7QT Weekly Wrap Up

1. We made it to the end of VBS! Here's the thing, I am so thankful that my acquaintance asked me to volunteer. I definitely would not have without being directly asked. I wasn't even going to send C to be honest. (He was supposed to go to day camp this week.) But it was good. C loved it. I feel more engaged in our school and parish and I met some great people. Plus we have to either volunteer 20 hours or pay $200 to our home and school association... and I got all my hours in in one week. I am tired but it was totally worth it. M loved going to babysitting too. Total win/win/win/win. I will not however miss wearing this green shirt every day.

A C got a VERY bright neon yellow shirt. Like highlighter yellow. This photo does not do it justice. Everyone loves pajama shirts. 

2. To celebrate a fantastic end to the week we had McDonald's for lunch. Despicable Me 3 is in theaters today! So Happy Meals have minion toys. Which my kids are all about. Plus... Coke with no ice for me. Much deserved and beloved after a long week.

3. My parents are coming to town this weekend which is exciting but also since we have been go go go for the last few weeks solid there's a lot of cleaning to do in preparation. We can do it!

4. The Hamilton Instrumentals were released today. All the heart eye emoijis because yes. Burn is so beautiful! I also didn't realize there is a clean version of the soundtrack either. So if you were curious but the swearing was putting you off... try that one out.

5. C has really really turned the corner on reading. It's crazy. He can now read all the BOB books in stage one. We finished Kindergarten sight words today during quiet time.

He can usually get through 5 or 6 books at a time before his stamina for reading gives out. I can always tell when he's hit his capacity for reading when he stops paying attention to the vowels and run/ran or get/got all become the same thing. He loves the flash cards that came with this box. He likes to build his own stories from them. They don't make sense but whatever. He's 5. 

I should add that it is his stamina for him reading me the stories out loud. He would listen to stories all the live long day if that were an option. And he also likes narrating his own stories summary style. It's just the reading the actual words that gets him tired out right now. 

6. The other day I drew a picture and he asked if he could add some words. So he did. Then he said, "I love this. I am the author and you are the illustrator." So funny. This kid. VBS gave me some interesting insight into how he interacts at school. He is just stone faced unless he is overwhelmingly excited. He doesn't like to participate much. But he drinks it all in. We played VBS almost every day when we got home, and he's spouting off bible memory buddies and sayings. Super cute. But you'd never know that by watching him while he's there. 

Yesterday at dinner he made Minnesota with his pizza. He cracks me up. 

7. And that's really all I know. Have a happy safe weekend! 

VBS Goings On

Greetings from the midst of the Maker Fun Factory VBS Week.

It's been a wild ride.

I have learned that I can drum up my camp counselor persona like it wasn't seven years ago I last used that skill. I have also learned that being in charge of five preschoolers is a lot more demanding seven years later. Ha! We used to have a team of three for 20 kids so I should be used to this. Oh well. Of course I am older and wiser.

There are many things to say both positive and negative about this experience but ultimately I am glad to get my volunteer hours in a positive way where I can meet people.

And I may be singing/dreaming/breathing this song for the foreseeable future.

See you on the other side. Friday at noon is going to come fast and slow all at the same time.

Family Fun Weekend?

So we are kind of on a roll with packing in the summer adventures. If you recall, you may not, that's okay because I am about to tell you, last weekend we saw A Year With Frog and Toad locally and then Husband and C went to see The Little Mermaid on Father's Day. Monday we went strawberry picking. All week we had swim lessons and Thursday Husband had a day trip for work.

Friday brought some more fun with our annual night in the baseball suite. We do this every year. It could be considered a tradition but it is just a perk of the job we wouldn't continue doing otherwise so... not a tradition. 

Because it was a Friday our ball park has fireworks after the game. Last year we left after the seventh inning stretch and it was like 8:15. So we figured we would stay for the fireworks. We haven't actually taken the kids to fireworks before and we figured we should do a test run before Disney. Suffice it to say that plan backfired on us. LONGEST GAME EVER. And then in the top of the ninth, the other team rallied to 6-7 and I told the kids if we went to extra innings we would not be staying. But the home team won and we saw the fireworks. 

