The Start of Summer

My experience with the last few years has told me that if I want the summer to go well, I need to be organized and set clear expectations on day 1.  If I let the boys slack on day 1, there is no coming back from it as I will hear the argument, "But we didn't have to do that yesterday!"  So, on the Sunday after the walk, I told the boys the plan.  To have electronic time during the summer they would have to earn it.  I have wanted to do this in the past but have always struggled with how I accommodate Finn's treatments.  So, this year I just decided to embrace it.  The plan is fairly simple (isn't that always best, so that everyone understands the rules): the kids automatically start the day with 45 minutes of electronic time (this is just enough for Finn to do treatments in the morning and evening and nothing more).  To earn additional time they can do chores (earn up to 45 minutes), read a book for 15 minutes (earns up to 15 minutes), and practice the piano for 15 minutes (earns up to 15 minutes).  This will give them at most 2 hours of electronic time a day.  I've been surprised by how well they have responded to this system and how well they have followed the rules and stuck to it.  Finn has asked for electronics and then asks me to set a timer so that he doesn't use all of it at one time and still has some left for evening treatments.  I've been a tad flabbergasted that he is thinking about that!  And even more shocking, he has been reading quite a bit (at least for him).  I've been proud of him and his work ethic.  His test results at the end of the year showed him at a 3rd or 4th grade reading level which left me shocked (I think I had to pick my jaw off of the counter) because he is my kid that hates to read and often makes me still read to him.  He gets tired of it quite easily.  His last two eye exams at the optometrist have shown that he has a slight issue with convergence (his left eye bounces out and can't focus as things come closer to his nose) and he even failed his eye exam at school this year because of it.  I'm wondering if that is contributing to his dislike of reading, because apparently if he tries he actually is pretty good at it.  I've been so torn over the need to pursue vision therapy (read lots of money and not covered by insurance) to help him with this issue.  I'm hoping that just doing a lot of reading this summer may be all of the therapy he needs.  I'm crossing my fingers and I'll see what his annual exam brings in August.  

Anyway, here's a quick recap of what we have been up to the last two weeks as we have anxiously waited for our trip to California.

Monday--our first day off, the boys earned their electronic time and then we hurried up to Castle Rock to buy some shorts for the boys for our trip and then to go swimming at the MAC.  It was totally empty since school was still in session there, which was just what I was hoping for. 

READING!!  A chapter book, even, all on his own!

Piano practice--I don't think I've mentioned that Kai actually is fairly good at piano.  He is an excellent site reader and can get away with not practicing most weeks.  Imagine how good he is going to get this summer with the daily practice I'm making him do!

 Tuesday we spent the morning at home and then in the afternoon we ran to the mall where we got a new suitcase for Kai, some shoes for Bree, and Chick-Fil-A for dinner before heading to Finn's final music class before the summer break.

On Wednesday the 24th we headed out to this area behind the Bass Pro shop off of Northgate and waited for the Thunderbird air show.  Our timing was good as we didn't have to wait long and we had good seats and a good parking spot.  Three wins all the way around!

This is what we saw as they were coming in to make their grand entrance over the stadium.

And look--I almost got a good shot! 

My best shot of the day.  I really shouldn't keep trying to get pictures every year, but it's such a fun event and a special time (even if this is our 10th year of it).

Later that same day I caved and filled water balloons for the kids.  This looks and sounds like fun, doesn't it?  I ended up with two kids crying and lots of yelling.  It was not fun at all.  I think it's going to be awhile before I pull out water balloons again.

While I was cleaning up the busted balloons I happened to notice that there was still a filled balloon nestled in this tall grass next to our retaining wall (it's still tall because the lawn mower can't get it and Reid hasn't edged).  As I was picking up the balloon the grass started to move and I saw this!!  AHHH---this snake has a mouse in his mouth and is eating.  Ugghhh.....

This was a much more calm activity after the stress of water balloons.  I made Bree her own glitter jar.  She loved it, and she really loved picking out the colors to go in it.

The next day we had a friend of Kai's from church over to play for a good half of the day.  While they were out riding their bikes (and yes, two of my kids were still in pajamas), they found our friend from the day before.

He was just sunning himself!!

I also ended up pulling out the bubble machine a bit that day.

Friday Bree had a swim lesson which she was very excited for the boys to watch.  And we had a down day with play time and then a bonus movie time in the afternoon.

Saturday was overcast and rainy and so the kids took all of the boxes that I was saving for them to build a box city and instead when I came out of a shower they were all robots.  Yay for help from daddy!

I had to move the futon mattress and the kids enjoyed using it a slide on the stairs.  This is the best picture I got of them as they wouldn't stop at all!

Sunday for dinner we had spaghetti and meatballs. Most of our dinners for the last 9 months have been low-carb and I just reintroduced spaghetti a few months ago.  There are no words to describe how much this girl loves her spaghetti.  She normally eats it by the fistful and makes quite a mess.  But she is a happy, messy eater, and I love it!  She ate salad, spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread that night.  Yay!

The rest of this week has been a bit of a blur of waiting impatiently for tomorrow to arrive and running errands to get ready.  The deadline of the trip has forced me to do things that I was procrastinating just in the name of coming home and not having to do it.  (this blog is a great example!)  But it's been good to clear out so many "business" items and little errands.  I'm excited for the trip and for what comes after it.  We have a whole summer in front of us and I'm interested to see how it shapes up.  But I do have to say, that as excited as Bree was for the boys to be home, by this past Sunday was asking me when they were going to go back to school.  One week with them was apparently all she needed and now she's ready to be back to mommy and Bree time.  Haha!  She has no idea how long this summer is going to really be!