Wade brings in the "dolla billz"

At the end of June, Wade approached me about posting something for him on Facebook.  (Side note:  yes, we've said he can have his own account, but he hasn't taken us up on it yet because he says he'd use up all of his allotted computer time on it, haha!  Smart boy.)

This was the simple post:

"My 13-year-old son Wade would love to earn some extra money this summer. He asked me to post that he has experience with dog care, watering plants, and general house-sitting while you're on vacation. He's open to doing other small jobs as well (weeding, yard care, etc. He mows our backyard.) If you need an odd job done here or there and think he might be the young man for the job, let me know and I'll have him contact you!"

The response was quick and since that time he has done all kinds of jobs:

--helping someone move heavy furniture

--dog sitting and walking

--lawn mowing

--trench digging

--big yard clean-up project

--and his first babysitting jobs!

He hopes next to paint a fence and continue with some lawn mowing jobs.  Wade worked hard, getting up very early most summer mornings to tackle outdoor projects before it got too hot.  Hurray for earning money with some hard work!  We love this kid.

Jason's Italian adventures

Jason did a bit of work travel in the fall.  Here's what he had to say about going to Rome for a second time:

"I made my 2nd work related trip to Rome this past week (the first trip was in 2008). The work days were long and there wasn't much time for sightseeing (there is so much to see, I could go back and spend at least a week!), but enjoyed walking around the city at night and seeing a few things."

He took some beautiful pictures, but this is my favorite.  Look at that smile!!!

Trevi Fountain

And a few other fun pictures...

Trevi Fountain

Piazza Navona

"Palazzo dell'Aeronautica, the Italian Air Staff Headquarters buliding where my meetings were held each day. It was originally built as a ministry building for the Facists pre World War II."

"This Lamborghini Huracan was gifted to the Italian Air Force Chief of Staff...it sits right at the entrance of their HQ building. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me take it for a spin."

Altare della Patria

Inside the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Oculus

Pantheon

We're glad Jason had a good trip, even though it was fast and furious.  It was great to get him home safe and sound!

Mom goes back to school, too!

In the spring semester last school year, I kept having these thoughts about finding something different than substitute teaching.  I'd been doing it for almost 6 years, at Richmond Elementary.  I enjoyed it, I liked being with the students, but after Wade moved on to middle school and both he and Rhiannon's school schedule finished up before 3 pm, I'd taken on some new schools that year that ended by 2:15.  It was okay, but I felt stressed out and anxious after a particularly bad day at one of the new schools.  The thought coming to me often was this:  "Wouldn't it be nice to find something more consistent and predictable, that was during the morning and allowed me to be home when our kids were home?"

A few months rolled by, and then a friend posted the need for a new part-time projects teacher at a school I'd never subbed at.  The person in that position had been doing it for a long time and was retiring.  My friend said the principal wasn't sure anyone would want it, because it was just during the morning and had been cut to a 45%-of-the-time position with no benefits, to give the school the funds to hire two additional paraprofessionals.  I felt really good about that--it was what I was looking for and an opportunity that doesn't come open often!

So, I was hired as the Pierce projects teacher, with the stipulation that I had 5 years to complete the requirements needed to be a fully certified teacher in California (another step that I'd been avoiding ever since we moved from Texas!)

The best way I can describe this "projects" position is a jack-of-all-trades kind of job.  I'm new and clueless, so many of the things the former projects teacher did have been taken on by the resource teacher (a wonderful, helpful person named Judy), the librarian, and the art teacher.  These first few weeks of school I've just been trying to look busy, helping with crosswalk duty before school, attending some training, preparing to lead the student council group, and slowly trying to wrap my head around working with small groups of students--their GATE (gifted and talented) class, English-language learners, and kids struggling with math.  None of those groups have started yet, but they will soon.  A couple days ago the principal Pam Barnes also said I'd be the acting "principal" in her absence if she's ever gone during the morning hours that I'm there, called the "Teacher in Charge."  Which is why I gladly signed up to join her and other employees for a 12-hour Crisis Prevention and Intervention class on Labor Day weekend!  I may need it!

