Sunday 6/3: Cooked a delicious roast in the solar oven! The kitchen didn't get hot, the roast was tender and moist. We had a friend and her daughter over for dinner and FHE. She brought dessert -- yummy!
Monday 6/4: Day 1 of our summer schedule went well. It includes (but is not limited to) swimming, cleaning, weeding the garden, having each boy be "Chef for a day" twice a week, and Quiet Time. Chef H picked Swedish pancakes for lunch and waffles for dinner. Lots of breakfast when that boy is in charge. We happened to be at the library when "Shakespeare for Kids" started.
Tuesday 6/5: 10 mile run, which felt fabulous! Weeded the garden. After Quiet Time the kids rode bikes in the church parking lot. Chef H picked waffles for lunch and meat loaf for dinner. We began the meat loaf in the solar oven, but it wasn't warm enough to cook it all the way through, so we finished up in the oven.
Wednesday 6/6: Ran errands to 9 different places in 2 hours with all the monkeys, one of which was to the Scera Theater to pick up our Wizard of Oz tickets:
They weren't even crabby by the time we were done -- accomplishment! Chef S made sausage nachos for lunch -- O found a bit of melted cheese on his plate that was shaped like a cat
-- and crepes for dinner. Brought dinner (not crepes) to a friend and got to hold her brand new sweet baby. Spontaneously decided to go see "The Mikado" at BYU after dinner. Gilbert & Sullivan is (are?) so random.
Thursday 6/7: 7 mile run in the morning. Weeded again -- it was about time I payed attention to the raspberries that I've neglected for 2 years! Kids had piano. Chef O chose taco soup for lunch. After Quiet Time we headed up to Salt Lake. We met J after work and had dinner where his sister works. We were able to see her and her family who were also there for dinner. J took the kids home, I stayed for the Wasatch Back Captain's Meeting and then drove to Chorale. Long day, but great.
Friday 6/8: Worked at a rental all day with the kids cleaning up the yard. During Quiet Time, which O had in the kitchen, he carefully selected spices and other pantry items and made me a concoction:
I heard him clinking around and wondered what he was up to... He was so proud of himself. He even had it covered with a napkin and pulled it off with a flair.
Chef O chose pancakes for dinner. Wasatch Back Team meeting went well. We spent a few hours at Orem Summerfest. O is a little adrenaline junkie. S was exhausted and was disappointed to miss "Exploring Music" on KBYU radio, although he did consent to go on the merry-go-round with H. Here's a blurry picture:
Irrigation came at 8:30PM
Saturday 6/9: Ran 6 miles in the morning. Sang at Orem Summerfest with the Orem Chorale. Worked on the rental some more. Chef S chose cinnamon toast for dinner, but since there wasn't enough for everybody, J and I had Smashburgers. Yum.
This week I've been thinking about how I want my kids to be hard workers. I want them to grow up learning the value and joy of hard work and the satisfaction of a good job done. I don't want them to expect to be handed things just because. I hope I can help them learn how to solve their own problems and not expect someone else to take responsibility for their actions. I half-considered trying to teach them a Little Red Hen-type lesson by not letting them eat the strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries in our garden because I ended up doing most of the weeding of those fruits. (I decided against it because, realistically, it's unenforceable.) Our summer schedule has plenty of work built in, along with some free, fun activities. The end-of-week rewards are places/things we have to pay for, but the kids have to earn it. We'll see how the summer goes...
2 comments:
You are a running machine, Miss Esther! I'm glad John made it back safely. I hope he posts more of his summit and the trek back down.
Let me know what you think of Wizard of Oz. I was all ready to get tickets and then I read that it's a steam punk version and I wasn't so sure. I'm kind of a sucker for the original. Good luck with the summer schedule! We're trying to keep a routine, too, so we don't drive each other crazy.
I didn't realize that Jenna was signed in instead of me until I posted that comment! Whoops.
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