Summer Camp and the Zoo

This week a kind person in our Ward offered to allow our kids to attend a Summer Camp at Defy FOR FREE. Apparently they didn't get enough kids enrolled in the camp so they wanted to amp up the numbers. After a hard week last week, this was such a blessing. All my kids were able to attend and they went to it from 8am to 1pm Monday through Thursday. They had a lot of fun- they obviously jumped (because Defy is an indoor trampoline park), they made slime, played Ninja Warrior, (Steven won first place!), played Duck Duck Splash, colored with sidewalk chalk, made "lava lamps"...and had a pizza party on the last day. Penny wormed her way into everyone's heart and made so many friends. It makes me hopeful that she will do just as great when she starts school. Here's a pic with my kids and some other friends from church that had been invited to the camp this week.

While they were in camp I got to find out what it's going to be like for me when they're all in school. The time went much quicker than anticipated but I was productive and still able to take time for myself. I cleaned and went through the kids rooms. I went running did workouts and took my time getting ready for the day. I ran errands kid free and got things packed and ready for the trip. And on Wednesday and Thursday I went kayaking in our neighborhood lake. That was real enjoyable Wednesday  but Thursday was rough. It was warmer and I had done an ab workout before going and I pretty much paddled myself far away and then wasn't sure if I had the energy to come back. I was tempted to drift into someone's yard and ask them to drive me back home, ha ha!

Besides the Summer Camp, we went to our neighborhood beach with all our friends Tuesday afternoon, it was real great weather and the kids stayed entertained for hours so it was a great. Then on Wednesday we went to Laci's house for one last hurrah- she's moving to Nashville while I am in Arizona. If this move had happened a year ago I would have been devastated but with all the drama and things that have come since I am feeling ok with it all. We were so close and shared many memories together but the friendship was mostly me sided for a long time and there was more drama than I should be having at this age... She got teary eyed when we hugged goodbye and it was nice to feel like she did value our friendship in the end and for me it just feels like I finally have some closure on it all.

Tuesday and Thursday night were goodbye get togethers for my friend from Bunco, Cindy. Tuesday night us Bunco girls (and a few extras) went out to a final dinner out and Thursday night was a Ward gathering at the church building. She leaves today, Saturday. I am really sorry to say goodbye to her, she has been such a fun friend in Bunco and I am going to miss her friendship. She was very sweet and told me as I hugged her goodbye that she hoped I realized what an amazing person I am. That's just the kind of person she is that she would leave me with such kind words.

We took this fun family picture at Cindy's party for her goodbye book. The boys smiled better than they usually do for me.

Friday temps were in the high 80's and so was the humidity, it was yucky. But we had planned a final zoo day (before we leave to az) with friends so we went. Despite the heat (and whining) the kids had a good time. We saw baby Jane (the chimpanzee) and the polar bear pacing and swimming and the penguins. And then the kids spent a lot of time at the splash pad. 

And some fun pictures....

Father's Day, Camp Half Blood, Sleepover

Sunday was Father's Day and I spoiled Tyler by letting him sleep in forever. When he finally woke up he opened his gifts- a cotton candy machine, cotton candy sugars, a Zelda shirt, mushy notes from the kids and the girls even made him a play dough cake ;). After opening gifts he made himself an omelette- I am not an expert omelette maker so I bought him the ingredients, chopped the veggies and then let him take over. I think church was a little disappointing for the father's in the ward- they did get sung to by the primary kids and they did get a special treat but no special lessons or social hours like us women. Tyler still had to teach Gospel Doctrine, poor guy.

After church I made Tyler mashed potatoes and rolls and heated up some salsibury steak and then we all got to enjoy the fruits of his cotton candy machine. It is super yummy stuff.

On Monday Steven went over to Max's house and I picked up Andrea and Peter to play at our house. It was a lot of kids at our house but I still managed to get it clean.

On Tuesday we went to "Camp Half Blood" at the library. It was themed around the Percy Jackson books. It's been over a year since we read the books so we weren't so good on the trivia and such things but the kids enjoyed shooting arrows at Medusa, writing their name in Greek, finding what God or Goddess was their parent, making a shield and other misc activities. 

I probably should say most of the kids enjoyed it...Steven has been in a very complaining mood since summer began and after about 15 minutes he was bored and wanted to go. That attitude of his was pretty present all week and needless to say, I am over it.

