This is what happens...

when you husband spends all of his Saturday building a fence on the steep slope of our back bank.  It nearly killed him.  As a result, he is one sore AND swollen man today.  However, after showing a how-to-give-a massage video on YouTube to our 6 and 8-year old, he managed to get an almost hour long massage for free from the youngest massage therapists in town!  You should have heard the moans and groans as these little ones worked their old man over.  It was absolutely hilarious!

A close-up of our in-house massage therapists who are now open for business any day of the week.  Lucky us!

The Start of Summer!

Our first week of summer has started off with a glorious bang as every day this week has temperatures predicted to be in the high 70s or low 80s.  As a result, Natalee and I planned to meet up at Lake Samm this afternoon for several hours of playing in the sun and in the water.  The kids all had a great time playing for hours in the water and especially on the blue, floating mat splashing and screaming and swimming around.  It really was the perfect way to kick off the first, official day of summer.  In addition, it was so fun to watch Emmett soak up everything as last summer he was just too little to appreciate any of this.  He sat on the beach right at the shore line and played with rocks as the waves washed slowly over him for quite some time.  Then he happily sat in my lap for a solid hour while I floated in an inner tube while talking to Natalee.  He NEVER sits still for more than a few minutes, so this was amazing and so fun to just have him relax in my lap for so long.  We then headed back to the grandparent's house for dinner before heading home at bedtime.  It felt so good to be out in the sun and back at the lake that we know and love so well.  Here are a few pictures of our day today...

Lia helping Emmett get used to walking on the rocky ground in the water.

Emmett was so engrossed in playing with the toys and walking in the water that I seriously could not get him to look at me for a single picture.  Here her is walking past me and the toys.

Emmett walking through the water with a bucket.

I was finally able to get a picture of Emmett looking at me after I asked Lia to come and pick him up.

Emmett and I floating away in our inner tube.

Natalee floating at our side.

Lia, Logan, Ella, Riley, and Trenton played for hours on the blue mat.  I just can't get over how much this simple, water toy can entertain them.

Ella and Lia struggling to catch their balance as all three boys fall in the water.

Everyone climbing back onto the mat.

The gang at play.

As a side note, I just wanted to mention all of the things that are cancelled from our calendar this summer thanks to Covid-19:  

Lia's and Ella's week at Girl Scout day camp

Robbie's and Austin's visit from South Carolina (with baby Sutton who were going to meet for the first time)

Lia's church camp

All summer swim lessons

Our July trip to Hawaii that I had already rescheduled from April 

The Hawaiian governor declared last week that his 14-day quarantine is now extended through July 31st.  As crazy as it seems, I have now rescheduled this trip for a third time for the first week of August with the hopes that the governor will lift the mandatory quarantine by then.  Time will only tell.  As much of a disappointment as all of these cancellations have been, we still have our two camping trips and our two trips to Priest Lake on the calendar.  And although Robbie and Austin have cancelled their trip out to see us, we are still hoping that Aunt Blanche will come as she had planned on doing during the same time as their visit.  I hope that all of these trips as well as local outings on a regular basis will help our summer to feel almost as full and as fun as our other summers have been in the past before the days of Covid-19!

Father's Day Weekend 2020

We just wrapped up our Father's Day weekend yesterday.  It was a great way to kick off the summer.  With Ron's encouraging, I decided at the last minute to not require Logan and Ella to complete school work on Friday (Lia's teacher stopped assigning anything on Wednesday). Instead, I asked all three kids to help me for several hours to get ready to host our family BBQ that evening.  Several years ago, Ron and I came to the agreement that we would see my family on Mother's Day (my choice) and that we would spend Father's Day alone with just our own immediate family (Ron's choice).  The only problem with this compromise is that it means that I never get to see my own father on Father's Day.  Earlier this week, I got an idea that I should have thought of years ago to host my family for an early Father's Day celebration.  Since everyone has very empty calendars right now due to most things still being cancelled from the Covid-19 shutdown, everyone was available to join us when I invited them over last minute.  We decided to host the dinner on Friday evening instead of Saturday evening since the temperature was predicted to be in the low 80s.  After several hours of working to get the house and yard ready, we were able to have a quiet hour before the guests started arriving at 4 p.m.  The kids all had a great time playing in the pool and in the yard while Ron grilled hamburgers and I got the rest of dinner ready.  Since my mom and sisters-in-law all brought food to share, it really was not too much work to feed 19 people that evening.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner outside on the back deck before eating dessert and watching my dad open a few presents.  Although Chris and Riley never ended up joining us since they got a flat tire on their way to my house after hiking all day up at the pass, we had a wonderful evening being together celebrating my dad.

