The Joys of Summer....?

Ahhh....the glorious days of summer.

Lazy days lounging in the sun, catching up on my reading, watching the kids dash through the sprinkler, listening to the joyous sounds of their laughter.

ERRR.....(screeching brakes)....REALITY!!

This happens every year--and each year I swear will be different.

We begin the summer with high hopes and boundless energy, with lists of things we will do "for sure" and plans to never waste a moment.

The month of June is always great--it truly is. The weather is warm and sunny, and the nights get cool enough to enjoy sitting outside. We still have the ambition to actually get out and do much of what we want. The 4th of July is always a fun time; this year we even braved sitting on the roof with all three kids, where we had a gorgeous clear shot of the downtown fireworks.

Then, somehow, almost as if on cue, the heat becomes almost intolerable to do anything but stay indoors. Finally, around 7:00, it cools off enough to head outside to once again feel like it's summer...for about a half hour. Because as soon as the sun starts to sink, the mosquitoes rise out from wherever they hide, and attack. If you want to stay out and "enjoy" the evening, copious amounts of gag-inducing bug spray must be applied.

After days indoors, that joyful laughter turns to sibling bickering; whining over who gets what and fighting over who did what, and ultimately crying over who hit what. As for my reading, the only reason I've managed to tackle the books I have is because I've resorted to staying awake until 2 a.m. to ensure that if none of my other summer dreams come true, I at least have made a dent in my bookshelf!

Water Wednesdays

 

 Water Wednesdays have proven to be one of the easiest days to organize. It doesn't take much more than a hose, a sprinkler, or a blow-up pool to keep little ones entertained for hours. Even the hottest days are enjoyable to be outside in when you add water to the mix. I think my little guy's favorite day so far, though, was the day we had a bike wash. The smile on his face above comes from the fact that he learned how to whip his sisters with a wet towel....wow, that starts young!

 

 



 

 

   My daughters' favorite day was when we met their aunt and cousins at the beach. We went early and had the beach almost entirely to ourselves! 



 

   What I find most interesting is how every time the hose is out, the girls like to also bring out their umbrellas. :)

 

 

 

This summer is speeding by so quickly. Here's to slowing it down and making it last as long as possible....enjoy!

ARTISTIC Tuesday # 1 and 2

I had planned to get these up a lot closer to the days we were actually doing these projects, but now is as good a time as ever, I guess! It's amazing how quickly that lazy summer mentality seeps into routine.

Our first Artistic Tuesday was a very simple one. On our pre-summer dollar store shopping trip, the girls found little cross-stitch kits they wanted to try out, so we got one for each of them. They came with a plastic needle and "fabric" and several colors of yarn. I believe the intention was to make the design on the cover, but the plastic fabric had no outline for it and it seemed too complicated so the girls made simple outlines instead to follow. It was a fun way to introduce them to the idea of cross-stitch, and it made them feel grown up to be "sewing," but I wouldn't recommend buying the kit at the dollar store. The yarn is too thick to work with and about halfway through, their needles looked like they came out of the "There was a crooked little man" story. That being said, it was a great $2 spent because it kept them occupied for hours!

Artistic Tuesday # 2 was also a simple project. Once again our materials came from the dollar store. We found five different colored packages of "foam dough," which is basically just sticky little balls of foam that you squish into different shapes. I found this to be just as fun of a material to work with as the kids did. My little guy loved it as well, even though he kept saying, "eeeww" as it stuck to his hands. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of him working with it. :(

So far these cheap materials are proving to be quite the success around here!

MAD SCIENCE Monday # 1

For our very first themed day, I chose something simple, but that I knew would hold their attention at least for a little while. I always loved playing with GOOP as a child, so I knew the kids would too. I've also heard this called oobleck. All that you need are cornstarch, water, and food coloring if you're feeling brave.

To make this seem like more of a science experiment, I gave each of the kids their own plastic bin, a box of cornstarch and filled up a pitcher of water for them to share. This way, they could each attempt to make their own goop, testing out different mixtures to see what made the best goop.

Amazingly, this kept all of their attention (including my not-quite-two-year-old AND my 9 year old!) for at least an hour. This makes such a fun consistency; is it a solid or a liquid? They had fun trying to figure it out between bouts of mad scientist laughter and cries from my 6 year old that she is "going to take over the world!"

