BIG UPDATE - Summer 2012

I haven't blogged in forever. I still am pretty fed up with Blogger and frankly, Amar'e keeps me on my toes so much, I don't make the time. I will attempt here to at least give a summer update. I planned a summer routine and not suprisingly, we failed miserably at all of that. The boys have been cooped up because of the scorching heat. So, the have been inside the whole summer. We have taken them to the pool and the reservoir a few times. We have also had a few play dates with friends. The only reading Marce has done is during scripture study (almost every morning) and at night for about 10 minutes before bed (probably more of looking at the pictures)...I have made him do his Math program online called "ixl". So he is into the 1st grade curriculum already but we could have done a lot more of that. The boys have done their chores all summer long, that is something they will never get a break from :) Phoenix has joined the system and is now doing the dishes with Marcelus. When I feel he can do it on his own, they will switch off, but for now they do it together. He will probably not start sweeping until he is close to 5. As soon as their old enough to learn a chore, I put them on it. That is how it works. They get check marks for every chore they do (cleaning up toys is not a chore!) and when they reach $5 worth of chores I pay them. They then save up for toys or buy a candy when we go to the store.

Marcelus has NOT done any "Let's Play Music" this summer but I'm not too worried about him. He has a big year this year as he gets on the keyboard for the first time and has required practices 5 times a week. "Let's Play Music is an awesome 3 year pre-piano program he is in. He has looked at his materials for this semester and is so excited to get started. He starts this Tuesday, a week before school starts!

Phoenix has been doing so many head stands, I think I'm going to get him into tumbling/Gymnastics when he's a bit older! He's constantly on his head, and he's been at it for 2 years now! This coming year I will be working with Phoenix myself to prepare for Kindergarden, which he won't attend til next year. I'm going to take 30 minutes 2 days a week with him to work on Preschool stuff.

Amar'e is now 15 months and he is into everything. He is a devil and I hope he grows out of it all soon. We have to put our trash can up high, close all closet/bathroom doors cause he will get in the toilet, trash, toilet paper, ect...we have to tie up the fridge so he can't get in there. He gets into my cupboards, the TV stand, ect....He is nuts and I hope he's my only one this bad! He reminds me so much of his brother Marcelus! Amar'e goes into Nursery about Halloween time and I can't wait because if he hasn't fallen asleep by then there is hardly a chance of me attending RS.

The 2 older boys did swim lessons for a couple weeks. I don't know if they ever learn anything. We have tried to take them to the reservoir with just floaties to let them swim and learn. I want my kids to be excellent swimmers but it just seems to be so slow going. Marce is 6 1/2 but no where near being a good swimmer. I guess we'll just keep trying.

I have enjoyed going to RS and ward activites this summer. I love the ward. It's just full of the neatest people. We had pie and homemade ice cream at the park recently and we did a big tug of war. I love the RS meetings. I need to be able to get out on my own once in a while with no kids and just mingle with adults, so I love them!

Sharrid and I had the opportunity to go up to northern Utah in July. We stayed at my Aunt Theresa's house in Payson. We loved Theresa's house! It was so cozy and homey, and we love their company! They are so awesome. We loved their place and their little town. We were able to drive through the Alpine Loop which took my breath away. It was rainy and glistening and looked like The Sound of Music meets Swiss Family Robinson! We hiked across the east side of Mount Timpanogus about 3.5 miles to a huge waterfall called Stewart Falls. It was beautiful and definitely outdoorsy. You could not see one worldly thing as far as the eye can see. I felt like I was in one of those off roading car commercials...you know the ones where you are thinking..."yeah right, where are they?...who goes there?" They're out in the middle of no where but it's like unearthly beauty. I saw huge mountains covered in green across the way and a huge full rainbow on the way back. The weather was perfect of course...

Me and the boys were able to go to the family cabin for the 4th of July. I LOVED it! I was worried about having to chase after Ama're but he did so awesome and I was really able to have tons of fun and visit with my Aunts and Uncles who I adore, not to mention my grandparents. We spent a lot of time watching home videos which everybody loved. I brought up my collection. Grandma especially loved that. I scrubbed my grandma's feet which is kind of a tradition for us now. We played a lot of games as always and ate great food thanks to Debbie and Theresa! I tried to help in the kitchen but was kind of out of the loop. I did do the homemade ice cream that I brought the stuff up for. I was the only cousin with kids who came besides Kenneth and Alyna. My boys get along really good with his girls. They are close to the same ages so they loved playing together and I was so glad Kenneth and his family came!

I have been reading a lot of books lately. If you're on Goodreads, look me up! As of now I'm reading the last book in the Uglies series. I'm constantly reading something though. I've been happy to get a lot of reading done this year. I have a lot of books on my list so I gotta get through them.

I also have been Netflixing movies but I don't get through those super fast. I enjoy the option to watch something though if I'm not going to read. One of my favorite things to do is play "Ticket to Ride" on my iPad. I didn't like the game at first, but gradually "got" why it's good. I love it now and playing it on the iPad is even funner than playing the real board. You can play with people that are right there with you (friends), you can play solo against computer players or a combination of friends and computer players. You can also play online with real people that you don't know and chat with them at the same time. I love all the options. It is definitely my "go to" game right now and I also usually play few games before bed to unwind. I absolutely LOVE it! I have added the European board and the USA expansions. They have the Switzerland board available as well as the Asian boards available. It costs like $5 bucks, but it's seriously the best $5 I've spent! Now, if only Settlers of Catan would get with the program and create an app! Marcelus learned the iPad version very quickly. He's such a smarty! He's getting better at reading the city names and they highlight your routes for you. Now he loves to go to grandma's and play the real board game. He's pretty good and usually smokes on on collecting the most tickets! It's fun to finally be able to play a game with my kid that's not a "kids game". Leave it to Marce!

That has kind of been our summer in a nut shell! Can't wait for the routine and structure that school will bring!