Deep Thought Friday

You probably already thought of this.  But.  If "You don't know you're beautiful" and "That's what makes you beautiful" ( by One Direction, and also much parodied at Girl's Camp this week)...  Then wouldn't singing this song to the girl sort of point out that she's beautiful?  And then she would know?  And wouldn't that make her no longer beautiful?

One Direction, you've ruined the girl by writing this song to her!  She'll never be so pretty as she was before this song got recorded and overplayed on the radio.

Talk about your catch 22s.

Life can be so tragic.

Leftovers

Okay, last picture post for a while. I promise. These are just the last few that were on Craig's camera, that weren't from Hershey Park or boy scouts, but were still deemed blog-worthy.  Enjoy!

Sleeping Ryder

Pushing all three kids on the swings

Good brothers!

Just before or just after church-- I hadn't realized how fun it would be to match my kids until I had two that were the same gender!

Kendra just after church, sporting blue lips.  Thanks, bishop, for the lollipop!

That's it for now, folks!  Maybe the next time I blog I'll actually have something to say instead of just showing you pictures!  But maybe not...  I make no apologies either way!

And Thus It Begins...

Bentley's buddy Peter invited him to join their church boy scout troop. Since there are no guarantees that they'll be in the same class in school next year, we decided it would be nice for them to have an activity to do together. So they will both be Tiger Scouts next year. Before then, though, the troop held their annual Raingutter Regatta, to which all prospective troop members were invited. How could we say no? Craig and Bentley worked very hard on Bentley's boat. The day of. But with a little help from my hairdryer, it was still done in time! Bentley was very serious about racing his boat (each boy has to blow into the sail to get it to the end), but I guess his determination paid off since he won all three races!

Just before his first race

Concentrating on the finish line

Very pleased with the race results

This time he had to race Peter.  (Fortunately for all of us, Peter is not nearly as bad a loser as Bentley can be.  That made things nice.)

Bentley loves nothing more than finding or making costumes to wear, so he was absolutely thrilled about his new uniform and has been wearing it proudly every opportunity he gets!

Having his neckerchief tied on by the older boys (who are now moving up to be Wolf Cubs)

Again, a very solemn moment

I'm not really sure what in the world Peter is doing in this picture, but I like how Bentley looks!

Yeah, same here.  But doesn't my son look great in a uniform?

Bentley and Peter-- two peas in a pod-- enjoying s'mores

Anyway.  I'm still terrified of the whole scouting program-- it's still one big mystery to me, having grown up in an all-girl family.  But my plan is to let Craig worry about it and I'll just enjoy the breaks from my kid and getting pictures of him in a uniform.  And that just might work out delightfully for all of us!

Hershey Park Pictures!

I finally got Craig's pictures, so I can show you our adventures in Hershey with my sister Natalie! First of all, I have to explain that this trip is still part of the whole Las Vegas vacation.  Both our husbands had to return home to work, so rather than flying solo with kids, we decided it might work better for all of us to fly together back to Natalie's place in Hershey.  Two adults is always better than one, right?  It made for slightly cramped sleeping arrangements-- five kids, ages five and under in one bedroom!-- but it ALSO meant we got to go to Hershey Park together (after Craig had driven up and joined us).  Let the fun begin!

See?  Count them!  Five kids in there!  This picture was taken when Craig showed up-- our kids were very excited to have Daddy back again!

Craig, Ryder and Bentley, and inside the truck Kendra and Samuel, practice being truckers

This was Bentley's favorite ride: the Frog Hopper.  Picture Disney's Tower of Terror, except fun instead of scary!

We also got to see the sea lion show.  It was geared towards five-year-old humor (a lot of slapstick) and Bentley was thrilled.  Although it's not my kind of humor, I could appreciate it a lot more seated next to its target audience!

Bentley escorts Ryder on the horse-drawn buggy ride

Everyone was a big fan of the tiny train

Ryder so exhausted he can't blink any more

Kendra and Caleb together

Bentley in awe of the wolf at the zoo

Craig decides to brave the Frog Hopper

So I do, too

Hmmm...  Someone doesn't fit in with this group...

So then Uncle Cameron joined in on the fun, too

Riding the monorail at the end of the day-- we're all a bit loopy by now...

... but still having fun!

Our last ride: the carousel.  This turned out to be one of those wonderful moments when you can look around at your little family bobbing up and down on the horses and feel perfectly content with the world.  It was lovely.

Bentley makes himself cozy on the ride home.

What you don't see pictured here is Natalie watching all five kids by herself for two hours so Craig, Cameron and I could ride Skyrush, which opened the day we were there.  It was an awesome ride, but I think even more awesome was Natalie's ability to keep everyone happy (and not lost or sunburned!) at an amusement park all by herself for that long!

Thanks for taking such great care of us, Natalie!  We had a wonderful time in Hershey and can hardly wait to come back!

Expectations

I have learned that the lower my expectations, the happier I usually am.  That may seem like a pessimistic approach to life, but it's what works for me.  On the days that Craig tells me he should be able to come home early, only to discover that he has a faculty meeting he forgot about, nothing but a hefty dose of chocolate can assuage my disappointment.  But when he tells me it's going to be a late day and then makes it home in time for dinner, I'm overjoyed.  So Craig and I both know to keep things on a realistic-to-negative spot on the optimism spectrum.

But somehow I forgot to do that for the first day of summer vacation.  I mean, I've been looking forward to this day since...  Well, since September, if I'm perfectly honest.  I LOVE summer vacation!  I love having free time, I love having my husband around, I love not having things so scheduled.  And I love the warm weather and not needing to have the heat on and be bundled up in twenty layers of clothing and take 20 minutes dressing and undressing the kids every time we step out the door.  I am a summer-time person through and through.  So it's nearly impossible to not have my hopes up for that first glorious day of freedom.

