NOT Ready!

I’d like to say that I’m excited about the school year starting.  I can’t.  I’m doing a fine job of pretending to be excited so the little ladies won’t dread it, but I am so over it.  Summer has been so much fun.  They were healthy, and that alone is worth a happy dance.  And now begins the 9 months of the year when we can’t make weekend plans because somebody is ALWAYS sick.  The receptionists at the doctor’s office honestly expect to see us weekly.  I’m not even kidding here.  When I took Hope in yesterday, there was discussion about our need to have them on speed dial or just to have a standing appointment each week.  Do you think we spend a little time there the last couple years?!  There’s been way too much money spent on doctor bills & prescriptions…  So I’m not ready for this whole (un)fun time of year to begin again. 

Today, in honor of our last day of summer, we are making a trip to the Pomona Library and meeting their teacher this evening.  But the big event will take place this afternoon.  We’re having “Brownie Wars” – totally the girls’ idea!  We watched an episode of “Cupcake Wars” recently, so we’re going to split into teams and creatively decorate a couple pans of brownies.  They’re excited about it.  It should be fun!

Little Things

I consider myself very fortunate to have figured out, relatively early in life, the importance of the (supposedly) little things of life.  Some of my best memories of childhood are those little moments that weren’t notable for any particular reason.  I remember a fishing trip with my mom’s side of the family that wasn’t eventful, I don’t think, but I can still see everyone scattered around the pond.  I remember having puzzle races with Mom in the evenings.  I remember standing (yes, standing) in the seat of the pick-up next to Dad on our way to check cows while he sang “You Are My Sunshine,” “A Bushel & a Peck,” and, his original “She’s Daddy’s Little Cowgirl” from the house to the pastures.  I remember putting rocks in my metal sand bucket (I still remember it having a picture of a boy and a girl building sand castles on it) and walking across the pasture to gather up the cows.  I had seen Dad put rocks in his bucket to get the cows to come – they thought they were cubes and would come running – and I tried it.  I remember being in the middle of the pasture, in the middle of those cows and not being even slightly afraid.  I was two. 
My point is, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not the big productions that make memories.  It’s the little stuff that happens in the day to day life that matters.  It’s laughing over an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos.  It’s playing games of Guess Who.  It’s making cookie pizzas before the first day of school.   It’s doing the right thing, whether or not anyone else is watching.  It’s being kind to others, whether or not you stand to gain something from it.  It’s the person you really are, not the person you pretend to be.  It’s the little things.

Shopping Trips…

I am getting SO bad at this blogging thing.  There will, undoubtedly, be time very soon (after school starts) for me to get things up to date, but until then, you'll just have to put up with the disjointed blog updates.  Yes, we went to band camp the last week of July, but you're not going to hear about that just yet.  Someday...  And, oh, are there stories to tell...

The girlies have been having shopping trips into each others' rooms lately.  Tonight is just another grand opening event, with the advertisements of "Everything is a Penny!" being hurled around like water balloons.  Since both of the girly bedrooms have stores, Dad and I were the only ones truly eligible for the initial shopping trips.  While Dad shopped the Hannah store, I shopped the twinks' store.  I got a special treat, one for which I paid a few extra pennies, in this little beauty:

Now, for those of you who aren’t living amongst our chaos, this is a drawing of the movie “Up.”  If you are familiar with it, you can appreciate Dug (the dog), Kevin (the bird), Carl (the glasses-wearing man), and Russell (the boy with the many Wilderness badges).  Ahh…  The fun never ends! :)

One Time, At Band Camp...

