Sunday Journals

I decided we have been too lax about journal writing at our house. I have not encouraged it as I should.

I have adorable journals from when Carly and Rachel were young. I'd have them draw a picture and I'd write around it in their words as they'd explain it to me.

Some of the kids write here and there but most are not consistent. I decided that right after church would be a good time. We get home and raid the fridge for leftovers. Mark stays at the church for a couple hours doing bishopric business and so as soon as all have had a little lunch to tide them over until "Sunday Dinner"which is usually about 4-5-6.... whenever Mark has a meeting break which varies from Sunday to Sunday we could all spend a little quiet time writing. It will be a start.

Today we made our journals. I picked up a ton of 50¢ composition books last fall. We got out our spray adhesive, (extremely handy stuff!) scrapbook paper, fancy hole punches and some embellishments and got to work being creative.

This is how they turned out.....

Carly got frustrated because she kept making silly little mistakes like cutting the paper the wrong way or gluing a piece down too early, etc.

She stuck with it and didn't give up and ended up with a really cute journal

Rachel made one too but she wrapped it up to give to a friend for her birthday before I got the camera out. She's going to make hers later. But this is the picture of her that will be in the November New Era question and answer section so look for her.....

I'm sure you can't read any of them but the stickers are mostly sports related. The ones on the front say "Baseball" and "winners never quit and quitters never win".

Inside the little silver frame is a little smiley face and word bubble things that say "not me!" and "huh?"

Samantha has inherited her mother's indecisiveness and was the LAST one (by a long shot) to choose her papers.

Samantha's inside page was a solid green and then she put flower stickers ALL OVER. But because of the aforementioned slowness she wasn't finished with it when I took pictures. You'll just have to imagine it.....

Mason went for a "hawaiian theme" with surfboards on the front and palm trees on the inside pages.

Here's the back...

the inside...

wait for it-

Ta-da!

Samantha's cheesy vacation

The first week of August Samantha got to go on her very own vacation. Her Uncle David and Aunt Jena invited her to stay with them for 4 days of fun. It was to be her first time away from home all on her own. She caught a ride down to their house with another Aunt and uncle who were traveling through the area. She got to stay for 4 days and 3 nights. An only child to be doted on & adored. She never gets that here.

As much as I do love and adore her, being #4 of 5 makes that individual attention thing hard to come by. It's the very reason I used to love spending the night at my grandma & grandpa Lowe's house when I was a kid. I used to sleep over all the time and I'd have my own bowl of cheesepuffs and my own can of soda. They always had 6-packs of store brand Lemon-lime and root beer in the cupboard. Grandpa would play go fish with me and I'd watch the movie of the week with them. I'd stay up late and when they'd tuck me in, Grandpa would sit on the bed and tell me sheepherding stories about bears and loneliness and beans from when he was a boy. I was #3 of 6 and I loved that feeling of being the only one. It was as hard to come by for me as I'm sure it is for Samantha. I loved & still love the chaos and camaraderie that comes with being #3 of 6 and I hope Samantha loves that about her place in our family too.

But that alone time is sweet. That being made to feel special by loved ones is so important. I'm so grateful she has people who love her like that. Like I did.

She arrived noonish on a Monday. I got an email at 2:14 pm with a picture and a sentence:

Uncle Dedo wrote;

"I asked Sam what she wanted for lunch and she said cheese. So I gave her, her very own block...much to her delight."

Samantha couldn't believe he was serious. She told me she asked for confirmation "like 20 times".

Besides her own block of cheese he made her a bacon and cheese sandwich because you know... "you can't just have a block of cheese for lunch"

Samantha reports the sandwich was was "crispy, parmesan-y and YUMMY".

She was very excited about the fact that they ate through 3 lbs of bacon in 3 days. Overall she was fed very, very well and talks often of the amount of bacon and cheese consumed.

Here's a few of her most memorable cheesy vacation meals:

BACON and CHEESE sandwich

Pioneer woman's Ranch style chicken (with BACON and CHEESE on top!)

Crepes w/ strawberries, whipped cream, different jams and jellies

Mongolian BBQ

BACON, eggs and toast breakfast

goldfish crackers

Some of her memorable Cheesy vacation moments are:

"I got to eat DOWNSTAIRS on a TV tray and watch so you think you can dance"

"I Played the Wii: Mario party, with Bethany, Gwenyth & Catherine."

