Stole another day

We met at the pool at 11 for swim lessons again. Again, it was a beautiful, cool day. Too cool for the pool, we didn't even hit 80 degrees today! BWI tied a record cold temperature for this morning, and the meteorologist that I follow on FB keeps talking about stealing days from July. He says that every July day under 90 degrees is another day we've stolen. we didn't even have our ac on at all today, that's how cool it is! It's fabulous, just not the best for swim lessons. 

Delaney has been pretend playing with her dolls lately. Like, they are talking to each other play. it's pretty cute. (: Yesterday they were pretending that Addie was her mom, so laney would call "mommy?" And when I would reply they would both have to remind me that I was not the mommy, Addie was. 

She also sings primary songs as she plays. She'll be doing a puzzle and break into "I love you, and you love me. Sand and the sea. I love you..." and on and on. Monique is a fabulous music leader and it's fun to hear all of my girls singing the sweet primary songs. 

We left the pool after showers, at 2. I put the girls down for rests and Laura came over. We planned some of our assateauge trip. We decided to camp. We are both nervous about this and it would not really be our first choice, but it is much cheaper, and that matters right about now. I like camping, just not sure I'm up for a big camping trip. I'm sure it will be wonderful though, and when it's through we will be able to check the whole state of Virginia off of our lighthouse list because we will have seen every lighthouse in the state! It'll be our first state completed and it's so exciting!

We had ht'ers tonight and Maggie played for awhile. Then Addie and I worked on her first grade packet. She had a little bit of a rocky patch today. During pool time,  everyone got so cold that we took a park break, but then the 2-year-olds didn't want to leave the park. Since the mc's had just arrived, we let them take the bigger girls and we stayed at the park with the littles.

At one point Addie came over and told me she was ready to go home. She was obviously upset. When she is upset she often cries silently, but her face gives her away every time because it gets all sorts of red. Anyhow, I asked her what was wrong and after not wanting to tell me, and really not wanting to tell me, she tearfully asked if I would be mad at her. I assured her that I would not, and after just a few more cuddles and a little more assurance, she sadly admitted to dunking Frankie. Several times. One of the McCombs had rightfully scolded her, and she was so, so sad. We talked about how dunking new swimmers is not very safe and how she could always tell me anything. Then, after an apology to Frankie, all was right in 6-year-old'ville. 

then tonight she came up and loved on me, and it was so precious. If I had handled things in anger, (which I have been known to do:() she probably wouldn't feel like she could trust me, and I surely wouldn't have gotten the "you're the best mom I ever had," from her like I did during tonight's cuddle fest. 

It's nice to be able look back on a day and feel good about the choices made. It doesn't always happen, so that makes the good days even sweeter. 

Tonight Delaney had a rare (ish) bedtime fit. This entails her throwing everything she can get her hands on out of her crib. A few minutes of crying and then she snaps back into her senses. Then she calls for one of us, and we get to go back to her room and help her put all of her things back into her bed. She directs the effort with "and that dolly. And that baby. And not that book. And that blankie." And she like everything just-so too. Her comforter hangs on the front of the crib every.time. Without exception. Thankfully, the bedtime fits don't happen often. Anymore. 

Lexi hung out with us while the ht'ers visited, so that was nice. When Chris got off work, those two went to chipotle. Chris wanted to go, so he treated. I'm glad that they are close. I hope that as she leaves for school and their lives take them in different directions, that they will stay close. The PIC's. (partners in crime)

This and that

We spent the afternoon at the pool today. Addie, Abby, and Frankie had their first day of swim lessons, and they did great! Frankie had a little bit of a time keeping up with the big girls, but meh, it's only 30 minutes a day for one week, so whatevs. It was breezy and cool. Not sure where this cool summer weather has come from, but it's awesome!

That was pretty much our day today. Wake up, breakfast, start laundry, pool prep, pool, naps, laundry, dinner, library, laundry, bed. Thankfully Matt took the girls to the library so I could get some work in. What a guy. (:

(Working backwards)

On Saturday morning Christina and I met on base for our weekly half marathon training run. It was a cool, crisp morning, and the loop around the base was beautiful. Aaaand we did 11 miles. In 1 hour and 50 minutes. We totally rocked the time, with under 10 minute miles up until about mile 6. Quick Gatorade and power gel (blech!) break, and things kinda slowed down. 

