Summer Part II

 

There was lots of baseball in early June, and the younger siblings are kind of their own little Astros Posse.  It’s cute. 

15 years, baby!  Sent all the kids away and just stayed home.  Saw movies, ate out, took naps.  Glorious.  Missed the little buggers though.  Two days apart is enough.

There are few things our kids love more than swimming, but swimming with cousins is one of them.  Love it when my cousin Scott comes from Cali every June and brings his kids.  Great chance for that generation of cousins to get together.  Always big fun!

Never to be outdone by his big brother, our Finny got the game ball at his game!  He might be the one to watch.  Always easy to forget that, but seriously.  This kid is a ball player.

One of the things I love most about our neighborhood is that friends are close…very close.  It’s kind of old fashioned in that way, and kids ride their bikes to each other’s houses…hang out and can have a bit more freedom than in many neighborhoods in Dallas.  It’s a bit of a bubble, which is good and bad.  But we love it. 

Did I mention we played a lot of baseball?

And won the championship!!!  So proud of this team of boys.  Was a great ending! 

Had lots of fun at VBS, too, and even got to have lunch with some friends we have not seen in a long time! 

So far, June was really non-stop.  It wears me out all over again just thinking about it.  And we hadn’t even taken our trip yet.  Will have to do Part III for that one.

 

Our Summer So Far Part 1

 

Well, June…hello goodbye.  How have you gone so quickly?  Oh, I know what you are thinking.  It’s only June 18th!  But in the blink of an eye it will be July 1st.

We won’t even talk about that last week of school and the H E double hockey sticks involved.  Let’s just go back as far as June 7th.  The first day of summer.  Duncan’s birthday. 

We had 15 of the nicest boys on the planet to our house for baseball, pizza and a movie in the backyard.  The pain has eased somewhat, but it was a great party.  I remember at some point thinking, “hmmm…maybe too many?”  But now I realize no…it was great.  There is not a bad apple in the bunch and we love them all.  It’s just A LOT of boys.   And boys love to do things like have hot tamale eating contests.  Enough said.

Oh, and this one?  He turned 8.

This one is 4 and a half and loves tee ball as much as the big one loves baseball.  So, the day after the party we moved on…tee ball at 10, baseball at 2!  Poor Claire…just gets dragged along and she is such a good sport about it.  Some day we will all go watch her do whatever it is she ends up doing. 

Then the VERY NEXT DAY because WE DO NOT GET A DAY OFF IN SUMMER we had the family swim party.  Very low key this year.  Just a few cousins and it was easy breezy.  We love swimming with cousins more than anything, so it’s always a great time.

We were pretty tired by Sunday night.

But of course, there is no sleeping in, ever, in our house.  Monday morning the 10th brought first day of baseball camp.  And swim lessons.  And later, a baseball game.  And a tee ball game.

On Tuesday the 11th, we had baseball camp, swim lessons, training for me on doing something for cub scouts and more baseball, this time in the form of a Ranger game!   Late nights!  Claire and I had a girls night which was super fun.  I rarely get time with just her and I love it.  I can tell that the older she gets the more important that is going to be.

So, at this point, 5 days into our summer break, I’m thinking “we can’t keep this pace for long.”  But wait!  We must!  See Part 2.  Oh and my house at this point?  Well, you really don’t need me to point out the obvious do you?

Let the Summer Begin

 

Summer 2013 is off to a roaring start and I’m already counting down until school.  Okay, not really, but kind of really.  I am really going to make an effort to have a good attitude!  About my kids being home all summer!  I know there are plenty of you moms that see summer as a welcome relief….I hear so many “so glad for a  break!” comments and I sadly think, “oh, my break is over.”  It’s easy to gauge how long preschool has been out by the state of my pedicure. 

But this year I am really going to try to enjoy them and not make it so stressful on myself.  Our kids are loud.  And they wake up early.  And we have one living area.  So, while I am sure if your kids are they type who sleep late (late being past 8:00 a.m. to me), or play quietly in the other room…then your mornings and afternoons are probably more relaxing than mine.  But really, truly I am going to try to have a better mindset.  I am not sure how, but I’m going to.

I will keep you posted. 

We had Duncan’s birthday party on Friday…15 8-year-old boys.  It was really fun, but oh my they are loud.  We played baseball across the street, fed them, and showed a movie in the backyard. 

Remind me next year not to do that.  But it was fun.

Lots of baseball and tee ball, which I truly love.  One of the best parts of parenting so far. 

Family swim party yesterday at my sister’s and mom’s.  Cousins rock.

Today Duncan is at baseball camp, then we will go pick up Claire who spent the night at my sister’s and mom’s and go right to swim lessons.  Then home for what I will later laughingly refer to as rest time, before tee ball and baseball this evening.

Tomorrow is no easier!