Wordless Wednesday - S'Mores!

Seriously? This is summer. Hanging out at the bonfire, roasting marshmallows, chomping away, and hopefully not running out of chocolate. Oh, and did I mention giant multi-forked branches?

Score.

The only sad part? I'm beginning to wonder if these children are my flesh and blood. Little Miss ate half her s'more and said she was full and ran off to play. Mister Man ate his whole (giant) s'more and then handed me his plate, saying he was full. No one wanted a second s'more. Really, these are my children?

I have lots of work to do, I can see now.

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Summer... A Time For Relaxation?

I love summer. The long, lazy days of summer where we can put together playdates and hang out at the pool and just do whatever we want. The unofficial start of summer arrived this week with Memorial Day, and next week is the end of the school year for the wee ones.

Orrrrr not. The wee ones have so much they want to do, and I want to be sure we have time for those spontaneous trips out to Galena to go blueberry picking (fun!) or to hang out at the pool with our friends or whatever we decide we want to do. It ends up being a balancing act, and I don't think the wee ones get it.

I finally decided to show the wee ones visually what they were committing to, so I wrote out a calendar on our whiteboard in the homework room. When I was done, it even blew me away.

There are some things that aren't negotiable. The wee ones are signed up for summer school and really want to do it - and I want them to do it. Mister Man has to do his OT once a week. Little Miss "has" to do Safety Town and Twilight Camp. Mister Man is committed to Tae Kwon Do (and just got his last stripe for his green belt so now we're awaiting testing for him to promote to his red belt, whoo hoo!). Little Miss loves gymnastics. And both really, really want to take swim lessons to get better.

Uh-huh.

When they saw this, they both freaked out. Theater camp was immediately canceled, freeing up three hours five days a week for three weeks - plus the performance. Mister Man I think may give up his chess camp, although that's still up in the air. And they stopped asking to add more activities, fortunately.

Since I did that, Little Miss got asked to join the "preteam" for gymnastics, which is a twice a week for an hour an a half at a time commitment - that she wants to do. And we're still trying to juggle to find a time with the OT that works for both her and us, as her original option was immediately preceding TKD, and I don't see that going well.

I know this is my fault, but holy cow, how does this happen? I still haven't signed up for swim lessons for them and those may be full now. And Little Miss's school strongly requests that they complete a math workbook and read a book every day of summer vacation.

We're continuing to pare away at the activities, but ... I suppose so long as everyone is happy, it's all good, right? It just amazes me how quickly everything adds up! I need some more days like August 5, 12, and 17 where we have nothing scheduled. After all, I still don't have anything about blueberry picking on there!

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Focusing On What I *DID* Do

Current Giveaways:

Strawberry Shortcake DVDs here
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$25 Target Gift Card and a whole bunch of back to school type stuff here
Seventh Generation prize pack filled with cleaning supplies here - ENDS TONIGHT

***

When people put a to do list together or make a goal, we tend to focus on what we didn't do, on those areas where we failed. I put together a wish list of thirty items that I wanted to get done this summer. Knowing that I had the wee ones home with me all day and was going to be out of town for most of August, it was a long list. And - like everyone else - I've since added to it.

Well, my time is up - and probably a little past up since Little Miss went back to school last week. It's time for a review of how I did. But you know what? I don't want to focus on what I didn't do. I can and will still do those items. Instead, I'm going to buck the trend and celebrate the things that I did do! I challenge you to do the same.

30. Get my pile of magazines to read down from their current seven plus inch pile. If that means throwing some out, I'll find the fortitude.
Done! I tossed out a few magazines that I will never read, but the rest of them? I spent a good portion of the summer getting caught up on the ones I care about, and that pile is no longer in existence. I have three magazines that have come in the past two weeks to read, but that's it. I DID it.

28. Get an "exclusive" invite to just one party at BlogHer for a brand I'm passionate about (what, you don't think I'm cool enough? Thanks a lot!)
So done. BlogHer was an absolute blast, and I can't wait for 2011 in San Diego. I had some really cool party invites that came through, and I had so much fun and learned so much, too. And ummm yes, I still have to write about many of those. It's on the new to do list.

