Monday. And Also Saturday.

The house is bustling a bit today. Mike called earlier and asked Abe to do some things for him. I didn’t pay much attention to what those things were. But now Abe keeps coming in and out, opening and shutting the garage, grabbing car keys, and putting them back, then grabbing them again. Then suddenly he and Jesse are at my bathroom sink – filling it with water and moving a bike tube around in it. And then Abe is shouting some answer that I don’t catch to a confused question from me. And I’m never sure if he is here or suddenly off on some task again.

Daisy and Goldie are packing for girls’ camp. They left together earlier for a pile of their own errands. Daisy needed a swimsuit and to return library books. They both needed little gifts for their “secret sisters”. And we needed ingredients for the hobo dinners they are supposed to take to camp. (And this new house-full of able drivers is still so novel! It has changed dynamics and made our house feel so much less me-dependent. It’s both alarming and wonderful.) Now they are back, and first Goldie is pulling sunblock from the bathroom cupboard and asking about bug spray, and then Daisy is. And every few minutes Daisy appears at my side. She finds herself unable to choose between two water bottles, she’s wondering if we have sunglasses she can use, or she wants to explain to me why she feels some item or other on the camping list is wholly unnecessary. “Long sleeve shirt for painting? Why do I need a long sleeve shirt for painting? Why can’t I paint in a short sleeve shirt?” “A wash cloth? I mean . . . I have a towel. Do I really need a washcloth?” “Work gloves? We don’t even have any good ones! And someone always brings extra. I’m just not going to bring any.”

Once I helpfully chimed in with, “Do you need to bring . . . like . . . soap? You know, just for washing hands or whatever?” And was met with a dismissive, “Mom. Soap? I just (shaking her head) don’t really think that’s a thing.” (Meaning, I guess, a thing someone would pack for camp? I mean . . . soap is a thing. But in this instance, . . . perhaps not.)

And in between all of this of course there are . . . the babies. And the toddlers. And the little kids. They are making constant mess and asking for food and spilling handfuls of cereal in the pantry (cereal that is supposed to be off-limits outside of breakfast time – sigh).

In other news: Saturday was our town’s little Founder’s Day. 7:00 am cannon blasts. Abe and Daisy loaded with blankets and chairs and sent off early to procure spots for us. Sunblocking everyone up. Kids running out front to watch trucks and cheerleaders and the like lining up across the street. Kids crying that they can’t find the bag for collecting candy that they were holding only two minutes earlier. And, this year, waving to Goldie in the parade (who, as a NHS officer, marched with the other officers from her school).

Just like Halloween is always the point in the school year when I realize, with a start, that not only are we really truly “back in school” but that we’ve even developed a rhythm and routine to what felt new and unknown only moments ago, our Founder’s Day parade is the point when I recognize that we are really settled into summer.

After the parade, we walked home – frantic for water and AC. Kids unwrapped piles of salt-water taffy and tootsie rolls, I put the littlest ones for naps, and Mike took several others back over to the park where there was a giant slip-and-slide, etc. He called after a bit telling me not to eat lunch as he was bringing back food from one of the stands for me. Later, he again took all the kids – this time off to the car show while I got a small nap in and cleaned the house for the evening. He even fed them hamburgers so I wouldn’t have to worry about dinner. (I say prayers of thanks for this husband of mine multiple times a day. He is unceasingly thoughtful.)

That night, while we waited for the fireworks (which, conveniently, we can watch right from our backyard), we set up the new movie projector that I gave Mike for Father’s Day and watched a movie on the side of our house :).

I spent a ridiculous amount of time cleaning up wrappers and candy during the day, and the parade is low on real floats and mostly just full of local businesses and kids we know from church and school. And we didn’t get everyone settled into bed ‘til nearly midnight (with early church the next morning); but this little day of summer has become one of my very favorites all the same.

Goldie + Softball

Well. I should like to write something thought provoking or clever. (And I fancy that I do write things of that nature occasionally. After all, I have one billion [well . . . perhaps slightly less] bits of clever and thoughtful jotted in nightstand notebooks and typed in notes on my phone and unpublished blog posts on my computer. Uncondensed and untidy.) But at the moment I am just . . . well . . . I’m just sharing a few pictures from Goldie’s last softball game. And it tires me to think that I can’t do that unless I can find a way to do it cleverly! Good heavens! Such pressure.

But I shan’t let it stop me. I will press on. I will press on with some rather nice pictures. And very lovely people. But words . . . as ordinary as words can be. (It’s rather freeing to determine I can allow myself that! Even if I don’t quite believe I should.)

Nevertheless: Goldie’s last softball game! (The bolding and that exclamation mark go a long way in making up for smart writing I think.)

Jesse was at scouts. Hans was in bed. Daisy was reading and watching Hans. But the rest of us piled in the van to go watch Goldie. (With one hundred kids in our family, we don’t involve them in many extra-curricular activities. And I will also admit that we don’t attend all their events. Eek. Unthinkable in some families. I know. But we just . . . do what we can. Luckily, tonight, the “what we can” wasn’t a bad show of support at all! :))

Mike ran into some of his childhood neighbors (the parents’ of one of his best friends growing up). They have a granddaughter on Goldie’s team who they’d come to watch. I’m not sure what all they reminisced about. But every time I looked over . . . everyone looked like this:

So it must have all been fairly funny. (And likely would have made for some good writing material for this post – had I taken fewer pictures . . . and paid more attention to the conversation.)

There was a park nearby. And horses grazing just past a fence. They were far enough away that I didn’t feel safe letting these three run off alone to enjoy them. But they were close enough that it was torturous for them not being allowed to.

Overall it was a lovely, happy evening. Nice weather. Pretty light. Laughter. And a happy Goldie.

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!