Real World Magic

A friend offered us this swing and I waffled about whether or not to accept it. We've never had a swing before, in part because we've never had space for one. I finally figured a place where it could live and said yes to her offer.

Topher fell asleep within minutes of trying it out for the first time.

I'm pretty sure it's magic.

Catch!

We celebrated the first day of summer break by going to the park for the first time as a family of seven. Bryan spent time showing the kids how to throw a ball, calling races on the monkey bars, and creating and facilitating a clever team version of fetch. I held onto Topher and stayed clear of flying spheres. There was plenty of laughter and running, a perfect park combination.

Onward and Upward

Last week we supported Peter by attending his sixth grade moving up ceremony. That's right, they didn't call it a graduation, maybe because they didn't use caps and gowns? Regardless of the reasons behind the name, Bryan, Sophie, Topher, and I spent two hours sitting on bleachers designed for elementary school aged bodies while nearly four-hundred kids heard their names called as they walked across the gym to receive their certificates.

If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Sophie and Topher were so well behaved, even at the end when they were tired (notice the yawn) of being there.

Now on to the adventure of middle school!

The Last Day of School, Finally

For comparison, here's the picture I took on the first day of school. It's good to see how they've all grown.

Staring Contest

Put a Bird On It

We're nearly at the end of the school year, which means the kids backpacks are ready to be cleaned out. We took a pass at Cooper's this week and I discovered this picture. One day (no idea when, it had been some time since his bag was emptied) during their library period, Cooper's class had a tutorial on drawing a bird. Apparently he was awarded first place. When I asked him about it he seemed a little embarrassed since he'd followed instructions to create the bird rather than come up with an original design. I say well done regardless.

Bow Ties Are Cool

This handsome boy went to church for the first time on Sunday. We have a small congregation and only a few babies. That means that Topher was incredibly popular. As soon as Sacrament Meeting ended people started coming over to see him. Peter brought the entire Deacons Quorum to meet Topher. As they oood and ahhhed over him, the woman sitting in front of us commented that she had seen little girls flock to see a new baby, but she'd never seen a bunch of twelve and thirteen year old boys do it. That's the power of a very proud oldest brother.

Monikers

I realized last week that Sophie doesn't call Topher by his name, she always refers to him as Baby Brother. During our lunch on Friday, I asked her about this.

Me: Sophie, why don't you ever call him by his name?

Sophie: (in a tone of admitting something) I don't remember his name.

Me: It's Christopher, or Topher.

Sophie: (pausing to consider, then in a husky whisper) Hi Bob Anderson.

Party of Five

Big and Little

As I dressed Topher in a particular pair of yellow pajamas, I was reminded of this ten-year-old picture of Cooper and Peter. This is one of my favorite pictures of my two big boys.

I showed the picture to Cooper and he wanted to take an updated version.