Waite Family Round Robin Chess Tournament

On Saturday, May 23 Neil thought we should have a round-robin Chess tournament.  We had 6 participants and three chess boards going.  I didn't win a single chess match, but I had fun moving pieces. Matthew checkmated me in about 6 moves.  When I played Neil I actually got to say check once.  Neil won the tournament, Dallin took 2nd and MaryAnne took 3rd.  It was a fun way to spend a rainy Saturday morning.  As you can see in the picture the kids were doing lots of thinking about what their next move should be.

A family pet

In February Lydia and Aaron started asking for a pet.  I really didn't want to get another pet so I told them maybe they could have a pet squirrel.  We have lots of squirrels that are fun to watch in our backyard. I thought one of them would be a perfect pet.  Lydia and Aaron talked about itand decided if it was going to be a pet they would have to catch one.  I helped them find Matthew's catch and release traps to set up in the backyard. I didn't think they would really catch anything, but I was happy to help them try and have a pet.  Lydia baited the trap with some peanuts and put it out on the deck railing. We left and went to Cody to go swimming.  When we got back Lydia went to the back to check her trap. She was so excited that they had caught a squirrel.  He was one angry squirrel! We decided he wouldn't make a very good pet since he was so mad.  David let him out of the trap and he scampered out of our yard as fast as he could. 

Now when we see a squirrel in the backyard I tell them,  "There is Peanut your pet squirrel."  He is a good pet from a distance.

Sorry guys, I am just not a good pet mom.

Before and after

Julia has been wanting to cut her hair for a while.  She couldn't do it since everything was closed for Covid-19. Finally she just decided to have me do it even though she wanted it layered and I couldn't do that for her.  MaryAnne also decided that she wanted to jump on the bandwagon and cut her hair at the same time.  I told MaryAnne I would cut Julia's first and then take the same amount off of MaryAnne's hair.  MaryAnne was afraid she might be bald if we did that because Julia had really long hair. 

Here are the before and after pictures:

MaryAnne has really pretty natural highlights in her hair, and with her hair shorter it has a beautiful natural wave to her hair.  I think both of their hair cuts look cute, but I will miss braiding their hair.  

The best part of having a cordless vacuum

In December my vacuum was not working so well anymore. I decided to buy a Dyson cordless vacuum.  I have really enjoyed this vacuum. It works really well and is super easy to use.  The best part of having a cordless vacuum is definitely shown in this video...

Aaron has enjoyed vacuuming for me.  It is way better than a toy vacuum because he is really helping not just playing.  There is a tube I usually have on my vacuum that makes it the right size for anyone else to use.

Hooray!! For kiddos enjoying vacuuming.  The other cool thing is that the boys think the vacuum looks like a gun from Star Wars so they are willing to vacuum.