Ahhh, June. The month that generates anxiety for me, year round. The first week out of school was RUFF. I'm not even kidding, I was depressed most of the week. The summer lay heavy on my shoulders and it was all I could do to get out of bed. The second and third weeks were considerably better due to activities that filled our days. We were out the door by 7:40am M-Th for Collin's swim team practices at Williamsfield High. Then Weston and Olive had swim lessons from 11:30-noon at Perry High School. Then it was a quick trip home to change and eat lunch before dropping the boys off at Freestone Rec Center for "Kidz Kamp" from 1-4. Olive would nap in those hours and I'd work on my Shutterfly books or clean! It was marvelous! By the time I picked the boys up it was time to start dinner and the day was nearly over. It was busy, but I Kidz Kamp saved me from losing my mind!
Of course we've done a fair amount of swimming at Grandma Cat's pool! I love this picture. Tongue pensively pushed to the side, eye on the prize, crystal water for a backdrop.
This little thang is a swimming fiend. She's been at the top of her game and simultaneously at the most dangerous level of "swimming" possible. She just has no fear. And LOVES the water. We've been working on rolling over to her back to take breaths and she's got it! I still don't take my eyes off her though. ;)
Our friend, Pres. Haws (stake president in Gallup) came into town for a wedding and stayed with us a night. We did a session in the temple and tried out LoLo's Chicken and Waffles. Now, Travis and I had had it 10+ years ago when it was just a sketchy hole in the wall in Phoenix, but this was a whole new experience! I'll be honest, I sipped away at my Fruit Punch Kool-Aid like it was crack. (Wait, can you sip crack?) And thoroughly enjoyed our chicken, waffles, burger and mac 'n cheese. (Leave me alone, I was starving!) Best, of course, was the company though.
I think this girlie has gotten herself a reputation for her hair- dids at church. I LOVE doing her hair. If I had 3 girls' hair to do, we might start streamlining, but with only one pretty lady, it's fun to spend some time on a braid or curls.
Oh what, you don't appreciate green salsa all over your car?? Stupid tupperware. Stupid lids. Ughhhh. Thank the heavens for all weather mats and a garden hose!
Now, I ask you, does it get any cuter than this?!!!
Our view 4 mornings a week for the past 4 weeks.... swim team practice!
I'm really proud of Collin. He's never had legit, consecutive swim lessons. We've never lived in a place for him to take them! But he can get across a pool, so I signed him up. He didn't know a soul and wasn't a confident swimmer, but he went mostly willingly. The very first week he was spotlighted as "Barracuda of the Week" for his outstanding effort and performance! I was so glad he got that boost to help him feel better because he definitely struggled compared to the other kids. His only complaint has been how cold it is to wait in line until your turn. I think that's the bane of every swim teamers existence. ;)
Olive and Weston have been champs to wait through these practices. I usually bring cereal in bags and a spray bottle and comb to do Olive's hair. We vie for a spot under the canopys for shade and finish off our waterbottles every time. The whole thing is quite a production.
Swim meets are every Thursday evening. We leave at 4:45pm to get there for warm ups at 5, then wait in the heat until his turn at 6 and 6:30ish. Usually home by 7pm. I cannot overstate how bewildered I was at the first meet!! It was CRAZY. Parents spread out over every last inch of space. Huge canopies and tents, coolers and chairs. It looked like a freakin' refugee camp. I wandered around with my tiny, ruffled umbrella, chairs, waterbottles, and children, probably looking as lost and forlorn as a new missionary in a foreign land. I watched crazy-eyed parents lean over the pool, screaming as their 6 year old swam and wondered what extreme alter- universe we had just entered.
I take issue with the fact that they give ribbons to ALL the kids, no matter what place they get, but I wasn't mean enough to take them away from Collin. (I actually know parents that do that.) His first meet he got 5th and 6th place. (But only because there were only 6 or 7 kids racing.)
He was STOKED.
