Cupcakes, Cookies, Lemonade!

On Saturday the kids had their first lemonade stand.

Grandma offered her yard for them to do it, because she lives on a busier street than we do. She also suggested that maybe they sale baked goods with the lemonade.

The kids started planning early in the week. They asked for donations of baked goods and they helped me make signs for their stand. We talked about how much everything cost to make and how much they should charge. In the end they decided to have everything cost 25 cents.

We also talked a little bit about advertising and how they would attract more attention if they held the signs and waved them around rather than just sitting at the table and waiting for people to stop.

Saturday morning they opened their stand in front of Grandma's house. They sold cupcakes, cookies (made by Grandpa), and lemonade. The kids caught on to the sign waving quickly and got into a nice rhythm. I thought they did a really great job working together.

(The salesmen in action)

They sold stuff for about and hour and a half at Grandma's. Then later that afternoon they decided to sale a little bit more in front of our house.

Their stand was in business for less than three hours and they made just over $16 dollars ($5.80 each) The cupcakes and cookies were a great idea, and attracted the a lot of the customers.


It was a lot of fun and a great way for them to learn about making money and working together. They also enjoyed some of the leftover treats at the end of the day.

Why We Wear A Helmet

The Summer before 4th grade I was riding my bike home from piano lessons and hit a pothole in the road. That is all I remember until three days later when I woke up in the hospital surrounded by balloons and teddy bears. I was not wearing a helmet. (They were not really talked about then)

Needless to say I am a big fan of helmets and always make my kids wear them even if they are just riding in the driveway. They are good about it because that has always been the rule. Last night I was glad we have made it a rule.

Joe has been doing really well on his two wheeler so we thought it would be fun to go to the Jordan River Parkway last night. We decided to go on the south end of the path this time, because it is pretty flat. There is really only one hill each way where we would be riding, so it is a great place for Joe to get some more practice.

Ryan and Emily took off and road fast together while the boys and I slowly but steadily made our way down the path. When we got to the hill Joe went down and did really well. He had to walk his bike up the other side, but I did too the first time, because it kind of catches you off guard. It comes right after a sharp turn so you don't see it until you are on it. After a little while we made it to the park and the boys played for a little bit. I called Ryan to see where he and Emily were. They had just turned around and were heading back towards us. When we were all together again Joe wanted to ride with the "fast group." So Ryan and Emily stayed with Joe. Valerie and I followed Josh.

Soon the "fast group" was out of sight. Every now and then I would catch a glimpse of them up ahead. Then as we got closer to the hill I heard a scream. Emily came riding towards me to tell me that Joe had fallen on the hill. I was expecting scraped up hands and knees, but that was not what I found as I rounded the corner.

Joe had made it down the hill, but did not make the sharp turn. Instead he had crashed into the cement wall at the bottom of the hill.

Lucky for us the front tire and his helmet took the bulk of the hit, but his face was scraped up, red, and swelling on one side, and he would not stop crying, so we decided to take him to get it looked at.

The nurses and the doctor kept telling Joe how proud they were that he wore his helmet. How smart he was for wearing it and, how that had really made all of the difference. It is true.....His helmet did NOT make it through the crash. You can't really see the damage from far away, but as I held it in my hands in the hospital room, I could see where it hit, and the way the helmet was distorted in spots.

The doctor looked him over really well and decided that he probably had a fracture in his cheek, but his eyes and brain function were all normal. So we just needed to give him some Advil and watch him through the night.

After we left the hospital Joe told me that he was glad he had a helmet and he was glad that the cement wall was there to stop him. I was thinking a nice grassy spot to land would have been better, so I asked him why he was glad the wall was there. He told me that if it wasn't there he would have crashed into the river and drowned. So I guess we are grateful for cement walls too.

From the way the doctor and nurses responded to Joe wearing a helmet I got the feeling that more often than not kids come in who have not been wearing one. I have noticed kids in my own neighborhood without them. I believe helmets are a huge must when riding. They can save lives and stop us from getting major injuries. If you don't already, please wear your helmet and make your kids wear one too.

Joe's face is still not very pretty today, but the swelling has gone down some and there was no major damage. It could have been a lot worse. I'm so grateful it wasn't!

A Day In Provo

Emily is starting to babysit. I know that there are things that I am forgetting to tell her, and sometimes it is good for her to hear what I have already said from another person. So I thought it would be good for her to take a babysitting class. I did some research and decided that the American Red Cross class that was taught at their facility was the best one. It is only taught once a month at each office and the two closest were either in down town Salt Lake or Provo. I decided to send her to the Provo one, because it was on July 13th. If we had waited for the Salt Lake class it would have been after school was in again.

The class is only one day, but it goes from 9am to 5pm. Since we hardly ever spend any time in Provo, I thought it would be fun to make a day of it.

Lucky for me Ryan's mom decided to come with us. We were not sure how it would go. If we would be able to fill the whole day and keep all of the kids happy. But it sounded more fun than driving to Provo and back twice, and I knew with the extra help we could handle it.

Grandma suggested we go up to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon first.

