so ready for summer

Gracie had friday off school. Friday is usually the day Grant and I clean the house. But we got our chores done earlier in the week so we could go to the zoo. I am very ready for everyday to be like this. 

We stopped at the store for lunchables on the way out and the G's thought it was the most amazing picnic lunch ever.

Gracie cashed in one of our camel ride vouchers. Grant took a pass. And we got to visit with Dutchess, the 52 year old orangutan. 

 Wipeout!

We spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and on the couch with a pile of books.

Just a few more weeks until summer break, hurray!

grantigus lately

Interspersed with some pictures from last Saturday's soccer game is a little update on our little man. Round 2 of soccer has been great for him. He is playing with a handful of the boys he played with last time, but now they are renamed the Power Stars. He is getting more and more confident, and has even scored a couple of goals. The boy has a smile on his face each and every time he kicks the ball.

He really enjoys preschool. Most days. He writes his own name and tries to spell other words. He will bring me papers full of letters which are actually the first letters of individual words in a whole paragraph. Grant still loves doing projects with Grace - they busy themselves with the art cabinet on a daily basis.

Grant is a great buddy in the mornings before preschool. He occasionally whines about running errands, going visiting teaching, and the other things I drag him around to. But he wants to be good. He is amazingly well behaved during my weekly presidency meeting - hoping Eden will start following his example there. Grant is a great little cleaner when he is in the mood for it. Also, and this still amazes me, he loves to watch cartoons and play Wii, but for only so long. He will watch/play for a little while and then turn the tele off and find something else to do. 

We did a month of swim lessons to prepare for pool season. The first lesson was a little rough. But by the last lessons he was being brave and happy with the new things being asked of him. He is still a little nervous in the deep by himself, but the summer is off to a good start on the swim front I think. I really just want Grant confident and capable so that I can keep both eyes and arms available for Eden. That girl is going to be the death of me, but more on that later.

He still treats us to the occasional fit. Most of his grouchiness is manifested in non communication. But overall, his temperament is good. He starting to become a bit of a comedian. It sneaks up on us sometimes. The other day he fell into the pool. When he surfaced, I was ready for tears or at least some anger. But he stood up and said, "Are you kidding me? I just fell into the pool? Did you guys see that?" Cue crazy Grant laughter. 

blessings

Rounding the Home Stretch- Though the heat can take its time, we are ready for the summer to get here. Blooms on the gardenia bush that are finally opening. How I love this flower! My husband who knows how to have fun I was pretty busy this weekend with church stuff and he filled the days with campfires, outdoor cooking and multiple swim sessions for the kids. Everyone was happy and the house was picked up when I came home. Mission completion! With girls camp being held at the ward level this year, we wanted to give our ward leaders as big a head start as possible. Our camp super saturday could not have been better. We had so much help. Everyone who volunteered made the very most of their assignments. The day was filled with hard work, silly fun, spiritual insight, and lots of food. And the evening culminated in a spiritual program by the YCLs that was a perfect cap for the day. And now that it is over, we can all go back to normal life!

YCL's led camp songs, helped teach certification classes, flash mobbed us, and were all around dolls.

 Captain Moroni met the second years at the flag pole with his title of liberty for flag certification.

 Nephi talked with the 1st years about the ties that bind as part of knot certification. Noah, Shadrack, and a mother of a stripling warrior were the other super heroes who came to help as part of our theme. 

Minute to win it games were part of the fun and silliness of the day.

before summer sets in and burns everything to a crisp

Summer time is rushing at us in Arizona. Last Saturday topped off in triple-digit temps. Today, however, we had rain. RAIN! Our yard was blooming all over the place in preparation this morning. Grant and I went out and took some pictures. We finally have had a gardenia open up. The lantana bushes are taking over. The oleander tree is thick with pink. There is fruit on the vines in the garden and on the grape vines growing up along the back of the pool fence. Lots of fruit set on the orange and grapefruit trees. For all the blooms we got on the lemon tree, only one set. It was very perplexing. But Cori fertilized it and we have been diligently deep watering it. It leafed back out and has some new blooms on it. Here's hoping. The mango tree is still pint sized. But considering it nearly died and was reduced to a twig with one emaciated leaf barely clinging to it, we are pretty proud of its progress. 

the mango tree - it will be a glorious sight in about 15 years

the lone lemon

In other fertile news, we welcomed 8 (or so) new little bundles to our fish tank a few months ago. It wasn't a planned addition. The kids took their allowance money to PetCo and came home with three new fish. About a week later, one of the fish was a lot thinner and there were just under a dozen little baby fish flitting around near the surface of the tank water. As it ends up, there are some 3 breeds of fresh water fish that give live birth. We unknowingly bought one that happened to be pregnant. There are two males that were born in the school, and they spend all day agressively pursuing the females in the tank. I'm thinking about giving PetCo a call to see if they would be interested in buying some back from us. At $3 a pop, we could be onto something here. Mama is looking a little portly again these days. And the other breeds of fish in the tank seem to be getting systematically eliminated... Pictured above, the proud mama. Pictured below, one of the brightly-colored scoundrels determined to impregnate the whole tank. 

a good friday

Last Friday, Grace had the day off school and Cori had the day off work for Good Friday. We spent the morning running and weeding. We spent the afternoon mini golfing, stacking wood, and hanging out in the back yard.