The Start of a New Year

Tomorrow is the last day of Summer vacation.  Our bucket list is almost complete.  We have a few unchecked boxes, but for the most part, we did all that we set out to do this Summer.  Still, it feels too short and it all seemed to go so fast.  Tonight, per tradition, we had our back to school dinner.  This year our theme is "Consistency is Key."  I had the kids each pick a key out of our old key stash and decorate it any way they wanted - with nail polish, sharpie, or paint and then put a ribbon on it. Then we printed out keys on cardstock and hung them from the ceiling fan, decorated the window with the theme, and made a banner for the wall.  Benjamin also drew a man opening a door to his goals with his key of consistency.  Then I finished up by making little place cards, gathering their favorite toys and setting the table.

They selected spaghetti, garlic bread, and lemonade - the same exact menu as last year. :)  As we ate we talked about how we don't have to be perfect at anything right away, but if we just practice a little bit every day, if we do something consistently every day, we'll get better and better and achieve any goal we set.  We calculated that if you just do something 15 minutes every day, by the end of the week, you'll have done it for nearly 2 hours.  By they end of the month, it'll be 8 hours.  At the end of the year, you'll have done that thing for approximately 96 hours or what would be the equivalent of 14 school days - nearly 3 school weeks practicing piano or math or reading your scriptures with just 15 minutes/day!

We watched a video from lds.org about a prospector who looked for gold nuggets and never found any so he wanted to give up, until an older prospector taught him the importance of patient accumulation of gold flecks to achieve great wealth.  Each child set a goal for something (or a couple things) they were going to do consistently every day this coming year and thereby get better and better at it.  Then we attached the keys to their backpacks so they would have them with them to remind them.

 After it was all over, Kelly gave each child a father's blessing. There are a lot of mixed feelings around here regarding school - excitement, fear, sadness.  But over all, I know it'll be a great experience and I'm looking forward to all that they'll get to learn and the time I'll get to spend one-on-one with my little Christian buddy.  He's already made several plans for our first few weeks together. :)  It will involve a lot of monopoly, guess who, and trips to Greenfield Village so he can ride in front in the Model T and without ever having to take turns. :)

Vacation to Utah

Just before school starts again, we went on one last awesome trip.  The big reason for our trip was Benjamin's baptism, but then we stayed for another week thereafter.  Benjamin was baptized at Martin's Cove in Wyoming.  Martin's Cove is a Mormon historical site - the site where the handcart pioneers, led by Edward Martin, were rescued from starvation and exposure on their trip west to Utah.  There's a river there called the Sweet Water River and stories abound regarding the pioneers crossing this river in November on their trek West.  It has become a popular baptism site and we thought it would be a wonderful family experience and wonderful memory for Benjamin and his two cousins, who also turned 8 this Summer, to get baptized in the river together.  We drove the 21 hours straight to get there, then met everyone at the site and spent the morning pulling handcarts the five miles from the river up to the cove and back.  I never want to pull a handcart again.  It seemed like no big deal to me at first. I'm strong and athletic.  What's the big deal?  But after that hike, I had real admiration for those pioneers!  I had a marked trail, good shoes, and warm weather and I was ready to leave that darn contraption in the grass and head back before I was half done.  Those things are heavy!  And then you add all the stuff into it! Then you try to pull it with a husband who's a foot taller than you and so you can never agree at what level the thing should be tipped - your level is too low for him and his is too high for you so it's impossible to really pull together.  It's a mess! And I didn't have to deal with snow or hills or mud.  Bless those saints that made that journey.

After the hike we gathered at the river's edge and Benjamin, Katelyn, and Spencer were baptized and confirmed by their fathers.  It was wonderful.  It is such a wonderful thing to witness Benjamin decide to follow Christ in this way.  I know his testimony is still just growing and he has many more decisions ahead of him in life, but he's on the right path and he told me that he "didn't notice if the water was cold because the Spirit made me feel warm."  I remember getting out of the water at my baptism and saying, "This is the happiest day of my life!"  How wonderful that we got to share that with so many of our family.

Before the big moment:

In the river.  Benjamin was the first to be baptized.:

Big hug from dad afterwards:

All the family after everyone's baptisms.

Our attempt at a family photo.  Benjamin had accidentally bonked Bella in the face right before and so Bella was in no mood for pictures.

After the big event, we spent the next week hiking, boating, motorcycling, hanging out in the mountains in Kelly's sister's cabin, and getting together with friends.  It was a wonderful vacation.

My kids are total motorcycle fanatics.  They all have no fear and will go as fast as the bike will take them.  Benjamin was off riding on is own immediately and Bella learned to ride alone before the week was over.  I have to admit, it is a lot of fun, but there's still a healthy dose of caution in my blood.

Speaking of no fear, you can take Benjamin tubing as fast as you want and he'll just keep hanging on.  He's amazing.  Bella and Kate preferred things a bit calmer.

