It's just me and you TIger...

All of the kids are now in school. Jessi started a week after the other three went back.

Every year, I experience the same two emotions--excitement--that they get to go out into the big world and learn and experience things, and sadness--that they are growing up so, so fast. I worry about them. I want school to be great. I want them to have great teachers and good friends and healthy lunch and I want people to be nice to them and I want them to be nice to people. I want them to learn and grow and be confident and happy.

School was moved to a 9:00 start time, and we still have a hard time making the bus. I end up driving them most days. Getting 4 elementary-aged kids ready is kicking my trash.

So, the first day they all went we were of course in a rush. We didn't have our prayer, so Andrew said it in the car. I gave them all my morning advice and loves and dropped them off. I walked Jessi to her class and as I left, she turned around and said, "Mommy, have a fun day with Tiger." (She has repeated that sentiment everyday since.)

After I dropped Jessi off I checked in on the other kids. I used to get teary and anxious the first few weeks of the new school year. I have adopted a new method of dealing with these feelings--I just stalk the kids. Because I am at the school so often, I peek in on them--often.

So, I dropped her off and got in the car. I sat there for a minute and wondered what to do with myself. Don't get me wrong, I've got plenty to do. I guess I was pondering something much deeper. Who am I now? What am I supposed to do? What is my "job?" I have figured some of that out. I know that I have only one year left with Jessi at home part of the day. We are using that time together to do fun things and to work on developing some skills she needs. I know that part of my job will be to be at the school. I volunteer three mornings a week. The reality is that I am as busy now as I have ever been.

So, after sitting in the parking lot for a few minutes, I drove up to Maverik for a Diet Pepsi and then headed home. The house was SO quiet. I folded some laundry while drowning my sorrows in Pepsi and an episode of Hoarders. (btw, not the best idea for a pick-me-up.) Before I knew it it was time to pick up Jessi.

The kids seem to be doing well. Christian is still not loving being there all day, although he has stopped asking about all the possible diseases and injuries he could sustain in order to miss school. We are taking that as progress.

Catching up, July

Oh internet, I have so much to tell you. We had a wonderful, busy, fun July--so fun and busy that I don't have time for both the internet and Jack Bauer. Mike and I started season 5 and holy cow, President Palmer got assassinated and Jack came out of hiding and there was nerve gas and President Logan ended up being a bad guy and then it all got resolved and I was relieved that I could get to other things on my to-do list and then, right at the end, Jack got kidnapped by the Chinese. So then we did what anyone obsessed with Jack would do--we started season 6.

So, most nights, we put the kids to bed and then watch it in our room. We always pretend that we are only going to watch one episode, because that is the responsible thing to do. But, we watch at least two. Only a few more episodes and we will be closing this chapter of lazy t.v.-watching and be returning to real life. I may actually have to start doing something productive during those precious hours between 9:30 p.m. and midnight--something like sleep, dishes, laundry. I also think I am ready to see everyday kinds of things (airplanes, oxygen tanks, briefcases) and not actually wonder if some terrorist is up to no good.

Enough about my obsession. Back to our busy July.

The kids finished up the school year on July 2nd. Jessi and I spent a lot of time at the school with parties and field day and end-of-the-year activities.

The kids had a big party for the last day of school. We played water games and decorated cookies and ate pizza.

I am still taking a picture every day. This is what our pantry door always looks like. It is the place for artwork and awards.

Right after school got out, I stocked up on ice cream/popcicle products.

This summer we went crazy for tie dye. My sister Melanie came up with the great idea for us all to make shirts and wear them in Yellowstone. It was so fun that we did a second set for the kids.

All I had to do was mention the idea of getting an ATV for the kids and it was done. I had been thinking about it for a while and had been looking for one online. I happened to mention it to my brother-in-law, Landon, and he talked to Mike and the next day I came home from dinner with friends to find it sitting in the garage.

Mike got his shed and I didn't like the color, so I repainted it. I really like painting things--it's sort of therapeutic for me. (And now it matches the house better.)

Beverly and Jessi did a week-long tumbling camp. Everyday after camp we did arts and crafts. The kids painted birdhouses while Andrew and Dad were at scout camp.

