Goodbye little friend!

Heidi LOVES her binky.  It is her little friend.  We have tried hard to limit her use of it, but recently, she started hiding them, and keeping them handy for whenever she needed it.  Heidi's speech therapist's suggested that it was probably time to cut ties, just to make sure that it didn't get in the way while she is learning to talk more.  So. . .

I spent a couple of days making sure they were all gathered in but one.  And then, I  gave it the snip and left it out for her to find.  When she picked it up and popped it in, you should have seen her sad little face!  It was broken!!!  After a bit of shoulder shrugging (what happened?) and explaining that it must have broken, she made a few frowns of disappointment, then walked it right over to the trash and tossed it in, and ran off to play.  It made me sad and happy all at the same time.

The first night she whined for a few minutes but that seems to be about it.

As you can see, she is a happy, binkyless girl.  

It's always more dreadful in my mind than in reality when we pull a binky.  One step closer to waving goodbye to the baby years is probably why it's the hardest for mom.  Great job Heidi!

Love Notes

My little Emilee is forever creating little love notes and things for us.  Here are a few from the last few days.  

First, Emilee brought home that beaded necklace you see there in my drawer.  Once she got it home, she made a special "jewelery box" for it.  I told her it was cute, of course.  But I thought it was even cuter when I found it in my jewelery drawer with the rest of my necklaces later that night.  Right where it should be.

Here is a note Emilee left for me to find when I woke up this morning.  It says (in pictures) "Mom, put grapes and apples in a bag, and put them in my lunch box, and put them in my backpack."  Love it.

This is a sign Emilee made for Gordon and I to put on our bedroom door.  It says, "NO.  Can we get conversation?"  She told us to put it up when we needed a quiet room to have a conversation.  So funny.  Usually when Gordon comes home we try to take 5 minutes to "debreif" about the happenings that evening.  That's when we're supposed to use the sign.  I will try to remember to wear my red and blue ballgown when we have these conversations.  :)

And this last one is of Gordon and I on "the perfect date."  On the left you see us eating chickens, followed by the middle, which is us at the movies.  And then we'll finish off the night with frozen yogurt.  

I love the little drawings she does of us and everything around her!  I will be sad when I stop finding her love notes here and there, and wanted to remember them forever!

Stubbs Stewart State Park

This past Friday evening, we had plans to camp at Mt. Hood.  But. . . rain rain rain for 48 hours before our trip made us think twice.  We were able to call around and jump in on a cancellation at Stubbs Stewart St. Park, which was the perfect fix!

I am including this goofy picture of me so you can see the cabins in the background. . .

We had sandwiches for dinner and then roasted bread with cinnamon.  Yummy!

Then, we took the party inside and ~tried~ to play Dominos.  It was not a success.  Heidi was too determined to stack them up and knock them down.  So, that was short lived.

 Instead, we jumped around on the bunk beds.  :)

 The next morning, we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then headed out for a hike.  It was about a mile and a half.  We thought Heidi would be all over it, because she loves going on walks, but she spent the entire hike here:  She must have been tired from the slightly shorter night than usual.  It was okay because it was SO muddy and we were glad she wasn't.

 We found this little pond and had fun playing with dad's new camera phone:

And then we went home!  It was a fun, quick trip!

Back to School 2013

Well, it would seem that Summer is officially over.  I held on to the last rays of Summer time by the skin of my teeth this year.  We were literally at the lake until they closed the gates, and shoo'd us all out of the pools so they could dismantle the life guard stands.  Boo.

We did drown our sorrows in root beer floats at the annual party put on by the Fillmores.  Thanks guys!

 We did one last dive. . .

 One last cannonball. . .  and it was time for school to begin.  I think the reason that school starting was so hard for me this year is because we've had such a nice summer.  So fun.  And I never felt like the kids got into that "the dog days" zone.  They were happy the whole summer.  It was bliss.

Back to school time!  So bittersweet!  We began our preparations last weekend, shifting around the bookshelves to make each child a "cubby" to store their back pack and books.  Hopefully that will keep us a bit more organized!

 And then, off the two middle boys went.  Chandler to 2nd Grade, Mr. Purkeypile again!

 And Aidan to 5th, with Mrs. Strycker.

 The boys were happy to spot their favorite bus driver James behind the wheel.

 Back to school must be celebrated!  This year I went for an ice cream cake.  It was so easy to make and SO yummy!  Not to mention large. . .

 Heidi is not starting school, but she is starting weekly and sometimes twice weekly speech.  So, she got an extra big piece.  :)

 Here is Ethan, off to 7th Grade!  What a handsome guy he was this morning.  

 And Miss Kindergarten, 2013.  SO excited to be headed out the door!  She was up, and dressed at the crack of dawn in her outfit she's had picked out for weeks.  What a dolly.

 I told Emilee I was going to miss her today.  She said, "Don't worry mom!  I'll come back!  Just like dad.  He goes to work and then comes back."  So sweet.

 We headed out to the front porch to wait for the bus, which we are told will pull right up to the house.  We waited, and waited. . .

 and waited. . .

 and waited some more!  After we had waited 25 minutes past the time the bus office told us they would be by, I decided we'd better drive to school.  So, drive we did.

 Here she is lined up with about half her class.  As you can see, she is NOT the smallest, by a long shot!  That little one there all in pink is so tiny, she makes Emilee look BIG!

 And here she is with Mrs. Martin.  Go Emilee Go!  We are so happy for you!

And you know what?  She came right back home with a smile on her face.  

Happy Back to School!!!

Summer Time Service

This summer, we tried to think of some meaningful service that we could do for others.  This also coincided with the "summer of service" program that I helped the Primary put on.  We challenged the kids to do as many acts of service as they could, and put a ticket in their booth for each thing that they did.  Here is one of the ticket booths!

I took the big boys to the food bank where we packed frozen green and yellow "Duck Beans" for two hours in a freezing cold room.  It was so much fun the boys wanted to get back again this summer but we didn't get around to another shift.  Maybe soon. . .

The kids also each did an individual service project.  They all decided on blankets to donate to the local childrens hospital.  We were told that they especially needed fleece blankets with themes for boys that aren't toddlers.   The kids each had a budget, were armed with coupons, and we went off on several trips to Joann's to pick up the materials.  It took several tries because we were trying to use a coupon each time.  They each picked something that someone their age and gender would probably love.  

 Then, the kids helped lay out, sew, cut, and braid the edges of their blankets.  They each did a fantastic job and are really proud of their work!

 I think they are going to be sad to see them head up to the hospital, but that will make it even more meaningful, that it is something that they would have loved to keep themselves.

 Heidi liked to help too!

 

Let's see, what else?  This summer I taught the older boys to do their own laundry.  I normally do it for them, but this summer, they did EVERY load.  They sorted, pre-treated, washed, dried, and folded.  I will probably go back to laundry duty now that they are busy with school and sports, but I am happy to know that they at least know how to do it, and will probably better appreciate the fact that it is done for them.

And here is silly Aidan at the "summer of service" primary party we had last week.  We celebrated everything they'd done and did one last service project of scrubbing down the primary chairs.  So fun!

Well, that's about what we got done this summer.  I wish I had more to add to the list, but I'm pleased there was at least something!