Logan convinced me to buy water balloons for the first time in my mothering career.  After discovering the new and improved way that allows you to blow up over 30 balloons at once, I am now converted and will be buying them on a regular basis every summer for years to come.  The kids had a fun time throwing water balloons at each other after a dip in the pool.

Sweet baby Emmett popped a water balloon in his hands while sitting on his trike.  He simply thought it was a ball and squeezed it too hard.  He didn't even flinch when the water sprayed all over his clothes.  Here he is right after soaking himself with his water balloon.

Logan reaching into the cooler to pick up another water balloon.

Ella giving Emmett another balloon while the other siblings looked on.

Grandpa enjoying his dinner with the younger grandkids at his side.

The rest of the group eating at the other table.

The kids enjoying a second dip in the pool after dinner.

Emmett had fun playing with the water that shoots back into the pool from the filter thanks to the help of Uncle Eric.

A close-up of Trenton and Logan lounging on our giant floaties.

Logan looking on as grandpa read one of his cards.

Ella sitting on grandpa's lap as he read another card.  I just love how much my kids love their grandpa.

On the actual Father's Day, we enjoyed a nice, quiet day at home.  We prepared a big breakfast for Ron of eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls that we ate in the dining room.  After home church, we went on a walk and Ron was able to take an afternoon nap.  I then made him a Filipino dinner with a chocolate pie (requested by Logan) that we all enjoyed eating out on the deck.  We finished off the evening with Ron opening up a few gifts in the living room before bedtime.  It was the perfect quiet and relaxing day that Ron likes the best!

Ron ready to dive into his dinner with Emmett eating at his side.

To keep Emmett happy (who always finishes his dinner before the rest of us), I started feeding him little licks of whipped cream from the chocolate pie that was already sitting on the table.  Every time I would feed him some, he would get this huge smile on his face that made all of us laugh.  Here is one of his goofy grins that I managed to get a picture of after feeding him some whipped cream.

Ron and the kids gathered around the chocolate pie before we dove into it!

For the first time ever, I gave Emmett his own spoon to feed himself chocolate pie.  Although he made a mess of himself, he absolutely loved it and thoroughly enjoyed feeding himself every bite.

A close-up of our blue-eyed cutie covered in chocolate pie.

Ella showing off her picture that she drew for dad as one of his gifts.

Papa surrounded by all four children while reading his card from all of us.

Ron opening up his big, Father's Day gift.

Although this picture is very similar to the previous one, I just had to include it because of how cute baby Emmett looks in the foreground of this picture.  We all couldn't get over how round and puffed out his adorable cheeks look in this photo.  Oh, he is just the chunkiest and cutest one-year old around!  And on that note, Happy Father's Day to our beloved husband and father.  We sure do love you and appreciate everything you do for us!

The family that Zooms together...

Stays together!

This is the fun picture that Rebecca managed to take of our entire family of 24 people (since Kelsey is currently waiting to go back out on her mission and Garrett is participating in the online MTC program from home) on Sunday night while wishing my dad a happy Father's Day.  Although I am so grateful for Zoom and the important role that is has played in keeping us connected to family, school, church, and Girl Scouts during the quarantine, I am very ready for a break from multiple Zoom meetings a week!

Last Day of School!

Well, we made it.  We officially survived three months of virtual learning with the kids at home full-time as the students and me as their teacher.  I must admit, it is such a relief to have it over.  The thought of having our children home for another 2.5 months does not seem overwhelming at all to me knowing that we do not have to make home schooling a part of it.  Although the first few weeks just dragged by with many bumps in the road, we eventually got into a groove and time really started to pick up by the middle of April.  I am grateful for the lesson plans that the teachers provided and that I did not have to juggle teaching them while juggling a job.  Although I know that the three of them would have learned more during their 6.5 hours at school each day, I am grateful that they did continue to learn a thing or two with me every week at home.  Although so many wonderful things have been cancelled during our summer break, we are going to try to make the most of it.  Between camping and our July and August vacations to Priest Lake, we will still be able to go on a few trips when almost everything else has been cancelled. We will also still be able have play dates with friends, play in the pool in our backyard, and make day trips to Lake Samm as much as we can.  So, hopefully, between all of these activities, I will be able to keep the children busy and happy and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.

