Start of Summer

Well, summer is officially here. After a weekend camping, a week of fun activities at school and then a fun weekend at the lake, Zack had the NERVE to ask me Tuesday morning if we could do something FUN that day! Not to mention we leave for Disney for a week on Saturday. I hated to be the one to tell him that he was in for a very boring week with me getting us ready for our big trip!

So after we get back I think I am going to have to detox my kids from constant motion and entertainment. After having been in a first grade classroom this semester I know that their days are jam packed. Even in preschool they are on the go all day long. Well, here at home, we are not.

This is my first summer not in school in two years. Here is what I want to accomplish:

• TV on less
• Video games on less
• Eat fresher food
• Less fighting between brothers
• Work on fine motor skills with Zack
• Read with the kids more
• More library trips
• LOTS of time at the pool
• More calm

I think those are all attainable goals...

I feel like sometimes our life is go go go and there are days that I just want it to stop. I don't want to have a "to-do" list or a packing list that needs to be attended to. I just want to be. I want to sit on my back porch GUILT FREE and read a book. I want to watch my kids run around in the yard under a sprinkler and not worry about the "water police" ticketing me.

So, as I write this it is near the end of the day. The boys have been fighting a lot today, but I am hoping this is part of the detox process. The TV has been on less and they are building vehicles out of Lego's. This is what it is all about...right here. Not how many camps or vacations we can plan or friends we can have over to occupy our time, but the time that they are forced to be calm and be creative. So what that they are building vehicles to "bomb" each other, the TV is NOT on!!! Small miracles, small miracles.

So ask me at the end of the summer if I reached my goals, I hope for my sanity and that of my family we will!!!

Happy Summer!!!!

I'm Here! I'm Here!!

I promise I am here...I just noticed that it has been well over a month since my last post...

Lots has happened, but I am taking a big deep breat before lots more happens!! Michael and I figured out that our next "off" weekend is in 5 weeks! We are going camping this week, the lake the next, Disney for a week the next, camping again!!! We are crazy!

First and foremost I finished my semester!! It was awesome! I loved being in the classroom fulltime and was reminded that yes, I really do want to teach when I grow up!

The boys started their respective sports...Zack, baseball, Carter, soccer...

They are over now and I guess I have to start making dinner again!

I also went a fabulous vacation (wink, wink) with my WHOLE family...sisters, parent, niece, nephews, kiddos and no hubbies to the great state of Ohio! My 93 year old grandmother lives there and we went for a visit. It was wonderful to see her and she is an amazing woman. She lived through things and did things that I cannot even imagine. But she is as humble as they come. I remind myself over and over when I go through something just a little tough, that I have a little Agnes in me and I need to buck up!!

Grama paid for us to stay in a hotel (I can't imagine why she didn't want 11 people staying in her house). It had an indoor pool and places for the kids to run around. I'm not sure it was a good thing, but the hotel staff knew Carter by name.

Here are me, Molly and Megan with the girl cousins from my mom's side...I don't like standing next to them because they are all tall and skinny. Plus they run for fun rather than because some mad man is chasing them down...
Carter at the indoor pool!! He took the life jacket off soon after this and realized he could SWIM!!!

And here is Carter and my sweet Grama. Isn't she beautiful...I hope I age as well as she has. Carter was really sweet to her and was sure to love on her!! She ate it up!!

We had a family reunion of sorts while we where there...the Metzger side and the Kelley side. It was great to see my cousins, but so many people that I had no idea who they where!

I have also been busy helping my mom get a little business going. She was "forced" to retire at the end of last year and now she is starting a business to cushion their income and to continue to support their ministries. Go check it out... http://www.mykittywhampus.blogspot.com/

So summer is about to start...just two weeks left until school is out for the kids. I have grand plans for the summer. In between all of our travels I plan to be at the pool reading. So if you know of any good reads, let me know!!