Yesterday one of Husband's cousins got married so we went and did the whole wedding thing. It was about an hour and twenty minutes away so luckily we didn't have to stay the night. It was a pretty fun wedding and my kids looked cute even if only one would look at the phone. 

At the reception, C was channeling Dear Evan Hansen with the wedding favor coozie. It made me laugh. 

When the we decided we were good to go (we waited for the first relatives to leave then waited a half hour longer) we changed the kids into pajamas and headed back for home. 20 minutes later we had planned to stop at Hurt's Donuts for a special treat. They have a serious reputation and I had never been there. Usually when we drive through that town we are just trying to get home, but it was a little more leisurely yesterday. The kids were still awake so we brought them in and bought super interesting and overly sugary donuts. 

I will say that I love they are open 25/8 (their words) and make interesting donuts. The kids loved the cookie monster ones and the raised struesel is my new favorite donut ever. Some of the others like Cotton Candy, Cereal Killer and Dirt Worm look cool but are just whatever. 

Today was the most perfect day. 70 degrees and sunny. We had a special lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, an outing to Michael's and then we stopped at got Coldstone. We have never taken the kids there but I have wanted to for a long time. They loved it. And we walked in and no one was there. Even the employees were in the back area. I have never been were I haven't had to wait. It was kind of exciting for the people who came in after us to wait for us. And bonus! The even had banana ice cream. Coldstone banana ice cream is the best. 

And also this morning at church I picked up my shirt for tomorrow and all week because it's VBS week and somehow I volunteered to be a Preschool Crew Leader! So bright and early tomorrow I will be rocking my green shirt, M will go to babysitting and C will be in another crew at VBS. Pray for me! 

So this week looks to be another fun week heading into another fun weekend... we're just go go go I guess. But it's so fun to live life with my family and make those memories! 

Swimming and Back Packs

Today marks the last day of swimming lessons.

I am kind of sad about that actually. Swim lessons were the perfect thing for us this past two weeks. They gave us some semblance of structure without being too much. Plus it has given M and I some special alone time without C. I didn't even realize my heart missed my mornings with my girl, but I did/do and I am glad to have had time with her in the pool.

It's so easy to get one-on-one time with C. He doesn't nap so we can hang out while M does. On weekends he can even take outings with one of us during that time. So it has been good to squeeze in what I can with M during the swim lessons and know that C is perfectly content and safe.

And this is all on top of the fact that being safe around the water is important to me and swimming is such a good physical endeavor. I really hope they want to swim on a team some day. I kind of dig that it's a team/individual sport. I mean, you're on a team, but your performance is directly linked to how you do all by yourself. Plus... inside sport!

After her third year of Parent/Tot M passed and will finally move to Tot Poles next year! C did not pass level 1 in this two weeks but that doesn't come as a shock to me. He has like no body fat and just sinks. He is not afraid and throws himself into glides and back floats no problem. He thinks he's doing it but he just isn't yet. No worries. Plenty of time! Everyone had fun and that is definitely important to me!

Yesterday the kid's backpacks arrived. They are so happy. I am happy they're happy but I am this much annoyed that the only size appropriate backpacks for M are animals. It doesn't matter the brand either. Skip Hop. Land's End. Pottery Barn Kids. Dabbawalla. I am also bummed that L.L. Bean discontinued their Jr. Packs which is what I intended to get but... whatever. If they don't want to take my money I can't make them. I settled for and am pleased with the backpacks I picked from Land's End.

M got this purple owl. It was the least LOUD animal backpack and we like purple and owls. So it worked. The stripes are cute too.

And she LOVES it. Just adores it. She has never had a backpack before so the concept is really novel for her. 

C got a more basic (which is clearly the way to my heart because... see my Primary post from a few days ago,) backpack. 

He has had a backpack before so this one is slightly less interesting to him. But still interesting enough because it's a decent one as compared to the free one one of my brother's got from work that he had been using. I didn't get monograms on the packs but I am kind of loving in this picture that this one has mine on it! 

So swimming and back packs are what's interesting here. Happy Thursday!

A Berry Adventure

Every family has a few sacred traditions. We don't have many but we do have a few. We go see Disney on Ice around the beginning of December. We make a gingerbread house from scratch before Christmas. Clearly Christmas is my big "we do traditions" holiday with it's two traditions.