Andrew loved his three days at 11 year-old scout camp. He got a walking stick and tipped over in the canoe. He got to sleep out in a tent with Dad.

Two of my favorite things this summer--watermelon and Pace fruit bars. Yummy!

If we don't go to the pool then the kids set up the slip-and-slide in the yard. It seems like they wear swimsuits more than regular clothes these last few weeks.

We did our annual Huff Family Vacation this year to Yellowstone. I love Yellowstone. It is a lot of driving, but it is amazingly beautiful.

We stayed in Island Park. Activities consisted of: fishing, jewelry-making with Aunt Erika, eating good food, playing games, hanging out, driving--a lot of driving, seeing amazing sights in Yellowstone, going to the candy store in West Yellowstone, and doing a river run in Big Sky.

The river run was an adults-only adventure--and adventure it was. We were in a raft with Ryan and Erika and while in some white water rapids, our raft got caught on a big rock called The Thumb. The one side went under the water and we literally had to sit on top of the other side as we tried to free it from the rock. After about a minute we got it loose. I loved it.

The kids waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

This is the gang at the house where we stayed. Each family did matching tie dyed shirts. It was great--we could keep track of the kids and each other really easily.

My little (and brightly-dressed) family at Lower Falls.

On our way home, we decided to stop by Bear World. It ended up being a great way to end the vacation. We saw lots of bears, spent time in a great petting zoo and the kids got to go on some carnival rides.

We celebrated the 24th of July weekend in Spanish Fork for Fiesta Days. We took all of the cousins to the Provo pool and then had the annual movie and sleepover in Grandma's backyard.

Everyone was up bright and early for the Speedy Spaniard. The kids did the 1 mile kid's run.

Some of the adults did the 10K.

Every year Grandma B gets us tickets to the rodeo. Christian has been obsessed with Mutton Bustin' since he was two years-old. This is where kids ride sheep. The kid that stays on the longest or has the best ride wins a big trophy. Last year Mike told Kiki that we would let him do Mutton Bustin'. So, we sent in the application and with some help from Grandma Huff, he got in for the night we had tickets to the rodeo.

Grandma arranged a "training" session with a friend who has sheep. I took the other kids to a birthday party while Mike and my parents took Kiki for his training. He got worked. The sheep kept bumping him into the fence to get him off. He came home with bumps and bruises. And yet, his enthusiasm remained.

I headed down to the Cal Ranch to get him outfitted for the event, and can I just say that I love Wranglers. I. Love. Wranglers. A lot.

He was the cutest cowboy in the place (and there were lots of cowboys in attendance.)

So, he was number 11 of 12. All the kids before him had fast, wild rides. They all eventually fell off, and a few got stepped on by the sheep. It was time for Kiki to ride. His sheep came out of the gate very slowly. In fact, the sheep came walking out of the gate. It literally walked. It walked up to another sheep and stopped and then walked a little faster and then Kiki fell off. The announcer asked what Christian had whispered in that sheep's ear.

I was worried that he might be disappointed. He got back to our seats and our big crowd gave him a big cheer. He sat down and I asked him about it. He then said the cutest thing. He said,

"Mom, I am the luckiest Mutton Buster--I got a nice sheep. He didn't want to buck me off so he went slow."

I am so glad that he got a nice sheep, and that he was happy about it.

Then we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's and did fireworks.

Two days later the kids started back to school. Andrew and Bev went back on Monday. Andrew is in 5th and Bev in 4th. Christian started on Tuesday. He is in first grade.

Kiki is in a Chinese immersion program where he is taught half the day in English and half in Chinese. The first day he came home and told us that Chinese "sounds angry." He also made lots of comments about missing school for various reasons--some kind of illness, being too sleepy and wishing he were a cat because cats don't have to go to school. It has been hard for him, going a full day and having half of that day taught in a language that he doesn't understand.

It's not helping that he is having leg aches at night. They disrupt his (and my) sleep. I was explaining to him that they are called "growing pains" and that means that he must be getting bigger. Then he said, "I don't want growing pains--I want to stay small. Small kids don't have to go to school." I am sure he will adjust to this big kid life soon.

