Summer Reading

I just LOVE summer reading programs!! Every summer we sign up at the library first and then we look for others to participate in. This year I decided to actually try enrolling in the Read Today group. Read today is sponsored by KSL-TV in our area and they are a year-round program. When I looked at it last summer it was really difficult to enter the reading minutes and I tried a couple of times but it just wasn't worth it.

Then our newspaper had a special story on it and we discovered that readers of 1000 minutes for the summer would get free tickets to the Bees game! You all know how I feel about baseball...

So even though the entry was still rather painful, I registered Crafty, Sport, Scout, Curly, and Baby Doll. I had to enter their minutes one day at a time for two whole months, and when I was finished I wasn't even sure how to claim the prizes so I sent the director an email. I received a response in a couple of days and on Friday five little packages arrived in our mailbox.

Baby Doll was the first one to open it up and discover her loot. She was so excited! Not only were there FOUR Bees tickets in there, but also a coupon for a free kid's meal at McDonald's, a mood-changing pencil, and a t-shirt! Well worth my time entering all those minutes!

My sweetie happened to be home since it was Friday and after oo-ing and aah-ing over Baby Doll's treasures, he casually mentioned that the Bees were playing a home game that very night. The only thing we would have to plan around was Sport's football practice.

So we picked him up right at 6:00 with clothes for him to change. Since all the kids had free meals (Princess and Prima Donna were off at another camp somewhere, and Drama Queen is in Yellowstone with some friends), that left only the Dog Walker, sweetie and me to buy food and of course I had a few more coupons. We fed 8 of us for 12 bucks! Then it was off to the game.

We got there a little late and by the time we stopped at the box office to turn our vouchers into tickets, it was the bottom of the second. The Bees played a great game, ultimately winning in the bottom of the 9th. It was so exciting, the entire crowd was on their feet.

After things calmed down, the kids were invited onto the field to run the bases. All of the boys wanted to go and the Dog Walker offered to take Baby Doll. I could not convince Crafty and Scout to go with them so we went to the other side by the 3rd baseline to wait. The kids were about half way down the line and they ran fast, although lots of people passed Baby Doll as she excitedly high-fived each cheerleader on her way past.

When they got to the end of the line, they were presented with a certificate for a free kid's meal at the Spaghetti Factory. That was all it took for Crafty and Scout to head for the starting line. Unfortunately, they got there just as they started cleaning up and they were unable to run. Scout was heartbroken. So I told her she could go down and ask them for a coupon and they might give her one.

Of course she couldn't go alone, so I went with her and we dragged Crafty and Baby Doll along just for the cuteness factor. The guy who looked rather important told us he would get them coupons. But then he couldn't find the cute cheerleader who took off with the pile.

So we followed him to the offices where most people aren't allowed to go until he finally rounded up a couple of coupons for us. Meanwhile, we had gotten separated from my sweetie and the rest of the boys. The stadium was shutting down when we finally headed for the street. I called him about the same time we got to the crosswalk by the third base entrance. He was near the main entrance and would meet us at the van.

We got there about the same time, each bursting with a story to tell. You already heard mine, but they guys had wandered around long enough looking for us that the people handing out the treats at the door just dumped what was left into the boys' hats!

All this for just a little bit of reading??

First Day of Kindergarten

I'm grieving the loss of summer this week. Oh, I know it's only August 2, but summer is pretty much over. You know my little ones started school last week and Curly had his first real day of Kindergarten today. Yeah, on a Friday, short day, so he only went for about 2 hours. It's a good way to ease him in, I guess.

My sweetie and I drove him down to the school a few minutes early so he could play on the playground with his friends. Did I tell you that our kids are still at a neighboring school rather than their own? The air conditioning is supposed to be finished in 2 weeks so they can move back into their regular building, but for now they are having school in an elementary in our district that is not year-round. Anyway, long story short, we drop the older kids at our regular school and then they ride the bus half a mile to the new school. Then after school they leave their classes a few minutes early to get on the bus for the ride back.

So I reminded Curly that when he got off the bus he would have to look for Sport and Scout and they would be looking for him too. There would also be grownups there to help him find them. He smiled and seemed content with the plan. In fact, he always smiles. The world is a happy place for him and that makes it much easier on days like this.

He was the second child to line up and just before they headed through the door he turned and grinned at me. He is so ready for school!

After feeling like the oldest parents standing around watching their kids head off to kindergarten, my sweetie and I slipped back to our vehicle. No point lingering...they weren't coming back out. At the house I finished my package for Teach and some other correspondence and planned a quick run to the post office. My sweetie offered to drive.

As we left the post office, we both realized that it was almost time for school to be out. We decided it would be fun to pick the kids up after the buses dropped them at our regular elementary school so they wouldn't have to walk home. We arrived at the school about the same time the buses were leaving. There were about 50 kids milling about so I got out of the car and walked over to the drop-off spot.

Scout and Sport were standing there, talking with the bus attendants. "Where's Curly?" I asked, looking around. "He wasn't on the bus," Sport confessed. (In his defense, he had no way of knowing that until he got to the school. The buses are arranged according to grades.) The attendant whipped out her cell phone and dialed the main office. The secretary there offered to locate him and call us back.