Did I make the right decision?  I wondered when I had to attend 4 different meetings/training and juggle family schedules around the LAST WEEK of SUMMER VACATION, haha!  But if my first 11 official days on the job are any indication, I wake up happy and excited to go every morning.  I don't have near the anxiety I had when I was subbing, which is interesting.  Maybe not surprising since substitute teaching is often unpredictable and like that Forrest Gump quote, "like a box of chocolates, you never know WHAT you're gonna get!"  The Pierce staff is welcoming, patient, and kind.

The kids are fun, too, the little I've been around them so far.  I posted this "first day" experience on Facebook and thought I'd share it here, too:

"I think I'm gonna like this new part-time job. This morning I got to the school early and then went outside to do crosswalk duty. There was this cute little girl walking up, young, maybe 1st or 2nd grade. I said, 'Good morning! I'm going to walk out into the street--please don't come across until I tell you to, okay? I want to keep you safe.' She gave me this HUGE smile, giggled and said, 'You must be new here!' I smiled and told her that yes, it was my first day there. She crossed over and then turned to me, laughing again. She waved and yelled, 'Don't work too hard!'

Oh my gosh. It was all I could do not to run after her and ask her to be my buddy the rest of the morning. What a sweetheart, and what a great sense of humor!"

Growing muscles

This was a common sight this summer.  Every weekend Jason would start up the lawn mower and Wade would finish the job.  Each time he does it, it gets a little easier.  But that first time sure was rough!

"The boys" also have cleaned guns together and gone on several golf outings!

This week in review

This summer is F-L-Y-I-N-G by!

It's been a fast, busy week for us.  Having our family complete again after last week was super nice, too!

On Sunday night I did a batch of indexing to support the Worldwide Indexing Event through the Church's Family Search service.  It was an exciting 24 hours for me, as I kept checking to see if the 50,000 people-mark had been met.  Later this week, I found out that this goal had been shot out of the water! 66,511 people participated and more than 5.7 MILLION records were indexed!  My family made fun of me for being obsessed with this, but I caught a tiny vision of the importance of family history and indexing and was so happy to be a part of it!

Monday night we joined our neighbors the Hawkins family and a new family in our ward, the Randalls, for a family home evening night and some delicious ice cream pies for dessert.  It was loud, crazy fun, and we had a good time getting to know each other.

Monday and Tuesday the kids and I shopped for a few school clothes locally.  It might be the first year we don't "make a trip out of town" to do that--yay!  Rhiannon and Wade did a great job staying in budget, so to speak, and had small lists, so it was an easy process.  We still need school supplies but will get to that eventually.

Tuesday night I taught institute and was very, very happy with how the lesson was received.  It was on Doctrine and Covenants sections 18 and 19, focusing on the Savior's Atonement and the worth of souls, and I'm not gonna lie, I labored over this lesson preparation.  I could feel the importance of the message and DID NOT WANT TO MESS IT UP!!!  On the way to the church, I prayed and said I didn't care how many people showed, I just wanted us to be able to feel the Spirit.  Well, there was a GREAT turnout and so many comments.  It's hard to describe it, but I know my prayer was answered and those who were there felt God's love for them.  I'm thankful for that!

The following day I found out via Facebook that the very building I'd been in last night, our stake center, had some structural integrity issues and had been shut down, as in condemned until further notice.  This is huge!  For now all 4 wards will meet in the smaller meetinghouse where we attend, just for sacrament meetings this coming Sunday.  We are all anxiously waiting to see how that will play out, as the stake center's issues will take months to fix.  Our meetinghouse doesn't have a baptismal font and its parking lot is CONSIDERABLY smaller.  Should be interesting!

