Snapshots

Here are a few random shots to sum up our life lately.

We are struggling a bit to find ways to stay occupied indoors. We are used to summer being the outdoor season, with ball games and bike rides and swing sets and friends to fill the long afternoons. But it's 90 degrees by 7:00 a.m., and nothing but the air-conditioned house is acceptable!

So the boys play a lot of video games and watch TV. (They love this, of course.) I take a walk with the Littles every morning, but the heat zaps the boys' energy before I'm ready to be done, so they stay home. We are back on our routine of reading and writing and scriptures and breakfast in the morning, but then the boys tune into the tube. Granny often takes the big boys swimming while the Littles nap. I'm always glad when bedtime arrives, which means we are one day closer to school starting.

Gavin discovered a new game the other day: rolling a tennis ball down the stair railing. He giggles and squeals every time it flies off the end of the railing. He always asks, in a voice full of excitement and wonder, "Did you SEE that?!" I stand at the bottom to catch (or fetch) the ball, then throw it up to the top. It usually rolls down the hall behind him, so he runs to get it. And then the game starts over again. Silly boy.

The other day, Granny, Holly, and I cleaned out Granny's closet. She was storing all of Ryan's belongings there, so we moved his stuff up to the room where Gavin is sleeping. That will be Ryan's room when he returns from his mission next month. Among the belongings were a giant stuffed catfish named Maynard and a huge velvet sombrero. Gavin adopted these things as his own. I'll be sure to attach that photo to my next letter to Ryan.

Lexi loves to putter, and her favorite place to play is Granny's pantry. This is due, in part, to the box of fruit snacks stored there, but also because of some other treasures from Granny's three-month food storage. Lexi LOVES to play with packages of Ramen and Cup-o-Noodles. We find these packages strewn about the house. Luckily she doesn't open them.

I love this picture of Zach asleep on the couch. He gets up around 5:00 a.m. every morning and swims for an hour or two nearly every afternoon. It's an exhausting routine, especially now that we have added late-morning swimming lessons to the mix. On this particular day, Zach was waiting to leave for his afternoon swim outing and just fell asleep!

This video shows the aftermath of a Wendy's take-out meal. The kids all got "saxzoos" (saxophone-shaped kazoos) in their kids' meals and were trying them out. My parents and I mused that the creator of the saxzoo must not have been a mother!