Friday, July 29, 2022

"You'll be a grandpa by then", birthdays, and so on.

Hans: Abe, how many ages until you're a dad?
Abe: Well, until I find a mom.
Hans: Ugh! You'll be a grandpa by then!

I'm not sure the logic there shakes out right. But it is true that Abe hasn't made much progress in the "finding a mom" for his children business. He very well might have to just ... be a grandpa. 

Speaking of Abe, he has gotten his siblings in the habit of, any time anyone says, "the county", turning their heads to the side and making a spitting sound. Also today he said, "How about we have a new family rule that even though we don't normally swear, we can swear if the following word is, 'the county'". Hahah. They have been the bane of our existence of late.

But, county or no, summer has continued on, smoothly enough mostly, with this house full of people.
Abe has let Jesse use his old mission camera, and Jesse has taken to making stop motion videos--which, I believe, are quite tedious to make, but quite entertaining to watch!
Everyone excited about some spray painting going on.
Graham-cracker house making for Summer's birthday. I don't know how this has become a tradition, but the kids request it often on their birthdays.
Penny nobly took the house that was made from the last remaining graham crackers--most of which were broken. We had been referring to it as "the sad house", but she had a grander vision: "the happy house".
Summer's favorite animal is a tiger. Daisy let her help decorate a tiger on her cake. 
And she's EIGHT! So she'll be baptized before too long!
I'm always happy when I see all ten of these people in the same frame. The opportunities for that happening will be much slimmer come September.
Summer's face when she realized Daisy had put trick candles on the cake. She persisted though and, through a lot of smoke, got all the candles out.
Nearly every sibling gave Summer a gift! It almost made the few I'd gotten her seem unnecessary! (Though I will say she has been loving and using the gifts I got her more than perhaps any birthday gifts before! Sloth jammies--which she begs to wear all day, a higher quality tea set than the one we gave her a few years ago that broke almost immediately, and a little camera that prints out tiny black and white pictures just on paper.)
After months of trouble-shooting and frustration, Jesse's 3D printer appears to be up and running again! And his birthday gifts all come from it! Summer got some little bugs as well as a cannon with even the spring printed perfectly by the printer.
This baby girl likes to be held and snuggled so much. Often for great lengths of time. And mostly by me (though  she'll occasionally be content with a sister). I often wonder how on earth she'd be surviving if she'd been booted into non-baby status like every other child in our family has long since been by her age!
This was Penny within about two seconds of arriving home from Girls' Camp.
Ah. And another birthday! This one actually before Summer's, but I just tossed every picture I've taken in the last weeks--willy-nilly--onto this post.
Goldie turned 18! 
And got mostly cool shoes for her birthday. :)
But also a popcorn popper from Daisy. These girls love popcorn and Daisy didn't think Goldie ought to go off to college without a popper of her own. 
Strawberry shortcake as usual for this one. 
This note from Mette to the tooth fairy. There was a great deal of drama before this note came into being. She was not about to move forward without that tooth being found. And it was not going to be found. So this took some convincing. Turns out the tooth fairy was so pleased with the clever replacement that she paid extra! Who could have guessed?
This birthday sign for Goldie (made by Penny) was the best. If you haven't been watching All Creatures Great and Small, you really ought to. It's just the most pleasant show imaginable. 
Not sure if he's reading his scriptures or sleeping. I think probably a bit of both.
Bundled up Hansie boy.
We have gone through REAMS of paper this summer! REAMS! (I don't actually know how much paper a ream is, nevertheless, I am quite sure these kids have gone through many. Incidentally, somehow we never have any black markers in the marker container, but today Daisy counted 16 gray ones. SIXTEEN. It's just like the mystery of there always being loads of 1/3rd cups in the drawer and nary a 1/4th cup to be seen.)
Cute Penny during part of a little singing camp she participated in with Goldie this summer. I like that my girls sing. In fact all three of my older girls are singing an arrangement of "Be Thou My Vision" and "I Stand all Amazed" this coming Sunday in sacrament meeting together!
Poor, tired me. I can't even imagine what was happening to the rest of the house during this small moment of indulging in exhaustion. (Actually, I can imagine. Likely the exact same chaos that is happening at this very moment as I pause to write this blog post!)
Other tired people. Everyone gets to bed so late all summer. It's getting ridiculous.
Abe has been doing more archery and bow stuff of late. He took Jesse to an outdoor archery place a few weeks ago.
Mette is quite proud here because she's generally terrified of our cats. 
Some kids playing Legos (without fighting!).
More stuffed animal church. 
Another bundled up Hans.
The sky outside a few days ago.
Summer had been begging for a birthday balloon. So I took her to choose one out at the grocery store on her birthday morning. Meet hammerhead shark.
One of the many tea parties I've seen happening since Summer's birthday.
More of my snuggly Starling.
My mom turned 86! We had a get together with her kids and their spouses at my brother Tony's house where we presented her with a book that Shannon spent hours upon hours working on. It had tons of Book of Mormon art work along with testimonies of the Book of Mormon, experiences with the Book of Mormon, favorite verses, etc. from her children, their spouses, grand-children, their spouses, great-grandchildren, etc. Of course, in a family this large, not everyone managed to submit an entry (and not everyone wanted to!), but it's still a really neat book. I bought a copy as well so my kids could read testimonies of their aunt and uncles and cousins concerning this powerful book.
And, to end, this dramatic hoppity horse image that one of my kids took and left on my phone. Very moving. Ha.