He got a ribbon and that was awesome to him.
Later that week when we were swimming at my mom's I heard him boast with has much swagger as a 7 year old can muster, "Watch how a 5th and 6th place CHAMPION does it!!"
I. died.
If only he knew.
From there he continued to get 6th, 7th, and 8th place ribbons and reality started setting in. Poor guy. I felt responsible. If we had been able to get him in decent lessons his whole life I'm sure he would be a strong swimmer. Oh well. Disappointment builds character, right? I hope. We tried to build him up for just trying, not giving up, and doing his best. Overall, swim team has been a good experience.
I was on the Pampered Chef website and noticed they had recipe tab. They looked yummy.
Flatbread pizza night was a bust from the family's perspective but I loved it. I made homemade dough and topped this one with brie, grapes, rosemary and a balsamic glaze. The other one was your basic Margarita pizza.
This Mexican corn is a MUST, people!! Rolled in mayo, Parmesan cheese, cilantro, lime and cayenne pepper, I was practically making out with mine. I made a Jamaican jerk chicken salad to go with it. Now ooohhh and ahhh and know that since Father's day I've literally cooked once. I think it's what you call burn out.
On a Friday morning with no swim team or lessons we decided to go to the Gilbert Historical Museum. It was completely empty, with a lonely man behind the desk, excited to get human interaction. The kids were pretty interested in the exhibits but I was fascinated. It was all about the very beginnings of Gilbert. The farming, the town life, the one and only doctor. The original families, the blacksmith, the schoolhouse. The museum itself was the town's elementary school for decades. That was probably the reason it all captured my attention so much. It still had the original wood floors.
Now imagine a bunch of 21st century kids seeing this and wondering what on earth it could be! When Collin read "telephone", he looked at me with the most puzzled expression. I felt like I was 80 years old explaining the rotary dial to them. If Olive only knew that her namesake used to work for the telephone company, connecting calls for people. As they each picked up the receiver and held it to their ear, their faces registered an amusement akin with being allowed to play on a rocket ship. How has so much changed in so little a time?!
To think that my great grandparents drove cars like this!!
My favorite room!! Betcha can't guess why! ;)
Weston was legitimately interested in this old school reader and wanted me to sit down and read it to him. Dick and Jane. It's a real thing.
Speaking of reading, I thought it would be fun to start reading some classics to the kids at night before bed. I started with this 80's copy of Charlotte's Web that my Grandma gave to me when I was a child. The boys loved it and looked forward to it each night. I was surprised at how advanced the vocabulary was. And I knew that so many old fashioned references were going right over their heads. Such as a drainboard. From reading my Grandmother's biography, I at least knew what getting "the itch" was. Collin was pretty alarmed when Fern's brother, Avery, grabbed his gun before catching the school bus. "You can't take a gun to school, he cried!" I liked the themes throughout. Of protecting the small and looked over. Of being a good friend. Of parents needing to relax and let their children live out their phases. And of looking for the best in people... ahem, pigs. Whenever Charlotte wrote something good about Wilbur in her web, Wilbur tried his darnedest to live up to what she said. He wanted to be everything that his dear friend was purporting him to be. Isn't that case for all of us? Speak highly of others,whether they are what you say or not, might be the very compliment that will inspire change and growth. I really loved that.
When Charlotte finally died, I got misty eyed and the boys got solemn. Collin tentatively whispered that the chapter made him sad.
Books are magical.
Why did it take me so long to start doing this?
Once we finished it, we spent a Friday evening watching the movie. Now we're on to The BFG!
Collin's school gave him a coupon for a free kids meal to Buffalo Wild Wings. Tricky school. Like I want to go eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. How did they know it was his favorite food! After weeks of begging, we finally succumbed.
Scarlett Bo Barlett turned 1!!! She had quite the pool party to celebrate! We sure love that 13 lb, one year old!!