A couple of other girls had also lost a little sister, so we weren't the only ones. We waited for about 3 minutes before the confirmation came. He was waiting in the office for us to pick him up. We hurried back to the car and piled in. I wasn't sure if he would be upset or scared. I could imagine all sorts of problems.

My sweetie pulled into the fire lane and even though most of the kids were gone, they made us drive all the way to the end for pick up. I climbed out of the car and hustled to the school. I pulled open the big doors, words of comfort at the ready, prepared for him to fall weeping into my arms vowing to never go to school again. I walked a little faster.

I could see him sitting on a chair inside the office before he saw me. There were no tears, no wailing or gnashing of teeth. He was just waiting calmly. As I walked through the open doorway he turned and looked at me, a huge grin splitting his face. I had worried for nothing. His teacher apologized profusely, saying she forgot to send him to the bus and it would never happen again. One look at my son with his hand in mine and I let her off the hook with a big smile.

Maybe he gets it from me.

Happy Birthday, House!

Dog Walker's Awesome Halloween Display

We moved into our current home on July 28, 1994. The Dog Walker was 9 months old. We had zero landscaping and for the first few days no air conditioning. It was 90 degrees in the house when one of our new neighbors came down and showed us how to tap directly into the system until the city got around to turning on all of the power.

I would definitely do a few things differently if I were to build another house. I would beef up the outside circuits so the Dog Walker can plug in as many lights as he wants to for the holidays. I would have a MUCH bigger driveway! All these drivers want their own vehicles, can you believe that? I would build a second garage to house the bikes and skateboards and Power Wheels and sports equipment...

I also have these high ceilings in the entryway. They are a full two stories high, beautiful, but ridiculous. In our city they have this silly rule about having a smoke detector in the highest spot of the room. You know what that means.

Yesterday it started chirping because it wants a new battery. It is driving my crazy!! Usually we have paid Gamer some obscene hazard pay to climb on the ladder and replace the battery. But he is working two jobs now and I haven't seen him around for a while. I'm about ready to get out the BB gun and see if I can put that smoke detector out of its misery...

And I'll tell you something else that's stupid about having high ceilings. We have this beautiful chandelier up there and it is absolutely impossible to get the ladder high enough to change the light bulbs. After 19 years we finally lost our last dim bulb just a few months ago.

Owning a house is an awesome but daunting task. There is always something breaking down or in need of repair. I can't tell you how many times we have replaced the front door handle. Thank goodness those things have lifetime warranties!

Dumb things happen, like the chain in the toilet breaks. I've had that happen to two different toilets in the past 6 months. Pipes break, doorknobs fall off, smoke detectors need new batteries...stuff happens. But I couldn't even imagine going back to an apartment. (It would have to be a pretty big apartment with all these kids!)

I'm so grateful to be living the American Dream. Happy Birthday, House!

Teach in Texas

You probably don't sit around on Mondays like I do just waiting for the computer to "bing" indicating that I have a new email. I never know exactly when I will hear from Teach, it just depends on when they get around to going to the library on their p-day (preparation day).

First she writes a letter to her mission president that tells about all the people they are teaching and the progress they are making. Then hopefully she still has time to write a long newsy letter to her dear mother. Last week the computers in the library were so slow that I didn't get a letter! This week they went to a different library and she tried to make up for last week's lack of news.

Lots of times she talks about the work:

Things are progressing really well. We had TWO investigators at church yesterday. AND the ***family*** CAME!!!!! We were so happy to see them Sister Lewis legitimately almost started to cry! (:(: (: They have had HUGE obstacles in their lives to overcome but I finally said to them, "Mayra. Jose. this has be to be last time. This is is. Make this the last time you break the word of wisdom and just turn to the Lord." Jose's eyes went really big and he said, "Wow, when you said that it was scary to hear it, but I know that it has to be the last time." (:  It's cool to be able to speak with the power and authority that comes from being called of God. I will sorely miss that when I'm released.




And sometimes she just tells me silly things that happen.


So Katie's little sister Hailey came into the room in the middle of our lesson yesterday. She had a helmet on and she used a robot voice and said "I'm future Hailey." (: It was SO funny. Then she said the closing prayer in robot/future voice. It was hysterical. That's all.

She sometimes forwards me her letter to the mission president so she doesn't have to write everything twice. That's when I get to hear about all the specific people and if they are learning and accepting her teachings.

A member in our ward invited his neighbor Aledia to church and she really enjoyed it. We are working with her now and she is very intrigued. She is interested to learn more about the Temple and the Book of  Mormon. It is so wonderful to see the members more involved in missionary work and so many members greeted her very warmly at church!

I just love seeing how much she is learning and growing as a missionary! The time really is just flying by. The missions have transfers every 6 weeks and there is one coming up next week.

It's weird. The transfer is ending on Aug 7. By the end of NEXT transfer I will have been out for 6 months. That's weird, right? I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. I have some ground to stand on and I have learned SOOOOOOOO much. I really really do love being a missionary, Mom. 

What more could a mom ask for?