta do) We did away with the frame when we moved into this house and put our former mattress in the guest bedroom.
• The kids like this bed because they can fit underneath it which is fun for a game of hide-and-go seek, or hide-from-Mom-because-it's-bedtime.
• I like the color, style of it, that it's sturdy (lets hope so anyway. I didn't buy the furniture warranty--seems like such a waste of money). It feels fresh and inviting to me. I hope I still love it in 10 years!

Does your man like lots of pillows on the bed?  Kyle despises pillows. To him it makes a bed less inviting when you have to battle with a host of poofy squares every time you want to climb into bed.  I only added one new pillow for every week Kyle has been gone. You know, to dull the pain of his absence. :-) Buying a few new pillows was cheaper than buying new bedding altogether, which the impractical, indulgent and change-loving side of me wanted to do. Fortunately my more reasonable self won out.   I can't say that I got them when Kyle was out of town on purpose, but I am hoping he'll just be so happy to come home to us that he won't hate them quite so much.  I'll be sure to print out  a picture and keep it in his very own night stand so he has a diagram to refer to when it's his turn to make the bed.  That should make arranging the pillows easier on him. In the mean time, I am enjoying the fresh look of our bedding.

Kyle will be glad to hear that I no longer am itching to paint our room. After being sick in bed for 4 months, it was all I could do not to hire a painter to come in and give my walls a face lift--- something more cheery and happy to look at than brown.  Yellow! Green! Anything but brown. But I'm good now. Brown is fine. I can deal with it. For another few months.  After the baby is born I may change my mind....