Three Weeks Into Summer Break

My last post talked about slowing down to take it easy this summer. Well....

Nearly three weeks into summer and we've had out of town guests twice and friends for dinner once. Ann had her dance recital and Chris went to Vacation Bible School. Chris played a few t-ball games and went to a couple of practices. All three kids had turns spending the night at their great-aunts house and a turn at visiting a local toy museum.

In addition to that, we squeezed in a trip to the local amusement park and many trips to the pool. On top of that, Tony has done a bit of travel for work.

So, um, yeah... We haven't exactly slowed down, but we have had a LOT of fun. I'm loving having all of my children near me all day. I'm especially enjoying my time with Ann who was at full-day kindergarten for the school year. I missed her!

Right now Ann is all about reading Green Eggs and Ham to anyone willing to listen. I started to encourage her to read something more challenging and then I realized, she's super excited to read the book and doesn't exactly have it memorized, so why on earth would I fix what isn't broken?!

Not to be out done, little Jane likes to read aloud Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See. Just tonight, she read it aloud to her grandma. She wanted to read it one more time to me. She must have gotten tired of her trick because she soon was saying, "hot dog, hot dog, what do you see?" Three year olds are so silly!

As for little man, he doesn't really read to us yet, either for real or in the manner of his younger sister. However, that kiddo never stops thinking. I can't begin to describe what a joy he is when he chooses to have a good attitude. The flip side is, when he doesn't have a good attitude, life can be a trying to say the least! That kid is going to move mountains one day, just watch!

I do believe I've started to ramble, so why not continue... (Isn't that what "..." is for?)

The small moments today that I want to remember are my sweet six-year-old's face when she caught sight of me at the amusement park. Her face lit up and that just felt awesome! Also, she was excited to notice she is getting more moles. I happen to have more than my fair share. While I don't know that it's necessarily good she is inheriting them, I do find it flattering that she likes them because I have them. Seriously, how precious is that!

My five-year-old also lit up when he found me after getting off a ride. It melts my heart to know they feel so happy at the sight of me. It isn't always the case, of course. Sometimes seeing me means they have to leave a playdate or that I've caught them doing something naughty. At those times, they'd rather see anyone but me!

It looks like Chris is going to be the one who likes the scarier rides, at least for now. I think if Jane hadn't been there, he would have rode some roller coasters. However, he didn't want to ride the bigger rides unless she did, so he skipped the roller coasters.



As for little Jane...She fell asleep in my arms while watching a dog show at the amusement park. I have no idea how she slept through the clapping and yelling and I don't care. As I told her grandma, I know holding her in my arms while she sleeps won't last forever, so I will take what I can get. My favorite thing about Jane lately has been watching her with her big sister. I love seeing that relationship develop. I recently took them to the dollar store and bought them each a toy mermaid. (They reminded me I couldn't buy real ones which was very funny.) Since then, those mermaids have been the center of their play together. Oh how I hope and pray they are not just sisters but also friends!



And so I end another day feeling tired and honestly a bit grumpy. And yet, I feel so very, very blessed. Through reading some other blogs, I was reminded of just how fragile life is and it simply brought tears to my eyes to think of the precious little ones sleeping upstairs. Yes, our summer has been busy, but we've been thoroughly enjoying it and I know I'm trying not to take too many moments for granted! So, be it busy, or be it calm, we are going to make the most of this summer!