Wyatt's Library Books & Shirtless Forrest

Just for kicks, I thought I'd write up a list of the books Wyatt has checked out from the library in the last few weeks. FYI, he is not interested in the children's picture book section, and chooses all of these (very thoughtfully) from the adult nonfiction shelves, although he does make sure that there are plenty of pictures to look at since he still doesn't read:

Battle at Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare
Nature's Fury: Eyewitness Reports of Natural Disasters
Tutankhamun: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh
Robinson Crusoe: Eyewitness Classics
Liam's Watch: A Strange Story of the Great Chicago Fire
Freedom's Light: A Story About Paul Revere's Midnight Ride
Samurai: Arms, Armor, Warfare

He is particularly interested in books with maps, preferably maps that look old fashioned. And books with subtitles following colons. And, of course, books about weapons, warfare, natural disasters, mummies, and ferocious animals (although there are no ferocious animals on this particular list, they have been a staple in the past). I will also say that he's a peace-loving boy and has never so much as shoved another child, as far as I'm aware. Make of all this what you will.

In other news, Forrest ran a triathlon last Saturday. Yay hon! And yes, the more I blog the more things get repetitive (how many racing Forrest pictures should one blog have?), but hey, it's what goes on at our house in the summer. Boating, triathlons, various home improvement projects, and from now into the foreseeable future, trips to Utah.  Here are some shots of my Mr., competing in the Olympic distance:

Why, hello there young man!

Forrest is the one guy looking directly at the camera. They all look so much alike in their wetsuits, with their little purple seal heads.

A running start. Forrest is directly over the left shoulder of the woman facing the camera.

Coming out of the water. (The little swimming pool is to wash off their feet.)

Whew! On the bike. 

And coming in for the finish. He says he took off his shirt because it was so stinking hot and humid, but I just think he likes to take off his shirt in public. 

After the race we went and bought Ethan some new furniture at Ikea. We're making the big move this week: Ethan into his own room, Wyatt moving in with Jonas to share the bunk bed. It is time. I couldn't bear seeing giant Ethan sprawled out on that creaky, flimsy bunk bed mattress anymore. Plus this week is a good time to move things around because both big kids are at EFY. I've been texting back and forth  with both Ethan and Elise and they're having a good time. Elise and her friend Ashlee performed in the variety show to much applause, and Ethan was wishing that he'd put together a standup routine. (I knew he'd be kicking himself that he didn't do it!) They both get home early tomorrow morning, which will be good. We miss 'em around here. Although I most decidedly do not miss all the extra kitchen messes, but on the plus side, now that it's summer I can use them for slave labor more effectively.)

I'm in the middle of getting my syllabus ready for my fall class. Designing the course and teaching the first semester is always the hardest part, but it's fun to dig into it too. I like conceptualizing the whole thing, plotting and planning what I'm going to make those kids read and write. And Jonas and Wyatt have been taking full advantage of our neighborhood pool, heading over there almost every day. Their little sunkissed cheeks are so darn cute.

And that's about enough random, stream-of-consciousness blogging for today, right? As Tevye would say, "Of course right!"

(Why don't any high schools around here ever do Fiddler on the Roof? Seriously?)

Spring Into Summer

Today is officially the last day of school. Summer is here! And Elise is saying goodbye to middle school, Jonas is saying goodbye to elementary school, and Wyatt is saying goodbye to preschool. Ethan's just continuing to hang out in high school, of course, although the idea that he'll be a junior next year kind of wigs me out. So to commemorate this momentous day, a few photos from the last little while:

Let's start with today, Jonas's last day of school and the 5th grade olympics. I got a nice little sunburn manning the hula hoop station, watching hordes of cute pre-teens cavorting, and quickly changing the iPod whenever it started blaring LMFAO songs without the expletives bleeped.

Jonas has also had fun playing baseball this spring. I finally have some pics of him in action:

Runs so fast, he's a blur . . .

Hey look, it's Coach Hallstrom!

 Speaking of Jonas and baseball, his school choir also got to sing at a Twins game a couple of weeks ago. We got tickets for the whole family (a discounted thing through the school) but man, was it a rainy, cold day. We had fun anyhow. All these photos were taken with my phone using Instagram. I'm enjoying the Instagram:

Seeking shelter during the rain delay. Ethan invited Josh (Elise was having a sleepover and gave up her ticket) and Jonas's good friend Jack was in the choir too and hung out with us.