27. Sign myself up for the summer reading club at the library - and read the minimum 12 books.
I signed myself up. And I read far more than the twelve books. I neglected to log all the books I read, but that list isn't for me anyway - it's to show what I did. And like I tell the wee ones - what matters is that you know what you did, not that others see it.

26. Update all the binders for the nine (yes, NINE) jobs I had on the PTO this year.
Not only done, but those were handed off (happily, I might add) on June 21. Oh was that a good feeling!

25. Pass off said binders to the new PTO members who will be henceforth responsible.
Ahem. As mentioned - done!

24. Head out to Old West Town and do some gold panning with the wee ones (and friends).
We had this scheduled twice, but unfortunately weather interfered once and the second time I had a commitment come up last minute. We still got together both times with the wee ones' friends and did something unique and fun, but next year we'll have to go. I count this as done though as the spirit of it was there.

20. Fix the basement from our ejector pump fail last weekend - new carpet, drywall, bifold doors, and all.
Thank goodness this is done, no thanks to the bad carpet measurer from Costco. Trust me, you don't want the long, sordid story. But I have a beautiful, inhabitable basement once again!

19. Move the playroom toys into the newly fixed basement - and sort out those that are no longer played with first.
Done! And yes, the toys are even sorted. I probably need to go through them again with a fine toothed comb, but I've taken out so many that we just don't play with anymore. And boy, does that feel good!

18. Purchase desks and whiteboard paint to create a homework room in the former playroom.
Well, technically, I've purchased this. I suppose I did a good job in wording this goal. The homework room is mostly set up. The only thing I have left to do is paint the magnetic whiteboard(s), and I can't wait to share the difference with you!

13. Sign Little Miss up for gymnastics (which technically starts on Monday, I believe. Oops).
She was signed up. She even attended all the sessions we signed her up for, and she's gotten so much better over the summer now that she's in a "real" class. And yes, she's signed up for the fall session, too. Whoo hoo!

12. Complete the C25K training (Week 4 Day 3 tomorrow!) - even if it's after the 5K that I'm signed up for at BlogHer.
Oh I so did this. I am so stoked that I ran my first 5K! Of course I then didn't run for the rest of August, but I'm back in the saddle per se this week and am working my way back up - a 20 minute run is in my future tomorrow.

11. Create a more regular bedtime that results in a less tired me.
I think I did this. I am upstairs no later than 11pm every night, and frequently I go to bed earlier. One night last week I even went to bed at 8pm. It's definitely helping.

10. Find time to use the massage gift card my husband gave me for Mother's Day.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... do I need to say more?

6. Buy a new laptop to replace the one I have to turn in for work - and be happy with my choice. (ummm, again - suggestions?)
I'm typing on it as we speak. It took me forever to decide on one, but I like it. Except for the random size changing and web page going backwards that happens. But it so works for me, and I really missed having a laptop in that two week period I was without.

2. Set realistic deadlines for projects - and ensure I make each of them.
I'm getting there. I've gone back to making lists, which really helps me prioritize what I need to get done in a day and what I can get done. I love lists. Have I mentioned that before?

1. Enjoy my time with the wee ones - and ensuring they're enjoying their summer, as well!
Oh that was so done! From the picnics to the classes to bike riding to Florida to the pool to Uno and more, we had a blast. Yayyyyy!

And now to go work on those items I haven't yet accomplished. Sixteen semi-major projects done over the summer? I call that a success. We won't talk about the other fourteen. Shhhh!

This Suddenly Became A Busy Summer!

Psssst! I'm still giving away a $25 Wal-Mart gift card here.

***

Mister Man came home from school the other day with a scrapbook from his kindergarten year. It's precious (and I have proof that he grew! Three inches taller from August until May recorded by his teachers. Ha!), and there were so many neat things that he wrote.

Of course, he also wanted to make changes to it. His favorite color is no longer pink. He now prefers purple (that's my boy!). And his favorite tv show is no longer "Beyond Time In Space" (one he invented himself).

But the coolest thing I thought was a wish list for the summer. He wrote down the three things he most wants to do this summer, and lucky him - he's going to get to do them all.

It got me thinking, however. What do *I* want to do this summer?

And since I can't stop myself with three, here are thirty. Shall I check back on my progress later?