Thursday night we had Wade's Webelos group over to get in our pool and pass off the Aquanaut badge--all 7 boys did a great job and completed the badge!  Wade is a good little swimmer!

Then last night  Jason and I hosted a group date night over here.  Jason grilled some tasty burgers and friends brought some delicious sides.  We played Mexican Train dominoes, laughed and talked a lot, and then a few of us jumped in the pool.  It was a perfect night and we enjoyed our friends' company!

This morning we all got outside, at Jason's encouragement, and got our yard all cleaned up, including taking down a dead pine tree, mowing the lawn, sweeping the porch, and fixing sprinklers, all before 9 am.

So we have the rest of the day to PAR-TAY! :)

Life is good. :)

I did it!

One of my projects to get ready for my parents' visit was to recover our kitchen chairs.  I did not include a before picture because they were horrendous--the fabric was not only dingy but was tearing apart and revealing the padding underneath.

I went to a site called Warehousefabricsinc.com and bought some red heavy duty vinyl fabric, and then, with a little help from Youtube, a brand-new staple gun, and Jason's blessing, I recovered those chairs.

I've never done anything like that before--it was a huge accomplishment for me!

I don't ever want to forget this, so it's going on the blog!





Yesterday we got a letter in the mailbox from our neighbor who lives right across the street from us.  Steve and his wife Harumi moved in a few months ago.  His letter was so kind, so thoughtful, we just couldn't believe it!  I called him up after dinner that night and said he sure knew how to make someone's day!  I also told him that after reading his note, both Jason and I hoped he hadn't heard us yelling at the kids to keep working!  We had a good laugh over that.  You'll have to read the note to understand:

 

 

 

 

Now, I hesitated putting this on the blog because I didn't want to toot our own horns, so to speak.  We were just outside doing one of our many family work projects.  I decided to put the letter on here for three reasons:

 

1.  So that it will make it into a blog book at some point and be a fond family memory.

 

2.  To remind myself and everyone that you never know who's watching and learning from your example,

 

3.  and you can never underestimate the kindness of a well-timed letter!

Boy for hire!

About three days ago Wade came to me and said, "I'd really like to earn some extra money.  What can I do?"  He made a very comprehensive list of how much money he had, how much he wanted to earn, what Lego sets he was interested in, and how much each set cost (both the WalMart and Amazon price).

Jason and I came up with some "money chores" he could do, things that were big projects and went way above and beyond the small monthly allowance that he gets once a month.

So this morning Wade got outside and started in on a $10 job--weeding and turning over all the dirt in the garden.  It's been left alone for several months, the dirt was hard, and there were quite a few weeds.  Jason and I both expected Wade to get maybe a third of it done and then work on it throughout the 4-day weekend. 

Well, we were both astonished and very impressed at the effort Wade made this morning.  He worked on the garden all morning long, drank Gatorade and hooked his iPod up to a speaker, took a couple short breaks here and there, and finished the entire thing before lunch, with only a little help here and there from his mom.

I think I'm out of a job.  Wade is the son of two very excited, happy parents! :)

 

Good intentions, ME days, and a grand yard project

This is one of those r-a-n-d-o-m posts!

Yesterday I had to laugh at myself during a sub job with 2nd graders.  Here's how it went:  one thing I don't manage well is when you give kids an assignment and have to check everyone's work before they can put it away.  I haven't managed a good system yet and so I usually end up with 20+ kids waiting in line to see me (=disaster waiting to happen.)  But I got an idea yesterday and set up an "answer sheet" system at the back table, where 5 kids at a time could go check their work with red pens after they'd shown me that they'd at least completed the pages.  I was pretty proud of myself until two of the boys raised their hands and said they didn't get any papers--I'd used theirs for answer sheets!  Hahaha!  I laughed and said, "Well, that is definitely my mistake.  You boys luck out today and can work together as a team on this last remaining page."  Yeah, I was humbled because here I thought I had rigged up a perfect plan (the kids LOVED it!), and then it backfired on me! 

