Return of a summertime favorite

One of the things I love most about this city I live in is the sense of community and small town feel. Nothing exemplifies that more than the annual farmers market. It's one of my favorite things about summer...leisurely strolls to the market (I live less than a mile away), then wandering from booth to booth, checking out everyone's fresh produce, honey, nuts and even cheese and meat. I almost always run into people I know, all of us enjoying the weather and the gorgeous fruit. This happens once a week, every week, all summer long. Even better, the third Thursday of the month is Thirsty Thursday, and a lot of the wineries show up for tastings and they usually have a band. You will see lots of families there - the parents sitting on a blanket in the grass watching their little ones bust out some dance moves and devour obscenely large and juicy strawberries.

Today was the first farmers market of the season. I could hardly contain my excitement as I loaded Bennett up in the stroller and we headed over to see what was in store for us this year. They never disappoint, either! We got our usual huge box-o-strawberries as well as some peaches and nectarines. Mmmmmm.

A fun outing....I'll have another.

We had fun at Studio Grow this morning. We rode with our friends to the educational center and the ride was fairly uneventful except the part where I was tossing a book back to Morgan, who was in the back of the van, and hit her squarely in the forehead. Yep, I think that earns me yet another Mom of the Year award.

Bennett was in a good mood this morning, all smiles and giggles. Once we got to the center, he took off for EVERYTHING. He was running in and out of the rooms like he owned the place. We went first to the area where there was a big pit of BALLS. BALL! BALL! Oh my goodness Momma - BALL!! They had a great slide for the little ones and some gymnastic mats also. Shortly after we got there, they had music time and so we tried that out. Except he didn't want to sit on the carpet square. Or in my lap. Nope. He wanted to wander around, bumping into other kids as they sang about the farmer taking a wife. And then the wife taking a child?? Who makes up these songs anyway?

So, we ducked out of music time early and the kids played in the kitchen area, where Morgan must have "packed lunch" about fifty times. Gosh, wonder who she's seen doing that ALL SUMMER LONG. After time in the kitchen, we played with the blocks and dinosaurs for a bit before heading over to do a little bit of art. I was surprised Bennett wanted to sit down and color with markers, but then I quickly found out that he didn't really want to color with the markers. He wanted to take the tops off and try to put them on the end. Only the didn't fit. This didn't make the little tyrant very happy. He practically cussed me out in his baby talk.

When Morgan was done painting her snail (can you see the resemblance?), we went to the "cafeteria" to eat lunch. Where the kids continued to push each other's buttons by kicking each other. I had to separate them and then Bennett decided that he wanted to get out of his chair while he was eating, which was NOT going to happen (I refuse to chase my kids around with food, getting them to eat. I know I'm a cruel mother, but I've got rules dammit). So, he eventually finished eating, under duress and the kids went back to the art room, where Bennett preferred to express his artistic side by climbing the stool to get up to the sink rather than coloring, painting or gluing. We went for round two of the blocks and dinosaurs, and found some rather cool keyboards where the kids could sit and pretend they were all-important dot com CEOs. Morgan even asked for blocks to make a monitor. Bennett was emailing Daddy about how Momma didn't let him eat lunch on the run and then he was off again -back into the room with the ball pit.


It was a fun outing. But I'm kind of thinking I need to do one more outing before school starts. One more time at the beach or something really summery. Because the Educational Center didn't scream summer vacation to me. I want things to be *just so*.

I know. It's a sickness.

Good Morning. Welcome to practice day 1.

Let's see how we are doing. Morgan will need to be at school at 8:10. Which means to be sure, we should be leaving the house by 5 til 8. Which means I should plan on quarter til. Which means we are SCREWED! We would have to be walking out the house right this minute and that would involve.

1. Snatching a bagel out of Bennett's hands
2. Putting Bennett's shoes on
3. Convincing Morgan that she needs to get out of bed and quit playing with her Leapster.
4. Convincing Morgan to get dressed in the clothes we laid out last night.
5. Get Morgan's teeth brushed.
6. Do Morgan's hair.
7. Get Morgan to put her shoes on.
8. Figure out a good breakfast for Morgan to eat in the car. On the way to school. In ten minutes. Which is pretty much a world record eating time for our world's slowest eater.
9. Put a nice strong cup of coffee in a travel mug.

Okay, maybe the last one isn't that important. Heck, I even skipped over Morgan making her bed. But you see? On practice day one, she is failing MISERABLY. She said, and I quote, "I don't want to get out of bed. I'm too cranky". Hello pre-kindergarten stress and resistance. Nice to meet you.

Given that today is not an actual school day, I'm going to exercise some lenience. We do, however, need to be ready to go in about an hour because we have our last "outing" of the summer planned for today. I think we can manage that. I'm very excited because I've never been to this museum and I've heard lots of fun stuff about it. I think it will be particularly fun for Bennett.

