End of Summer

This was our last full week before school starts.  This week was all about making sure we had enough clothes and supplies and food and backpacks and water bottles and everything else.  We definitely had enough things to keep us busy, so I'll just go through the pictures!

A couple years ago I got rid of most of our baby stuff because I feel pretty confident that we are done having kids (knock on wood...)  But I did hold on to this rocker because of how much I loved it!  David's sister gave it to us and I used it so much.  Now my brother and his wife are having a baby so I got it out to pass on to them!  When I got it out, Ava immediately latched on to it and this is how she walked around for about a week.  My heels, skirt around her neck, and about 10 stuffed animals in the seat.  And that went with her to the living room, kitchen, even the bathroom.  I was glad to get rid of it because of how much I kept tripping on it!

At the end of last year all my kids were given a ton of dice and different ideas of games they could play with the dice.  I told Asher about a game I used to play with my grandparents all the time called "Zilch".  I think it's actually pretty similar to the game Farkle.  But we called it Zilch.  You have 6 dice and try to score points in various ways.  Actually, playing Zilch with my Grandpa was one of my last memories of him before he died.  So Asher wanted me to teach him how to play!  So we started playing.  We played two games and had the best rolls I have ever seen in my life!  Twice Asher got a run of six (on your first roll you get one of each number) and he also got 6 of a kind, where on your first roll all the dice are the same number!  I didn't get as good of rolls as him, but mine were still pretty good!  I told my mom that I think it was my grandpa blessing our game because he was glad the tradition was being passed on. 😊

Run of 6

6 of a kind!

Also a couple week ago our dishwasher broke...because why not.  But I do feel like out of all the appliances, I can handle the dishwasher going out the best.  We've lived in a few places that didn't have a dishwasher and I do not want to spend the money fixing that right now, so once a day I do a gigantic dish wash and we can't use the stove until they are dry and put away.  It's a good thing everyone is home all day long so we use just about every dish and utensil in the house every day... But that should slow down a lot starting next week! 

We had a Mitchell Family birthday party for the August birthdays, so Asher wanted me to make him another cake.  I actually kind of like making these.  For this cake Asher requested a Shiny Umbreon (Pokemon).  I think this one also turned out pretty well!  It went faster because I had a better idea of how to do it.  The party was in Rexburg at my parents house and I knew we had to stop at Costco to pick up pizza's, so I took pictures before we left the house.  And I kept telling the kids not to touch the cake at all in the car and when we stopped to get the pizzas I gave them another lecture about not touching the cake...and then 10 minutes away from my parents house Asher accidently put his elbow right in the middle of the cake.  I was able to salvage most of it and you could still tell what it was, but I'm glad I took pictures beforehand!   

He was very happy with the result!  I'm lucky he has pretty low standards...

Swimming at Grandma's!

My mom found some cheap flippers that Asher loved using.

He had to get a picture in front of the pool.  He was very sad it was the last swim of the summer, but I've learned that if we take a picture so he can remember it helps a lot.

It was very rainy all week and we found this cute little frog in the grass!  The nearest pond is about half a mile away and my nephew ran this little guy all the way there so he wouldn't die!

(Not pictured) I got a new calling this week.  I am now one of the nursery leaders!  I actually love nursery and feel good about this calling.  What I am a little bit apprehensive about is that I am also still the choir director.  I'm going to see how this goes for a month or two and if it's too hard to do both I'll ask to be released from choir.  I feel like 5 years is a good enough time to be in that calling...

David went back to work this week.  He has had a lot of meetings and trying to get his classroom ready.  I think it's helped us all get back into a little bit of a routine.  We did go get snow cones the day before he started work to kind of say goodbye to summer! 

The first day David went back Millie stole the bed as soon as he left.  She wants summer to be over.

We also had back to school night this week!  They had a cute little display where you could take a picture, so I tried to get my kids to go over so I could take a picture.  I feel like these pictures really capture what our summer has been like.

I told all the kids to go over so I could take a picture.  Mia wanted her own picture so she declined to be in this one.  It was still pretty cute!

Mia couldn't decide where to stand so she kept walking around trying to pick a spot.

Asher kept trying to photo-bomb her picture and Mia and I kept telling him to get out...

Mia finally picked a spot (not the spot I would've picked...but whatever...)
and Asher finally quit photo-bombing.  Ava just stood there and smiled the whole time.

 I have to say, while I am glad school is starting and I do think it will be a good thing for all of us, I am starting to have some real bad mom guilt.  Last year when school was starting I was so sad because my babies were going to be gone all day and I was going to miss them, and this year I feel bad because I feel like I have been so grumpy with them all summer and like I'm a bad parent for wanting them to be out of the house for a while.  I really have tried to make the summer fun and not be a big grump, but it has just been the most difficult summer.  So that's fun.  The Mom guilt is real and I'm just going to try and make the best out of this weekend!  And after I drop them off at school I'm going to buy myself a bunch of chocolate and then take the nap I've been looking forward to for 3 months!

Camping, Birthday, and more!

