Our first stop was Bobba and Nana's house. The minute she entered the house little Lucy walked straight up to Marti and asked to sit with her. It was the sweetest greeting ever!
Here she is with Nana again, right before bed.
After spending the night with them we headed up to Bear Lake for a Maes family reunion (without Bob or Dane...)
We spent less than 24 hours with them but it was well worth it. They are such a great family.
Then we spent the night at my Dad's house. It was another short stay but we loved our time there, as well.
From there we headed to Bob and Marti's house again where we waited for my sisters to arrive with their families a couple days later.
Once the cousins got together they were all inseparable. How I love my family!
Atticus loved every second of the trip. He kept telling me he never wanted to go home. He snuck extra cookies and sodas whenever and wherever possible.
The day we spent on the lake he was especially proud of his tubing abilities. He did not once let go and they declared him "king of the tube." His poor eyes were red and I'm not sure if it was the sun or the water that contributed more to his red, red eyes that evening.
We didn't get great pictures of Hinckley, Lucy or me at the lake but we joined everyone for the first couple hours. We decided to spend the time we were there on a paddleboard together, just the three of us. It was so peaceful paddling with those two cuties, my heart felt full. In fact, it was so peaceful little Lucy fell asleep!
A younger Noelle would have been chomping at the bit the whole time. I may even have been resentful that I couldn't get on the boat and wakeboard with everyone else. Not this time. For once I was able to enjoy the moment and this season of life.
When Mom and I left to take Lucy home for her nap Hinckley couldn't wait to get back to Bobba. So, while the rest of the gang spent the rest of the day into the evening out on the water, we were good after a couple hours.
It is worth noting what an amazing traveler Lucy was. She went almost the whole five hours to Utah without crying. When we had about 20 minutes left she began to cry but then calmed down when Atticus read a book to her. She's an angel! And she slept everywhere, like clockwork. It was honestly a miracle. Atticus was having night terrors just about every night of the trip but our 22 month old was so easy. I do not want to take it for granted.
As much as he loves his cousins, there was one person who couldn't wait to go home the entire trip: Hinckley. He was counting down the days and kept insisting that he just wanted to stay at Bobba's house. Here is the one day he actually took a nap, something that probably should have happened more often.
I must admit, as much as I love my family, by the trip's end I couldn't wait to get home, either. I was tired and had been feeling sick the entire time. I often felt like this picture that my sister couldn't resist snapping. I missed Dane and wanted to sleep in my own bed.
When we did make it home it was a very sweet reunion.
Of course, life went on before and after our trip.
Atticus lost his second front tooth at the end of July! He is one happy (and adorable!) kid. Except, of course, when he's trying to bite into certain foods. Then you can hear him quietly mumbling, "I sure do miss my teeth..."
The boys held another lemonade stand at the beginning of the month and they made even more money- $110 in two hours! My head was spinning at the kindness so many people showed to my cute kiddos.
At one point in the month (it may have been before our trip) we decided to fly Atticus's kite. Hinckley went inside after only a few minutes (it was hot!) but we stayed a bit longer.
Unfortunately, it was long enough to get the kite stuck in a neighbor's tree. Atticus tried to climb the tree but he wasn't quite tall enough to reach it with a pool pole. Well, of course, that meant that I had to climb the tree. I love climbing and had no problem with this, shimmying up pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, just as I got comfortable in the tree and began maneuvreing the pole around a mail truck drove up, parking directly in front of the tree. The postal worker got out of the car and, suppressing a laugh, told me, "Umm... I have a package for you."
With a sheepish grin I had to reply, "Oh, it's not my house. I'm just a neighbor. My son's kite got stuck in the tree. You know the story..."
I couldn't stop laughing when she drove off. What are the odds she would drive up at that exact moment to that exact house? But that's just how life is. It's ridiculous! And beautiful.
I don't have more quotes or stories to share about Atticus but Hinckley and Lucy have some more updates.
As I mentioned earlier, Hinckley did NOT want to be away from home for so long and his homesickness had some very frustrating symptoms. He had epic tantrums both Sundays while we were at church. One tantrum was so bad (and so loud) I had to carry him all the way to the van so he could calm down in private. Thank goodness for a sweet ward member who carried Lucy for me.
