Kids Stepping Up

Today I did a good job cleaning, as you can see by how spankin' clean the kitchen was this evening.

I also rescued Corey's office, which was awesome of me. 

I found this treasure among the papers on his desk, which I thought was hilarious:

"Dear Dad, I love you every much. I will love you the same nomader how much you yell. Love Sophia W." Pretty funny. (In case you need the translation: every=very, nomader=no matter) And I mowed the front lawn and cleaned all the cotton from the cotton tree off of the basement patio. So yeah, I did great today and am feeling good. This whole past week was pretty good. Last Thursday, after sharing with the kids our analogy of getting our home to be a functioning stadium (and with our little threat of doing something drastic like moving internationally) the kids have really stepped up. Not huge, but we're taking steps. We started with the basics. I guess this goes along with what I felt was my main take away from this past April General Conference - clear out the debris and build fresh on the principles of the gospel. To help us get going as we started from square one, last Friday I had a little sign at the top of the stairs. The new family rule: No breakfast until you make your bed. 

Being able to eat was enough incentive that this has worked great. And making the bed is a simple enough chore that it's realistic and doable and also gets the ball rolling for cleaning.

 

I had a little package of four fluorescent papers to use as my posters. While I was making the one above, Owen grabbed the green one and did some artwork. 

It was a nice drawing of love for Corey and I, so I wish the cuteness of his intent hadn't been overshadowed by my frustration. I told him he needs to ask first next time. I was going to use the other papers to make posters next week for the other chores the kids have to, but after we got this first "make your bed" habit down. Too bad for me that Owen is so quick at grabbing unattended paper! It's a cute drawing, and he's a sweet boy. But I'll remember to not turn your back on anything I'm working on if he's around. Usually if something goes missing, Owen is the first suspect as to who took it.

Natalie was awake very early and read for an hour, and then was cleaning up a storm after that, using the little chore cards that we still have kicking around. Her last chore was to practice. She did that as Lily and Sophi were on chores. 

They did great that day, and last Saturday too. I rewarded them all with ice cream cones (that I had to buy because Natalie came to Costco with me, and I feel obligated to buy a family treat when the kids come to the store with me). Peter enjoying his ice cream. He didn't help clean up, but he always gets a pass cause he's the cute baby.

So last Friday was great, and they worked great last Saturday too. This past week was still pretty good. It felt a little easier with only having 6 kids at home. Although, since they are the six youngest kiddos, there is still plenty of chaos. Yesterday, for example, Natalie had ballet pictures and a rehearsal. It started at 12 and was just for an hour. When I got back home after picking her up, I noticed a curious cloudy substance all over the backyard windows. Turns out that, upon my absence, Owen and his friend didn't know how to fill up their water guns with the pitcher of water that I had been filling and bringing out to them, and not realizing they could have used the hose, they decided it would be better to improvise... with rice milk...

Four containers of rice milk emptied into their guns and then sprayed all over the patio, the windows, and the patio ceiling. I was ticked and stern in my rebuking, but I also kept pretty calm. I sent the friend home and Owen helped me wash and squeegee everything. The good news is that when there is a big sticky mess like that, ya gotta clean it up! So now the back patio looks pretty nice! Thanks Owen.

That would not have gotten cleaned today without your making a big mess on it, so thanks I guess? Tomorrow marks one week of everyone making their bed everyday. Some other basics we need to work on is putting away clean clothes and everyone putting their dishes in the sink and taking a turn doing dishes. I'm going to research some options about dishes. I'm glad that Corey's office has been reclaimed. My next task is to rescue the laundry room desk. I'm also trying to watch more of the Minimal Mom's videos and I want to simplify books, clothes, and toys. That will probably be a "whole summer" chore, but its on my list! (My silent to do list but I should probably write out a list too.)

Sweet Little Bird

Today is trash day. I went out the front door to take some garbage out to our bins that were in the street, and as I walked back inside. I noticed a little baby bird on our driveway.

