Leisurely Summer Days

 We have switched the rooms around again so we could organize the toys and old clothes the children have outgrown and also make room for a desk of sorts for Lucy's drawing/painting/glueing.  Now the bunk bed is back together in Lucy and Alice's room while "Jack's bed" is Alice's old toddler bed.  I put Jack's bed in quotations, because he sleeps with the girls on whichever bed they decide to sleep on.  Sometimes it's the top bunk or Lucy's bed and sometimes it's the bottom bunk, or Alice's bed.  

I love that they all like to sleep in the same bed and fall asleep talking, reading to each other, and giggling.  I hope they don't give this up when school starts in two weeks.

We have enjoyed swimming this summer at Poppi and Mimi's house, as well as the rec centers.  Lucy and Jack love the slides at those places and Alice and Dexter love the seemingly endless shallow.  Though, Alice has started swimming with the aid of floaties on her arms.  I'm so proud of her eagerness to learn new skills and somewhat relieved that I wont have two small non-swimmers hanging onto me at the pool.  We put floaties on Dexter, but more so that we have a second or two to catch him before his head goes under.  He is still two young to support himself in the water, but he does enjoy swimming and walking around the pool steps.

Alice and Dexter are really learning to become friends.  Leland and I are excited, because we can see what their friendship could be when we look at Lucy and Jack, who have so much fun together.  Alice is learning that Dexter can play with many of the same things that she can and loves to pretend.  Dexter is learning that Alice can share and be nice.  If I had to sum up this summer, I would say it has been a turning point for Alice.  She no longer sees herself as a baby.  She wants to help out, do her share of the work, play games, and be big like her older siblings.  She is learning to use the potty and we are so delighted and proud (we now save $30/ month)!

We harvested the apples from our apple tree.  There were more this year, I believe, than ever before!  We made (with the help of Leland's mom) applesauce and apple pie filling.  Though both have come in handy (and two weeks later we are almost out of everything we made), we decided the apple pie filling is more delicious.  We will be concentrating our efforts on only the pie filling next year.  It was really exciting learning how to can and it was a fun bonding experience for Mimi and me.

Lucy wanted a desk so badly, so we went to Home Depot, bought some brackets. paint, and screws and constructed a desk out of a piece of wood.  It was inexpensive and easy.  it doesn't take up a lot of room either.  Lucy is very excited about it.  We also made a shelf to go above it so she can store her art supplies away from curious hands.

Leland and I started doing p90x together.  It's so much more fun working out together than alone.  We're getting stronger too!

I am excited for the coming school year for many reasons.  I know Jack is going to love kindergarten and meeting and playing with new friends.  (He will have 7 of his friends from church in his class so he will be in good company from the get go.) And, I know Lucy loves school and can't wait to do art projects and see many of her school friends on a regular basis. I know dance and soccer and basebal and music lessons etc. will be fun.

But, I will miss the summer.  I will miss waking up later (well the kids still wake up at 6:00, they just check in with the babysitter downstairs) and eating breakfast as a family without feeling rushed.  I will miss the lazy summer afternoons where the kids are up to their elbows in stuffed animals and blanket forts.  I will miss the impromptu family swim nights when we don't have to be in bed at a certain time. I will miss not having to be anywhere at any certain time.  I'm not sure I'm ready for all of the craziness called school.