Tuesday, October 4, 2016

TWELVE Apostles

I feel it is important to get the last week of summer (week 12) on here because many things happened that provide continuity. After all, I just showed all these pictures of June on her birthday with no glasses and braces, but one post before, it was the opposite. So let's explore the week where we worked on teeth and eyes. All good things to do before school gets going.

First though, we had a craft on Monday. We saved up bottle tops from the beginning of summer. (Practically torture for the kids to drink enough soda so that everyone had at least seven  bottle caps.) We invited Tricia and her girls over to paint with us. (They brought their own bottle lids.)



I glued the caps together previously because I thought it would be easier to paint the flower if it was already assembled. I do love hot glue, and mod podge, and rubber cement, and duct tape, etc. What would we do without these things?


The girls went to town painting. Once again, it is so fun to see all the different designs they come up with. I made the lady bugs since we had just a few bottle caps left over.



Then add a stick and put them in your garden, or wherever you would like to display them. I chose out front. It is always nice to have a little added color to greet you.



Tuesday, we went to the library for our last summer library experience. (I can't say the last time, because we still go to the library often.) We spent some time at the coloring table. They change the design on this little table in the teen section and there are always colored pencils available. And I have five kids who like to color. (It would be really cool if they put all the designs on display someday. I'm not even sure if they keep them?)


Tuesday was also a big day for June. Although she has a lovely smile, she still needs a full set of braces to straighten her side teeth. We decided to get them on before school started.



That gave us two kids with braces. These sisters are so cute together.



But Robyn only shared the braces time for two days and then she got hers off! Only 18 months for her, which is pretty remarkable considering how her teeth started. (She was really good about wearing her bands because she didn't want any extra time in braces.)



That week we also went swimming for the last time. We took Tricia and her kids so we could use up our last punches. It is so sad when summer is drawing to a close.


And although it was an overcast day, look at my good kids applying sunscreen. We were all great this summer and I can't think of any serious sunburns. Go us! In fact, by the end of the summer, it would have been hard to burn Daisy and Ivory. They were so dark.


The last week before school was also time for eye exams. It takes a while to get all four kids through. There were some owl coloring pages at the office and I love how different they all are. Daisy opted not to color, but here are the rest.





Pearl still seems to be okay in the eye department. (Fingers crossed.) June and Ivory took the plunge and got contacts. Ivory got them for gymnastics, since her glasses are always flying off. June got them for running, and because I encouraged her to so Ivory wouldn't be alone. June wears her contacts most of the time, but I think she still likes her glasses as well. Ivory wore hers quite a bit at first, but decided she likes them mostly for the gym. Both girls look great either way, and I'm glad they have options now. Here are the girls learning to poke themselves in the eye put in contacts.



Our last treat of the summer was Lemon Sorbet. We were going to make something like Rolo Pretzel Bark, but someone had sore teeth, so we humored her and went with something soft. Plus, I was feeling bad that we hadn't gotten the ice cream maker out all summer. It is the best machine. (Thanks mom. We LOVE it when we remember to use it.) Lemon Sorbet uses a LOT of lemons. I think we needed a cup and a half of fresh lemon juice.


We made a syrup on the stove, then combined it with our juice and poured it all in this beauty.


It was very tart, but just perfect for summer. Plus, I am a sucker for lemon anything.


And then Friday, Robyn went to school for the early 7th grade day. School had started and summer was officially over.


We had so much fun this summer. Highlights definitely include visiting family in CA and going to Lake Powell. We loved spending more time at the library. Robyn did a great job swimming and June loved her morning runs. Stations crashed and burned, but that was okay. We didn't watch hardly any of the movies we planned because we didn't have an actual 'day' for it. I loved keeping us busy, but next year, we might take more breaks and work on some projects. Then again, it is easy to overplan and take things out later. We do that all the time. I'm so glad to have time with my kids. I hope the kids look back with fond memories of summer.

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