While the kids and I were at school, Jason enjoyed a very rare "Me" day.  He had the entire day to do whatever he wanted, and he did just that!  He finished our taxes, arranged for a new bundle service with our cable company, did some shopping, got Taco Bell for lunch, and went for a run.  He works so hard and does so much for so many people--I'm happy he could get a little time to himself!

That night Rhiannon and I watched Dolphin Tale while Wade and Jason put together the Tie Fighter Lego set that Jason had picked up that day.  Then we watched a "classic" on Netflix....don't laugh...Leave it to Beaver!  I told the kids they had to watch one episode with me, and then they stuck around for a second one.  It was so cute! 

So that brings me to today.  The boys did Scouting for Food, and I put Rhiannon to work with me at home vacuuming, mopping, organizing linen closets, and super-cleaning bathrooms.  THEN when the boys got back, we all donned some work clothes and removed all the oleander bushes in the backyard.  HALLELUJAH!  We have plans for reclaiming that area for more garden space or a flower bed.  I am thrilled! 

Happy Saturday!

Mom's dinner report

Every night at dinner we each give Dad a report about our day.  Most days my brain is turned to mush by dinner time and my response is short and sweet.  But today I thought I'd take some pictures to document most of my day, at least up until 1:00pm! :)

Today I:

--took middle school kids to school
--took Wade to Walgreens to pick up more of this:

 --worked out a dinner meal plan for the next 5 weeks and wrote out a grocery list

--took elementary school kids to school

--went grocery shopping:

 

 

--worked on washing/drying laundry (the kids will help me fold later):

 

 

--continued update on 72-hour emergency kits

 

 

This gives you an idea of what's in each person's backpack.  Then we've got a duffle
bag full of food and several Mountain House packages.

--tried to organize pantry a little bit:

 

 

 --then cut up all the meat I'd purcased earlier and divided into smaller packages to put in the freezer:

 

 



 

--took this guy for a walk:

 

 

--sat down for lunch:

 

threw some romaine, mushrooms, strawberry slices, and balsamic vinegar
together.  This was surprisingly tasty.  Also had some veggie straws
and some cookies!

 

--watched a Season 1 episode of this on Netflix:

 

I think I'm getting attached to these characters because I got a little emotional during this episode.

 

--listened to music:

 



--updated the blog and then messed around on Picasa!

 

 

--read some great talks that I'd missed during Conference weekend (click on their pictures to see their Conference talks):

 

"I Know It.  I Live It.  I Love It."

 

"Can You Feel So Now?"

 

 

 

Who knows what the rest of the day will bring, but I've enjoyed today! :)

 

 

 



A great Columbus Day weekend!

On Saturday morning we got out the door early and worked in the front yard together.  The plants around the front pond were so overgrown!!  It was great to get that done together--it made for a much faster job.

We got inside and turned on General Conference.  Well, the downside of that little family project was missing the "big announcement" firsthand about the missionary age change!  Thank goodness for traffic on Facebook that filled us in on that.  We also had satellite issues and only heard the end of President Uchtdorf's talk.  Thankfully we didn't have too much more of that the rest of the weekend and enjoyed all the wonderful messages and counsel shared. 

That night some young men and their dads came over for ice cream after the priesthood session of General Conference.  A smaller crowd than usual (plus me going a little overboard on toppings) meant one thing--lots of leftovers for another time!  :)

We enjoyed more Conference on Sunday, and then on Columbus Day we got up early and celebrated Oscar the Dog's 1st birthday with exercise!  Jason ran over 5 miles up and down this huge hill to the community college, and Rhiannon, Wade and I did close to 2 miles with Wade on his bike, Rhiannon jogging, and me being dragged by Oscar.  Fun times...no, really, it was fun! :)

That evening we hosted a "Polar Bear Challenge" swim and bbq party.  It was a blast--we had some old friends over and some new ones, too, to celebrate the end of summer and the glorious return of Ridgecrest's best season of the year--fall.  LOTS of good food, plenty of kids running around trying to brave the cold pool, and, you guessed it, ice cream and toppings for dessert.  It was a fantastic way to end the long weekend!

