Happy Fourth of July

Hello, all!  Sadly and happily, it’s time to separate my media into personal and professional sites.  This is the new "spot" for all my family posts.
I never write enough about Lina, so I’ll start with her.
Lina’s hip-hop and jazz teams almost got a trophy at both of their competitions, missing it by only 0.25 points.  The second one was in St. George, so we took a family vacation, stopping to visit Zion National Park (absolutely beautiful).  She did a “stall” for the hip-hop dance, which is a sideways headstand.  She held it for 5 seconds.  It’s pretty much better than anything your kid can do.  For her tenth birthday, she had a manicure/spa party complete with mud facials and cucumbers-over-the-eyes.  Carter spiced things up by hopping into the manicure water and then dropping his wet underwear to his ankles, causing all fourteen girls to scream and Carter to get really confused.  “It’s my penis,” he explained.  Lina later decided she liked party-planning so much that she threw a surprise birthday party for her friend, Lilly.
Cora does all of her homework the second she gets home.  She took soccer this year and loved it, especially because it introduced her to two teammates, Eva and Miley.  They enjoy make-up parties and dressing up.  One time they used eye shadow to give themselves a fake black eye.  Eva gave our family a hand-me-down Scooby Doo costume which somehow all five children have managed to wear, shaking their little toushies and racing on all fours.  Cora, my little girl who was so terrified of the water, is the first of my children to jump in the deep water and swim all the way across the pool without touching the bottom.  You go, girl!  She did a science project about cookies (very sly) where she changed the recipe several times and then measured the height, weight, and width of the cookies from each recipe.  And ate lots of cookies.
Mia stayed home with me this year—her last ever.  (So bittersweet.)  She got to do some political campaigning when we dropped off fliers to country delegates on behalf of our neighbor Kevin running for assessor.  (I actually had the stamina to get the kids out of the car for each visit, because everyone knows the power of a baby when it comes to votes.  And Graham’s pretty cute.  I think he’s the reason Kevin won.)  Mia’s favorite “field trip” during home preschool was a Trax-trip to Fashion Place Mall for a lunch.  Since January, she’s learned to swim, ride a two-wheeler, and read Dr. Suess books.  She’s getting so confident!
In May, my brother Nate up and decided to move in with us for a week while he relocated from Pennsylvania to California for med school.  We hung out just a tiny bit because he studied between 10 and 14 hours a day for his Step 1 Exam.  At least after he took the test, he went to Puerto Rico for a week.  Good luck with your score, Nate!!
We drove with Nate to California for a family reunion centered on Grandma’s 80^th birthday and my parent’s retirement celebration.  Our family’s a little obsessed with food and parties.  In three days, we had three parties for which I personally did things like stuff water chestnuts into dates which we wrapped in bacon.  Mmm.  And who cares that we only ate a quarter of what we made?  Can I get an amen for leftovers?
Mike and I put my parents’ retirement to good use when we left all five children with them for a week and flew to Cancun.  That’s right.  35 years of work wasn’t enough.  Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to sleepovers with cousins, shopped at Kohls (“Until eleven o’clock, Mom!”), ran in the sprinklers to beat the heat, and fed everyone the—wait for it—party leftovers!  (See, I told you leftovers were awesome.)

Meanwhile Mike and I snorkeled, practiced our Spanish, ate fish tacos, haggled with shop owners about the price of an opal bracelet we bought for Grandma, ran through driving rain on the beach after dark, swam in freshwater caves, and toured three Mayan ruins (Ek Balám, Cobá, and Chichen Itza).  Also, I did yogo on the shoreline while Mike laughed at everyone laughing at me.  But yoga on the beach is worth it, dude.


Once home, we took a weekend in Cedar City to see Comedy of Errors and hike at Cedar Breaks National Monument with our friends Christine and John.
These days Mike’s sister Giovanna is living with us as her family relocates from Pennsylvania to Utah.  She got a job here and her family is still home, waiting for the house to sell.  We celebrated the Fourth of July with her and three of Mike’s other siblings with a camp-out in our back yard.  Soooo awesome.  Oh, and . . .

Three letters.  P. I. E.  They say so much, you know?  Got the peach custard pie from Karen’s blog.  Thanks, sis!
We have more grass to camp on now, because we hired out some landscaping.  To prep for it, the kids and I were trying to clear trash out of the yard and decided to light a huge stump on fire.  That was pretty funny.  I was so afraid of it getting out of control that we had hoses all around and neighborhood kids “manning” their stations, and the fire never got more than a smolder because it was so windy.
That’s about it.  Graham is cute and Carter is crazy (see below).
It’s time for Kid Quotes.
Sometimes Carter does and says the most adorable things.
Carter: (in another room) Mom, Mom!
He runs to me and rocks stiffly back and forth with his little underwear-clad body.
Me: What are you doing?
Carter: (still rocking stiffly) You go like this and the light doesn’t turn on!
Me: Are you pretending to be the light switch?

Carter: (waving to Cora): Bye Cora!  (waving to our neighbor) Bye—and what is she names?

Carter (sad that’s he’s unable to lift a chair): My strong broke.

Me (wrestling with Carter): Am I too heavy?
Carter: (grunting) No, you’re just too squishing me.

Carter: (studious, trying to figure out the world) Do monsters like babies?
Mia (eyes and hair wild): Monsters eat babies.
Carter (gasps)

Sometimes Carter misbehaves.
Me: Why don’t we have the candy after dinner?
Carter: (wailing) But that’s not my truth.  That’s your truth.

Landscaper: (pointing at Carter) Is that your son?  He peed in your front yard.
Mike: (turning to Carter)  Did you pee in the front yard?
Carter:  No.
Mike: (pointing at the landscaper) He says you did.
Carter: (screaming) Mom says I can pee in the grass.

Carter (talking to himself later):  Yeah, Mommy likes it when I pee on the grass, but Daddy, “Grr!”

Carter hates going to bed.  When he sees me watching him try to sneak out of his room, he freezes and shuts his eyes.
Me: I can still see you.
Carter maintains his frozen position, but fists his hands and squeezes his face all up for good measure.

Sometimes Mike tries to reason with Carter.
Mike: Did you just drink out of my cup?
Carter: Because, can I just have some more?

Mike: What happens if you aren’t reverent at church today?
Carter: Be nice.

Mike (angry): I’m going to kick you out of my office.
Carter (pathetically sad): Don’t kick me, Dad.

Mike: (upset) Why do you keep going in the shed?
Carter: (furious) Because you don’t let me do the things I want.
Mike: Oh, yeah?  Like what?
Carter: (shouting) Use the trimmer.  Go to the shed.  And . . . and go to Mom’s writing group!   (What?  Why would any kid want to go to a writing group?)  It’s all your fault!

While putting Carter to bed, I walked into his room after leaving to get him a drink.
Me: (looking around) Carter?  Carter?
Man’s Voice from Outside the Bedroom Window: He’s out here.
Me: (thinking) Who could kidnap Carter in silence?
I run to the yard and two teens from our church had “cornered” Carter near our fence after watching him sneak out the front door.  They’d asked him what he was doing in the dark and he’d made a run for it.  A few heroic leaps later, Carter was safe and furious inside.  Those teens were laughing, I tell you.

Graham has one cute little story, too:
Lina: Can you say D?
Graham: D.
Lina: E?
Graham: E.
Lina: F?
Graham shakes his head slyly.  He hates the letter F.  He always refuses to say it, no matter what you do to trick him.