There are wonderful trails up in the mountains near the cabin we stayed in.  One led to a swing up on the mountain top!  So much fun to swing and look over the valley.

Cousin selfies.  Such cute boys.

Playing with the cousins is really my kids' favorite reason for going to Utah.

Not to mention staying up late every night and watching movies....

 ...and piling crazy amounts of kids in small spaces up narrow winding mountain trails. :)

We also went to the Ogden Temple open house.  What a gorgeous building and what a special experience to be able to take Benjamin through the temple after his baptism. My only regret was that it didn't last longer.  I would have loved to stay longer in every room talking about it and feeling the spirit together.  Not every day you get to do that with your son.  Can't wait until he's 12 and old enough to really go in one with me.

Had to go get ice cream after the open house. Such a hot day!

They had a cute little blue screen photo op there.  I think it's the only good family photo we got all trip.

And I almost forgot to mention that we celebrated Christian's 4th birthday up at the cabin!!!  My little boy is four!!  I think the chocolate cupcakes were his favorite part. :)

 

Or maybe it was the presents. :)

Sweet Christian is such a joy.  He's our most optimistic, resilient, loving child and we treasure him.

It was hard to go home again and I don't mean the 26 hour drive.  I really hate leaving everyone.  We always have such fun together.  Maybe it's the not being together all the time that makes our time so special, though.  So grateful everyone could get together and make the whole thing so wonderful.

Summer Bucket List and Loose Teeth

This is the first summer that we made a bucket list and it's been really fun.  Any time we don't have something scheduled we consult the list and see what we want to check off.

We've been bowling

(Bella did a little good luck dance at the ramp every time she rolled the ball - so adorable!)

 and kayaking,

 been to Chuck-E-Cheese

 and Germany - not sure which the kids liked more :), been swimming a lot, played little league baseball,

 had picnics at the park, tea party with friends, visited Greenfield Village multiple times,

organized our church's Vacation Bible School, driven to Toledo to the Imagination Stations (children's museum down there),

been to the movies (How To Train Your Dragon 2) (Bella and Christian's first time seeing a movie in the theater), played at park days with church friends,

gone to the farmer's market and multiple science/comedy/magic/puppet shows at the various libraries
 around here.

We're in the process of building a tree fort.

Benjamin wanted to go running together on Saturday mornings (Saturdays so Kelly can watch the others), and we've done that.  It's been a really fun summer and we still have a month to go!

Also on our bucket list: Benjamin's baptism which happens in 8 days!!!  So excited!

Today's bucket list check-off was Jackson Pollock painting.  This was one of Bella's contributions to the list.  I'd talked to her about Jackson Pollock a few months ago and she'd been so excited to try painting like him, but every time she brought it up, there just wasn't time for it.  So we put it on the bucket list and finally made the time for it today.  She was so excited.  We had a blast flinging paint.  Our canvases weren't nearly so large as his, but we had a great time looking at his paintings online and designing our own.  We talked about how we can alter the result by holding the brush closer to the paper vs. farther away, the direction in which we fling the brush or with which intensity.  We tried various different techniques and styles and everyone made multiple pictures.  It was a lot of fun.  Then I asked them to hold up their favorite for display.

We're going to have to find a good place to hang all these works of art!

Then this evening after 4 days of trying to convince Bella to "just pull that tooth out!" she came running to me, tooth in hand and a smile like this:

She was so happy.  It'd been hanging by a thread for days and days but she was so afraid it would hurt to pull it that she wouldn't touch it.  The adult tooth was already half way in behind it.  The one next to it is hanging by a thread too, but that one hasn't come out yet and, true to form, she's not letting anyone near it.  Can't believe she's lost her first tooth already and then in a month she's starting first grade!  What a big girl.

On Monday she was in charge of planning the lesson for family home evening.  She planned the whole thing without any help.  When it came time for her to begin, she grabbed a small rubber bouncy ball and some blankets.  Then she laid the ball under the layers of blankets and asked a volunteer (Benjamin) to lay on them. She asked if he could feel it.  He said he could a little.  She added a few more until he said he couldn't feel it at all.  Then she said that the ball was the Holy Spirit and the blankets were the distractions and temptations of Satan and our own sins.  She said that the more we sin against God, the less we can feel the influence of the Holy Spirit.  It's not that he's gone, but simply that we can't feel him. Then she asked how we can remove the blankets of sin and temptation.  We talked about repentance, coming to Christ and being better about following his example.  As we talked, she pulled off the blankets one by one until just the ball remained.  Then she asked Benjamin to lay on the ball again.  Of course, this time he could feel it very well.  She encouraged us all to stay close to Christ and always stay worthy of the Holy Spirit's guidance.  I was amazed.  How did a 6 year old come up with all that?  I asked her later and she just said, "Well, it's just like the princess and the pea!"  I asked if she'd seen that in a class or another lesson and she said "No, I just made it up."  I'm totally going to steal that idea for a primary lesson one of these days.  Love her!