It’s Summer Time! (And Mette Time Too . . .)

It’s summer break. We are nearly two weeks in. Which seems a little unfair -- to be two weeks in when it only started one second ago. But that’s how it always goes. Each school year we imagine up this enormous space of time ahead. The end of the school year! Summer vacation! But typically . . . we hardly have time to realize we are in it . . . before we are out!

Still. We are in summer-time (even if we can never say so without Mette loudly protesting that we need Mette-time too). We haven’t done anything too spectacularly wonderful yet. Although . . . we did take the wave-runner out for its maiden voyage.

And Goldie has had a few last softball games. And there have been trips to the temple. And a few beginning-of-the-season bike rides/clinics for Abe and his pal Noah. And trips to Hobby Lobby for Daisy and her sisters. And we’ve instituted “the prize box” again – treats and flashlights and other small items available when kids fill out so many 15 minute sections of doing things I’ve determined they should individually practice (writing, violining, reading, etc.) And the kids did run outside only today shouting excitedly, “It’s the street cleaning truck! It’s the street cleaning truck!” (as if it were the ice-cream truck). So certainly some small adventures. (Oh! Oh! And Daisy got to sing as part of the choir down at the conference center in Salt Lake City during the prophet’s devotional for the youth!)

But there has also been a lot of less-summery stuff going on. Abe has been studying for one last go at the ACT, and we’ve been cleaning all the bathrooms, and painting our storage room (creating plenty of upheaval in the basement as we’ve done so), and teasing Daisy that she gets to fill out a “prize box” square for every 15 minutes of the day that she doesn’t read.

But the adventures will pick up soon. And quickly. We have three trips to Bear Lake officially down on the calendar (and one of those will be for an entire week with all of Mike’s family). And there will be Youth Conference, and Girls’ Camp at Flaming Gorge, and out-of-state family visiting, and King’s Peak for High Adventure, and EFY in Nauvoo for Daisy, and parades, and fireworks, and birthdays. So . . . in the end, I don’t think the street-cleaner will remain the highlight. :)

And, a few other pictures:

Penny turned 11 the same week school let out. She had been in agony for years trying to decide if she ever wanted to get her ears pierced or not. She wanted earrings. Yes. But she did not want to experience the piercing itself. At all. Finally, however, she determined her desire for earrings had become somewhat greater than her fear of the pain. And so we got her ears pierced as part of her birthday celebrations. :)

Gayle (Mike’s mom) often brings us a loaf or two of her freshly-baked bread. Jesse, in particular, is a fan; so, Gayle recently brought us a big loaf and Jesse his own mini loaf. The next day, however, she determined that really everyone should get a mini loaf. So she went back to mixing and kneading and appeared on our doorstep again! Everyone thought it was pretty marvelous. (Well, except maybe for Hans . . . who hurled his loaf of bread to the floor in screaming anger . . . and was promptly removed from the happy photo.) Mette carted hers around for two days. Not only eating bites, but taking it for little rides on various scooters and toy buses, and snuggling it and treating it like a dear little baby . . . that she could eat.

And, last May I snapped profile pics of each of the kids to share on Instagram (with a small caption about each of them), so I decided to do the same thing again this May:

A few bonus shots:

And that is all for now. (Though, since it is summer time, it wouldn’t hurt to add what a dear, little sprite the actual Summer girl has been. She just flits about – cheery and busy. And tells us interesting things. And plays with toys ‘til all hours when she is supposed to be sleeping. The other day she told Goldie that she wished “ponies would come true”. I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds lovely. I wish ponies would come true too! And, when I was snuggling her in her bed for a moment the other night (snuggling and tickling her back or arm – as she often requests), she asked about what outfit she would wear the following day. I told her of a little romper with a cat on it that we’d just pulled from the box of the girls’ old clothes that I thought she might like. “I hope it’s orange or pink!” she exclaimed. Then she smiled at me and said, “I always tell you different colors are my favorite . . . because I just like so many colors.” She does. And she should. Bright little soul!