It's been so fun having a running buddy. Thankfully I really like Christina, because two hours of talking to just one person could get pretty rough if you didn't like your pad'nuh. We talked about how our bodies were made to do amazing things if we believe in ourselves and work it. We are working it!

On our way up to trek, Addie started feeing carsick, so we stopped at a Safeway for gas and donuts. Cause fried sugar helps 6-year-olds with motion sickness. And we found Matt's name! Too bad he doesn't drink soda, otherwise he'd a been in business. 

After trek pick up I had invited everyone to go to Golden Corral in Manasses with us. The Mormon pioneers could have taken over the restaurant. (: it was the ely's, pachner's, prettyman's, McCombs, steeter's, Martines', and buxton's. Fun, fun. (:

On Friday we went to another outdoor neighborhood movie night at the merchant's. They showed the Lego movie and everything was awesome. (; Addie wanted to take a pic of all of us. She actually wanted someone to "stand up and take a picture of awll (the southern Maryland way of saying "all") 5 of us," but the movie had already started, so dark selfie it is. 

Today the big kids both worked. This family is growing up. The little girls keep asking why bubba and sissy always have to go places. Another of the challenges of raising toddlers and teens. It's nice that they love each other. (:

trek final

christian's trek family on the first day.

and on the last.

during the youth testimonies during sacrament meeting today, josh said they had the best and most fun trek family, and christian agreed. he said during the women's pull, the most trying, testimony building, and best part of the trek for the majority of people, that the girls in their group were so strong and quiet. during the women's pull the boys aren't able to help at all, the are only able to fan the girls, bring them water, and help stabilize the wheels. the boys always cry and always want to help, and the girls struggle and push through. chris said the girls in his family were so strong and capable, that it wasn't that bad for the boys. i believe the girls were strong, not so sure i believe that he didn't cry. they always cry. or so i hear.

christian got to bear his testimony in sacrament meeting today too. it was... interesting. he provided the comic relief, i guess. oh my. let's just say that (over the pulpit, mind you) he talked about farts and poop and then brought it all together with the way that the difficulties of the first day brought them all closer together. after the tough women's pull and all the walking, they were no longer individuals, but a real family. so for mama it was an embarrassing beginning and a nice ending, silver lining, right? of course, he could have given a sweet testimony like jt, wherein he cried and thanked his mom for making him go, even though he was mean to her about it, but i just have to know that he feels that way in his heart. he told me that he just had to make sure he didn't cry during his testimony. maybe someday. :)

trek goodies.

evening devotional.

and some more yume, virginia loveliness.

disassembling the handcart. love his trek pa's conical hat. pioneers were not just from 'merica.

as the youth enjoyed refreshments and hurricaning one another, christian - with bishop martines' permission - hurricaned him. since that is not the kind of thing that happens everyday, we had to document. :)

all in love, y'all, all in love. :)

it was a really good experience. our bodies and our spirits are so connected... being challenged physically can really bring us so much closer to heaven, to those unseen angels, and to the spirit of truth. i don't have the right words, but it's pretty amazing. i'm grateful that both of my biggin's have had the opportunity to participate in a pioneer trek. i'm thankful for all the leaders and people that worked so hard to make this happen. and i'm grateful that we made him go. all's well that ends well. :)

ps: for more unofficial info on trek, this is a nice blog post. 

our trek is not exactly the same, but pretty close.

trek on!

on saturday afternoon the gang piled into the jolly green to pick christian up from trek. despite some carsickness from addie, the drive up went well. when we got there, though, it was quite warm, and the girlies weren't feeling it. they pretty much complained from the moment we got out of the car till the moment we got back in. :/ 

oh well.

parents lined the fence as we eagerly awaited our little trekkers.

 it was exciting when we finally saw them on the horizon.

there they are! they got held up a few times, (trail boss wanted them all to stay together) but made their way pretty quickly.

 as the parents waited some of them with the inside scoop (i guess) shared that this was the happiest little group of trekkers. rumor has it that the trekkies were so happy and fast, that the powers that be added miles to their trek. they said they were willing and cheerful and really had good attitudes and a good time. that's wonderful to hear, and not the report that i have been used to from christian's age group - mostly at school, but you know.