This little project carried them well into the afternoon as I had the girls spray off the patio (it easily rinses away), which turned into the first water fight of the season. Now it really feels like summer!

Summer Schedule

 

My year serving with AmeriCorps is basically over as I have completed all of my required hours. In order to continue my living stipend for the next month I just have to log 5 hours a week of volunteer time. So that means I am now officially home with my kids again! I took the summer semester off from college courses, so I went from working 40 hours a week and having additional homework, to being able to focus on my beautiful children and (unfortunately) housework.

So now that I am home, after used to being on a go-go-go schedule, I thought it would be a good idea to come up with a plan to keep our summer going smoothly. Past summers have gone by so quickly, much of the time in front of the TV, leaving most of us feeling that we missed out on a lot of opportunities. So, for starters, we decided to extend our screen time rule to the summer with a bit of a change. During the school week, we would allow a half hour of screen time for each child, with weekends essentially being free, within reason. This summer we are allowing one half hour of computer and one half hour of television time, but they may be combined either way. We do this only Mondays through Thursdays and the rest of the weekend is free. What I love is how much time this opens up, and since it is a concrete rule, they don't even try to weasel more time out of me! Amazing....

Our summer schedule, as seemingly opposite as those two words seem to be, consists of very loose "themed" days that basically just the kids get excited about something to look forward to. My girls helped me name them; they are as follows:

Mad Science Mondays.....these started out as Magic of Science Mondays, but after our first experiment of messy goop and crazy kids, we all decided MAD was much more fitting!!

Artistic Tuesdays

Water Wednesdays

Take-a-Trip Thursdays

Free Fridays....which basically means that I just don't want to plan something for every day of the week.....kids need to be bored sometimes, right?

Before school was out for the year, I had the girls help me brainstorm and searched the internet for lots of ideas we could use and categorized them for the different days. I bought most of the materials ahead of time, much at the dollar store, so it would be ready in advance; because after all, I want this to be EASY and enjoyable for ALL of us! Now, on those days, we decide in the morning which project we feel like doing and have at it. We are halfway into our second week, and I'm still going and not even feeling sick of it, so that's a huge success for me!

I will post some of our activities very soon so you can see what we've been up to. In the meantime, here is the link to my Pinterest board that has some of the ideas we'll be getting to soon.
http://pinterest.com/traciedawnlee/this-summer/

Enjoy!

 

End of the School Year Craziness

                It has been insanely busy around here the past couple of weeks. My oldest daughter is apparently preparing for a lifetime in the spotlight. On the 19^th, she had a performance with the acting class she was in on Saturday mornings. It was her first experience with theatre, and she received about four lines in a sweet and short show, and she rocked every single one of them! (Not biased at all, of course). Then her and her best friend decided to try out for the talent show, in which she played piano and they both sang. Surprise, surprise, they made it! So we went to that last week, and then were back again today for the 2^nd grade music program. Oh yes, and she had her piano recital on Wednesday!

                Ah, but don’t forget my other sweet little girl! She just finished her last week of preschool, and today was the last day, which involved a very special visit to the fire station. She was thrilled because she had been wondering if there were any girl firefighters, and what do you know, the firefighter leading our tour was a girl! I think Mr. Hubby and I enjoyed the tour just as much as she did, and our little guy was completely content looking at all the bright red trucks.

                The past week was also spent winding down our Girl Scout year. Last week, we took them (all 13 of them!) to the local bounce center, as was their request with their cookie earnings. You don’t often think of girls being sweaty creatures, but I was certainly proven otherwise that day. And today was the final meeting of the year. I have really enjoyed this year, and am going to miss them all over the summer. I think I am actually looking forward to next year! Hopefully I can hang on to some of that enthusiasm…

                Oh yeah, and on top of all that, my summer semester classes started up a couple of days ago. I am taking two three-credit courses, condensed into one month. It is a brutal schedule, but it gets me ahead so much faster, and when they’re over I will still have a whole month to truly enjoy the summer. I can’t wait!

Long Day

                What a long, unproductive day. I’ve given up. There is no way I am going to get anything done. Madison has contracted the ever-traumatic pinkeye infection. What started in one eye has now spread to both, with fierce itching, watering, and crusting over at night that only viral conjunctivitis can cause. With no hope from the help of antibiotics, all we can do is wait it out.

