Summer Round-Up, Antelope Island

Let me apologize in advance for the number of pictures in this post.  How do you choose between so many fun ones?  Went to Antelope Island with our family from Maine.

This little boy gets a nasty mosquito bite on his ear.  Before we figured it out, his hugely swollen ear, which swelling extended to his head, freaked us out.

Looking for burrowing owls.

Cousin time.

 (sorry, this is a rewind from the moutains, I just missed it and I think it is super cute)

 These little cousins adore eachother.  It is so cute to watch them in action.

 Excited!  I love his little run!

 Learning to lasso.

 The original Basque boy.

What a great day.

Little Things

We went for an impromptu picnic on Friday night.  A few years ago we decided to save TV for the weekend only during school, and to make this transition easier, we made Friday night extra special by having a family movie night and pizza. 

Only, in good weather, it seems like a waste of a good evening.  So we took our pizza to a park just 5 minutes from our house that we have only visited once before.  It was a gorgeous night.  The mountains were rust and amber and brown and yellow.  The light was some sort of honey-colored magic.

We explored wooded paths overgrown with leaves and branches, played, and watched some people "fighting," as my three year-old called it.  (she'd say "where are the fighting people?")

It was so easy.  And so nice.

Other little things from this week:

Meeting my oldest three at school for lunch.  My little six year-old has decided that first grade is hard and called me from school, crying to come home last week.  In the heat of the moment, I realized that it would be so easy to run on over and pick her up.  Then I realized that the better service for her would be the harder one for me-- to have her stay at school.  But that didn't mean I couldn't come and visit her at lunch this week for a little moral support.

Then I stayed for lunch with my son.  His friends were giggling and talking and enjoying eachother.  I wondered if he would be embarrassed of me and the two little ones.  Instead, he held baby on his lap and all his friends laughed at baby's antics.  He and one friend begged me to come to recess and then followed the baby around laughing some more at how he pumps one arm only while running (and saying "running!" in a breathless voice), and mothering him a bit.  Every time I said I needed to go they'd say "NO!"

(they were so cute, all snuggled in my bed this morning!)

Today, I didn't want to leave my nine year-old out, so I swung by and picked up a little $1 ice cream.  As I walked into the school, other kids were jealously oohing and ahhing at the plastic ice cream cups I was juggling.   When I found her, I could tell by her eyes that she was really happy we had come.  And it was so easy-- just remembering a small thing she liked-- not much extra time but it was a big deal to her.

Reading to baby on a plush velvet couch during dance class, his little pudgy arms pointing out trucks and doggies, his little cute body snuggled up to mine.

Peach pie for an after school snack, slurped and laughed at and enjoyed around the table together.  "Mom, did you do this for us, because we said we liked pie?"  "Yup." (though I'm not making another one for a while!  If we have a craving, I think they'll like store bought just as well!) (by the way, one of the resolutions that I keep meaning to update is no dessert before dinner-- we've really slacked on that one, but we're still eating pretty healthy overall)

Little, easy things.  They are giving me so much pleasure.

(Only, now it's time to go and clean my house!)

(note: I've still been doing their hair every day, but some days it doesn't last long!  But I feel good if I tried)

Check out this cute idea for making dinner fun!  Another way to keep dinner feeling like an act of service and not a chore, and it looks like the kids love it. 

Summer Round-Up Pics#3

It doesn't get more adorable than that! (a few more pics of him and his latest here) 

We had a great time when our aunt and uncle visited us from Maine.  We had many family get-togethers for a week or so.  One day we had a picnic in the mountains.  If you see my kids looking on the ground, they are hunting for airsoft pellets, which they collect and save and play all sorts of games with.  I find them in their pockets and mine, the girl's jewelry boxes, in my drier, and in elaborate formations on the floor (they call their game "nation").

Things are going much better this week with my project.  So well I'm afraid to say too much or I might jinx it!  Last week was such a busy week-- and I've decided that is why things weren't the best!  I have to remember to give myself a break when things are busy and cut back where possible.  I'm noticing with several different resolutions now that being busy especially undermines my ability to communicate love to the kids because I have little time and feel stressed.

We miss you already!

Getting to Know You

I had the opportunity at the end of summer to get a little one-on-one with the kids.  Even though I had other things I could have done with the time (and I was tempted at times, believe me), I was so glad I spent this time with them. 

One child it seems I haven't had enough one-on-one with is my nine year-old.  Lets just say we had a chance to be alone for a day, and it took some willpower for me to make it work because we're always being tugged so many directions. 

I enjoyed my time with her so much, though part of our date was working together.  We went to a bridal shower with baby in tow, she helped me clean quite a bit in the morning, when all the little fingers and needs were out of the house (except baby)-- but we did manage to squeeze in a partial movie, a sleepover, some talks, a long drive, and a shake date.  We had a great time together.  It really bonded us and gave us a chance to get re-acquainted.  She still seems to be walking around with a little gleam in her eye and seems happier, even two weeks later.

(We tried to "rendezvous" with some family at the Rendezvous, which didn't happen, but we got to walk around and had a great time together!)

In conjunction with that, I sat down this Sunday and took my kids one by one to have a little interview.  We talked about their talents, inspired by this.  Then I asked them all their "favorites."  This was a fun exercise.  I was surprised that I mostly knew what their favorite things were-- before we sat down I thought I'd have some giant revelation into their personalities. 

Independent of one another, they universally chose pizza as their favorite food. (though one child in particular expressed that she would not be sad if we had bacon and sausage at every meal)   Oh boy.  Ditto dessert-- fruit pies.  Who knew?   Swimming was a favorite activity.  So was playing with friends.  I learned to qualify their favorite thing about school-- it couldn't be recess or lunch. :)

(After all this, I had enough blueberries to make a pie, so I did!  Ahh....also realized why I don't make them often, because they are a ton of work and I eat all the trimmings!)