 

there he is! 

smack dab in the middle, blue shirt, dark suspenders, teal bandana wrapped around his hat. 

it was so cute when he spotted us. 

 hoorah!

 jodie caught this one. that is one happy boy! after all the pre-fighting, this really made my heart happy. :)

 

 the trekkers come up the hill and then keep on a-walkin' to a little valley where the families disassemble their wagons and put all their gear away.

 we followed them, but had to stay on the road while they finished their work.

 

 they disassembled pretty quickly and had one last family prayer.

 it was really cute when frankie saw josh, she ran up to him open armed. :)

 we love us some mccombs!

 they had watermelon and cold water for the trekkies and they all visited and hurricaned each other. (yelled "hurricane!" and threw water on people) all the kids looked really happy as they visited and introduced their real life families to their trek families., it was a good time.

go chris!

for his citizenship in the community merit badge, chris needed to pick a topic that was of interest/concern to our community and interview someone about it. so christian contacted a deputy that lives in our neighborhood to ask if he could interview her about the drug epidemic. she was so nice and helpful and put him in contact with the commander of the smc vice/narcotics division. chris was able to set up a time to interview him and it was great, they were so nice and so impressed with the initiative he was taking. a few weeks later this was posted to the sheriffs office fb page. so proud of him!!!

several good things came from this. for one, it has made his accountable. now anyone on fb knows that he is aware of, and against the drug problem in our county. not that this will absolutely keep him safe from it, but awareness and knowledge is a major step to prevention, and now he knows. another good thing is that he feels a connection to the sheriff's office. both captain alioto and deputy grumbles were so kind to him. they gave him a bag of goodies and told him if he ever needed anything that he could always contact either of them. in a day and age where some teens are very anti-police, i am glad that he feels this kinship with them.

here is the article about our boy. :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOY SCOUT INTERVIEWS COMMANDER FOR CITIZENSHIP BADGE

On Wednesday, May 7, 2014, Chris Trujillo who is a member of Boy Scout Troop 1846 met with Captain Dan Alioto the Commander of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Vice/Narcotics Division. Chris was acutely aware of the opiate drug problem plaguing our community and had some very poignant questions for the Captain. Chris asked, “what is law enforcement doing about the problem and what can young people, (like himself), do to help?”

Captain Alioto described all of the prevention and enforcement initiatives being utilized to combat the problem. He had this to say regarding what young people can do to help law enforcement, “It’s refreshing to see a young man have interest in this topic. What young people can do to help? Exactly what Chris is doing – by educating himself regarding prevention and looking to make a difference in his community, especially among his peers. This is an epidemic. The impact a bright young man like Chris can have on others should never be underestimated. He is making a difference by choosing this topic and by asking the questions, while there are so many other issues young people are faced with these days. I was honored and humbled he wanted to speak with me.”

Sheriff Tim Cameron and the men and women of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office would like to sincerely THANK Chris Trujillo for bringing attention to this serious problem and making a difference in St. Mary’s County. We hope he earned his Citizenship Badge!

top 5 reasons i love my dad!

i finally took a break from the summer fun and went through some of the many piles of papers that have been cluttering up around the house. i went through addie's end-of-year school papers and found some father's day stuff.

here are the top 5 reasons addie loves her dad. :)

1. I love my dad dcus he play with fon.

(because he plays with his phone)

***this one is especially funny to me, because, anyone who knows matt knows he never has his phone on him. he never plays on his phone!

2. He is a grat cuck.

(he is a great cook)

3. My dad lik to pa mun lot uv mun.

(likes to pay a lot of money)

hahahahahahahaha!