                Madison cried hysterically yesterday morning when I made the all-important decision to keep her at home to prevent the wrath of the entire second grade population’s parents. I somehow felt that I would be providing a major disservice to everyone if I gave into her pleas that “no one will notice.” Sorry dear, but there is no way to hide the obscenity of pinkeye, unless of course we somehow fit it into the theme of a Halloween “costume”, but considering we don’t celebrate anyways, I hardly think that is appropriate either.

                Not only is she being held captive against her will, she is also banned from contact with her little brother. The poor thing; you’d think I was the evil stepmother locking the princess in a tower for all of eternity.

                Add to all that some boredom and an irritating little sister and it’s made for some heated moments around here. I’ve done really well at not yelling too much lately, but today I threw in the towel and bellowed about the ridiculousness of their actions. After I got that off my chest and the girls commiserated together about how crazy their mother is, a sort of peace followed for quite some time.

                So for the rest of the day, I am allowing myself the freedom to stop worrying about the dishes in the sink and the unfolded laundry and the toys on the floor….ugh, I better stop talking about it or the battle in my head is going to start all over again.

Dimples

                So many types of dimples exist; like the one on my husband’s chin that I fell in love with almost nine years ago. There are dimples that appear on a smiling face, and even dimples that surface on the back of a pregnant woman’s thighs during pregnancy and tend to linger long after.

                The best type of dimples are those that dot the back of a small child’s hands; one perfect dimple above each tiny finger. I’m not sure what it is about those precious little indentations, but they somehow capture the pure innocence of children.

                I have spent many nights admiring my girls’ hands; when wrapped in mine, their small size becomes more pronounced, reminding me to savor the moments.

                A sad day occurred for me when I realized my oldest daughter no longer had dimples on her hands. She is seven now, and growing ever taller and ever smarter. It was at least a couple years ago when I noticed they were almost gone; a time of mourning ensued as I dealt with the idea of my baby passing from a little girl into a big girl. And she certainly is doing just that; she is developing into such a confident, caring person, experiencing so many new things. Her first piano recital, first sleepover at a friend’s house, first week away from home without Mom and Dad, and she’s loving every minute of it.

                It’s wonderful to be able to watch her blossom before us, and it’s an exciting time for us all. Now when she is sleeping, I take her hand in mine, no longer covered in dimples but still smaller, fingernails in several shades of nail polish, and I envision all that we have been through and all that we will go through in the future.

                Dimples or not, her hands will forever signify my little girl.

The Unspoken Stages

                When you first imagine becoming a parent, you see endless nights of midnight feedings, mountains of dirty diapers, and unending but adorable loads of tiny little onesies playing out in your future. You are told how tired you will be and how exhaustig a newborn’s 24/7 needs are. Somewhere on the horizon people mention a little something to look forward to known as the terrible twos, a common misnomer since most often this stage seems to rear its head well before the second birthday.

                Alas, this is just the beginning. As soon as you even edge towards feeling comfortable dealing with your small, unreasonable screaming child in public settings, which is of course where tantrums always take place, this child enters a completely new stage, leaving you yet again astonished at the strange new creature developing before your very eyes.

                What most advice-givers forget to mention is that looking back, the newborn stage will seem like a sweet and quiet, almost dreamy phase of life and the terrible twos will appear laughably easy.

                Because as children grow older, they learn how to talk, and as they learn how to talk, they begin to attempt to reason with you. This leads to the tyrannical threes and ferocious fours; then come the flabbergasting fives, followed by the sassy sixes and sevens. As they learn new things each day, they begin to ask more questions, demanding real thought from their parents as to why things have to be a certain way. While this is of course an important part of their developmental process, it can at times be extremely frustrating. Eventually there comes a point in every parent’s life where, as much as they may fight it, or for as often as they promised themselves they’d never say it, the only response to your child’s gazillionth question as to why they cannot do something, comes the dreaded, “Because I Said So!”

                Thankfully all of these stages come with short, blissful reprieves where that beautiful, innocent child emerges from within and showers us with her love; reminding us why this is all so worth it and giving us enough hope to make it through the next trying stage as she attempts to navigate her ever-growing world.