After the library program Tyler came home and watched the girls so I could take the boys to go see "Detective Pikachu." They had filled up their jewel jars and I had promised to take them to see it as their reward. They seemed to enjoy seeing all the Pokemon characters "come to life" so that was good. The only annoying thing was that Ben had to pee at a critical moment in the movie so I missed an important part of the plot line *sigh* 

On Wednesday we went swimming at my friend Bethany's pool. The water was too cold for me but my kiddos enjoyed it for a couple of hours before they started shivering too much and wanting to leave. Also at one point Steven tripped Ben while Ben was eating crackers and he gagged on the crackers and almost puked. And then there was Penny who had gotten a bloody nose earlier that kept coming back at the pool. So I was pretty much the crazy mom with crazy kids but that seems to be my jam this summer.

Thursday I reached my height of annoyance with Steven laying on the couch and bugging everyone within poking distance so I attempted to be a fun mom and I helped him do a couple science experiments... baking soda and vinegar in a baggie and cornstarch with water goop. Meanwhile the girls painted with a couple friends that were over and all that led to lots of messes. It didn't get any better later in the day because at dinnertime our neighbor friends, Jenna and Evan, came over for a sleepover. After dinner they all sketched out and then painted a canvas (while eating cotton candy). This meant more messes but they all had a lot of fun and didn't even ask for screen time until later in the evening so that was a bonus. 

(Evan made Elvis, Steven the lighthouse, Lucy the catfish, Penny the abstract art on a blue canvas, Jenna's on the pink canvas and Ben the shark.)

When the painting ended the girls watched "Moana" and the boys played "Lego Batman 2" on the XBox. And even though it was past bedtime after "Moana" ended they all stayed up even later. The girls giggling in the guest bedroom and the boys watching "Dude Perfect" on Youtube. Poor Ben inherited my issues with noises when trying to sleep and was really frustrated that he couldn't sleep because the girls were too loud. And then when they quieted down, he couldn't sleep because Penny (who was sleeping over in his room) was breathing too loud. It was a rough night for that kid.

Friday morning the girls woke up much too early but thankfully the rest of the gang didn't. When everyone was awake the kids all enjoyed pancakes with whip cream, had some more TV time, finished their paintings,played some card games, experimented with baking soda and vinegar and then at lunchtime their mom was there to pick them up. 

I have to say all things considered I enjoyed this sleepover much more than the last one. It just wiped me out is all. About an hour after their mom picked them up we all got together again but this time at our neighborhood beach. This was nice because I got to sit and chat with their mom and everyone played nicely. They even buried Lucy who was super surprised that being buried in sand left her with sand in lots of weird places.

End of School Year and Beginning of Summer

This Sunday I finally got a teaching partner for my primary class and even though I still taught the lesson, it made a huge difference in my attitude. I am so glad to have someone in there with me. It was the first good Sunday in a long while. 

On Monday I did my usual productiveness and then tried to be the fun mom for Penny- I really wanted to enjoy the last few days of just her and me. We made some play-dough and then I filled up a plastic container with baking soda and she dropped vinegar in it with pipettes. Penny spent at least an hour making the baking soda fizz and I was happy with how much it entertained her. 

Monday night I went on a walk in Milford with my friend Stefanie. It made me sentimental for Milford something fierce. It will always hold a place in my heart. We walked by our home that we had rented there and they had put in new windows and were redoing the porch. They had also taken down a tree that was between our house and Stefanie's old house. It's weird to see changes to a place that was a part of my life for so long.

Tuesday morning was Steven's 5th Grade Ceremony. I was super stressed for it because things with lots of people always give me anxiety but at least finding a parking spot and place to sit inside went smoothly. However, I chose poorly on where we sat. Penny and I were sandwiched in between many people and she ended up on my lap. It was a bit claustrophobic and it didn't help that the ceremony was soooo long. There were at least 6 student speakers (I promise I am not exaggerating) and then they proceeded to call every single 5th grader and have them go shake their principal and teachers hand and pause for a photo op- and with 4 classes of at least 30 kids that was a lot of fifth graders. It took forever and Penny and I were both super antsy. After that they sang 3 songs and Steven "rapped" a solo in one of them. It was only like 7 words but I was proud of him for his bravery. He said he will never do it again so apparently he got my genetics. Afterwards they threw a party for the fifth graders- bounce house, rock climbing, dunk tank, photo booth....It's all a little much in my opinion but I'm glad he enjoyed it. I don't think either one of us were very emotional about it all though, we just don't have the attachment to this school since we've only been here one year. I might feel differently if we're still here when Penny or Lucy hit 5th grade though.

