Welcome, July

Well, June flew by. Mainly due to the recent visit of Randal's sister, Amy, and her four boys from Arlington,VA.

With so many precocious, little visitors in the house for a week and a half we tried to find some places to go, close to home, to have some fun and make some memories. Perhaps the favorite night (at least according to 3-year-old Cyrus) was playing in the waterfall after a campfire, hot dog dinner.


The photo below has the kids standing in front of a crazy glass figure at the glass museum. Even more crazy were the three adults behind the camera thinking being outnumbered by children in a glass museum was a good idea.


Our week also consisted of exploring a few places we've never been. Like a six-story tree house, for example. It's hard to see in the photo, but it was awesome.


At the entrance to the tree house.


Round two: playing in another waterfall.


It has been a busy month. Through all this, we even found the time to steal a baby. Okay, we didn't steal him. Baby Oliver is on his way back home with his mom and brothers as we speak, but Ethan and I would have liked to keep him.


Actually despite the craziness, we were sad to see all the boys go. Ethan and Adelaide miss them already. With six kids under the age of six I would've expected more scuffles and crankiness, but they played so well together and really enjoyed one another.

Plus we'll miss Henry's comic relief.

Baby Mine

I thought today, as I stood in the rain outside the post office while my daughter picked every dandelion she could see, that Adelaide is no longer my baby. Or even my toddler for that matter. I cannot even pretend anymore. She is a big girl. With big-girl thoughts. And big-girl ideas. It's time for me to face that fact.

She does love her "flowers" (namely dandelions and clovers). She thinks about picking flowers. She talks about picking flowers. A lot. She told me she wished so badly she could pick the flower from Horton Hears a Who if she could just figure out how to get herself inside the television. And if I could be the one to help her do that, I could have the flower.

I've always told Adelaide she looked so good I wanted to eat her for a snack. Today being no different, I pretended to snack on her leg. She protested and wiggled away. A few minutes later she came to me and told me if I ate her leg she would have no more balance and would fall to the ground never to stand up again.

How, do you suppose, can I argue with that?

Babies do not appeal to their carnivorous mothers with defensible logic.

So for the second time today, I am sadly reminded she is not my baby anymore.

Come Thou Fount

What can you do in an empty car dealership building?
Host a traveling photo exhibit of the Savior, of course.

After church we took a little trip to Binghamton to see an art exhibit, "Reflections of Christ", featuring photographs by Mark Mabry.

At the exhibit one of the hosts pointed to a very large print of the Christus and asked Adelaide who it was. She paused a second then very nervously said, "the hugest guy I ever saw."

We weren't allowed to to take pictures, but thanks to the web I'm able to show you one of my favorite photographs.

In Sunday school we talked about the Savior, particularly of His second coming. The teacher quoted Dallin H. Oaks from General Conference, 2004. I've thought about Elder Oak's words all day, especially as I looked at such inspiring art.

"What is the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow--through our premature death or through His unexpected coming--what would we do today?

What confessions would we make?

What practices would we discontinue?
What accounts would we settle?
What forgiveness would we extend?
What testimonies would we bear?
If we would do those things then, why not now?
Why not seek peace while peace can be obtained?

If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let us start immediately to replenish them."

I know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. I've promised Him I will be a witness to that fact. I have some forgiveness to extend, some practices to discontinue, some testimony to bear, and some peace to find. I'd better get busy.

It's Orange. On Purpose.

Well, I can finally post a before/after picture of a room that is now 100% complete. It just so happens it is the smallest room in the entire house. We have high hopes to have the finishing touches on the kitchen and family room done this week. What a triumph that will be!

Before
(If I correctly recall, it was Aspen who loved this wallpaper and begged us to keep it.)

What we (mostly Randal) did: moved a wall to make the kitchen larger, moved the doorway to allow a sink other than a pedestal, tore down wallpaper (me. (and it stunk. (big time.))), moved the boiler pipe away from the toilet because...well, eewh...tile, new windowsill, paint, yada, yada, yada.

Oh, and two different toilets. I just couldn't make up my mind--tall and comfy or space-saving. Such a big decision. Randal refused to bring home a third.

After


Some details thanks to Etsy.


And since we're doing things how we would like them, a hand towel at grown-up level and one at kid level. Is that weird?

Okay, I wasn't entirely honest. It's not 100% complete. There is no caulk around the base of the toilet. At the moment we're all trying to pee very, very carefully.

Cheater, Cheater

So we've noticed another small perk to having a table under wall-to-ceiling windows--

cheating with greater ease.

This picture may be difficult to see because of the glare of the flash, but this is a reflection of Ethan (and his Uno cards) in the ceiling. Not that kids don't give you ample opportunity to see their cards as it is, but Randal and I figure this is going to come in very handy when we have company. Perhaps we'll even start wagering money and make a few bucks.

Speaking of cards, I love this product. Gamewright makes a card holder for kids. With them, Ethan and Adelaide are able to easily manage their hands. I bought them at Target. (Love that place.)

Dental Hijinks

There is only one way, I've found, for a nearly six-year-old to believe anything his mother says--reinforcement. If there is a second witness, namely his teacher at school, then Ethan figures I finally know what I'm talking about.

Ethan is learning about personal hygiene at school. He talks and talks of teeth brushing and hand washing as if they are some new revelation. I'm fairly certain he long-since learned both habits here at home, although now it would be extremely difficult to convince him of that.

Now one thing he did not learn at home--flossing. I know I'm a bad parent. It just seemed too complicated. But with his new school chart in hand, he's insisted on learning.

I promised him a trip to Wal-#@% for some flossing sticks. He plopped his floss down at the register and excitedly told the checker he was going to learn to floss. And now when he acts up, I threaten to take his floss away. I laugh because it works.
I gladly take a little parental substitution whenever I can get it, even if the support comes by way of mouth wash. It wasn't until Agent Cool Blue endorsed my claim that quality does count did I finally see a difference in the amount of fur on Ethan's teeth.

After he learned to floss he asked me what else I could teach him. His tone was one of wonder, as if it just occurred to him that I may actually know things. I said I could teach him some Russian.

"Yoooouuuu know Russian, Mom?" he said, utterly amazed.

I told him I had so many mad skills it would probably blow his mind.

Morning Do

And this is what her cute, new haircut looks like in the morning--all business in front, party in back.