A couple weeks ago I took the kids camping on the annual Mitchell campout!  This year we went to Downata Hot Springs, which is nice because the campsite is right next to the pool with slides.  David was still having some pain from when he got his appendix out so he stayed home with Millie.

The first night David came to help set up the tent and then he went home.  We got out glow sticks and had treats and the kids ran all over the campsite until about 10pm.  The next day we went swimming for about 8 hours!  The kids were exhausted and I got sunburned so bad on my back.  That night we had s'mores and hot chocolate and Ava was so tired she fell asleep at 7pm (which for a camping trip is super early).  

That night she kept waking up because she was hot and at about 4am she said she needed to throw up.  I managed to get her out of the tent and she spit up some stomach acid (she didn't have any food in her stomach).  I figured it was just the heat exhaustion and dehydration so I had her drink some water and she feel back asleep.  But while I was lying there after getting her asleep I started hearing a scratching on the tent.  I thought it was Ava playing with the side of the tent while trying to fall asleep, but then I realized she was already asleep.  Then I thought it was an animal outside of our tent so I got up to scare it away, but when I stood up I realized it wasn't coming from outside the tent!  I started panicking a little bit and lifting everything up to try to find whatever was in the tent.  But the spot I could hear the scratching, there was nothing there, just bare tent floor.  And I realized it was under the tent!  I thought it was a mouse or salamander (we knew those were at the campsite from previous years) and I tried stomping on the ground next to it to scare it away.  The scratching stopped and I laid back down.  And then it started up again!  So I got up and stomped on the ground next to it, it stopped, I laid down, and it started again!  At this point I was worried it might scratch a hole in the tent and get inside, so I was worried about that as well as dealing with a fair amount of sleep deprivation, and I started to get a little frantic...Asher had brought a book with him so I picked that up and just started slamming the ground with it trying as hard as I could to get the stupid scratching to stop!  Eventually it did and I laid back down to get at least one more hour of sleep.  I couldn't find anything that morning so I did my best to pretend it never happened.

That morning Ava kept throwing up so I had her drink more water and my sister gave her some Dramamine to help calm her stomach.  She slept the entire morning while Mia, Asher, and I went swimming more.  By that afternoon she was feeling much better and all of us went swimming until closing!  That night the campsite showed the Mario Movie outside so we all set up chairs and blankets to go watch.  After the movie, while we were walking back to our campsite my sister almost stepped on a giant gopher snake!  That night we all tried not think about snakes and creatures under our tents...

The next morning we all packed up and got ready to leave.  I was very nervous to lift up the tarp that was under our tent and find what was making that scratching sound.  But I did and found a flat salamander under it...oops...but I was so desperate that night that I would probably do it again for self preservation!  My nephews thought it was hilarious and had their pictures taken next to the flat lizard.

So we survived camping and had lots of fun tales to come home with!

So excited to stay up late!

I set up our hammock and almost never saw it empty.  The kids loved it!

What a cute girl!

My mom set up this diamond painting table that all the kids loved.

My kids love their cousins!

Mia!

Asher!

Ava!

Asher was so distraught the last night because we were going to leave the next day, so I took his picture next to the big slide.

Lots of fun!

More diamond painting

The kids (and adults) loved it!

The last day my sister found a couple of baby birds on the ground by her tent. 
The kids loved watching them.

My kids do the summer reading program at the library every summer so we make lots of trips there.  We just happened to show up on Harry Potter's birthday!

Our ward does a neighborhood picnic every year.  It's usually at the park in the neighborhood, but there was a lot of rain so they moved it to the church.  This year some of the YW/YM were doing face painting and it was a real hit!

One day David wanted to take the kids to Cress Creek Trail, a small hike we usually do at least once a year.  It was actually pretty nice weather and not hot at all!  

Then we went down to the river bank so the kids could dip their toes in the water.

I think Millie thought this was the best day of the whole summer!

Asher turned 10!  He always gets so excited for his birthday.  The past few years he has wanted donuts instead of cake which I am all for because it takes the pressure off me!  But he decided he wanted cake this year.  And not just any cake, a SpongeBob cake.  It took me about 2 hours, but I did it!  I am actually pretty proud of it!  I thought it would turn into a cake fail, and apparently Asher had the same expectations because when he saw it he said "That's looks much better than I thought it was going to look like!"  Happy birthday Asher!

Since the girls have learned to ride their bikes without training wheels we have gone on a lot of bike rides around our neighborhood.  We usually stop at this house that has a huge tree with swings on it.  The couple that lives there are in our ward and set the swings up just so neighborhood kids could use them.  And my kids take full advantage!  Next week I want to take the kids on a bike ride next to the river which should be a lot of fun.

One of the last pool days of the summer!  And I finally got a picture of the big pool at my parents house!  My mom also found some flippers for cheap and the kids have had fun trying to use those.

So much swimming this summer!

 School start in 2.5 weeks and I am so ready for it.  It has just been one thing after another this summer.  Some good, some less good.  I told Millie that we are going to have the best nap that first day!  I will leave you with a video of Ava and Mia at their last ballet class.  (it's so loud because I was right next to a giant fan...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFalKRClv7s