But in early June we have one more and that is when we go strawberry picking. This year we weren't sure it was going to happen. It was a really cool and wet May which greatly limited the berries. Then the weekend we thought we could go, the berries weren't ready. This past weekend was too busy to work it in. And the Iowa berry season is really short. So that was it. I was bummed but I would have gotten over it I think. I am not sure the kids would have. They love fruit. You probably don't remember but M was even a strawberry for Halloween this past year. 

But yesterday, Husband decided to cut out of work at 2:30 and we woke M up from nap and headed out to pick berries. And by headed out I mean it because we had to go to the same patch as last year which is about an hour away. 

We got there. Got our row assignment and headed out. We were in our row for about five minutes and I also managed to take two really good pictures. 

And then it started to rain.

We tried to keep going for a few minutes but it got harder and darker and the kids and I started making our way to the car. Well, C and I did anyway. M does this thing in the rain where she just can't move. I don't get it. She wants to move forward I think but she can't move more than an inch at a time. 

So I ran back down the row, grabbed M and carried her to the car in the now down pour. Husband was trying to keep picking during all this rig-a--ma-roll. Once M and I got to the car where C was running around like a chicken with his head cut off, I just opened the back hatch of the van and we all climbed in. The third row seat is out and we've been using that as our changing area after swim lessons so it was the perfect place to huddle. Then it started to hail and Husband came running in.

After a little while the little system passed and M and Husband headed back out in the lingering sun shower. C wasn't having any of that and we stayed in the car until there was no precipitation at all. So we picked out berries. Once we had filled our box and the bugs were annoying we took the obligatory picture in front of the sign. Which also is a framer.

Then on the way to weigh the berries and pay... the handle of our big box broke and it was strawberries ALL over the dirt and gravel parking lot. Yep. Husband picked the 14 pounds of berries up while I kept our kids from crushing them and eventually we were all on our way.

This picture was taken to show that the sun did come out, not because I thought we were going to spill the berries. But it works for both!

Since it was later than we planned to leave because of the rain storm, we got McDonald's to take home. Well the bad luck rain and spilling reversed itself because the kids got the walrus and penguin beanie babies in their Happy Meals without us even asking. That was like a miracle. And the kids were so so excited. "How did Old McDonald's know it was my favorite animal!?"

After the kids went to bed, Husband and I washed the strawberries really really well. Like soaking them, and individually rinsing them well. We got a bunch into the freezer, some in the fridge for eating and then I made the fresh strawberry sauce I make annually. So pretty much the perfect ending to the day.

Our strawberry picking tradition held up and with a particularly interesting twist to the whole thing this year. The pictures exist solely to provide evidence we didn't skip 2017 but it was such an adventure I don't think any of us will ever forget. It's the thing legends are made of. "Remember when we picked strawberries and it started to downpour? And then the box spilled?"

Awesome. I am so thankful for my family and our adventures. 

Primary

This is NOT a sponsored post. These people have no idea who I am, other than I guess if they looked me up they could tell I was a customer. But when you find something awesome you just have to share it! Primary! They sell kids clothes in solid colors. No prints, sparkles or phrases. Just solid colors in lots of different styles. Pants. Shirts. Swimwear. Pajamas. Undies. Shorts. Dresses. If you need some basic items in your kid's wardrobe this is the place for you.

The idea is a great one. You can always find a sparkly "I am so cute" shirt but it's sometimes hard to find the just solid colored hoodie to match lots of things. Never fear. They have sizes from babies 0-3 up to kids 12 and they have everything. And at really reasonable prices and free shipping always. Not slow shipping either.

Do you have a little girl? I am loving the under short for under dresses and skirts. I asked the blog about this very topic around Easter. These are awesome. Eventually when she gets to school, M will have to wear specific colored leggings or shorts under her jumper... well I know my go to source for sure!

One of the things I like so much about their site is a lot of the items are unisex. For instance the gym short.  For each size, they show you the item on a boy or a girl. And not just they photo shopped the color of shorts different, the same kid is shown playing in every color. Plus they tell you the model's name, height and weight so you can make an informed decision.

