And it's over

Owen is officially done with swim team for the summer.  It was a great experience for him and I'm really glad I signed him up.  I really thought for sure that he would start to complain early on about the number of practices he had to go to, but it wasn't until the last week that he started to ask me if he could skip a few.

Today was his last practice.  When he was done and we were headed back home, he told me he had so much fun and was going to miss it.  The last few weeks,  he has asked me if he can tryout for year round swim team.  Yikes.  There is a reason why this swim club is considered competitive.  Since Owen is playing soccer this fall,  I told him we would look at having him tryout in the winter when my schedule slows down.  So glad he had a good experience!

Summer Post #2

In no particular order


CABIN
Here is the beginnings of our road into our cabin lot.  We were hoping to have our basement dug by now, but due to some testing that needed to be done for a septic system we have been delayed.  I now know a good deal more about septic systems than I care to.   Hoping for a hole in the ground soon.

Last time we were up at our lot we noticed a ton of black caterpillars on the plants.  Owen thought it was a great idea to collect a bunch in his hands...until they started biting him.  Not a good idea.

LANDSCAPING
One of my favorite shrubs has been blooming in my yard!  They grow so fast and look gorgeous!

And speaking of shrubs I have some willows, that even though they were labeled "dwarf" when they were planted have been anything but small.  Despite my attempts to keep them trimmed, they were fighting hard against me to grow.  I didn't want to fight them anymore.  Taylor wanted to earn some money for a new phone.  Bennett decided to help him out for a few extra bucks.  We all got what we wanted.  The willows are now gone.

We haven't put down mulch in our yard in quite a few years.  I decided this was the year.  I called up a nursery and asked them how much mulch they could deliver in one load.  25 cubic yards later we had our mulch.  It's a lot of mulch.  Our yard looks so much nicer!

CHASEY
Learned how to climb our rope to the top and loves a good snowcone

VISITORS
Jaron and Michelle's family came for a visit this past week.  We had fun going up the canyon, hitting Deer Creek, a girl's breakfast, watching fireworks and just hanging out.  It is sad to see them go.

While they were here, we also celebrated Chase's 6th birthday. We had a lot of lightsabers, yelling, games, yelling, cupcakes, yelling, presents and yelling.  It was a good birthday.

A revelation:  Since we only do kid parties every other year,  I am down to planning and carrying out only 2 more.  That's it.  I will be done with little kid parties.

OWEN
Last but not least, Owen had his first swim meet.  Despite swimming with his goggles around his chin he managed to get 2nd in the 50 freestyle.  He also learned during his breaststroke race that if you opt to use a different stroke, say a scissor kick, you get disqualified.  All in all he said he had a great time and is looking forward to the next one. Swim fast Owen!



Me?  I continue to open the front door repeatedly throughout the day, fit in a few books here and there and generally just try to keep the chaos under control. Happy summer!

Straight from Owen's mouth

"Taylor knows how to speak Chinese, so he can order at Mexican restaurants."

My summer so far

We are two weeks into summer vacation and this is how it is going.

Week 1

The first week we had no schedule and just enjoyed not having a routine.  Let me re-phrase that.  The kids enjoyed it immensely.  I did not.  I ended up with a very messy, chaotic house and irritable kids who were not getting enough sleep.

To top it off, Chasey took a dive off his scooter and ended up with eight stitches on his chin.  Ouch!  The nurse at the InstaCare asked him if he had had stitches before.  Chase proudly flashed his "skorpy" wound on his arm.  He knows about stitches.

Here's the funny/not-so funny part of the stitches.  I had come home from a swim team meeting and asked Taylor where his dad was.  Taylor, without even taking his eyes off the TV screen told me he had taken Chase to the InstaCare.  "What for?"  I asked, starting to panic.   "I don't know, but Owen came in laughing" says Taylor.    That's all I got.  He had no idea.  Really?  Is that how observant you are?  I won't even start on the laughing bit.

