Catch-up :-)

We have been busy lately, and I haven’t stopped to post on the blog for a while.

Lila started going to Activity Day Girls when she turned 8 in January, and she’s been having a blast.  She’s got some amazing leaders, and they’re always up to something fun.  This time, they decorated cakes.  They had Swedish fish and Candy rocks to make an underwater scene.  Pretty neat, huh?

She started piano in March, and she had her recital in May.  She played “I Love to see the Temple” and “Wind in the Trees”.  For the summer, I bought her a book of primary songs on her level, and she’s having fun teaching herself how to play them.  Meanwhile, I’m trying to stay ahead of her, so I can help when she has questions. 

Two of my favorite men built a new rabbit hutch for me.  I like it because it has a sloped roof, so we don’t get a pond every time it rains, and also because this one is a couple of inches higher, which means the sprinklers spray under it, rather than into it, and Hercules’s food stays dry.  L likes it because she has become the official bunny feeder, and all three kids love to go out and feed the bunny.  Hercules really is a very good bunny, and he will sit in that front space where the kids can pet him and just let them love on him. 

It was a long day for the kids, but they entertained themselves (with the help of my mom’s Ipad) while the adults worked on the hutch.  We got it done in one day!

The next day, we went to visit C’s family to celebrate his birthday.  I’d been wanting to make him a hummingbird cake ever since I heard of them, but this was my first chance.  I’m loyal to chocolate cake, but the reviews on this one were pretty good.

J got it in his head that we needed to roast marshmallows (I still have no idea where he hear of it), but we obliged in the best way we could – on our little camp stove.  The kids were fascinated, and of course, they loved them!

In May, one of the ladies in our ward taught a quilting class.  C had asked for a new blanket, but I hadn’t gotten around to making him one.  I knew if I signed up for the class, I would get it done, so I put off the girls’ Easter dresses for one more month and made this:

Then S graduated from Kindergarten.  I know, it’s a sappy, stupid ceremony, but I still teared up. 

She’s standing between the 2 and the 0 … the 1 had already fallen off.

Look at this precious girl!

Speaking of precious girls, they’re not too old yet to let their mom dress them up in matching outfits. 

L also had her day at school.  She got a ribbon for getting all As in her second grade year.  I’m so proud of her!

We did put in a garden this year, although we’ve discovered something weird is happening with the water pressure since we ran the drip line the long way instead of the short way.  Two of our lines aren’t dripping, no matter what we do to fix them. 

Oh, and that patch right there … where we chucked our Halloween pumpkin last fall …

I got 30 pumpkin plants … so I gave my mom a couple, put two in the corner for us, and picked the rest.  Then I came back a week later to find another patch, identical to the first.  I pulled them, and guess what, another patch grew right up after them.  C had suggested we pick them out before we till the dirt, but I said, “No, it won’t be a big deal.”  Obviously, C was right, and I was wrong.  I can’t help but think this makes a good object lesson for sin.  If you pick it off the top, it’s a lot easer to get rid of than when you leave it to be tilled under.

We’ve also been riding bikes.  This bike used to be pretty purple.  I let J pick what color he wanted, and now it’s green.  Except this year his legs are long enough to reach the pedals on his big wheels, so he’s really not that into the bike.

At least he’s happy!

We went to hang out with some friends of ours, and we spent some time making tie-dye shirts.  Look how cute they are!  (And L does know how to smile.  She was put out that I stopped her playing long enough to take a picture.)

Now she’s trying not to laugh, because I told her to look as mad as she could. 

And finally, nearly caught up …  The Fourth of July!

This year was special because the kids asked a few days before about our national anthem.  I got a book from the library, and we spent a lot of time talking about why it was written and what it meant.  I think it really helped bring a solemn spirit to our Independence Day.  Though they did like the parade and the candy …

More tie-dye shirts (they each had 4 to dye).

