Handicap Sign Has New Meaning

Micah:"Dad, why do they have a picture of a man sitting on the potty reading?"

Look Closely

Mat just finished these canvases up for me to put into the girl's room. They may be a little creepy, but Gretchen has been so into the Mona Lisa that I thought I would turn her into the Mona Gretchen. I added Micah with the Pearl earring for balance.

Gretchen's New Mission in Life

Gretchen's new misson in life is to get Micah ready for kindergarten.  Bless her heart! She has made two charts for her dear sister.

The Bike Deal

Gretchen is how old? Right. She's 6 and 7/8th and still has no desire to learn to ride a bike.  I think we kids of the 70s and 80s all learned by the age of 5. I figured since Micah is 5 I would have her learn too.  We bought a bike for Gretchen at a garage sale, therefore Gretchen's bike would be 2nd handed to Micah. I told the girls that if they would learn how to ride their bikes we would jazz up their boyish bikes with new paint and baskets.

The supplies sat and sat in our garage





Finally, Gretchen decided to F her F (Short for Face your Fear).  We took her to the park by our house to learn on the nice little path winding path around the lawn.  There were four firefighters playing pickle ball that day on the tennis courts slightly detached from the fire station and kids playing at the park.

Now, if you know Greti, you know she can be a tad dramatic. Off she goes trying to balance on her bike screaming her lungs out :"I CAN'T DO THIS!" I gently remind her of her little saying to F your F Gretchen (Face your Fear).  As we pass the firefighters playing pickle ball she yells, "I CAN'T F MY F BECAUSE MY F IS SUCH A F THAT I CAN'T F MY F!" then she sobs. As you can imagine, the firefighters had stopped playing their pickle ball game to look at the young girl using what they thought was terrible language. And the parents watching their kids play at the family park were either chuckling or trying to figure out what the heck that was back there.

I sat her down by a tree to cool off while I took a stroll on her tiny bike with my knees looking like wings of a bird.  I laughed on my little jaunt and by the time I had circled she had simmered and was ready to try again more calmly.  She did it.



Gretchen still has to learn how to start, but she is clicking with the whole bike thing. Micah is now the only one left.  Please help us.

Summer Routine

I told my kids that if they worked hard and got their summer routine finished in the morning they could do what ever the heck they wanted for the rest of the day.  I also promised some fun things and prizes too. I'm afraid their summer routine is no summer picnic.

1- Make your bed

2- Get dressed

3- You may eat breakfast, but only if #1 and #2 are completed

4-20 min rotations
   reading
   workbooks
   piano

5-Job

I kinda felt like the most unpleasant mom and thought I was being a tad hard on my kids.  Sometimes our routine takes us until noon. However, Mat did find a study that said that parents that were harder on their kids ---their kids turned out better and were hard workers.  I'm hoping that's the case.

I decided after talking to my friend Mel that I would make a fun job cup too. She remembered her mom giving them a job-job and a fun job.  They look forward to jobs now (well, a little)

Wish these kids luck!

Happy Birthday Miss Micah Moo!

Happy Birthday my little one.  She is now 5 and officially ready to start Kindergarten.  She still has a little speech impediment that I hope she never gets rid of. " This is my blutter Becket.  I am a Pletty Plincess."  I love it. I love her.

She had the chance to finally go to Cowabunga Bay, a small water park off of the Draper exit.  We pass it every time we go to St. George.  She would often cry out from the back seat, "I want to go there.  It looks so fun, Grwetchen, doesn't it look fun?!"  I did not get any pictures because I did not want to worry about my phone getting wet. wish I would have.

We then left for St. George and finished celebrating the party down south.

Micah, like most 5 year olds, have a very simple way of celebrating their birthdays.  They want cupcakes-- which they want to help make....



.....  a card, and people to sing to them.  They also don't mind a few gifts too. So, that's what we did and threw in a little swimming and the Pirate movie to boot.



(I'll insert more pictures here when I pull them off the camera)

A couple of stories about Micah's character:

One day, I was sitting on the couch and out of the blue she comes up to me and says: "Mom, I never want to get married.  I want to live with you forever. Don't make me marry a boy" I actually wouldn't mind you sticking around a little longer either, but I have a feeling your cuteness is going to woo some boys heart.

Also a couple weeks ago in church, Gretchen started coughing pretty good during our sacrament time.  If I took her out, I was going to miss having the water portion for our sacrament. But, she couldn't stop so we quietly bolted for the door.  Micah who stayed took her water and then grabbed two extras and sat quietly holding them to her chest, being careful not to spill.  When Gretchen and I returned, she kindly whispered: "Here Mom, I saved these for you and Gretchen." I asked Mat if he told her to do that and he said he thought I had told her to do that.  Neither of us knowing, she just did it herself. Brings a little teariness to my eyes.

Happy Birthday Mikey girl! We love you.

The Fourth

The Fourth was spent with our good friends the Weeds.  They were moving from Morgantown to the west coast and paid us a visit on their long journey.  Ironically  3yrs ago, we arrived in Morgantown at the same time, both husbands were named Mat(t), both were fellows, and we had both just moved from North Carolina.

We took them to This is the Place State Park for the fourth of July activities:

Games for the kids, shaves, and watermelon eating contest

Train robberies, candy cannon shooting ---candy confetting down the dusty street, and the music of fiddles playing in the background.

And pony rides...

Later we rested and had a BBQ with some of Mat's family.  (side note: Lindsay, Mat's sister, also married a Matt, so that made three Mat(t)s--orange cha glad you're name is not Mat(t)!)

Dinner was followed by an up close  and intimate concert presented by Gretchen and Caroline and the rest of the cousins.  I will title the concert Legacy of Liberty.  It was very patriotic, yet felt like a long legacy of run on songs.  They had a very captive audiance hanging on to their every word, "The clouds in the sky look like eagles that fly.....the flag is close to my heart.....together we can change the world..."

Thanks foro stopping by Weeds.  Good luck in your new place, can't wait to visit.

Happy Fourth!

Mom Moments of Summer

I love doing brainless fun things in the summer.  The kids and I have made the most of what's in front of us---things I got enjoyment out of when I was a kid.

Playing the ditch--I think they're trying to pull up a huge night crawler



We've played in the sprinklers, well that's what I did when I was young--in the modern day, glorious fountains with music are provided.









And we've enjoyed the mountains!





With the 4th of July tomorrow, I just might scream with excitement!