Jonas's choir singing the national anthem. I love the pretty baseball field grass. Target stadium is spanking new and beautiful.

Wyatt's actually been out of school for a couple of weeks, so we've been hanging at home enjoying ourselves. But first, Wyatt's last day of preschool:

Wyatt and some buddies

A little neck hooping!

And more buddies

And his girls! Hannah and Ainsley have been his buddies for two years now: friends at church and preschool, and regulars   in our babysitting co-op group. They're going to a different kindergarten than Wyatt, and I think he's going to miss their feminine influence.

Wyatt and Mrs. Hulse

Wyatt and Mr.s Swanson

He has had such a great preschool experience. Good preschool teachers make such a big difference, and Wyatt was happy to go to school every single day. Although I think he will enjoy all day kindergarten, my heart clenches up just a little bit every time I think about it. My buddy, gone all day! He's ready though.

Bored one day? No preschool? All the other kids in school? Have mom make you a sock puppet. That'll kill 45 minutes!

You can also go to the zoo with your buds who are also done with pre-K.

The ubiquitous Como giraffe picture

Wyatt and the crew + a sleeping polar bear

We've also had a little family togetherness of late. First day out on the boat, for example:

The water looks colder than it was.

Wyatt got up on the kneeboard! And he loooooooved it.

Goofin on the boat

Posin' on the boat

Cuteness on the boat

It was a great night out on the lake: glassy water, hardly anyone else out. One real plus of Minnesota living is having a lake only 10 minutes away, stealing out on a weekday evening and tooling around for a couple of hours. And all three big kids (plus Forrest) had great runs on the wakeboard. Good times.

But even if you don't have a boat night, you can still just run around the backyard for kicks:

Spin your brother in circles

Put your arms in your shirt and run around like maniacs

What 14-year-old girl doesn't enjoy a little swordplay?

Speaking of the back yard, we've been doing a little yard work as well. Our bare, brown back of the house made me yearn for the beautiful yard we left behind in Utah, but at least now we've greened things up a bit more. Seeing the new tree outside our back window gives me an inordinate amount of happiness. 

Back yard before:

Back yard after:

It's not a ton of stuff, but enough for now. I've really enjoyed spending time out on our back porch in the evening, reading and listening to the birds. Oh, the birds of Minnesota! Blue jays, cardinals, little yellow dudes I can't identify but thoroughly enjoy. We also have a rabbit who comes to visit pretty often. Such a beautiful state; all the wildlife knows it.

I especially like this little bed (although we still need to cut down the big white irrigation pipe and put more bark down):

My front porch pots make me happy too:

Just to top off the Minnesota gloriousness, a photo I took with my phone when I was on one of my morning run/walks around the lake:

I mean, c'mon now. It's almost too much, it's so beautiful.

Oh, and Forrest and I have been up to a thing or two lately as well. Forrest is training for a tri this weekend, along with that whole work thing and being the baseball head coach and the YM president, but  we've done our best to squeeze a little us time into our busy May/June calendar. We had a ball going downtown and taking a sushi making class together. (Thanks, Mindy, for the awesome Christmas present!)

My cute chef date.

The sushi I made. Not perfect, but hey! It was tasty.

I also finished out my year teaching early morning seminary. It's been a challenging calling in many respects, but a very fulfilling and significant one for me, too. I'm going to miss my kids next year a heck of a lot. I'm looking forward to teaching the home study class in my ward, though -- no more early mornings (yay!), and the course of study is the New Testament (double yay!). Here's a shot of me with my two graduating seniors, Jeremy and Maddy, and Becky, my great friend and team teacher:

Now we have the whole summer stretching before us, which is something I simultaneously celebrate and dread. So great to have lazy days, time together, lots of fun on the horizon; not so great to have to become the video game police woman and feel that pressure of organizing something meaningful day after day. But mostly I'm looking forward to it. Stretch away, summer! It will be fall before we know it.

And speaking of stretching. Who's that enormous child stretched out on my couch? The one who's going to be a junior next year? Crazy.