Update

Courtney and Brittney took Josh to ride FrontRunner out to the Gateway for splashing in the fountain and dinner. Lexi is taking a nap. I'm supposed to be making a grocery list, so I'm hiding out on the computer instead. I need to do an update. I really just want to say:

We did a bunch of stuff, of varying degrees of fun-ness. The end.

But, I have such a horrible memory that I won't remember anything if I don't write it down. I look back on old blog posts and go, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" And then I feel sad that I don't blog more so that I would record more of the things I'm going to forget. So I'm going to try to get the basics here.

We went to Lagoon on the rainiest day of this very rainy summer. It alternated between light drizzle and raining cats and dogs all day long. We were all drenched. My mil rocks! She stayed there with us the whole time, even though I'm sure it wasn't fun. We finally gave up and went home at about 6:00 when it was just pouring and we were cold. The upside was that when it's cold like that, Sean likes to bake. So I laid on the couch and he baked me treats.


Courtney looking pretty dry in the morning

Sean's dad came over for dinner on Father's Day and we had a nice relaxing evening.

Curtis and Lauralee came for a visit. We went swimming, went to the drive-in, and had a BBQ. It was great fun seeing them and their kids!

We spent the 4th of July weekend at the cabin and watched fireworks with Sean's family.





We took the kids fishing at Echo and caught bug bites and moss. And Brittney caught a headache.

Courtney turned 17. She went to lunch with a friend, worked, opened presents and ate pie.






I'm so glad to have Courtney as my oldest child. She is easy-going. She goes with the flow. She's motivated. She knows what she wants to do and then does it. She works hard. She's helpful and loves her siblings. She makes me laugh. What a great kid.

We bought a 3 person tube and we took it up to Pineview to try it out this week. All four kids had a blast on it, so that was a good choice. I may post some pics once I pull them off Sean's phone.

We put our pool up, and that's been fun. We don't have public pools really close to our house, and it gets expensive to go there several times a week, or even once a week, with 5 people. So it's nice to just have it in the back yard. Plus I don't have to pack everything up, and we all know I'm all about the lazy.

My mom came out for lunch the other day, and it was so great to just sit and talk. We need to do that weekly. I don't see my family enough these days. I gotta work on that.

Well, I think that'll about do it.

The Obligatory Sappy "I Love My Kids" Post

I had this big freak out last week about how fast my kids are growing up. I've mostly recovered, but I have my moments. It was good, because it helped me remember to enjoy each day more. But I've really dreaded the ending of this school year because it meant that Courtney would be a senior and Josh would be starting kindergarten. I've never been a mom that got really upset over kids reaching milestones or that wanted them to stay little forever. I mean, I love little babies and toddlers, but I enjoy the other stages too, so it was OK. I used to be visiting teacher to a mom who told me she cried every day when she dropped her daughter off for kindergarten. I've known moms who deliberately didn't potty train their kids or wean them or whatever because they didn't want to let go of the baby stages. That has never been me. Until now. I'm really feeling it. The silly little Lexi things I don't want to forget:

Her nap mat at school was next to the crib where they kept "emergency" supplies in the drawer underneath-- books, graham crackers, things like that in case they got locked down or evacuated or something. It didn't take her too long to discover that little drawer, and when I'd go to pick her up I'd always find books piled all around her little mat. Her teacher thought it was so funny the first time she found her reading the secret stash of books.

The way she says her name and calls herself Lexi Yuyu (Lexi Lulu) or sometimes it's Wuwu. Then it's Mommy Wuwu and Daddy Wuwu.

The way she reads her books and repeats everything everyone says in such a cute voice.

The way she pouts when she's mad. She puckers her lips all up and scrunches her eyebrows together.

The way she yells, "Stop it, Josh!" or "Ooch!!" (scooch her chair in) or "I do it!!!" in a screech that could peel the paint of my walls. That's the big one lately. She wants to get into the car and buckle her own car seat, serve herself food, put the lid on her own sippy, pull on her own clothes--if I can get her to wear clothes. I asked her the other day if she'd wear this super cute dress and she said, "No! Never!"



Josh learned to ride his bike without training wheels this week. He is still so sweet, always wanting hugs and wanting to snuggle. I hope that can last for quite a while longer. He was arranging some toys very carefully a certain way the other night, and we kept trying to herd him towards bed, and he kept saying, "Just a minute." Finally Sean asked him what he was doing and she said he was setting a trap. For bad guys. He's been out pounding on pieces of wood with his little tools and then sticking them in his back tire and pretending it's the exhaust pipe on a motorcycle. He's always talking about what he's going to do when he goes hunting with his dad. He's a bundle of crazy, way too loud and wild, but also just so sweet.

