Katie and her friend Frances have discovered that warm weather means a plethora of garter snakes in the forest.
The bridge is the favorite spot for these three...using big sticks to play with leverage, small sticks and dandelions to throw in the stream to play with the current.
{Dancy, Thora, Samson}
One day he might go over...
Thora has a flower garden in the forest!
Crossing the Creek
Train Game!
This little boy adopted Katie the one time we saw him in our forest group. His mom said he likes to play with older girls, but they don't usually let him. Katie knew just how to handle him, though!
Foresting always ends like this. There are four kids in this picture.
After wayyy too long living with Dancy's overly long, thin, tangly, hair that got in her food all the time, I finally told her it was time to chop. Dancy already had a date scheduled with Shad, so Shad just added the haircut in. Same as her sisters, Dancy loved all the chat time!
And then they went ice skating! And took loads of pictures of and with each other. Dancy loves her new haircut, but loved it even more when she got home and Katie said it looked like Black Widow's hair from Infinity War.
Quick nap in between dates...
{Dancy, Shad, Katie}
That same evening, Shad had a date scheduled with Katie. They got a box of ice cream cones (and had to eat them all, so that meant two each) and walked around the mall. Then they ended up at Big 5 where Katie got all hoppin' excited over volleyballs and wanted to buy a yellow one for me for Mother's Day. She's awesome like that!
Katie liked this hat at the comic book store.
The kids have been earning dates with parents because I decided that'd be a good reward for their sticker charts. Tommy, Katie, and Dancy earn a date when they complete a level of ABC Mouse (a curriculum supplement app we use for school), and Thora earned two dates for filling in her "Big Girl" chart twice. We've been coaching her out of the threenager business. We're so done with that. Shad and I have always thought it to be important to take our kids on dates so they get one-on-one time with us. But life gets in the way sometimes, so I decided that'd be the best reward for them...forcing their parents to make the time for a date. And we do try to get it in right away. Thora has been waiting almost a month to go ice skating with Shad, though. It's summer and we're crazy busy! She picked ice cream at Costco for her first date with me. Tommy also had a date with me where we went to the comic book store and bought a comic book, then got Boba. I just need to be better about taking a picture or two on my dates.
Dancy's best friend Brynlee was moving to Kentucky on May 21, so I coordinated with her mom to make sure we could get a date for Dancy's party that would work for them to attend. I planned a park party, the weather was great, and we had loads of fun with water guns, bubbles, cupcakes, and kites! What was great is that the bubble wands and kites served as both party activity and party favor!
We started right off with cupcakes because we know how to do a party right! Also because it was crazy windy and we didn't want them to dry out.
{Samson}
Then we jumped in to water guns to wash off! Jack was ferocious!
{Cheyenne and Jack}
{Dancy, Katie, Myla}
We brought plastic movie theater buckets and juice bottles full of water to refill the water guns. I manned the refilling station and kept a loaded weapon for self-defense.
{Foreground: Cheyenne and Jack. Background: Tommy, Shad, Katie}
Thora had mixed feelings about the activity.
Then out to the sun to dry off while flying kites. Some kids chose bubble wands.
Thora flying her kite
Me and Dancy {Brynlee and Katie are behind us}
I got my kite string all the way out!
We had so much fun with all of the activities above that we didn't even open the box of chalk!
Summer means chalk. And if you cover the whole drive way with solidly colored art, you become colored yourself. Right, Katie?
Summer also means that these three humans don't cling to me crying the whole time we're in the forest and we can actually last the 2 hours. Hooray! Also, they're getting much more adventurous with their exploring.
{Dancy, Samson, Thora}
She used to be afraid of EVERYTHING!
Can't really tell, but we're all barefoot in the creek.
Forests are for yelling in, right?
The train game. They all scoot along the beam of the bridge with Samson singing, "Chugga CHOO CHOO! Chugga CHOO CHOO!"
{Samson, forest friend, Dancy, Thora}
Samson's face!
It never gets old to them, playing the train game and asking me to take a picture. Yes, Dancy is wearing an orange Broncos shirt with pink leggings. She's bold.
{Thora, Dancy, Samson, Katie}
During sacrament meeting, Thora practices writing her name with me. She's mastered the spelling of it so that she can tell people what her name is and be understood, though people still don't understand her. Poor kid. With her pronunciation of 'R' people always hear, "T-H-O-O-A." One day she'll get there and be understood! In the meantime, her writing is coming along nicely!
Samson is so delighted when Scarlet takes interest in him.
She's started this new thing of chasing at our feet when she's out of our cage. She just wants attention and pets!
How many bunnies do you know that do this?
{Dancy, Scarlet, Samson}
And Scarlet also lets Thora brush her...while wearing her matching skirt!
Thora helped me cook brussels sprouts. And she ate them, too. That's pretty rockin'.
Typical Thursday for me means waking up at 6:30, maybe doing yoga, maybe reading scriptures, quick breakfast at 7:30 and we try to be out the door at 8:30 to get to the forest. We're usually there 9-11, sometimes 12. Drive home with half my kids stripped down due to mud or creek-soaked clothes. Throw the kids into bubble baths, start a load of laundry, then wash the kids and we eat lunch. Crash on the couch til 5-ish, start cooking for D&D, dinner at 6:30. Sam goes to bed, girls have a sleepover movie night in the playroom, Tommy stays up playing D&D with Shad and the guys, I run out to the church to play volleyball til 10:30.
