B+C+B+C+B+C: June 2017

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Farm fun

Our Martial Arts instructor also happens to have a little farm going on! Goats, horses, dogs, cats, rabbits. Charity loooooves greeting the animals every week.

Meredith was awesome enough to do VBS pickup and Y lunch with all the kids, so I had several hours all to myself. YARDWORK time, whoohoo! I actually enjoy getting yard work done, I just struggle to do it while I've got all the kids at home because I wanna be with them. Both to keep them productive, and just to enjoy their little selves. I've tried to get them out there working with me, but it's tough keeping all 4 engaged. So the big jobs - like removing this stump!!! - get put off.

But I got to tackle all the weeds, clean out the shed, leaf-blow the porch, driveway, garage, shed, patio (hello dust storm up my nose), plant cilantro, and do a few other things....besides the ONE THING I actually intended on doing - getting some flowers planted. I have an avoidance issue I think. I'm great at doing everything besides the one thing I need most to do. Hmm.

New clothes from Nonny

Sometimes new duds just magically appear on the front porch! Brianna was especially grateful for new shorts. She's outgrown all hers - just lengthwise anyway. We definitely teach our girls that the way to respect themselves and honor our Heavenly Father is to wear appropriate clothes. And it will help them have more fun because they're totally comfortable and don't have to worry about wardrobe malfunctions! That means summer time isn't for tiny shorts and little tank tops.

I'll miss my sweet kindergarteners!

Fort making at Annalee's Art Camp!

All of Annalee's art students worked together to make this during art camp, then Courtney won the drawing so we got to take it home!

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Teaching pet care responsibility

It's a dirty job but someone has to do it.

And it isn't going to be me!

Although, as every mom knows, it's more to work coaching a child thru completing a chore than to just do it myself....

Monday, June 26, 2017

Screenshot

Who could that yard angel have been??!! ;)

Rainbow!

Family Summer Service

Napping with the Guinea pig?

Brian hiking in Oregon

Sunday daddy-kiddos bike ride

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Pop Chefs

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Under-the-trampoline adventures

They call them "Wishblooms"

Friday, June 16, 2017

Matching Father-Son ties from Grandma!

Looks great, they love it, thank you!!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

School's out celebration with Nonny

From mom:

"Ready to golf! Now we're at Methods for healthy treats - next farmers market!"

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Dressing up the guinea pig

Oh Brianna.... you and your fascination and adoration of this little rodent....

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Let the summer of Vacation Bible Schools begin!

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

My boy is the sweetest nephew ever

Meg gave Bennett some socks she bought that ended up being too small for Nathan. That night I asked Bennett to write her a thank you note. He asked what he should write. I told him to write whatever he felt.

Field trip downtown

This is the pretty water feature in front of the Federal Building downtown!

Monday, June 5, 2017

School Fund Run

I got to volunteer to help put tally marks on the kids' shoulders as they ran each lap.
It was so cute!
They ran their little hearts out! Brianna's grade had 20 minutes to see how many laps they could do, the Kindergarteners had 10. Brianna got to help do tally marks with me, and Charity got to help eat popsicles.

Perfect Bennett toy

Nonny got Bennett this little puzzly toy and he's obsessed with making fun creations from it!

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Brianna's Piano Recital

Friday, June 2, 2017

Car cleaning helper

Our van was covered in bug splat after driving through a bizarre massive cloud of flying insects on our way home from Martial Arts. The joys of traveling through the country!

Charity LOVED helping scrub the car at Zip Trip with me. She took the job VERY serious!
Adorable.
I cherish every minute with my little buddy.

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

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