New door

 I've been wanting to replace the front door ever since we moved in.  We finally ordered a new one in April...it didn't get in until June... and we got it installed in July.  Finally.  It looks and functions so much better.  There were times when our old door was shut and the wind blew it open somehow.  When it was particularly windy, the door would whistle because of the gap at the bottom.  It didn't have a deadbolt either, so this new one is much more secure.  It looks pretty too.  

The list

I always look forward to our new summer list, although the kids aren't excited about it.  I like to add something new every year or change things up a bit.  We were consistent about running 3 mornings a week throughout the school year, so we continued with that routine.  I also wanted to stick with our scripture and reading routine.  It's unfortunate that I have to include things on the list such as showering, brushing teeth, and meals, but they forget to do those if it's not on the list.  We weren't consistent during the school year with typing or piano, so I put those on the summer list for Owen, Weston, and Savannah.  Savannah and Owen have been interested in piano, but we can't seem to find consistency with lessons.  Weston didn't want to do piano, but I'm paying him off to do it, hoping that getting started will spark an interest in continuing with it.  It's extra incentive for Owen and Savannah too, as I made the same deal with them.  Chores isn't a new thing, but I decided to choose the work they're doing this year and only do them two days a week.  In the past, I've let them choose a chore or do a service for each other, but they were choosing things like "make the bed" for their sibling.  That's nice, but not so helpful in getting other chores done or something they should be doing on their own.  This summer, they've done yard work for me, washing the windows, picking up rotten fruit, or whatever needed done that week.  

The new thing we hadn't done before was indexing, which I added for Nathan, Jared, and Owen.  I took on the task as well, since I was asking them to do it, so I've been getting some good things done too.  We sometimes help each other when we need help deciphering what's on the census records.  It's easier for me to read the cursive than the boys, since they didn't have to learn how to write it.  That's one downfall of eliminating cursive in the school curriculum - they don't know how to read it either.  I've currently been working on Virginia marriage records, which has been pretty time consuming.  The boys have been grateful for the easier and shorter records from Liberia, since they have to complete a batch.  

Nathan has also been working for someone independently the last few weeks, doing an inventory, sorting, and beginning to sell or clean out things from the home of an elderly woman who passed away earlier this year.  The family is paying Nathan to help them go through all her things.  It's been good for him to have a job.  He applied to a few different places, like the grocery store and movie theater, yet despite all the hiring signs, no one has given him a call back for a job.  Maybe they don't want to hire teenagers?  Anyway, this job he's been doing is perfect, because it's flexible, he doesn't have to wear a mask, and can work independently.             

 

Anniversary trip

Leaving the kids last year for a couple nights worked well for our anniversary, so we headed out again this year for a 2-night getaway.  We went kayaking (the first time for me), hiking, played tennis, and went out to eat.  I didn't take hardly any pictures.  We did get cleaned up nice a couple nights to go out to dinner, but I didn't think to snap a photo.    

 

Pioneer Day

 We had fun at a pioneer day celebration - BBQ lunch with mini pies, face painting, games for kids, corn hole, ultimate frisbee, and volleyball.  Our friend Nathan played the banjo.  I loved being able to play volleyball.  

Alex, Nathan, Jared, and Owen had to help take things out there, put up signs and tents, and take things down.  They were out there most of the day (from about 10:00am-5:00pm).  They're good helpers.  Jared still helps take down the tents for primary at church now, since he knows how to take them apart.  

Weston's birthday

Weston had been looking forward to his birthday for a while.  He told us multiple times what he wanted for his birthday and where he wanted to eat.  What he didn't know about was the big stuffed pig that we found while in Kansas City, so he was surprised to see the big box and wondered what was inside.  I think he was pretty happy with it.  He still loves pigs and Legos.  He spent most of the day playing Legos.  The "chore of the day" for the rest of them was to play whatever Weston wanted to for a little bit, so they brought a bunch of Legos out to the kitchen table and had some sort of battle.      

He wanted French toast, eggs, and turkey bacon for breakfast, Chili's steak and lava cake for dinner, and apple pie for dessert (instead of cake).  He got both the cake from Chili's and apple pie because we celebrated twice - once on his birthday and a couple days later when Alex got home.  After apple pie and cookies 'n cream ice cream, we watched the movie Black Widow.  He had all his pigs, his popcorn, Cheezits, and Oreos there on the chair with him.  It was a good day!  

  

We finally cut Weston's hair!  It hadn't been cut since April 2020.  He didn't want to cut it, so we let it go.  He made a deal that I could give him $20 to cut it.  He had until January (when he becomes a deacon and passes the sacrament at church) to let it grow.  But I was getting tired of trying to get through it on Sundays for church, he was chewing on it and constantly messing around with it.  So he got his $20.  I made him take a picture with it in a pony tail before I cut it (he wasn't too happy about that, but I wanted to see what it looked like).  He looked like a girl.  His hair was longer than mine, but with thick curls, so I wasn't sure where to start.  I cut some big chunks off before trying to use the buzzer on it.  

I don't think he liked his new style very much at first, but he got used to the shorter length and likes it now.  Of course it doesn't look as pristine and polished as when I first cut and styled it, but the length is much better!

 

4th of July

 Alex was still gone for the 4th, but we still had a somewhat festive meal without him.  I did shepherd's pie and corn on the cob on the 4th, and then we did a second meal the next day.  (I didn't feel like grilling in my Sunday clothes.)  We had a lot of dessert - apple pie, cherry pie, cake, and a yummy drink of pineapple sherbet and 7-up.  We didn't end up going to watch fireworks.  The ones we usually go to weren't happening this year, and parking for the other location is pretty difficult.  You have to get there early in the afternoon to get close, and I don't know where to park to watch them from a distance.  We ended up watching the Macy's fireworks on TV, which was pretty good (and convenient, watching from our living room).  Maybe next year for actually going to see fireworks...?  Alex got to see some in person where he was in Nevada.  

