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| (Our summer of suitcases :) Once we were halfway to our destination when I panicked and asked Jordan "did you get the right suitcase?" because we still had a halfway unpacked suitcase at home from our previous trip!) |
We've finished the last summer to-do's. The boys all have fresh haircuts. We're home from back-to-school nights, and four out of five kids are in bed. Clothes are laid out for the first day of school in the morning, lunches are made, and here we go!
It has been a full summer. Really wonderful and just really full. And I think all of the things that I wanted to have happen really did. So, on we go to another new adventure!
2017 Summer highlights:
Travels:
* A trip to London for Jordan through the end of school and beginning of summer break
* Our big trip to Canada- 2 1/2 weeks in Victoria, first with just our family and then with all of Jordan's siblings.
* Lots of trips to Provo- A few orthodontist appointments with overnight stays + the whole family. One appointment day with just a drive there and back with me and Landon, my braces off (at long, long last, with 6-8 weeks turning into 9 months!) A periodontist laser treatment, and a few days camping out at our condo for fourth of July celebrations and condo work.
* A Peterson family reunion in Morgan
* A Brady family reunion in American Fork
(Our own) School time:
* Reading Wonder with Landon* And reading Ramona and her mother with Ellie, and all the yellow Sam books with Owen
* finishing the code.org course 2
* Porter started his UPSTART online preschool
* Little mini lessons and activities on all sorts of things (emotions, how binary works, art projects, computer science basics...)
* I started a blue jean quilt and have had each of the kids helping with it - cutting out and stacking squares, pressing the foot pedal on the sewing machine, or guiding the fabric while I press the pedal :)
Lessons and such:
* Ellie and I taught an art class through June for some of the neighborhood kids.
* Continuing teaching Landon and Ellie piano
* A few evenings of a mini book group with Ellie's friends
* Landon and Ellie ran track
* Landon finished cub scouts, earned his Arrow of Light, and moved on to boy scouts
* Landon finished cub scouts, earned his Arrow of Light, and moved on to boy scouts
* Tennis lessons for Landon and Ellie at Elkridge Park (with our same tennis friends from last year's lessons!)
* Landon loved his month of Harry Potter Camp with potions and magical creatures and chocolate frogs... and even Isaac learned how to cast spells (with any long pointed thing and a "kew!" sound :)
* Ellie went to a few days through the summer of Portuguese camp, practicing Portuguese and also brought home some new recipes we've practiced again
* Landon loved his month of Harry Potter Camp with potions and magical creatures and chocolate frogs... and even Isaac learned how to cast spells (with any long pointed thing and a "kew!" sound :)
* Ellie went to a few days through the summer of Portuguese camp, practicing Portuguese and also brought home some new recipes we've practiced again
And lots of other things:
* Celebrating Jordan, Isaac, and Landon's birthday's (and Porter's in a few days too!)
* Owen broke his arm just before school and spent the summer in 2 splints, 3 casts, and now a brace
* Bike rides
* Running again (yay!) and then not running anymore :(
* Porter learned to ride a pedal bike
* Isaac learned to walk
* Ellie biked up all the hills from Lee's with no help on her new gear bike
* Fourth of July celebrations and fireworks
* Family Brazilian dinners
* The kids learned to make their own lunches each day
* A little (little) house progress with a few walls painted and some new light fixtures
* LostMyName is now Wonderbly :) and work is continuing on happily for Jordan
* We watched the solar eclipse
* Jordan has been teaching the young men at church, and I've been teaching Owen's class.
* Porter has loved playing magna tiles and building great castles and other great things
* Kiddos playing with friends, swinging on our swings, scootering around, playing games...
* Movie nights, bike adventures, jobs and cleaning, Isaac naptimes, reading books, whoosh.
Mostly, my goal for this summer was to treasure up these kiddos. And sometimes that was hard with five little ones all having such different needs! But oh, what a lot of wonderful things we've done and happy memories we've made (which hopefully I can write down so they won't all be forgotten! :) And I feel really grateful tonight for all the time I've gotten to have with these little (and even not so little anymore) ones that I love so much.