As it turns out the gym shorts are great for M! She loves them. But they are a little big for C. (But going down a size which is what M wears, they were too short in the leg.) C is so very very slim that even tied they slip. Even though Primary offers free returns we kept them because they are so comfy for around the house. In public, C has been rocking the short. The have an adjustable waist and they fit great and he looks very put together.

So far we've tried the under short, the gym short, the short, the classic tee and the slim tee. (which is the BEST fit on M, so flattering!) I loved them all so so much that I just ordered M the midi short to try out and also got the hoodie as well. I expect I will be pleased! I can't wait to try the short sleeved dress and the pjs next!

Once you create an account they keep track of all your purchases in a virtual closet, so you can look and see what you have and in what sizes. They have an easy "size up" button too so you can order your favorites if they've been outgrown. Which is such easy technology and is so smart. The Primary creators are obviously moms!

Their story is awesome! I bet you've thought these things before shopping for your kids! I sure wish this had been available my kid's entire lives, I am a big fan! Even if you are 100% happy with your kids wardrobe as is, remember this as a reference when it's Halloween costume time and you need to find solid colored things to go underneath their costumes!

Let's recap: easy to care for kids clothes that fits great, looks great and doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Yep. It's good stuff.

Remember this picture from last weekend? C is wearing The Short in slate gray and M is wearing The Slim Tee in lilac. I am not kidding when I tell you these clothes quickly became wardrobe staples at our house.

I get nothing for telling you about this but the site does offer 20% your first purchase so go nuts!

Seven Quick Things

1. We had a storm Thursday night, just a severe thunderstorm not a tornado, and it was awesome. If you like storms that is. I didn't realize the "chance of storms" was going down until a massive gust of wind shook our house when we (the grown ups) were watching a show. It was such a cool storm to watch and we lost power. But sometime when we were sleeping it came back on so no harm.

2. Yesterday C took a nap. Which was the agreement if he wanted to stay up late and he did. He really wanted to catch the fireflies. It was a successful evening and he was ridiculously cute running around the backyard in his pajamas.

And then he slept in until 7:30 so since a song of joy! My kids are 6:45 wakers and that is when their "Okay to wake clocks" turn green and they're allowed out of bed. One resident two-year-old is often sent back to bed multiple times a morning until her clock turns green.

3. We had a family fun day today. This morning was the local production of 'A Year With Frog and Toad.' The whole family went and we were are all pretty excited about it!

It was definitely not as good as the CTC version. By a lot. But the kids really liked it. It was the truncated version which was SO GOOD for M who was getting kind of wiggly by the end. But she was so cute. The programs had a coloring page and she held hers up to show Frog and Toad at the beginning of the show. She also sang along. Which I am sure was a real treat for the kids at the tables around us. 

4. Then after lunch and nap for everyone we went out for a pizza dinner. There was another severe thunderstorm rolling in as we were leaving so we changed our minds about getting ice cream. (I am the most sad about that.) We came home and now we are watching Gnomeo and Juliet. I like this movie a lot and it features music by Elton John.

5. Since I am going to see Elton in November I've been listening to his music a lot and even my kids are getting into it. C really likes "Rocket Man." When his little voice sings "I miss my wife." I die just a little because it's so precious. It also cracks me up when a song comes on and he goes "Mom, this is Elton!"

6. Tomorrow is Father's Day! Our plans aren't super exciting though. I am going to get donuts for breakfast and then we have Mass and lunch. The girls are going to have a rest time and bake a dessert while the boys are going to go see The Little Mermaid musical at the local community theater. It's a big show weekend for C I guess. He is super excited.

7. So that's pretty much what is going on over here in our world. Not much but that's good!

Change of Plan

So you know that "curse" or Murphy's Law where you talk about something or blog about something and then it all goes to pieces? Like "Harper is sleeping through the night!" And then just after you say that all of a sudden Harper can't sleep more than 30 minutes in a row and even then only in a carrier while you sing 'The Noble Duke of York' in Spanish?

Well, my friends, that is how I feel about kindergarten. Because as it turns out C is not going to kindergarten next year.

And that is a hard thing for me to write because I want him to go to kindergarten. And, seriously, all of his friends and all of my friends who have kids both older and younger than him but in the same "school year" age are going to kindergarten and I am already feeling left behind. (And judged.)

