Precarious economy = "Summer Art Camp With Mom!" Besides, I miss my kids all year. Summer means it is finally MY turn! Here we are meticulously painting tiny ceramic tiles in preparation for making mosaics.
What would any summer be like without multiple trips to the beach? Here the kids pose in front of our favorite sign (Beware, confirmed shark attack at this beach) just before hittin' the waves!
Dallin catches a wave on the boogie board--a favorite activity second only to skim boarding.
Can't you see the serenity in my face? My favorite summer pastime? Soaking up rays and gazing at the big blue.
What can I say but, "Baby he's got it!"
Remember the Pioneer Day Blues, when your Mom dressed you up in old aprons and gigantic bonnets that smelled of moth balls, and how you begged to stay in the car so that you wouldn't have to ride around the church parking lot in a rusty wagon with a makeshift cover on top that kept you from seeing where you were going or knowing when you were going to fall because your sister turned the wagon too quickly? This is PAYBACK time--Only, Liriel got away without the bonnet!
This is what happens on long summer days when you have in your house both a pre-teen girl and a life-size, life-like, LIVE Barbie Doll!
And another one!
Brotherly love personified.
And sisters can have a lot of love too.
Our rough-and-tumble, snuggly-wuggly, quiet, wry, scientist surfer-dude little boy turns 6--and gives us the very best "I LOVE IT" face that any parent could ever hope to catch on camera!
Avanlee gets a hair cut, contacts, and rocks it up at cheer camp!
. . . and braces! I won't even mention the dent in the pocketbook!
My Summer project: I actually sewed something that turned out! (Savannah's dress.)
We won't even talk about my next try at making some shorts for Avanlee. I still have NO CLUE what I did wrong. And it is a sign of my unsurpassable humility that I even share this laugh with you all, so be grateful!
Marc took Dallin on his first high Siera backpacking trip. Two nights, lots of fish, and one bear later they came back stinking but jubilant!
Not to be undone, I got to go out on a little excursion myself. My amazing husband flew me out for the weekend to see two of my best and longest girlfriends for a little Mom's getaway--my first since having children 12 years ago. Here we are sporting our fresh-out-of-bed hair styles.
If you think that Summer Art Camp With Mom is a good idea, you'll love Summer Pre-School with Avanlee, Dallin, and Savannah. People have called me lazy, but I would say it is sheer genius. How do you prepare younger children for school; teach older children organization, patience, and childcare skills; and entertain them all at once? Make your older children the teachers of a Summer Pre-School program at home. Here Christian and Liriel pose at Pre-School Graduation.
The students with their FABULOUS (and they really were) teachers.
Without T.V., video games, or cell phones, there was a LOT of reading going on in our home this summer.
You have to love new school clothes, especially the ones that friends give us for free!
The Toothless Wonder (missing three of his four front teeth) starts kindergarten. Christian was ecstatic, Mom cried . . . of course!
Labor Day Weekend found us at our favorite old haunt, Hume Lake at Sequoia National Park.
The big news of the Summer? Our ward of 450 active members split, bringing our numbers in at a manageable 240 each Sunday. With the splitting of a ward comes all sorts of jumbling up of callings. I am still a Relief Society teacher, but Marc was called as the Young Men's President. It is such a relief to have him back to work for the Lord. I was tired of having him moping around the house and taking naps on Sundays!!! But, on that first Sunday (with no positions filled) we only had sacrament meeting--so we went home for an awesome home primary. I got to be Mrs. Friendly (Or Mrs. Friend Lady, as the kids would say): the crazy woman who comes in and shares a story from the Friend magazine. The kids didn't know quite what to think of their Mom gone crazy (ok, so they are actually quite used to that!)
REALLY crazy!
After a great start to school for all four kids, and a freshly quieted home, Dallin surprises us with the news that he is a great long-distance runner. He placed 5th in the district Cross Country meet of 150 fourth grade boys. Run Dallin, Run!
And Th-th-that's all folks!
Walking on nice, dry ground and following our trail blazer, Liriel.
This month I celebrated my birthday. Ladies never reveal their age, but I am starting to feel it. I actually have a bit of a crick in my hip and knee. Funny how I still feel 18 inside, though. I still dance around the street in the rain. I still sing loud, ribald songs at the top of my lungs from time to time. I still turn cartwheels if I ever have enough open space. I still beat Marc in tennis. I'm still beach-bummin' (and the "bummin" part only intensifies as I get that middle-aged spread in back). And, as the photo will attest to, I can still make it to the tippy top of the mountain. 
Have you ever spent hours dolling up 5 kids and two adults, then taken them to a beautiful outdoor venue in an ATTEMPT to keep them all clean and tidy long enough to take their picture? If you have, then you also understand the joys of ATTEMPTING to then get 7 decent smiles and 14 open eyes all at the same time--in short: to produce a work of art worthy of being indelibly recorded on glossy photo paper and hung on your wall for the next year, at least (depending on how soon you can work up the nerve to repeat the process.) This can be a daunting task, as your success or failure will be staring back at you (as well as anyone who visits) every day for many months to come. This can be truly exciting with a real photographer and several silly puppets, but since we have moved away from our photographer, I decided to attempt it myself.