"I got to take Bo and Luke on walks"

"I visited the cupcake shop where Auntie Jena worked and picked out a strawberry shortcake cupcake"

"On Wednesday Grandma came to see me and brought me a cupcake necklace and we just talked about what i've been doing in my life"

"Jena took me to get a manicure. It was really cool and made my fingers look nice. It was because of a deal we made a long time ago because I used to chew my fingernails and my skin on my fingers."

"I got to go night swimming. I never did that before. It was cool because there was a jacuzzi and there was foam in it. I put a beard on uncle David and a moustache. We did dives and cannonballs"

"I got to go swimming at the washington rec center. There was a giant bucket. It's really cool. There's a lazy river but it goes outside! Then there's this big huge slide. Huge. It twists and turns and swirls. IT's so fun"

They made it here on Thursday night just in time to sneak into Jacob's Arrow of light pack meeting. Jacob (and I) appreciated how hard they tried to get here in time. They braved freeway fires, torrential rain and having to drive sloooow. The best part was not that they drove Samantha all the way home (which I did like very much) but that we got to keep David and Jena here for 4 days.

They had several events in our neck of the woods, a best friend's birthday, a wedding, etc. They came and went and visited and it was wonderful. They were the first of our stream of guests in August.

Jena taught us how to make these cute poppy style flowers for our hair.

One thing I gotta say about my sister Jena...

She always looks so put-together, so fashionable, so cute!

Thanks for sharing some of your secrets with us.

We watched Jena's Les Miserables dream cast DVD (even Mark...) and on their last night here we got to surprise Jena with a little impromptu Birthday party since we wouldn't' be with her on her real Birthday on August 17th.

They had been gone to their wedding soiree all day and so we made chocolate cupcakes and put up streamers and baloons and made cards and wrapped a present.

Jena blew out our candles and we sang happy birthday. ( Very well, I might add! )

Rachel made RFP

(Rachel's famous popcorn)

They've heard it's fame. Now they've tasted. Now they know why it is RFP.

David took a turn at wrestling Mason.

Mason does not give up easily.

He does concede after watching the video that "uncle Dedo so won that time but wait til next time! "

I hope there is a next time for all of the above!

a little advice for Bice...

Who doesn't love a little Quacker wisdom? I know I do.

I have my beloved sister, Maury, to thank for introducing me to Ms. Bice.

However...

I have a little advice for Jeanne, who is a big proponent, if not the originator, (who really knows who came up with this gem?) of the phrase:

"Pull yourself up by your brastraps!"

I have something to add.

"unless your underwire broke and is gouging you every time you move. Then stay down Girls. STAY DOWN!"

yeah. That's how my first day of work/school went! Today will be better!

Arrow of Light

Jacob had his final pack meeting as a cub scout this month. He has graduated from Webelo to 11-yr old scouts. After 3 years as a cub scout mom, I think I finally understand the program and will be able to help Mason more efficiently.

We had fun with Jacob's webelo year. He had really, REALLY great leaders who were always willing to help and listen and did lots of great activities. This summer Jacob and I looked through the book and saw he had done a lot but we had enough time if he wanted to that we could set a goal to earn all 21 badges. I had to keep asking him through the summer "do you want this goal?" because sometimes it seemed like I was more interested in the activities than he was. I didn't want this to be my goal. I wanted him to want it. He would affirm that he did want to reach his goal and would try harder. It was kind of like "feast or famine". I would find a day that was free from responsibility and we would spend the major part of the day working on requirements. I think that made it a little harder on him since it wasn't spread out more but that worked for me and lets' face it.... What works for mom is what works for mom......

Some of my favorite badges to work on with him were scientist, craftsman and athlete and showman. He got aquanot while on vacation with my brother's family in July and when my Dad took him boating in june. I felt a little pushy sending the requirements to my brother and saying....

"if you're near a pool, he needs to do this, this and this" but they got them done. He was able to complete most of his artist in school with a great art program he had at Cherry Hills Elem. in 5th grade.

Besides earning all 21 badges he also set a goal to earn the special 100 year anniversary patch and ribbons and his arrow of light. Some good friends of ours who have been big scouters for years were willing to come do an Arrow of light ceremony at his last pack meeting. They have a fake fire and these indian costumes and this big indian head with light-up feathers that they use to tell a story. It was fun and we appreciated their willingness to give of their time and knowledge.

Some of their props for the ceremony

They invited all the children in the room to come sit around the "campfire" to listen to the story.

Jacob crossing the bridge from cub scouts to boys scouts

and posing with "Akelah" and "Kind eyes" a.k.a. John and Tonya..

