The beginnings of a great summer

I'm going to try something different for June. It's already been such a busy month that I feel like it might work better if I try to go week by week.

Last Saturday we got to visit a friend, who recently moved, for a little birthday get together. It was wonderful to hang out, but made me sad all over again that they moved. It felt like we packed an entire summer into one day: bike ride, park, spash pad, water balloon fight, cupcakes,bubbles, playing in the dirt, and at the end of the day eating out because we were too tired to go home and cook. It was a dream.

Alex loved this scooter but needed some serious help

How cute are they all long-boarding back to the house to get the vehicles and rescue us from the walk back

Church the next day...

After attempting to interpret with a squirmy baby in my lap, I went and put Alex in the middle of the "baby circle", and after church a friend sent me this picture. I'm so grateful for all the people who help raise my kids.

This is before we even left the church parking lot. She won't put her seatbelt on until she takes all her clothes off. I get it, it's hot, but come on, girl.

Alex just hanging out and being adorable. Speaking of Alex, in April he turned one and had taken a step or two ever, then in May he started to take maybe 3 or so steps at a time throughout the day, then last week he really took off and now he walks more than he crawls. I love his cautious wobbly steps and the look of concentration as he tries to keep steady.

I will never get tired of walking in on these scenes

Tuesday was my birthday! I'm 28 for anyone who's counting and I celebrated be doing all the normal things. Adaline went to her friend's kindergarten graduation and was gone for most of the day, I had a couple friends over for our weekly ASL practice, I tried to convince Adaline to go to dance class while she cried because she wanted to keep playing with her friend, I bought Costco hot dogs for dinner because I didn't want to cook, and I ate cheesecake and opened presents with my family. Expecting it to be a normal day means that I loved getting texts and phone calls throughout the day wishing me happy birthday, I was surprised when a friend brought cookies and a sweet note, and I loved opening cards from family members. I'm so lucky to have had another year with all the amazing people I get to call my friends and family, they are truly the best.

Since we bypassed all the end of school year festivities due to homeschool, I think it was extra fun for Adaline to tag along and celebrate with her friend. 

The boys trying to pass the time without their leader (Adaline)

Matthew even fell asleep-he hardly knows what to do without his big sister.

Waiting for Adaline to decide to go to dance class.

The boys and I took a walk exploring the block while we waited for her since there was no longer time for anything else.

He's so cute I could eat him.

The only candles he could find, I guess. 

And then we finished celebrating by taking out the vanity. Woo!

I Wednesday I chose to be a fun mom and we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum free day with a couple friends. My kids love coming here, but I don't love the drive, so I have to give myself a pat on the back whenever I suck it up and just do it. It was worth it, of course, and even the two hour drive home stuck in traffic didn't seem so bad because Matthew and Adaline engaged in conversation with me the whole way while the little boys slept. It was a rare treat. In the evening, I had activity days and we played Telestrations-I need to get that game!

On Thursday we had one of Adaline's friends from Foothill and her mom and sister over to play. It was fun to see Adaline reconnect with a friend from school and her mom and I could chat all day.

On Friday, the boys weren't napping and I needed to run a couple errands. While we were at Target, I quickly remembered why we don't go there very often. In addition to the kids trying to legitimately play baseball in the middle of the aisle and trying on every pair of shoes, I also have 15 pictures of things they want to buy that we're going to "talk to dad about when we get home." Whew, this parenthood thing is no joke.

Getting some summer necessities

The sports aisle is all his dreams come true

Yesterday was full of errands and yard work. I donated blood in the morning-basically a vacation to be alone and out of the house for that long- and picked up some groceries. Then we worked in the yard for a bit, dropped off donations, hazardous waste, and recycled our cans and bottles. In the evening we worked on cleaning off the office desk. It was uneventful, busy, and productive-three of my favorite things. 

Today felt crazy. Andrew always has meetings before church and it's up to me to get all of the kids dressed and to the church. I didn't get up when I should have, the big kids slept in, and then Matthew didn't want to go to church or get dressed. Everyone was taking their sweet time to eat breakfast. I got frustrated and lost my temper when I came out to the van for the second or third time and found that Matthew had unbuckled himself while I was inside. Multiple kids were asking to just stay home and I didn't have a good reply. Suddenly, I had the thought that Satan was really working on me, trying to get me to give up and trying to keep us from going to church. At that moment I realized being late was not a reason to raise my voice at my kids, and that I would rather be late than to drive to church in awkward silence while I felt bad for the way I had talked to my kids. So I stopped. I unbuckled Matthew and held him while he cried. I told him I was sorry and that I shouldn't have yelled at him. I asked for his forgiveness then helped him get buckled back up. Then I hugged Michael-he had been hitting me with a water gun because he didn't like how I was treating Matthew and I scared him when I took the gun away. I held him and told him I was sorry then helped him get buckled too. We didn't leave the house until 9 (and then I had to drive back to make sure I'd closed the garage since I felt so scattered) and I still had to convince Matthew to put his clothes on once we got to church. All of my kids were noisy and acting out during sacrament meeting and Matthew refused to go to primary and was distracting while he played with Alex in Relief Society. It was difficult to get them in the van to go home. BUT we went to church! We chatted about the upcoming temple dedication and listened to primary songs on the drive. As we sat in the foyer waiting for the sacrament, my kids mostly sat still and folded their arms. We made another memory to reinforce that in our family we go to church on Sundays. My kids could hear hymns about Christ being sung, and see the pictures of Christ on the walls around the church. It was far from a perfect Sunday morning, but we showed up. We made our offering. And we're going to try to be a little better next time.