Hoarder

Today I cleaned Hannah's room, and under her bed I found:

a shoe box full of tan colored rocks (from some neighbor's landscape?)
6 C batteries (3 Duracell, 3 Energizer), next to a battery cover to who-knows-what
a purse with a broken strap
two mismatched shoes (one of Lauren's, one of Olivia's)
3 doll shoes
a scarf
lots of school papers
lots of books
a golf tee
an empty DVD case
and.... an empty donut box

Scene 13

Emily is now a teenager.  To celebrate, she had a movie-themed party.

When each guest arrived, they were given a paper with their own lines to read, and we took them in front of the camera one at a time.  I think they were all confused, and many of them were kind of embarassed!  But it all paid off in the end.  While they ate pizza, ice cream and cake (which I decorated and was really proud of!) and played games, Doug and I rushed together a rough editing process, and to cap off the party, the girls all watched the movie they had participated in making.  (This idea started brewing after our Larson Family Film Festival back in May.  Thanks to Uncle Bruce for the inspiration and the script!)

Apparently there are only a few things that you gift a 13-year-old girl at her birthday party, and they are called: candy, bags/purses, and make-up.  Well, she did get a CD and a book, but she got two cute bags and enough sugary treats to fill them up!

As parents, gift-giving gets both harder and easier as the kids get older.  Harder, because a) they already have pretty much everything you want them to own, and b) everything they ask for is too expensive or otherwise not what you want to get them (like an iPad, for example).  Easier, though, because you'll most likely end up blowing the birthday budget on one big gift (a bike for Emily, for example), or the old standby of clothes or giftcards/money--of which they can never have enough!

Emily's 13 years have gone by, it seems, like a movie in fast-forward.  We took the family to breakfast on her birthday morning, and around the table we shared some of our favorite memories of the birthday girl: things she said in her cute tiny girl voice, and I think that was just the other day!

But I am so excited about Emily's real-life screenplay.  It is exciting, often tender, sometimes aggravating, but always resolving in great ways.  She is a beautiful character!

Dare I say these words?....  Two teenagers in the house feels....pretty darn good!  But then, I've always thrived on a challenge!

Three Little Words

End. Of. Summer.

I don't like those three words one bit!

So instead of telling you about how adorable my girls looked on the first day of the new school year,

I'd rather tell you about the really, really, really fun day we spent on the lake.  Ironically, the first week back to school was also the hottest week of the summer! 

We spent most of our Saturday soaking in that summer sun, gripping the season almost as anxiously as we gripped the handles of the "tube" (or whatever you call it):

That one kind of hurt.

Oh yes, we did a little bit of skiing and knee boarding, too.

I think we might all be feeling the effects of this day in a mildly unpleasant way tomorrow, but sunburns and sore muscles are a meagar price to pay for a day such as this.   It was glorious!

When it comes to my mental battle against the changing seasons, I'm not ready to surrender.

There is Beauty All Around

At Albion Basin, among the wildflowers.

A Sliver of Summer

This is what summer feels like to me.  A teeny tiny little sliver of the year.  It feels so playful, but then I notice that the sun is setting, and the apples are growing on the trees already.  Summer brushes by in a blissful blink, and then it's gone.  If summer were one day, this is the time of day it would be right now...nearly dusk.  I am not ready.

The three younger girls had two weeks of swimming lessons.  I think Olivia became more fearful--or at least more stubborn--about putting her face in the water.  But Hannah really polished her skills and swims independently and confidently now.  She even jumps off the diving board at the community pool now.

We are supposed to have summer jobs--housework, school-type work, etc.  But I am such a sucker when it comes to enforcing that schedule.  I don't want to work away the lazy days of summer, inside my house, ignoring the sun.  It's not very mature of me, but I don't fight my instincts on this. 

Even our garden has been slothful, producing a squash every day or two, and a cucumber now and then.  I harvested our first two cherry tomatoes yesterday, on the first day of August, and I proceeded to wash them and pop them in my own mouth, one after the other.  I didn't even show them off to anyone else. 

Summer brings out the most selfish parts of me.  But it just doesn't feel like there's enough of it to go around.  

Trek

Katelyn went with about 400 of our neighbors to Martin's Cove, Wyoming for a pioneer trek this week.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

We all missed her here at home!  When she walked in the door, everyone who was home came running to hug and greet her.  The first question Lauren asked was, "Did you sleep well?"

Katelyn: Yes, some of the time.