He worked on his craftsman projects with a good friend from another ward and his dad since Mark and I do not have a lot of tools. I found the idea for the webelo keepsake online and I think it's a great way to keep track of all their cub scout stuff once they're finished. This is how it turned out. After he made the basic frame with his friend, and after he had his final pack meeting, we took all the badges off his shirt & we glued the badges and belt loops on the wood and hammered little nails in and then pulled them out and stuck his webelo's pins in the holes around the edges. We pounded in a couple of nails in the bottom corners to hang some stamped leather badges he got from daycamp on. Jacob really wanted to get as much as he could on his keepsake. He kept his 100 yr badge because he can wear it on his boy scout uniform.

Here's how it looks hanging on his bedroom wall with the shelf he made in den meeting. He had to make 2 wood projects for Craftsman and these are them. I managed to find the right kind of hooks from Home depot that are shown in the Webelo's handbook and after seeing all the things my sister has accomplished all by herself in her newly purchased home on her blog, I went and found some screws and marched myself upstairs and hung it last week. It has been sitting on my computer armoir for several months but now, it is on his wall. Thanks for the inspiration Maury.

I'm a little sad because as a boy scout I will be less-involved in his requirements. I know it's also a relief of responsibility but it was fun to work with him on these accomplishments. I think cub scouts requirements can be a great opportunity for quality time together. It takes some effort to figure it all out and I've made lots of mistakes but now I'm ready for Mason...

He'll turn 8 in 10 months and we'll start this all over again!

Smokin' old spice

Here is another old spice parody for your viewing pleasure.

This one won't make any sense unless you are a Lowe, Bocanegra or a Nelson and are intimately familiar with the phrase "I don't think you should talk like that....it makes me think you're gonna smoke a coffee!" infamously uttered by a 6 yr old Carly who still.... 10 yrs later... can not live it down.

I think she's finally embraced the principle; "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I referenced it in this post so read up if you have a desire to understand....

An old Spice inspired Tribute to Uncle David & Aunt Jena

My kids are obsessed with the new series of Old Spice commercials like this and this and this BYU library copycat. After an early Birthday present to Jacob, from their visiting Auntie & uncle, of an entire TUB of Red Vines they got creative and give you this.......

help in the kitchen

How you know Mason has been helping in the kitchen.....

You open the fridge to find the peanut butter

and when you open the cupboard to put it away...

You find the pickles.

Leaving home: The rest of the story...

Christy requested more about "Leaving home" so here is the rest of the story!

I actually don't remember what exactly prefaced Mason's sudden decision to pack up and leave. It seems like it was something about feeling "too little" to do something. That's been a big theme for him this summer.

Sometimes he uses the baby card and tells us he is too little for the job at hand. Sometimes it's him being told by his older siblings he's too little to do something. Sometimes it's just being told he can't do something he wants to do and he throws a fit and shows us he's too little!

Last night he came up and got in bed with me after I went to bed and said "I'm worried about 2nd grade life Mom". He wasn't sure he was ready for it. I told him that I knew he would be ready in exactly 3 weeks when school would be starting. I told him that last month he definitely wasn't ready but he was getting older and more ready every day. Today we worked on some tricky math so he could see how ready he was.

As for how I handled the running away....

Let's just say it wasn't my first time.

Carly ran away when we lived in Brigham city. She was about 6 or 7 and she got pretty upset with life at home with her tyrannical mother, her pesky little sister and her baby brother who was getting all the attention in the house with his demanding personality.

Carly packed her suitcase with a few extra clothes and a LOT of plastic food. I had recently read an article in Parent's magazine or talked to a friend about just this type of thing because I remember thinking "oh! I know just what to do... I just read about this"

I handled it the same way. I hugged her and told her I loved her and would miss her and could I fix her some food for the road.

She also was a little surprised by my acceptance of her plan. It really takes the wind out of their sails. They expect a big scene and when you don't provide one. Whoomph! Deflated.

She took her lunch and left home. She had the foresight to put on a pair of shoes. She's a much better planner than Mason!

She made it to the corner (which was a little further than Mason's stopsign) before turning around and coming home. I had the neighbors spying for me to help me make sure she was safe. She came home with the same quietness, the same annoyance that she hadn't upset me with her declaration of independence and the same realization that she wasn't quite ready to leave home just yet.

What breaks my heart is that she's getting close now. Talking about college, her own apartment, how excited she is to get out of the house and be on her own.....

I hope I can fake it as well in 2 years as I did last week. I'll hug her and say good bye. I'll tell her I'll miss her & she can come back anytime she wants. I'll make her lunch and I'll watch her drive away. Well past the stop sign. Well past the corner.