The List

I feel the need to make a list of what I did today. It was one of those days that I felt like I was running around like a mildly crazy person, but not really getting anywhere. Maybe it will make me feel better to list everything out so I can see where the hours went.

packed lunches
made breakfast
drop kids at schools
3 loads of laundry
remade two beds
weekly trip to Trader Joes
monthly trip to Costco
picked kids up from school
homemade chicken noodle soup
short run
finish a small knitting project
tutored for a half hour
read to the kids
watched swimming videos with kids
made three phone calls

So, yeah, that makes me feel a little better. There were a few of those things I'd forgotten about until I sat down to do this, and since most of these things weren't listed on a to do list anywhere, it isn't like I got to cross all these items off.

And now, I think I'm going to read, or watch mindless Netflix before bedtime. Even though those three loads of laundry haven't been folded. (My streak ended with the end of the month--it was a nice run while it lasted.)

The Final Count Down

 

Before we submit to packing lunches, crazy mornings, school-dictated schedules, homework, and early bedtimes, we had one last week to try to pack in the last few things from our Summer Fun List. (I'm telling you, lists are my friends.) We did pretty good this summer with a couple turning out impossible, one park the kids told me they didn't actually want to visit, and only a couple things that we haven't managed to fit in but I'm planning to still try in the upcoming weeks. But this week:

 

Tuesday was Rio 2 at the $1 movie & Free Night at the Schiele Museum.

Peanut was both entranced and slightly terrified of the "elephant" (AKA mastodon).

 

He actually channeled some new found bravery and kept running off and following random strangers around the museum. He hung out with this nice man for a few minutes, but he also ran off where I couldn't find him for a couple minutes. I'm all for confidence, but I wish he'd find slightly less open public places to try it out.

Followed by a short hike on their nature trail to see the grist mill.

 

And the stone age heritage site.

Kids had a great time revisiting favorite spots and I was pleasantly surprised at the small crowds.

 

Wednesday morning was less of a fun day, and more school focused. Bean got to check out her new classroom at the temporary location for the 5th graders (temporary is relative--she'll be there all this year, we're hoping not for 6th, but that is yet to be determined when the figure out where the actual middle school will be located) and then we went shoe shopping and picked up the last couple school supplies. But that afternoon, we got to spend a few hours at the pool with friends from swim team and the neighborhood. The pool closing is one of the saddest things for me as Labor Day approaches.

 

And Wednesday evening brought our newest family member home. Meet Tumtum:

 

 

After swearing that we weren't going to keep one, and even finding homes for three of the babies at the kids' school, the kids wore me down. He's sweet and cute and the kids really did a great job taking care of 3 cages, so I figured only having one would feel easy. And be less stinky.

 

Thursday was our stay at home day. Lazy morning, a little work done, and then an afternoon spent crafting. I think we were all ready for some down time and it was a great way to use up some of the craft kits the kids have received for birthdays.

   

We made "tie-dye" soap.

 

 

And then made a mess of the craft room scrapbooking and building dinosaur skeletons. I haven't figured out how to fit in "clean up the house" before everyone goes back to school. It's not as bad as most summers, but we have some messy build-up in a few less visible corners/rooms.

 

Then, we got to go to the "midnight" swim for swim team, again. This is the third one they have scheduled, with the first one being cut short when someone couldn't keep their dinner down (this is the problem with doing the swim right after the potluck dinner), and the second one was stormed out. But this one actually happened. Kids stayed up way too late, giving us only 4 nights to get back on track before the brutal 7 a.m. wake up calls begin. I hope Bean survives the transition.

 

This morning was more back-to-school stuff--conferences with both teachers while the kids played at a friends' house. More on all the school stuff later, but I'm very excited about this coming year!

  

And then a quick trip to The Last Word to cash in on the final week of their summer reading program (seriously such a great program--for every 10 books they read, they get a $5 credit to the store, and they can do it 4 times. $20 at the used book store goes a long way!)