You cute little thing! What are you doing here? He didn't look injured, he just looked like a baby bird who doesn't have long enough feathers to fly yet. I was really glad that Corey hadn't driven over him when he left for work! I first went to hide him in the bushes right in front of our house, but then I thought about where he come from... hmm, it was really windy last night and this morning, he must have been blown from the trees between us and our neighbor, so then I took him over there. ISN'T HE SO CUTE!?

I think he looks a lot like the little red finch babies from 4 years ago. Look at the third picture here - same kind of bird, right? The neighbors behind us and right next to us, where I set this one, both have cats. I think right next door he might be an indoor cat cause I don't see them prowling around in the trees here, so I hope he'll be safe, unlike one of our babies from 2017. I took this cute little guy inside for a second and called to the kids to come see my little friend. No one answered. I hollered and called out names one by one, but nothing. I didn't want to take him inside cause I didn't want the mom to worry or lose track of him, if she was watching. But I want to show the kids. Most of them were still in bed, but Natalie and Owen were playing legos in the basement. I took him upstairs to quickly tell Lily and Sophi. "You guys! Get up and come see this little bird I found!" I showed them the bird in my hands. They came outside with me and wanted to hold him. Sophi holding him here:

Lily holding him. He peed on Lily. It's ok Lil, that just means he loves you the most! 

We put him in the talk grass close to the trees. Last time we had a little lost finch, it's mother was watching and knew his whereabouts, she just was waiting for us to get out of the way. So we all went inside trusting that she'd come take care of him. 

Natalie had a ballet rehearsal today and pictures, so we got her ready with makeup and her hair up in a bun (no easy task with her short hair).We checked on the bird again before she left. Lily and Sophi were already outside watching him and let me know the bird was still there. They picked him up. He peed on Lily again. We petted him and said how cute he was. Daniel wanted a turn.

Daniel, you are being so careful! Good job!

The bird was very calm and super sweet when we passed him around.

I was holding Peter as he slowly reached out his adorable little hand to softly pet the bird's feathers...

We put the bird back and then I took Natalie to her rehearsal. She had to be there at noon. I went to pick her up at 1. We stopped by Walgreens to get some photos for Sophi that she needed for a Father's Day gift that she was making at Activity Days at 2. Natalie asked if we could stop somewhere to buy a treat. This is her I'm-trying-not-to-beg-but-I'm-begging-inside face. She's a pretty girl.

For Natalie, driving in the car seems to mean that Wendy's and a frosty is just a moment away. I told her no treats this time. But then I did let her pick out something at Walgreens. When we arrived back home, we check on the bird and he was gone. I think, hope, and will believe and tell myself that his mom found him and he kinda jumped and flapped his way back under the trees to safety in the shade. I heard lots of birds in there, so yeah, that's what I'm going to tell myself. I'm not going to go crawling around under there looking for him, and I told the kids not to either, cause he's so camouflaged that we'd risk stepping on him. So, that was super fun though to hold the cute little bird. I hope he has a happy life in the bushes and that we see him fluttering through the tree branches someday. And here's a lovely rose from today - I love these roses.

Here's a few more pics of the other roses from today. 

What else from today - Owen and a neighbor made a mess in the backyard, but I'll talk about that in another post. I did laundry today for 90 minutes as I listened to my older sister's divorce court proceedings. I think most of my siblings and my parents watched as we were all texting afterwards. We're all glad that she has good legal counsel and we're praying for her, her ex, and her kids to all be able to move forward with hope and to find happiness. Abi is still having fun at EFY and eating a lot of food, as most of the pictures she send are of her and her friends eating. 