5 comments:

Montserrat said...

I love the "testimony" book! I might be using that idea for upcoming grandparents' birthdays or Christmas.

And, oh, the younger kids who make comments to those on the "marriage market"! One son, age 8, told his older sister (age 25) who is unmarried, "No wonder no one wants to date you!" after she had to get after him for doing some naughty thing. We have no idea where or how he even came up with that idea!

Marilyn said...

Oh goodness. So many good things I can't even remember them all! (And I love Montserrat's story above. Ha!)

Oh yes. Swearing about "the county"! I wholeheartedly endorse it! It seems the ONLY appropriate way to refer to them, honestly. Blast them.

I do love seeing the whollllle family together making those houses and celebrating birthdays etc! That is so happy. I'm so glad you've had this summer with them all! And I can't believe Summer will be getting baptized!! I remember her being BORN! That sweet little sunshine. (And my girls have that same romper and I love it! Such a sunny, happy color!)

I wish I could see the 3-D printed stuff closer. A cannon with spring?! It sounds amazing. 3-D printers are still such a mystery to me, even though I've seen them working and even designs Sam has done for them.

And I haven't watched any of ACGAS, but now I want to...purely based on that poster! It looks delightful! :) But I think the larger question is...WHOSE is that naked back on the wall? Haha I love it. I can't decide if I love it more if one of you drew it…or if someone drew it OF one of you!

Oh! And the Book of Mormon book sounds amazing. Is it artwork by the family? Or just chosen to go with the testimonies? I bet your mom loved it so much.

Nancy said...

Haha! Oh dear. Your 8 and 25 year old! We had older sisters, and I seem to vaguely recall my mom warning us against some type of comments or other.

And you really should steal the idea! Many of us also purchased copies and I love the idea of my kids opening it and seeing insights from cousins and aunts and uncles.

Nancy said...

Oh! I’m so glad you asked about the drawing of the back! I love telling the story of how it came to be. (So much so that I assume I’ve already told it to everyone I know. 😄)

So when my mom and dad were newly married, my mom’s close friend was working on her art major and was assigned to draw a torso using an actual model. She was quite shy and terrified at the awkwardness of asking anyone to model shirtless for her (though I assume she was only considering male torsos 😄). So my mom helpfully volunteered my dad. Which was all good and well of her, but it was finals’ week and my dad was pretty stressed about finding several HOURS to sit and pose for a sketch. So they worked it all out this way: My mom’s friend would draw his back while my dad sat on a table with all his own textbooks and study materials that he needed to be working on stretched out in front of him! ☺️

Naturally she gave my parents the canvas after turning it in for her grade. And it has hung in my parents’ living room ever since! (Eliciting lots of questions and several eyebrow raises. 😆 In fact only a few months ago my mom had some elderly distant cousin stop by to visit. And she seemed quite unsettled by this unclad male back hanging boldly right in my mom’s living room! 😆)

About 15 years ago, it occurred to Shannon that the sketch might be sentimental enough to many of us to be a source of unhappiness over who should take it when my parents are gone. So she found a place that could make prints of it onto canvases for any of us that were interested! And now it’s hung in my own home all these years—even as it still hangs in my parents’ home— bringing the same questions and the same retelling of the story that I’ve known all my life! 😀

And the Book of Mormon book was a hodgepodge of all sorts of things! It actually started after I told Shannon about my same dream I shared with you and my praying feeling of being you incorporate the Book of Mormon more fully into my family. She was thinking about it and it occurred to her that she’d love for her kids to have testimonies and shared verses and insights from their own relatives. And my mom’s birthday was coming up, so she made it as a gift for her, but most of us bought copies as well. Along with our personal testimonies, she found lots of Book of Mormon artwork from various artists to put alongside the testimonies, but then it also had drawings from our family—like my youngest kids just drew pictures of favorite stories (Samuel on the wall with arrows flying past him, angels surrounding the Nephite children, etc.) And then she even added pictures of some of the grandkids holding the Book of Mormon from baptism pictures, missions, etc. It turned out really neat.

Marilyn said...

HA! That really is a great story about the picture. My mom posed for someone (clothed😂) in her ward when she was pregnant with me. I think it was like at the ward campout or something, haha. And then that picture always hung on her bedroom wall as long as I can remember...but just a few months ago when I was at her house I noticed she had stuck a picture of the temple up on top of it. I asked her why and she said, "It just seemed weird for me to live here alone and have…a picture of ME on the wall." Hahaha! I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but it is kind of funny to think about. Makes much more sense for your mom to have your dad's bare back up on her wall, in memoriam😄

I would love to see that Book of Mormon book sometime. If we ever decide to make one (I know my mom would like that too), I will FaceTime you and have you flip through it for me!

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