Patriotic Cake

We've gotten a lot of rain this summer.

In fact, it's been so wet . . .

. . . that a little frog left the swampy woods in our backyard,

and moved to our deck where he's currently sheltering

on one of our potato plants.

Some of our deck chairs are growing bits of moss . . .

. . . and the alpine strawberries are shooting out berries like fireworks.

Perfect for the Fourth of July!

Our resident baker decided to celebrate by making a Bundt cake.

She divided the batter into three portions 

so she could dye them red, white, and blue.

The resulting cake was beautiful, festive, and tasty . . .

. . . especially after we added whipped cream and berries!

Non-Standard Painting

Joy decided to share her love of painting with our family . . .

. . . by having us paint pictures for today's FHE activity.

Joy did a study in warm colors.

Todd painted a variety of characters, including Mario (of Nintendo fame)

and Cici (our hyperactive, socially-inept parakeet).

 Daddy painted a non-standard checkerboard, and I painted some non-standard mountains.

Funny how sometimes I go to draw or paint something that seems simple and familiar,

and then I suddenly can't remember what the bottom of a mountain should look like.

Daniel and Anna were still painting long after I finished,

so I went upstairs . . .

. . . and found Joy engaging in one of the ultimate tests of forbearance:

baking cookies on a Fast Sunday.

Bird Bath

Our parakeet Tia enjoys baths

almost as much as a certain French emperor.

Tia: Ah! Time for a relaxing dip in the water dish!

Tia: Aquatic bliss!

Cici: Um, Tia?

Tia: Expunging the cares of this mortal sojourn!

Cici: Tia?

Tia: Blurble blurble!

Cici: TIA!

Tia:  WHAT?!?

Cici: Um . . . I forgot what I was going to say.

Tia: You know, I'll bet Napolean had people thrown in the Bastille

for interrupting his baths.

The Patriarchs

We celebrated Father's Day earlier this month,
and lately I've found myself thinking a lot
about the good men in my life.

The Sorenson patriarchs at General Conference
(From left: my dad, my grandpa, and my Uncle Nile) 

I was blessed to have a father who loved his family, 

and set an example for us by giving 110% in whatever the Lord called him to do.

He was also one of the friendliest, most encouraging people I've ever met.

A few days ago, I ran across this note from my dad in Daniel's scriptures,

encouraging him to "seek understanding of the Atonement from their pages,

become familiar with them and they will become your friend."

I'm also grateful for the patriarch of our little family,

who works diligently to support us,

but also likes to sing with us . . .

. . . and play tennis with us.

Who rode through a rainstorm to bring Joy's new motorcycle home . . .

. . . and then taught her how to ride it.

I'm so grateful for the patriarchs our family has been blessed with,

and I hope their legacy of devotion to God and family

will continue for many generations to come.

Riding and Painting

It's nice to have a break from school in summer,

but Joy doesn't want to spend her whole vacation lounging around.

She plans to work on some goals, too . . .

. . . such as improving her painting skills.

I like her rendering of our parakeet Tia on the left under the flower,

and I'm impressed that Joy could create such nuanced facial expressions

with just a cheap little paintbrush.

She also decided to practice motorcycle riding this morning.

After a few lessons with Daddy, she feels confident enough

to venture out on her own . . .

. . . but I said an extra prayer or two 

as I watched my (grown up) baby ride off into the unknown.

I knew she'd probably be fine, and she was,

but one of the challenges of parenthood is striking the right balance

between keeping your children safe

and teaching them how to navigate a world that sometimes isn't safe.

Speaking of things that are mostly safe, but kind of not,

the rest of the Hendricksons set a goal to put up our big trampoline today.

Why is that activity so fraught with peril, you ask?

Because we live near a swamp, and the mild winter at the start of this year

means there are even more mosquitos than usual.

I put on full mosquito armor today (long sleeves, jeans, and boots)

and the little vampire bugs still managed to bite me.

Tennis Cubed

Our family likes tennis,

but with the exception of Daddy (who played a lot in college),

most of us aren't very good at it yet.

It's hard to enjoy tennis together when rallies don't last longer than 30 seconds . . .

. . . so we recently invested in a Tennis Cube ball machine.

We got it partly so we can practice and improve our tennis skills,

and partly so we can have fun together on the tennis courts this summer.

We broke out our new tennis ball machine for the first time today,

then lined up and took turns hitting the balls it lobbed at us.

Most of us were a little rusty because we haven't played much 

since we took lessons back in 2020 and 2021.

(Our private tennis "P.E. classes" were my favorite part of homeschooling.)

Hopefully we'll be able to hit as hard and as accurately

as Daddy someday.

For now . . .

. . . most of us feel pretty good if we hit the ball at all.

Four Boxes = One Treat?

We made our annual summer treat run to the grocery store today.

I picked up a yummy, healthy, Rainbow Machine smoothie . . .

. . . but most of the rest of the family . . .

. . . headed straight for the candy aisle.

I gave each of the kids a five-dollar limit on how much they could spend . . .

. . . and Daniel realized that was exactly enough

to buy four big boxes of Mike and Ikes.

Given that he rarely remembers to eat his candy,

he'll be lucky to finish even one of those boxes before school starts again.

I may need to rethink the summer treat policy next summer.