It was so fun sitting with each child on the couch and listening to them tell me about themselves.

When I asked what their favorite act of service Mom or Dad performs for them, I tried to give a wide array of choices with no give-aways in my voice or mannerisms.  I was surprised that each one, separated from the others, preferred spending time with me to any act of service I perform for them (I asked if they would like me to sew something as one of the choices-- so glad they didn't choose that one!  I'm a really bad seamstress).  That made me feel good, because that is my favorite service activity of choice, too. :)

I realized that I do more than I think I do when it comes to acts of service and what their individual preferences are.  I think my main focus right now, aside from a few specifics I'll outline soon, is just to make ordinary tasks more loving and meaningful, which I've been trying to do.  Also, I'm seeing that acts of service are one part doing something they like just for them and another part doing for them what we know they need or will need because of the perspective we have.  (So many of my kids favorite things were just things they have been exposed to, which I think means I need to expose them to more!)

Is there something that you have learned about your child that has surprised you?  Do you ever wish you could go forward to their future adult self and ask some of these same questions?

Basque Boy Eats - Watermelon Lemonade and Fresh Tomato, Mozzarella, and Egglplant Salad

I'm still trying to be a little creative in the kitchen with produce from my garden, when possible, just to save time and be healthy.

(and having some quick fun with photoshop, too...nothing too fancy)

(Update: 9/11: I wrote on the pic "buffalo mozzarella" because that is what is written on my British recipe, but I just used fresh mozarella from supermarket)

So we tried a simplified variation on a favorite recipe from when we lived in England, and it was SO yummy!  My kids liked all but the eggplant, and my husband and I had 3-4 bowlfuls each.  Super good.  I had made a soup at the same time and we ended up saving it for tomorrow.  :) 

1.  I cubed one eggplant into 3/4 inch pieces which I then sauteed in olive oil until soft (we had to add some extra olive oil part way through as the eggplant absorbed the first round), then let the eggplant cool. 

2.  We cut some garden tomatoes (8-10 medium tomatoes) into wedges and put them in a medium-sized bowl.

3.  Then we cubed up 1 lb. of fresh mozzarella (yum) and added it to the bowl with the tomatoes.

4.  Then we added some chopped fresh basil.

5.  Then extra virgin olive oil to coat all the things in the bowl and salt to taste (it always takes more salt than I think, but still better to under-salt and let people add more if they wish).

6.  Add just a two tablespoons of white vinegar.

7.  Add a pinch of sugar (I'm not sure how it would taste without it, but our British recipe called for it).

6.  Add the cooled eggplant and stir all the ingredients together.  It tastes better if it sits for a little while before eating so the flavors can meld together.

Enjoy!

We enjoyed some watermelon lemonade from Sweetgreen that I found a recipe for on the Rockstar Diaries here.  So yummy and fresh I didn't even want dessert.

(ha ha, to go with our English recipe, lemonade in a pint glass that has always been a teetotaling pint glass)

A Funny Little Girl Home with Mom

It's funny what I suddenly notice about my next child when the rest go off to school.  I don't know if they just talk to me more or whether I'm just more aware of what that child is saying without the extra background noise, but I always especially enjoy that first week of getting-to-know-you all over again.  (even though there's a little hole in my heart when the others are at school!)

This week:

"Mom, let's go outside and find a ball.  Then let's play fetch."

I noticed at Costco she was making a back and forth motion with her arms while I was 20 feet away retrieving something off a shelf.  As I was returning, a woman said "Protecting the cart, is that your job?"  I realized she'd been saying-- "Clear out!  clear out!" to anyone who neared the cart.

She shouted from a curb to a passing car in a strip mall-- "Speed LIMIT!"  (I didn't even know she knew those words?)

She invited a friend over one day, and her friend was a little slow to arrive.  She kept going out the front door and shouting her friend's name as if calling her would make her come more quickly.  Eventually she swung out the front door and shouted "Aimee [fake name]!  My name is Ava!  You are my friend!  You can come to my house now!"

When her friend came over they were super cute in their Rapunzel dresses.  They told me they were pretending they were the same age.  (They are the same age. )

Then they played "queen."  Her friend told me "I'm the dead queen, and she's the alive queen.  Dead queens can't walk."  (she required a tonic of water poured from a plastic cup "squished" into her mouth by the alive queen while she lay extended, dead, on the couch, in order to be revived.  When the queens requested a full cup of water for revival purposes, promising not to spill a "fulled up cup," lets just say their royal request was regretfully denied)

Check out this hilarious video where Ava teaches her friend how to drink like a princess from a juice pouch (is it just me or do they remind you of Anne and Diana?):



I took her and baby running with me.  She was funny.  At one point I had to run in a road that had a generous shoulder, but there were more cars than we are used to in our quiet corner of the woods.  She wanted to get out and run (not happening on that day on that road) -- she gestured to the sidewalk and told me "I will try to not get smooshed."

Thinking about my project today and realizing that I have so enjoyed the extra quality time we've spent together.  And I'm looking forward to getting more one-on-one time with the two little ones still at home.  And thinking that I don't feel burned out, with all the extra things I've added in, but rather I feel envigorated and feel a new sense of purpose in my life.  I've been enjoying new health from exercising (month 1) and eating better (month 4), which has made me feel so much more energetic and has helped me be a happier mom.  So glad I'm back to making the most of time with them, soaking up these little years while they are mine.  And the acts of service are going better too.  I'll fill you in later. :) 

Happy weekend!