Beans Beans the Magical Fruit

I haven't blogged lately because nothing really funny has been going on.  Alas, we had a memorable comment from Buddy tonight at dinner.  I made white bean and chicken chili for dinner. (I know, not very summer-y, but it sounded good -- and it was.)  After placing Buddy's bowl in front of him he said, "Oh good!  Looks like we'll all have the farts tonight!"  Then he proceeded to tell me that white beans are the second most "farty" bean, right behind (my pun, not his) red beans.  Apparently he read this in a book.  And in case you were curious, we had broccoli as a side dish. 

Did you miss me and my fascinating blog posts? 

Blessed

We are so blessed.  

We hope you had a great 4th of July like we did. 

Many of our friends and family members are having a rough year and their day wasn't quite as joyous.

We thought of you today.  

And are counting our many blessings tonight.

Summer Schedule

During this past school year I learned a few things about myself.  Apparently I do not like having a rigid schedule:  Be to bed by 8:00 or else, wake up at the crack of dawn, get homework turned in on Thursdays, books due back to the library Wednesday this week, Friday next week, track Tuesday and Thursdays, be home every day for the bus by 2:30, etc -- you get the idea.  I'm a very rigid person anyway, so apparently having a rigid schedule puts me over the edge.  And to think this is only with ONE school-aged kid.  I honestly have no idea how people with lots of kids do the school/activity rat race.  It drives me insane.  It puts me in a foul mood. 

However, I'm a very organized and involved parent, so I love having a plan for my kids.  Just a flexible plan, apparently.

So I made a flexible plan for our summer.  I made a list of fun things we should do, and I'm happy to report we've accomplished a fair amount already.

We made a goal as a family (well, those of us that can read) to read a combined 10,000 pages from chapter books during the months of June, July, and August.  With one month down, I'm very pleased to report we are right on track to accomplishing that goal.  (Luckily we have G on our team, who is a bona fide speed reader.  Thank you BYU Law School for requiring him to read hundreds of pages a night.  That degree has come in handy over and over again!)

And last, we are having another contest each month.  Every day we try to complete six different tasks:  Exercise, Service, Read Scriptures (Buddy's goal is to work on Articles of Faith AND scriptures both), Learn something, Read, and Work.  We each have our own chart and put a sticker on the chart for each time we complete the task.  If we are highly motivated and get our rear in gear, we could potentially get six stickers each day.  Whoever gets the most stickers each month wins.  The prize is $20 and G won for the month of June with 108 stickers.  Buddy came in second, me third, and Sambo fourth.  I've decided G has an un-fair advantage since I have the responsibility of doing my tasks PLUS helping the boys complete theirs.  But whatever, life isn't fair I guess.  There is no penalty for not doing the tasks and I don't beg the kids to do them.

If I do say so myself, this has been one of the smartest things I've ever come up with.  I don't have to hassle my kids (or myself) to get things done, AND we've been accomplishing a ton all at our own pace and according to whatever schedule we want.  All with a healthy dose of competition/money, which is a great motivator for my kids.  

Are you getting tired of my "I love summer vacation" posts yet?  Too bad because I have a few more in the works.  Including a pros and cons list of homeschool.  Feel free to start drafting your opinions because I want to hear them.

Another Perfect Week/Day

I was extremely excited for summer vacation to begin.  And it's actually turning out better than I thought it would, which is saying a lot -- considering I was imaging perfection.

This week:
Zoo with Sam's birthmom
Visit from my mom
Weed 3/4 of our backyard
Stare at amazingly awesome veggie garden
Library trip
Temple trip and food with G
Bake cookies with friends and deliver to fireman and police in our community.  Christy's brilliant idea.
Eat lunch and talk to friends at the gym
Put kids to bed ridiculously late every night

Today:
Kids sleep in til 9:00
Learn Myndi is going camping this weekend
Strawberry picking.  Plants full of berries.  Best picking I've ever done.
Gym
BBQ at park to celebrate Nicki's birth
80-degree weather
Kids jump and roll in mud at park and experience pure joy
Lady gets snippy with me concerning someone else's kid.  In so many words, tell her to CHILL OUT.
Eat amazing salted caramel cupcake 
Come home to different friend's amazing peanut butter cup cupcakes
Buddy washes himself and his brother in the bath without being asked to help me out
Kids' friends sleep over
Kids fall asleep easily (thankyouverymuch Melatonin)
Look at totally cool beehive Ben put in our backyard

And this, my friends, is why I love summer vacation.