Catching up, part 1

I have a lot of catching up to do. I mean with all the sleeping-in and swimming and movie-watching I just haven't had the time.

I thought I would start with the completed laundry room project.

We finished it on June 21st. It was, of course, more work than we anticipated before we began, but I am SO happy with the results.

We built the cabinet, added facing and beadboard, moved a plug and then I painted it ivory to match the cabinets above the washer and dryer. We installed the metal baskets that pull out. I have come to terms with the fact that as much as I like closed storage, open is much more functional for us. It's not quite as pretty, but if we can all see where stuff is and where it goes, things tend to get put away better.

I made basket liners for the two laundry baskets--blue to match the new blue walls.

This is what it looks like with our stuff inside. There are bins for karate stuff, swimming stuff, beach towels, soccer stuff, dry cleaning and bags. There is even an empty one.

The brown canvas bins on top hold stuff we don't use as often and out-of-season stuff. Then I will rotate out the summer stuff for the winter stuff in the metal baskets.

We also designed it with a rod because I hang clothes up after getting them out of the dryer.

We made each person a shoe shelf. It holds two deep. The baskets are for sorting laundry.

We have lived with it for a few weeks now and I LOVE it. It was worth the wait--my laundry room has never been more organized.

I will not be starting any more projects. Kids are home for just a few weeks before school starts and I want to enjoy time with them.

taking an opportunity to illustrate a point with cats

I am exhausted. I spent the day at the school helping with field day. The kids really were good, but at one point another mom helper turned to me and said, "I now know what they mean when they say 'it's like herding cats.'"

it takes a village to make a school report fabulous

Several weeks ago, Andrew got an assignment to do a report on a county in Utah. He picked Box Elder because we would be traveling through on our way to Seattle. We got a few pictures, but, and no offense to those residents of Box Elder County, there is just not a heck of a lot to see and report on. Their claim to fame is the Golden Spike Site.

We were just going to read about it and get some pictures off the web. Grandpa Huff didn't think that was sufficient. So, Saturday, two days before the report was due, he took Andrew on a field trip to see it in person.

They took pictures and got brochures. Andrew's favorite part was getting a smashed penny for his growing collection.

As we were going through the information, I remembered a song that we learned about the Golden Spike when I was in school--the very not-famous Wedding of the Rails.

I thought that I would surely find a version of this hit somewhere on the web. I was shocked to not find it anywhere. I had given up on being able to introduce my kids to this song from my childhood. Then we went to my parents' house. I mentioned that I was looking for an audio recording of the song. My mom pulled out her teacher music file--she had the sheet music.

Mike said that he thought it was about time that the Huff family made their contribution to the world-wide web and get that song out there for others to enjoy. My mom got a very talented neighbor to come and accompany us and the whole gang sang it for Andrew, and for posterity.

Mike was the cameraman because, well, we don't ask him to sing. (He has other talents.)

In order to protect the innocent (my dear family members that jumped right in to help) I will not post the actual video version (but if you must know, we totally killed it.)

Here are a few shots that I figured out how to take from the video that Mike shot on his iPhone.

Natalie, Landon, Mom, Andrew, me, and my Mom's talented neighbor.

Randy, Camille, Erika, Ryan, Natalie and Landon.

Even Erika and Landon joined in, and they had never heard the song before. Erika did get a little spooked by Ryan's enthusiasm for the song. We tried explaining it to her--we grew up singing it--we all learned it in school and Mom taught it to her fourth-graders.

We cannot stop singing this song around here. I get songs stuck in my head and the rest of the family has to suffer. (Although, I am relieved for Jessi's sake that she has another song to occupy her mind--I feel like a horrible parent that she keeps singing, "I want your ugly, I want your disease." In the best interest of the children, we have taken a break from Lady Gaga.)

Andrew had to prepare a poster and a "float" that showcased his county. The float was to be made of boxes that the child would carry. Andrew decided that he wanted his to be a bit larger and he wanted to be a part of the float. At first he wanted it to go around his waist, but then he decided to put trains on it to depict the meeting of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. I strongly encouraged him to just make it a box that he could carry. It was not to be. He wanted to "wear" his float.

