Last Saturday of Summer Swim

Saturday August 2, we spent all morning moving in Grandma Scott. The kids worked hard, and it was the weekend before my week long vacation, so I wanted to be sure I got some play time with the kiddos as well as just work. After moving in house stuff, we moved to one of the empty properties and unloaded half of a large Uhaul truck filled with storage boxes of Karen's stuff.

By three o'clock, we were back at the house and Eric said it was okay for me and the kids to go. We put our suits on under our clothes, went to the library to redeem the last of our summer reading points and then headed to the Brookside Park Pool. It was the last day the pool would be open and I wanted to make sure we used the pass we had earned.

"Let's do the water slide!""

Xela went a lot slower than she would have liked.

Graigry with a successful slide.

Neta, just catching her head before it went under.

After the slide, they played around a little and went to the diving board and rock wall. They loved the diving board. I think Neta did it the most times.

Xela on the rock wall and Neta on the diving board.
Two for one photo shot. :)

Neta just liked bouncing on the board
and then jumping into the water.

What Nate calls the "pencil dive."

Xela takes a plunge.

Xela grabbed teh camera to take pictures of me.
Pretty good aerial frog pose she caught.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy jumping off a board.

At some point, I got in the swim lanes because, being who I am, I need to exercise while in the water; I can't just play. I went across with Nate swimming on the outside of the lane once or twice. Another time, I was doing a couple of laps by myself while the kids played and one of the guards started blowing his whistle. I assumed it was at a kid in teh pool and then I hear a life guard on the other side of the pool yell, "She's over 18!" Oh! He was whistling at me, thinking I shouldn't be in the swim lane because I was too young. How sweet! Glad to know that from the back, while swimming, I look everso much younger than 40. :)

I can't tell or remember who this watery picture if of.
Any guesses?

Graigry on the rock wall.
And I got the picture before the splashy ending!

They kids were done swimming after about an hour and a half. We went to the park and played for about 30 minutes, a version of tag, and then packed in the van and headed home. Once we quickly changed, we went to Golden Corral with Grandparents Scott, Kimmie, and Becca.

A good, long, fun day! Great way to start a week long stay-cation!

Summer Saturdays - Mowing yards

The kids have earned a lot of money (for their ages) over the summer for the work they've done clearing yards at the management properties and with other endevours. We spend almost every other Saturday mowing lawns at the properties. Most of the time there is a bit of complaining. On the 19th, after finishing up all but one yard, Eric decided to let the younger three kids try their hand with the mowing machinery. Complaints of "Can we go home now?" turned into smiles and "It's my turn!"

Co-captain Neta driving the mower.

Nate taking a turn in the Captain's lap.

Graigry has just enough weight to keep the seat in place
and arms long enough to steer while sitting.
He's feeling more grown up driving a machine.

They all need help to get the riding mower started, because their legs aren't long enough to hold the brake while sitting on the seat, but they drive just fine once it's moving.

We also decided to see if the boys were tall enough to work the walk behind mower.

YEP! Tall enough to push a mower!
Nate enjoys it right now.
I'm sure in a few years, it won't be as fun.

Graigry gets to walk while Nate rides.
Not as fun as the rider, but it will have to do.

Neta thought it would be fun, while the boys were busy mowing and helping Dad, to climb into the neighbor's tree and then asked me to snap some pictures. They turned out pretty good! She's naturally photogenic anyway.

Pretty Princess in the Tree

The boys don't mind helping to mow so much, one, because they get paid, and two (more importantly) they get to handle something with an engine (and feel all grown up). It's a little hard for me to let go of the mower because, one, I enjoy mowing and two, I will do it faster and better than they will. However, I need to remember what Elder Ballard said once in a conference talk, that, although we can do things better and faster than those that need to learn, they can't learn if they aren't allowed to do things and work to figure things out for themselves (as frustrating for us as that may be sometimes).

Fun with Chalk - July 2014

With the big girls at Girls' Camp, I tried to do something fun with them or as a family when I got home from work. I didn't have a specific plan, which frustrated Eric. I thought about going to the canal, but it got a little late for that, so....

We
PLAYED
with
CHALK!! 

The above is a dead, headless girl, which would have been obvious if they hadn't decided to draw an explosion where her head was supposed to be. The little bit of chalk that you can see on the left side is the decapitated head. 

Yes, we got a little morbid, but chalk and driveways just screams to draw dead people, doesn't it? :)

This is dead Nate,
his body cut in half by the big white van.

The closer body is dead Graigry
(see the glasses knocked off his face?)

Neta was drawn on a skateboard.
Then the boys decided to write
a quote from Daddy.

Their hands were all chalked up,
so of course, one has to
decorate the face.

Pretty in pink...
and purple...
chalk.

Finally I decided it was time to clean up and get ready for bed. Thankfully there was a pool that had relatively clean water in it for the rinsing of faces.

Wash, don't drink. Then dry off before going inside. :)

Again, maybe a little morbid with the drawings, but the four of us had a great time letting our creative juices manifest themselves through chalk. I'm not always good at just having fun and letting the check list go, but hopefully my kids will remember with fondness the times when it does happen.

Happy Birthday America - July 4, 2014

It has become a tradition to go to a little park just off the freeway and New York Street to watch the downtown fireworks. We got there around eight o'clock.

