Catching Up: Part One

I'm probably the only one who has noticed my lack of blogging lately, but I'm kinda sad about it.  It can't be helped, though.

Until recently, I had not experienced such high-level busy-ness in this household.  It began in May, but summer has been just as ridiculous.  Instead of the normal, predictable schedule of the school year, the last few weeks have been a chaotic swirl of the kids' activities, play dates (surely this is not what you call 11-year-old hang-outs), meetings, and errands.  The house is constantly trashed (I mean constantly trashed!), which means I'm always trying to clean.  My calling has been out of control lately, too.  I love my young women dearly, but good grief!  The time commitment and effort involved has overwhelmed my life.  Thankfully I was released from my newsletter calling last week, which eliminated one small category of pressure.  My mental health has taken a big hit lately, which has further complicated all of the above.  Hopefully a good vacation will restore some balance to my addled brain.

Anyway....here are some pictures that document some events from the last few weeks.

Garry's mom and sister visited over Memorial Day weekend.  We had a blast with them. The kids had a fun park trip, lots of time in the kitchen with Aunt Heidi, and some amusing back yard play.  Heidi also cut everyone's hair and colored mine.  We'll probably always remember Kate demanding Aunt Heidi's attention (Hiiiiiii-deeeeee!) while she (Kate) jumped on the trampoline, and Zach climbing onto the roof to retrieve a fairy Barbie.  The weekend was a fun prelude to the amazing week the Bartles have planned with the kids in Frisco.

Although we said good-bye to our guests at 9:00 a.m., Memorial Day itself was super fun. We started with a park outing with a bunch of ward friends (thanks for organizing it, April!).  We BBQ'd for lunch, then the kids roamed and played while the adults and older youth played softball.  I had fun tackling a first baseman or two and didn't totally screw up in the outfield.  My knee killed the next day but the pain was worth the fun.

Later in the afternoon we had the Barrionuevo family over for dinner, and then after dark I took the boys to a movie night in the Shumways' back yard, where I saw "Tangled" for the first time.  The awesome Shumway family moved away the next week, so we'd love to carry on their tradition of back yard movies.  We just need a projector (small detail).

Kate is still a little stinker when it comes to making messes.  The pantry and the bathroom are her favorite places.  She has also drawn on doors and walls with a Sharpie, eaten food in my bed, escaped the house multiple times, dumped out trash cans, climbed on counters and the piano, tipped library books (and our own), and eaten dirt.  Kate feels entitled to everything (especially food) and screams to high heaven when she doesn't get her way.  She has great tantrums on the floor.  That girl reminds me so much of Gavin. Her vocabulary has exploded and she says the cutest things. My favorite: chockick (chocolate) milk.

One day we realized that no one had Kate in their sights.  Every time Kate escapes, it's because we all assume she's with someone else.  On this day, as I jogged around the neighborhood, calling her name, I was starting to get pretty worried.  Someone finally found her...asleep in the passenger seat of the van.  We were so grateful not to live in a super hot climate, where such a stunt could have been life-threatening.

The girls LOVE playing dress-up with their dolls, especially Lexi's new doll, Hally.  Kate is mighty jealous of her beauty and new-ness.  We have moved the play kitchen up to Kate's room and it's getting a lot more use.  The girls can really have fun together if they decide not to fight.

I spent a really long time--like three weeks--trying to get some mending and sewing done.  I am pleased to report that I have sewn on several months' worth of scout patches, updated troop numbers, and attached Zach's first merit badge to his sash.  I also fixed a pillow and a couple of shirts and spent a long time patching up Lexi's beloved Betsy.  I'm glad to have the mess put away.  Finally.

Stayed tuned for Part Two.