Six Kids in Five Schools

It gets harder and harder to take the back to school pictures of the older kids!

Can We Have a Lemonade Stand? Please?

I used to be the kind of mom who talked the kids out of big plans, especially if I thought it meant more work for me or involved trying to sell things to the neighbors.  Until Jillian took charge and worked out all the details and assured me that she had everything under control.  She and her sisters wanted to have a lemonade stand—it was on their summer to-do list.  She requested a list of jobs that she, Corinne, and Hayley could do around the house to earn money to buy their start-up supplies.  She made a list of things to buy—cups, lemonade (it has to be the good kind, Mom, made from real lemon juice because it tastes better, she insisted), napkins, and chocolate chips for the cookies she wanted to make.  The rest of the items I let her purchase from me.

She got up early this morning to bake cookies, and then worked hard designing and making a banner.  She allowed Corinne to make a sign, and in the process I overheard Corinne say, “Oops, I made a mistake.  Oh, well.”  Immediately Jillian said, “Oh, well???  Fix it!  It has to look really good.”

But the best part was this piece of paper that I didn’t find until after they had hauled everything to the corner and set up their stand.  Apparently there was an employee training meeting this morning where the rules were explained to the 4-year old “sign holder” and the 7-year-old “casheire”.  Take a look below.  Does she know her sisters well, or what.  (#6 “All employees who whine or cry loudly will be asked to leave.”  Such a great rule.)

I loved watching these girls set up their stand and wait for customers.  Hayley was so cute smiling and waving her sign at passing cars, even when she forgot rule #2 after a car would drive by without stopping and she’d drop her sign in defeat.  Business was booming this afternoon despite a little wind and overcast sky.  They’d run home to restock the cookie plate or to give me an update on how many customers they’d had. 

They closed up shop when they felt a few raindrops and were almost out of cookies, and hauled everything (including the wooden table from their bedroom!) back home with huge smiles, talking about how to spend their money.  (Corinne—movie ticket to see Brave, Hayley—candy, and Jillian—”probably I’ll start saving for college since I can’t think of anything else I want right now.”)  Can you see how she came up with rule #8?  Purpose accomplished.

Con-GRAD-ulations!

It’s official.  Alyssa is entering the next phase of life.  She moves in to the dorms at BYU in two weeks!  I’m so excited for her.  Even though I started to cry as I typed the above sentences.

Itineris Early College High School graduate.  She also received her Associate of Science degree from Salt Lake Community College, with honors.  She was one of only two National Merit Scholarship Finalists in her graduating class.  And we’re not proud of her at all, not one bit.  :)

Graduation took place at Thanksgiving Point and it was beautiful! 

I had flashbacks to the night before my high school graduation because I spent last night the same way I did 23 years ago—sewing a dress for graduation and finishing in the wee hours of the morning.  Brian told me that if I’m planning to make her wedding dress, I should get started now so that I won’t have to stay up all night before she gets married.  And no, that is not something any of us are planning on any time soon, Brian was just trying to be “helpful”.

Happy Mothers' Day!

I love this cute poem written by 10-year-old Jillian.

I Am Learning How to Spell, And I Think I Do It Rather Well

This morning I was busy getting kids off to school while Hayley was playing with the magnetic letters.  I didn’t pay much attention to what she was doing until she said, “Mom, these are the people I want to invite to my birthday party.”  After all, now that she has reached the 3-1/2 milestone, 4 is just around the corner and it’s time to start planning the party.  I looked at the fridge and recognized the names of her friends and cousins. 

Can you tell who’s invited?  Alex, Reagan, Emery, Abby, Sophie, Lucy, and Ansley.  She was so proud that I could read them all.

(Do my sisters remember the song referenced in the title??)

Glasses at Two--Take Two

It's official.  Hayley is very farsighted.  She kept telling me she needed glasses but I didn't take her seriously.  I thought she just wanted to be like some of her older siblings, but I scheduled an exam anyway because of our family eye history.  She was right!  She was so excited to choose her frames and then she couldn't wait to pick them up from the eye doctor's office when they came in.  When she put them on, I was taken back in time to when Jillian started wearing glasses at the same age.  See the similarity?  (besides the same shirt!)

Hayley at 2-3/4 years old

Hayley and Corinne

Jillian and Alyssa (2-3/4 and 10 years)

Jillian--budding artist

How NOT to Make Bread

Lovely loaves, aren’t they.  Gorgeous rounded tops.  Or not.  So here’s how to make these beauties in your own kitchen.

7:00am—Realize that you just used your last slices of bread when packing lunches and decide to mix up a new batch of dough.  Put 6 cups hot water in the bread mixer.

7:10—Drive Evan to school.

7:30—Make breakfast, send off Grant and Alyssa,  fix hair (the girls’, not mine), find shoes, etc.  The usual.

8:15—Take Corinne and Jillian to school.

8:30—Clean up kitchen.  Notice water in the mixer which is no longer hot.  Dump it out and refill with hot water.  Pull out the wheat grinder and near-empty wheat container.  Go downstairs to the food storage room to get more wheat.  Put away the food from my last shopping trip which is still sitting on the storage room floor.

9:00—Help Hayley in the bathroom.  While there, notice the dryer full of clothes from yesterday.  Empty the dryer and sort clothes into kids’ bins.  Run upstairs and gather dirty clothes from the bedrooms and start a new load of laundry.

9:30—Play octopus dominoes with Hayley.  Answer the phone.  While in the kitchen, notice the lukewarm water in the mixer.  Dump it out and refill with hot water.  Grind wheat and make dough.  Put dough into bread pans.

10:00—Decide to take Hayley for a walk in the stroller while the bread is rising.  Walk to the park, hoping she won’t ask to stop and play at the playground.  Yeah, right.  Do jumping jacks, lunges, squats, etc. while she plays so I can still get my exercise.  Play freeze tag with her, at her request.  Freeze tag with two people?  Didn’t last long.

10:45—Pull Hayley away from the swings, promising to push her on the backyard swings later.  (which I’m sad to report never happened).  Walk quickly home, hoping to arrive before my visiting teachers.  No such luck.  Open the garage to put the stroller inside and lead them through my super-clean mudroom and kitchen (haha). 

12:00pm—Say goodbye to the VTs and head into the kitchen to get Hayley some lunch.  Oh no!!  Hello rising sinking bread.  Flat as can be.  Decide to bake it anyway.  Still flat.

And that, my friends, is how not to make bread.  The upside?  Although the kids have already eaten an entire loaf, it’s a little dense and dry for my taste.  I just saved myself some calories!  I’m so smart.