The Robinson and Patience Gaydos were there so kids played and we visited with them while waiting for the sun to set. Xela had brought finger nail polish, so we painted our toes. I never paint my toe nails, but I was in a good mood and apparently bored enough that she and I painted our toe nails. I did a different color on each of my toes and then covered it in sparkles.

I had some glow sticks from my mom from last year so I brought those and broke them out as the sun was setting. Kids always have fun with those.

Here are some shots from the evening:

Xela has a bridle and Graigry is making an noose?

Maybe it was a glow stick snake.

Lights on! 

Lights off!

The last two pictures are really fun to see when you move them back and forth, quickly, on my cell phone.

Oopps! He did it again!

We had not as yet, had the time or taken the time to fix the hole in the roof that the fire department had placed in the duplex, with some sun finally shining down on us, we went to as a family to Home Depot to purchase supplies.

Because the cashier was incompetent and couldn't figure out how to ring up what, the kids of course were getting a little ansy and obnoxious. There was a lumber cart just five feet away from the register, so he took the kids there and told them to sit and wait. Well, that didn't work so well.

Graigry sat on one of the cross bars and, probably because they were goofing off, fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete floor approximately 2 - 2 1/2 feet off the ground. Eric and I hear the crack, run to the cart. Graigry is laying on his side. We gently roll him on this back. There is a giant goose egg on this left temple and this vacant, look of death, on his face. After about a minute of Eric loudly talking to him, "Graigry! Get up! Graigry squeeze my hand! Graigry! Sit up!" Graigry blinks and starts to cry saying his head hurts.

That was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. Looking over your child, who looks like he's dead. Not a good site. We leave our stuff at Home Depot, get Graigry upright with help and Eric next to him to steady him, and get in the van. Eric drove as quickly as he could to Community Hospital East while I sat in the back holding Graigry. Graigry couldn't remember how he'd got into the van, but complained that just me lightly touching his head really hurt. I asked him standard questions, like what's your name, when's your birthday, what school do you go to, what grade are you in, any kind of simple question I could think of that would have an obvious answer. He got them all right, but he didn't stop complaining about his head.

We got to Community East, Eric stopped by the ER, got out of the car, got Graigry and rushed in. I took Nate and Neta, who had been with us, and went back to Home Depot to get our stuff. Neta was crying in the back and Nate had a very worried look on his face.

Playing games on my laptop.

The cashier asked how he was and I told her that he was going to have a CAT scan. I was a little annoyed at that clerk. I asked Nate and Neta to hold on to the cart and neither of them wanted to touch a cart. We checked out, loaded the trailer and headed home, waiting for updates from Eric.

Longer story, shortened, Graigry had cracked his skull in two places and because of age, it would heal over time, but Community East called Riley Children's Hospital to verify. Riley wanted to see him, so Graigry got to ride in an ambulance to Riley (which he remembers that I had said earlier - during a bike rodeo where we toured an ambulance - that I didn't want to see him in an ambulance). At Riley, they gave him some morphine so he would sleep.

I got to Riley around six. Matt Dunahee had come to assist Eric in giving Graigry a blessing, so he was there. Graigry woke up around 6:30, the neuro-surgeon came in and asked Graigry some simple questions, three of them addition questions. It took Graigry a few minutes to figure them out, longer than it would have before breaking his head, but he got the first one right, the second one he was off by one and the third he totally missed. I saw Eric's face just fall. It was then that the doctor decided to keep Graigry overnight for monitoring.

Eric eventually went home to be with the kids and I spent the night at Riley. It took a while for Graigry to decide he was tired enough to fall asleep (around 11pm), but we both eventually did.

Passing time Sunday morning,
waiting to get the clear to leave.

Sunday morning was ward conference, one of the reasons I told Eric it was better if he was home so he could attend the ward council and bishopric meetings. Graigry ordered breakfast, watched a little television and we both played games on my computer. We got the clear to leave and about 30 minutes later, Graigry threw up. Doctor decided to wait a little longer.

Eric got there around 11. The Brauns were going to take the four other kids to their house, give them lunch and then she texted asking if it was okay for her to make us some dinner. We have a good ward. We were discharged around 1 o'clock, with instructions to keep both of Graigry's feet on the ground for the next four weeks: no swimming, no jumping, no climbing, no biking for the rest of the summer.

When we got home, Matt and his son Mason Dunahee were at our house so that Graigry and I could have the sacrament. That was only the second time that I'd had the sacrament in my home. It was a pretty cool experience; helps you realize the importance of the ordinance, and not just go through the motions like we too often do while in church.

Alison Robinson also brought over some dinner for us. We ate hers Sunday night and saved Sis. Brauns for Monday. Graigry took a good nap and spent the next two nights on the mattress downstairs. We didn't want to take a chance on him slipping or tripping on the stairs. Keeping him on the ground is going to be so much (not) fun for all of us. :)

Obviously that weekend roof repair job didn't turn out as expected or desired. We ended up completing the job on Memorial Day. That Monday morning, Steve and Kay Hardy, friends from the ward, brought Graigry a special treat...

Dairy Queen
ice cream cake
plus a huge bag of Smarties
(next time he'll be smarter than mess around on the cart).

We thought that was pretty cool, no pun intended. We shared the cake with them, followed them to their house to borrow an air compressor and then got the duplex roof patched. Finally.