BBQ's, Burgers, and Bye to the Goob

We are getting ready for 5 tons of dirt in our yard coming next week.  I am super excited to finally lay down sod in our backyard to have grass and not just dirt.  We are also going to be designing flowerbeds which also makes me really happy :).

As part of our yard beautification process, Q-dawg found some huge Medina sandstone slabs in a gentleman's back yard when he was appraising.  He approached the man and asked if the man would be interested in selling the slabs to Q-dawg.  "Sure.  How about $10 a piece?" How about sure!!! Awesomeness!  Now we have a cool stone walkway from our driveway to our back door so no more muddy entrances!  Well, at least, less.

The other night, they cancelled the youth activity so the Goob had the option of going to the school for the end of the year concert and helping his dad lay the slabs in place.  We were fine with either option, although Q-dawg wouldn't have been able to place them without the Goob. Q-dawg was fine finding one of the many other projects to work on but we were both touched when Goob came back down in work clothes instead of nice clothes and said, "I will be gone all summer long at scout camp with friends. I want to spend this time with family while I am here."

Ohhhhh...Touch my heart!

So the Goob leaves next Tuesday to work at Camp Loll in Wyoming with his good friend Aaron. He will be gone until late August, hoping to catch a few days at the end with cousins in Idaho before he ships back home.  We had a surprise BBQ at the beach on Memorial Day for him: a surprise that it was for him, not a surprise that we had it (that would have been too hard).  We had great support come out and a very relaxing evening with lots of good family and friends who knew the Goob and wanted to wish him well on his way.

As is typical, I started panicking about having enough food so now I have enough food to not only fill everyone there (complemented by the many delicious dishes that were brought to share) but enough to take care of several meals for us in the upcoming weeks.  As our friend Scott fondly points out, we don't eat a lot of meat so the brats, hot dogs and hamburgers will be enjoyed, I am sure :D.

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Liliputian, the Goob and Chugger-dude were in a little "contest" with me to see who could finish their epic books by Memorial Day. The reward was that they could have an "epic" meal. Here it is! (A picture is always worth a thousand words.)

Here we are at the beginning.  Liliputian, true to form, asked if she could also keep the knife.

I think this is the Goob's third or fourth time conquering the beast.  He also drank 8 glasses of rootbeer to help it slide down. Whew!

Liliputian decided she had to pull her hair back for this epic adventure in eating.  

 So that is two half-pound burgers, bacon, cheese and half a loaf of french bun.  That night we were having mushroom soup burgers for dinner with my parents and the missionaries and Liliputian and Chugger-dude were getting sick just smelling the meat cooking.  Liliputian has said that this has killed her love of hamburgers for good for a while.

So, speaking of Chugger-dude, he has tackled on painting our front fence as part of his scouting "Family Life" merit badge.  Hopefully I will get Q-dawg's pictures later.  All the family helped, including the babies, which was super cute.  Spooner was less interested than Binks, who kept coming back to refill his brush and then randomly distribute it.  Fortunately, the fence is old and soaks up a lot of paint so it didn't make a difference :D.  It is white now and it is fun to see the yard start coming together.

Pipalicious and I also picked out some flowers, herbs and veggies for our current front yard "displays." They are alive after two weeks, which is some kind of record for me here.  We also have some cool slabs we put down as a walkway to our front porch so it is looking less and less ghetto here all the time :D.  Step by step.

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The menfolk went for a Father's and Son's last night.  I already received an adorable picture of my little men, my babies and can't wait to see and hear more!  The girls and I stayed home, did a quick clean up after dinner, soaked and rubbed each other's feet and then watched "Nim's Island"...while I fell asleep.  Perfect!  I slept almost 12 hours and feel better than I have for a while.

