As a stay at home mom I was not expecting "summer" to be my favorite time of year. We live in a very hot environment making trips to the park and other outdoor activities almost impossible and being home all day with three small kids just did not sound appealing. However I have been pleasantly surprised this summer. Katie finished pre-school in mid-May and we have really enjoyed stress free mornings with no plans and I have loved having the extra playmate for the boys. In fact on the few weeks so far this summer where Katie has had a camp or activity, the boys and I have missed her quite a bit (now dont get me wrong... we all need a break from one another occasionally!)
Katie has had a week of Vacation Bible School at her old pre-school (Jack's new school to be), she has had a week of dance camp and "trash to treasure" at her new school to be and she has had 5 weeks of summer dance classes. She had also turned into a little fish! She has started taking private swim lessons here in our neighborhood and has just taken off (literally)! We are going twice a week and I wish we could do more. We will be very sad when in mid-August her instructor will be leaving for school.
Jack is getting very excited about starting school at the end of August (mother's day out 2 mornings a week) and is getting increasingly more independent. He is such a little helper around the house. He feeds Lucy almost every meal and he and Katie both are unloading the majority of the dishwasher (since the majority of the dishes are small, colored & plastic). He has cut a couple of hours off his daily sleep and now that he is in a big boy bed we are having to get creative to keep him in his bed. He is turning in to a GREAT big brother and is very sweet to Luke (that is as long as Luke does not touch his Lightning McQueen car!!) He wants to do everything Katie does, and does most things pretty well.
Luke is just a little firecracker! He took his first steps a few days before his birthday and now at 13.5 months he is running! He has great control now when he walks and can almost stand up with out needing something to pull up on. He had a great one year check up and weighed in at 26lbs and was in the 95% for height. I think we might have a big one on our hands. Not to doubt Luke's intelligence (although he does bump into a lot of things ;) ), but I am now calling the kids my Beauty, Brain & Braun... We have just recently cut him back to one nap a day which really frees up our mornings for fun, it is nice no longer to be restricted by a morning nap. Of course we can't travel too far in the or he will take a little cat nap, messing up the afternoon nap session.
As a family we have tried to stay busy doing in door activities. I have raided the kid craft areas of the local craft stores and we have all kinds of little art projects lying around the house. Katie had a trip to Mansfield where she spent 4 days with Meme & Papaw and cousin Lainey. They had a fantastic time and all want to do it again soon!
Our best new family activity has to be our weekend trip to the neighborhood pool. We have chosen the less family orientated one as it is much calmer and the kids don't seem to notice the difference. Luke LOVES to lounge in his pool float protected from the sun and Katie has learned to just play in the water as well as getting in a little swim practice. Jack loves to just be carried around the pool and has now discovered floating on his own with some water dumbbells.. We can easily spend 2 hours and have been going in the late afternoon and packing a picnic dinner! Our biggest obstacle (besides dealing with three wet kids close to bed time) is getting Katie to leave. She is brown as a little berry and would live at the pool if we let her.
Of course now every time we get the kids suits on they are asking if it is time for our beach trip. We have rented a house near Galveston for a long weekend in August. Everyone is very excited and Meme & Papaw will be joining. My biggest challenge is going to try and convince Papaw that we can't take the kids Jeep for driving on the beach!
Andy took Katie and Jack to see Cars 2 on opening morning. Both absolutely loved it and if we weren't big enough fans before the 2nd movie we certainly are now. Jack walks around saying he loves cars and Katie loves princesses. His favorite car changes daily between Mater & McQueen and he now has to have one of them on his night table when he sleeps.
I started attending a boot camp in the early spring and am now going 4 mornings a week at 5:30. It has become almost habit and is getting easier and easier to get up at 4:55 am! Andy participated in his first 1/2 marathon back in January and now definitely has a running bug, so he is either running or at the gym 4 or 5 nights per week. We have the kids talking a lot about exercise and hope we are instilling a love for activity in them. Jack loves to stretch and his attempts at push ups are funny!
