July 3rd - July 10th: Tie Dye!

Saturday morning we did our annual family tie dye day. Everyone had clothing already folded and rubberbanded, ready to dye. We always use Tulip dyes, and this year the kids chose two color packs: Celestial and Shark Island. A few hours and lots of fun later, we now have plastic bags of dye and clothing on the porch, curing for 24 hours. Tomorrow we will rinse and wash everything.

Other things we did on Saturday:

• Grocery shopping
• Mailing a package
• Picking up library books
• Visiting with Grandma
• Grilling dinner
• Visiting with the missionaries

Sunday morning we rinsed and washed all the tie dye clothing. It was dry by the time we got home from church. Everyone sorted out their items and ooo-ed and ahh-ed over the results. No two shirts were the same. In the afternoon we made ice cream sundaes, and in the evening we played 'Gathering the Sheaves', a game about missionary work. 

Monday we had a failed attempt to go to the library to turn in summer reading program papers and get prizes. It turns out they are closed the day after the 4th of July. Oh well. We headed home for lunch and then went swimming at the YMCA in the very hot afternoon. 

Tuesday Caleb headed to the dentist to get four baby teeth pulled. The orthodontist sent him because he has some impacted canines they are hoping will be able to move down with the extra space opened up. Caleb was a champ, and now has a very cute smile missing a lot of teeth. A couple of kids requested to play board games with mom today, so we played Dinosaur Escape and Ticket to Ride: First Journeys. The day was mostly just relaxing family life.

Wednesday the kids all did Writing Wednesday, with more or less enthusiasm depending on the kid. The elementary age kids chose a prompt from a calendar of writing prompts, while the teens chose an essay from a different set of prompts. Daniel did an argumentative essay about the Federal Trade Commission's ruling that bloggers, athletes, and celebrities need to disclose paid relationships with companies, and asked him to take a position in favor or against this and write about it. Joseph did a reflective essay on a childhood memory. Emma chose a different reflective essay on worries.

Thursday Mason and I headed to Children's Hospital for his yearly checkup with his eye surgeon. Everything is stable, his vision has actually improved a bit. We will go back in a few weeks to pick up new glasses. 

Friday only two of my teens ended up going to Youth Conference. The third wasn't feeling well and opted to stay home and rest. The kids who went had a great time. They went to a park in another city and painted for most of the day. Then they headed to a swimming pool to cool off for the evening. 

Back at home we mostly played and planned. After 14 years we're finally getting around to doing some re-painting on the main floor of the house. We decided that it was time for an update to our dining room, which also doubles as our homeschool room and houses a large bookcase and a large shelving unit of bins. We still have to pick a color for the room. 

Saturday after dropping kids off for day two of youth conference I headed to the grocery store. While I was doing the shopping, Jason and the kids started tearing apart the dining room, removing the old dry erase boards from the walls (made from melamine shower board 13 years ago and desperately needing replaced), the art line, and other things. 

Our late morning and afternoon were spent sanding, mudding, boxing up books, moving shelves, and basically making the rest of the house a mess so we could empty out the dining room of everything but our table for 12. We will continue mudding and sanding over the next several days, and then have a painting party next Saturday.