Trav's sister, Aubrey took him to a Diamondback's game. Just so happened to be Native American night. Complete with tribal dances and Aztec patterned hats. Irony is my favorite.
Look what Collin drew during church one day. I died when I saw it! Preach it, Collinator!
Olive is starting that in-between stage where she could go without a nap some days but still typically needs one. She was protesting hard after church so I decided to let her stay up and watch a movie with her brothers.
Olive and Weston got to take swim lessons for two weeks through the city. Olive LOVED hers. She was absolutely thrilled every day that she got to go. I felt so bad that I wasn't able to sign her up for another session but their website is terrible and wouldn't let me on in time. She is far and away our most water loving child. A fish by nature.
We took a trip to the library and it just so happened they were having a special "Kid Olympics" going on. Suddenly their bad attitudes about the library turned into "Thanks, Mom, for taking us!! That was so fun!!" Uh huh. You bet. Olive kept a careful eye on that wolf looking thing. I asked him what he was and he shook his head in dismay. Sorry mascot. This mom isn't so spry on her sports teams.
Now here's the part where you all give me Mom of the Year award. I took them to the PARK! Yes, the park. In 100+ degree weather. The boys spent two weeks going to a Kidz Kamp every afternoon and we had to drive by Freestone Park to get there. Every day they drooled over the park and BEGGED me to take them. After two weeks, I gave in.
It was madly hot. Waves of heat seemed to emanate from every surface. I retreated to some shade and marveled that they were lasting even 10 minutes.
Then, get this. They saw the train tracks and decided that running down them was loads of fun. Surely, they'll run for 30 seconds and get too hot, I thought. Nope, off they went! Back and forth and back... until there wasn't any forth and I realized they were making a full loop around the whole.park. They were sweating so much and had such beat red faces that everyone stared at us when we walked into Kidz Kamp 10 minutes later. I feel like my life centers around doing things with my kids that will "wipe them out".. you know so they're mellow for a minute. Maybe sleep extra hard that night. It always backfires. They're still running circles around me and I'm the one passed out.
We met up with Shelley one afternoon at Krazy Air. That place is by far my favorite trampoline park. We can spend 2 hours there and the kids never get bored or come back to whine at me. I wish it wasn't so far away! Then Shelley was nice enough to invite us over to their place to swim. We all had to borrow suits and towels. Then they made us stay for dinner. I mean, really twisted our arms. Wink wink. (This was two days after Father's Day and I was still in a cooking coma.) They barbecued then it was back out to the pool with dripping waffle cones while the sun set. A pretty perfect summer evening.
Bath tub paints!
We had an FHE night on missionaries. I wanted to spotlight Trav's mission a bit, so I made paella for dinner and had them ask him questions about Spain. After our lesson, we wrote letters to a friend from Farmington that's serving in Argentina. Then I made flan for dessert!
Our kitchen chairs were looking pretty shabby so I decided to reupholster them. It had been 8 years after all! I thought this would be a day project. Insert sarcastic laughing. It would have been done in 2 weeks except that Shelley happened to come over in the middle of it and casually asked if we were redoing the wood too. I said no and she continued, "Oh, you're just trying to keep it as original as possible?" Now my wheels started turning as I was catching onto her subtle hints. She suggested we paint it all white. ALL WHITE?! I couldn't wrap my mind around it. I obviously lack the interior decorating flair that my womb-mate encompasses. She finally got me on board with white chairs and a dark stained table top. I knew Trav would be THRILLED with this change of plans. He had so loved the first remodel.
Luckily, by borrowing an electric sander from my dad and Casey's professional paint sprayer, the job went much faster than the first time. The only big downfall was the 110+ heat. This poor man BAKED. He spent two full Saturdays working on it and when he brought in the finished product I almost fell on the floor!! I couldn't believe how beautiful it looked!! Such a drastic difference! It really spruced up our whole kitchen and brought us into the current decade. ;) I think this taught me that I need more ideas from Shelley and a longer "honey-do" list for Trav, haha. They are a good team!
