Fourth of July

We kept it fairly low-key for the Fourth of July this year. Seth and Grandpa Scott left home early to get us a good spot for watching the parade. Then we had a barbecue at Grandma Scott's home (with giant bubbles!) and took it easy at our house before doing sparklers and fireworks after it got dark.

Our spot along South Boulevard.

Ohmygoodnesslookatthoseeyes.

Winnie and Seth.

Bennet, Miri and Ana watching the flag.

Red, white and blue girls.

Coolest clearance item ever. I probably bought the giant bubble kit last November and held onto it for a good, long time.

Kids/adults chasing/watching bubbles.

Our group (Tyson, McKall, Bennet, Oakley, Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott, Aunt Jessica, Seth, Andrea, Rebekah, Analee, Miriam, Winnie) watching fireworks. (Except Grandpa took the photo and Seth, the fireworks technician, is out of the shot.)

See? Fireworks technician.

To see more Fourth photos, start here.

Bekah is 11

Wow. I'm really behind on blogging, as evidenced by the fact that Rebekah turned 11 about six weeks ago and I'm just getting around to documenting it on here.

Anyway, she did, in fact, turn 11. And we did, in fact, celebrate her birthday. And we did, in fact, enjoy it.

Proof!

Bekah eating pizza on her birthday throne (camp chair that Analee decorated).

More of Analee's decorations at the serving table.

Opening presents. Rebekah received a Barnes and Noble gift card and a Hermione key chain from Aunt McKall (she used the gift card to buy Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them); a scarf, earrings and headband from Aunt Melissa; a timeturner necklace from Grandma and Grandpa Scott; a Harry Potter shirt and a pre-ordered copy of The Cursed Child from us; and the most interestingly wrapped $20 from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis.

Winnie with the goody bag Bekah prepared and hid for all the younger kids.

Rather than a traditional cake, Bekah asked for a banana trifle for her birthday.

But because the candles would have sunk in the whipped cream, we put them in a piece of watermelon instead.

It worked well enough.

Rebekah's program.

Rebekah has been such a tremendous help this summer with all the girls at home. She plays games, reads books, supervises Peach time and sometimes makes lunch for her sisters. She is extremely dependable, whether with school work in the classroom, pop flies on the softball field or piano practice at home. She knows more about Harry Potter than anyone I know (she can quote entire passages of the books). She is sweet, loving and beautiful.

To see more pictures from the festivities, start here.

Rebekah's new earwear

I've got months of blogging to catch up on ... Fourth of July; T-ball, pitching machine and softball, girls' camp ... but that can wait one more day, right? For now, I'm going to post something about today.

For a little while, Seth kept pointing out how Rebekah sometimes has a hard time hearing things. Most of time it's not noticeable. But every once in a while, you have to repeat yourself or increase your volume to get the point across to her. He told me we needed to get her in to the doctor.

I called her pediatrician to see if they could give her a hearing screening. They told me it was time for her to have a physical, so if we scheduled that, they'd administer their basic hearing screening at that time.

She's healthy and beautiful--tall for her age. No surprises there.

Then the nurse came in with her little muff and told Rebekah to raise her hand every time she heard a beep. I watched as the nurse would press one button--an orange light would turn on--then she'd press another--a red light would turn on. Rebekah's hand went up nearly every time the red light came on. I assumed the orange light basically stated, "I'm ready to sound the beep as soon as you press the button that makes the red light." When the nurse finished with her left ear, she told me otherwise.

The orange light indicated a beep was sounding at 20 decibels. The red light indicated the nurse boosting the beep to 40 decibels. Rebekah missed every 20-decibel beep.

I watched the nurse administer the same screening to her other ear with more trepidation. Same results: she heard nothing at 20 decibels and missed one of the 40-decibel beeps.

The doctor came back in, heard the results of the test and referred us to Regional Hearing and Balance.

Today was our in-depth screening at the audiologist's office. Rebekah had several implements placed in her ears during the appointment. Sometimes she was told to push buttons if she heard a tone, sometimes she was told to repeat words back to the doctor as she heard them, sometimes the implements simply measured things.

After the exam, the doctor told us what I was afraid to hear: Rebekah has mild to moderate hearing loss. It's permanent. She can't tell us why she has lost some of her hearing or if it will continually worsen. 

We're working things out with insurance, and in two weeks we'll have a hearing aid consultation. Rebekah will likely wear hearing aids for the rest of her life.

On the one hand, I think, "My baby has to wear hearing aids!" On the other hand, I think, "I'm so glad she can wear hearing aids." No parent would wish something like that on a child, but at least we have the technology to help. (And they come in a variety of colors!)

And now that I know she has hearing loss, I can't help but wonder what she's missing out on. Remember how I said it's not noticeable most of the time? It's not noticeable to me, but I have no way of knowing what she's hearing and what she isn't. It will be interesting to see how she reacts when she gets the hearing aids and can hear better.

Grandpa's beard

Grandpa Dennis has been growing out his beard for a long time. But when the time came for him to shave it, he let us have a little fun.

Seth starting the variations.

Grandma Susan and Seth braiding the sides. (Seth braids very well, by the way. That's what happens when you have four daughters, I guess.)

