Summertime, Summertime, Sum-Sum-Summertime

So school is out and we officially have a 7th grader, 1st grader and Kindergartner in the house. I was so ready for the school year to be over. It has been a very challenging year with 3 kids in school and everything that having children entails...and then some. I am sure my kids' teachers were feeling about the same way with the school year.

We eased into the summer by not doing much of anything this weekend. We did some yard work, hit some tag sales, went to church and met my parents for lunch. I didn't do all of the digging, weeding and involuntary tree removal that I wanted to because of the rain, but I did get to some of that. And I am so grateful for the rain. It made weeding that much easier and the rain cleaned the air around our home.

This weekend we wanted to try to make a cool (literally) breakfast treat - Yogurt Popsicles with Strawberries and Kiwi - but we ran into a snag. The 4-popsicle mold we have is missing the tops/sticks and our local Walmart did not have ANY popsicle molds. Aubri and I checked last night....3x. We were at Walmart an extra hour scouring each aisle. It was disheartening, but we improvised.



We got these cute little 4 oz jars that would be perfect for freezing baby food and used them to make the yogurt popsicles. We also got the complimentary dried herb jars too. Aren't they adorable?



This morning I had to run the jars under warm water to loosen the yogurt first.

Waiting Patiently

But it was worth the wait. Next time we will actually use popsicle sticks if we can find them. And we might have to get more of those cute jars.

Today we hung out at home. I watched 12 Years a Slave for the second time (with last night being the first) with Emi and Scott before I got busy cooking beef for the Tavern Sandwiches and hot dogs for a late lunch with his family. What a powerful movie! Out of all of the Oscar winners, this movie has been my favorite with Blue Jasmine being a close second. I did not love Dallas Buyer's Club, and American Hustle and Gravity were all okay. Maybe there was too much hype for those last three. Note: I haven't seen all of the Oscar winners and I am not a professional movie critic. When I watched Blue Jasmine, I was sick in bed on my birthday and Scott picked up that movie and some Nasacort and chocolate. I had no preconceived notions about the movie, I went in cold. Anywho...

After the family had eaten and we were hanging out around the pool, I decided to chillax a little and soaked up a little Vitamin D to last me through the week when I am a desk jockey.

Shameless Overexposed Selfie

The water is still a little too cold for me but the Little Ones didn't seem to mind. They swam for about four hours this afternoon, emerging pruny-fingered, blue-lipped and against their wills....



It's official, folks. Scott and I just saw the first fire flies (a.k.a. lightning bugs) of the season. It's summer!!!

Do you have any big time goals for this summer?

I have too many to list but a couple that I really want to accomplish are:

1. To become a runner again.
2. Family bike rides around campus. (This should be doable now that Aubri can ride unassisted).
3. Learn to play a musical instrument (The sitar is calling for me but it may end up being the piano, guitar or mandolin as that is what is currently available in my household.)
4. Grow something to fruition. (The almonds aren't looking so hot right now.)
5. Teach David and Aubri to proficiently read. 
6. Regular date night with the hubs.
7. Clean out the garage and host a garage sale.
8. Install iron/metal driveway gate.
9. Transform the back driveway.
10. Attend as many free outdoor concerts as we can.

(Ok, well I guess there weren't too many to list because that up there looks like a list to me.)