He decided that he would poke his head through the top.

It was one of those times that as a parent I struggled to let go of the control--to let him have artistic license and do what he wanted.

Mike put the song on the iPod and found some mini speakers to install on the float. That way when people saw the float they heard the song.

He pulled out some of his Thomas trains and track to make a model of the Wedding of the Rails. Mike found a little nail that Andrew painted yellow. Then he wanted some glitter to make it look gold. We used spray glue to get sand on the surface and Mike got some sagebrush from the field.

We used the posters Grandpa got him and the pictures he took of the site.

He did his presentation in class. Oh, how I wanted to be a fly on the wall. He came home and told us that it went well. He presented his poster and then "put on" the float. He told them about the Golden Spike and then...he pushed play on the iPod and sang the song to his class.

I worried--I hoped they didn't laugh. I was happy for him that he is confident to do something like that. I asked him what the response was like. He told me that the kids liked it. He also told me that one of his friends told him that it took a lot of guts to do that. Yes it did.

So, what did I learn from this experience?

I need to let go and let the kids express themselves and be creative and do some things that I may not have done.

I want to continue to teach my kids to have confidence--to believe they can do hard things, to not care what other's think of them.

I need to continue creating a family legacy of stories--memories we make together. This story will be added to the good ones-- the chipmunks at Angel's Landing, Mom's portrayal of a llama at Fish Lake, the Grizwald-style travel in D.C., the high-end sleeping accommodations in Orlando after 9-11. I can just see us all, with grey hair and grandkids of our own, talking about the time we rocked the railroad song in Mom's front room.

If you give Alisa a project...

she's going to find another project to go with it.

Ironically, the story Jessi chose last night was, If You Give a Pig a Pancake. These stories have been some of our favorites, but last night I realized just how much they apply to my life.

Mike has diagnosed me with the "shiny object" condition. I tend to get distracted while doing projects.

Here is the latest story.

Since moving into our home 1.75 years ago, I have been planning the built-ins for the laundry room. I knew that I wanted us to build them ourselves so that I could get exactly what I wanted. Grandpa Peel taught Mike well, so with his building skills and my director/designer/painter skills I knew we could pull it off.

Well, I had drawn up the plans (in my mind--that one's for you, Mimi) and then on paper. We finally had a weekend with some free time so I declared that we would commence the construction. Memorial Day would be the day. And, the project would be completed by Saturday.

We got a jump start and bought the supplies and started cutting wood on Saturday. Of course it took longer than I had planned, but it is sturdy and straight and well-built. I am now in the process of painting it.

We added bead board to the back of the cabinet. So I figured that while we were already living in sawdust we might as well do the bead board I had planned for the bench entry area from the garage. It looks great, but the paint I had won't work for it so it is primed and ready for paint.

But then I realize that I want to paint the entire laundry room--you know to make it more cheery. I get this wild notion that adding a happy color to the walls will aid me in the drudgery that takes place in that room.

I decided on pale blue and I actually let Bev pick the color (trying to let go of a few control issues.) That is half done.

I now think that I want a much brighter light in the laundry room because, as I previously mentioned, a bright room will fix all of my problems.

So, since I am in the middle of all of these paining projects and have it all over my hands and nails, I might as well paint that lamp base I bought.

One day last week Andrew started a conversation with me by saying, "No offense Mom, but when were you going to go to the store?" Apparently buying food had been put on hold.

I know that, along with me finding shiny objects and wanting the project to be perfect, one of the reasons projects take a while is that I do have these little people relying on me to be present and take care of them. We did eat take-out more last week than we have in ages. My house looked like my room did when I was a teenager. The kids got a lot of "independent play time." But, they still got their stories and homework help and baths and snuggles. I think they survived.

Mike has been extremely patient with the mess. He worked his tail off last week. Every night when he came home from work we worked on the cabinet. He took the kids swimming and fishing to give me time to paint. He has earned some serious husband points.

That, and I still find him very appealing when he is covered in sawdust.

So funny...