BIG horses …

Gotta love small-town America!  Most likely, your high school mascot was cooler than a rainbow trout. 

Big tractors …

Candy!

Smoothies and funnel cake!

Then back home for dinner.  It was definitely a success!

A little more Life

I forgot to post anything about Easter!  C still shakes his head at me and doesn’t understand why I insist on dying eggs, but the kids love it, and L’s gotten pretty good!

Although C might have a point … they probably don’t need quite so many eggs …

I think L’s figured out the Easter Bunny thing, but she’s keeping quiet about it, for now.  Maybe she’s afraid she’ll get cut off if she lets on that she doesn’t believe.

I made S throw away her favorite pair of jeans the other day.  They had been L’s, and she tore holes in the knees.  When I passed them to S, I had her pick out patches for them.  Now each knee has been patched twice, and she still objected to my throwing them out … and they’re 2 sizes smaller than the new ones she’s growing into!  (And yes, that’s my little fashion conscious doll who sneaks my heels out of my closet every chance she gets!)

We had a “Fake-Over” (term coined by the girls, I kept telling them it was an “almost sleep-over”) a few weeks ago.  L and S had some friends come over right after school.  We baked cookies, ate pizza, and watched a movie, and played and played and played … until their parents came to get them at 8pm.  They had a blast!  When J got tired of the girls, he came to hang out with me, finishing the cookies.

 

We’ve started work on our yard again.  When C’s mom passed away, my grandma gave us money to buy something to plant in our yard in her memory.  C and I discussed it and decided on a lilac … but we never could decide where to put it.  Until now.

The pictures don’t do them justice, but we now have two lilac bushes, one on either side of my raspberry patch (which is growing this year, but I haven’t taken pictures, yet).

And S pointed out these little green things growing on my apricot tree!  Hallelujah!  After five years, my apricot tree is going to produce fruit!

We let the kids each pick out a flower for their pots every year.  So far, they’re surviving. 

Then we had the school’s Spring Carnival:

We (as a PTA Board) have spent hours and hours working on the Spring Carnival this year.

We’d heard tales of the last time our school had a spring carnival, and they only earned $800.  We were afraid we wouldn’t even break even.

If you’ll allow me to vent: We had two mothers turn around and march their families back out when they heard what we were charging, and so you can make up your own mind, here’s the breakdown:  Admission (covers unlimited games and face painting): $5/kid, $15/3 or more, Adults Free.  Tickets: $1/ticket or $5/6 tickets.  With tickets you could buy: 1 – hot dog, 1- soda, 1- popcorn, 1 – sno cone, 1- bounce house, 2 – train ride.   We also had a raffle you could use the tickets for, and some really good items, like tickets to Roaring Springs, tickets to a BSU game, ski passes to Magic Mountain, 2 bikes, a scooter, a kindle, and a number of other things (We had nearly 20 raffle items, in the end).

I do not think we were overcharging … and with how the 4th grade teachers were handing out cupcakes, everyone got their money’s worth in cupcakes alone!

We had a great turn out and (drumroll, please!!!) we made more than $4000 in profits!!!  Our PTA Pres is already planning out the crossing flags, while I’m thinking of a pavilion to put over the new picnic tables.  It was a fantastic end to the school year.

I’ve still been sewing, although I put the girls’ Easter dresses aside (they will get done, I promise!) because one of the ladies at church is teaching a strip quilting class.  Here is the top half of my quilt.  I also got a walking foot for my sewing machine for my birthday, and it makes me feel like Alladin … “A Whole New World!!!”  I can sew jersey knit!!!  On my machine!!!   I’m going to go modify all my t-shirts that are too low cut (seriously, can’t they make t-shirts that don’t either strangle me or go down to my belly button?!  It can’t be this hard!).

And one last thing for today: No, these are not welts all over S and J.  S got a stamp from the prize box at school, and by the time I’d gone through her backpack after school, the two of them were covered.  Good thing it’s bath day!