Today is Day One of summer vacation in this house. So far, so good….but it is only 7 am. While I listen to the sweet silence of my children getting along for the last few minutes before all hell breaks loose for the following three months, you can read along and hear about what we’ve been up to lately. (Stop at Kelly‘s for more cool happenin’s)
ONE
As we walked through the garden the other day and I attempted to weed, Bellie and her little brother were inspecting their plots. Noticing that a few areas had teeny tiny sprouts growing, Bellie said, “Be careful, Spike! Don’t touch them!” Spike paused thoughtfully, then said, “Right. Because we don’t want them to grow back down.” It made me think of the Wizard-of-Oz when the Wicked Witch of the East got crushed underneath Dorothy’s house; her striped legs rolling back up under it like a party horn. Definitely hope that doesn’t happen to our vegetables! The kids do like to “see” with their hands.
dusty, dusty garden patch
TWO
Bellie was making a card for her friend’s birthday party and wanted to know how to spell said-friend’s name. “P-A-I-G-E” I said. “What?” she said, incredulously, “I don’t think so. Isn’t it ‘P-I-G? [she says, trying to sound it out] ‘” Now, she is a newly graduated kindergartner and I generally encourage her to use “kindergarten spelling” where she sounds out words and comes up with the spelling herself, but I think on this occasion I will just spell that one for her!
THREE
Little Evvie is getting to be quite the explorer. Running off during school programs, deciding she’s had enough at church and marching down the aisle. Making friends of other similarly-aged babies and deciding to join their families at library story time. Also the bathroom and kitchen drawer spelunking. I have been trying to avoid putting those annoying child locks on the drawers but I think I might just have to pretty soon. Especially after every single one of my feminine products found their way on to the floor of the living room and Spike is joining in the fun by adhering them to my bookshelf and asking if “these things are airplanes because they have wings”.
FOUR
They just cut the alfalfa field behind our house. Mmmmm…one of my favorite smells. I love how everything is so green around here right now – we just got done with several weeks of unseasonable rain and it has made our normally-desert dry neck-of-the-woods a verdant paradise! At least for a little while longer. Since we have moved some of our trees to the opposite side of our yard and put up a bird feeder, we have seen so many more birds in our yard and I love it! We showed the kids a robin’s nest in one of our pine trees and I always forget how brilliant blue the eggs are. I love early summer.
FIVE
I am trying to come up with a system for Kid Media Time this summer. Ugh. I hate hate hate hate hate having to deal with this. I would be content if our tv and computer just broke (well, not my computer, I need some sort of lifeline to the real world!) and the kids would be content to just be kicked outside and play in the dirt all day. And I guess a Media Moratorium is a possibility for the whole summer, but I fear a mutiny and occasionally rain and 2nd-degree sunburns necessitate a day or so indoors. Being “SOOOOOOOOOOO bored”. My issue is that I find difficulty policing the actual time spent on media. The computer isn’t a big deal. Junior gets an hour/day based following completion of household chores. It’s the TV. Because the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines say “Children and teens should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per day, and that should be high-quality content” I am trying to only allow another hour or two for television/tablets. My kids obviously do not like the same TV shows, being vastly different ages. So what happens when Paw Patrol is on for Spike, but Junior is in the same room passively watching it? Do I count this against Junior’s Media Time? Does each kid get his/her own quota for time? Or do I just say TV can be watched from 8-10 am and each person gets to pick a show? What happens if we watch a movie in the evening as a family? I would love to hear readers’ thoughts on this; particularly what worked or didn’t.
SIX
As my shoulder saga continues, I think we may have made a discovery: I HAVE BAD POSTURE. After holding babies (incorrectly, I wager) for nine years and lugging around car-seats and other miscellaneous child-rearing paraphernalia akin to a pack animal, my normal posture resembles that of a hunchback. I have to constantly remind myself to sit up straight, shoulders back. My chiropractor recently tried using this kinesiology tape on my shoulder, mainly to remind me to keep my posture healthy and it has made a difference! So going forward we will see if this makes a lasting impact.
It’s a good look for summer.
SEVEN
Hubby and I are set to celebrate anniversary number 12 on Sunday and I am so excited for the gift I am going to present to him! Twelve years of marriage is traditionally celebrated with linen or silk apparently but what the heck do you get a guy that’s either of those things? I thought silk boxers but they sound somewhat impractical and hand-wash only. So I got him this gorgeous handmade fly box for when he fly fishes. It is customized with his favorite run and the “river” is inlaid with turquoise. I really love it, I hope he does too! Thanks Mike at Snake River Nets for the fabulous box!
Ta ta for now, have a great weekend!
Pearls, Potatoes, and Progeny 