Since it is one of my traditions to take a picture of our children on the front porch on their first and last day of school, I insisted that they all get dressed and go outside for their "last day of school" picture yesterday.  So, here is the group photo I got of the group as Ella's last day as a Kindergartener, Logan's last day as a 2nd grader, and Lia's last day as a 6th grader.  This is the only year that all three children got to go to the same school together and the last year that Lia will ever go to the same public school with a sibling.  Although it still makes me sad that they missed out on three months together at their elementary school, I am just grateful for the time that they did have together at Shaw Road.

And another shot of our kiddos and baby Emmett who has grown so much since their first day of school picture taken back in September.

Since I always planned on taking a picture of the kids together on their last day when I dropped them off at the side gate of their school, I insisted that we all drive down to their school yesterday morning to take the picture anyways.  If I had known back on March 13th that it was really going to be their last day of school, I would have taken the picture then.  But since we all thought that they would be going back to school on April 27th, it never occurred to me to take a picture when I dropped them off on that final morning.  So, this is as good as it gets!

Another shot of the kiddos standing in front of the side gate where I dropped them off morning after morning.  This was Lia's last chance to step onto the grounds of her school as a 6th grader.  She has had such a wonderful experience attending this school for the past seven years of her life that part of my heart is so sad that she is leaving it behind forever.  This growing up thing is for the birds.

And just for fun, the kids agreed to donn their face masks for a final picture.  This is probably what they will really look like when they head back to school in the fall.

A picture I took of the sign posted on the outside of the school gate stating all the current rules of Phase 2 while on school property.

I wanted to include a few other pictures on this last-day-of-school post as we say goodbye to home school and enter summer break full-time.  This picture is of the sticky note schedule that I implemented on the second week of the quarantine.  With the exception of not doing scripture time every evening after dinner due to a movie night or just being too exhausted from the day, we stuck to this schedule faithfully Monday through Friday.  And although the days started to all feel the same, it really helped to keep us on track.

This is a picture of the 3-tier, file organizer that I pulled out the first week of school.  I bought this almost twenty years ago when I was a brand new teacher in California and it basically has not served much of a purpose after I quit teaching full time in 2008.  However, it really became useful during virtual learning as each child used one file shelf for storage of their assignments that they worked on each week.

One of the great blessings of this quarantine was the opportunity Logan had to start reading chapter books by himself for the first time in his life.  Although his teacher just suggested it, I required that Logan read silently every day Monday through Friday for 30 minutes.  He did an amazing job and read 15 books in the Dragon Masters series and 28 books in the Magic Tree House series.  As of this week, he is currently reading the first book in the How to Train Your Dragon series which are much longer and, as a result, taking Logan longer to read than one or two days.  Here is a picture I took of him this week completing his silent reading among a pile of pillows that he and Ella dragged off the couches in the family room.

All three of our children participated in a weekly Zoom meeting with their teacher and classmates.  This week, Logan's teacher asked the students to "dress up" for fun in honor of their last Zoom meeting.  After bribing him with a dollar, Logan agreed to wear his dress shirt, tie, and suit jacket for his online meeting.  He was only one of two boys who wore a tie and he looked super cute Zooming with his dressy top and shorts on while in the living room.

Logan's teacher planned a really neat, farewell activity for the students in his class that none of our kids' other teachers planned.  We were invited to come to the school on Tuesday this week between 10 a.m. and noon to say goodbye to him.  In addition, Mr. Strand gave the students a framed picture of themselves with a personalized message from him, a sand bucket and shovel with some little treats inside, and a packet of summer activities to complete.  This also gave us the chance to give him his end-of-year gift that Logan helped me make.  It was so nice for Logan to have one more chance to see his wonderful teacher in person before his 2nd grade year officially ended.

One of the many disappointments during this quarantine was the cancellation of our town's Spring Fair when Ella would have had the chance to have a piece of her artwork displayed after being chosen by a panel of judges.  This is the first time in our parenting career that one of our children had a piece of art chosen to be put on display at either the state fair in the fall or the spring fair in the spring.  After emailing her teacher, we were able to pick up this artwork (that we had actually never seen) when I picked up all of the items from her school desk last week.

