Summer 2012: Week 3

I sat down to write this post earlier but couldn't come up with anything to say. We've had a pretty quiet week around here. Honestly? I love those weeks! But it doesn't make for exciting blog news. ha ha!

I realized something this week. During the summer, I drink tons more water. I sleep way more than I do during the school year. (Oh how I love having older kids who sleep a little later & entertain themselves if I want to take a short snooze in the afternoon!) I eat way more fruits & veggies. I go for more walks in the late evening with my sweetie, even though it's still blazing hot at 8:30pm. All of these things are so very good for my health. But on the flipside of that, I also go to the gym less often (if at all) and eat fast food more than usual. I think it all balances out because I can still wear my clothes at the end of summer, but I should probably be more intentional about getting to the gym!

When the kids are home, we often find ourselves looking for something to do outside our four walls. We hop in the car and often find ourselves in a stall at Sonic getting half price drinks or an afternoon milkshake. Or we go spend money that we should be saving at the dollar store. You know, land of the plastic junk and crap nobody needs. Where we live, visiting a park is almost as fun as saying "let's all go dance in fire". It's just way too hot to hang out outdoors most days, so somewhere with air conditioning is preferred. It's about time for us to bust out the million board games that are tucked away under the couch & love seat and see how many Monopoly tournaments we can pull off by summer's end.

This week's events:
*Sam made it safely home from Boy Scout camp. Google Camp Orr in Jasper, Arkansas. It's beautiful! He had fun. He came home stinking to high heaven with a grin that we couldn't wipe off for days.

*Sarah's new-to-us clarinet (for her first year in band, next year) arrived in the mail today! Tomorrow morning we are meeting with one of the band directors to let him check it over & make sure it will be approved for her to use. (They only use certain brands, types, etc.) We were DEEPLY blessed by the previous owner of this clarinet --- she sold it to us at a real bargain!

*Sam & Savannah got the opportunity to go work at the church this week. Aside from the fact that they're working to pay for some summer youth events, I love that they're working to help our church staff! The family ministries pastor & the children's director both seemed pleased with their work & thankful that they were there to do it!

*Another fun week of working at the preschool! The kids in my class are a little younger than I'm used to this summer. Today's Circle Time activity particularly cracked me up & reminded me that I need to adjust some of the activities that I do with the kids. Typically, I can 'recycle' ideas and activities that worked well in previous years, but this year, it is a little different. I usually have 3-5 yr olds and this summer, the kids in my class are all in the 2 1/2 yr old range. Anyone who has worked in early childhood programs can tell you that there is a HUGEEEEE difference in a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 year old. Speech is completely different, fine & large motor skills are completely different, reason & logic are completely different, they are really just in a complete other universe developmentally. Sometimes I forget that & press ahead with things that are over their heads. Halfway through I smack myself in the forehead & think "Oh yeah! They really can't do this yet!"

Today, we sat down to discuss things that their fathers like to do (since we talked about Father's Day this week). The paper I used is pre-printed & shows pictures of about 8 things that dads might like to do: golfing, fishing, hunting, lifting weights, riding a bike, and a couple other things. The kids are supposed to identify 1 or 2 things that their father likes to do before I move on to the next child. Instead, today I found that they were much more intrigued with talking about the things in the pictures or claiming that their dad does ALL of the activities or performing sound effects to illustrate each picture. It was a hilarious endeavor because it took 10 times longer than it should have and I have no idea if any of the answers they gave were legitimate truths about their fathers. Ha ha! Score one for the kids!

*I have looked back & forth between the piles of books waiting for me to read and a book of math & logic puzzles I have been working through all week. I guess my brain's been more in the puzzle mode this week because I've only read about 2 pages in one of my books. That's ok. I'm loving my puzzles and I'm positive I will catch up on my reading later in the summer!

*Speaking of reading, I was so tickled to find out this little gem of information from a friend! During the last week of school, I was talking to a coworker at the school as she looked through her wallet for a card of some kind. As she pulled things out, I saw a Barnes & Noble Educators Discount card. I asked about it & she said that all you have to do is go into any B&N store & show them your ID badge for the school where you work & voila, you get a discount card! It takes 20% off every item you buy (excluding magazines) and it's good for 2 years.

Let's just say that I got Larry's Father's Day present yesterday....and I saved 20% buying it!

(And for my homeschooling friends---you can get one too! On the form I had to fill out, it asked what kind of school you work for & homeschooling was listed! Check it out!)


I think that's about it for this week. My challenges to myself this coming week include drinking EVEN MORE water (I may float away--just look for the pairs of animals & you'll find me), break out the camera & take some summer pictures of my babies, get to the gym...at least a couple times!

Have a great week!