Back to school traditions

I am a tradition freak, and try to add them in every opportunity I can. Perhaps it's the competitive side in me coming out as I look down the road 20 years, and I'm trying to compete with future in-laws. If I have more traditions than they do that my kids enjoy, they'll (my sons and daughters and future spouses) will choose to come to my house, right?? Ok, it's pathetic, but there it is. Anyway, we started a new tradition this year. We made school bus cupcakes and put a candle on them for the girls (Brighton got one too, since he wants to be like his older sisters). When they blew the candles out they had to make a wish and/or goal for this coming school year. They both made similar wishes--that they'd have a fun year and make new friends. Irelynd qualified her wish by saying she'd "have fun every day in school."

I love this mischevious face of his.

This was Brighton's own creation. Looks like a school bus/tornado massacre, if you ask me.

Irelynd took one to school the next day too.

Not as cute as Family Fun, but good enough.

Gotta love Savannah's expression. A little scary, too.

If only this was permanent...

Last Sunday Brighton went missing for a little while. Scott found him on the potty, books in hand, doing his duty. He had put himself on and actually pooped in the potty! He did this four times this day! All on his own. I was SO proud and excited at the implications. Alas, it did not last, and we are still in diapers. But it's a start, and gives me hope.

Fireplace in the making

We started a remodel 2 years ago that's still not quite done. By the time we were supposed to do our part, I was pregnant with the twins, and then we ran out of time and money after they were born, and it never got completed. Scott bought an old antique bed at a garage sale a few years ago that's been waiting for a purpose. One day he pulled it out of storage and made it into our new mantel and surround. I think he did a fabulous job! There's still work to be done, as you can see with the incomplete paint and brick, but it's progress! And my painting finally has a home! Yippee! It'll be awesom when it's completed. Someday. Anyone know how to appy brick?

Cave for two

The twins have taken over Brighton's "man cave." They like to sit here and ponder life and it's deep meanings. Actually, they're just looking for dropped food, and it's just the right heighth for them to sit their chubby diapered bums on. Twins are so fun!

Tea for two

A few weeks ago, we had a bout with croup. That Sunday, only Scott and Savannah were well enough to go to church. Irelynd, on her own accord, made a tea party for the two of us. We had sugared water "tea", yogurt, and a roll. We tried to speak in our best English accents and spoke about the weather. Irelynd was like, "mom, why do you keep saying it's such a lovely day?" What else did they talk about in the time period of Jane Austen??? She even put on her best dress up. Brighton was irked not to be included and insisted he be allowed to join us. I was ok with giving up my warm sugar water. It's moments like this that I hope I will remember one day when they're grown up and I'm all alone with my rocking chair and knitting needles...

Trash to Treasure

Irelynd loves to create. She loves to make beauty out of that which was trash only a few moments ago. I can no longer throw out string, cardboard boxes, egg cartons, etc. If I do, I will find them in her art drawer the next day. She's very creative in what she comes up with. Here are her two latest creations:

This is a cell phone, complete with number buttons, and an image on the front cover.

A comb or elephant you say? No, a caterpillar. (Notice the bug-eye thing?)

Girly Girl

Waverly has this thing with stuff around her neck. She LOVES necklaces, but will put anything on that looks like it will fit over her melon. She will often be found with several chains of beads, a headband, and sometimes a belt around her neck. I love it! She tries to say necklace. When I sat down to take this picture of her, she distinctly said "cheese!" Savannah was there to witness it and we were like, "did she just say cheese?" To prove us right, she did it again. Do I have this girl trained early or what? I love my girls!

Y is for yarn maze

The kids woke up one morning to find the whole main floor tied up in yarn. I left them a note on the front door with instructions to follow their color of yarn to find their prize. Each color was labeled with their names.

Savannah was first up. Hers was the hardest, being the oldest.

Irelynd was lucky and slept til after the other two had found the end of their yarn and Savannah had undone them and just left Irelynd's.

I wish I'd been awake to get pictures of Scott maneuvering the maze. He told me after I'd done it that he had an early meeting. Getting from the kitchen to the stairs was a bit like that scene out of the movie with Katherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery where they rob the museum. Can't remember the name of it. Better than Pilates.

U is for Utah Lake

In April, while Scott was recovering from foot surgery, we discovered a "beach" on Utah Lake, not far from us. We went back out for our letter U. Being Utah Lake, you wouldn't want to actually let the sludge-infested water actually touch your bare skin, but it was fun and relaxing to walk along the shore and throw rocks into the lake. Scott, our champion rock skipper, taught me and the girls how to throw a rock to make it skip. He holds the prestigious Most Skips on a Body of Water award with 9. Very impressive. We all got a few to skip, but I'm convinced the rocks are not flat enough on the beach to skip. Scott just got lucky. We finished up by taking some cattails home for souvenirs. Such weird stuff are cattails! Just made up of compressed fluff. So cool.