But guess what it isn't about me! (And I am just going to have to deal with the judgement I guess.)

It's about C and doing what's best for him. And even though he is without a doubt in my mind 100% ready academically for kindergarten, I am all too aware that he is not ready for the pressure of kindergarten. It makes me mad that this is even a concern, but you know what? It is.

I am not sure why our society as a whole expects five-year-olds to worry about things like standardized tests but we do. And our school takes it to a different level. Which concerns me. C still gets really upset if he writes a letter incorrectly and he can't fix it. He is hyper-critical of his own mistakes. Even when they don't really matter. He is a perfectionist, a people pleaser and doesn't handle disappointment well.

He can read. He can write. He can do some basic math. The kid is smart. Definitely smarter than I was at five. But looking at the whole picture: the teachers next year, his classmates, his personality... we made the decision that kindergarten isn't the best fit. Husband is sure he spent less time deciding where to go to college than we did deciding on kindergarten. I don't know if that's true but we hashed it out for weeks. In the end, there was no right choice. Which is frustrating because I am a big believer in the pro/con list and they were of no help.

I think for most kids the choice is obvious, or there really isn't a choice made. They're ready or they're not. C falls solidly into the gray area. There really, truly wasn't a "right choice." So Transitional kindergarten here we come. It's 5 days a week but only in the afternoons, academic based and the teacher often sits in the pew behind us which I think is good. Ultimately erring on the side of time made the most sense to me. How will I ever regret an extra year of time with my guy?

He was pretty disappointed that he won't get to go to the "big school" next year but we have two months to make that palatable. (For me too.)

So there it is. A change of plans.

It's Monday!

Yesterday was a wonderful family day and we are all back to ordinary time. And, I love ordinary time the most. So it was a great day! We got this picture of the kids and if you've seen it already on Instagram... well here it is again.

We really don't have any great pictures of them recently so I was really happy with this "quick go outside and smile for Dad and I'll give you a Peppermint cookie delight!" picture. It's not the best but hey they are both looking and not talking so... a winner. It's funny because they keep asking why there aren't new pictures on our walls but also just have no time for photo shoots. Gooses.

In my true love for all things relating to the British crown, when I saw the article that the Queen's favorite nail polish was readily available at Walgreens I enlisted my mom for a trip. But she just ordered me some! It arrived last week and I love it. Apparently Queen Elizabeth and I have wonderfully similar taste in nail polish. So from where I sit, Essie Ballet Slippers is legit! It doesn't have the lasting power of OPI Bubble Bath but it's half the price so...

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find kid's conditioner?! All of the kid shampoo is basically discontinued and the stuff they stores have is 3 -in-1. Which for C is just fine. Kid can use his shampoo for body wash and get along just fine. But M is a different story. She is finally getting a decent length of hair and it's fine but still curls up pretty well. Her hair needs conditioner! And the leave in stuff wasn't working, plus I kind of don't love green apple scented anything.

I broke down an ordered the L'oreal Kids Conditioner I wanted from Amazon Prime Pantry. I don't use Prime Pantry on principle because of the shipping charge but enough was enough. It's making all the difference in her hair not being a giant rats nest any time she sleeps or rides in the car. Hallelujah!

It just surprises me that Suave for Kids runs the market on kid shampoo and no one seems to care or mind except me. Do you have young kids? What are you using for shampoo?

Swim lessons today went very well! Besides the "first day" meeting which I swear gets longer every year! Anyway, C's class is actually right next to M's class so I can peek over and see how he's doing. It's perfect. And he doesn't have his terrible teacher from last summer. (Who was there!) There are only 3 other kids in M's class and she is by far the oldest, but that's okay. She loves the water and had so much fun today. So far so good!!

Some of Our Activities

In trying to make sure my children's minds are stimulated properly this summer I planned some activities. Yesterday I declared it "Cookie Day."

