Cooling Off

The best thing to do when it's nearly 90 degrees out and something like 70% humidity? Go swimming.

We made the right choice in finding an apartment complex with an awesome pool.

Hairbows and Trains

More Visitors!!!

Grandpa Craig and Grandma Janet are here visiting from Idaho. They came late Wednesday night. Yesterday, Grandpa went to school with Chris and Grandma just hung out at home with me and the kids. Today, we took advantage of the extra hands to get in a special sticker chart reward. The girls wanted to make new hair bows, and that worked much, much better with Grandma here to help than it would have with just Mom.

Grandpa kept Ben entertained by building quite the little railway city.

Everyone was quite pleased with how it all turned out.

Abounding in Stickers

With school out for the summer, I knew we were going to need some extra structure and intentional routines to keep our sanity for the next three months with all three kids home all day and Mom getting only more pregnant. This was actually one of the biggest focuses of my retreat work at the Ritz.

One of my primary goals for this summer is establishing family scripture study. It's something we've tried many different times but have never found a system that really holds out for any length of time. The difference this time, and what made it actually work, is not doing it when Chris is home. Seems a little counterproductive to have family scripture study with Dad missing, but it was the only way to really get it to pan out. To make up for Dad being gone, he reads the same chapter on the train and then we all talk about it when he gets home for dinner. It's working really well.

We also have a chart to record our progress, and intermittent rewards along the way for how much we've read. Our first reward is a Mountain Hike ("mountain" is a relative term in Georgia...) when we finish reading 1st Nephi. I'll post about it when we get there!

The other big addition for the summer is our sticker charts. Each kid has their own chart that lasts Monday-Friday for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, if they have enough stickers, they get a special reward that we pick new each time.

Their jobs include making their bed, 2 pages in a summer workbook, reading, and laundry once a week. The girls also practice piano. So far, it's going amazingly well. We keep their work stuff in these cute baskets on the counter.

Then we all hang out at the table to work together.

There are even days when I come out of my bedroom first thing in the morning to find them already working hard on their workbooks. Awesome.

Audrey is expected to actually read, Megan and Ben can be read to or  just look at books by themselves. I love seeing them all read together.

But honestly, my favorite part of all this newness is the laundry. All of my kids, ages 6, 4, and TWO all do their own laundry. Put it in the washer, move it to the dryer, and put it all away when it's done. Motherly heaven right there.

I'm feeling much better about how our summer will run. So far, so good.

in May

Chores can be fun sometimes.

So can friends.

Parks are way more fun with Dad.

Lots of things are fun with Dad.

Lacking a proper mouse pad, I went searching for an alternative. Ending up picking a painting of mine.

Haircut, before and after. I'm glad Chris taught me how to cut hair so we can save money.

The ever-so-rare afternoon nap.

My spot in Georgia--only an eight minute walk from our front door.

And finally, a noteworthy trip to Walmart. First the kids got cold.

Then I was having too many contractions for being only 28 weeks, so I sat down and Chris pushed all of us through the store. Of course, this being the one day that we ever run into someone we know--we saw two different people from church.

Once we got back home, the kids helped carry in the groceries, wearing the sacks like backpacks.

A Monumental Saturday

With Scout Camp swiftly approaching, Chris has spent the majority of all Saturday mornings for the past several weeks out fundraising with the scouts to raise money to get them all to camp. Today, fingers crossed, was the last morning he'll be gone for a while since camp is next week.

It was really, really hot today and Chris knew I was less than thrilled with having had the kids alone again, so when they were done fundraising (I think it was yard work and washing windows?), he took the kids to a friend's pool to play. I went with them but opted to stay on the sides and talk on the phone. Fun for them, quite relaxing for me.

A current family favorite is frozen pizza and a movie. Tonight, I took the plunge and introduced my girls to an all-time classic.

I say "took the plunge" because of all movies I've ever seen, The Princess Bride is one that I wish I could go back and watch for the first time again. What is that movie like when you genuinely don't know what's going to happen? I have hesitated showing it to Jane for a long time because I wanted her to be able to remember her first time watching it. I don't know if this was too soon for that or not, but I decided it was time. Mostly because I wanted to watch it... I am pleased to report that both Jane and Megan were appropriately engaged throughout the film.

Summer Rain

Sometimes, it rains. And sometimes, the only thing to do then is go for a walk.

Kindergarten Success!

Congratulations to Audrey Jane--all done with kindergarten!

It was a good year, with lots of friends and firsts. Her favorite things were riding the bus, having chicks hatch in her classroom, and being president of the popular club for a while.

She is also quite proud of herself for reaching Level I in reading, when she started at Level A (they aim to be at Level D by the end of the year, so she actually did very well).

Now to look forward to First Grade!