30. Get my pile of magazines to read down from their current seven plus inch pile. If that means throwing some out, I'll find the fortitude.
29. Have a date night with my husband.
28. Get an "exclusive" invite to just one party at BlogHer for a brand I'm passionate about (what, you don't think I'm cool enough? Thanks a lot!)
27. Sign myself up for the summer reading club at the library - and read the minimum 12 books.
26. Update all the binders for the nine (yes, NINE) jobs I had on the PTO this year.
25. Pass off said binders to the new PTO members who will be henceforth responsible.
24. Head out to Old West Town and do some gold panning with the wee ones (and friends).
23. Clean up all my old horse tack and bring it to the second hand horse shop (unless one of you is horsey and wants some really nice stuff cheap - Crosby 15 1/2" saddle, show bridles, bits galore, show boots, a tack trunk, etc).
22. *sniff* Get rid of the last of the baby gear - double strollers, wagon, tricycles, etc.
21. Get 100% caught up on my email - defined as fewer than 50 unread emails in my inbox.
20. Fix the basement from our ejector pump fail last weekend - new carpet, drywall, bifold doors, and all.
19. Move the playroom toys into the newly fixed basement - and sort out those that are no longer played with first.
18. Purchase desks and whiteboard paint to create a homework room in the former playroom.
17. Get caught up on all my paperwork filing.
16. Dejunk the office to the point where I can donate the "I can hold anything" entertainment center that does not belong there.
15. Fully weed the landscaping and get new mulch down (this counts as completed even if I hire someone to do it).
14. Rearrange the storage facilities in the garage such that my husband's car will fit.
13. Sign Little Miss up for gymnastics (which technically starts on Monday, I believe. Oops).
12. Complete the C25K training (Week 4 Day 3 tomorrow!) - even if it's after the 5K that I'm signed up for at BlogHer.
11. Create a more regular bedtime that results in a less tired me.
10. Find time to use the massage gift card my husband gave me for Mother's Day.
9. Have at least five organized playdates for each of the wee ones.
8. Find an outlet for my need for a creative and mental challenge now that I've quit work and the wee ones will both be in school full time this fall. (Suggestions?)
7. Sell or donate all the outgrown clothes of the wee ones. (anyone need girl sizes 2-4T or boys' 3-6T?)
6. Buy a new laptop to replace the one I have to turn in for work - and be happy with my choice. (ummm, again - suggestions?)
5. Get my car detailed.
4. Have a physical.
3. Have an island in the kitchen (and an end table in the family room and a desk in the office and a nightstand in my room and a nook in my car) that is not home to clutter.
2. Set realistic deadlines for projects - and ensure I make each of them.

And the number 1 goal I have for this summer?

1. Enjoy my time with the wee ones - and ensuring they're enjoying their summer, as well!

Yikes. I feel like I need to print out this list now and keep it handy. Did I miss anything?

And what about you - what are you up to this summer?

Summer Big? Or Summer Small?

Quick reminder of three giveaways here, here, and here.

***

My husband has Twins tickets, and he asked me when I wanted to head up to Minnesota to go watch them play. We love going up there (I grew up in the Twin Cities - sorta), and I still have a lot of friends up there. And an outdoor ballpark for the Twins and not just the Saints - the minor league team in St. Paul? Rock on.

So I did a mental perusal of my calendar.

Welllll, the wee ones are in school until mid-June. Mister Man has a few more days than Little Miss, but they end around the same time. They've both asked to do summer school, which means they're booked until July 9. They're really neat classes - Mister Man, for example will be doing a science experimentation class and learning to cook - and the price for four hours a day five days a week for the entire session is less than regular daycare for a single week.

With Little Miss going into kindergarten, she gets busy on the schedule next with SafetyTown that starts up July 12 and runs until the beginning of August. It's a really neat program that teaches kids all about various types of safety and things they need to know from riding bikes to electricity and more.

August brings me to BlogHer. Oh yeah. And Florida. In fact, my parents are taking the wee ones to Florida for two weeks starting the day before I leave for BlogHer.

And by the time we get back? Well, school is starting up that next week already.

Huh.

Going to Minnesota isn't something I really want to do in a quick weekend, especially since I'll give in and drive rather than buy four plane tickets and rent a car. Even Labor Day weekend is painful, not to mention crowded.