Off to clean bathrooms before we go. Oh, and make Morgan get up.

Our summer days are counting down...

This weekend was great, don't get me wrong, but I'm a bit run down after too much fun. Seems like as much as I love the weekends, I also love getting back into my groove of the week on Mondays. And knowing that we are only three more Mondays away from Morgan's first day of Kindergarten makes it even more special. Special because I can't wait to GET HER OUT OF MY HAIR and special because, well, it's her first day of big kid school. *sob*

We got up this morning and I got half of my chores done while also getting the kids dressed, fed and all sun screened up. We walked the mile to the community center where we splashed and played in the pool, had snack, and then played a little more before it was time to come home. We walked the mile home and it was lunchtime when we walked in. I got the kids settled down at the table with their corn dogs while I finished cleaning the bathrooms and then ate my lunch myself. There was only one "oh crap" moment during the whole thing and that was when Morgan somehow flung her glass of milk off the table and onto the floor. Glass shards everywhere, Bennett looked confused and a little scared and she was nearly in tears telling me that she didn't mean to and that it was an accident. I told her that it was okay. No big deal. Let's not cry over spilt milk, after all. Once lunch was over, I knew Morgan had a too-busy weekend when she informed me that she was going to go wash her hands and face, go into her room and turn her music on and crawl into bed. I could come in there whenever I was ready to read her her story. So, I read Bennett his story, put him down for his nap and found Morgan all cuddled up inside her comforter, laying on "If you give a moose a muffin". I read her her story and then she quickly went to sleep.

I've spent the better part of their nap time catching up on stuff I normally do on Sundays - meal planning, planning out the classes I'm taking at the club this week, planning my to-do lists, shopping lists, and errands lists. I was too busy and too into MOI yesterday that I did none of this. So, now I'm fully organized again to start my week. Ahhh, love it. I'm debating putting some "bigger" organizational stuff on my to-do list, but part of me wants to put this off until after school starts. I guess I'm planning out the last of the summer and that stuff just doesn't seem to fit the category.

I was reading a book yesterday about preparing for the start of school. It gave lots of practical advice about it, such as having an "end of summer" celebration dinner and starting to get the kids to bed earlier, 10-15 minutes a night. Given the kids were up at least 2 hours past their bedtime each night this weekend, I think I need to get a grip on this. Because next week? I have to start WAKING THEM UP EARLY (I know!!). Just to be prepared because the following week? I have to have Morgan to school by 8. Eeek! So, tonight we'll have our "end of summer" celebration dinner. Morgan has requested pasta, so I'm going to come up with some sort of semi-healthy concoction. And we'll celebrate the end of the summer and start working our way towards being responsible citizens again. You know, getting to bed at a decent time and even trying to get up on a regular schedule. Phooey.

Summer Time Fun

After what seems like a hectic week, between camp, soccer, doctor's appointments, birthdays, playgroups, anniversaries, etc., I decided that we would (gasp) STAY HOME this morning. Which is pretty much the same as me saying "I needed to get some stuff done around the house". So, to keep the kids busy while I folded a large load of laundry, I taught them something new - I showed them how to build a fort! Another childhood memory handed down to the next generation :)

Morgan immediately caught on and quickly went and grabbed pillows and blankets. This is pretty much her way of playing, down to the "cage" they were in. Bennett, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure what to make of it until he saw Morgan going in and out a few times. THEN, he got it and started to have a blast! Good times! He even decided to give laying down on the pillow a try after seeing Morgan do it. Too bad he didn't put himself down for a nap.

After all the fun was over (read: Morgan kept pulling the blanket down over Bennett's head while he screamed bloody murder), it was time to get Morgan ready for her last day at camp. She's had so much fun this week going to camp. The highlight so far was yesterday. Not when they brought live animals to show the kids. Oh no. When they played the BEST! GAME! EVER!, or so Morgan says. It involved whipped cream over some gummy worms that the kids had to dig out of a bowl with only their mouths. BEST! GAME! EVER! Anyway - today is the last day and because the theme of the camp is Animal Kingdom, they asked the kids to dress up as an animal today. I'm proud to introduce you to my FIERCE daughter, the TIGER!

I'm particularly fond of the crinkle in her nose. :) When I asked her if she thought her camp counselors would realize she's not a tiger, she thought for a moment and then announced that they would know it wasn't really a tiger because she wasn't wearing and orange shirt. Oops. Oh, she doesn't have fur! That's how they'll know. On the drive there, she told me that she wished she could run as fast as a tiger. I told her that she was a pretty fast runner, to which she responded, "well, I really wish I could run on four legs". When we got to camp, she was carrying her snack bag and asked if I could please carry it, she's having trouble - what with her claws and all. :)