Last week Damian came down, again with his bro-in-law, Matthew. This time he also brought his eldest and youngest kids, Lexi and Kolter. Basement news: They finished the mudding, taping, sanding, and texturing. They built my shelves for my storage room. Woo!
Lexi and Kessa were best friends. They played together quite well, despite a 6-year age gap. She was, as always when she's here, my big helper with all the kids. Kolter and Abby got along quite nicely, too. It was adorable to watch them run up and down the hall, laughing. Then stopping to show the other some toy they had, then laughing. Abby always wanted to know where Kolty was if she couldn't see him right off hand. I'm glad they've got cousins for friends. This week we've got the other two kids, Parker and Taegen. I'll report back on how they interact next week.
We bought a new car this week! An electric car. Specifically, a Nissan Leaf. I'm super excited about this. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment purchase, in that we weren't actively shopping for cars. BJ saw this one, it was a great price, we decided to test drive it, and bought it. But we have been talking about it for months. We've been wanting to be more eco friendly. And it would save a lot of money on gas. And as well qualified as we are to be a one-car family, we don't like it. So all things combined and suddenly we have a new car! Hooray! It's super fun. I'll let you drive it when you come home.
The 4th of July was this week. It's one of my favorite holidays. I think because it's close to my birthday, I love fireworks, and I loved pretending that the fireworks were for my birthday. My parents decided to come down that morning (instead of Saturday as I had anticipated). So in the morning while we waited for them, I braved taking all three kids to Hobby Lobby where we bought stuff to make "firework wands" (red, white, and blue ribbons tied to dowels), and t-shirts to paint. When my mom got there, we started crafting. I think the end products were adorable.
We had planned on going to Thanksgiving Point to see fireworks, but as we were getting ready to leave, we were invited to join a neighborhood party in the cul de sac across the street. I knew my parents would rather not fight the crowds, and a bunch of Kessa's friends were there, so we decided to stay. The neighbors had chipped in and bought a bunch of fireworks, so we had our own fireworks show. I contributed sparklers and glow sticks instead. Abby loved it. She sat on my lap and for awhile, every explosion was met with, "Wow! Wow! Wow!" She'd point out the colors and ooh and ahh. It was adorable. I love this age, where they're enamored and willing to sit on my lap still. :) Kessa was running all around with other kids. I don't know how much she actually saw, but I do know that she had a great time with a bunch of glow sticks on a trampoline. :D
Saturday was spent shopping and cleaning and cooking to get ready for Peter's blessing! It was a chaotic, stressful kind of day that I am glad is over. And inspires me to try to keep my house cleaner on a more regular basis.
BJ blessed Peter today in church. More pictures to come later. When I get them from Travis. :D It was a wonderful blessing. I'm sad you missed it. But it was beautiful. I remember thinking, "This is the best blessing ever. It's full of things I would hope for in a blessing for one of my children." And then BJ mentioned the word "scriptures" and it hit me so powerfully that Peter needs the scriptures strongly in his life. And that we need to do better to have family scripture study and to make the scriptures come alive. It hit me so powerfully that I have no idea what the last half of the blessing was about, because all I could think about were scriptures. So we started reading the Book of Mormon as a family tonight. We'll try to do it every morning. Hold me accountable, k?
Damian working on building the playhouse.
Peter, just chilling.
Turns out, getting a picture of the shelving is hard. But here's the best I could do.
It's a horrible picture, but it's the best I have right now of the new car. It's the white one on the left.
Kiddisms
- Kessa: I was still a little hot from my blankie, because blankets make us nice and cool.
- Kessa: it's ok if you go faster than the speed.
Me: Oh?
Kessa: yeah. One time we were late to swimming so daddy went over the speed. So it's ok if you go faster, because we're late.
BJ claims that he wasn't speeding, but rather was accelerating quickly. - I told Abby to give Peter a kiss, so she did. On the mouth. As she walked away she suddenly started crying, “Uh-oh! I ate Peter! On the mouth!”
- Abby turned the music on the swing on, and to the highest volume. “There! I fixed it!”
- BJ was doing math flashcards with Kessa. 2+3. Kessa: “It's almost 4, but it's not 4. It's 5! Do you know how I know that? Because 2+2 is 4, and 3 is one bigger than 2, so it's 5!”
- Grandma and Grandpa Lovell came down for Peter's blessing. As they drove down, Kessa kept impatiently asking, “When will Lovell be here?” “Tell Lovell to hurry up!” And when they got here she ran out yelling “Lovell is here!!!”
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