Evening At the District

This afternoon I decided to take the girls to the District this evening for a small picnic and a ride on the carousel. They always want to ride it and with Tripp out of town and Kyle visiting his mom we had nothing stopping us. I got in touch with Lindsay and Sam and both were interested in joining in. I got there a little early with the girls for a picnic. They loved playing on the grass, lounging on the blanket and dreaming about which animal they were going to ride.
Then everyone joined us and we headed to the carousel. My girls were all smiles (they've been a little blue lately with daddy, Kyle and Ruby all away).

Lindsay suggested a trip to Ben & Jerry's after the ride. Abbie & Daisy never turn down ice cream so off we went. After the cones we wandered over to the live music and the kids danced for awhile. Daisy fell asleep within seconds of getting in bed tonight. Sometimes the best of times come out of plans that were never really plans at all...

I Sew! Well, Sort-of...

I've been wanting to learn how to sew for as long as I can remember. A few years ago, Tripp found a really great sewing machine on sale at Sears. It is small and doesn't do anything fancy but it is perfect for learning how to sew and at under $50, it was the perfect price as well.

Fast forward to December 2009. I still hadn't used my machine! I kept looking into classes in town but with our schedule I could never commit to anything. Then I thought I would just teach myself...plenty of people do it. But I never got around to trying anything. I didn't want another year to go by without using the pretty blue machine so I devised a plan to invite a darling lady in my ward over once a week to help me out and keep me on track. Luckily, she was completely in to the idea and her two cute daughters wanted in as well. Thus began our Tuesday night sewing group.

So far, I've made napkins, pajama pants (pictured on Abbie above) and blankets. We've taken several weeks off along the way to accommodate schedules but usually Tuesday night at my house looks something like this...

It has been fun and I'm slowly getting the hang of things. Getting everything perfect is really tough. Sometimes just sewing a straight line can be tough! But I love it and I especially love seeing the Meyer family every Tuesday. They are all slowly moving out of my ward so Tuesdays will become a special time just to visit with them.

We've been busy this summer but I haven't been toting my camera around everywhere. Here is what we've been up to: swim lessons * swimming at the rec center * swimming at grandma & grandpas * lots of parties (going away, birthday, etc.) * scout camp (Kyle) * Wacky Wednesday (Abbie) * Discovery Museum * sleepovers * tennis soccer * Wii Fit * library * cleaning the church. No vacations yet but we plan to leave in a week for Duck Creek then Salt Lake City.

What We've Been Up To...

We've had a busy few weeks. I'm convinced that May is the new December. With all the craziness going on, we did manage to sneak in some fun last week....
Abbie's spring dance recital was Tuesday night. She was all smiles and excitement until she actually got near the stage. The crowd terrifies her. She didn't go out for the first dance and went out for the second but left the stage in tears before the music started. Poor little marshmallow heart. She looked festive and had fun with Ruby so we are concentrating on that.

After Kyle's last final on Wednesday we went up the road to Mt. Charleston for an afternoon hike and cookout. It was a lot of fun and much cooler than Vegas. The hike and marshmallow roast were a huge hit with Kyle and Abbie.

We took the kids to the public pool Friday afternoon for a couple of hours. It's their favorite and we especially enjoyed having Tripp join us. I got sick Friday afternoon and thank goodness for the Butler Family. They invited Abbie & Daisy over for the evening while Tripp & Kyle attended a meeting and I was in bed.

Saturday morning we hit the library summer reading program party then off to Grandma & Papa's for swimming and lunch.

The kids got to spend some time with their cousin's this week. Thursday afternoon Isabelle came to play with the girls and they couldn't have had a better time. Saturday night Kyle and Tripp went to play video games with Paul, Seth and Cooper. Paul provided treats for the night and Kyle came home asking for new video games so he must have had a great time.

This week begins official "Summer Break". Kyle heads off to scout camp tomorrow morning and the girls begin swim lessons. I guess summer is really here...

Thanks Grandma!

I love my new headband. I feel like such a big girl wearing it. It fit really well and is extra pretty-and well made. I haven't broken it yet!

My mom likes it too but she says that I'm growing up too fast.

See you this summer,

Abbie

Spring Soccer

Spring soccer came to an end Monday night with the end of season party. The boys enjoy getting together twice a year to just play and hang out...no soccer allowed! They swam, ate, generally ran around and goofed off like 12 year old boys like to do. We've been with this team for a very, very long time now so thankfully, while the boys are having their fun the parents and siblings don't mind hanging out and chatting a bit.

The long-time assistant coach is leaving in July. He is being stationed somewhere else for a year so although we're lucky to keep his son on the team for at least one more year, sadly Coach Gil had to say "Goodbye". He was a great assistant coach. Inspiring and fun and as Hurley said to Ben the other night, "You were a great number two."

Soccer Tournaments & School Programs

This was a weekend full of soccer tournaments, school programs and studying for upcoming finals.

Kyle's team played two games Saturday, winning both. Sadly, we missed the first game as Abbie's school program was at the same time. Too many places to be, too little time. This is becoming the story of our lives...

The Eagles won a semi-finals game this morning then ended up in the championship game this afternoon, which they lost. The coach's wife is always kind enough to email Sunday afternoon to fill us in as we don't play sports on Sunday. The big end of season party is tomorrow night and I have lots of chopping to get to tomorrow morning to be ready in time!

I think I mentioned before that Abbie has the absolute most darling preschool teacher ever. Ms. Joy truly lives up to her name and loves each of those 8 kids in the morning class like they were her own. She put together a little program where the kids shared some songs and music with us then received their awards. Abbie was awarded most "Amiable" as she is friendly to everyone and kind and loving to everyone at preschool and willing to do what others would like. She is so lucky to have another year with Ms. Joy.

As for this big-haired baby...I finally figured out what is making her locks so gigantic of late. She has been scratching her head all over. I caught her doing it the other day and she has been at it every day since. She suffers from skin conditions and I think the new shampoo I've been using is bothering her scalp. Poor itchy-scalped big-haired girl. I immediately switched her shampoo back and we'll see if we can tame that fuzz back down.

New Snack Policy

I read about one family's snack policy recently and thought it might work for our house. I feel like I am constantly at odds with my kids over snacks. This is how our new policy works:
1. Anyone can have fruit, veggies & dip, a cheese stick, yogurt, or applesauce anytime they want (expect at night after the kitchen is closed).
2. If they want anything else, they have to take it out of their snack jar. Each child has their own jar with various snacks in it, filled by mom every Sunday night. Once the jar is empty, no other snacks except those listed in item 1 until Monday.

I am struggling with how many snacks to put in the jars but will do a little trial and error over the next few weeks until I come up with the right amount. Abbie only has two left. Kyle is getting low but not that low. Daisy has a ton. I'm sure there will be tears over the weekend or Friday when Abbie doesn't have any more snacks left but hopefully it will teach her moderation...a good lesson for us all.

It took me awhile to figure out how to label the jars. Poor Lindsay had to suffer through multiple texts while I worked through the process. This is an instance where I love texting. I'm sure she was really irritated with me and may not have been able to hide it over the phone but on the text messages she was just fine and I could feel bad without us really having to talk about it. Consider this a public apology.

Our menu for the week:
Wednesday: Grilled Salmon, Rice, Salad
Thursday: Chicken Tacos
Friday: Grilled Chicken, Rice & Salad
Saturday: Grilled Pork Chops (still deciding what to serve with this)
Sunday: Jambalaya
Monday: Easy Tomato Pasta
Tuesday: TBD