Author: lilydarais

Clarissa started really walking on Friday! She has been experimenting with walking, but on Friday she took off. She spent most of the day tottering around and beaming with pride. I will now go nuts with the pictures:

She also experimented with climbing. When we were playing in Ammon’s room, she scaled a toy rack:

We adore this darling girl. She makes me want to have more kids, which I won’t do because I am not insane. But I love her so much that I honestly consider it. I just wish she would stay this age forever.

 

In the morning we played outside and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Ammon also got my phone and took a picture while I was reading to him:

On Wednesday the girls announced they no longer want to do hip-hop. That was sad for me because I thought it was such a cute class. Also, I thought if Lydia stuck with it, it would look so great on her college resume–way to balance out that harp!! But the music is too loud for Lydia, and Mary announced the moves are way too hard for her. Maybe we can try again in a couple of years.

I am back blogging an remember nothing at all from the rest of this day. Here is a random picture from last year that never made it into the blog (I don’t think). This is from Lydia’s first grade portfolio:

On Tuesday the weather was perfect again–full sunshine without the oppressive summer heat with crispy air at the beginning of the day and soft air in the evening. I love this beautiful weather. It makes me feel happy and free all day long. Even doing simple things like sitting outside with the kids, chatting outside with a neighbor, heck–even driving around on errands–feels like a holiday because of the weather.

All of those things happened on Tuesday. Lydia had a group lesson after school, so there was quite a bit of driving as I killed time before picking her up. When she has an hour long activity, it seems silly to go home, unload everyone, be home for twenty minutes, and then load everyone back up. But even all the driving was fun because of the weather.

In the evening Abe and I went to parent night at Arches and fell in love with the school all over again. We are so grateful our kids get to go there.

Then we went to Menchie’s afterward and chatted. Nothing beats talking with Abe over frozen yogurt in perfect weather.

 

 

On Monday we cleaned the house in the morning and then I went to run errands while Abe kept cleaning with the kids.

I did bathe and dress Clarissa. I finally got a shot and video of her climbing into the tub. It makes me laugh every time she swings her little leg up and over the edge of the tub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6rWHiGjCDQ

Then I came home and worked on returning a bunch of things while Abe finished his book, Radical Candor, outside while the kids played. He loves this book and feels like it has helped him a lot.

Clarissa also walked a lot!

Then I cooked a lot of things and we ate dinner outside in the beautiful weather, much to Lydia’s dismay. She is afraid of wasps and no longer enjoys eating outside.

Then we came in, put the kids down, and went to bed. It was a really, really low key labor day, although honestly we felt busy all day long. It’s so bizarre. In retrospect nothing happened, and yet I know for a fact I felt like I was rushing all day.  Maybe that’s the parent-of-four element? Also, it’s so, so nice to have the house clean again. Hallelujah.

 

On Sunday morning I cooked a lot for our after-fast dinner. I prayed a lot while cooking. It was a really peaceful couple hours. Then I got ready and did the girls’ hair and nails. I love grooming them so much.

Then we went to church. In Relief Society we discussed in our council how to help people who are leaving the Church. At the beginning the woman leading the discussion suggested that fighting the prophet is basically the sign of serious spiritual deterioration. I raised my hand and volunteered that I pray daily, study the scriptures, and still do not agree with every church policy. I also said I hoped there was space in the church for that. Honestly, this week was a hard week to be a member of the Church with the Sam Young discipline and the new revelation on using the full name of the church. I have so many issues with both of these things. But at the same time, as I said in my comment, there is a baby in the bath water, so I try to recognize that. But there was a lot of gross bath water this week.

Then we came home and I cooked more while Abe did his new calling (the assistant clerk.) When he came home, we had grilled mediterranean chicken, baba ghanouj, saffron basmati rice with orange-soaked currants, homemade pita, watermelon, beet greens with garlic, and roasted beets and carrots. We ate outside in the beautiful weather.

On Saturday morning Lydia gave everyone crowns to wear at breakfast.

Also, Abe found Clarissa in the random-stuff drawer. She is going to be another little Ammon.

I also blogged. Abe took a picture:

We also took a picture trying to figure out what to wear for our family photo in October. My outfit here does not work, so we are changing that. I also decided to return Clarissa’s dress, but it does look cute here:

After the kids were in bed for the night, Abe and I went to Target and did the school list shopping for the girls. We have no idea how we have managed to avoid this activity for two years. It was incredible how many supplies they needed and how expensive it all was. Wow. I’m depressed thinking about it.

