Dinner's over, and I've informed everyone that since I MADE it, I'm not going to clean it up. So Ben's cleaning it up and the boys are running around outside, screaming. Literally screaming. Our neighbors must love us so much. But I'm determined to ignore them and write this letter!
Well, the first week of summer is under our belts! And, wow, has it ever been SUMMER, regardless of what the calendar says. It has been so amazingly hot. The boys have been asking to see if they can fry an egg on a skillet on the dash of the van, and I think I'm going to let them try. We'll have fried eggs for lunch. It's been in the upper 90's every single day, even breaking 100 a few times. This has been the hottest spring in Austin in recorded Texas history-- since the 1850's. Two years ago we had a record-breaking hot summer with 68 100+ days (average is 12), and in that year, it didn't break 100 until the middle of June! We had our first 100+ day on May 24. And there is no expected change in this weather pattern, so I think this summer is going to be brutal. We are 15 inches in deficit in terms of rainfall. Ugh.
Well, I shouldn't complain. We haven't had any tornadoes, so really, I can handle the weather. (But it's still so hot!)
This summer we are doing piano, flute, violin, and horseback riding lessons, so much of our schedule will stay the same. And since I'm super-mean, I'm also making the boys do 15 minutes of math every! single! day! (see how mean I am?), which, for Mosey, has been more like 45 minutes or an hour because he won't sit still and just do it! He was better on Friday, so I hope he'll get into the swing of things.
I have such grand plans for summer every year. I know I'm not the only one who does this. I'm going to get so much done! We're going to do so many fun projects and activities as a family! We're going to read books aloud and play board games every day! We're going to do art projects! We're going to get up at 7:00 every morning and go play at the park while it's still cool! I'm going to have time to lay on the couch and leisurely read a book! The reality is that it's easier said than done. :-) If I really want to get all that done, I'm going to have to schedule everything in, and you know what? I'm tired of schedules!! I think I need to lower my expectations. Maybe we'll play one board game a week, and get up at 7:00 for the playground one morning a week, and go from there.
We did hit our first Regal Theaters Summer Family Film Festival movie this week-- Marmaduke. Don't go running to the nearest Redbox for that one. :-) It did involve talking dogs and fart jokes so the boys thought it was hilarious, but I'm thinking maybe I need to bring a book and my little clip-on reading light to our next movie outing. Mosey doesn't have a particularly long attention span for movies, and halfway through he climbed over the seat to stand next to me (I was in my wheelchair in the handicapped seating area in the back) and bug me about how long until it would be over (answer: not soon enough). We went with 3 other kids who stayed with us for the day (some homeschooling friends whose mom went to the Temple), and I didn't even attempt to have the boys do any practicing while they were here.
The boys went swimming every afternoon, and I got in a couple of times. Thank goodness for the pool. It's the only way I can be outside for any length of time at all. (I can only tolerate horseback riding lessons wearing my ultra-stylish cooling vest and ice packs around my neck. Yup, I'm sooo cool. Luckily the boys aren't old enough to be too embarrassed of me.) Last Monday when we came home from piano lessons, the house was a big mess and needed picking up and some real cleaning. I gave the boys the choice of staying inside to help me, or going outside and STAYING THERE until it was all done. If they even set foot in the house, they'd automatically get a job. Which do you think they chose? :-) If we hadn't had a pool, I might have had a fighting chance at having some helpers. As it was, it was kind of nice being in the cool, quiet house, cleaning, knowing that the boys wouldn't dare come into the house until I was done. This isn't the answer every time the house needs cleaning, but it worked for me that day. I remember as a kid having contests about who could stay in the pool the longest. Mama-- you must have loved those afternoons! :-)
Yesterday I tried to make the boys do Saturday chores, and after 10 minutes of moaning and complaining and wheedling and crying, I threw up my hands and handed the whole thing over to Ben. YOU'RE IN CHARGE! Growing up, I never had any idea how HARD it is to teach kids to work. Thank you, Mama and Daddy, for making us do it! Now, will you come to Austin and teach my boys? :-)
Ben's solution was to make a really fun afternoon activity contingent upon finishing up chores. He ended up taking them down almost all the way to San Antonio to the Natural Bridge Caverns which, by all reports, was really fantastic. At first, Mosey didn't want to go. "I'm not going to the cave, no matter WHAT!!" But after telling him what he would be doing if he stayed home (picking up dog poop, scrubbing the grout in the kitchen, sweeping off the basketball court), he changed his mind. And it turned out that he was very glad he did. Mosey can be a home-body (Joseph has had some of this, too, but is pretty adventurous now), which I understand, but some things he just needs to do! Although I still need the dog poop picked up.
While they were gone, I partied!! I folded a bunch of laundry, hemmed 3 pairs of pants, adjusted a skirt that's been sitting on my sewing machine for a month, and made 3 baby blankets in preparation for my big Relief Society activity coming up next Saturday. (We're making baby blankets and I needed to do a trial run to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing!)
Today, Mosey AND Joseph gave talks in Primary. When we got to church, Joseph realized he left his copy at home. Oops. (I am nowhere near a good enough mother to have had them memorize their talks-- we were scrambling to finish writing them to make it to church on time!) So Ben drove all the way back home and got it, and came all the way back to church (about 35 minutes round trip). Mosey had to give his talk first, in junior primary. He had remembered to bring his talk which he folded up and put in his scripture case. Well, when he got up in Primary, he realized he had JOSEPH'S talk! So Ben made the trip for nothing, and Mosey and Joseph ended up giving the exact same talk in Primary. Double oops! Now I need to email the primary president to make sure she knows that Mosey mistakenly brought the wrong talk so that she doesn't think we are SO lazy that we planned on the boys giving the same talk. I do have some standards. :-)
Well, I think that's all the news for this week. Next week at this time my Relief Society activity will be OVER and I'll be very relieved. I hope everyone else is having a good summer!
Love,
Gabrielle
P.S. If any of you are looking for a light, mindless summer read, may I recommend "Mao: The Unknown Story"? Just kidding. It's definitely not light or mindless. But it is really interesting and covers a lot of history I never learned-- AP European History really didn't get into this at all. I've read a few interesting biographies/memoirs recently which I have enjoyed a lot. Anyone have any other recommendations for me?
P.P.S. I've been on a photography strike this week, I guess, and I only have 2 pictures. Christian, the first one is of Mosey reading to Millie, the cute little girl who came and stayed with us (along with her brothers) on Wednesday. Mosey did this spontaneously and it was the cutest thing. The second one is Brigham at dinner tonight. He ate 11 pieces of watermelon, no lie.
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