Go Hop On Pop

I hear we have 500,000 people without power in the Columbus area, and there’s been a lot of damage. Power company says it could take a week to get everything restored. As I wake up with my air conditioning still working, I am grateful for the faith and prayers of little children.

We just picked Emma up from marching band practice. It’s not usually this hot in Ohio, so people say. Our first year was definitely cooler and wetter. I never thought I’d say it here, but we need some rain!

I came down after a brief Sunday nap to start some dinner. What I found was delightful. I was afraid to go out to take pictures, disturbing them may have changed their behavior. My pictures were all taken from inside the house.
Alyssa is very artistic. She constructed the little hut and then sat amongst the trees drawing.

Aubrey and Tanner playing Chess

Hallie applying lip gloss to her toes… hmmm… not sure what her talent is yet–smile.

Alyssa lost her first tooth this morning, it was just as exciting as when Emma lost her first, amazing how I can feel excitement for each child even if I’ve been through it before with other children. I’ve been threatening for days to call the dentist to pull this tooth, she’s been a bit freaked out by it but this morning it surprised her and fell out on it’s own. The other tooth is already growing in, I foresee another child in braces in the future. She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking if she could keep her tooth. Out of curiosity I asked her why she wanted to keep it, with Alyssa you never know what kind of an answer you might get, she rarely disappoints. She wants to keep all of her teeth in a jar so that she can show it to boys and they will think it’s cool.
Tooth losing is a bitter sweet milestone, it means they are growing up, but they almost instantly lose all baby-ness in the process.

 

 

 

 

School is out and life is moving along too quickly. We are enjoying the sunshine and fireflies! Sunsets and Popsicles, girls camp, scout camp, youth conference. We are headed to New Jersey and Manhattan in a couple of weeks, and before I’m ready, this wonderful time will be coming to an end as well and school will be upon us. I watched Tanner complete his first year in middle school, he came out with all A’s and near perfect scores on 4 of the 5 Tera Nova tests. Emma finished middle school and will be moving on to high school (sob). Alyssa is going to start Kindergarten and Hallie will be my last little friend at home. We couldn’t be prouder. Emma had a great year, also pulling straight A’s and is volunteering at the local library. She will be in marching band this coming fall and that will add to our schedule. Aubrey ended one of her best years yet at school and also pulled a near perfect score in Math for her Tera Nova tests. Her teacher was amazing, and we will miss him. But for now, I’m going to sit back, relax and just take summer one day at a time.

Spring brought many surprises in our yard. According to our neighbors, the people who lived here were very private people, their children were long raised and gone and they spent a lot of their time working in the yard. We were pleased to see so many plants come up this spring and continue to be surprised as the seasons progress. One of the best finds is the Lily of the Valley that covers all of the flower beds in the back. When it blooms, it looks unreal, so tiny and perfectly formed are the flowers. The great maple tree in the front is surrounded by lilac bushes, and has become a little hideout for the children, they sit in there and play all sorts of fairy games and their imaginations run wild. The Magnolia bushes are everywhere and the smell is amazing, as are the blooms. The only major change we made to the yard was the overgrown bushes in the front yard. They hid the front porch, which is such a nice feature of the home. After we got them pulled out we weren’t sure what to put in there, so for this year some nice yellow marigolds, maybe next year we will put in something a little more permanent after some time to think.

My little Hallie is full of such spunk, we adore her. She gets annoyed by all of us trying to do so much for her and just wants to be a big girl. For her birthday she wanted a pink sleeping bag, a camping chair, a water bottle and a green cake. Not exactly the little princess party I had planned in my mind. We invited some friends over for a BBQ and had a great time running in the sprinklers and throwing water balloons. She got exactly what she wanted for her birthday. Our good friends and neighbors had a Pink Hello Kitty sleeping bag that their girls had outgrown, so that was covered. We provided the rest of the gifts and she was happy as can be. The weekend before her birthday we went camping in Amish Country, and we gave her the camping chair then. As for a cake, I baked a Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake (thanks pioneer woman) and put green sprinkles on it to cover the request of a green cake.

I sat down right after Easter to update the blog, Danny had updated my WordPress and it was no longer working right. I had to quit for the day but never returned knowing that it would take time to learn the new changes. Today the house is clean and picked up and the girls are nicely playing downstairs, Tanner is off to Basketball camp with his good friend Nate and Emma is reading a book. I have NO excuse not to sit down and make this work.
I think I left off on posting the girls in their Easter dresses. Tanner got the BEST tie for Easter, sparing no expense (he is my only boy after all) I picked out an awesome tie. Of course he ended up getting sick and didn’t get to wear it on Easter Sunday, and to rub more salt in the wounds I went back to pick him up a few more ties (yes I liked it that much). I found that after Easter they had been clearanced–Boo. On an upside, not many boys wear ties, so I was able to pick him up 4 more ties (for the same price as I paid for one) at a smokin’ good deal! I have yet to catch him with a camera in one of these stellar ties 🙁

My new stainless steel appliances, hope that dishwasher is up to par 😉
Before:

After:

Poor kiddo, she had a big flute concert and practice the night she got her braces on. I didn’t realize that braces could cause so many issues with her flute playing. She had just made first chair and had worked hard for that accomplishment. She couldn’t make a sound come out of the flute. I was very sympathetic and called her flute tutor. After a few tears and much frustration, I told her she might have to step down from being first chair and making symphonic band. She stood up and walked out of my room, slamming my door. She went down to the basement and was quite angry. I took a nap (isn’t that what all good mom’s do?). 30 minutes later she slammed my door back open and proceeded to play all of her songs for me, turned and said “Emma O’Barr doesn’t step down,” shut my door and left. She hasn’t had problem since. I learned that with Emma, sympathy is not a good motivator.