Seth's different creations. I say he missed his calling in life. Instead of being a software engineer, he should be a facial hair sculptor.

Using the last of the facial hair for photo ops.

The last of it.

Winnie with a pile of hair.

A beard hair toupee.

Mud

When Grandma Scott tells you you can play with the hose if you keep it by the apple tree but you bend to the request of your little sister and put it by the dirt pile, madness ensues. (The following images were shot through the sliding glass door.)

It's almost impossible to tell, but Winnie is actually wearing leggings. I promise they're there under the mud.

Winnie was kind enough to share her mud with Miriam's backside.

Mud swimming.

Which, of course, is going to result in all the participants being hosed off.

Miriam, having less mud, endured the hosing well.

Winnie started out like this:

And ended up like this:

"How?" you ask? Because of this:

I regret nothing.

Memorial Day weekend

As usual, we traveled north for opening weekend at Henry's Lake. We had some of the usual: cold weather, swarms of bugs, 2,000+ people at church, Big Springs. We also had some new experiences: Coffeepot campground, the Wildes' cabin, Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin to ourselves.

The weather was pretty nice on Saturday. But the fish were busy elsewhere. The only thing caught by our family was a fish that flopped up onto the rocks that Bekah netted.

Seth holding Bekah's fish while Winnie, Tav, Analee and Rebekah observe.

Four girls and four fishing poles.

Saturday afternoon was spent at the Wildes' cabin on the north side of Henry's.

Triplet cousins playing a game. Emma, Winnie, Kelsey.

Aunt Anne supervising Analee, Bekah, Tav and Mack as they play Munchkin and Cooper watches.

On Sunday, we attended church as part of a congregation of 2,006 (as reported by the bishop at the end of sacrament meeting) and then divided and conquered. Aunt Anne took Mack, Tav, Bekah and Ana to Coffeepot campground on a hike while Seth and I took Cooper, Miriam and Winnie to Big Springs.

This kid cracks me up.

Cooper, Miriam and Winnie holding hands and headed to the bridge.

Miriam and Cooper on the Big Springs nature walk.

On Monday, we tried fishing again. Aunt Anne, Uncle Jim and Grandpa Hendricks took Mack, Tav, Bekah and Ana on the boat. When we got to the lake, the weather was incredible. Then the clouds and wind came, and the womenfolk and children ended up taking refuge at the Wilde cabin while the menfolk stayed and caught nothing.

Miriam and her pet worm on the shore of Henry's.

Winnie got her pants wet and opted to take them off. I don't now how she could stand being in her skivvies. I was cold. Lest you think I'm an abusive/negligent parent, she borrowed some of her cousin's pants shortly after this picture.

Because of the Wildes' cabin and people bringing up trailers, it was just our little family in Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin. But the whole troop got together for meals, and thus we enjoyed together time and delicious food. It more than made up for the lack of fish.

To see more pictures, start here.

End of school goings-on

I swear, 90 percent of the school activities occur in the month of May. It made for a busy month, but we enjoyed it and retained most of our sanity.

Bekah and Ana both got to go on a field trip for conflict managers. They swam at the Aquatic Center and ate lunch at Kate Curly Park.

Bekah had a 5th grade bike ride that I got to go on with her. I failed to photograph it, though. We rode our bikes from Ucon Elementary to Iona Square. The weather was perfect, lunch was provided, and we both got free T-shirts out of it. Good times.

Analee's class went to the Paramount Theater to watch a movie and then to a park to eat sack lunches and play.

Then we had the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade rockets. Bekah's first launch was a success.

Blast off! 

Kids who catch their rockets before they hit the ground earn bragging rights. Two less fortunate kids watch Bekah catch her through the fence where they are retrieving theirs.

Victory!

The second launch wasn't quite as successful.

Marshall, Conor and Rebekah get ready to push the buttons.

Rather than going out into the field, Rebekah's rocket shot back behind the launch pad. There was no way to catch her rocket as it fell onto the school roof. (You can see the rocket about in the middle of the frame.)

The custodian got the rocket off the roof, so it all ended well.

While I attended a field trip with Rebekah to Roberts Pond to go fishing, Grandpa Scott attended reading day in kindergarten.

Miriam's face and name appeared on the screen along with the total number of AR points she earned her first year of school.

Mrs. Schuster and Miriam in the kindergarten classroom. Mrs. Schuster is an amazing teacher and a saint. We're lucky to have her in our ward. (And I'm lucky to get to work with her in Young Women.)

Miriam next to her coat hook in the hall. She lost that front tooth shortly before the end of school. I love cute tooth gaps!

Rebekah and Conor getting their pole and bait from the Fish and Game officer.

What most of the field trip consisted of. Although other kids caught perch, Bekah and Conor didn't get a single bite.

We also got to see the girls in the end-of-the-year AR/AM assembly.

Analee earned over 200 AR points this year. 

Rebekah earned over 500.

As the school year ended, I breathed a sigh of relief. After all, three field trips in one week is a lot for me. And then baseball started with three practices and six games a week. No time for slowing down!

To see more end-of-school activity pictures, start here.