That's the norm. Then add in extra things like Primary activity to plant flowers at the Denver temple at 5:30 pm. Or whatever time it was. Something like that. Also, that Thursday was particularly beautiful weather, so we stayed at the forest til 1:15. Which means we didn't get home til 1:45 to start baths, laundry, and lunch. All just to turn around and head back out the door at 3:15 to drive to Denver. The kids thought Deseret Book was a cool store and Tommy got to look at some scripture colors for the set he'll get next month. Then we planted flowers, at donuts, ran around in the grass until 7, drove home and I still managed to get to volleyball around 9 or 9:30 and played til 11. Exhaustion.
Did you know that Pizza Hut does a reading program for grades K-6 during the school year? I set reading goals with the kids and they work to meet them to earn their coupons for a free personal pan pizza each month October-April. They feel so grownup when I pull up to Pizza Hut and let them go in by themselves with their coupons to pick up their pizzas. This was the last one for the school year and we took them to the park and made a picnic out of it.
{Tommy, Katie, Dancy}
This bunny is still so adorable to us!
Vern's birthday with May 1, so Shad's whole family (minus Cherean) got together to celebrate this seventy-year-old and play Top Golf.
{Vern}
{Shad}
{Levi, Shad, Dan}
Meanwhile, the kids and I hung out with my mom. Samson and Thora "played" Guess Who? together, but Thora ditched out before I snapped this picture.
Tommy and I drew with chalk on the driveway. I drew the Viking ship and beach...
he drew the forest. There are spiders in the trees, but they blend in too well.
Katie tried some leftover wonton soup I had in the fridge from the weekend Shad and I had without kids. She fell in love with it and we discussed that we could find a recipe and make it ourselves. We discovered that making wontons is a buttload of work! Next time we'll do it with another adult to make the process more functional and faster. But we had fun doing something new and listening to serene, traditional Chinese music, the kind that transports me back to the beautiful, peaceful parks in China with the same music playing from speakers hidden in the treetops.
{Dancy, Tommy, Katie}
Just a little bedtime dance party. Sorry it's dark. There was a light on in the room.
Shad finally built benches for our table (which I didn't take a picture of) and we can fit 5 kids on one side! However, it's more comfortable and there's less poking if we spread them out.
{Samson, Tommy, Katie, Dancy, Thora}
Katie puts me through hell sometimes. I don't know if she or Thora in all her threenager glory is my most difficult child. It's a toss-up. If I ever suggest Katie do something (learn to read, play piano, ride a bike), I'm met with tears and made to feel like I'm the meanest person in the world. Katie had already jumped at the chance to try riding a bike in Salvation Army. Then one of her training wheels fell off at home when she was riding with her friend Anna, who rides without training wheels. So I took the other off and announced that we were done with them. Katie spent time that night trying to ride with Anna's coaching. But then a week went by and nothing happened. Then one night Shad and I were both home and had time to teach her, so I suggested that she should do that instead of playing with friends. Cue the tears and guilt trips! After arguing back and forth because Katie and I are both stubborn and stand our ground ("I don't WANT to learn to ride my bike!" "BS, yes, you do!"), Shad stepped in and an hour later he came running into the house so I could come see Katie riding.
Shad asked if we could go out to dinner to celebrate Katie's success, so IHOP was chosen.
{Katie, Shad, Samson}
{Katie, Shad, Samson}
She does smile. Sometimes.
{Thora and Megan}
{Megan and Dancy}
{Dancy, Tommy, Katie}
Tommy bought a toolbox after our Home Depot workshop. Samson carried it out.
Silly orangutan with a bucket on his head!
{Dancy}
We started listening to audiobooks during meals. I used to read Magic Tree House aloud, but now with five kids, the interruptions are too many and it takes me five minutes to get through a single page...let alone being able to eat my own meal. So I tested it out with How to Eat Fried Worms. It took a few reminders for the kids to remember they aren't allowed to talk or sing while the book is turned on, but they picked it up. That's the number one reason I love having book time during meals--no one spends the whole meal time talking instead of eating! And vice versa, the kids have full mouths and don't get bored during the reading. After Worms on CD, I started getting everything digitally through the Libby app on my phone. Just searched "Roald Dahl" and put everything on hold. I'm still waiting for some books that I put on hold April 6! But we've been able to listen to George's Marvelous Medicine, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (by Lewis Carroll), The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Other Animal Stories, The Witches, Matilda, and all but one hour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That's one thing I don't like about the digital borrows--they return automatically and there's no delaying it by one hour or one day. Anyway, one day the kids finished their meal and we wanted to keep listening. Someone started coloring, and I had paper plates handy, so I passed out plates, crayons, and scissors.
{Tommy, Dancy, Katie, Thora, Samson}
Katie made a tiger mask.
We're still waiting on Hatchet, The Magician's Nephew, Danny the Champion of the World, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Some still have an estimated 8 weeks on them. But my favorite part about the digital audio is that they automatically check out to me and download. I also like listening to my own books on double speed. That way I actually get through them! For the kids I just do 1.25 speed. It gets us through a little faster, but the kids can still understand it easily.