After the ceremony Penny and I went to the zoo (to continue my mission of enjoying our last days together). She wanted to see the penguins and the butterflies and after that I let her play at the splash pad. I always forget they have one so I had no swimsuit for her, she just played in her dress and got sopping wet. I literally had to wring it out so she could make it back to the car without too much complaining. 

Tuesday night I went to the temple with my friend Melissa. It was a really refreshing night. I've been having a lot of unwarranted anxiety lately and finally, in the temple, I felt at peace. I have also felt disappointed with not being pregnant and while praying about it in the temple I had the thought that maybe it's not about timing for me but the timing for the baby and when he needs to be here. A frequent thought was patience. And when I turned to the scriptures in the Celestial Room I turned to my favorite Heleman 5:12. I just need to keep trusting in Christ. After the session Melissa and I got some ice cream and sat in the car chatting forever. She is a no drama friend who I really enjoy spending time with.

Wednesday Penny and I went to the farm in Kensington. Though I didn't take a picture of it, we got to see a calf that had just been born that morning. They put in a special room by the walking path and it's sister was sad she couldn't see it. She was mooing super loudly and kept craning her head around the wall to try to see it. Reminds of me of when I had to keep Steven away from baby Ben because he would love him too hard, ha ha. After we saw the animals we walked down to the lake and threw some rocks in it. On our way back out we stopped to see the calf again and this time the mom was licking the calves bum. This was gross enough in itself but when the calf started going number two and the mama cow just kept licking I figured this was a good time to peace out. 

Since we were in Milford we picked up Tyler and went out to lunch with him. It's always nice to go out to lunch with 3 less kids but next year Tyler and I might actually get to do dates while the kids are all at school. Life is changing so much.

Thursday was the last day of school so we took our traditional last day of school photos with the fancy signs I made. The kids actually did a nice job cooperating (even though it was wet and dreary outside) so they turned out quite good. 

I spent the morning babysitting for a friend so I was a terrible mom and didn't go to the "clap out" (where everyone lines up at the front of the school and claps when the fifth graders come out) but I did clap for Steven when he came out of the bus so there's that. The weather was so crappy- 50 degrees and raining- so I decided to let the kids enjoy their freedom by rotting their brains. They got A LOT of screen time Thursday BUT they did take a break half way through and the boys got their turn with the baking soda and vinegar.

Meanwhile the girls were traipsing about the house in their swimsuits wishing for better weather and Lucy was playing with my phone taking thousands of pictures, including this gem.

Friday was chaos in the Hatch home. I had a new family over that morning (Dolly and her 2 kids) and we had the Mays over. This meant a total of 10 kids in my house. It was good chaos though. For the most part everyone was playing nicely and having fun and I got to socialize. At 1pm we all headed over to my neighborhood beach for the End of the School Year Party. It had a bounce house and food and of course, the beach. Even though it was only like 70 that day and the water was still freezing the kids all got in. They're crazy. Dolly and the Mays stayed for a couple hours but I ended up staying for 4 hours and spending a majority of my time with my friend Stacie. We had some good talks (we even talked about the Word of Wisdom) and it made me even more sad that she's moving out of the neighborhood. I just don't click with the other ladies.

Saturday was busy. In the morning I went for a run and then picked up a bike for Penny (found it on FB marketplace). I didn't get a picture yet but it has a seat for dolls on it which was definitely it's selling feature. Now she actually has a bike with training wheels instead of just a trike. After that I dropped off some signs I made for a friend's son's graduation party and ran some errands. Then 3 out of my 4 kids went to the library's Summer Reading Program Kick Off- apparently Steven has reached the age where he is too cool for these things. The kids got to feed animals, ride horses and get their face/arms painted. It was a good time. Penny loved riding the horse but was not thrilled about feeding the pony and even posing by it. Her horse/pony obsession is quite interesting. It is like she loves them and is terrified of them all at the same time.

After the library celebration we went to clean the church and then we took Tyler to Chili's since it's Father's Day weekend and he loves that place the best. The kids were a bit crazy though (with Steven declaring loudly that he farted) so instead of taking them all to a graduation party as previously planned we sent Tyler there on his own and I dealt with the monkeys. I swear they used to be better behaved and somehow these long days where the sun comes up early and stays up until late are making them CrAzY