Last night we attended Rhiannon's fall concert for Concert Band.  They played "Band Avenue March," and music from Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Rhiannon came across loud and crystal clear on the mallets, chimes, and bass drum.  She did a great job!

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to a family member--Toby the Tortoise is moving on to bigger pastures with the Green family a few streets away.  We've been thinking about him/her/it all summer and were concerned how to care for him long-term.  Toby has outgrown his box on the kitchen counter and is the right size to move outdoors now, but our swimming pool and big, active dog aren't the best combination, with the in-ground pool being our biggest concern.  Tortoises + pool = no more tortoise.  Realistically, if Toby really wanted to get to that water, the chain-link fence wouldn't stop him.  I feel bad about it, bad that we didn't think things through too well when we got him, but I'm grateful for the lessons we've learned from Toby about taking care of a pet and taking responsibility for it, even if that means finding him a better place to live.  We're grateful to our friends for being willing to give him a new, bigger home!

Slave labor

Mom:  OK, gather 'round, Rhiannon and Wade.  Today is "Family Chore Day."  I'm giving you two choices.  You can clean the whole house OR clean off the porch.

Rhiannon and Wade:  PORCH!

(30+ minutes later  Rhiannon comes in to get glasses of water for the two of them while I'm vacuuming.)

Rhiannon:  I wish I'd chosen cleaning the whole house!



Too funny--I was really impressed with the job she and Wade did, though--it looked great!

Cleaning inspiration

The kids' chore magnets on the fridge are still working out, when we remember them.  I needed a little inspiration for my own household chore schedule, though, and I came across The Clean Mama blog.   There are some cool freebies, such as this cleaning chart, and good ideas for running a household.  I KNOW that doing a load of laundry a day is THE way to go, but I'd forgotten what a genius idea that was.

Making the most of Monday

Last night we were joking about my lack of sub jobs lately.  Since we got the dog back in December, I've subbed once.  Again, I'm not complaining because the low-key nature of substituting REALLY appeals to me!  However, a very tiny part of me hoped that my consistent stream of office referrals hadn't labeled me one of "those" subs.  I'm definitely not shy about asking for help with a student if I've tried everything I know and the kid is still disruptive.  The last few times I've subbed, I've sent a kid packing.  (A scary incident earlier in the school year helped me get over the embarrassment of calling the office FAST.)

So today I got a call to sub for a teacher the rest of the week.  I said I was happy to, except for Thursday because I had appointments and such.  Woo-hoo!

Thankfully that call came in the morning--it gave me the oomph I needed so that I didn't squander the day away.  Instead I...

--washed/dried a small mountain of laundry
--took Oscar to the vet for shots
--cleaned up the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher
--got groceries
--vacuumed
--ran some errands
--made some arrangements for the Blue & Gold banquet on Thursday
--took Oscar for a nice long walk

I'm tired, but I feel much better about subbing for 18 hours this week!  Here's hoping for three wonderful, referral-free days! :)

Camping with 5th graders

The Details:
3-day Camping Field Trip to San Diego with 5th graders
60 kids, 13 adults
Set up camp and tents at San Diego Metro KOA (NICE hot showers)
Visited USS Midway, the beach on Coronado, and Robotics lab at Legoland

Chaperone duties:
Make meals for a crowd
Herd students like cattle
Time showers
Try to help homesick kids
Supervise, supervise, supervise
Keep tent groups with you at destinations
etc.


Downside:
Very little sleep
Preteen girl emotional drama (thankfully Rhiannon didn't cause any)
A tear in our tent

Upside:
For the most part, the kids were amazing!
Rhiannon's teachers were amazing and so organized!
The other chaperones were fun!
The food was pretty good!
The places we visited were NEAT!
Rhiannon and I would go again in a heartbeat!


