Grandpa Guymon

My Grandpa died last night.  Today is the first day of my mortal existence that I haven't had him cheering me on, and I miss him.  He was the champion of piano/ukulele duets, the king of rollerblade/broom handle games, the deep bass in ward choir, and the leader of a vast posterity.  I know he and grandma are already singing anthems to our Maker in the heavenly choir today.

Saturday is a Special Day

Austin often dances with the kids post dinner dishes.  Ryan is hanging on for dear life as his daddy hops and jumps like a spaz around the family room.  That's special.

 Maddie and Ryan helped me early Saturday morning harvest all our beets and dry them into beet chips.  The chips are really sweet and tasty.

 Maisie decided to have a tea party right after breakfast.  This is taken just after Nick stormed into the house because Meg accidentally poured hot chocolate all over him.  They were happy eating gold fish, cashews and craisins.

 Austin and Ryan are working on his hanging skills.  This baby will be ready for the monkey bars soon enough.

Ryan often helps set the table while Austin is loading it, then claps about his successful silverware placement on the way back for more.  Pretty special.

Learning Time

Eddie and I spent time mostly everyday working on learning letters, sight words and recognizing the names of family members.  For some reason he can never remember Andy's name.  

 Then these boys and I make bake something mostly every afternoon for an after school snack or an accouterment to lunches. Eddie works on writing his letters.

Ryan sits beside us and eats batter and protein balls.

 Last week we left on a four hour date to the theater and Food City.  We spent two hours in the theater, then he spent two hours on the phone.  This evening I'm planning a bit of "Hot Yoga" at a local studio.  He respectfully declined my invitation, and so I'll be going alone.  Funny, I'm sure it won't feel anymore solo than last week.

We Never Stop

Nick lost his third tooth this week.  The male tooth fairy generously gave him a big bill for his payment.

Family scriptures on the balcony.

Early yesterday morning Austin and I hiked Thunder Mountain in Sedona then went to breakfast in town.

 We spent the afternoon in the pool and eating hamburgers.  Austin pulled out the snorkeling gear and we breathed under water for hours (baby Ryan asleep).

Par le vous Francais?

We're 90% finished with Meg's basement room.  I painted and built the bookshelves, and Austin added the baseboards and crown moldings.  We would still like to add a landscape picture of the Phoenix temple for above her bed and perhaps another lamp for the desk or the dresser.
 Before: With purple paint and two huge doors leading to the outdoors.

After: With gray paint, two built-in bookshelves to cover the doors, and  the Eiffel Tower.

Verde River

I took the kids to the "crick" yesterday, and they had tons of fun.  It's a good thing because it was kind of painful.
  Dual tasking yesterday morning.

 These three floated around the bend and didn't come back for two hours.  I was worried most of the time, so I didn't enjoy the great outdoors like I normally do.

 Maisie and her BFF cooling off.

Early in the evening this little boy came to me in the kitchen dressed in a build a bear shirt -- someone helped him.

Sun glasses.  Love these two little peanuts.

School Begins

Here comes another school year -- one in which I have a high schooler, a middle schooler, three elementarians (I might have made up that word) and two preschoolers.  Almost every moment is filled helping my darlings grow and succeed.  There are a few moments, though, that I can take four seconds on photo booth and pinch myself into an alien.

9th grader

 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th grader plus one Ed

 These two Babcock boys are happy around me.

This one might even have a bit of curly hair; I'm not holding my breath, just breathing deeply while it lasts.

Mostly I mourn the first few weeks of school that my bigs are far from me physically.  They are learning all sorts of new things and becoming positive members of society, which makes our separation a teensy bit easier.