Flying By

I can't believe it is July 7th already. Wow. That's another summer that is just flying by. I want to make it slow down! But I think maybe I just need to speed up. Well, in some ways, anyway. For instance, I need to get moving on plans for the rest of the summer. Not every little detail for every day, just the trips and other "big stuff" on the calendar. Then I really need to get my plans for next year in order. Really quick-like! Partly because I have to turn our paperwork into the schools by Aug. 1 and partly because it really bothers me having that looming over my head. I also need to go to the garage and pull out all the curriculum I have stored out there and see what will work for this year. I'll have to hop on over to Amazon, CHC and Seton and order the rest. The schoolroom is beggin' to be cleaned out, as is the girls room....oh and the garage, ugh! Okay.....breathe.

Well, we have done some fun things this summer. I'll focus on that for a minute. Early summer (actually Spring) we went to Disneyworld with family. We visited John's brother and sister-in-law on our way. SO good to see them. And we had a BLAST in Disney!!!! (But, then we came home to Alexa and Evan sick with a stomach virus.) :P

After that passed, we celebrated Alexa making her First Holy Communion! That was such a special day!!! And we had some grandparents here to share in that with us.

A week later, my dad and his wife came down. We always have a nice time with them. I'm still a "daddy's girl" ;) and I always will be.

We made an unexpected trip to PA to be there for a family emergency. So relieved and thankful that all is going well in that area. We celebrated Alexa's Birthday with my brother and his family, my in-laws, and my mom at a restaurant in PA. That was a fun evening.

When we came back to VA, Alexa had a birthday party with a couple of friends. She didn't want that party to end. It was such a girly, silly, happy, giggly day! Perfect for a girl turning 8. :)

We had another illness hit our family....just the kids. It was intense, but luckily, shortlived. After a couple of days, all were okay again.

We went to Old Town to celebrate the 4th of July. That is also John's birthday, so we gave him his gifts at home beforehand. He loved all the gifts, but especially the Captain America Shirt from the girls (fitting that he was born on the 4th of July), and the toy Superheroes from Evan. That night, we saw the most amazing fireworks EVER! Seriously! John and I were in awe. We had excellent seats too. Next year we plan to do the same thing.....get there by 6. Park in the school lot, get a seat on the lawn at the bottom of the hill below the little tree. And bring snacks and water and a few toys for Evan....perfect.

We enrolled in the library's summer reading program. The kids all enjoy reading (or in Evan's case, being read to). Taylor has some summer reading to do before she starts school, too. Skylar enjoys the Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. Alexa's reading has taken off! She is enthralled with the Magic Treehouse books. She reads them to me sometimes. I'm so proud of her. Evan's latest thing is space. He's so interested in planets and rockets and the sun and moons. And Star Wars, of course.

We have put the pool out on the deck for the younger kids on some of these hot days, and I bought a charcoal grill, too. Been cooking hamburgers and hot dogs about once a week. Yummy. Popsicles are back in the freezer, and sometimes icecream too. We did make-your-own icecream sundaes for Alexa's birthday party. That was a hit! Taylor has been going here and there with friends. Sky is still working hard at karate.

So our summer is going well. We've done a lot, enjoyed many days and are trying to savor the many benefits of summertime. This is just my usual time to panic as I look at how fast it all seems to be going. I just need to take a deep breath and relax and find a balance between enjoying this summer break, and accomplishing some important tasks.

How is your summer going? Are you getting some major projects done? Are you enjoying the little things with your children?

I wish you all the best of times this summer!
TTFN
~Tina