And it started out well enough.  Craig's last day was yesterday, and he got home just before his parents arrived to take us to dinner for a nice, slightly belated Father's Day celebration at the Cheesecake Factory.  And the kids were even well behaved the entire time we were there!  But then last night Ryder decided it was time to stop sleeping again, and woke up crying at 11, 12, and 1.  This made me decide to cancel my morning run with Vangie, which turned out to be a bad idea.  No matter how good my excuse, every time I cancel that run, I always hate myself for wussing out.  So I was annoyed with myself.  And then Bentley and Kendra woke up way too early and were grumpy.  And I ran into the furniture trying to get them and was grumpy.  And Kendra had diarrhea...

And I decided we needed a do-over.  I want my first morning of summer back!  I want to try that again!

That's not really possible for another year.  So I'll do the next best thing, and focus on some of my favorite things instead.  So here's a hodgepodge mess of things I really like.  Maybe they'll lift your spirits as much as they do mine.

This was posted on The Apron Stage, one of my favorite blogs of all time.  I nearly cried when the blog stopped.  I don't know who painted this-- if you know, please tell me!  I only know that I find it exquisitely beautiful.

Another picture of Bentley's kindergarten graduation.  This one was taken by Wanda, who had a much better seat than I did...

Remember our groundhog?  Well, this year, she had twins!  Aren't they cute?  Good thing I never got around to planting that garden...

For a Father's Day present for Craig, I managed to take this picture of him with the kids.  Of course, after I took this picture I spent another hour trying to get a better one.  But the first one turned out to be the best, so I went with it.

This is from a couple months ago-- nothing makes me happier than my kids reading!

Bentley helping Kendra get ready for church.  What a good older brother!  I like that they both still have wet hair from their baths...

And finally, have you heard of Il Volo, who are basically the Three Teenage Tenors?  I hadn't, until my friend Anni showed me this video.  How adorable and talented are these boys?  Watch and see!  (Or, if the fact that my blog always cuts off the right-hand side of the video, click here to view the entire screen.)  Only Italy could produce boys like this.  (Sigh.)



Okay. After all that, I'm feeling better about life. I can take a deep breath and remember that summer vacation isn't ruined by a lousy start. How could it be?

Kindergarten Graduation

Today was Bentley's Kindergarten graduation. I surprised (and embarrassed) myself by being completely emotional about the whole thing.  Seriously-- why do I cry at the dumbest stuff???  Anyway, it was really hard to get pictures.  The way the parents acted, you would have thought Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were there, too.  Some humungous guy in front of me kept leaning from side to side, forcing me to lean the opposite way in order to see my own little graduate.  And I was trying to keep Ryder happy (I finally had to break down and let him eat the cookies I'd brought for the party after-- awesome parenting tactic, I know!), which meant he kept bumping my camera.

So, yeah, all of that means that these pictures are pretty bad.  But it was the best I could do.  Enjoy!

His class was in the back row, so I had about 30 seconds where there was a clear shot of him before all the other kids filed onto the stands and all their parents jumped in front of me.

Ah, yes-- the moment where he realizes I'm trying to take his picture!

And this is why it was hard to get a good picture!  I might have rushed up to the front, too, but that would have risked Ryder wandering away (which he managed to do even while I was standing in our spots getting this photo!)

Kendra was VERY excited to celebrate her big brother's accomplishments!

And Bentley was super sweet and promptly broke his cookie in half to share with Kendra (you can just barely see it in each of their hands)!

Bentley with Ms. Gerber (l) and Mrs. Evins (r), his teacher and assistant teacher (respectively)

Bentley with his best friends, Peter and Heiri, who have been sitting on either side of him all year!

I know that finishing kindergarten is about the easiest thing in the world, but I'm still very proud of Bentley.  He's done very well, despite being one of the youngest kids and having a mother who taught him next to nothing ahead of time.  He has managed to get "green" days every single day (as opposed to yellow or red, which would have meant he'd been getting into trouble), and he's made steady progress learning all his letters, numbers, and piecing it all together into reading and math skills.  It's a lot to take in all of a sudden, and he's done wonderfully.

Something about seeing him standing up there getting so big so fast left me feeling grateful that he'd made good friends and had such wonderful teachers.  It really did get me all choked up!

Oh, parenting is bittersweet!

The Beginnings of Success

We have renters!  And it took less than a week!  And they even gave Craig their security deposits today, so this is the first time we've actually made any money on the condo!  We're moving in the right direction!  Woohoooo!!!!!!

We just might be able to make this thing work...!

A Few More Las Vegas Pictures

I always come though on my promises. It just sometimes takes me a couple weeks! But here are a few more pictures from our Las Vegas trip:

Poor Kendra was wiped out from traveling the day before.  She took a nice nap on Grandma's lap while the rest of us played a spirited game of Jeopardy!

Getting ready to go to church

Uncle Ian looking at the eclipse through a mylar banner!  Smart, huh?

My cousin Audrey holding my other cousin's little baby girl, Eden Rose, and Natalie with Caleb

Cooling our heels in our house's pool

Ryder decided that he was one cool dude when he wore sunglasses.  He was pretty happy wearing mine, too-- rhinestones and all!

Admiring the chocolate fountain at the Bellagio.  Yum.

These pictures don't do the trip justice at all.  I had all but two cousins there, plus spouses and kids and we did a bunch of other things.  But somehow we just didn't take any pictures of them.  But it was a great trip!

Next up-- photos from Hershey, the second part of our vacation!