It was ironic, because Sundays are so busy for me at home that I was hoping to get a break. I had been taking it for granted how well behaved my children are in our home ward... The reality was quite the opposite up in Utah! He and Lucy were both so difficult that I couldn't wait to get home. Wouldn't you know it- they have both been angels at church since our return. What a difference a dad makes.
While he definitely still has his moments, Hinckley is such a pleasure to be around most of the time. He just jumps in and helps in virtually anything. He loves to cook and gets better every day. He is getting better at chores and as we work he can be so pleasant and kind. It makes my heart happy to converse with him. He grabs his little Book of Mormon every few days and will remind me, "Mom! We didn't read scriptures yet!" After church this last Sunday he was telling Dane how much he liked church. Then he asked him seriously, "What do you like about church, Dad?"
He LOVES gymnastics and he is enjoying his swim lessons. He's such a hard worker (both boys are) and I love seeing their progress.
Hinckley Speaks:
- "Mom, you have such a nice mom."
- "Yeah, I guess so." (His pleasant answer to almost every question.)
- "I like to stay at home... so I guess I'm weird." (Said among many other, adorable things he confided to the sister missionaries recently.)
At the beginning of the month Lucy started saying her name for the first time ever! She had been calling herself "Beby" for months and still does. However, we have a book with a mom and a toddler in it that we love and one morning she was pointing at the pictures for me and labeled them the way I do, saying, "Momma... See-see." Yay!
She loves "popiples" and was looking for them in every freezer she saw in Utah.
This month I had my first child put something in their nose! Lucy found a bead from a bracelet that she had broken and stuck it pretty far in. I panicked for a second until I remembered a parenting hack I had read somewhere a few years ago. I grabbed Lucy, put my mouth on hers and blew really hard. Out it came! It felt like a movie moment when it popped me in the face.
She has always loved music and dancing. Whenever the boys turn on songs she can't help but move and will mimic everything she sees us doing. This month she has gotten really into nursery songs with actions (think "The Wheels on the Bus" and "A Slippery Fish.") I love her versions of the actions and how animated she can get.
She still sleeps with her Unicorn every nap and at night (she calls it "Ull-done," which is funny because she still says, "Da-done" for "All done.") but she now has come to love her "banket" and wants to hold it with her "Ull-done" as we read stories before bedtime.
She has become so good about having her hair brushed and styled. I sure hope it lasts. I try not to take very long but it's been fun as this month it can fit into a pony tail much more easily.
Listen to Lucy:
- "Diapoh" ("Diaper")
- "Ewww!" or "Stee-ee!" ("Ew! Stinky!" -Said whenever I change her diaper.)
- " 'Mon!" ("Come on!" Said all the time while gesturing with her hands in the most irresistible way.)
- "Sop!" ("Stop!")
- "Mess!"
- "Un, doo, fwee!" ("One, two, three!" She has since added "Fo, six!" to her numbers, skipping five.)
We focused our very light family studies on Russia this month.
I love Russia, partly because many of the sweet people I met in Armenia were from Russia and almost all of them spoke Russian as a second or third language. I was served borscht a few times and had come to love it so we made sure to eat some borscht and beef stroganoff.
Of course, we had to watch Anastasia and An American Tail. We read so many beautiful books set in Russia and Ukraine by Patricia Polacco. My personal favorite part was probably when we read about Matryoshka dolls (nesting dolls) and drew our own.
I actually really liked learning about Russia in July. Questions about Communism and other difficult parts of their history provided such a profound contrast to the freedoms we celebrate that month. I also had never really recognized how very similar the Mormon Pioneers' experiences were with those of the Jews of Russia and the pogroms committed against them. Pioneer Day held even more meaning for me. How grateful I am for the people who came before me who fought for the civil and religious liberties that I so often take for granted.
With this month completed, we finished our first full year of homsechool! As I've been reflecting on the last year I have felt so much gratitude. We read 25 wonderful, unforgettable chapter books as a family, which is astonishing to me. We learned about countries from every part of the world, cooked and ate their foods, read their poetry, listened to their music and made the occasional craft related to them. We stretched and grew, we fought and made up, we played and worked... and we did it all together. I loved it so much and can't wait to start for real again!
