Last Days of Summer

I'm feeling torn in two directions this week. Or more than two. Part of me wants to play, visit with friends, and take the kids to do fun summer things because school is starting next week. The other part of me wants to lock the kids in the backyard, have everyone live on cold cereal and go without clean laundry while I whip my house into shape and get my lesson plans done through Christmas. This is because I feel like life is going to change next week. It's a lot like the way I feel when I'm about to have a baby--I'm in a frenzy to get everything ready and wish that I could just have one more week, no two more weeks until everything changes and I don't have any time for myself.

The rational side of me can remember that when school starts we will continue to have fun, I will still have time to read, see friends (not often enough), blog, and clean the house--I will just have to be a lot more organized to accomplish this than I have been during the past six weeks when we have mostly stopped doing schoolwork and just lazed around without a routine. (Could this possibly be the reason that my boys are at each other's throats?:)

Anyway, the boys asked me on Tuesday if they could have a "club" party this week. A couple of weeks ago I encouraged them to go outside and play (my usual schtick when I'm trying to get housework done and they are no longer being helpful) and suggested that they turn the "playhouse" that they never use into a "clubhouse." A new club was born which keeps them very busy. When I pay close attention, it does bother me a little bit that it resembles a communist nation with Kimball as the dictator (they say pledges about obey the president and keep lots of secrets), but I try to push that to the back of my mind because they are so happy out there and I have a few minutes to myself to clean blog.

I said yes to a club party, but limited the invitations to one family, since I wanted this to be small scale (translate: practically free and not stressful). They delightedly got busy making invitations for their friends Hayden and Brycen, planning party games and decorations, and telling me all of the food they wanted at the party. (They suggested a fondant cake shaped like a clubhouse-- they have obviously spent too much time around their talented aunt. We compromised on zebra brownies--recipe below-- which take 15 minutes for me to make and included only ingredients I had on hand.) They also served pretzels, grapes, hot dogs, and pink lemonade.

They scurried around this morning when I reminded them that a house needs to be clean when you're going to host a party. They got their bedrooms cleaned in record time and then got busy with crepe paper streamers outside. Here's how it looked when they were finished:


Lucky for me, Mandy (the guest's mom) came along, so we got to chat and catch up while the party kids played trampoline soccer (I'm very safety conscious like that), sidewalk chalk tic-tac-toe, and rode their bikes out in the cul-de-sac.

When the "party" ended, my little hosts were hot and tired and ready for some down time--but before we turned on Annie to relax they learned an important lesson about hosting parties: cleaning up.

If you are in need of some last days of summer treat (or a first days of the school year treat) and are willing to crank up the oven in spite of the heat, try out this recipe for "Zebra Brownies." My boys loved the name, but I love the taste. (Sorry that there's no picture. Mandy and I were so busy chatting that I forgot to take photos. Make them yourself to see what they look like!:)

Zebra Brownies

• Your favorite brownie recipe or your favorite boxed mix
• 8 oz. marscapone, cream cheese, or reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature (but know that the marscapone is the most heavenly of the three.)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup granulated poison sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Make the brownies according to the directions in the recipe or on the box. Pour the mixture into the greased pan. If you want, wash out the bowl. Or just scrape the brownie batter out fairly well and use the bowl again. They are all going to be together in a few minutes anyway.

Mix the marscapone, egg, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth and creamy. Spoon large dollops onto the top of the brownie batter. Using a butter knife, swirl the chocolate and cream cheese until it is lovely and stripy or swirly as desired. Bake in 325 oven until a toothpick comes out clean (time depends on your brownie recipe.) Cool completely, then refrigerate for best flavor.

Summer Comes To A Screeching Halt

I was raised in the land of Southern California. Now, I know that plenty of you out there despise Southern Cal, but it has many, many fine points. Moderate temperatures year round, an ocean breeze at 5:00 pm sharp, plenty of great shopping, entertainment, and restaurants, and beautiful beaches. One thing that it offered that I failed to fully appreciate as a child was that summer doesn't end there until Labor Day. We always went back to school somewhere between September 4th and the 9th--at least a few days after the holiday that is supposed to signal summer's end.
We clearly were not considering ideal school schedules (or ideal weather patterns and climates) when we decided to move further north. Here, school starts in the middle of August, when we should still be relishing in family vacations, swimming pools, homemade ice cream, etc. In fact, I always thought that those "dog days of summer" came in August. So why in the name of everything good would they send kids back to school? It was 98 degrees today (those of you in Phoenix are jealous, I know) and all the moms were completely sweaty (not just lightly perspiring) when we picked up the kidlets after school. Yikes! And there was no way that I was sending them in anything but summer clothes--all those adorable fall styles with "back to school" written all over them won't be pulled out for ages. No sirree, my boys started school today in cargo shorts and short sleeved shirts, with a cold water bottle in their backpacks. Aren't they cute?
Henry started kindergarten today, something that has caused me great anguish all summer, wondering if he's mature enough, if he knows his letters well enough, if he'll suck his thumb in class! He did marvelously well and thankfully didn't notice my eyes welling up when we said goodbye. I love his teacher, Mrs. R and I can tell that she will be great for him. And because Heavenly Father knew that he can be a bit on the shy side when he's not around people he knows, He made sure that Henry had four other kids in his kindergarten class that he already knew from church or preschool. Here he sat with three of them while we waited for the class to open: I already adore Kimball's teacher, Mrs. C; after meeting her yesterday for a preview of the classroom with Kimball, I can already tell that she is a dream teacher for a kid with special needs. She has already thought of lots of things to help him succeed including placement of his desk, hand fidgets, a book nook for breaks from the stimuli of the class, and room to move around. I fully expect Kimball to thrive in her class. Yeah! We have been so blessed with his teachers.
At 3:15 I picked up my boys, who were so excited to tell me all about their day. We came home for brownies and cold milk and to relax. Bummer that by tomorrow, they'll probably have homework--since it'll only be August 22nd, it feels like we should be headed to the lake or bumming around the pool, still being too lax about bed time and housework. Oh well. They don't realize that they've been cheated out of two and a half weeks of summer.

At least I'll have a few hours every day when they are at school and my other two are asleep. That'll leave more time for blogging!

Alli & I headed back to school (AFTER LABOR DAY) in 1980 (1st grade and 2nd grade, respectively.)

Busy Friday

I am running around like crazy today, trying to help my mom do her taxes, make dinner for a couple of friends, get ready for our upcoming trip to Whittier (next week) and for our outing to see the new Harry Potter movie tonight (which means babysitter here.)And did I mention potty training and swimming lessons?
But I noticed that we could add a poll to our blog and I've been dying to know the answer to this question: Is my family the only one that froze our grapes in the summer time and enjoyed them like mini popsicles? Until recently, I thought that frozen grapes were a part of everyone's childhood experience, but Jared's family had never heard of such a thing. So weigh in on my first poll and let me know who has the stranger family culture!:) I already know it must be THEM!;)
Here are a couple of photos taken at swimming lessons. I love the 1950s public pool, and Ian loves that it's right by the train yard. On Fridays, the kids get to go down the water slide, which is always a highlight. Ian also enjoys the play area near the pool (thank goodness they have it, because Ian is a few months too young to make the cut off for swim lessons this year, much to his chagrin.) Since it is ancient, it is made of metal and is often too hot to enjoy, but not today!