Quiet No More - Thank Goodness

This last week was too quiet for my liking. Some might say that there's no such thing as too quiet, but if you know me, you know that I don't do quiet very well.

Both boys were off having their own adventures (one was in Florida with a friend, the other was visiting grandparents) while Tim, Mia and I stayed home. After the first 12 hours or so, Princess Mia and I decided that it was just way too quiet. She'd wake up from her nap calling for her "brudders, Bandon and Joshie." It was very cute, but also very sad. It made me fast forward in my head 6 or 7 years and realize that one day, they won't just be gone for a week but for a whole semester or longer. I won't hear the sound of cleats (baseball, lacrosse, soccer or football) clicking across the hardwoods. I won't hear the sound of some kind of ball bouncing repetitively off the back of the house. I won't hear the yells and grunts of brothers wrestling each other (whether for fun or not). No, it will be too quiet. Mia and I will have to figure out some way to make our own noise. But we'll think about that later, much later.

Everyone is back now and so is the noise. And I'm happy!

Summertime = Fun Time

We just finished up our first week of summer vacation - and we still have quite a few more weeks to go. Thank goodness - because I'm soooo glad to have a break from the normal routine. (I'm probably more excited about it than the boys.)

One of the first activities we did this week was to create a Summer List. This is something new for us. I read about it on this really cool blog and thought it sounded like a really cool idea. I always feel like summer flies by and we never really do anything or get anything accomplished. This year we're going to change that.

This kind of goes back to a New Year's theme that I came up with for myself. I didn't want to have resolutions - that's just setting yourself up for failure - but I did want to have some general goals for the year. One of those main goals was to live life more purposefully. Now I don't mean that I planned to seek out my life's overall purpose this year (I pretty much know what God's purpose is for my life right now and that's being a wife and mom to my husband and kids). I mean making decisions or choices with a specific purpose or goal in mind. So often I do things just because - because I really don't know why, because I feel like I need to fill every minute, or because I'm procastinating. That has led to a lot of wasted time or unfinished (or unstarted) projects. Then I get mad or frustrated that I've really wanted to do something but haven't. All this to say that I didn't want us to make it to the end of summer without having really done anything.

We had a little family meeting and brainstormed about the various things each or all of us wanted to do this summer. Now we have them on this big piece of poster board so that we see it every day. Then when we're looking for something to do we consult the list and make a plan. It may seem really structured but it's not. It's actually a lot of fun figuring out when and where we're going to do everything.

We got off to a good start this week - we ran a 5K, went to the pool, fished and had a few workouts at the gym. Next week will be a little slow because both boys we'll be gone and it will just be me, Tim and Princess Mia. (We won't know what to do with just one child - I think I'm going to be a little sad.) But when they return we will see what other fun, purposeful memories we can make.

Happy summer!

I Must Be In a Time Warp...

because it is hard to believe that today was Joshua's last day of elementary school - and mine too (at least for a few more years). He can't possibly be moving on to 6th grade and the vast expanse that is middle school. Where have the last six years gone? What happened to my cute little boys?

 Joshua's first day of kindergarten.

Well, those cute little boys have turned into very handsome young men. (They would be mortified if they knew I put that in writing on this blog - but oh well, I have a parental obligation to embarrass them at least a little bit, don't I?)

Joshua's last day of 5th grade.

Bus stop buddies - Jake, Jack and Joshua

No longer will I ever be able to get this close to the bus again - at least not without getting a lethal glare.

I'm very happy that school is out for the summer but quite sad that I no longer have little boys who want to fill their days with Lincoln Logs and Matchbox cars. Fortunately they're still OK with spending the summer hanging out with me - and I plan to treasure that while it lasts. Oh, I know they must grow up - and I am looking forward to following them - and guiding them - along the next leg of their journey. I couldn't ask to be a mom of two better boys.

And then there's always this cute little thing to remind me that not all of my babies are grown up yet!

And now that I'm done being nostalgic, it's time to let the summertime fun begin and go make some new memories!

Camping Fun

We 'unofficially' kicked off our summer Memorial Day weekend with a neighborhood camping trip. (I say 'unofficially' because the kids don't get out of school until the second week of June.)

We are very fortunate to live close to a big lake with several State Park campgrounds. That makes it nice in case we forget something or decide we'd rather shower at home without bugs and fungi - or in my case, come home at night with the baby while the boys (and Tim) became one with nature.

It was very refreshing to see kids ranging in age from one to 12 hanging out with each other with no TV, video games, texting, computers, etc. They entertained themselves from sun-up to sun down with fishing, boating, kayaking, swimming, and the like. And never once did I hear anyone say they wished they had one of the aforementioned gadgets. (I plan to continue that them throughout the summer.)

Here are a few highlights in pictures: