Final 2014 Summer Update~

Just like that summer has come and gone.  I just don't know how it has happened.  We have had a blessed summer, and I feel so fortunate to get this time with my kids.  I realize, though, that my purpose on this Earth is far greater than serving my singular family unit, so I feel equally as blessed to return to work next week.  Our house is ready to get back into the groove, and both of my children are ready to see their friends on a daily basis.  

Here is the final update of our bucket list.  Almost all complete!

1. Fondue for Supper    We went swimming last Sunday at the north pool, and then we came home to cheese and chocolate fondue for supper.  Our kids love fondue.  We really need to have it more often;-)
2. Swimming Lessons for Rowan and Isla Done!  
3. Nature Camp for Rowan 
4. VBS for Rowan and Isla Done
5. Swimming at the North Pool  I think we made it 4 times this summer.  That isn't very many considering an average summer.  Hopefully, we can get there at least 1 more time this summer.
6. Bowling
7. Movie Theater 
8. Going Bonkers 
9. Picnic at the Park
10. Smores over the Firepit
11. Sprinkler Fun  x3
12. Travel to Grammy and Poppe's House We went last week just the kids and I.  I always appreciate the pace of life out on the farm.  It is just so incredibly different than city life.  We had a great time.
13. Summer Reading Program for Rowan and Isla Done!  
14. Paint Rocks
15. Zoo
16. Gage Park and Train
17. Fishing with Dad  
18. Make Ice Cream 
19. Sidewalk Chalk   
20. Make Cookies for Friends
21. Farmer's Market 
22. Discovery Center
23. Baseball for Rowan Done!
24. Fourth of July Fireworks 
25. Water Balloon Fight 

I'm headed to drop the kids off at the farm on Tuesday for the week.  Alex and I will drive back on Friday night to pick them up.  I will miss them terribly, but I know they will enjoy the farm with the tractors, four wheeler, and the cats.  That's it.  Back to work on Wednesday!

Summer Fun- Week 3 and 4~

I had jury duty for two days this week (you can read about the experience here), and then I had to work Wednesday and Thursday at school.  Can we say not summer vacation this week?  Consequently, I'm behind on a great deal of house things, and I am sad that we didn't do a lot of fun stuff this week.  It was mere survival.  Last week, though, we were able to cross some things off of the list.  Hopefully, July will be a calmer month than June;-)  Here's the update~

1. Fondue for Supper   
2. Swimming Lessons for Rowan and Isla Done!  I love that we have a relationship with the teacher and the home where we take lessons.  My children are loved, and I feel welcomed.  The kids did great, and both of them are much better swimmers than when we started.
3. Nature Camp for Rowan 
4. VBS for Rowan and Isla This starts on July 13.  I'm really starting to pound out some craft preparation.  I'm getting a bit stressed on this one.
5. Swimming at the North Pool  I had in mind that we would go today, but the weather is cloudy and yucky.  We will get there!!
6. Bowling
7. Movie Theater 
8. Going Bonkers We got rained out one day last week for swimming lessons.  We took advantage of the free morning, and we went.
9. Picnic at the Park
10. Smores over the Firepit
11. Sprinkler Fun  x3
12. Travel to Grammy and Poppe's House
13. Summer Reading Program for Rowan and Isla Went to the library again today.  Rowan is almost done, and Isla has a bit more than him.  This will easily be crossed off!
14. Paint Rocks
15. Zoo
16. Gage Park and Train
17. Fishing with Dad  Alex and his parents took the kids fishing at a local pond on Father's Day.  Alex caught a fish, but I believe that was the only success.  
18. Make Ice Cream 
19. Sidewalk Chalk   
20. Make Cookies for Friends
21. Farmer's Market We have baseball right now on Saturday mornings, so we haven't been able to go every Saturday, but we love the market here!  The kids get a treat, face painted, balloon, and we buy fresh produce.  It is fun for all!
22. Discovery Center
23. Baseball for Rowan Underway, and we are having fun!  
24. Fourth of July Fireworks
25. Water Balloon Fight

My little base runner!

He's got some good focus!

Rowan spends most of his swimming time underwater which makes for hard pictures;-)

Loving Miss Shelly!

Sonic Happy Hour!!

Two Thumbs up for Mom!

More Swimming!

Going Bonkers!

Playing Together!

Kenwood Cove in Salina!  It was great, but there were thousands of people there!!

Rolling Hills Zoo!  

Sibling Love

The Cheeser!!

Oh, how we love snakes!

Uncle Seth teaching Rowan the art of the rubix cube!

Summer Fun-Week 2~

Summer is going great.  It is amazing-really!  No stress, the house is clean, I search for recipes and cook them nightly, I have time to read and exercise.  I'm thinking about letting Alex know that my summer isn't going to end this year.  It will just be summer all year long.  I'm pretty sure I know what he will say to that, but hey, a girl can dream;-)  

 It has been cold and rainy here.  Not my idea of summer, but it has contributed to the clean house.  This week I tackled the mini-blinds.  Gross, gross, gross is all I can say, and I am glad that domestic chore is done!  We made some progress on the list below and some of my honey-do-list.  Yeah for progress!

1. Fondue for Supper   
2. Swimming Lessons for Rowan and Isla In progress as we speak.  We will go for 10 lessons.  So far it has been very COLD, but they have been troopers!
3. Nature Camp for Rowan 
4. VBS for Rowan and Isla This starts on July 13.  We are in planning mode at church now.
5. Swimming at the North Pool
6. Bowling
7. Movie Theater I took the kids to The Lego Movie on Saturday so Alex could paint Isla's bedroom unassisted.  Isla struggles with movies, but she did okay.  Rowan loved it, of course.
8. Going Bonkers
9. Picnic at the Park
10. Smores over the Firepit
11. Sprinkler Fun  x3
12. Travel to Grammy and Poppe's House
13. Summer Reading Program for Rowan and Isla Went to the library again on Monday.  The kids are rocking it.
14. Paint Rocks
15. Zoo
16. Gage Park and Train
17. Fishing with Dad
18. Make Ice Cream Oh, this could be dangerous.  So easy to do in my new maker I got for my birthday.
19. Sidewalk Chalk   We did this on Saturday again so Alex could paint.  Rowan was drawing aliens with bombs.  Isla drew the sun.  Their choices seem telling of their brains at the moment.
20. Make Cookies for Friends
21. Farmer's Market
22. Discovery Center
23. Baseball for Rowan We started baseball 2 weeks ago.  So far, it has been rained out twice.  Hopefully, we will have our first game on Saturday.
24. Fourth of July Fireworks
25. Water Balloon Fight

Isla has spent many hours doing this!

Rowan holding the snake Diego at Nature Camp.  EWWWW!!!

Movies!

Look at that adorable grin!

Smile!

The legos have kept us entertained for hours as well.

What did we ever do before tablets???

That boy on the ground is a garden statue.
They kept throwing
him over, and then they would
go rescue him.  It was hysterical to watch.

Working hard at swimming!

The monkey crawl~

Isla spends a great deal of time here during swimming lessons;-)

Kicking and blowing bubbles~

Summer Fun-Week 1~

We are into the joys of summer, and I love it!  It is peaceful, stress free, and I'm really just trying to give myself some time to enjoy life.  We didn't have any camps this week, so we were free to make up our own schedule.  It rocked, and I'm a little sad to start the camp thing tomorrow.  I'm sure that pace will have it's joys too.  

We made some headway on our list.  I'm thinking I maybe should have stretched myself a little bit more on the summer fun list.  We did quite a lot this week.

1. Fondue for Supper   
2. Swimming Lessons for Rowan and Isla
3. Nature Camp for Rowan This is this week. I'll be hauling Rowan up north for nature camp!
4. VBS for Rowan and Isla
5. Swimming at the North Pool
6. Bowling
7. Movie Theater
8. Going Bonkers
9. Picnic at the Park
10. Smores over the Firepit
11. Sprinkler Fun  x3
12. Travel to Grammy and Poppe's House
13. Summer Reading Program for Rowan and Isla We are working on this for both kiddos. We went to the library on Friday and got stocked up for the week!
14. Paint Rocks
15. Zoo
16. Gage Park and Train
17. Fishing with Dad
18. Make Ice Cream Oh, this could be dangerous.  So easy to do in my new maker I got for my birthday.
19. Sidewalk Chalk
20. Make Cookies for Friends
21. Farmer's Market
22. Discovery Center
23. Baseball for Rowan
24. Fourth of July Fireworks
25. Water Balloon Fight

Sprinkler slide fun~

Rowan's got moves~

They could do this for hours~

I love both hands above her head!

Cheese~

Rowan paint, paint, painted~

The finished product~

Discovery Center ropes course!

Balancing Beam~

Pretty Girl~

Roasting Marshmallows~

Summer Fun~

Tomorrow is the last day of the 2014-2015 school year.  I'm tired, exhausted actually, but we are almost there.  I think of my 10 years of teaching, this has by far been the fastest school year I remember.  I'm not sure if that is due to my own child in public school or if time really does speed up when you get older?   I'm putting my money on the latter;-)

Rowan and I sat down and made our summer list to accomplish this year.  Isla chirped in here and there, but for the most part it was Rowan's list with a little guidance.

I love having a list to help keep me motivated and inspired in the summer!  It keeps me accountable to get out of my bubble and really share many experiences with the kids.  My hope is to update the list as we move through the summer-that's my hope!