Hannah: Well, we sure slept well, because we slept in your bed!

So Hannah and Lauren thought it was a treat to sleep in Katelyn's queen size bed for a few nights, and Katelyn thought it was worth leaving her bed behind for the pioneer trek experience.  We're all happy!

No Gap

Hannah has been waiting a long time to lose her first tooth!  Doug was finally able to help her yank it out with floss, but not before her permanent tooth had already filled in the gap.   There was no chance for her to test the idea that if you keep your tongue away from the space, your new tooth will come in gold!

We Are Family

This picture makes me laugh for so many reasons!   It was just a silly, spontaneous photo that snuck in while we were taking pictures at Doug's family reunion.  All the sisters-in-law were posing for a shot, and Doug jumped in as a joke.

But yesterday, at the chaotic hour of 7:30 p.m., when Katelyn and Emily were arguing and asking me to intervene, and Olivia was in the bathtub, crying about getting her hair washed, and Lauren was asking me a question while Hannah was in the other bathroom yelling "MOM, I NEED SOME TOILET PAPER!!!" and I yelled back to anybody who would listen, "Can't anyone else take care of that?!"...
Just briefly, I thought abouut how nice it would be, in moments like that, to have more than one person in this household who answers to the name of "Mom".

Puppy Love

We have some neighbor friends who own and breed their Sheltie.  They recently had a litter of five pups, and once my kids heard about the puppies, they had a new favorite way to pass the summer days!  They have all been spending hours petting and playing with the puppies, but Lauren has been especially enamored with them.  She has her own names for all five of them, and she has her favorites. 

Of course the girls have been begging us to buy one of the puppies, but I didn't even blink when I told them NO, over and over and over!  Lauren said to the owner, "If only you could lower the price (from $500) to $11.25"--which is of course how much spending money Lauren has to her name.  Thankfully my wise neighbor answered her, "Even if I did, you know the answer would still be no."

The puppies are old enough to be sold now, so we knew that it was possible that we wouldn't see them any more after our family reunion in Idaho last week.  (Driving home from the reunion on Saturday, Olivia was very grouchy about going home to our house.  She wanted to stay and play!  But once we pulled into our driveway, after dark that night, she perked right up with this idea that she shared: "Let's go see the puppies!")
Sunday at church, we learned that one of the puppies had indeed found a new home.  Even though Lauren should have been prepared for that news, she was shocked and devastated.  It was her favorite one. 

That afternoon, Emily, Lauren and Hannah went to visit the four puppies.  When they came back home, I was really surprised to see Lauren walk in the door first.  She is usually the last to leave those puppies!  I asked her what was up, and she said, "Well, I really like it when the puppies fall asleep in my lap and I can hold them and pet them, but today they were too hyper, and they wouldn't go to sleep."  I explained to her that that's what happens.  As puppies get older, they sleep less, and play (and chew) more.  Her shoulders sagged as she sighed and said, "I guess it's ok if they sell the puppies now."

Lesson learned.  Now we all agree that having neighbors who will have puppies for us to play with once a year is much more fun than owning our own dog.

But, to compensate, I did let the girls get some fish.  Lauren bought a fish bowl at a yard sale, and a dark blue angel fish at the pet store.  She named her fish Jimmer, and I'm trying to get used to hearing her say things such as "Today Jimmer bit my finger" or "Did you know that Jimmer doesn't sleep at night?"  Also startling is when Hannah talks about her fish, "Darla."

Emily also owns a couple of fish, but they certainly don't thrill her like horses do.  Emily still draws horses, reads about horses, and dreams about horses.  She also volunteers at a nearby therapeutic riding stable.  Yesterday I went to pick her up and got to watch the end of a lesson she was helping with.  I was so proud to see my girl walking in the arena with two disabled riders on horses, helping with their therapy.  It was a very tender scene.  She has decided to quit soccer, which we were hesitant to allow her to do, but I'm over my disappointment about dropping soccer because of all the good things Emily is doing.  At the stables, she is learning to work hard (she has to get all her work at home done before she can go to the stables, and she does that quickly and independently), to shoulder responsibility, and to work with other people and be more confident in her associations with all sorts of people of all ages and abilities.   What a girl!

Can't forget to give a shout out to Katelyn.  She hasn't spent much time with the animal kingdom this summer, but she has been working like an animal at Color Guard practices, and earning money to help pay her Color Guard fees.   So glad she's my oldest girl!

It is time.

The peonies have popped, and it's time to play in the pool.

Perfect!