Summertime!

We had so much rain this summer that we didn't get a chance to do a lot of the things we usually do during the summer (like the beach). Thankfully the rain paused long enough to give us a lovely afternoon at Rocks with friends!

Minus the part where Elise stepped on a bee (she refused to keep her shoes on) and would only be comforted by Bente (she kept shoving me away when I tried to take her from Bente), we had a blast! 

Luke and Elise.

These two spent most of their time trying to escape down the creek on boogie boards together. The water was deep and fast enough that I really had to keep an eye on them to prevent drownings. Two little troublemakers!

Seth and the other big boys spent all their time jumping off this rock. The water was so fast that they had to start swimming about 30 feet up the creek in order to get across in time, plus start swimming for shore immediately after jumping off in order to make it back across. Catherine also (after much persuasion) jumped off the rock and immediately swore she'd never do it again. 

Happy water baby!

Since our neighborhood is super lame and there are never any kids home during the summer, we have to improvise. Our friends host a summer camp at their house every year called Camp Apple Juice. They have an amazing backyard with huge trees and a creek. They schedule a few activities (like a craft) each day, but most of the time the kids are just roaming free in the yard and woods. It's heaven! 

One day he will regret these faces.

One day.

Elise wasn't actually able to attend camp since she isn't potty-trained, but I tried to stick around after drop-off for 30 minutes or so to let her play. She LOVED it! Next year, little one! 

I wasn't sure how Aaron would do, but he had a blast! He loved swinging on this cool swing with Lauren. Myka (one of the counselors) told me that Aaron was one of her favorites. During snack time the other kids would eat and run, but Aaron and Luke would come sit at the table with the counselors and eat their snacks slowly and purposefully. Aaron was also deeply concerned after the first day that there was no apple juice at Camp Apple Juice, so Myka grabbed some for the next day. (The family's last name is Wine, but they thought Camp Wine would probably not be the best option for a kids camp. Thus, Apple Juice). 

Catherine was fully in her element here. There were several other girls near her age that I thought she would play with, but, true to form, she was Miss Independent. She did spend a lot of time following Gabe & Seth around. She seems quite comfortable running with the boys. 

The best part of camp was the toads. They were everywhere. Much of their time was spent catching toads and building habitats for them. There was also some toad-stealing from other groups of boys. It was pretty hilarious to look in their "habitat" (5 gallon bucket filled with moss, rocks and wood) and see it swarming with toads! 

We LOVE Camp Apple Juice! Can't wait for next year when I can send all four kids!

And, finally, the new trampoline was assembled! Seth happened to be at a friend's house when I was ready to purchase one, so Catherine and Aaron got to choose the color. He's been much more accepting of the pinkish-purple than I expected. Now we need to buy more anchors to prevent having to buy trampoline #3!

Seth's Birthday Interview

1.) What is your favorite color?
"Hard to say. I have lots of favorite colors. Maybe gold and silver? It's really hard to say."

2.) What's your favorite food?
"PASTA RONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

3.) Who's your best friend?
"Gabe. Jack."

4.) What's your favorite movie?
"Captain Underpants" (ugh).

5.) What's your favorite toy?
"My computer!"
Not electronics:
"A Wii?"
Still electronics:
"Perler beads!"

6.) What's your favorite game to play?
"Imagination games (meaning games he makes up)."
Board game:
"(corny jokes about 'bored' games), Settlers of Catan."

7.) Favorite thing to play on electronics?
"Minecraft."

8.) What's your favorite snack?
"Marshmallows!"

9.) What's your favorite animal?
"Let me think about that one. I don't really know."

10.) What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Video game tester!"

11.) What's your favorite song?
"Demons (by Imagine Dragons)"

12.) Favorite Primary song?
"I have no favorite Primary song. They're just all sorta kinda boring."

13.) What's your favorite book?
"Ares!" (He's been reading graphic novels of the Greek Gods).

Seth at Ten

Dear Seth Man,

Just like I knew it would, ten years just flew by. The next ten will be even faster. I'm trying to soak it all in while I can. I know it's just a matter of time before your world expands and I'm not as close to the center anymore. 

You are still a happy, helpful kid. You want to please. You're still slightly allergic to work (especially math) but you get it done eventually, especially if you're motivated by electronics usage. 

Electronics are still your favorite. You bounce back and forth between Minecraft and Roblox. Fortnite didn't hold your attention for some reason. I was shocked, but pleased. We don't need another reason to be online. 

When you're not on devices (which is frequently, thanks to time limits), you love playing war games with blocks in the basement, reading books, or making various weapons out of Perler beads. 

You love people and ask daily for someone to come over. I love that you can ride your bike to Jack & Gabe's house whenever you want. You make friends easily. 

