Bickmore Buzz July 10, 2016

By Lesley - July 10, 2016

Oh boy! It's HOT! On Tuesday, I was going nuts being here at home with the boys. It was our first day back from Utah without dad or grandparents around. Thank goodness I had a dental appt in the afternoon to give us a change of scenery. The good news is that by the end of the week we were able to get in a good routine and I've had SO MUCH FUN spending time with the boys. Isaac spent the week teaching a summer class at ASU so the boys and I had some good bonding time. I found a summer break challenge from one of my favorite bloggers, Cara Carroll (a first grade teacher and mom of two boys) and knew it was the solution to our long days! Basically, the boys have to complete a checklist before they can play video games or watch Netflix. In addition to daily chores, it includes 30 minutes each of reading, playing outside, building/creating something, and doing smart work. For our outside play, we've been going swimming because that's the only thing we can do without melting to death. We checked out a ton of books at the library. The boys are into knock knock jokes so we found a few joke books to add to the pile. Will has been drawing mazes and building legos for his "creating something"activity. On Friday, William was dying to see the Angry Birds movie so I told them that if they helped me clean the house, we could go see it. They were very helpful and definitely earned the movie! The film was funnier than I expected.

I am dreading going back to school in 2 weeks. I'm trying to think of fun lesson ideas to get me pumped up for the new year, but I also just want to forget that it's almost here.

We were sad to hear about the passing of Curtis Leasure's dad. It's hard to lose a parent. It's a relief that they are no longer in pain, but it still leaves an empty hole in your heart. We wish we could attend the funeral tomorrow.

I enjoyed the lesson at church in Relief Society today. The title was "True Greatness". I appreciated the quote by President Howard Hunter, "True Greatness comes from the thousands of little deeds and tasks of service and sacrifice that constitute the giving, or losing, of one's life for others and for the Lord." I loved the reminder that it's the little things that make a difference and define who we are.

Have a great week and keep cool!

Overheard at our house:

In the library, Van was trying to get my attention while I was looking at books and wasn't having much success. He came up with this tactic:

V: "Mom! Knock Knock!"

Me: (still searching the book spines) "Who's there?"

V: "Could."

Me: "Could Who?"

V: "Could you get me a Flat Stanley book?"

Me: "Yes."

Van: "Mom! I'm so hungry! I'm 20 hungry!"
I asked Van a question. He answered, "Ya mom, it's true. It's perfectly true. It's true forever."
The other night during bedtime prayer, Van said, "I love my mom so much. I just love her. I love her one hundred infinity percent."
William was explaining all the ins and outs of Kindergarten to Van. He even demonstrated how to walk to lunch. He told him that Ms. Wenrich said to pretend that the crack in the sidewalk was a log and if you step off, the alligator will get you. Isaac interrupted and said, "But there really is an alligator that will eat you so watch out." Will looked at him and rolled his eyes.

Here is Van playing the harp at the ASU music lab. It's actually his favorite instrument and he's been telling us for a while that he wants to learn how to play it.