Ten for Tuesday 7.14.09 Always Late Edition

Have you noticed that I am always late? To everything. Well. . . except for massage appointments. I'm pretty good at getting there on time! And sometimes bookclub. Anyway, once again, I'm late. Let's pretend it's Tuesday!

1. Last weekend we went to the ward camp out. We pulled into camp after 10 pm on Thursday, and we thought we were the only ones to show! Luckily we drove a little further into camp and found the other families. There weren't many that came the first night, but we were glad to not be alone out in the middle of nowhere. And, I was so glad to have a couple of guys help Reed put up the tent quickly so we could get the kids to bed faster. We had a great time.

Michael learning to limbo.

The biggest camp fire log I've ever seen. We had some pyros at camp!

2. Ty had an hour-long melt down on Friday.

Before

And after. What a difference and hour and a piece of cake can make.

3. Reed got to do a war dance for us. Very entertaining! His poor tender feet were not very happy to be bare on the camp floor.

4. Michael has had another visit from the tooth fairy. I think he might be allergic to my camera. Or me. Not sure which.

5. A friend of mine recently asked if she could come over and look in my closets. What?! Why?! By no means did she think that I was an organization expert. Ha! Double Ha! I had confessed to her that we didn't own any dressers, and all of our clothes were just on shelves and hangers in our closets. She wanted to come see and get some ideas. I'm afraid there is only one closet in the entire house that I wouldn't be embarrassed to show. I just organized my master closet a couple of weeks ago. I got rid of my wire and/or unmatching hangers and bought some extra white ones. It makes my closet feel so much cleaner. Reed thinks I'm crazy.

(Thanks for the inspiration Linn!)

6. I've been trying to finish some of the projects that I'm in the middle of. . . partly because I really want to get them all cleaned up and put away, and partly because I have several more that I want to get started on! This is one I recently finished. I painted the desk that was in Michael and Ty's room. It's an old Ethan Allen desk that used to be my Dad's. It was in good shape, but the finish was pretty beat up and in need of refreshing. I love the blue color, but I'm not crazy about the new knobs. I haven't been able to find vertical drawer pulls that I like. This will have to do for now!

Before:

After

7. Speaking of projects. . . We're about to embark on a big one! We've been working hard, and finally got the basement cleaned out. Hopefully we can get started on the framing soon!

Glad the basement looks like this. . .

Not so glad the garage looks like this. . .

8. I got a new plant! Don't you love it?! I know what you're thinking. . . that girl does not need one more plant! But, really I'm just plant sitting. Our good friends recently moved to New York, and it was just too expensive to take this along. So, I'm taking care of it until they move back, which hopefully is soon! In the mean time, I miss my friends, but love my plant!

9. About a month ago Blake learned how to climb out of his crib. This is always a day that I dread, but I knew it was coming, and I'm proud to say I handled it with more grace this time than I did when Michael and Ty learned this new skill. Blake had fallen asleep while eating dinner, so I took him up to bed. Of course, he woke up and was mad about his early bedtime. We heard him cry for a few minutes, and then he was quiet. We thought he'd gone to bed. A few minutes later he quietly came down the stairs, and careful not to make eye contact with anyone, he found a toy to play with in the family room, and tried to pretend he wasn't supposed to be in bed.

He was pretty good to not abuse his new skill. . . for a while. But, soon he was wandering the house at 5 am and we had to put a child lock on his door. . . which he promptly ripped off. Smart cookie! Apparently it takes work to get the lock off, because it only happens about once a week. Most of the time he gets out of bed in the morning and just trashes his room until I come get him. He's been ripping all the books off the bookshelf and rearranging his furniture. Love it.

10. It seems to me that summer is just flying by. I'm not sure why this summer has been so busy, but I miss the days of hanging out all day in the backyard with a pool, some Popsicles and good friends. It's the middle of July, and we pulled out the pool for the first time yesterday. Something is definitely wrong with this picture! I love the hot weather and all of the fun activities that come along with summer, but I'm struggling a bit with my kids. Summer = zero alone time! For those of you moms who just love having your kids home all summer, what's your secret? What am I missing? Please share!