You are definitely a ten-year-old boy with all the obnoxious, loud, silly stuff that goes with it. Sometimes I worry about you, but then I see other boys your age and realize it's all part of the fun. I'm enjoying the little boy stuff while I can: I know it's not long before you'll move on to big boy stuff. Good stuff, but harder in a lot of ways. 

Thank you for being my easy kid, helping me figure out this parenting thing before some of your strong-willed siblings get to this stage. 

I love you, Seth Man. Happy birthday!

Here's what you've been up to recently:

*Our friends got two new kittens recently. We think it must have triggered something because you're now suddenly allergic to cats and dogs. 

After a few hours at Jack's house with his dogs

*We had a LOT of Ikea furniture to assemble for our office. I offered to pay you to assemble the shelves. Minus the couple of times you got too confident and put things on the wrong way, you did a great job. 

Power tools are always fun!

*Since the ward split, we haven't seen much of Angelina. After talking about it for years, we finally got together! It was fun to see the two of you together again!

2009:

*We've had lots of cardboard hanging around recently. One day you and Catherine made riot shields:

Action shot:

Tragic (but heroic) death on the battlefield:

At first I laughed and asked you why you needed riot shields.

Then I came downstairs and saw you protecting yourself from attack:

She may be small, but heavy wooden blocks still hurt when thrown across the room!

Maybe I need a riot shield, too...

*You are very inquisitive and are constantly asking questions. Google Home has made my job a bit easier now (unless we're in the van).

*You hate being alone. We gave you a later bedtime when you turned 10, but generally you just follow me & Dad around while we get ready for bed (until Dad kicks you out). You're supposed to turn off lights at 9:30, but since it's not enforced (we're in bed before that) I think you stay up until who knows when reading books. Just like I used to.

I can't wait to see what your future holds. Here's to a great tenth year!

Double Digits

Instead of sugary breakfast cereal for his birthday, I surprised Seth with these: 

They were quite a hit!

He also asked for raspberry mousse instead of cake.

I think I like this growing up thing!

It took a few days to get to present opening (much to Seth's dismay), but he was quite pleased with his spoils. We just gave him money, which is what he wanted. He's easy to please. 

The next week he had his party. I gave him the option to do something big with a couple of friends or a simple party with lots of friends. He opted for lots of friends. 

We had a water party in the backyard with waterballoons, squirt guns and sprinklers. That's really all is takes to keep boys entertained! After lunch they came in for a couple hours of Minecraft together. We may have overloaded our WiFi. 

This time he wanted cake.

Rice Krispie cake.

Done.

Seth and company.
Gabe, Jack, Aaron, Catherine, Khan, Benjamin, Nathan & Seth.
And yes, they are all just as special as they appear in this picture.

I still can't believe my oldest is 10!

Swim Team

Another summer, another round of swim team! I tried to get Catherine on board this year but she declined. I told her next year it's not optional. 

Seth gets ready to swim backstroke

Ready to race!

I didn't get many pictures this year, but I was proud of Seth for working hard and not complaining about the early mornings (practice was M, T, Th, F at 7:15 am plus Wednesday evening meets and Saturday meets at 7 am). He swam his first breast stroke this year (got disqualified for incorrect arm motions, but that's pretty standard), plus actually started off the dive block for every meet. We still love Coach Doug and the team and hope to have several more years with the Piranhas!

Cupboard Conversion

When we moved in three years ago I knew that our kitchen cupboards needed to go. Well, first the spring green and mustard yellow paint needed to go, but then the yellow cupboards with the random red trim. 

Check out all the majesty!

Since a kitchen renovation was not in the plans (or the budget), I had big plans to restain them myself. I tried a couple methods over the years, but eventually decided to try gel stain. It didn't work out exactly like I'd hoped, but it was a LOT easier than stripping and sanding everything (which I had done in our townhome with the help of my sister Marah). 

I started with the bathroom before I did the kitchen:

The colors turned out nicely on the doors!

Then it was on to the kitchen!

Even with just one coat on the island I saw improvement:

One side done, one not:

Bathroom is done (I kept the panel off for a color guide):

Island done:

Totally done!

(and a new kitchen table that we can actually fit plates AND food on!)

Another view:

As a reminder:

It ended up being darker than I originally planned, but I think it looks nice! It tones down the yellow in the tile and granite plus just seems to blend in better with the rest of our house. It was also my last really big project for our house, so it's nice to be done! Everything else is as simple as hanging up decorations or shifting furniture. Woo hoo!

Wild Thing

Feral child after devouring her prey?

Or just cherry juice?

My dad made this Jungle Book Elise after I sent him the picture.

Sometimes playing on the iPad is just so exhausting!

One of the current favorite getups.

Elise is getting better and better with her speech. I love hearing her little phrases and seeing her body language. We have lots of attitude over here. Her furrowed brow is seen quite frequently as a sign of displeasure. She also bit both Seth and Catherine on the belly (through their shirts) for no apparent reason. 

