Summer Fun 2014

Yesterday was officially the first day of Fall and the kids have started their 5th week of school but I still can’t shake the feeling of it being summer.

Maybe it’s because it’s still in the 90’s here or that I still love to spend days with my kids in our pajamas.

But I’m proud to say that I am moving in the direction of fall since in the last week I drove  my kids to school only 50% of the time while sporting my pajama pants.

I thought it was now or never to show you our summer fun list since it’s time to move toward ghosts, goblins, and all things pumpkin.

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We were all quite busy this summer…

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visiting many people and places…

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…and having tons of fun.

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I guess it’s really time to say goodbye summer…

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and hello Fall.

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But maybe we’ll do that tomorrow since we are too busy going to the pool today.

Camp is here!

My 4 year old is flying the coop for a few days this week and she couldn’t be more excited.

School has been out for her for almost 2 months now and she is tired of me.

And well…I hope she has a good time.

When getting ready for her camp, which she is THRILLED about, she asked me a few questions:

“What bag am I going to put my sleeping bag in?

You don’t need a sleeping bag, I’m picking you up after lunch.

Sad face.

“What pajamas am I going to pack?

You don’t need pajamas, I’m picking you up after lunch.

Sad face.

“Do I change clothes there at night?”

You don’t need to change your clothes, I’m picking you up after lunch.

Sad face.

I have a pretty good feeling there will be a lot of crying when I pick her up after lunch today.

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Keeping Up With Her Boys

Caroline had a break through moment this weekend.

As we were driving to a pool with my parents, the boys were excited to remember that this pool had a diving board. They discussed going off the board and what kind of dives they would be attempting.

Walking into the pool with Caroline, I casually mentioned, “Do you think you are going to go off the diving board.”

A resounding, “Yes,” was the answer.

If her boys were going on the diving board, then so was she.

And that’s all she did for the next 3 hours.

That is, besides the 35 minutes she spent eating the largest ice cream cone known to man.

Many people asked and we’re surprised when I said, “She’s three.”

And, yes, I’m absolutely thinking she’ll be ready for the 3 meter springboard in Rio 2016.

Operation Junk in the Trunk

Today is my 3rd day of Operation – Junk in the Trunk.

After viewing some rather unflattering backside vacation photos someone took of me,  I realized it’s pretty ugly back there and something must be done.

So here are my self imposed rules for the next 3 weeks:

1) Eat bread only once a day (I’m including rice, potatoes, cereal, chips, pasta, tortillas, and actual bread into this category.)

2) Use some exercise DVD’s at home. I used this for the first time yesterday since it came from Netflix.

This DVD is OLD. I’m talking banana clips in the hair and triangle spandex old. But like the title said it’s a great buns and thighs workout. Sadly I didn’t get passed the introduction before I sat down to watch it and I don’t have a step to use with it BUT I worked out to it.

I’ll keep this video for another workout, send it back, and then give Denise Austin or Billy Blanks a try.

3) I am going to swim 3 days a week with our masters team.

4) No eating after dinner.

In order to combat my love of snacking at night, we will now be eating dinner at 9 pm.

Maybe not.

4) I will be allowed a few sweet treats over the course of the next 3 weeks but I know I will be chewing lots and lots of gym.

I’ll let you know how I progress in Operation: Junk in the Trunk.

And no, there will not be your typical before and after pictures.

You’ll just have to take my word for it or check me out when we’re at the pool 🙂

Piano Week

Andrew & Alex started piano lessons last week. In an attempt to add to their excitement, we had PIANO WEEK at our house.

What might you ask is Piano Week?

Well, it’s just a week of activities I thought up or found which dealt with music. This was an attempt to give a little structure to our summer days. The focus being on little.

Here’s PIANO WEEK:

Visited: a piano store and received a tour by a very enthusiastic employee

Created: Alex created a power point about John Williams while Andrew made a poster. I originally thought they would choose Beethoven or Mozart but once we stumbled upon John Williams there was no turning back. One morning we spent over an hour watching him conduct on You Tube.

Read Books: 1. Beethoven – A Value Tales book 2. Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney  3. Ludwig van Beethoven by Eric Summerer  4. Keyboards by Wendy Lynch

Made: Thumb pianos – directions found here

Listened: to a Mixed Classical CD from Target in the car all week

Food: We ate SHARP cheese, ate BACHli (I’ll be honest – Derek and I are the only ones who ate the broccoli), talked about fish SCALES while we ate fish sticks, and planned to make cinnamon FLATbread but never got around to it.

We also made dessert PIANOS compliments of Alex. We used ice cream bars but white Kit Kats bars would make prefect piano keys.

Movies: We watched the movie Beethoven with Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. Yes I know it has nothing to do with music but the kids loved it.

We capped off the week with a trip to eat ice cream at Braum’s (BRAHM). I wanted to finish up the week at a piano bar but Derek thought otherwise.

We had some LOWS and HIGHs during piano week but overall it was enjoyable. The boys have enthusiastically practiced piano everyday since their first lesson and can’t wait to find out what this week’s activities will focus on.

What fun things are you doing this summer?


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