Summer List Recap

Remember the 'Summer List'? Wasn't it just yesterday when we came up with it?

Now that summer is theoretically over I thought it might be fun to recap what we accomplished. Remember, this was a no-limitations brainstorming session so some things didn't quite happen this summer. But hey, there's always next year!

1) Bowling...let me just say that there are no pro-bowlers among us.

2) Tie-dye t-shirts...exploring our crafty side.

3 & 4) Block party and homemade ice cream...we killed two birds with one stone on this one. Had our 'last hurrah' neighborhood gathering on Labor Day and made homemade Cheerwine ice cream - not so good in my book, but it got eaten by others.

5) Fishing...technically this was from Memorial Day. But that's the beginning of summer, right?

6) Shaving cream fight...cheap entertainment, but they LOOOOVVVEEDD it.

7) Water balloon fight...OK, I'm seeing a theme here. But we're really not violent people.

8) Baseball game...Sorry no pics here. Mia and I bailed on this one because it was 100 degrees outside. But the boys and Tim caught a Durham Bulls game.

9) Beach...one of my favs.

10) Washington, D.C...this one was really good too. Although I missed my baby terribly while we were gone.

11) 5K...we picked the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. A very moving experience. Just look at all those people.

12) Gym...No pics on this one for sure. But I did manage to get several workouts in thanks to my WONDERFUL baby sitters.

13) Blog...This one was another one of my items, obviously. But we see how well that turned out. But hey, it's fall and I'm determined to make a new start!

14) IronKids Triathlon...not for the faint of heart. My very athletic and physically fit boys hurt BAD after this one.

15) Pool...of course we did this one. It's a summer staple around here (but with 3 kids, well OK, with one toddler, it was difficult to get photos.)

16) Asheville...We spent some good quality time with the grandparents.

17) Krispy Kreme...thank goodness it's a long way from our house.

Not bad for us first timers. We had a great summer filled with lots of wonderful memories. I will definitely try this again next year - let's just hope the boys don't outgrow it too soon! (The thought of them actually outgrowing it ever makes me very sad - so let's just not think about that.)

Since we seem to be fairly successful with lists, maybe it's time for me to make a Fall Project To Do List. Better get started - the holidays will be here before we know it.

Here's to creating many more wonderful memories - no matter what time of year!

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!