First C cut out two circles to be the cookies out of a paper grocery bag. Then he wrote the word cookie on them. After the "cookies" were ready we played a game. We had three dice and the kids took turns rolling them, counting the number and then placing that number of chocolate chips on their cookie. Once my little pile (aka leftover bit of a bag) was gone, then they rolled the dice to see how many they could eat. M had totally system breakdown and once she started eating she didn't stop. C ate only what he rolled and at the end, with one chocolate chip left, he rolled a lot of rolls before he got a one! After the game we listened to some cookie songs and then read some books about cookies. Then I sent them off to play again.

I call that fine motor skills, spelling, (cookie is a word he can spell without help already but it's still good practice) subitizing (knowing what number is on the dice without counting, C has pretty much got that down now) counting, the beginnings of addition and subtraction, snack, reading and music. That's like a full day of elementary skills in about 20 minutes which is all I am committing to this summer.

And it turns out it doesn't matter at all if I want them to have focused learning time because all my guy wants to do is write books. Mo Willems books. Here is a recent sample:

He's going through paper like mad! He ran out of the light blue paper yesterday and had to switch to the green paper and he doesn't care for it as much. It's not stopping him though. These are just the books from the past two days.

The books he has written are: The Pigeon 123, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Car, The Pigeon Gets a Book, The Pigeon in Trouble, Pigeon and Duckling, The Pigeon Wants a Walrus, The Pigeon Find a Walrus. 

I think Mo should give us a call for a creative consult because C's The Pigeon 123 is actually a really astute book and would make a good addition to the Smigeon of a Pigeon board books that he's already got in the collection. In it, Pigeon finds 1 hot dog, 2 cookies, 3 buses and then 10 hot dogs and 11 cookies. Mo could change the items certainly but the idea is sound.

Also, The Pigeon Wants a Walrus is the obvious sequel to The Pigeon Wants A Puppy, (a real Mo Willems book) where in the end he changes his mind and wants a walrus. (In C's version, he decides a cat is better choice at the end.)

You probably don't care about my 5-year-old and his current obsession with creating books in the style of his favorite author, I'm getting a little sick of it myself, but I mention it only because clearly I don't actually have to plan learning time because it's happening organically. I am practically unschooling over here. *Pats self on the back even though I did nothing except find the paper and occasionally spell a word for the kid.*

This morning we went to a park for a good long time. We had the entire park to ourselves which was so nice. I let them play until they decided they wanted to come home which took about an hour and a half. That's the recipe for a good summer I think. Outside in the cooler mornings and tire 'em out good.

A Little Look at June (So Far)

So it's June. I know. I am just as shocked as you.

We are settling into our routine of summer vacation just fine. The first day was a little rough but now we've got it down. My recipe is easy breakfasts, minimum screen time, inclusion of learning time, and everyone in their room for quiet/rest time for a bit in the afternoon. So far so good.

I also made a meal plan not just for dinner but for all the meals just to take the mystery out of it. Also, so far so good. I like that since I am just feeding my family I can swap the days if I am not grooving on something but all the ingredients are in the house anyway.

In some recap business last Sunday, still in May, we took C to see A Year with Frog and Toad. And he liked it. I think if we are being fair, Husband enjoyed it the most of the group but that was to be expected. He loves the show and bought the Original Broadway Cast album the day it came out so... yeah. I said to him at intermission "You look delighted." And he said back, "Well it's delightful."

C clearly takes after me where he watches much much more intensely and drinks it all in. I actually didn't think he liked it one bit while we were there. But the whole way home he talked about it and has been recreating the show so he probably did. It was funny though, at one point the scene came up with a little music and he said "This is the song about being alone." It was not his first Frog and Toad rodeo, he knew the soundtrack coming in.

As far as more recent news we started potty training yesterday. It wasn't successful. I clearly must have blocked out potty training C because I have no memory of how we did it. Especially with a little baby M involved. I will try again in a few days. M is stubborn so no need to force the issue and make it a drama.

Swim lessons start next week. I am trying to stay positive but we'll see. I am doing the parent child class with M at the same time C swims. Which really is the best plan for everyone. The evening lessons just didn't work for C, he just isn't as his best then. And it's more fair for M to not have to miss out either. But I don't like that I won't be able to observe his class. And I just hope M doesn't hate her class. This will be her third summer in this same class. (Red cross, seriously time to start letting 2 year olds take "real swim" with a parent in the water.) I wish there were more options in our area but thems the breaks.