But she is staying in her bed at night now! Even if she does insist on wearing a swimming suit instead of pajamas...

July Fun

We braved DC on July 5th, hoping it wouldn't be as crowded as on the 4th. Maybe it wasn't, but it was PLENTY crowded! I prefer going on a Tuesday in March when everyone else is in school and we have the place to ourselves. I didn't get many pictures because I was trying not to lose any children, but I did get Elise with her favorite display:

We examined this lion for a LONG time. 

Her second favorite display:

We played with the exit sign almost as long as the lion.

In an attempt to teach more 'life skills' to my kids, they've each been assigned a day where they have to cook breakfast and lunch. Seth isn't a huge fan, but all the others love when it's their day to cook. I have to mentally prepare myself for the subsequent mess that comes from lots of helpers, but hopefully it will be worth it one day!

Muffins are Aaron's favorite thing to cook.

And yes, we use Jiffy mix.

Annual "only time my kids ever get Slurpees" trip on 7/11:

The big ones were there too. 

Just not close enough for a picture.

July has had some crazy weather here. First we had two weeks of mid-90 temperatures and no rain. I had to go water my garden every day (I usually never water). After those two weeks, we had literally 10 days straight of rain. My garden drowned. I planted 20 tomato plants and only a few survived. So sad. 

And then we had storms every night for a couple of weeks. Generally just some heavy rain and thunder, but one night we got 70 mph wind gusts along with the rain and thunder. It hit so quickly and was so unexpected (we got a warning about flash floods, but not wind) that we didn't think about the trampoline. The kids watched in horror as the wind picked it up and flipped it. Aaron almost cried. 

We usually try to have it anchored, but with all the rain Jon had been mowing all the time and we didn't think about putting them back in. Of course, our friends lost their trampoline to the same storm and they had FOUR anchors in at the time. The ground was so saturated that the anchors didn't hold. So maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway. 

Jon passing on the love of Rome: Total War to the next generation.

I think I can safely call this both "history" and "geography" for next year's curriculum.

Independence Day

Our local Independence Day parade has a "no candy" rule that I think is totally lame. Plus it's in the evening, which makes things like dinner complicated. A friend recommended trying the Kingsville parade instead, so off we went! 

Despite being there 45 minutes early, the road we needed to turn down was already blocked off. Which meant we got to park a mile away and walk with a combined 8 children. Also, the heat and humidity were off the charts. My kids were thrilled, as you can see from this picture:

Because it was so hot, most of the kids opted to stay in the shade. Not Aaron. He was dedicated to the collection of candy and was greatly rewarded for his efforts:

Hot, sweaty Elise enjoying a sucker and supporting Governor Hogan:

Catherine picked out her own patriotic shirt and bow:

Seth never fully recovered from the heat.

Even after conning the hosts into giving him soda. 

We ended the parade with quite the bag of candy and a huge pile of Chickfila gift cards. Probably worth the heat? Mostly?

For dinner we hauled our grill to the pool and enjoyed a nice barbecue dinner followed by swimming. Doesn't get much more 'summer' than that!

And then, because Stephen is a brave soul, we decided to go see the fireworks. We considered going to DC, but after hearing about nightmare traffic getting home, decided that probably wasn't the best option. So Bel Air it was!

I was nervous about the crowds since we only arrived about 30 minutes before they started, but we were able to walk right down and find a spot on the grass, no problem. 

Elise enjoying some Daddy time.

And probably glaring at Tauriel.

How many kids fit on a picnic blanket? 

Three, apparently.

Good thing Catherine was off chasing fireflies.

For a small town, Bel Air does a great job with fireworks! We were about as close as we could be, and it was awesome. The little ones did great: we only had tears a few times over the really loud ones. 

I think this will have to be tradition now!

Cousin Time

We were SO excited to have Stephen & Claudia come visit us for a week. We loved getting to meet Ethan and getting to see Zonia again. Definitely a good reality check for my Spanish-speaking skills!

After a few days stuck at home while their van was repaired, we finally were able to get out and do some fun things. We put our newly-purchased pool membership to good use (no pictures: I never think about pulling out my phone near the water). 

Making rice krispie treats for FHE.

Five kids with buttery hands is always a good choice. 

Elise thoroughly enjoyed the baby's bouncy chair:

And his Bumbo:

And the baby himself:

Poor Ethan tolerated Elise's love pretty well!

Guess the love of baby dolls translates to the real thing, too.

Elise and Tauriel...there needs to be a word like 'frenemies' except for cousins:

Device time was the only time they got along.

Until Tauriel turned the screen away so Elise couldn't see.

Ridiculous girls!

Probably my favorite part was having Zonia cook us delicious Peruvian food. Twice! We've officially adopted her as a Blood now.