The Summer....A letter of apology

Dear Children,

The summer is over and I'm not sure if I should rejoice and celebrate or cry.  It's been a summer.  Our house has been re-listed, which meant loads of cleaning and showing and this momma stressing.  Your Poppa had a really big surgery and had a very rough recovery.  It stressed me, Nanny and Mimi out.  There were ups and downs and all kinds of bumps in the road.  The good news he is home and now driving Mimi crazy while on a road to a full recovery.

So I guess those things were stressful and I admit I was a little stressed, and therefore I let your summer down.  I let you stay up late and then woke you up early for the gym.  I did fun things with you, but stayed on you correcting you like little soldiers the entire time we did the fun things. I never got into the moment.  I was always sort of removed and my mind somewhere else.  I hardly ever enjoyed or seized the moment.  I was tired and lazy.

We had our fair share of days at the pool.  We took 2 vacations, although one as shortened and rainy the entire time.  You had a lot of babysitters and days home.  You didn't seem to mind.  It was probably nice to not have me breathing down your neck yelling to keep the house orderly or stop fighting.

We skipped out on the summer reading program at the library, even though I had the best intentions and signed us all up.  We only made one trip and one event.  I didn't even get the books we checked out back on time and we never checked any out again all summer.  You still read at home though.  Meredith you read to everyone.  You did your workbooks and you painted with watercolors and you cut and glued and used all sorts of pipe cleaners.  But I always fussed about the mess.  We had movie nights, but the popcorn wasn't there.

I bought cup cake mix and lots of icing and sprinkles and declared on the first day that we were baking them on the first day off.  The mix and icing and sprinkles still sit on the pantry shelf.

We did playdates, but not as many as we normally do.  We went to the pool and we did camps, and we stayed busy.  We fit in the children's museum and waterpark, but I always felt overwhelmed.  We went to the movies and jumpy places.  We did chuck-e-cheese and maybe we did Gattitown, I really just can't remember.  We ate out a lot, like all summer and you often asked for home-cooked meals.  You spent a lot of nights with just your dad, while I sat with Mimi at the hospital.  I missed you.

I guess in a nutshell, I'm apologizing.  For being a mom who was missing from the moment this summer.  I promise to always do better.  You guys were 6,4 and 2.  I expected and demanded you act a lot older.  It wasn't fair and this Momma is sorry.

I love you guys and I'm already sad that school is back in, but I promise, come 3 o'clock I'm going to the bestest momma in the world.  And next summer....it's going to freaking ROCK!  Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break and Spring Break too!

Love,
Momma

It's a bird....It's a plane....It's super-suits!

Our new movie of choice in the homestead is The Incredibles.  Meredith absolutely loves it, and although it isn't Thomas or Cars, Noah likes it too.  We have owned it now about 2 weeks and watched it no less than 25 times.  A few weekends ago Josh took the kids to a superhero birthday party they were invited to.  I didn't realize that some of the kids were in superhero costumes, but my 4 year old let me know immediately that she was one of the kids who was not outfitted in her super gear.  She then asked if we thought her and Noah could get a super suit like the Incredibles in case they had another super hero party to go to, and for Halloween or just for everyday .  You never know when you may need to fight crime out in the country.  So I told her I would talk to the lady in the movie and see what she could do about two extra super suits.  Luckily she had some spare time and was able to whip up two extra suits and drop them off Friday night.  They were all laid out in the living room when the kids awoke Saturday morning.  They were thrilled.  We put Meredith's on immediately.  We had to convince Noah that if he put his on  he would be fast, but the robot from the movie would not show up at his house.  After a little convincing he put his on too.  They haven't taken them off since.

The super-tikes!  Violet and Dash.

Ready to fight crime.

Planning their next attack!  Eyes need to be closed for this!

After a day of fighting crime, all supers need a break with their blankies. 

Meredith chooses to watch herself on tv...

while Noah gets a little Thomas in...

Meredith wanted to know where mine and Josh's super suits were.  I told her they didn't make them for pregnant mommas and that I would have to wait until Margot arrives to get my own.  Come October if they are still in theirs I guess Josh and I will get some too for Halloween and see about a baby suit for Margot! 

Today is day 2 of super suits and after they awoke and ate breakfast, the super suits are back on!

From guppies to goldfish!

The first two weeks of June the kids took swimming lessons.  They had 8 half hour sessions scheduled and due to the rain we made 7 of those 8 sessions.  The kids cried the first three sessions and reluctantly did what they were told and swam.  Then on the fourth session something changed and they both got in and swam without tears.  And they actually SWAM.  As in kicking their feet, moving their arms and gracefully in Meredith's case glided back and forth across the pool.

This is monumental for us.  Last year it was a fight to get Meredith into the pool with floaties.  Noah was a baby at 18 months, but he still took lessons and was indifferent.  This year though my guppies turned into little fish!  The can both swim.  Meredith can jump off and swim across the pool.  I have no fear of her  not being able to make it to the side and get herself out, of course that doesn't mean I won't be hyper vigilant with her in a pool. 