1. Fondue for Supper   
2. Swimming Lessons for Rowan and Isla
3. Nature Camp for Rowan
4. VBS for Rowan and Isla
5. Swimming at the North Pool
6. Bowling
7. Movie Theater
8. Going Bonkers
9. Picnic at the Park
10. Smores over the Firepit
11. Sprinkler Fun
12. Travel to Grammy and Poppe's House
13. Summer Reading Program for Rowan and Isla
14. Paint Rocks
15. Zoo
16. Gage Park and Train
17. Fishing with Dad
18. Make Ice Cream
19. Sidewalk Chalk
20. Make Cookies for Friends
21. Farmer's Market
22. Discovery Center
23. Baseball for Rowan
24. Fourth of July Fireworks
25. Water Balloon Fight

My stress level has already gone down just by thinking about summer!

Summer Update Finale

It's over...officially.  I feel great about our summer to-do list, and I feel like we bopped along pretty well.  I'm hopeful this will be a summer tradition as our children get older.  They loved talking about the list and what we could accomplish each day, and it made me mix up our schedule!  I highly recommend an activities list for any long break.  It definitely held me accountable, and it was fun! 

1.  Go to the North Pool
2. Summer Reading Program for All-Done and prizes collected from library!
3. Swimming Lessons-
4. T-Ball for Rowan-
5. Firepit-
6. Snow Cones
7. Happy Hour at Dairy Queen
8. Cupcake Trip 
9. Go Fishing-
10. Chuck-E-Cheese 
11. Vacation Bible School-
12. Discovery Center Camp for Rowan-LOVED this!  If you don't know about our Discovery Center here in Topeka, you need to check it out.  It is amazing and a great community resource for children! 
13. Bike Ride at Lake Shawnee
14. Feed the Geese:-o (Insert horrified look here-I hate geese)
15. SpRiNkLeR!
16. Bake Cookies-
17. Discovery Center-
18. Bowling
19. Paint Therapy Uncorked
20. Movie Theater-
21. Make Homeade Ice Cream- My friend Lindsey loaned me her Cuisinart ice cream maker last week.  I made butterfinger vanilla ice cream.  It was amazing!!  If you are looking for Christmas ideas, I'm putting that baby on my list!  It was awesome!  Now I must have one;-)
22. Picnic at Park
23. Paint own rock
24. Donut Shop
25. Go to Branson
26. Video Games with Dad

Summer Update~

Essentially, we have one week left of summer before I report back to duty.  I'm sad, but it has been a great summer!  Probably one of my favorites as both kids are old enough to really go, and I've loved being home with them.  I'm not certain we will finish out the list, as there are still some big ones left, but we have made some progress if nothing else!  It has been a blast!

1.  Go to the North Pool
2. Summer Reading Program for All-Done and prizes collected from library!
3. Swimming Lessons-Done and success!
4. T-Ball for Rowan-Done!
5. Firepit-
6. Snow Cones
7. Happy Hour at Dairy Queen
8. Cupcake Trip We stopped at Billy Vanilly one day last week.  It was yummy!
9. Go Fishing-
10. Chuck-E-Cheese  Alex took Row on an outing last Sunday for this one.
11. Vacation Bible School-This was a big one.  I was glad to see this one done!
12. Discovery Center Camp for Rowan-Starts tomorrow a.m.
13. Bike Ride at Lake Shawnee We've been on several bike rides since we got a seat to put behind our bikes for Isla!  She adores bike rides.
14. Feed the Geese:-o (Insert horrified look here-I hate geese)
15. SpRiNkLeR!
16. Bake Cookies-
17. Discovery Center-
18. Bowling
19. Paint Therapy Uncorked
20. Movie Theater-
21. Make Homeade Ice Cream
22. Picnic at Park
23. Paint own rock
24. Donut Shop
25. Go to Branson
26. Video Games with Dad

Summer 2013 Bucket List~

Earlier today I erased the dates and appointments on my April dry erase board, and I put up the May board!  That means I also put up the last day of school on May 24, which was an awesome visual representation that summer will be here in a mere 3 short weeks.  Rowan is excited, I'm excited, Isla doesn't know to be excited yet, but we decided we needed to make a list of "must dos" for our time together.  So here we go!

1. Go to the North Pool
2. Summer Reading Program for All
3. Swimming Lessons
4. T-Ball for Rowan
5. Firepit
6. Snow Cones
7. Happy Hour at Dairy Queen
8. Cupcake Trip (I'm seeing a trend here)
9. Go Fishing
10. Chuck-E-Cheese
11. Vacation Bible School
12. Discovery Center Camp for Rowan
13. Bike Ride at Lake Shawnee
14. Feed the Geese:-o (Insert horrified look here-I hate geese)
15. SpRiNkLeR!
16. Bake Cookies
17. Discovery Center
18. Bowling
19. Paint Therapy Uncorked
20. Movie Theater 
21. Make Homeade Ice Cream
22. Picnic at Park
23. Paint own rock
24. Donut Shop
25. Go to Branson
26. Video Games with Dad

Rowan made the list with a little bit of prompting from me, but it really is his list.  I'm excited to spend my time with them and conquer our list;-)