and that's about it. Oh, wait, one more thing, I cancelled my membership in the program with the nutrition coach that I joined (end of this post). I had already locked my card like a week ago thinking that I didn't want to keep paying for this. I joined this without telling Corey, same as when I joined the Sculpted Vegan, and that one was a bigger mistake cause they sent me to collections, but this one it didn't say anything like that, just that if payment wasn't made within two weeks I'd be kicked out, which is what I wanted, but I just thought I'd save us both a little bit of time by being upfront about it. So I sent her an email but never got a reply, and I just thought it would be best manners to be upfront, rather than have them send me a message in two weeks saying "hey, your payment didn't go through" and I'd be like "Yeah, I don't want to be part of your program anymore. That's also why, you might have noticed, why I haven't been doing the work or submitting things..." so I sent her a message and said I'm walking away from here, and she wanted us to process it, and she reminded me that one of the reasons why I joined was to help me stop dabbling in different diets and programs, but in my defense, the idea of being a dabbler was one that she dished out. "There are three kind of people: stressers, dabblers, and achievers. Which one do you think you are?" Well obviously the one you want to be is an achiever, but I wouldn't be here if that is who I was, so I'm one of the two lousy choices, so I said I was a dabbler. But I'd never called myself a dabbler before, so this was her introducing that to me, and I don't agree that you have to keep doing something if after you try it a bit, if you can tell it's not what you're looking for. And I tried doing things she suggested for three weeks but yeah, this isn't want I'm after. She asked why I didn't reach out for help or why I didn't modify it and make it my own, and so we had a bit of back and forth like that, so I feel a little bad, but it's ok. And I told Corey that I do want to join Laura Dixon's program, which has been changed so now it's not crazy expensive ($6000) price tag to have her as a personal coach, but "only" $1000 to join her program and have access to it for life, and it's a money back guarantee: "you either lose the weight or you get your money back." So Corey wants to learn more about that before he signs off on my joining, but I'm giving myself a month, and I'm going to re-listen to her podcast and try and coach myself before I do any emotional eating, but if my weight doesn't budge this next month, I'm signing up. 

Start The Day

I got up early yesterday to help Wes get out the door. Today I got up all by myself! Go me! I won't count my chickens before they've hatched, but maybe I'm out of my 8 month slump. I went for a short bike ride, and stopped to take in a big whiff of these lovely flowers. 

They smell soooo lovely.

And after that warm up I went to the gym to life weights. More lovely flowers by the entrance there - orange lilies. 

Admiring lovely flowers is a good way to start the day. The kids did great at their school work today. It was really fun to help them and I also love watching them help each other. Natalie is a good teacher.

We haven't done it everyday yet, but we're getting better. 

I took the kids swimming tonight for like 90 minutes. It was pretty chilly in the water, and it was very windy too, which made it feel even more cold. Poor Peter had purple lips. 

 

At 7:30 I decided he could be done and I got him dressed and helped him warm up by laying him down on the warm cement. Back at home, I loved watching him look through a book in the corner of his room. Those little toes!

Yes, this is a book that he has ripped from it's hard cover. 

I tried to hot glue it back together, but he ripped it out again or dropped it or something and it's in two pieces now, but still functional. And two pieces is better than 20 (second pic). He's adorable. I haven't share these pictures yet from last Friday, June 4th, when Peter came with me to the Capitol for a 1:45 appointment at the Lieutenant Governor's office to get Ethan's birth certificate "apostilled" as part of his visa application. 

It's fun to run around in a big echo-y building!

And he liked the lions outside on the stairs. 

It was very hot when we went walking back outside, so we stopped for a break in the shade of the bench but P wanted to go back to the lions. We'll come back again someday. There is a fun path around the capitol that I thought would be fun for the kids to ride bikes on, maybe, so we'll see if we come back for a little family bike ride sometime and you can show your siblings the lions. I've got a few more pictures from last Friday that I didn't share either (that post was fully consumed with documenting our need for help at home and Wesley's poor school performance) - Peter being adorable when Corey took them to his parent's house. They like to have summer popsicles at Grandmas!

