Legos

I gave up years ago trying to keep Legos contained to one area in our house.  I knew it was a battle I could never win.  Consequently, they are everywhere.  The places that I have found them and continue to find them no longer surprise me at all.  In my purse?  Sure.  In my underwear drawer?  Why not?  Makeup drawer?  Of course.

This was a first though.  Right in my drinking water.  Did it bother me?  Not at all.  I didn't even give it a second thought.  In fact, why shouldn't I find Legos in what I eat and drink?  It's really just the next step in their quest for household domination.

School lunches 2.0

Remember last year when I posted about my new lunch strategy?  Let me tell you what happened.  We did fantastic for the first half of the year.  Almost every Sunday we would get together with the boys and prep lunches for the week.  It took us only 15 minutes and we were done.  It was great!

At some point though, as we were bagging stuff left and right I realized how many sandwich bags we were using each week.  A lot.  I started to feel guilty about how wasteful we were being.

So, sometime after the start of the new year, I bought these lunch boxes and started using them instead of baggies.  The problem with the boxes, is that it is a little harder to prepare lunches ahead of time.  So other than a few things that I bought that already came in individual servings, I started making the boys sandwiches again each morning.  Blah.  I don't like that.

I recently started about how I can make this easier... at least when it comes to making sandwiches ahead of time.  That is the most time-consuming part.  I remembered taking a cupcake decorating class a few years ago from a lady who bakes/decorates cupcakes professionally.  She told us that she will often bake a batch and put them directly into the freezer.  She claimed that they will last a month in the freezer uncovered and not dry out.

If that is actually the case, then surely I can make sandwiches, put them in a sealed bin and have them still be edible for only a week right?  That is what I will find out.  I found some freezer containers at Smith's, and have made 2 levels of sandwiches with some wax paper in between.  Each morning I can grab a few and put them into their lunch boxes. We will see if I get any complaints.

Fail

I tried so hard.  I really did.  I went out early, bought the boys a bunch of school clothes from Old Navy, threw them in the corner of my laundry room and forgot about them until the day before school.  I checked that off my list and put it out of my mind.

I should have had the boys try on the clothes to see if they actually fit right after I bought them.   Instead, I decided to wait until the day before.  That was a big mistake.

Owen tried on all of the clothes (size 8/9) and rejected them all.  Keep in mind he will be 10 in a month. They were too big for his taste.  He prefers skimpy clothes.  This shouldn't have surprised me in the least.  I cannot buy anything for him that doesn't involve a tear or two from him.  He is incredibly picky and once he finds something he likes, he will reject everything else and wear the same 2 things over and over and over.  Fail.

So, with my frustration mounting because Owen is refusing to wear clothes that are his size and that fit him, I move onto Chasey.  Fail again. The clothes labeled size 6/7 are way too big for my 7 year old.  I should know this.  I do know this because he is a little guy and he has always worn sizes that are smaller than his age.

We move onto Bennett.  Can you guess the result?  Fail.  The jeans I bought him were too low in the back when he sat down.  Why on earth do they make boy's jeans low rise?  I don't understand this at all.

So, I drag them into the car and head back down to Old Navy to exchange clothes and buy them a few things that they like and that actually fit.  Just me, my kids and the rest of Utah County.

Something to Remember

Bennett started 7th grade today.  It's a big transition going from Elementary school to Middle school and Bennett was a bit nervous about it.  So was I, to tell you the truth.  He was worried about opening his locker, getting lost amongst all the kids and having hard classes.

I was excited to hear about his first official day today when he came home, and was relieved (I think both of us were) when he reported that he didn't get lost and he was able to open his locker without help.

The next big question I asked was who did he eat lunch with?  He told me that instead of going over to eat with his friends, he saw a new kid that was eating alone, introduced himself and sat down and ate with him.

One of Ben's strong points is his ability to make friends and his sensitivity to other people's feelings.  Unlike his introverted mother who would never feel comfortable doing this,  Ben has no problem putting himself out there.  Even when he was nervous himself and could have easily gone to eat with his friends.  So proud of him.

When Boredom Hits

Just have your friend duct tape you to the wall.

Back to School.....

Haircuts in the morning

Waffles in the Evening

The Hair

At the end of school last May, Taylor decided to grow out his hair for the entire summer.  Out is the operative word here.  It grew out and out and out.  The longer is got, the more I could see his hair trying desperately to curl.  Oh how jealous I am of that.  Taylor, not knowing what to do with hair this long would try fighting it to stay down and combed for church, but other than that he pretty much just left it alone.  He had a good 3 inches of height with this look.

