Million Dollar Bathrobe

I do about 40 things every morning before I get dressed.  Probably that is a bad habit that will bite me back one day.  At least that is what I think every time I drive my kids to school in my fuzzy purple bathrobe.  My bathrobe does double duty as a coat, house dress, and blanket.  Considering the utility of such a garment, I really should spend the money to get a good one.  The one I have needs another 10 inches of fabric in the front panel.  Then my chicken legs, stuffed into my snow boots wouldn't flash you when I get into my huge suburban each morning.  I watch for my neighbor to start his truck to warm up and go back into his house, then I race out in my fuzzy robe and start scraping the windows frantically on that big vehicle and pray he doesn't come back out until I have climbed into the seat of my charger.  May I never break down. May I never be stopped by a policeman.  I tell myself it wouldn't matter--I really no longer have any personal pride.

I guess I could get out of bed and actually get dressed, but my bathrobe seems such a comforting friend on chilly mornings.  I huddle wrapped in it for scriptures.  I pad down the halls to wake kids in it.  I cook and eat breakfast in it.  It really is almost as warm as a coat for my morning outings.  Sigh.  I do get a bit nervous if I have to answer the door in it.  It isn't attractive.  Another reason to consider replacing it with a million dollar version.

I used to drive my kids to an elementary school that was on a hill.  At the time I drove a tall van.  One morning, after dropping my kids off and turning around for home, I arrived at the crest of the hill when a dad in a sedan was driving up.  From my perch I could clearly see down into his car, where wrapped over an undershirt he was sporting his wife's silky turquoise, lace-trimmed bathrobe as he was driving kids to school.  I am not alone.  Not in this brave outerwear, or in the need to replace it!

Christmas Choir

Part of our homeschool curriculum this year has Caleb, Miriam and Ethan learning to sing with the Heralders Children's Choir.  Tis the season for their Christmas performances.  Today was a bit of a marathon as they performed multiple times.  This photo is singing for the Santa breakfast. They sang so well!  The music consisted of old carols from around the world.  Some of the songs they sang are:

The Friendly Beasts

The Wren

Fum Fum Fum

Jinglin Bells

Deck the Halls

The Lord of the Dance

The whole program takes about 30 minutes and includes some dancing and solo performances.

This photo was taken between performances.  There was a lot of waiting to do, and the kids were good sports about it. This is Ethan, Miram and some of their friends.  They both sing with the younger Carillion Choir.  It is obvious they enjoy participating, they both wear smiles while they sing.

Caleb sings with the Classical Choir.  They are 10 years old and above.  I am loving seeing my boys in bow ties! (Caleb was pretty much born to wear a bow tie...)

This was Caleb's third performance for the day. (in total, he probably sang for over 3 hours today).  This is a special performance where the older choir was able to perform at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square they sang Vivaldi's "Gloria", which is in Latin.  I was so pleased with Caleb for memorizing all of this!  They sounded remarkable. Caleb is on the right in the back row, third boy in.

No photo is available of the choir's self-proclaimed head groupies: Leslie and Camille.  They cheered for the kids and got to know many of the choir members.  We are all exhausted and happy! 

Halloween (Quick, because Thanksgiving is upon us!)

Halloween was fun, as always.  This year it seemed to go on all weekend long!

 This is Seth and Ethan all dressed up for the annual children's party that the youth put on for them in our ward.  They are vampires of the most spooky sort.

Leslie and her friend Katie, all dressed up for the same party. Leslie was a fairy with a crown of flowers.

Also this year, we had a family party to celebrate. Cousins waiting for the signal to take care of those donuts!

The gruesome pumpkin line up.

Jake and Diana showing off their work.

They have a Jekyll and Hyde sort of pumpkin with two faces.  Diana was a good sport on Halloween.  She got more than she bargained for on this date!  Little brothers hovering around and a trip to the neighbor's to pick a whole apple tree!  All accomplished in costume. :)

This is the crew, ready to spoil the neighborhood for candy/parties.  Jake is a pac man ghost, Camille is a lovely princess, Leslie is a cat,  Ethan is a missionary, Seth is a lion, Miriam a cheerleader and Caleb a mad scientist. Dad is the ever faithful chaperon.  Just before he walked out the door, Seth abandoned his furry bits and told me he would just roar at people.  (hee, hee.)