4. I like my Dad.

5. I like my Dad har.

(I like my dads hair)

seeing my children growing in knowledge is one of the joys of my life. this is so precious to me! i'm glad it only took me a month to find it in the piles of papers. ;0

treking

today was the big day - we were off to trek! jt and asa came over last night and the boys stayed up way too late. i finally mad them go to bed after 11. i was up late getting christian's pioneer stories ready for him. 

2 things i wish:

*i didn't procrastinate

*the kids would be at least a little bit responsible for themselves 

we left this morning at 6:30, 30 minutes after we wanted to. :( we realized that the bags weren't going to fit so we grabbed our thule to attach to the trailer hitch, but we couldn't find the key. double :( we got to mccombs where laura had made breakfast burritos to send the boys off with full bellies. and grabbed our burritos to go.

we needed gas and the boys voted for a wawa run.

i captioned this one "breaking amish."

jt said i should have captioned it "at least no one looked at us funny." 

true!

and the boys loved it. there is safety in numbers and they were safe with their friends, so they ate that up. as they waited outside they were approached by a man wanting to join their amish gang. he said he could be their mascot. they loved it. :) 

since we got a late start and then a sloooow trip at wawa, we didn't have a lot of extra time. we hit the typical beltway traffic and i was feeling the stress! 4 years ago when i drove to trek, i dropped the kids off late, and i didn't want a repeat. thankfully, even though it got a little hairy as we got close to the marriott ranch because *shocker* i got lost, we made it on time!

it was so gorgeous! the day was cool and overcast and the rolling hills are just beautiful.

silly shot!

handsome, excited, happy boys!!!

 and a #tbt

hard to believe this was 4 years ago! craziness!

and they're off!

and this is how they left the jolly green giant. piglets! i brought my running shoes and would have loved to run through the breathtaking countryside, but it had started to sprinkle and i really didn't know where to park, or where to run for that matter, so i headed home.

the stake has a fb page where they are adding pictures, so i snagged a few. 

a wagon ready to be built!

there they go!

and the natives.

i haven't seen any of christian yet and i can't wait to see who is in his family!

we got home around 2 and naps were had by all. then we got an exciting phone call! frankie got into prek at our neighborhood school!!! and the pm class too! yaaaaaaaaaay! she is so excited! she also said she's "a little bit scared to go into that classroom." she's gonna rock it! and yes, those are goggles on her head, and no, we were not swimming.

this was the scenery on my run tonight. 

bee-you-tiful!

4 more weeks

And then these fun and lazy(ish) summer days will be done.

Monday we hosted our first of four summer kid swaps. We had a great day. Little bit of 5-6 year old drama, but mostly good. Lunch was a hit. It's worth slaving over 2 boxes of mac'n'cheese when everyone loves it as much as these guys did.

Yesterday was day 2 of kid swap at Alecia's. We dropped girls off, picked Asa up, and hit the thrift stores for more last minute trek gear.

After three failed Amish stops (no hats!) we finally came upon this amazing Amish store on Dove Point Lane. We loved the little pony parking.

The store had everything you could think of! It was like an Amish Walmart. :)

They even had a gas powered ceiling fan. Those clever Amish!

All different flavors of jello. They get bulk groceries and portion them out into bags and sell them cheap'ish.

All different sprinkles and spices. I just thought it was a really cool place. I will definitely be going back!

Finally, hat success! We were so excited to have Amish hats... and then Chris took his off and found a "Made in Mexico" tag inside. :/

Whilst we were living in an Amish paradise, the girls were living the life at Alecia's. Kid swap days are sa-weet.

And picking up 3 exhausted girls is pretty sa-weet too. Maggie had stayed the night before and the girls "woke up" at 6:30 saying "we're not tired. Look, we're happy, not grumpy." All seemed very suspiciously rehearsed like something being told to them by a big girl 9-year-old. Not sa-weet is that the 2 littlest grabbed a cat nap and then never went back to sleep. The 6-year-old "I'm not tired" stayed awake until we got home and then fell asleep.

That is one snazzy looking ready for trek'er! He's still making comments, but I know he's excited to go. Can't wait!