Here is a picture I took of Lia yesterday showing off her President's Education Award that she received for her hard work the past three years of school.  She would have been given this award at an awesome, 6th grade assembly that her school puts on each year, but instead it was passed to her from her teacher through our car window on Wednesday during the 6th grade recognition car parade.

My, how they've grown!

This is the adorable photo that my friend, Regan, emailed me yesterday with a side-by-side comparison of our four girls from June 2014 at their Kindergarten graduation and June 2020 at their 6th grade recognition parade.  As I mentioned in my previous post, these girls all met September 2012 in their PreK class with Miss Vera.  It is amazing to see how much they have grown over the years!  Unfortunately, this coming fall they will be splitting up for the first time as Mollie and Sienna will be going to one junior high and Lia and Addy will be going to another.  Hopefully, we can keep their friendships going in the years to come!

Saying Farewell to 6th Grade!

Well, today was another one for the books in this strange and crazy time that we are currently living in.  Since Lia's school was unable to celebrate the graduation 6th graders like they normally do with a potluck lunch and a 6th grade awards ceremony (complete with a red carpet and all), they decided to host a recognition car parade at their school.  Since the school sent out an email telling us that we could decorate our cars, I decided it would be fun to decorate our van with our Valentine's Day tinsel garland and balloons from the Dollar Store.  In addition, I bought supplies for Lia to make two posters for each side of the van.  After getting our car all decked out, Lia got dressed up like she would if she was going to a 6th grade graduation ceremony.  After curling her hair, I just couldn't get over how grown up she looked standing next to me in the bathroom.  As much as I hate to admit it, she really looks like she should be at junior high instead of elementary school.  Since Ron had to go into his high school today to help with the massive book and computer return for grades 9 through 11, he wasn't able to go with us.  As a result, the four kids and I piled into our car and drove down to the school at 3 p.m.  We were blown away with the amount of cars pouring into Lia's school and all of the staff lined up on both sides of the bus lane holding posters, blowing bubbles, and cheering the students on.  It was so fun to see all of the other cars decked out and to say hi to everyone as we slowly made our way down the lane to the front of the line where the 6th grade teachers were handing out awards, letters, and bags of goodies.  Although an assembly would have been more ideal, this car parade was a wonderful way for Lia to say goodbye to her teachers, classmates, and beloved school that has been her home these past seven years.  Afterwards, we met up with a few of her friends in the school parking lot to say 'hello' and to take a few group photos.  It was the perfect way to end such a wonderful, elementary school experience for Lia.

Our grown-up, 6th grader standing on the porch with her bouquet of balloons before I tied them to the car.

Another shot of Lia with the balloons and our flower pots on the front porch.

All four kiddos standing in front of decorated car.

A close-up of the kiddos.  After taking this picture, I taped up the sign that Logan was holding to the other side of the van.

The line of cars we found driving down the bus lane after turning off the main road.

The 6th grade teachers at the front of the line giving out goodies to the 6th graders.

Passing some other cars complete with balloons and a flamingo floatie tied to the top.

A picture that Mariah took of us in our car as we made our way around the turn around.

A picture of Lia's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Arnett, holding up a sign with the names of all of the students she had in her class who are now 6th graders.  Lia's name is near the top, left corner.

Lia's 3rd grader teacher, Ms. Mitchell, holding up her sign with all of the students she had in 3rd grade who are now graduating.  Lia's name is on the apple in the upper, left hand corner.

Lia saying goodbye to her beloved, 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Longstreth.  We have both absolutely loved having her as Lia's teacher and are so grateful that Lia got to be in her class for 2/3 of the year before home schooling began on March 16th.  Mrs. Longstreth awarded Lia with the Silver President's Award for Academic Excellence which is only given to a handful of 6th graders for their performance in Reading, Writing, and Math over the past three school years.

Lia posing with two of her friends, Mollie and Sienna, who she has known since her PreK year at Celebration Preschool.

The girls laughing together.

Lia posing with Sienna, Mollie, Madelyn, and Alexis in front of another decorated car in the parking lot.

The three girls standing in front of the flag pole--a place where they have spent many hours over the years waiting to be picked up after school.

A family photo minus daddy in front of the other school sign.

One more shot of the preschool girls with Addyson who showed up a few minutes later.  All of these girls met in Miss Vera's class in the fall of 2012.  My, how the time has flown!