It's official.  I'm back to the pre-kiddos summer staple of a week of band camp.  Well, for one year anyway.  I'll go to Pitt and chaperone, but I'm not going to Hays.  Not happening.  I've given the man in charge a year's notice, which means he'll be after me for the next year to go.  Anyway...  A week of 201 (preliminary total) high school kids.  A week of dorm life. A week of seeing midnight and 6 AM in the same day.  A week of dorm food.  Don't want to go with me yet?  Well, I will admit, it doesn't necessarily sound like fun yet.  But add to that the hilariously fun group of chaperones we have, the great kids we get to work with (who totally outnumber the ones who get in trouble for behavior/attitude problems - although I haven't forgotten about those...), and the day of the parade and pre-game/half-time performance, and it is a pretty amazing week.  I always end up in tears during the pre-game show.  It could be that I'm so utterly exhausted by Saturday evening, but by the end of the week they turn into a phenomenal band. 

So, if you happen to be in the Pittsburg area on July 31, check out the band.  Yeah, the Shrine Bowl is there too, but really,  the band is SO much better! :)

Ahhh...SUMMER!

By the looks of this blog, particularly the lack of new posts, we are enjoying our summer.  It's true.  We've had so much fun thus far and are not looking forward to the prospect of school starting soon.  It has been a busy summer with several "firsts" for all of us.  But I'll take the time to go through those in a later post.  For now, it's just the big picture. 

We have spent time in Branson, at the farm, shopping, taking piano lessons, attending meetings, and reading...lots and lots of reading.  It has been a great summer. 

So...Branson.  We had a great time.  Stayed in a condo and spent a LOT of time in the pool.  We surprised the girls on the Monday night that we were down there when we went to see The Duttons and had Meme & Papa standing inside waiting for us. The girls had no idea and were totally shocked.  We met  an old friend of Gary's (not old as in OLD, just old as in he knew Gary several years ago!) and his family and had supper with them.  Gary then took all day Monday and went golfing with Matt.  He had a great time, and the girls and I did as well.  We took out on our own and went to the fish hatchery, swam and did oodles and oodles of shopping.  We didn't buy a lot, but it was a fun day for all of us.  It was really nice to be able to get away for a couple days and just have fun. 

And the rest will just have to wait a little longer.  I have to get ready to go to piano lessons...

Happy Father’s Day!

I know, I know.  I haven't updated this blog in quite some time, but I will.  Really.  Next week.  Until then, I wanted to wish the men in my life a Happy Father's Day.  I sent

this card

to my dad and thought I'd share it here.  Crosscards.com is a fantastic site! :)

School’s Out!

I know there are many parents who view the last day of school with despair, but not me.  I am at least as excited as the girls, and maybe more, that school is out for the year.  I love having the chicklets home with all of the craziness they bring.  

They had field day Monday morning and enjoyed it in spite of the typical Kansas heat and humidity.  More than one person commented that we have some runners in the bunch.  I’ve told the twinks several times that they’d be great cross-country runners with those long thin legs and endless energy. 

Yesterday was their final day in first grade.  Their class was named “Class of the Year” in music due to their exceptional behavior, so they got to have a party of pop and Dilly Bars.  It went over well, as far as they were concerned!  They’re looking forward to trips to DQ, to say the least.  While unpacking their sacks yesterday afternoon we were looking through some of the papers their teacher had sent home for them to do over the summer.  We started talking about math and what they had learned this year.  Addie’s response?  “Well, I didn’t learn anything in math this year.  I already knew how to do it.”  She’s right.  She went into the school year last August knowing how to do two-digit addition problems, which they ended the year with last week.  I seized a teaching moment last summer when she wanted to add big numbers, and she picked it up immediately.  We don’t stop learning around here in the summer.  I want them to learn as much as they can while learning is still fun for them.  At a certain point, with the public school system so intent on testing them until they just don’t care anymore, kids lose the joy of learning.  I don’t like it.  I love that they love to learn things.  I want them to maintain that joy of learning throughout their lives.  I want the same thing for myself.

They’re going to take piano lessons this summer.  I am looking forward to it, and so are they.  I’m excited for them to get the same joy our of music that I do.  There’s always been lots of music and singing in our house, and it looks like there will be even more in the coming months.  It’s a happy sound!