First Grade or Bust

Catville: A "Vilant" Short Story

Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?*

*No, in fact, she can't.

Chair potatoes

Cute li'l spuds.

Rainy Monday

Ivy did laundry

Calvin bodysurfed on the counter
Bryn grew her teeth

And Ivy found a new binky

Peter and I refinanced, I took the kids out for some overpriced cupcakes and let them run wild in the exercise equipment section of Sears, and later played some rainy soccer without injuring myself.

Cat Fever

All three of my kids belly-laugh at this cartoon every time they watch it (and we're approaching something like 38 iterations). Here is the website for more of Simon's Cat videos. Also, here are a few other cat videos that my kids are enjoying this week (Ivy especially likes the slo-mo cat leaping from the box):

Maru super slo-mo
Catching Cat
Treadmill Cats

Volunteer Balcony Sweeper

Revolt against Hair Tyranny

Compote

When we were cleaning out Grandma Dickey's freezer, we found jar after jar of various kinds of homemade compote. Grandma had several fruit trees (sour cherry, plum, pear, and apple). She didn't like to waste even the fruit that had fallen to the ground and was infamous for her delicious preserves and fruit leather, and I tried not to think about the extra protien that may have been lurking in it from worms and the like.

In honor of Grandma, I made gobs of rhubarb compote (from six cups of cut up rhubarb!) and dutifully stored some in the freezer, with a piece of masking tape to mark the type and the date. And of course, reusing an old plastic container (i.e. from cool whip or margarine or some other toxic substance) gets you extra points in frugality.

Calvin asked for a PBR sandwich at lunch, and tonight we're going to have rhubarb shortcake. I also love it on pancakes and crepes.

Camping in the Sun

These photos courtesy of the talented Ellen Patton. A few tidbits from the annual ward campout:

Ivy loved the handcarts and cried when anyone disappeared with one over the horizon. She also was "that baby" who cried too much during the dark hours and kept other campers awake. We tried everything to get her to go to sleep (rocking, walking, ipod movies, drugs), and finally around 4:30am she knocked off. And this coming from my best sleeper! What a crock. Good thing she's cute...

Calvin loved the space to run and being in the outdoors 24/7. He delighted in the seemingly unlimited supply of s'mores materials left unattended, and the kindness of "nice girls" like Sister Patton who gave him cookies and directions and such. He loved the mini back door escape hatch to our tent.

Bryn hit the ground running and spent her time racing from site to site visiting and rounding up friends. Over at the pond, she commandeered the canoe and taught herself how to paddle, and soon enough was zooming all over the pond, picking up swimming stragglers as she went. Our kids begged us to go to bed both nights from sheer exhaustion.

I enjoyed the company of friends, the soccer games, the Frisbee tosses, the lawn bowling, the fires, the testimony meeting on Sunday morning, the communal meals, the play put on by the kids, and the hammock. Peter took a hike with a couple of our kids and the Johnstons. We had a particularly fun evening where everyone sat around a humongous fire and shared stories of love, campouts past, and practical jokes.