We got to wear our red, white, blue outfits to church - Savannah looked really cute!  

Shining with the Sunbeams

 When we got back from Oklahoma, Primary at church was just starting up again.  We hadn't had Primary since March 2020, so it was nice to have my creative outlet again teaching the 3-4 year olds (the "Sunbeams").  We are meeting outdoors so that the kids don't have to wear a mask and so they can sing.  They do singing time altogether first and then separate into classes.  The weather has been pretty nice, although they did have to get a couple big tents during singing time to block the sun.  We use one while we're sitting on the grass as well during our class time.  Other classes go find a shady spot to sit.  We have 20-25 minutes for lesson time.  Most of the time, I've planned more than enough to fill the time.  I've taught the last 6 weeks, and so far we've talked about baptism, Bishops, parents and being like them and Jesus, Heavenly Father's love and gratitude for His creations, prayer, and priesthood power.  

For my baptism lesson, I printed out pictures of each of my kids at their baptism, along with a picture of me in my baptism dress when I was 8 years old.  Under each letter of BAPTISM was something about baptism, such as "Be Like Jesus", "Age of Accountability", "Priesthood Authority", "Take Jesus' name upon us", "Immersion", "Spirit", and "Making covenants".  I know the kids weren't aware of the letters matching with what we were talking about, but it helped me structure my lesson better.  I'm sure I'll use them later on at some point for an older group of kids.  I'm getting a pretty good file of teaching material from this calling, with lots of visuals.        

For the lesson on Bishops, we looked at some pictures of different things the Bishop does.  I shared a story of President Monson as a young bishop in going out to find a young man who hadn't been coming to church.  He went out and found the man, who was working at a gas station, and invited him to church.  The young man started coming to church, prepared and went on a mission, and then later served as a Bishop.  I also shared a short video message with the sunbeams of our Bishop talking to them.  I had asked him earlier in the week to send a short message, so it was fun to play that for them during our lesson.  We tried to make a video to send back to the Bishop, with them singing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam".  We did make a send a video, but the kids didn't sing.  It was me singing with them holding up their little suns on a wooden stick each time we sang "beam".  We held up a "Thanks for helping us shine" sign at the end of the song.  I think he got a kick out of it.    

We did a lesson on trying to be like Jesus and our parents and the ways they help us.  I read a book about a bear who wants to be just like her mom.  Then we looked at pictures of animal parents and their babies.  We separated them into 4 categories:  protecting, feeding, leading (or following), and loving.  I also found some pictures of people doing those things.  Four pictures of Jesus went along well with those - Jesus calming the storm, teaching the multitude, following Jesus, and loving.   

The lesson on Heavenly Father's love was fun.  We talked about things that God has created and listened to the song "I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me".  That song talks about hearing the song of a bird, feeling the rain on your face, looking at the blue sky, touching a velvet rose, and seeing the color of butterfly wings.  We then went on a walk, looking for paper butterflies that I had clipped to different bushes around the church.  They also had clipped to them one of the pictures below in the heart puzzle, which represents things we're thankful for. So we collected our butterflies and then put together our heart-shaped puzzle.  One interesting thing happened that day - it rained a little bit as soon as we started Primary.  It was a light drizzle, so we didn't have to go inside, but it hadn't rained at all this year.  They did get to feel a little rain on their faces, like the song says.  I thought the paper butterflies might get ruined, but they were still okay by the time we went to look for them.  They got to take a butterfly home with them.         

I loved putting together my next lesson too (can you tell this calling is great for me?).  The lesson was on prayer, so I thought of one of the more memorable times when our prayer was answered and made a picture story out of it.  I talked about the time in Scotland when we got our car stuck in a snow patch.  We tried to get out, but the wheels were just spinning.  We were also on a small mountain road that didn't have hardly any traffic on it, so no one was driving by.  We tried for a while to get unstuck, without success.  It was starting to get dark and we weren't sure what to do, so we did the only thing we could think of - we said a prayer.  Not long after our prayer, someone drove up behind us.  They were able to help us get out of that snow patch.  We knew the Lord sent someone to help us.  What's even more amazing was (1) they didn't have any real reason for being out that evening - just taking a drive and (2) their jobs included teaching people how to drive in and get out of conditions just like we found ourselves in. 

After I shared that story, we talked about the basics of prayer - who we're talking to, saying things we're thankful for, asking for blessings and help, and then closing in Jesus' name.  They got to pull some pictures out of two bags:  "We Thank Thee" and "Please Bless".  We practiced saying a prayer using the pictures to help think of things to pray for.          

My most recent lesson was on priesthood power.  We looked at some pictures of Jesus instituting the sacrament, healing and blessing, and giving His apostles priesthood power.  We briefly talked about Moses giving the priesthood to his son Aaron and Joseph Smith having the priesthood power restored to him by the angels John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John (who held the keys to the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood).  So then the rest of our lesson was "opening" lock boxes with (matching) keys and revealing an ordinance or way the priesthood helps us to return to live with God.  Some of those necessary ordinances are baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, the sacrament, and temple ordinances.  We moved the little girl up each step as we went along.  One of the last things was opening a lock box that had some fruit snacks in there, which they got to eat.  I think they enjoyed having a treat - I don't often bring any treats or food for the lessons.    

I love teaching about simple gospel truths and coming up with creative teaching ideas.