Irelynd was about to take Brighton down when he spotted some seagulls on the beach and ran them down.

He succeeded. Irelynd did not. See her expression? Secretly, she wanted to run them down first.

I told Savannah to jump. I did not, however, tell her to make a funny face.

J is for Jumpin Jacks

Not much to say on this one. We went, we jumped, we got sweaty and pushed a little boy off the slide, we went home.


I don't know what's up with Irelynd's bug eyes lately. She tries to overcompensate for the squinty eye thing I bug her about, I guess. Looks like my brother after his eye surgery:)

You'd think I had favorites from these photos, wouldn't you? Babies are just so fun to shoot, dontcha think? Chubby cheeks and legs and funny faces. Irresistable!

Q=quilting

I grew up tying quilts with my mom. I have very fond memories of being very young, and playing under a quilt-in-process, while my mom and older sisters sat around it and chatted while they tied it. Even Scott learned to tie quilts during the time in our early marriage when we lived with my parents for a few months! So, of course, I wanted to teach my girls the joys of tying quilts with the female folk. I see it as a rite of passage, and was excited to introduce them to it. I had envisioned how they'd just think it was so cool, and love to cut the yarn and tie the ends into tidy little knots. I even explained to them how it was going to the Women's Crisis Shelter and would be given to a sad little boy or girl who has to hide from their abusive father. My mental image was straight out of the Ensign, I must admit. As real life goes, it didn't happen that way. Savannah whined about how boring it was while Irelynd complained that she didn't want to tie the knots, just cut the yarn. And in the background Brighton destroyed Grandma's house (see him in the living room above? He's scouting out the premises.)

She's trained well enough to smile on demand. Looks like she's having a great time, though, doesn't it? She did...for the first 5.6 seconds!

Oh well, at least we got a quilt done (I still have to sew the edges) and I introduced them to quilting. They will learn the value before I'm done buggin them about it!

K=Kennecott

As we were nearing the end of the summer, I realized we still had letters to do. So we crammed them all into one busy week before school started (I am a recovering perfectionist I just couldn't leave it with only 4 more to go!). This day we ventured up to Kennecott Copper Mine in SE Salt Lake county. We had gone before 5 years ago, on the way home from Primary Children's Hospital after Savannah was released from her first round of chemo. Wow, how time goes by! The girls still found it interesting. The favorite part was inspecting the huge tire behind us and looking through the view finder at the mine below the visitor's center. By the way, for anyone who hasn't been up to see this, the tire below weighs over 10,000 lbs, and costs $25,000 each. They only last one year, and each big truck takes 6 of them. Do the math on that one! WOW!

G=games with Grandma

We invited Grandma LeBaron over for dinner and games. We played Scriptionary (pictionary meets scriptures, you get the idea), and I was impressed to see how well the girls were able to draw the scripture stories. Always a good meter for finding out if your kids are paying attention in church. It was a fun night.

My own drab to fab makeover

One day, in perusing Tip Junkie's back to school ideas, I came upon an idea for a remodeled backpack. It looked way out of my league, but, as Savannah had decided to use the below bag as her school bag this year, I decided it wasn't an option not to try it. I mean, no almost-10-yr-old girl can use that as a proper bookbag. How boring and mundane and masculine. Nope, no daughter of mine will be using a man's computer bag. So, with help from here, I added a little pizazz to this boring black bag, and ended up with...

This! Ta da! I was really happy with how it turned out, and what's more, Savannah was too. She called in the 2 little girls from next door to come and see it. What a proud mama moment for me. Lots and lots of mama paychecks there peeps! She is now equipped to enter fifth grade properly, as a girl. This is the front...

and back. I sure do hope the gluestick holds!

Authorpalooza at Barnes and Noble

For our ladies' book club this month we attended Barnes and Noble's Authorpalooza, where they feature 30+ local authors, once a year. One can meet and greet, buy their books, and get them signed. I was really hoping to meet Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven, but he wasn't in attendence. Neither was Shannon Hale. Darn! But I did meet Jessica Day George and get a book signed by her. And don't forget Clifford!

We ended the night with Cold Stone ice cream and great discussion at Cynthia's house. Thanks, ladies, for a fun night! And thanks for your friendship--it means a lot to me! You guys are awesome!

N is for nature hike

Upon my sister-in-law Sallie's suggestion, we went to Payson Canyon to hike the Grotto. It is a short, family-friendly hike with a fun pool and water fall at the end. Her family also planted a letter box there, so of course we had to go find it! It was a great little hike for all of us, and even Brighton did great walking the whole way!

It is not a fun thing to get 7 people ready to anywhere, much less into the wild. YOu can see this displayed on Scott's face. He was not a happy camper by the time we arrived at our destination. He was a good sport anyhow and stood still for a picture.

We made it!

Can you tell Brighton's being held here by force?

The water was nippy, but the girls enjoyed wading out into it to feel the waterfall, anyway. I think we'll have to try this again when it's hot.