But the upside was that Ammon came with and loved having our attention all to himself. We took pictures of him buried in supplies:

On Friday Ammon and Jojo discovered spider webs in the neighbor’s yard. Then Lydia, Jojo’s mom, came to chat with me while the boys played.

Meanwhile, the girls’ teachers sent me these pictures from school. Lydia was in art class making a pizza and Mary was playing an introductions game getting to know her classmates and writing down their info:

After school we made pretzels. I declared that was dinner because I didn’t have it in me to make an actual meal.

We also went to the pool as soon as the pretzels were baked, and Abe met us there. It was our last day of the season at the Scera pool!

After the pool, we ate more pretzels and I chatted with my neighbor, Meghan. Then I gave her a tour of the house since she is re-doing the house across from us and loves remodeling ideas. I floated my daydreams past her and she was so affirming about my house plans. Also, I realized that my house was completely trashed. Nothing quite brings home the fact that you are living in disarray than giving someone else a tour of your house. Every room was disgusting. I felt so demoralized (given that I clean all day long, it feels like) that afterward I didn’t clean anything. Abe and I binge watched The Good Wife and went to bed with the house in chaos all around us. Good thing there’s a three day weekend to take care of the mess!

One of my favorite new things about the school year is my morning routine with Ammon and Clarissa. It is so fun to be able to focus on just two kids! After the older girls are ready and downstairs, I bathe Ammon and Clarissa:

Then we eat breakfast, I tidy the kitchen, and we head back upstairs to read books, do puzzles, sing songs, and play.

After two hours, we are all ready for quiet time.

After quiet time, we ate and went to the library for some play time. I paid a ton of money for lost books and now am able to check out books again. Honestly, we pay so much in fines that I think it would almost make sense to just buy books…almost.

Ammon loved being a super hero at the library and wearing all of the dress-up capes. He also gave lots of puppet shows and touched my heart by cleaning up the puppets that one boy threw out of the stand. He also invited other kids to clean up with him. Of course, he also caused mischief by playing chase and running all around, but at the end of the day, he mostly made me so happy.

Clarissa also took her first looong walks today! Maybe all of the free floor space at the library inspired her. She took lots of walks, and she didn’t realize I was watching her, so she just clapped for herself at the end of each walk. It was too cute.

Then we picked up the girls and got Dairy Queen for our after school snack. Then we headed home for two hours of practice, after which Mary went to her lesson and the rest of the kids ate tacos, took baths, and got ready for bed. I folded a ton of laundry and cried to Abe about recent church developments that frustrate me.

Then we read scriptures and the girls are now coloring away in their rooms listening to Loreena McKennitt quietly. Lydia is making crowns for everyone in the family and Mary is making love notes.

Today Ethline and I left at 5:30am for bikram yoga. I have been eating so much food lately, and it felt like a relief to sweat a little. Ethline is also the best–she is so funny and easy going, and we have so much fun chatting in the car. She is great.

After the girls left for school, I enjoyed my new morning routine with Clarissa and Ammon. I bathe them, feed them, and spend an hour or two on the floor with them reading, playing puzzles, playing with and admiring them. They are so fun. Then we have quiet time, and I took a nap. Life feels so good right now!

After my nap, I fed Ammon and Clarissa again and took them to the park.

The weather was, once again, perfect.

Then we picked up Mary and Lydia, fed them all dinner, played outside, got their music practice in, and headed to dance. This year Lydia has jazz and hip-hop, and Mary has ballet and hip-hop. While the girls were at their first class, we took Ammon and Clarissa to the splash pad. Mostly Clarissa wanted to play with her stroller, but we did get a cute video of Abe dancing with her in the water.

Then Abe took the babies home while I watched the girls dance hip-hop. It was too cute for words. I was so sad I didn’t have my phone for pictures. Mary announced afterward that she didn’t want to go back because she was the littlest in the class and she doesn’t like it when other kids think she is cute. Since she is over-the-top cute and finds herself in situations like this often, I tried to convince her that it’s not so bad when everyone thinks you’re cute. I don’t think I succeeded, and she is only very reluctantly going back to hip-hop next week.