Jason and Wade managed very well without us girls around for 3 days, too. Wade went with Dad to Scouts one night, and they watched Gone in 60 Seconds on Friday night. They ate pizza, KFC, and restaurant food. Jason said Wade didn't want to do too much--my guess was he was still recuperating from his cold. Many thanks to our friends Katie and Heidi who watched Wade before and after school so Jason could carry on a normal work schedule, too.

Jason wanted to surprise us by opening up the pool while we were gone. When he took the tarp cover off, he saw that the pool was brown and disgusting! We didn't realize that the few puddles we saw consistently on top of the tarp were from small holes in the tarp. Those holes, combined with the crazy wind we've had, made quite a mess of the pool. We're going on Day 6 now of Operation Pool Cleanup and it's looking MUCH BETTER. Fingers crossed, it'll be good to go by Rhiannon's birthday! :)

It's that time again

Inspired by my sister-in-law Jaymie, I made new chore charts for the kids for the umpteenth time yesterday, and it promises to be a good system...for as long as the novelty lasts!  In less than 24 hours, my floors are mopped, dishes are done and put away, the main level is dusted, plants are watered, and Rhiannon has begun doing her own laundry (the kids already fold and put away their own clothes most of the time--I just wanted Rhiannon to get comfortable with the washer and dryer part!).  I helped here and there, but about 90% of it was done by the kids.  I'm so proud of their good attitudes and willingness to be good workers and helpers.  I assured them that I stayed busy with other chores while they were at school and that their new daily chores would take at most 15-20 minutes out of their day.  By doing the chores they'd be doing their part as members of a family, and it would help them be cleaner, more organized missionaries, roommates, spouses, and parents someday!  It's the same spiel I give every time, how I don't want them to be slobs!  I also shared how the quote at church yesterday--"You become what you practice"--hit me like a load of bricks.  We go through cycles, and lately the things we'd been practicing the most were Netflix, computer games, and reading!  :)  The kids couldn't argue with that truth!

We made a schedule through the end of May, and then we'll reassess when school is out.  I put 8-10 chores on the side of the chart and gave them a letter.  Then I'd put letters in each box on the calendar, so that they had 3 chores every day, including feeding Toby his breakfast or dinner. :)  On one or two days, the kids have the same letter on their individual charts, meaning they do that chore together.

I'm excited, and I think the kids are, too.  If they do a good job on this round, we'll celebrate with some pizza or a movie!

Our chore system is always evolving, and that's okay.  As long as the kids can tell their children someday that yes, they did chores and helped around the house, I'm happy!

http://chorecharts.com/Free_Chore_Charts.html

Giddy

Yesterday was a good day.  The kids invited 4 friends over first thing in the morning and had 2 hours of non-stop activity and fun chasing each other outside, making crafts, and playing Wii.  Then we met Dad for lunch at Golden Dragon (yum) and later worked on some projects in the back yard together.  Jason tackled the out-of-control grapevine that had grown up into the top of the porch, while the rest of us cleaned up that aftermath and raked leaves or cleaned out the area under the roses.  The porch area looked so great when it was all done, and we had good timing, too, because it rained for a few hours later.

We had a pretty good dinner that night (translation:  I took more than 15 minutes to prepare it) of scallopped potatoes with big chunks of ham, steamed broccoli, canned peaches, and some homemade dinner rolls that were fabulous, if I do say so myself.  I have lots of good roll recipes, but I'm usually not successful with them.  I used the following recipe off of Deals to Meals, and it makes me giddy thinking about how easy it was to make these rolls and still have them come out tasty!


