Summer So Far

Here's a little listing of what our summer has entailed thus far.

Friday through Sunday was a family filled adventure camping up on Mt. Graham.  My boys were covered in dirt, from head to toe and they loved every minute of it.  I enjoyed the company, games and food, but mostly, the long shower when we got home.  If I get some extra time, I'll post some more pics and details later...

Monday was Memorial Day.  We spent our day moving my little sis into her new apartment, cleaning out the fridge (that was work I tell you!) and dining room, and looking at new dryers. 

A fun little unplanned activity was finding a ladybug in hibernation mode in the fridge and watching it thaw out and releasing it onto our rose bush.  The boys were fascinated and delighted by this little visitor. 

Sadly, we didn't do anything very patriotic, and we ate Pasta Roni for dinner, not even a BBQ.  We did manage to squeeze in an after dinner trip to Cold Stone (I had a coupon), where the boys got cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears (yuck!), and Mike and I tried the fruit sorbets (yum!).

Tuesday we bought a new dryer.  I cannot even tell you how excited I am for this.  I have been researching and comparing and pricing for so long now, and we got a great deal.  Fingers crossed this reduces our electric bill and makes for faster laundry days. 

I took the kids to the library to sign up for the summer reading program and lucked out because they were doing a fun bubble activity upstairs.  The kids could blow bubbles in a giant kiddie pool filled with bubble solution, color bubble pictures, and they even had a pool set up where the teen library volunteers used a hula hoop to make a bubble around the kids.  Mr. One loved playing with the bubbles.  Mr. Two would have nothing to do with that, but had fun coloring.  We checked out a large pile of books to read together and headed home for lunch and an afternoon of laundry sorting and folding instruction. 

In the late afternoon, I told the boys to get on their swimsuits and get ready to swim.  They were so excited.  After they were securely buckled in, I gave them the rest of the story:  they were going to swimming lessons, not a pool party.  Mr. One cried and Mr. Two refused to get into the water for the first 10 minutes.  Did I mention my kids don't like swimming lessons?  By the end, they seemed like they were almost having fun. 

I actually cooked a real dinner (Thai Peanut Noodles, strawberries, and Pot Stickers), which my kids hated and Mike and I loved.  The boys had peanut butter and honey sandwiches and went to bed with little complaint.

Wednesday was movie day.  The local theaters run kid-friendly movies each week in the morning for a discounted price.  A friend with two boys close in age to mine and I bought summer passes.  Each Wednesday, we stuff our purses with treats and head to the movies.  This week was Clifford's Big Movie (a snooze for adults, but great for the kids).  I forgot to bring water bottles and the popcorn was way over-buttered and over-salted.  Mr. Three lost his shoes before the movie even began and insisted on walking the stairs barefoot for the last 20 minutes of the movie because he was done with the snacks and bored.  We also had to wait an extra 10 minutes or so after the movie ended for the theater lights to come back on and find his missing shoes.  During that time, the kids ran up and down the theater and Mr. Two peed his pants.  Awesome. 

After the movie disaster, we ate lunch at Grammy's and headed grocery shopping.  For the most part the boys are good little shoppers.  They like helping to pick out produce and steer the cart.  However, they weren't cooperative the whole time.  My kids also managed to run around the stores, point and make shooting and sword swishing noises at passing people with their little fingers. Mr. Two even voiced a few impolite shout outs to the "little old ladies" at the store.  I would have hid if there was anywhere to hide.  (We will be working on politeness and manners this week.) 

I walked into the house with bags of groceries and felt an ant bite on my foot.  Looking down, I saw my kitchen SWARMING with ants, as well as the garage.  What?!!!  I just mopped the night before.  Poor Mr. Three had to go into the high chair for 45 minutes while I sprayed, swept, squished and silently cursed the swarming ants.  I had "clean out the pantry and kitchen" on my summer to do list, but that really wasn't the plan for Wednesday. 

I took the kids to swim lessons with Mr. Three protesting (he was fed up with being held and restricted by this point, but you can't let a baby wander a public pool area).  The boys actually cooperated at lessons this time.  We had hot dogs for dinner.

Today, we get to pick up our new dryer and hopefully do some reading and kitchen cupboard cleaning.  So far, we aren't even finished getting dressed and it's past 11:00...  Wish us luck!