Week 2

Week two started out a bit rough as well.  I announced that there was now a routine and it included a little bit of school work and a few jobs in the morning before the playing begins.  This was met with a lot of whining and complaining.  I am happy.  They are not.  They'll get used to it. 

I have also decided that I am in need of a butler.  Seriously, someone to just open the door every time it rings.  Non-stop I tell ya.  I'm not complaining.  Just stating a fact.  It is so nice to have a neighborhood full of kids.

I have tried to keep my schedule pretty low-key.  An art class once a week for Bennett and Owen and swim team for Owen.  That is about it.

However, the swim team will keep me busy enough.  Last winter I had the great idea of having Owen try out for the summer swim team this spring.   I thought it would be a good fit for him for several reasons.  That child has huge amounts of energy,  loves swimming,  is quite competitive when it comes to sports and surprisingly enough, the pool water does wonders for his eczema. Crazy right?  There is a legitimate theory about that, but I won't go into that here.

I had him in lessons all winter just to make sure he got on the team.   He got on and then I realized after the fact that the swim team meets to practice Monday through Friday.  MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY!  I hesitated signing him up, because I couldn't find anyone to carpool with and his practice time was at noon.  NOON!  But I talked to a few people who have had kids on the team and they encouraged me to give it a try and see if he likes it.  Plus, Scott told me he could help out with the driving.

We are two weeks into it and he loves it.  He told me he doesn't even mind leaving his friends for an hour to go practice.  And you know what he really likes about it?  Wearing the tight shorts. :)



 

The Great Room Swap

Long, long ago when we were designing the house we are now living in, I planned on having 3 bedrooms in the basement.  2 bedrooms would be for the boys to share and 1 big bedroom would be for Scott's office. 

I have always been fine with the boys sharing a room and have never felt like they needed their own.  At the last minute though, we decided that putting Scott's office downstairs near the chaos and noise was not a good idea.  He works at home full time so this wasn't an occasional office.  We opted to add a bonus room over the garage for him.  That was such a good idea!!

The third bedroom in the basement we have left empty these past 5 years with only the occasional guest staying in there.  Oddly enough, my boys have rarely asked to use that room.  The room assignments (Taylor & Bennett - Owen & Chase) have worked out remarkably well.

It has only been the past year, that I have realized my well-thought out plan was maybe not so well thought out.  The problem is, that the younger roommate doesn't go to sleep until the older roommate does.  In the case of Taylor and Bennett,  Bennett cannot go to sleep until Taylor does.  That makes absolute sense.  I wouldn't be able to go to sleep if the light was on and someone was moving around.  And if I was a kid fighting against going to sleep, this would be a great excuse. 

Here's the real problem.  Bennett is three years younger than Taylor and he needs more sleep than him.  He struggles going to sleep anyways and if he doesn't get his allotted 11 hours, watch out!  He is grumpy!  The only reason we have made it work is because Bennett is on the later school schedule.  He goes to bed later, but he can also sleep in later.

That may change this coming school year.  I have signed up the boys for the earlier schedule next Fall.  If they get it, the three younger boys will be going to school an hour earlier.

I thought about it for a month and came to the conclusion that we needed to use that third bedroom.  Taylor and Bennett would get their own rooms (2 different bed times) and Owen and Chase would move to the 3rd bedroom (They both go to bed at the same time.)

The boys had mixed reactions when I told them the "surprise."  Taylor and Bennett were thrilled to get their own room.  Owen was not happy about it and Chase was neutral.  Owen has since warmed up to it and now likes his new room.

The good news is that I can enforce the bed times.  No one has an excuse for not being able to go to sleep at their appointed time.

They are off!

After 3 years they finally came off.

Some selfies he took in the car.

The great carrot slaughter

I asked Owen to peel and chop some carrots for dinner last night.
I snapped this as quick as I could before he dashed out of the picture.