June 2014

Here’s some of what we did during the rest of June when we weren’t in California:

Blanket fort in the playroom.  This has become a “first week of summer” tradition.  The fort would get broken down and rebuilt multiple times per day.  Summer break + sleeping on the floor = so much excitement.                  

Also exciting – Lizza getting to open some birthday presents a week early.  Since we were going to be in California on her actual birthday, we did a little celebration the week before.  Henry and Cindy were especially happy to gift her some homemade creations.                     

Here is Henry explaining his present.  It involves a polar bear walking along that finds itself suddenly in the Arctic, an evil sea serpent, and a friendly whale.

Summer time at our house generally involves a lot of homemade arts and crafts and projects (I have nothing to do with this).  Here is Henry in a Captain America suit that Oliver and Rachel built entirely out of paper.      

It was one of many paper suits to be constructed over the summer.

One of Cynthia’s hobbies was organizing things all in a line and then having me take a picture of her on the floor next to it.  She was very proud of this one – all of the bears with their outfits just right. 

Summer checklists are my favorite thing about June.  Normally they include daily chores, a few weekly jobs, and study time, but this year the girls wanted to include 15 minutes of stretching every day on their charts.  They discovered they could multi-task and read while they were doing their wall stretches.  What could be better?                    

A friendly art lesson:

Then our California Trip:

After California.  Saying goodbye to our trusty old Dodge Caravan.  Here is a story of the cars we have owned since we got married:  first, a little blue Honda Civic.  Five years (and 3 kids) later, we bought this van.  I was never one to have hard feelings toward mini-vans, and I loved it – so much room!  No more slamming doors shut on 3 carseats in the back of the Civic!  It was very exciting. 

Then a year later we moved to Texas and left our Civic behind, becoming a one-car family again, which was surprisingly doable at the time (it wouldn’t be now).  We stayed that way until right before Cynthia was born, in the fall of 2010, when we bought an 8-passenger Honda Odyssey (so we’d all be able to fit in the same car).  So then we had two mini-vans!  It was weird, but the Dodge was all paid off and still working fine, so we kept both.  We called them “the old van” and “the new van” (we are boring car namers).  Finally after 3 1/2 years, we decided it was a little silly for Daniel to still be driving a mini-van to work, so he bought himself a Honda Civic, and we sold this one.  I don’t really miss it (new van is better). 

Smiling boys after a successful no-cavities dentist trip:

Adventures at the flooded creek near our home:

Snake! (not alive)

Soft-shelled turtle (very alive):

Henry being excited:

I am happy for my kids that they have had little areas of nature and animals so close to go exploring in.  On this particular day, Oliver went out adventuring, and then came running back to tell the rest of us we needed to come see the “amazing waterfall” that had been caused by all the recent rain. 

Everybody investigating:                                            

Henry racing after Oliver’s sandal, which was floating down the stream.  He gallantly dove in and rescued it. 

Henry doing dishes.  He went through a fun stage where this was his favorite job.  It involved the sink being on for long periods of time, and water getting everywhere, but I have never seen someone so cheerful and excited about doing dishes.  You can’t see it very well in the picture, but he is wearing a toy pirate compass on a belt around his waist.  I’m not entirely sure how it worked, but every once in awhile he would open up the compass and study it with a serious look on his face and then he said it told him which dish to wash next.  So you can see why the sink was on for so long. 

Dentist trip, round two (this time for Rachel, Lizza, and Henry).  Who minds sitting around in the waiting room when you have a good book to read? (there’s a tiny chance my kids inherited this from me – I have to admit that I actually look forward to a waiting room when I am in the middle of a good book). 

Doughnuts with friends after spending Saturday morning cleaning the church:

The boys working on teaching and learning first aid techniques to pass off some scout requirements.  Rachel very enthusiastically and realistically playing the part of the victim.  That girl knows how to turn on the creepy. 

Elizabeth pretending to be Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and Cynthia pretending to believe her.  This was a fun game they would play sometimes when they wanted to get the playroom all cleaned up.  Rachel and Lizza would tell Henry and Cindy that they all needed to work together super fast to get the playroom nice and tidy before Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (a character from a book they like) came to do an inspection.  Then Lizza would sneak downstairs, dress up in crazy things, and ring the doorbell.  She even did a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle voice and everything.  Way more effort than just cleaning up, but I guess more fun, too. 

That’s it for June.