How is it that summer has already disappeared before it's even started? We're back to fifty degree weather, and in my book that's barely even spring.

The more I think about it, the sadder I get. The fun zoo trips, the jaunts down to the children's museum, the lazy days at the pool, those all seem further and further away.

Most of this I can't change, and much of it I wouldn't want to. Both wee ones picked out their summer school classes, and they are very excited to go. But maybe SafetyTown doesn't need to happen this year. Maybe we'll do it next year when Little Miss is going into first grade. Without naps, we can do more fun things later in the day than what we can now.

After all, summer is about getting up when you want to. It's about forgetting what day of the week is it, having no schedule, and figuring out the day's plan as the day unfolds. It's about relaxing and trying new things and plain having fun.

And I could really use some fun in my life. They're only young once, and I'd like to enjoy it. Besides, I have some Twins games I need to go see.

Don't Send A Man To Do A Mommy's Job

Mister Man is doing summer school via his preschool, which means his routine so far this summer has been pretty much the same as it has been for the last nine months. The exception is that instead of me getting him ready and on the bus every day, I’ve left those duties – for the most part – to my husband. Instead I’ve been working or catching up on some much needed sleep or hanging out with Little Miss.

Before summer school started – and especially since it started on a Monday, which means that I’m working – I gave my husband the overview. I told him what time the bus comes, reminded him about the backpack, told him Wednesday was swimming day, etc.

On the first Monday, I settled down to work a little before 8 and let my husband do his job. As he’s rushing Mister Man out the door – what, the bus is here already?! – I stepped away from the computer to go see who his bus driver would be. Lucky us, it was the morning bus driver he had during the year, who we loved.

As Mister Man is climbing aboard the bus, I asked my husband what he sent for snack today. Snack? My husband ran quickly into the house, and the nice bus driver waited patiently. My husband dropped a Ziplock baggie into Mister Man’s backpack, and off he went.

The next morning was an off day at work for me, so I was getting Mister Man ready. As I went to put a snack in his backpack (strawberries), I realized my husband had never gone through his backpack the night before. I pulled out all the papers of work that Mister Man had done before. At the bottom of the backpack lay a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I held up the bag and showed it to my husband.

Me: Umm, what are these?
Him: That’s odd. Mister Man must not have eaten his snack yesterday.
Me: Uhhh, you can’t send anything homemade for snack. It’s sort of a district-wide policy.
Him: I didn’t know that.
Me: You teach in the district. How can you not know that? And what about the healthy snack policy?
Him: We have a healthy snack policy?
Me: Uhhh yeah… remember the paper that was hanging on the cabinet all year talking about go and slow and whoa foods? It had examples of each for what to send and not send for snack?
Him: Total blank look
Me: You never even noticed the bright red sheet of paper, did you?
Him: There was a red sheet of paper?

Really, that should have been my clue for Wednesday, when I was also working – fortunately from home. Remember, Wednesday swim day? As I was getting Little Miss dressed, I called downstairs and asked what swimsuit Mister Man was wearing that day (you’re supposed to put it on under your clothes and send a set of clean underwear).

The scampering of feet I heard indicated that no suit had been prepared. A minute or so later, I called out asking what towel he was sending. Given the answer I received, I walked to the linen closet, grabbed his Thomas towel and tossed it downstairs.

When the bus came, I went out to say goodbye to Mister Man. As he was getting on the bus, it dawned on me that my husband may not have thought to put our name on the towel. I unzippered the backpack and discovered… yep, a swimsuit and no towel.

My husband ran inside to get the towel and a Sharpie. As he started coming out the door, I saw that he had one of our bath towels and not the Thomas towel that I’d brought downstairs and put on the steps by the door so no one could miss it. Needless to say, we’re lucky we have a patient bus driver, as it took a few minutes to straighten out the towel issue.

We have only two weeks left of summer school now. The good news is that my husband is finally starting to remember all the things he needs to do each morning. Granted, his snack is usually graham crackers, but he did remember to put the swimsuit on under Mister Man’s clothes last week and put the underwear in the backpack.

But we still have a problem with emptying the backpack. For some reason, that never gets done (well, except by me). Fortunately, Mister Man doesn’t yet have homework. By the time he’s in elementary school though, I somehow have to get my husband to learn to empty the backpack.

