Big Helper

 I'm trying to take advantage of toddler "helpfulness" right now so that I can train it up for slave labor later. The extra effort now will pay off in a few years when I tell Willa to scrub the floor and make my bed while I watch my daytime television stories and eat grapes.

Here is a picture of cute Bridget, the frenemy, at our swimming pool. We have been enjoying swimming a lot lately. I tried to get a picture of the babies together, but you know, frenemies.

Summer seems to be in full swing and we are just trying to stay cool. Most mornings we try to get to a park around 8:30 or 9:00 before it gets too hot. I'm trying to squeeze in as many outside activities as possible while it's still possible. In a few weeks, I'm afraid it will be too hot to do even that. In the afternoons after naptime we go to the children's museum, run errands, swim, go to Lisa's big, toy-filled, air-conditioned house, and often buy snow cones. We're on a diligent search for more splash parks, but sadly there aren't too many close by - and nothing that has the nice padded ground.

I bought a little water table at Walmart for our balcony. It has been a GREAT distraction and Willa spends hours going in and out and playing around with it - with or without water.

I thought I'd do an update on Ryan and me - we're still the same! He has still been blessed to find temporary and contract positions most of the time. He commutes a lot and we miss him. The lack of long-term stability hangs over our heads, but we try to ignore it most of the time. Live in the moment, man! Most of the legal jobs are on the other side of town - over an hour or more of driving each way. We don't want to move down there for just a temporary job that could end anytime, so he commutes. The job search for something long-term with benefits continues. We have had a lot of family and friend support during it all, which has been very very nice.

Young Women is going so-so. I still want to be released about 90% of the time, but there are a few glimmer moments when I get to hang out with the brand new Beehives who are so excited and so fun - and that's when I think, "Oh, this is why people love working with the Young Women!" I wish I could spend all the time with them and send the problem girls to a dungeon or detention or to the principal's office - but sadly there is no principal's office at church! The problem girls are the ones who probably need the most help. I'm tryin', but the odds are looking very good that my stint as YW president will coincide with my admittance into a loony bin. We've gone from four girls to seven (and soon to be nine or ten!) so I need to start preparing a end-of-year speech to plead for a bigger slice of the budget. Any tips?