Summertime 2012 begins

Summertime is here and we are ready to party. It is so nice not to have all the scheduled activities.

Since Emma is turning 8 and preparing to get baptized we thought it would be a great idea to have her get a little lesson from the missionaries at our church.(I got this idea from my favorite blogs.) The missionaries did perfect. They had an object lesson about baptism. They had her get her hands really dirty and then she was able to wash them off with soapy water. They explained how when we are baptized, anything we have done is cleaned away because of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  After we are baptized we can repent and the same thing happens. We can be cleaned, no matter how dirty we are.

They also had a mirror that they had Emma write on with permanent marker. They asked her to wipe it off. Siem came off but not all of it did. They then added a special cleanser and off it came. They explained that this is like repentance. We can't be fully cleansed until we have help from the Lord.

We took some pictures to make Emma's baptismal invitation. 

Here is Kate's new pet, Lucy that she found at Goodwill. She hasn't let it out of her sight for too long over the past week.  It was worth it's $1.99.

 A few days before school got out I started stressing out about all the kids being home everyday. I remembered last year when school let out and the whole neighbor pack of kids went around from house to house emptying every fridge, ransacking every basement and leaving destruction behind them.  It really wasn't that bad but it was overwhelming to say the least.  I wasn't prepared or organized for it at all.  I want to be excited to have babes home with me.


I was talking with my girlfriend and we were talking about how to keep the kids busy with both work and playtime.  She mentioned she had heard about doing "themed" days.  I was a little hesitant because I am a go with the flow kind of girl. As she explained that it was only a guideline I grew very interested. I decided to try it out.

Basically, we have been waking up whenever (usually around 7:30). The kids can do whatever they want like watch cartoons, color, sleep some more, play video games...anything, eat breakfast.  At 9:00am, it is time to start chores. Chores range from things like getting dress to cleaning bathroom, mowing lawn, un loading dishwasher, and wiping down dining room chairs.  I tweaked our chores from the school year and added a few since we have a little more time.

Whenever convient we begin our "themed activity".

Monday: Make it Monday
Tuesday: Take a trip Tuesday
Wednesday: Wet Wednesday
Thursday: Thinking Thursday
Friday:Friend Friday


I will be posting many pictures from our fun filled week soon.