There was a nice little path to walk to the falls on, and now that Valerie is walking and we had lots of time, we let her walk a little. As soon as we got her out of the car she started pointing at things and saying "Ooh getagetagetageta ooh." She loves being outside.


The boys love being outside too, but they wanted to go fast. Grandma had them race to a point on the trail ahead of us and then race back to us until they got their energy back to normal levels. Then they were happy again to walk and look at things. They got really excited when we had a river on one side of the trail and a stream on the other.

We made it to the falls in good time, and then the boys wanted to get in the water. This would not be a problem, because the falls go into a stream that is only a few inches deep and perfect for wading. But for some reason my boys will not wear shorts. Every day I tell them how hot it is going to be, but they always come out in pants. After this trip I think they finally see the benefit of wearing shorts.........They are better to play in water. So we rolled up their pants and they stuck their feet in the water.

Eventually they were crossing the stream and at one point they were using the big rock they are leaning against in the above picture as a slide. So no, their pants did not stay dry, but they had lots of fun!


I thought Valerie might like to stick her feet in the water. So I crossed the stream with her and took her to a very shallow part. She did not like the cold water.

She did like the water falls, she just didn't want to be in them. She was happy just to look around while the boys played in the water.

After a while the Falls started to get a little crowded, so we headed back to the car.

On our way back into town we stopped at a book store. My kids love books. It was fun to watch them look through the store for a book they wanted. Valerie was in Heaven and liked everything she saw. Joe found a really cool book that had model parts with it so you could build a jet. Josh saw books that interested him too, but he ended up choosing the same book as Joe. (surprise, surprise.) Grandma felt bad Emily was missing all of the fun, so she got her the next book in the series she is reading.

We had lunch at the brick oven. Then headed to the Provo mall to see "Despicable Me," and have a little rest. The boys loved the movie. Valerie took her nap for the first half of the movie. When she woke up I gave her a bottle, and that kept her happy, but once the bottle was gone she was ready to go, and started talking to everyone. So I watched the end of the movie from the entryway of the theatre.

After the movie we still had a little bit of time to waste. At the waterfall, Grandma decided that the boys needed shorts, so we headed into the mall. It didn't take long for Grandma to see that it is not the lack of shorts that is the problem. The boys just don't like them for some reason. The stores were having great clearance sales on their summer stuff, and we did find one pair of shorts the boys agreed to wear. Ryan's mom and I both think we need to shop in Provo a little more. The Women's selection seemed to be a little better there in the clearance sections.

Soon it was 5:00pm and time to get Emily.

Emily is now a certified babysitter!

She had a fun at her class and learned a lot. especially about CPR and other safety things like how to handle a temper tantrum. (She wrote more about it on her blog). She is really glad she went.

The kids were pretty tired on the drive home, and a couple of them took naps, but they were still happy. I was impressed with how good they all were. We did not have one fit, and the only time Valerie even started to cry was when I put her feet in the cold water at the falls. It was so nice of Ryan's mom to come with us. She really knows her way around the area, and the kids always love playing with Grandma.

It was a really fun day!

The 3rd of July

(As you can tell from my last post I was a little busy last week, so this post is a little out of order, but I didn't want to skip it.)

We celebrated Independence day on Saturday July 3rd with Ryan's family.

The BBQ

When we eat on Grandma's deck Joe and Josh like to have their own little tables. We brought Valerie's booster chair so she joined them.

The neighbor's cherry tree has branches that reach into Grandma and Grandpa's yard, so Ryan and the boys picked a few to have with dinner.

The Parade

The kids helped Grandma decorate her wagon and then after dinner she and Grandpa pulled the kids up and down the street for a little parade. Joe and Josh called out to anyone that would listen to come and see the 3rd of July Parade.

Games
While we waited for the sun to set we played a few games. Grandma and Emily were the first to get our on one round of Cosmic Catch. Josh was pretty good at it though and was usually one of the last ones in. Valerie does not like being on the grass so she found things to entertain herself with on the deck.

The Fireworks

and what is Independence day without a few fireworks. Ryan put on a pretty good show even with all of the heckling from the audience. (we forgot sparklers. Oops!)

It was a great evening, and we had lots of fun!

Happy 1st Birthday Valerie

Valerie's First Year

We Love You!

:)

No More Training Wheels

We have been talking to Joe about taking his training wheels off for a few months. After the bike ride on Friday he decided he was ready.

Monday night the training wheels came off Joe's bike.

Ryan had read is his bicycling magazine that the best way to teach a kid to ride a bike was to start on a grassy hill. That way they can learn to balance, and if they fall they don't get scraped up. (This is also a lot easier on the parents back.) This strategy had worked on Emily, so we headed up to the school. There is a nice hill there that ends on a nice flat ball field.

After a couple of times down the hill Joe was able to pedal into the field. Then after about 15 minutes of riding down the hill Joe had it. He was able to pedal and keep his balance, so they headed over to the pavement. He learned to start himself and to brake without falling over.

Joe is now on two wheels and we ended his riding lesson without any falls or scrapes. I am so proud of you Joe.