And Then, It Was Girls' Camp

Lucky for us Monday was Memorial Day, so we stayed home.  Nick won Catan by a lot.  

Maisie decided to make doughnuts.  She's getting better at it.  We were all pretty excited.

Our CFM included the story of Jesus washing his apostles' feet.  I gave each person a pedicure.  This was actually a lovely FHE.

Here are Maisie's hobbit feet (size 5) and Molly's Elder wand.

Then Tuesday came and all the camp food prep began every moment for the rest of the week.  Here are 10 shoulder roasts smoking.

Here is part of the food.

Grandma Kim sent Maisie the most darling graduation card.

It took 9 crock pots for dinner.

More stuff.

Molly's letter to Andy this week was sweet.  I think she's realizing that she's not the baby forever.  "This is Andy holding me when I was a baby."

And then we went to camp.  Here are the YCLs leading the camp in songs.  

Maisie and Makena were helpers.  Meg and Elijah drove up with all the dinner food and were our guest speakers.  They shared beautiful stories of friendship and testimony.  They radiated testimony and the results of covenant keeping.  Maddie vibed so hard at camp.  She sang every song and won every game.

Dinner.

Molly's acro dance rectial of course was the same day as camp.  We arrived home in time to get her ready.  Austin readily agreed to dance in the parent dance with her.  Of course Grandma B. came to watch.  Maisie commented, "Ah, Grandma came to watch Dad's dance recital."  We all laughed so hard.  She smirked back, "I tried to get him to dance in the Nutcracker for years.  I'm so glad he's finally on stage."  

For some inexplicable reason, Maisie owns green eye liner.  We just had to make that happen.

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Molly's Dance

Once hope these ladies were in my bed before I was.  We cozily watched the Cinderella cartoon.

Sunday's rest consisted of gaming, walking and talking.

And sleeping.

Elder Babcock's call this week was sweet.  I asked him his favorite song, and he replied, "The Day Dawn is Breaking, from April 2023 Saturday Morning General Conference."  Meg giggled immediately at that response.  These were his best quotes:

"That's when I'm happiest.  When I'm working the hardest."

"I'm all in."

"Unhappy missionaries are just lazy."

"If you love the people around you, you'll work hard."  

This big boy glows from every ounce of his soul.  I love him so much.

Maycember

Graduation week is upon us!  But first, these are two examples of what my neglected younger children were up to.

Molly drew me a labeled picture of the candy she wants for her birthday.

Eddie and Molly are perfecting their acro-yoga moves.  Ryan spots them.  (That poor, little girl.)

Maisie's scholarship banquet proved very unfruitful, though she applied for several local options.  It's that FASFA bit that kills her opportunity.  I guess no of the benefactors know that she's paying for every bit of college herself.  

VALEDICTORIAN! (She deserves it.  We are so proud of her.)

We did stop to go to park.  I suppose my children are way too old to be apart of the park group, but I'm the only one who organizes it -- if I don't send out the texts and flyers, no one comes.  And, there are several women who need the out.  This puts my in a very hard place of being very old and on the fringe myself.

Because Maisie didn't get to run track, we have spent this entire semester working out together.  I wait for her to get home, Maddie joins us, and we love it.  I am so focused that I'm not very fun.  They sure giggle and work hard together.

Wednesday night the eight MUHS graduates from our stake gathered and held a little party.  I put together a few charcuterie boards.  Let's just say that my offering was accepted.

These two ran and played all over the yard.  I had to remind them not to run through the sitting area.

Here is Maisie and her display.  I suppose this is the last "project" for school that I will ever do for her.  She was so worth my entire day and every creative juice.  Maisie never pretends to be someone else.  She knows how to vibe at a high frequency and also takes time to vibe at a low one.  This girl.  Oh!  We had to finish writing her speech, because she hadn't started it and it was due in three hours.  That's what we did all morning.

New born baby, darling Meg, flew in for a week of festivities.  We sat at the dinner table, and she handed me this!  She's pregnant with TWINS!  No one could contain their excitement, so naturally, we had to share the news with the grandparents.

They were pretty tickled about being great-greandparents.

Seesters.

Friday was all graduation prep and ceremony. Let me note, that Maisie has had plenty of time to do all things, but she's spent up to eight hours each day playing her guitar.  AHHHH!  And I let her.  I love hearing that constant hum of music that exudes from her fingertips and soul.

We did stop to read and connect with Heavenly Father.  

Here is the graduate finally decorating her cap, because she needed to get ready one hour later.

All the while, Meg entertained the siblings in the pool, by the piano, and on the floor playing games.

Then it was time to get ready.  We thought we were very clever about this pants suit.  

All the bling.

The final product.  I sewed her lei and tied it around her cap.  I wish I had done the same for Meg a few weeks earlier.

Nick drove Maise to graduation (He took he driver's test earlier that morning and passed, so I sent him to drop her off!  I'm so happy he's a driver!).  We then had 15 minutes to get the rest of us ready.  Once at the school we were treated like royalty.  Because Austin is on the school board, we had special parking, we were escorted out onto the field, given brilliant seats and basked in the ONE perk for his stress, weekly political slandering, and sheer busyness.  I'm not saying we deserve it, but we do donate our father to the community, so it was a delight to be recognized.

Then she and Makena, her best friend and co-valedictorian, walked onto the field first.  She was the most excited I've ever seen her.  

Her speech was sensational. Start at minute 50, and you'll get to hear her. Maisie's Valedictorian Speech

Austin stood on the stand a shook the hands of all the grads.   

We paused to take a picture and pretend like we have time for each other.

The family.

The grandparents.

The parents.

We missed Andy and Elijah.

My fiery fairy.

Best friends and in August roommates at BYU.

Big girl and little girl.

The end.  Maisie came in at 2:15am from the school party.  She won pots and pans, a desk and a waffle iron.  She said that she felt like a celebrity.  Several of her classmates raved about her speech and her goodness.  This girl was on CLOUD 9!  What a sweet ending to childhood.

Saturday was just stopped.  We swam and sat.

Sunday was Grandpa's 78th birthday.  I made him a raw key lime pie.  He seemed pleased with his party.

Do you see his hand holding onto Maddie's?  He's often holding our hands and hearts as he quietly teaches and loves.  What a tender mercy that we live just by them.