Bear Lake

Proof that we had a vacation.  Proof that we had fun! 

Jacob returning from an invigorating plunge.

Cousins + Lake = Happiness

Home Base in the Shade

There is also a nice pool at the place we stayed, and the kids always have to go there after the lake to "wash off the sand".  This is an excuse to KEEP PARTYIN'!  I love this picture of Ethan.  Note the missing teeth in the smile.

And this is Caleb riding the inflatable whale.  The whale is a staple tradition and comforting part of the trip.  It has a droopy tail this year, but hopefully will be floating for some years to come.

Thanks to Dave and Tiffany for always being so nice to us to invite us to stay in their nice digs at the lake.

In Which Miriam Hosts a Tea Party

 A week ago, Miriam brought a handful of hand-written invitations to me and asked permission to send them out for a princess tea party.  How could I resist?  She assured me I wouldn't have to do anything.  She was right.  Camille did it! The sisters had a great time helping with the tea party.  Camille waited on the guests and Leslie took the photos (but Leslie had to dress up to enter the room!).  Here are some fun pictures:

The Guests.

The Hosting Princess

The Help.

The General Atmosphere.

Odd Odor

Something was not right. 
Something was definitely off.
Ewww!  What is that smell?!?! 
We searched on and off for about an hour, as it seemed to come and go.  Finally, we realized that the smell was corresponding with Seth's arrival.  What had thrown us, is that it didn't seem to immediately depart when he did--it lingered.

Mom: "Hey buddy, lets get you into the tub, something smells funny."
Seth: "Yeah, 'cause Bubba peed on me. " (Bubba is the neighbor's arthritic dog.) UGH!!!

July

July was a busy, fun month.  The kids spent lots of afternoons swimming in the pool in our front yard, usually with their neighborhood friends.  There was one day when the neighbors were all pretty much gone, and even Nathan and I ventured out with the kids. (I know, all that white skin is a bit much!)

 This is the super cool nail polish Leslie tried at a young women's activity. It is silver until it gets in the sun and turns pink! She was pretty fond of it, therefore it is documented.

Miriam is just interesting in this one.

This is the last photo taken by my little red camera.  It is a tent city in my basement.  And a pretty good one at that.  I am so sad my camera died, because I have no photos of my family reunion.  But we went to visit my parents on July 11th for a weekend with my siblings and a reunion with much of my mother's family.  I saw all of my aunts and uncles on the Murdock side and many of their children and grand children.  Nathan and I were also able to make a visit to my Murdock grandparents.  Grandma was in the hospital, but released soon after our visit, and Grandpa was in his new home at the assisted living center.

We slept in tents at my parent's home and visited.  We played in the water at Porter Park in Rexburg and mom and dad bought tickets for the carousel, filling it with their posterity.  That was my favorite part, looking all around the carousel at all the cute children and being amazed that two people, and 40 years of good living can turn into quite a busy crew!  We attended my cousin Amy Jo's graduation voice recital at the college.  Ethan kept leaning to me and asking how they made her voice so loud.  It was the first introduction to opera for him.  Then we went to the sand dunes--which was definitely my children's favorite part!  They came home with sand everywhere, exhausted and happy.

This photo was taken on the same trip at my  20 year high school reunion.  Five of the seven people that graduated in my class are here:

Back: Jason Vielma, Shaun Grover

Front: Jenny (Jacobson) McAllister, Tammie (Stewart) Smith, Terry (Wilding) Roberts.

It was great fun to see each other and talk and talk and talk.  And laugh.  We always did have a pretty good time together.  Shaun, Terry, Tammie and I were all classmates from kindergarten through 12th grade.  Lots of memories, we were just like siblings and we are glad to be back in touch with one another.

We also spent the 4th and 24th holidays with the McAllisters.  Food and fireworks. :)  Uncle Paul helped the little boys build model rockets to launch and that was a huge hit.  The McAllister ladies also had a quilting day tying four quilts.  We had so much fun, that we have scheduled another day, so we are piecing quilts to do it all again.