"Taylor, what's the plan with your hair?" I would ask every few weeks as he was really trying to work the bedhead look.  He just shrugged and said "I don't know."  I even made suggestions to him about not fighting the curl but embracing it.  He didn't go for that.  I can't imagine why he wouldn't listen to his mother's suggestions on hair styles.

   

Demolition Derby

Even though we were an hour late to the derby due to a terrible accident on the highway, we still made it in time to see lots of crashing and rollovers.  The perfect end to summer!

The Fire Marshall

When building a cabin, you know you've got a lot of work ahead of you when the fire code documents are bigger than your cabin plans.  That's what our builder found out when he went to apply for our building permit last year.

Ever since,  he has had to put a lot of effort into figuring them all out and making sure we are compliant.   The rules are plentiful and yet a bit vague,  so our builder has asked a lot questions to make sure we are doing everything right.   I think he and the Fire Marshall are on a first name basis.  Not only do we have regular building inspections from the county, we also have the Fire Marshall coming up to inspect as well.

Here are 2 examples.  See the beautiful neon green color?  That is exterior sheet rock.  We are required to put sheet rock on the cabin before we put on the cedar siding.  Why?  Because sheet rock is not flammable.  Makes perfect sense right?  Once the cedar is on, we have to apply yet another product to the cedar to make it flame retardant.

Example 2
Here is Scott in the giant forklift trimming trees that are right near our cabin.  The rules say that you can't have any branch closer than 10ft to the cabin.  Scott hopped onto the forklift and I lifted him up about 30 feet, so he could trim.  We haven't even gotten to the shrubbery yet and there are another set of rules for those.  We have learned that all these rules are in place because they don't want your cabin burning down the forest.  Not vice versa.  They could care less if your cabin burns down.

What's next with the fire code rules?  I think the next thing on our list is what we can use to build our decks.  Of course, they need to be made of some product that is fire proof, and if not fireproof, you need fire sprinklers on them.   Metal or Trex maybe?  Here's the crazy part.  They consider redwood to be fireproof.  How bizarre is that?  Hence the many questions that our builder gets to figure out.

Bringing back the movie night

Several years ago we decided to have a weekly Sunday movie night to introduce the boys to all the Disney girlie movies out there.  We figured to be semi well rounded they should at least see them once.  That, or at least be able to impress their future girlfriends with their knowledge of these movies.

About a month ago, after watching our kids struggle during Sunday ("I'm bored, He's bugging me, What can I do?")  we decided to bring it back.  This time our theme has been oldies but goodies.  We've tried to watch something that is old enough that they will most likely not watch it on their own.  For the most part it has been a success with only a few complaints thrown in here and there.  We have noticed that most of the older movies are slower paced and more difficult to get into.  But, the boys have enjoyed watching them.  We will even hear them singing some of the songs in the days following.

It's been fun trying to explain to them when these films were made, so they get an idea about how old some of them really are....  "This movie was made during WWll."  Bennett was especially interested in this since he has quite the interest in all things war related, especially WWll.

It's also been fun to tell them that these movies were popular back then, just like Avengers is popular now.  "See how much film has changed?"

The only exception has been Owen.  We have watched several black and white movies and he complains that the black and white ones give him headaches.  Scott and I try not to laugh when he says this.

So far this is what we have watched

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - 1968
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - 1963
Arsenic & Old Lace - 1944
The Kid - 1921
Duck Soup - 1933

Coming up this week:
A Night at the Opera - 1935

Paper put to good use

Stowed under my bed are large sheets of paper that I use for making books.  I have enough of it, that my boys every so often will use them for various art or drawing projects. This past summer Taylor and Bennett have put them to good use.

The other day Bennett drew up a list of his basketball dream team and taped it to his wall.

Several months ago, Taylor started reading all the books on Lord of the Rings.   He was starting to get confused about who was related to who and so he decided to draw up a genealogy chart so he could keep track.  Nobody can say he hasn't been working on family history.  Just not his.  Oh and it's fiction. :)

One more time

I think we will call the wood hauling completed for the summer.  After another full day, the area up the road and around the cabin looks much better.  Plus, we are exhausted.  We haven't even touched the rest of our 9 acres, but that is for many more summers to come.

Owen got really dirty and tired this time. 

Swim Team - Done!

Even though I had a great carpool this summer, I am glad the daily swim practices are over!  Owen did great, ended up with a bunch of ribbons and a really nice tan!

Getting ready to race!