Father's Day!!!!
I tried making some extra special crepes for breakfast. I made a blueberry/raspberry/blackberry reduction to layer with a cream cheese spread for this one. Then I made homemade vanilla pudding to layer with strawberries and nutella. They turned out really yummy!
Following in her daddy's footsteps.
Even in the heat, I love walking to church!
If these kids only knew how lucky they were to have Travis as their dad! He is side by side with me in this parenting business. He has never made me feel like the kids were my responsibility while he just takes care of the "providing" part. He has changed diapers, gotten up with them in the night, given baths, shooed me out the door for countless girl's nights and "been there" in a million other ways. I would absolutely be in the loony bin without him.
I sent him off to visit at his parent's house after church while I finished up with several cooking things. When I was finally ready to go, I got the car started to cool off while I took out multiple loads of food. By the time I hopped in the car, there was flaming hot air blowing on me from the vents. What the heck?! No air conditioning, people!! And it was 120 degrees outside!!!! I was trapped in a LITERAL hell for 15 minutes as I drove to our parents. And when I got there, I discovered the banana pudding casserole had spilled out of it's container. Say it with me.... WINNING.
I am so blessed to have Wayne for a father in law! He is such a good, wonderful man.
We had carne asada tacos for dinner that were AH-mazing!
It was going to be Jefferson's birthday that week so we had his favorite dessert, pizookis!
I was really glad Grandpa and Grandma got to join us for dinner too. I love my Grandpa. Such a humble, easy to please, happy guy to have around!
Just a sample of the crazy in my life. Trav came home with those roller-skates saying his mom had found them in the deep recesses of her closet. I guess they were a long forgotten Christmas gift from his childhood!! In mint condition!
Marcie was going to be out of town on Jeffers birthday, so we celebrated a couple days early. They have had this tradition of getting pedis and eating sushi so who are we to mess with tradition?! It was Travis's first ever pedicure. Woo! Woo!!
RA for the win.
How much do I love these siblings of mine?! Let me count the ways!!
June is a great month for birthdays!!! Grandma Ann turned 82 on the 30th. Leah was going to be out of town, so she organized a lunch the Friday before. We went to Gecko Grill then got treats at the Sweet Tooth Fairy and went back to her house to indulge and visit. It was SO NICE. All of it! I loved every second. It's so great to be "old" and have grown up visits with my cousins and Grandma. We were sad to miss out on Shelley and Emily!
We met up with Karen and Carrie at the IDEA museum and had a GREAT TIME! That place is way better with friends. The kids lasted 4 hours!!!
Just give Collin a costume. ;)
Olive has been having tummy aches. See how she got Grandma to rub her belly? In her mind, THAT makes it all better!
Thanks to POGO passes, we got to go see the Diamondback's play! Karen and Reddin happened to be going the same night too! And don't forget Aubrey!
I don't know if there is anything these kids love more than a tea party. But it takes A LOT of pleading and mental preparation for me to execute. So much so, that this is our first one since we moved here.
First, we wrote invitations to our favorite stuffed animals.
Collin chose Fluffy.
His invite... "Fluffy, you are invited to a our tea party, bro!"
Note the "love" passing back and forth between him and the penguin.
Weston chose a puppy and Olive chose her pink blankie.
We delivered the invites to said participants, then got all gussied up for the occasion.
Pinkies up!
We lost one more cup to the tile. Sigh. I need an indestructible tea set.
Jenni, Jessica and I spent an afternoon swimming with our kids!
Shelley and LaRee couldn't make it.
My Sonic, Route 44 of Dr. Pepper did, however.
We have made good use of our POGO Passes this month!
FatCats bowling turned out to be really fun. We were the first cats in the door and I have to give it up to them for their excellent music choices. We were jamming out the whole time. And this mama got a STRIKE!! Yeah baby! I have been known to bowl in the 30 range, so a strike is very big news. We played two rounds of glow in the dark golf after that, had a tantrum (me AND Olive) and called it a day.