 

And now, as we enter the final weekend before school, Daddy-o gets to take the kids to a birthday party and to play tomorrow while I'm heading off to cash in on my birthday present: a night away at a local hotel. Sleeping in, reading by the pool and only getting in if I want to, eating meals in peace. I'm kind of excited.  

Monthly Update

As promised, I'm going to try to do a short update at the first of the month so the people who don't have hours to spend reading about our exciting family can still get a glimpse of our lives :)

So in July, I got another year older, Daddy-o continued to play with the numbers at Ford, we took a couple trips to explore Michigan and Ohio, battled some rough nights, colds, Bugaboo got his first tooth and figured out how to come down the stairs, as well as getting more and more stable on his feet--he can balance for a few seconds without any support and cruises like a madman when he wants something, and Bean continues to amaze us with the funny statements she comes up and her interest in letters and words. Just the last few days, she's begun pointing out what letter words we say start with ("F, F, F --flower starts with F!"). There's only a handfull of letters that she's consistantly able to come up with, but we think she's doing pretty good for 3.

We're just about done here in Michigan--only 2.5 more weeks before we start the trek back to Utah, and we're trying to fit in all of the "one last time"'s. On our list of things to still do:

go to Canada (and here's a little fun trivia about Detroit--this is the only city in the US where you drive SOUTH to get to Canada--go look on a map if you don't beleive me!),

Ride the Model T's at Greenfield Village--Daddy-o still hasn't made it with us for this

visit Mackinaw Island--we're heading up there for the weekend

Get my hair cut (ok, this one has nothing to do with Detroit, but I've been trying to get a haircut since April and still haven't managed it)

ride the people mover downtown

go to a baseball game

Go see Harry Potter at the IMAX

And right now this is all sounding pretty overwhelming because we have a pretty sick household. Daddy-o has had a cold with a pretty bad sore throat/cough for almost a week now, Bean had a virus that caused her to break out in a rash, Bugaboo has pink-eye as well as a nice bruise and pair of scratches on his cheek because of a shopping cart incident, and just this morning, I woke up with a sore throat and a headache, so I'm sure that its just my turn with whatever it is that is running rampant through our family.

It's been a rough week.

Thankful Time

I've been thinking about what I'm going to miss about this summer when we head back in a month, so here's the list I've come up with. Some of these things are definately looking on the bright side of things.

• Greenfield Village--think I've already explained that one!
• green trees everywhere
• not having to use lotion (thanks, humidity--glad there is something its good for)
• the historical neighborhood we live in--I love my morning jogs past all these well-kept homes from the 30's and 40's--and the shady streets, thanks again to the green trees, are beautiful
• fireflies--none of us had ever seen them and they are just beautiful! The other night I pulled into our neighborhood at peak firefly time and it felt magical driving along with these little glowing lights moving all around me--like I was in Peter Pan or something
• storytime at the library--Provo's storytime is awesome, but if you don't get there early, you can't find a place to sit. This one is good sized, friendly, and with plenty of room
• having friends who live in our complex--its been so fun doing an internship with 3 other families right here as well
• the ward--this ward has been so friendly and we feel more at home than we have for the past year. We have callings, have spoken in sacrament meeting, and been invited over to three different families homes for BBQ's. We really feel like we're needed and that people know who we are, which is a nice feeling--it had been awhile
• Bean having friends to play with--Provo was pretty lonely for her this last year--hoping we can fix that this year!
• Trader Joe's--I love that place and am already planning my list of things to stock up on when we leave
• having new places to explore--I'd never been to this part of the country so its been a great adventure
• And probably the biggest one: Having Daddy-o around in the evenings with no homework to do!!!!! It's felt like a vacation even though he has to work 8-5.

Everything hasn't been great, but a lot of the hard times we've had would have happened whether we were here or in Provo or even San Diego, our heaven on earth (like the fact that I haven't gotten more than 2 hours of sleep in a row, and less than 5 hours total, for the last 2 nights). So I'm glad this summer has been fun and we've found a lot of great things out here in Dearborn.