Corey took kids over there because Abi was going over to hang out at a friends house, so Corey took her and a few kids and worked over there until she was done. She only wanted to stay for a little bit so she could come home for date night. I guess I'm pleased that the family date night tradition has enough pull that she sometimes chooses it over friends. I helped get kids ready to go with Corey, which is sometimes a hurdle he can't bear. Daniel was looking sweet as I put on his shoes. After I got them on, I told him I wanted a picture of his sweetness. 

This was a little forced rather than the natural sweetness he had as I was putting on his shoes, but it still made me smile. 

They came home and then Corey and I and Hyurm left to meet Corey's parents at the California Pizza kitchen for a date night celebration. They don't take reservations, so we walked around the mall for a bit until they were ready to seat us. 

Sadly, the Shanghi Bowl is no longer there, which is a bit tragic cause that was amazing. I was very pleased with the warm roasted vegetable salad with shrimp, it was quite excellent. 

It was nice to go out to eat with Hyrum to celebrate his graduation, since we weren't able to on graduation night since it got out too late. Hyrum is a good kid. We never have taken him to the Roof, which was a tradition we wanted to keep with our adult kids (here are Joseph, Melodie, and Ethan's Roof date nights) Hopefully it will open up before he leaves on his mission in September! Oh darn... I just looked it up - it's closed because of renovation projects and won't be opening until 2023!! I guess we'll have to take Hyrum after he gets home from his mission! Ok, well, I think that was all the photos and events that I had to catch up on from last weekend. I hope it was a good day and hopefully a good start to a good week. I want to take advantage of this summer and make it awesome for my kids, for Corey, and for me. 

Half of Us

Today was a day of see-ya-later's as we had three kids leave home. First was Wesley's departure at 6 am. He is off for a week of a high adventure at Lake Powell. We trust that it will be less brutal than King's Peak was in 2019. 🠈Look at that first picture - oh my goodness, Wesley! You've grown so much the past two years! He felt very good about himself over the weekend when I was out running errands and called home and he answered, but I was stumped as to who I was talking to: "Hi... uh, is this Hyrum or Corey?" "This is Wes!" "Oh! Wes!" He said that made him very happy. He's becoming a man. 

Wes printed off his Driver's Ed handbook to study on the drive down to Southern Utah and back. He is taking his permit test early next Monday morning at 7am before he goes to his first day of Drivers Ed. He is missing the first week of Driver's Ed classes, and it only goes through June 30th, so... despite his poor track record over the past year for being able to catch up with late work, we're hoping he is able to get and stay on top of it after he gets back. So this summer Wesley is doing 1) Driver's Ed   2) an online fitness for life class, doing a Chemistry packet to make up his F in there Quarter 2 this past year, and he is taking a BYU Independent study class to make up for the 4 Fs he got in Math this year. Sorry, W, I'm not trying to rub it in by bringing up that you got Fs. Just telling it like it is. Have a good break this week and be ready to come hit it hard on Monday! Bye Wes! 

 

Since I was awake I took a long 90 minute bike ride that was really fun. I got home and got Lily was awake and started doing some chores. She's our new oldest kid this week and she was highly motivated to work, because she had a birthday party at noon today. I was so proud of her, she had all her stuff done before noon: reading, practicing, and cleaning. She cleaned up the whole kitchen which was a big mess after last night. She is stepping up to be a big helper like a big kid. 

Hyrum headed back to Philadelphia today. His flight was at 1:00 pm. I tried to wake up Hyrum as soon as I got back from my bike ride so that we could go by the orthodontist to get a quick peek at his bite, cause Hyrum's poor teeth don't line up. When we took his mission pictures and I was trying to help him smile naturally, I told him to close his mouth and he couldn't cause his teeth are totally misaligned. I don't know how that happened but I was hoping Dr. Dave could just take a quick look and give us some counsel. But H thought it was stupid to try and go by before he goes to the airport and didn't know what the point was and yada yada and he dragged his feet and so we didn't have time, so I gave up and we loaded up the little boys in the car and left around 10:45 to take him to the airport. Dropping him off at departures~ everyone say "Bye Hyrum!"

