Everyone helps out with the construction when you go to Spring Lake. 
Richard had to work on the 4th, so I took the kids to Provo to see the parade and the fair and to visit Spring Lake. Daniel skipped the parade and worked with my dad all day at Spring Lake. In the evening a few cousins joined us for Tank Wars. It was a fun day.
Paige and Timothy are off to paint a mural at a local Christian church today. It’s supposed to be a big Narnia castle and ocean scene. Timothy’s coach is a youth pastor and the mastermind behind the project and he invited Paige to help. Mark and I will paint Daniel’s bathroom door since he’s away on a high adventure trip. In fact, he’s not too far from these hills in Southern Utah.
The kids and I are working hard to limit our screen time each day. This is why I haven’t been blogging much. We have been cleaning out flower beds and planting flowers. The big boys mow lawns for our house and a neighbor. We painted the basement. Wow, that was a big job. And then there is summer reading. We love to read!
The little boys spend the day reading old National Geographic Kids magazines. We have probably 12 years worth of those dog-eared fact menageries. Mark is loving The Series of Unfortunate Events books and Calvin and Hobbes. We purchased our first water damaged library book this week: a Calvin and Hobbes book that was left in the hammock and doused by the neighbors’ sprinklers. The librarian said that the positive part about having to buy a library book is that you get to keep it. That’s true, and Mark is happy to have it.
Timothy is reading The Edge Chronicles. Daniel is reading Ranger’s Apprentice books again. And Shakespeare. And anything he can get his hands on. Paige loved The Book Thief and has a tall stack of library books in her room.
Summer reading is one of my best childhood memories. I hope it will be the same for our kids.
Mark is our new Cub Scout. He couldn’t be cuter.
Summer events are coming fast. We had a parade in our neighborhood on Saturday. The boys rode motorized scooters and Richard rode his Honda 110. The scooters were decorated with streamers which trailed behind in the wind. Paige and I rode in a borrowed golf cart. Richard was one of the people in charge of inviting people to show classic cars in the parade. Paige and I trailed behind the cars and enjoyed the view of the green mountains, flag-lined streets, and happy people.
I’ve been helping a young woman in the ward prepare crafts for Girls Camp. I now have all kinds of new skills.
We are painting these rooms today! New door handles, wall plates, switches, and outlets are coming. Goodbye yellow-green paint.
I hope you are enjoying your summer break as much as we are.
We went out for breakfast one morning and discovered that we were wearing rainbow colors. Wow, that photo looks awkward. We really were enjoying being together.
Here are a few things we did together this weekend:
We planted our garden.
We delivered 200 fliers for a neighborhood social activity.
We placed flags in our neighborhood for Memorial Day.
We enjoyed homemade cookies one night when Daniel had his friends over for a movie.
I threw a birthday party for Mark but sadly only one boy that we invited was able to attend. Timothy joined the party to make things less lonely for Mark. It turned out to be a good time. I think it’s another reminder to me that I am not good at “friend” birthday parties. I will be keeping only family parties from now on. Let’s see if I can keep that resolution…
We enjoyed a neighborhood social activity where we walked among three homes where the families hosted refreshments. We met several new people and visited with many friends. The boys rode scooters and bikes.
We had a scooter repair shop on Saturday in the garage.
We attended church, 3 of us sang in the choir, and Richard was a substitute teacher in Timothy’s class.
We had fun meals, including a very colorful salad bar one night and fajitas from the grill the next night.
Mark and I made pretzels for family night. Speaking of family night, we decided to gather out beneath the trees. Things were going fine, but then Sparky lost a fight with a cat that wandered into our yard. He limped, bleeding back to the house and cowered in corners the rest of the evening. We gathered again under the trees and the neighbors’ sprinkler system came on, soaking those who were relaxing in the hammocks. Ha! That was the end of family night.
We’re sheltered by a mantle of cool, rustling leaves, enjoying companionship of birds, breeze-tempered sunshine, and good books. It’s a Sunday afternoon reverie with Richard that I’m hoping to create again tomorrow on Memorial Day.
This yard is a perfect spot to relax.
To really keep a home clean, I need a schedule of jobs to follow. I know there are fancy systems and motivational email lists to which people subscribe that can help, but I like my simple list of daily jobs and weekly jobs.
Here are a few of my daily cleaning guidelines. If I do these things, I don’t feel like things are out of control.
These are just guidelines. If there are dishes in the sink as I run out the door to do something, I don’t beat myself up. If all I do before I run out the door in the morning is make my bed, wow, what a difference that makes when I come home. Simple habits can be powerful helps to us.
To maintain our home, I follow a weekly schedule. I try to involve the kids. If I miss deep cleaning a room one week, it’s no big deal. Next week will come around soon enough. This is just a framework.
I do laundry on other days, too, and we’ll clean bathrooms, vacuum, and clean other areas multiple times a week. However, having this framework, I can be sure that things aren’t neglected for long.
I LOVE a clean, uncluttered house, but it’s not the most important thing. I err on the side of clutter in certain corners of the house because I like to read more than I need a clear desk; I like to write more than I need a vacuumed car. I LOVE working with my family on the house. Industrious kids are an ideal for me.
Life is about choices, but a simple framework can help make a clean home possible along with all of the other things that we do. Of course, this phase of life that I am in allows for this kind of framework. When I have been sick for weeks and weeks at a time, and when the kids were young, my cleaning guidelines were a lot different! When I was home schooling, thorough cleaning only happened on Saturdays. However, simple cleaning habits have been helpful to me in whatever phase of life I am in.
Hearing people’s routines is fascinating to me. Do you have a secret to a clean home? Do you make your bed every day? If so, do you agree that it makes a huge difference? What jobs do you enlist your kids to help with around the house? Yes, I am allowing comments today. I am truly curious to learn how people manage their lives.
I’m preparing for a dinner party for 12 adults today. I haven’t finished the table yet, but things will get crazy later and I may forget to take another picture. My sister Susan provided the lanterns and Long tablecloth. I have leftover bird nests from a Young Women activity filled with chocolate eggs and get-to-know-you questions for the guests to discuss over dinner.
The kids are helping tonight and will play background piano music, photograph the event, and the little boys will serve dessert in their suits. Mark has permission to change IMMEDIATELY after dessert. Richard is preparing some of our meal in his smoker. (I always want to type that he is smoking chicken, but that sounds like something else.) His smoked chicken is so good.
The theme for the evening is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and the guests don’t know who is invited. Our church is holding these parties in 7 or 8 members’ homes tonight. Only the hosts know who is coming. It’s a great chance to get to know people.
I finished hanging frames for a gallery wall, but I may not get all the frames filled today. All well.
Our basement flooded last night and our fence is still down in the backyard. Other than that, we’re looking good for company!
It was another long-list Monday.
One thing on my list was to deep clean the mudroom while doing laundry.
It’s no longer covered in dust, lint, clutter, and grime. I love spring cleaning.
