Huh? Blog? What's That?

Dedicated to: Jody, Thanks for reminding me that I have a blog!

This morning I decided to visit my discarded blog and things have certainly changed around the blogger site.  I hardly knew what to do because the "look" of my landing page had changed.  After a moment's pause I figured out how to create a new post and here I am with a bullet list of summer events to get everyone caught up:

•  Chloe turned 1!  She wasn't walking on her first birthday or within a couple of weeks of it like the other girls had, but I'm happy to report that just yesterday she took three steps in a row! Yippee for milestones.  She is like a little parrot repeating lots of new words every day! On her vocab list are: Ma-ma, Mummee, Dada, Daddee, King-ton, puppy, doggy, "woof", Baby, Dor-dan (Jordan), Li-Li (Livi), Eye-Uh (Ava), Bubba, wha dis (What's this) and more. Her favorites are eating anything set before her, babies, the dog, dancing, scribbling on the floor with discarded crayons and markers, and jabbering
• The girls had their dance recital and did wonderfully. Olivia's first time on the stage and she did great--even remembered a good bit of her routine. Super proud of her, and of the older girls too. Jordan and Ava did tumbling camp and all three are looking forward to "princess camp" later this summer.
• The garden is doing really well this year.  We are anxiously awaiting more red tomatoes. We've had a few small ones. I know in a few weeks we will have more than we know what to do with! Looking forward to that. I've discovered some pretty good zucchini recipes...we've eaten it grilled, frittered, Parmesan-ed, and in bread form so far.  I am happy with the garden and am anxious to try a few new veggies next year!
• We enjoyed some fireworks early this month and then headed to camp to celebrate Olivia's 4th birthday. I can't believe how much she has grown this year! Gone is my baby livi-tivi.  She has been replaced with a little girl who loves to snuggle and smooch, dance, sing, and play with her sisters.  She loves to put on lip glops (lip gloss) and jewelry (TONS of jewelry)... She is a girly girl for sure.  She is looking forward to starting preschool in the fall!
• Started running on the treadmill again.  Happy to say I am about 12lbs lighter than I was last year at this time. I used Couch to 5k for the treadmill and now I am running about 3.5 miles a day in a little over 30 minutes. I'm hoping to run my first road race toward the end of summer--hopefully!
• Trying to come to grips with the lack of a beach vacation this year. We knew when we bought the house that we would most likely have to forgo it for this summer.  Even though I knew and accepted that I wouldn't be sinking my feet in the sand, I still have a longing for ocean waves and sea breezes. I love my family at the beach! (I love them at home too)
• Jordan and Ava will be starting public school in the fall. With very mixed emotions! However, I am determined to face this new chapter with optimism.  There are good things ahead for sure.

That's the summer in a nutshell.  Hoping to add blogging back on to my summer schedule!  See you soon!

Let's Do Fun Stuff v1.0

I never wanted to be one of those moms that is constantly saying NO to her children when they want to do something fun because I'm too busy folding laundry or loading the dishwasher.  But I also don't want to be the mom that can't let a friend through the front door because the pile of toys is blocking entry. 

The trouble is that I do say NO much more than I say YES.  I hate that damned-if-I-don't, damned-if-I-do feeling. Happy kids, filthy house. Irritated children, clean abode. There has to be a middle ground and I'm hoping to find it as the weather warms...

The jumping off point here is a clean house.  Right now, the house is clean.  The floors are clean, the bathrooms are clean, the laundry is caught up (sort of) and the dishwasher is humming. Each room is fairly neat. Yesterday I told the kids that if the house looks like this we can do fun things! ALL SUMMER LONG! Outside to play, getting squirted with the hose, off to the park, the zoo, the movies, the pool, etc.  I can be a YES mom. But I need help.  I tried to explain that if they would help me by cleaning up their small messes immediately, then we would have time for the fun stuff.  Yesterday it worked!

The house was neat when I got up and neat when I went to bed.  We spent a majority of the day outside. I cleaned up the yard a little--pulled down dried Clematis vines while the kids played in the sand box.  Took some pics of the girls in the wooded area behind the house. Grilled out.  Took a walk after dinner and ended it all with an ice cream treat for the girlies. 

It feels great!  Ever the realist, my DH is already giving this clean house business about a week...but ever the optimist, I will hold on to the hope that I can make this last through the Summer. 

Truth is, there are 4 little mess makers in this house and only one of me.  If I can keep them motivated to help, it will work!! 

Here's to a happy Summer, helpful kiddos, and a season full of YESes!

Summer Slowdown?.

The last two days of weather around here really have me thinking about Fall! I'm very sad to see Summer coming to an end (why can't Winter fly by this fast??) On the upside, life without an air conditioner has been quite pleasant and I can't complain about that at all!

We've got one week until school starts around here. I will have a first grader this year...the first year for a full day of school and a 3 day a week preschooler. We've opted to keep Olivia home this year, so it will be Me, Chloe and Livi three days a week for a half day which will  be so wonderful. I'm looking forward to spending time with my littlest girls...well, more time anyway!

Tomorrow night the girls will start their new bedtime routine, which basically just pushes up bedtime by 30 minutes to an hour and I am looking forward to that because it will mean an extra half hour to an hour to just relax and unwind with the hubs (and the dog, and Chloe).

I have been contemplating the new schedule changes for the last week now and trying to get a handle on the activities that will be added to our weeks this year.  I need to amp myself up for the busy-ness. I don't know why I'm fretting about it! I guess it's because we had such a low key Summer...The only thing we had to do was visit the farm every other week on Wednesday and grocery shop on Monday. The only commitment I had was to attend book club once a month...

But now, we've decided to keep Jordan and Ava in dance, and Olivia will start this year. Jordan will continue with Daisies and I've committed to being a co-leader of her troop.  My Faith Sharing/ Bible Study group will start to meet again.  I'm going to be a cafeteria volunteer.  I'm contemplating putting the three older girls into Good Shepherd...

I don't know, when I write it down, it doesn't seem like TOO much. But I'm still fretting about it. I want to make sitting down to dinner as a family a priority--as it has been. My girls are still so young and I always said that I wasn't going to get them involved in a ton of stuff.  At the same time I want to expose them to lots of new experiences and social situations to help with their well roundedness.

In other news, Ava and Olivia had their yearly check up at the Cleft Craniofacial Center at Children's and while everything is looking great with Olivia there is some concern over some of Ava's speech issues. We need to schedule some testing for her to make sure her palate is working correctly...the results of the tests will likely indicate that she needs another corrective surgery...I really don't want to open that can of worms but it may need to be done.  I guess I'm fretting about that too!  I would hate to schedule something like that during the school year, so hopefully it's something that we can deal with next summer if we have too...

I still have some back to school shopping to do...shoes for the girls, a new outfit or two for Ava...Also need to schedule some hair appointments. Not to mention, house hunting (and packing and moving eventually!)

Yes, I just used my blog to remind me of all that needs to be done....and I'm longing for an endless Summer!