Summahhhhh!

If I were, like, totally on top of it, I would blog every single day of summer like my hero Chanel. Clearly that's not happening...but I AM documenting all that's going on around here and my efforts to do SOMEthing fun each day - so we don't round the corner on August 30th and go, "geez, what'd we do all summer???" So here ya go, kids... (I'm speaking to MY kids who may need to read this someday when they lament about only ever doing chores chores chores and NEVER having fun.)

Day #1:

The first official full day of summer break... And after 180 days of having to wake Brooklyn up and literally yank her out of bed & carry her to the car to drop the kids off at school, she showed up at the side of my bed at 6:30am - "Mommy, I got up EARLY!" Yes, yes you did. Despite my efforts to get her to go back to sleep in momma's bed, she wasn't havin it. I had to go pick up Sydney's medical records & xrays from her doctor's office, pick up Syd from her sleepover with her girlfriends, and Austin went to hang at his friend Zack's for a few hours to play a little Wii and go to the water park (thanks, Chris!)... Our big activity for the day, you ask? A 550-piece puzzle we had never opened. Let's not go crazy with the summer business, I say. We're gonna ease into the marathon summer days (translation: mom did not want to go anywhere!). We spent a good few hours on that bad boy, and still did not finish it until 2 days later. (Seth and Brooklyn were not all that keen on the puzzle being our 'summer activity'...can't figure out why!)

Day #2:

Being Saturday, with nothing on the calendar until that evening (love it!) Kevin decided to take all 4 of the kidlets to the rec center to swim. Holla!!! I packed their lunches, sunblocked all the kids, packed the swim bag, and sent them on their merry way. They had a fabulous time, and we are all set with our punch card for the summer to make many return trips. It's a whole different experience without a baby or toddler to follow around. :-) Kevin & I went to our friend's wedding that night, and Sydney babysat 2 of her cousins at our house - which meant fun for all the kids - Mom & Dad gone + cousins = fun any way you slice it.

Day #3:

Come, now. Sunday. How exciting can we get? Hmmm. Church. Visit to Grandma Beth's. There ya go. Youth Conference meeting for Mom, Girls Camp meeting for Mom, annnnd that's about it.

Day #4:

This being the start of the first full week of summer, I had high hopes for fabulous chores and productivity for this day. I realized quickly that our daily schedules were going to be a little more go-with-the-flow than I had planned, but oh well... Syd got asked to babysit, so she headed out to work for pay (as opposed to slave away at home). We all got our chores done, and with the promise of making pizzas for dinner, I ran over to Trader Joe's for pizza dough. The kids finished their chores while I was gone, and we made a trip to the library. We'll be making a few of these this summer. We signed up the 3 kids I had with me for the library's Summer Reading Program, loaded up on books, and then realized when we got to the counter with our 22 items that Genius Mom had left her wallet in her gym bag that morning. Good glory, if I could get it together that would be grrrreatttt. I didn't even have my ID to have them reissue me a new card. We had to leave our stack, drive home, get the wallet, drive back, and finally check out our stack of books. And then back home to make pizzas for din-din. I rounded off the night with a party at my brother's house watching The Bachelorette with my sis & 2 brothers, with Dave showing off his shiatsu skills on Sarah & Nate (he's in massage school, and we are all benefiting - it is awesome!):

(Sorry boys, I couldn't resist sharing this one...) We got many a laugh out of Dave's shiatsu moves. Good times. I love that this summer Dave is off most weeknights, Sarah doesn't have to be up at 5, and Mike & Emily will be home next month. Good times!

Day #5:
Not gonna lie: LA-ZY start to the day. There was much tv-watching so that Mom could get things done. Finally, I decided it was time to kick it into gear. I doled out the chores - 5 per kid - with promise of going to see Kung Fu Panda 2 at the theater. Tuesdays are $5 movie day, and I love it. I LOVE going to the movies (I used to hate it), and $5 per person is a deal. Plus, $2 popcorn. It's a treat. We're all excited to go see Cars 2 next Tuesday...not gonna lie, I'm just as excited.