June 1st was the first official day of summer, wooo! In order to somewhat slow the screen-time-induced rotting of brains, Chuck and I came up with a list of daily tasks that the older boys had to complete before asking for screens: breakfast, brush teeth, exercise, read scriptures/the Friend, journal, practice typing, chore, and practice piano. As you can see, the younger kids opted to participate as well:
The boys checked out another bike park in town and heartily endorse it.
Jackers went under the knife! Cute boy got tubes put in his ears and his adenoids taken out. He was a champ, although waking up from the anesthesia was a little rough; he basically hated the world. BUT the nurse thought I was in some sort of child development field because of my "amazing" "parenting" (her words, and also mine) sooooo at least someone left the hospital feeling good!
Jack's recovery at home was really smooth, he was up and running around right away, and happily joined us for a family walk... the next day? Ish?
Clyde earned his Wolf Award at Cub Scouts! What a superstar kiddo. Someday I will sew on his little badges and stuff. That day is not today.
Chuck, Clyde, and Will got to go see the new Avengers movie in the theater. The expensive one. For a while we had a little big of a waffle addiction (not classy homemade waffles, waffles of the eggo variety...) and you got a free ticket with every box purchased so off they went! (we're now on a bagel addiction. Jack calls them magels. It's perplexing and hilarious).
The big boys took swimming lessons the last two weeks of June (spoiler alert: also in July and August) and keeping Jack and Carma happy poolside was F-U-N. I was 88% sure Carma was going to end up in the water at some point, but we managed to avoid that, so I'm calling it all a success.
One fun Carma milestone in June was learning to climb onto the trampoline all alone, grrrr. One day the boys ran in and yelled, "Carma's on the trampoline!" so I went out and plucked her off and put her on the ground and watched (and documented!) what happened next. Sure enough, the little (nakey!) monkey climbed back on (well, almost. I couldn't watch that last final slither so I plucked her off again). If our summer had a soundtrack, it would feature "SHUT THE BACK DOOR SO CARMA DOESN'T GET OUT" as one of the biggest hits.
Carma had her one-year check up at the doctor one Friday morning and because I HAVE ISSUES I dressed her in a blue and white striped polo shirt. The same shirt each of the boys wore to their one-year check ups. Why? Who knows. I think for Will's appt I was like, "Oh hey, I (weirdly) remember that Clyde wore this shirt, it's cute, Will can wear it too." and then for Jack I was like, "Oh hey, I (weirdly) dressed both older boys in this for this appt, might as well make it a trifecta" and then for Carma I was like "Chuck, do you think there's a name for this behavior?" and he patiently smiled (although I think his eyes had a hint of panic) and told me, as always, to dress her in whatever I wanted. So here's the line up, oldest to youngest, in their carseats:
and standing/wobbling up. Honestly, if we're playing "who wore it best?" I think it was Will.
Aaand since after Will and Jack's appts we visited my grandpa Braden (to maximize our road trip into the big city, aka Boise), this time we opted to visit my dad! We started off in his amazing backyard (greenery! ponds! rabbits!)...
and then headed basically next door to play at the Boise River for a bit! The boys braved the water and Grandpa taught some rock-skipping lessons and Carma enjoyed snacks and dirt, possibly in equal amounts ;).
That Sunday was Father's Day! We made Chuck a sign... and hopefully some food? I know he was at the church most of the morning for meetings... and after for a bit. Let's just say I made him an amazing dinner; this is the official family record so it's now truth. Seriously though, Chuck is a completely stellar dad to our wee band of yahoos.
June found us out and about on our bikes quite a bit. Terri sent me some Mother's Day money, so I hooked myself up with one of those fantastically comfortable gel-filled bike seats and I'll never look back.
Oh man, one day Chuck found this fantastic app where as you brush your teeth, a cool like Disney picture is revealed and it revolutionaryized our twice daily routine... for a few months. Alas, the allure has now worn off and it's back to "Keep brushing! That wasn't two minutes! Nope, ALL your teeth!" But it's fun to look back at happier times haha.
OH, this was not really a happier time. Clyde had an appt with his pediatric surgeon about possibly having another surgery. It was not a fun exam for Clyde (... putting it mildly...) and then it's highly possibly we got the runaround at the hospital when we ventured over for an x-ray. BUT like four hours later Clyde got an ice cream and sometime during he got a treat from the vending machine - which somehow he had never experienced before?? Honestly not sure how that's possible. Mostly I just love love love this kid (and I also LOVE Grandma Pam for being home with the other three kids for this marathon afternoon since it was scheduled while Chuck was at scout camp).
Random cute Carma in one of my favorite little outfits. Spoiler alert: we're about due for another round-up of Carma fashion. I'd say two posts away.
Jack is my best eater and also the kid least likely to starve because he'll just get things done. Like making himself a roast beef sandwich. I seriously walked into the kitchen to find this one day, hahaha.
Oh man we love the library. Our new thing is parking on the verrrry top of the parking garage (aka the fourth floor). The kids love it. And then Clyde takes the stairs down and the rest of us take the elevator and we race. He always beats us. The only downside is having to hurry a wee bit as the parking garage is only free for the first hour... but luckily we're there like three times a week ;).
Oh man, some random shots. Upper right: Courtney! While we were in Utah for Grandma's party, I sneaked over to see Court and her amazing house. They bought a fixer-upper (I saw it in April) and a gazillion hours were put in by Courtney and Ben and dedicated family and friends and I was so thrilled to see it now that they were all moved in. Bottom left: girls' night! Only three of us were there and my hair was not flattering, but life happens. Middle: I just love boys with no personal space hahaha. The other two pictures are some I texted Chuck while he was at Scout Camp, just so he'd know I wasn't really having the opportunity to miss him because children were smothering me day and night haha.
But whenever we started missing Chuck, we just ate ice cream. It was fantastic.
Yay June! I'll post about Scout camp itself, possibly with Chuck's other summer campouts and activities. He told me he'd help! I'll hold him to it!