My mom took a picture of me yesterday at Rudy's where the kids ate the Mojo Burger above (humble moment in sharing this):

Right after seeing it, I thought, boy, that is a horrible angle! and then I thought, boy, do I look tired!  That confirms what I have been feeling that in order to help in so many areas, I need to sleep more.  Last night was a fun experiment in that.  After years of being able to force myself into action when getting a "minimum" amount of sleep, I am going to try and start conditioning my body to a newer, healthier level of sleeping: sleeping until I am rested.  I have experienced it before, after one of those precious but few deep naps, so I know what it feels like.  I am game for experimentation and trying to capture that kind of sleep every night :D.

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I remembered I was going to post this!  One thing I did while my mom was here was have her help me put together my front wall so all of my kids are represented!!!  I LOVE it!!!

It all began with that cut on the leg...

One of my favorite childhood books is "Wacky Wednesday."  When I found it recently at a garage sale, it also became the favorite of my children.  The opening words to this mixed up day are: it all began with that shoe on the wall...

Well, my recent investigation into our family's grooming habits all began with that cut on the leg.

One evening, Hava, the resident crisis news reporter dashed up to me in typical dramatic fashion and panted, "Pipalicious needs bandaids!  A lot of them!"  Apparently my sweet 10 year old had decided to start shaving her legs.  Uninstructed. With a new razor blade.

After doctoring her up, I assured her that we could have a mentoring session on how to shave legs safely as I have had with my older girls.

That led me to start paying more attention other unusual occurrences: the body wash disappearing at an unanticipated rate, toothbrushes that are wet before you use them,  why the razors are stored on the same shelf as the baby bath toys...hmmmm.

We have always had our "usual" grooming etiquette:
-the younger kids get bathed about every other day with Friday being the possible "skip the day" to land on Saturday in time for church.
-they transition to showers as they choose to...or if they wet the bed. (No choice there.)
-Saturday night is always a big planning session about who is going to shower when between then and church the next morning when we leave before 9 am.
-as the boys get older, they start showering at least once a day after getting over the hump of 12-13 year old-ness where I have to insist they do it: "when was the last time you showered?" or more directly, "you have to take a shower tonight before you go to bed or you can sleep outside."  Lek was up to as much as three times a day depending upon the series of events. ("Mom, I have to shower before I dance, because no girl wants to dance with a stinky person and then I have to shower after before I go to the youth activity because dancing makes you sweaty.  And then I have to shower tonight because I don't want to have to get up early tomorrow and do it before church because it is harder to get up to do it than it is to do it before I go to bed."  Totally reasonable.)
-you splash, your done.
-only official bubble bath is to be used as bubble bath (a discussion I have had many times after finding the baby shampoo dumped out in the tub; hence it's current location on the top shelf with the razors and young adult face wash)

Lately we have had a few discussions, though, to clarify techniques:
-body wash is not used to wash hair
-read labels of cleaning products so you are using the right product for the right end
-you don't need a cup of body wash for a bath sponge...start with a small amount and work your way up until you have the amount you need.   Same applies for shampoo.
-conditioner also is not an acceptable substitute for washing your hair
-you have to actually use soap on your body while taking a bath or shower to make it effective.
-if you can't find your toothbrush, you can use an old little kid one found in "Binks" toothbrush basket...not the prettiest one you find on the shelf. (Q-dawg has taken to hiding his as high as he can to keep his safe.)  Having two vanities has helped people have their own grooming location in the vanities...again, thanks to Q-dawg :D.
-Q-dawg had a more one-on-one discussion (with me) about making sure the hair was not rinsed down the drain after cleaning out one of our sinks. (Hey, he knew he married a woman with a thick head of natural curls.  Hairs breaking off all over comes with the territory :D.)  I told him I would inform the offending parties :D.

Happily, the kids are overall good smelling, bandaged, clean and healthy, somehow having survived my negligence on noticing important aspects of grooming.  I am sure we will have to re-visit grooming in a couple years as the dynamics and ages change, but for now, I think we are good!

No more shoes on the wall, please.