Noah has absolutely no fear, tons of confidence, but his swimming skills are still not so that he could get himself out of a drowning situation.  I've had to jump in after him twice.  Both times he came up smiling and proudly announced "I'm wimming momma....I'm wimming!"  I cannot take my eyes off of him for a millisecond, because he will find his way to the deep end and be "wimming by me-self".  I have to say this new talent from my two tikes makes me very proud and swimming a whole lot more fun.  Of course their bravery also makes me a tad nervous that they may actually wander outside of their mimi's house alone and decide to go for a swim alone as well.....well let me be honest, I don't fear Meredith would do that, but I have no doubt that given the opportunity Noah would.

My bathing beauty, waiting for her lesson to begin.  She will only wear teeny bikinis at the age of 4!

My big girl swimming across the pool.

And my baby boy showing off his mad skills too!

By me-self momma....wimming by me-self, I swear he looks just like a little fish!

Rainy summer days

It has rained everyday this summer....I kid you not.  Which just proves how hot it is....even the sky knows it needs to cool this summer down.  The rain has not put a damper on our summer though.  We have made the best of it.  Hell, let's be honest, the kids missed swimming lessons Friday due to the rain and they were thrilled.  BEST NEWS OF THE DAY!  Meredith was proud to announce once she knew they were cancelled that, that was going to be the day she didn't cry. 

So with all the rain and lightening and thundering that has been around lately, we decided to make the best of it.  What do you do after a powerful storm....you play in puddles.  Unfortunately we only have a little puddle in front of our house, so we are forced to drive the jeeps around the corner to  hang out in the best puddle in the neighborhood.

We run really fast through it.

And jump really high in them!  The bigger the splash the better.

We then make delicious mud pies!

Which we try very hard to get our momma to taste!  Sorry guys baby Margot refuses to eat mud pies!

We then clean up our muddy hands!

And then repeat the process all over again! Run, jump, muddy hands...then clean up!

This never gets old....and makes for two happy smiling faces!

Smiley, little dirty faces that is!

But it's summer and if you can't get a little wet and dirty on those hot summer days when can ya!

On the backburner

For the past several weeks that is exactly where this blog has been. While I somewhat use the blog to chronicle my children's lives and record milestones, it is mainly for me. An outlet if you will. Adult interaction. A place I can come and retell a story or a funny situation or just express my feelings. So I needed a break.

With the summer winding down I decided to put the blog away and soak up the last few days of summer with the kids. There has been lots going on around here. The kitchen is finished. I am still waiting on the new hardware and that will need to be installed once it arrives....which should be anyday, but overall the kitchen is finished. Hallefreakinluja! The pictures will come soon.....my camera is in the shop. I promise I am not just stalling to be mean. I have now taken on the task of redecorating my family room and dining room. However that is slow going. I will post pictures of the completed and beautiful renovations as soon as my Nikon is fixed. I promise!

Since my blogging has slacked off this summer drastically here is a recap...

-two beach vacations
-two trips to see Grandpa
- a trip to the Aquarium
- a tea party for just the girls
- Noah started gymnastics
- both tikes finished up with gymnastics
- swimming lessons
- pottery painting
- many trips to the "BIG" movies to see kids flicks
- many trips to Mimi's pool
- a few trips to the local country club pool
- going to a restaurants just for desert after dinner
- many evening snowballs
- dance camp
- got RID of the PACI, well one tike did
- bible school
- story time at the library
- booked a trip to Disney for the fall
- threw a pool party
- got rid of the loser cruiser
- bought a bus
- got a blow up pool for the driveway
- popped the blow up pool on the second day we owned it
- summer birthday parties
- some backyard barbeques
- dinner parties
- sleepovers
- a new kitchen
- lost my mind
- a new living room
- sleeping in until 9am
- yelled at contractors
- got bricked!
- joined the gym
- gained 2lbs since joining...attributing that to muscle gain
- no more napping for 3 year olds
- skipped naps for 1 year olds
- more waiting until 9am to wake the kids
- a trip to the waterpark
- many late evening bike rides
- successfully weaned Noah from his bottle
- unsuccessfully weaned Noah from his "uh-oh"
- neighborhood walks
- fired my husband from landscaping duties
- hired a landscaper
- got some much needed pea gravel....thanks Cole!
- moved furniture around alot
- actually painted the toy room by myself
- had three rooms painted professionally, including the repainting of the toy room
- movie nights at home
- many mornings snuggling in mommy's bed
- lots of mornings with cinnamon rolls for breakfast
- found my mind last week and now I am slowly adjusting to having it again.

Yes another summer has come and gone and with that my blog vacation. Things will once again be up and running around here at 2 tikes! Looking forward to getting back in touch with ya!

Here is a small glimpse of our summer....as you can see I didn't take my camera out too much!