Courtney and Brittney are fun to hang out with. Courtney is always so cheerful and up for anything. And Brittney is so funny. I really love hanging out with them, going shopping, watching movies, talking. I'm so grateful for these girls. They keep me sane. Mommy ramble over.

Observations

I've decided that I suck as a blogger because my life is too boring. But I keep going, simply for my own entertainment. Blogging is weird, because I always have to be trying to decide how personal I want to get. Do I really want to post the details about this or that? Will this topic annoy all four of my readers, or will one of them be able to relate? If I post that, will I be one of those obnoxious TAMN-style bloggers that doesn't know she's a TAMN-style blogger? Not that I really have to worry about everyone thinking I'm bragging too much about my glam life. "Just who does that Shannon think she is? Such shameless bragging. Like those pictures of Lexi with the bits of marshmallow stuck to her face. And that post about which movies she watched over the weekend. Thinks she's Princess Diana or something." It's all pretty mundane. Then half the time I don't edit (grammar and punctuation are our friends). Blogging is sometimes just overwhelming, so I hit delete and walk away rather than try.

Have you ever noticed that when you spill something or create a giant mess, the kids come running to see what you've done? But when the kids spill something or create a giant mess, you hide and don't want to see? Brittney spilled chocolate everywhere and I could hear her telling Josh to stay back, and he's dying to see just what she's done... meanwhile I'm downstairs thinking invisible thoughts, not wanting to know, not wanting to be summoned. Maybe that's just me, though....

My blog playlist needs some help. I sometimes turn it on when I'm doing different things, and I need some new songs. I was thinking that I need to ask Brittney for the name of that one song I like, and Courtney for that other song I like, and thinking I could just cruise their playlists and figure it out.... And then I started thinking about how different our generation is when it comes to music than our parents were. I don't remember my parents or the parents of my friends really listening to or liking our music at all. They tolerated it sometimes, but they didn't choose it for themselves. Totally different now for me and for most of my friends. My girls have Journey and Bon Jovi on their iPods. Because of them, I listen to Breaking Benjamin and Paramore and My Chemical Romance. Green Day seems to span both our generations. I introduced Brittney to The Offspring. I bought a Korn song several years ago that Courtney declared "scary"... she now has it on her iPod and loves it. We don't see eye-to-eye on all of it... They like more screamo than I do, and I like more country than they do. But we all agree that Lady Gaga is nasty, Katy Parry sucks live, and Avril Lavigne might kill brain cells, but she's fun. Common ground is a good thing. :)

Smith and Morehouse

We went camping last weekend. It was very, very wet. Sean and I set up the camp during a huge thunderstorm/downpour, since we aren't smart enough to come in out of the rain. I took a Blair Witch Project style picture of my drippy self looking crazy afterward, but I won't make you look at it.



Kids playing in the trailer


Brittney escaping the rain

Last Day of School

I hate the last day of school. Or, more accurately, I just have a really hard time with it. I have a hard time with endings and good-byes. I have grown to love some of these kids so much this year. I have laughed with them, I have cried with them, I have worried over them, I have celebrated with them. They have taught me many lessons, and they have cared for my children in the daycare. I hate to say good-bye. Especially to the seniors. I am so fortunate to have a job I love so much. I can't imagine doing anything else. Graduation is tomorrow, and I don't know if I can stand to say good-bye again. I may have to slip out before it's all over. I am so excited for these kids, and scared for them. I love getting to work with these intelligent, talented, creative, compassionate, energetic, crazy people. I love seeing what they are capable of. Emo ramble over.

Lexi's Birthday

Lexi turned two last weekend! She is a sweetie. She's talking a lot more now, saying cute little things and trying to keep up with her big brother.

Camping

We went camping on Saturday. Sean said, "This hasn't been bad, has it?" I said, "Camping is always a mix of good and bad. You just hope the good outweighs the bad enough that you want to go back."

Good:
beautiful campsite
nothing to do but relax
cooking/eating outdoors
nature
hanging out with the whole family, which is rare nowdays
warm campfire on a cold night

Bad:
it rained for a little while when we first got there
Lexi jumped in mud puddles and generally got dirty
I don't sleep well camping
I declared that we were going simple on the food. That did not work out well. Before I was done I had gone to the convenience store twice for groceries. I paid $13 for bread, peanut butter, and honey since I forgot to bring dinner that Josh could eat.

In the end, the good won out and we had fun.