Month: June 2010

I had the best time making this dress.  The pattern was so simple to follow, and well written.  I love how it turned out and so does Alyssa.  I made a skirt for Aubrey for Kindergarten “graduation” and Alyssa has been feeling a little left out.  Of course the whole thing had to be in pink for Alyssa, but I didn’t mind.  I of course know where all the mistakes are, and it was harder to gather through the apron on the dress than I thought it would have been, I would probably do a piece of yarn with a zig zag stitch over it for future projects, other than that it was a piece of cake.  FYI the pattern is Portabellopixie- Claire.

Monday morning the kids were up early and had all of their chores done by 7:30am.  We sat around for a while, watched  a little TV, but knowing that Danny was working late that night I decided to take the kids on an impromptu field trip.  Tanner packed fruit and water, Emma got the girls into shoes, and I quickly showered.  The drive to Grimes Point was pleasant, and the kids anxiously chatted, I didn’t tell them where we were going.  We had the place to ourselves.  The hiking was easy and everyone was able to do it.  I worried about taking 5 kids out by myself.  Last summer Hallie was a newborn, and I had 4 pair of eyes starring at me a week after she was born, asking me what we were going to do that summer.  I tried to pull off a decent summer, made quite a few trips to Tahoe, but really felt pretty overwhelmed the entire time.  This summer with Hallie a year older I’m feeling quite a bit more confident, and Monday proved to me that it could be done with little effort.  After the hike, we went to a park, and played hard.  They had this round rock structure that looked just like a castle (in Alyssa’s eyes) it wasn’t part of the playground, but that didn’t matter.  So Tanner was the dragon and Alyssa and Aubrey the princesses of course, and they ran around the trying to keep Tanner from climbing the sides and attacking the castle.  Somehow I even got involved and helped the girls spot Tanner as he quietly ran around the wall trying to find a week spot.  We stopped at Wal Mart and picked up some ice cream and cones for FHE, and met Dad at home for FHE and treat.  I’m feeling really confident now and can’t wait to do more activities with the kids.

We also hiked to 4 different caves.  The kids were having fun imagining where the Indians slept, cooked.  Aubrey said let’s put the TV over here and computer over there, I had to remind her that those things didn’t exist.

Let’s review:

May 2008– Hope Valley

We have camped in Hope Valley  for many years, usually on Memorial Day, and all but one year in my memory we were snowed on.  This time we waited until Mid June, although no snow, we froze.  The wind was so bizarre.  It would sound like a semi was roaring it’s engines and we knew to brace ourselves, not 5 seconds later the wind would blow through and the tent would just about collapse.  This happened every 10 minutes or so ALL NIGHT LONG.  I’ve never experienced such odd wind gusts, and I got very little sleep.  The temperatures were in the mid 30’s that night, and although prepared for the weather, we still froze, I should say I froze, the kids slept just fine.  I was a party pooper and convinced Danny to pack up in the morning and head for home, it just wasn’t any fun for me, the kids seemed to find fun even in the cold and wind.  We’ll try it again in a few weeks, maybe it’ll be warmer by then.  It is a beautiful place and we were just about alone up there.  We had the meadow to ourselves, and kids loved playing soccer in the flowers, and Alyssa picked a few and would say, “just one more” which turned into a couple dozen more.

The end of the school year brings a lot of excitement, I know I’m feeling excited to have my kids back at home, and I’m attempting to put together some fun things for us to do this summer.  Aubrey finished her first year of school.  It was a class of 30 kids, and I think she might have had more attention at home, but Kindergarten is a right of passage, and she had a fun year.  She’s a good little girl, and we love her so much, but I’m happy that I have her home with me again for a few months.  Tanner had the end of the year talent show, and he played the piano for it.  He was nervous, I don’t see him nervous very often, but he did great.  After he was done, he told me that he just pretended that he was at home practicing, and that is how he made it through.  I love it when they find ways to solve their problems, and take care of things.  He’s growing into a fabulous young man.  Emma finished her first year of middle school.  I have heard such horrible things about this age, and I don’t have the fondest of memories in my own life of this stage in life, but Emma’s handling it well.  She has loved her teachers this year, and they seem to be equally as fond of her.  I don’t remember bonding with my teachers in middle school, but Emma talks with her teachers all the time, and enjoys being with them.  She was accepted into the Nation Junior Honors Society, I think that is what it’s called.  I’m not sure what it entails, but we had some sort of a candle lighting ceremony, it seemed like a big production for something I thought was not very big.  So I’m hoping that we haven’t committed to something we aren’t prepared to commit to.  One of those Mom moments where I was caught off guard when I showed up to the meeting.  Sometimes I’m in over my head (shhh don’t tell anyone).  Tomorrow is the last day of school and I’m looking forward to some lazy days sitting on the beach at Tahoe.