Looking back on pictures, it seems like all we did was play and have fun. Trust me, there was that AND plenty of TV watching. And a good amount of me collapsed on my bed, refusing to acknowledge that I was the mother that day. And lots of fighting. OH the fighting!!!!! Why do children act like feral cats and dogs in a back alley?! And why do I stoop to the same level, losing my brains, when they do?!! I would BEG for patience in my prayers. I vowed every day, nay, multiple times a day to do better. It never seemed to work!! EVERY single day was sooooo hard. I don't have the time to go into it, but I had the granddaddy of melt downs one morning after yet another fight. I had gone to the temple that morning and was CERTAIN today was going to be different. I just knew that we could get through a whole day in peace. I calmly addressed the first several fights, tattle-telling, whining, what have yous. We were all getting ready to go to Makutu's Island. I had shooed them out the door to get in the car while I used the bathroom. Then it happened. The door slammed open and Weston barreled in SCREAMING at the top his lungs. He was howling so badly I was sure there was blood. I braced myself as he bellowed, "OLIVE BIT ME!!!!!" I looked down and sure enough, a deep puncture mark. I flew into the garage, and Collin, seeing my rage, quickly informed me, "No, Mom! Weston HIT her first!" Ohhhhhhhh. Oil on the fire, Collin. Oil on the fire. That girl got yanked out of her car seat, spanked and tossed into her crib faster than you can say Mommy needs a Valium. Then all the anger quickly transferred to complete despair. I woodenly walked out to the back porch and fell onto a lawn chair sobbing. I cannot even describe how defeated I felt. There was no hope. NO HOPE. Being a mom is just too freakin hard. It uses up all your energy, patience, sanity and rationale and then spits you out used, wasted and broken. That one incident, on top of a month of daily, constant incidents was more than I could take. I cried and cried and wondered how I'd even get through the rest of that day, let alone years and years of mothering. I was DONE.
And then a few minutes later, Collin opened the back door and I heard his gentle, loving voice ask me, "Mom. Are you OK?" Pause. In even a kinder tone, "Mom, What's wrong?" As I could feel him slowly approach me he continued, "Mom, Are you OK?" I'd never heard him speak that way before. It was like he knew. He knew I was broken and decided to try and help. I didn't want to stop crying, but his tender pleas reached a place inside me that I didn't know could be calmed. My crying slowed and I awkwardly replied, "I'm just sad because of all the fighting." After a moment he softly said, "I was trying really hard to be good today." And as he said it, I knew he was right. I had noticed he was trying really hard to be helpful that morning. I told him I had noticed and that it meant a lot. Only a few tears were left when he followed up with, "Is there anything I can do for you?" My goodness. It was like he had been personally coached on how to talk to suicidal patients. ;) I finally looked over at him and smiled. "No. Thanks. I'll be OK. Maybe just give me a couple more minutes."
I took more than a couple. I still needed time to muster some resolve. Some feeling. And then, inexplicably, I got up. Where 30 minutes prior I felt like I would never leave that spot. I would tell Travis he'd just have to divorce me and find a woman who can hack her life.
Now, I was moving. Even getting Olive out of her crib.
It seemed she too, sensed I had lost it and she was sorry. She looked at me with the saddest eyes and most pained expression, then hugged me and cried on my shoulder like she was deeply ashamed. I hugged her and we sank onto the carpet, crying together.
It was SUCH an awful morning. I have to wonder if other moms have as awful of days as we sometimes have. Or if my suspicions are right, and I truly am just failing in the most important job I'll ever have. I suppose my consolation is that it doesn't always feel this hard. Summer is just a doozy. I really do love my kids. I wouldn't chose any other life. I am indescribably blessed. But the reality behind all these fun pictures is that there is also stress, yelling, quarreling and repenting going on. Every. Single. Day.