But really, 90% accuracy is pretty good, right? For a guy at least….

It's Finally Summer

I know this because tonight was the first softball game of the season. Ahhhh, softball. To be able to pretend to be young again. Except for the prayers for no injuries before the game.

Yep, I’m in a church league. The various churches around my town play a non-competitive league where each church is a different team. We play every Tuesday for 8 weeks at the local park district, which means lights and real fields – a bonus, trust me. The home team provides the ump (and I’m proud to say that my husband is the team’s preferred ump), and we all do it in fun.

Except for one team – the Lutherans. I don’t think it’s a Lutheran thing; it’s just their coach. They’re the only team in the league where the coach isn’t a member of the team. He doesn’t even have a wife who plays on the team. But man, is he into it! For years, they were the best team in the league, or so I’ve been told. Last year was my first year in the league, and we beat their pants off. It wasn’t always pretty, as the coach gets a bit intense, but we beat them handily last year. And I’m really just being vain if I pretend that my playing last year had anything to do with beating them.

Even though I’m shopping for churches, I’m still playing with the Catholic church this year. In fact, I may have to beg to play with them again next year, as the Episcopalians are the one church I know if in town without a team. I don’t know that I’m quite up to starting a team from scratch, nor do I know that there’d be enough interest. But shhhh the team doesn’t know that I’m shopping for a new church. Yet.

So the team I play on apparently requested to play the Lutherans in the first game of the year. Amazingly, we had 16 women show up – for anyone who doesn’t play softball, this never happens. Our two coaches from last year weren’t able to make it, as they were both coaching their daughters’ teams, but that’s ok when you have so many others make it.

Since we didn’t have strong coaches on hand, the Lutherans took the field for infield practice before the game, even though we were home team and technically, it was ours to practice. But we’re Christian and don’t make an issue of it.

The game is a good one, as it usually is between us. First inning was 1-0 them. Second inning, we broke out for 5 runs. Third inning, we gave back three. Fourth inning, we gave back another two. And there it stayed at 6-5 for the next two innings. Unfortunately, the only reason that they had the lead was that our third baseman and shortstop both had bad innings.

My first two at bats were nothing to right home about. I tried the “Judy” bat my first at bat, since everyone on the team raves about it. I found out the hard way that it’s too short for me. And sadly, I vaguely remember learning that the hard way last year, too. The next at bat, the stud left fielder caught my beautifully hit ball. And the right fielder caught an even better hit ball the next time up – right fielders aren’t supposed to be able to catch in non-competitive softball leagues! My next at bat, I finally got it down and had a sweet single up the middle.

By the time we ended the sixth inning, it was just after 8:30. Our games are supposed to start at 7 on the dot (ours didn’t) and end at 8:30 so that the next team can play (no team waiting for the field). We also had an injury timeout, as one woman slid into third and jammed her ankle badly, and that took a good 10 to 15 minutes to get her stabilized and off the field. See, I told you we prayed for no injuries. Apparently we didn’t pray hard enough tonight!

Given the situation, we asked if they wanted to play the last inning. Their coach didn’t care one way or the other, and the team finally agreed to play. Rally caps went on for my team. They may only be visors, but you can turn those things upside down and backwards just as well as a regular ballcap!

One went down easy – short to first. The second batter reached on an error. The third batter fielders choiced the second batter at two. The fourth batter, also short to first. Phew!

And somehow, we started hitting. We got runners on. Eventually we reached two out, but we’d scored one run and tied the game. And yep, you guessed it, it was my turn to bat again. Gotta love that pressure. Of course, I didn’t realize that we’d already scored a run, as I’d been checking on our injured player when I realized I was on deck. It’s all good. I hit a single and managed to score another run, which ended the game. Yay!

And the first words out of the coach’s mouth? “Really, we won. This inning doesn’t count. Say what you want, but we won.” Ummm, dude, noncompetitive league and you agreed to play the last inning. Oh and we don’t count wins and losses.

When I got home and told my husband about the game, I asked if he could guess what team we played given their reaction at the end. Yeah… he sorta nailed it on the first try. Then again, the teams in our league don’t hold a candle to the unsportsmanlike activities I regularly witness at his games. Silver lining!