This has been a busy weekend, and I figured I might as well post a quick update. Friday night was the Elders Quorum’s annual Fathers and Sons camp out. It was held at the back (unimproved) side of Camp Lazarus, the boy scout camp on highway 23 not far from our house. It was strange to be so close, but with the trees and the creek with a little water fall not far away, it was fun. Tanner and I have some traditions we have kept up for many years. For example, we always stop for icees/slushies on the way. Of course, we’re used to a 1/2 hour+ drive to 7-11, then 1/2+ to the campsite…here it was 5 minutes to Kroger, 5 minutes to the campsite. I had been asked if any of the scouts needed to cook to earn breakfast, and the answer was no, but in any case I got asked to take care of breakfast and bring the scout grill. Then later someone else asked if any of the young men needed to do a talk for the Communications merit badge, and that morphed into Tanner and I doing a fireside talk on the Aaronic Priesthood. Tanner was a bit freaked out by that assignment at first, but with my encouragement he prepared and he did an excellent job, talking about Mormon and how he was essentially entrusted with the plates at age 10, then became the general of the Nephite armies at age 15. He had a blast all night though, playing with all the boys and leading them in a number of made-up games tromping through the forest. He is a natural born leader, I pray that he stays a good boy and always uses his leadership for a positive influence.

We brought pancake mix and sausage for breakfast, and a few people brought drinks. I have never seen a camp clear out so quick, since a lot of people had sports activities to get to. Even though I was not officially part of any leadership for this activity, because of my assignments and the fact that I didn’t have to rush out, I was able to help take charge and help lead by default. President Cluff came out in the morning and hung out for a while, got to hear about his interviews with the 70 and receiving his call. While packing up my tent, I ran into a tree branch hanging down at just the wrong height and angle. It darn near gouged my eye out. Nothing too serious, but it sure hurt.

Connie got Emma down to the school early so she could go to her band competition. It was sponsored by “Music in the Park,” which basically organizes band competitions between schools, at amusement parks. Last year they went to Cedar Point up in Sandusky, this year it was at Kings Island down by Cincinnati. Emma had a blast, she’s a roller coaster junky. Her friends usually think of her as relatively quiet and serious at school, so I think some of them were very surprised that she had so much fun and screamed so much she could barely talk. I stayed up till midnight to go pick her up. Brad Bushman was one of the chaperones, and he relayed the good news–Emma’s group took 1st place in her class (8th grade concert band), which is spectacular, since there were a ton of schools participating from 5 states.

Last night was also the court of honor for Cody Pickett to receive his eagle scout award. Tanner and a couple of the boys led the flag ceremonies, and I participated briefly as the scout master. I had a pounding headache (due to stiff neck from sleeping on the ground, my injured eye, and lack of sleep), but took a couple Tylenol and felt good enough to pull it off. Needless to say, it was a long day!

I think the kids were concerned that I didn’t buy a “gift” for Mother’s Day. I had to reassure them that I was doing lots for Mom, and sometimes that was more valuable than a store bought gift. I did actually did a bunch of work on finishing her china hutch that she’s been working on, so I think we can move it into the house now. This morning, Aubrey and Alyssa got up and got dressed early, and woke me up to come make breakfast. I could’ve always used more sleep, but it’s amazing how much better I felt after a good night’s sleep in my own bed! We made crepes, with blackberry jam cream cheese filling, and orange juice on the side. The biggest problem with crepes is that you can only cook one at a time, so they’re a little time consuming, but they’re actually easy to make. I made a bunch, sticking them in the oven to keep them warm, so the kids could pretty much eat at the same time. By the end, they were all eating breakfast in the bedroom with Mom. I know some mothers would probably frown on that, but with a good breakfast and surrounded by the beautiful little reasons why she is a mother, Connie was happy to have them there. I almost didn’t make enough though, next time I’m quadrupling the recipe!

Today they had the men help out and take classes so the women could go eat cookies (that’s what Connie said). That was supposed to be for the third hour only, but when I walked in to nursery and counted the 16 children (including 2 or 3 new ones today), I just got down to business helping out. It was wild, but we made it through with only a few bumps and bruises. I just cannot believe how large it is. The bishop’s wife and the wife of one of the counselors are now called as helpers, so Connie is going to split it by age. The ward is growing very fast, as I mentioned there were several new kids. They read in the membership records of six families today. Yes, that’s not a mistake, six! I think that makes seven families in seven weeks! We are losing a few families, but we’re definitely gaining more. And several that have moved have just gone across ward boundaries, so the church is still being greatly strengthened in the general area. It really won’t be that long until we get a ward split, it reminds me of Dayton. I wonder how long till they decide to build a new building…nah, they’ll probably have us going to the Delaware building before that happens, oh well.

OK, Connie made cake for desert on her Mother’s Day. I better go help keep Hallie clean and do some dishes!