My parents came by yesterday to say bye to him too. That looks like a genuine smile Hyrum! There ya go! Good job.

While I was taking H to the airport, Corey was on his way down to BYU for an EFY camp that she will be at all week. They did a little walking around campus before she checked in so Corey could plant seeds of Cougar pride in her heart.

Check in was at 11. 

She is attending a Habits for Life youth camp down there, and we'll pick her up on Saturday. Hyrum loved his EFY experience, We never our oldest 3 to EFY, but I know Joseph, Mel and Ethan all went to Summerfest at BYU. I can't find the blog posts though - Corey probably went and documented them, so those pics are somewhere in our cloud storage. I think Ethan might have gone twice? So that will have to count as their fun pre-college experience in Happy Valley. We're hoping Abi has a great time. 

So we "only" have six kids at home this week! Wow! Lily was with friends most of the day, since they kept hanging out after the bday party. Corey got home and played a little bit of soccer with Sophi, but then decided he can get more playing done with more kids by biking. So I took them up the canyon and dropped them off. I was going to park at the bottom and bike up, but I figured they'd be down before I got very far coming up to meet them. 

But then I thought "No... I rode with Daniel last week, so I know that Corey's not going to get anywhere with him..." So I was happy to see I could park very close by at Grit Mill and I rode over and caught up to them, cause they hadn't gone far at all, and we tried to help D for a bit but he was pretty discouraged and scared. 

We knew one of us should catch up to the rest of the kids, so Corey and P hurried ahead and Daniel and I very slowly followed them. Daniel does not trust the hand brake yet or now how to use it, so he cried and complained, poor kid, as he walked his bike. Daniel you're doing great! You just barely learned to ride without training wheels anyway, don't be hard on yourself. He wasn't ready for Slickrock and might not be ready for Tahoe next month, but he's doing great. When we finally got to the bottom we waited for them to come back. 

They had crossed the canyon to do the fun little trail I showed them on Saturday. I didn't catch them on camera, but Owen and Sophi looked super cute in action, biking back up to us. Today Daniel did his best moving up to Owen's bike, Owen moved up to Natalie's, Natalie to Sophi's, Sophi to Lily's, and it was good that Lily was with friends cause we wouldn't have a bike for her. 

Actually I guess she could have just used mine (which is Abi's) since I ended up walking anyway. When they got back, they were ready for some water, but it was up in the car! So they timed me and I happily rode up the canyon, and it took me about 10 minutes to get back to the car. I drove down to pick them back up. We loaded up the bikes. The kids like to help with that. 

So this is kinda fun and feels somewhat manageable with just half of us! I called Nicole today (trying to not fall asleep on my drive home from the airport) and she laughed that a friend with 3 kids told her yesterday "I can't keep on top of it with my three, and you have DOUBLE that!" And Nicole said "Well, I have a friend who has double my kids!" It was funny. It's all relative. Also, no matter how many kids you have, they take 100%, so expect to give it your all. So six kids is nice. We haven't been here since 2007 when Abi was born! This should be easy right? Lily Sophi Natalie Owen Daniel Peter. Sweet Peter asleep this morning. Corey brought him into our bed while I was gone biking.

Oh, I also shared this picture with JMEH over fb messenger - this was Peter when I found him on Saturday morning. I said it looked like he fell asleep saying his prayers!

Joseph said "I fell asleep saying my prayers like that all the time on my mission!" I think Lily is excited to be the oldest. I am hopeful that this week I will be able to exercise every day, keep on top of housework, and maybe completely catch up on the blog. I don't really expect to have any quiet time or for listening during scriptures to improve much. But it's fun when things get changed up a bit. 

And our rose bushes are in full bloom, I'll put my plethora of pictures on my naturer blog - they are so lovely!