30 Minute Rolls

1 1/8 c. + 2 t. warm water

1/3 c. oil

2 T. yeast

1/4 c. sugar or honey

1/2 t. salt

1 egg

3 1/2 c. flour

Mix 1st 4 ingredients and let rest for 15 minutes. Add salt and eggs - gradually add flour. Shape into dinner rolls, or use in your favorite recipe that calls for dough. After shaped, let rest for 10 minutes. For rolls,  bake 10 minutes @ 400 degrees until golden brown.   Makes 12 rolls.


*Recipe from Real Mom Kitchen

We are keeping our fingers crossed for some decent weather so that we can camp over in Death Valley for a night.  If that doesn't pan out, it will still be fun having Dad home for the rest of the week to spend time with us!

One more random thing:  the kids and I watched some Shaun the Sheep episodes on Netflix last night.  They were hilarious, sweet, and fun!  We're in love...

 

How's THAT for an intro?

So this morning we were having a "work party" in the front yard helping Jason muck out the ponds a bit.  Jason did the hard part while the rest of us just put the yucky pond goo and weeds in the trash can.  I should have filmed him and sent it in to that show Dirty Jobs!  Just imagine him with his pants rolled up, wearing sandals, standing in the water and pulling stuff out with his bare hands...yeah, he's our superhero! :)

Somehow the end of the world came up in conversation.  We've watched the Cusack movie 2012 a lot, and I think that's where the talk started.  The kids were joking around about how funny it would be when 2013 rolled around and the earth was still okay.  I made some comment about how we don't know the exact date when that will happen.  Wade froze, eyes opened wide, and said,

"You mean there's REALLY going to be an END OF THE WORLD?" 

He wasn't afraid, just surprised!  Why this didn't come up when we were watching the movie, I don't know.  (The movie got to a point where it was SO over the top that we started laughing at parts...) But it was a neat thing to give Wade a 1-minute run-down of the 10th Article of Faith and the Savior's Second Coming, about how we don't need to be afraid if we're prepared, while we were in our work clothes, in the front yard, deep in dirt.  I said we could talk about it more for a family home evening lesson, and Wade was pretty excited about that.  Score one for Mom, taking advantage of a very unique teaching moment! :)

Shut down

The Cushing swimming pool was officially closed down today.  Man, I already miss it!  Jason did 99% of the work, and I turned the water faucet on and off. And on and off.  And on and off some more.  I'm glad I was there to help him, though, because the whole task of winterizing the pool is NOT a one-person job.  Thankfully it's not hard, just time-consuming.

It's slowly, vvvvvveeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy slowly starting to feel more like fall.  We haven't run the swamp cooler for a couple of days, which is nice!

Tonight Jason is going on a Scout campout, and I'm going to stay up "late" with the kids, hanging out and watching the BBC Robin Hood series on Netflix.  Tomorrow we'll clean up the front yard and then chill til Dad comes home.  Then Mom and Dad will go to our monthly game night--yippee!

Reminds me of the Joker

Flex Fridays rock! Jason and I worked for 2 hours and filled both outdoor trashcans to the brim! That signalled the end of our yard cleanup, but it kind of stunk because we were on a roll. One lady walked by and thanked us for the tree-trimming job: "Now I don't need to stoop down when I go under them!" So yeah, it needed to be done.

The kids had a great day at school, too--they had fun painting at the bi-weekly FAME workshop (Fine Arts and Music education), and they were EXCITED that the Scholastic book order finally came!!!!!!!!! Rhiannon was happy about the bit of rain they got, too, which came right during her recess.

Jason gave Wade a golf lesson tonight. Rhiannon has outgrown the nice set of clubs Jason got her, and Wade was excited to have them. I had to tease Jason, though--he reminded me of the Joker's famous line: "Why so serious?" Yes, golf is a serious game, I get that, and Wade does need to learn the correct form, but you gotta keep it fun, too. :) Hopefully with consistent practice Wade will grow to love the game, too, and enjoy another fun way to hang out with his dad!

Tonight is Taco night for dinner--more Friday happiness! And then tomorrow is General Conference. Yes!!!!!