Summer

It's been a really great start to the summer. I really love summer. I love not feeling stressed to get the kids to bed at a certain time and letting them sleep in as long as they want (or until they're woken up by noisy brothers). I love waking up to an unscheduled day and letting the kids determine what we do and where we go. I love being able to go outside without helping anyone put on a jacket (or boots, or gloves or a hat). I love spending the day at the pool or a park with friends. I love going to the library and helping the kids pick out good books. I love weekends with Pete around, camping or swimming or hiking. By the end of the summer I'm usually ready to get back to more order and routine, but for now I am thoroughly enjoying these lazy and carefree summer days.

Sam is at such a fun age. He's not walking yet, but he loves to climb. He has now mastered climbing on top of the kitchen table and would play up there all day if I would let him. He's up and down the stairs a lot, following his brothers wherever they go. He's taken a few good falls, but I'm pretty sure the falls have made him more cautious and careful. He knows what happens if he slips or goes too fast. He's my Sammy, my Sam baby, my Sam Bam and my Bam Bam, and I love him to pieces.

Will currently lives for playing the iPad and being naked. Most mornings he wakes up wanting the iPad, it really drives me crazy. I often find him hiding under a blanket or under a table with the iPad, playing games. And I don't normally keep the iPad out. He'll go to great lengths to find it, often climbing on top of the kitchen counter and getting it down from on top of the fridge or sneaking into my room to search for it. I pretty much only have educational games on there, so I don't feel too bad about it, but if Will gets to play then of course all of his brothers insist on playing. Being naked is his other passion. When he changes clothes he makes sure to announce to everyone that he is naked. "I'm naked!" This especially bothers Joe, so Will makes an extra effort to go find Joe and tell him, "Joe! I'm naked!" Tonight he had a little accident in his underwear (after I told him multiple times to go potty in the toilet), so was left with no bottoms after he peed. It was mostly because of my laziness to go get him new underwear, but he happily spent the rest of the evening wearing nothing. Playing in the sandbox, eating dinner and wrestling with his brothers. He fought me when I finally made him get on pajamas.

This has been a big summer for Joe. He has mastered the 2-wheeler and has learned how to swim. My goal for him was to be able to jump into the water and swim to the side by himself, and he finally did it last week. We went to the YMCA outdoor pool and I had him go with Pete to the deeper end where he couldn't touch, to practice. He did it on his first attempt and was so proud of himself. Joe can be very cautious and careful when trying new things, can't be pushed and has to go at his own pace. But once he tries something and realizes he can do it, he takes off. Joe will also be starting piano lessons in the fall. I'm so excited for this, but I actually think he might be even more excited than me. I've been teaching him since February, and he's doing really well, but I'm really excited to see where he can go with a private teacher who actually knows what she's doing.

Daniel came up with an ongoing bike challenge for John and Joe. They do laps around our dead end street and back up to our house to earn a random toy from the drawer under his bed. For each "level" they add on one more lap. John and Joe are both up to 17 laps. I feel like Dan is kind of the bridge between John and Joe. He still loves to play Legos and make believe with Joe, but is old enough to go along with Pete and John on little adventures. Pete took them biking on the Minuteman trail last week and is planning a camping trip with them this weekend.

John got wrapped up in Harry Potter this last school year and has brought all of us into it as well. He is currently reading the 7th and last book, has us all listening to the 3rd book on CD, and just finished watching the 4th. I often catch John combing his hair. He'll get it all wet, slick it to the side, then put a little wave in the front. He did his hair like this in a grocery store restroom yesterday before we went shopping, but most often does it right before bed (?)

I've been on a major decluttering and organizing kick lately. I've heard a lot about the books Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less and The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and have the audio books on hold at the library. Without even reading them (which I can hardly wait to!) I have gone through all our clothes, books, toys and kitchen stuff and boxed up everything we don't use anymore or never did use or don't need. My bedroom has bins of kids clothes everywhere and piles of clothes to get rid of in the corners. In our basement I have 6 large boxes full of toys, clothes, books and kitchen stuff ready to be donated. It feels so good. You really don't need much to be happy. In fact, I think we are all happier with less. Less to clean up and fewer decisions to make. When you have 10 toys to play with it can be hard to decide what to play with and for how long. When you only have 2 options, the decision is easy, and the kids are forced to be more creative with them and play with them for longer. And how many t-shirts does a kid really need? Not 15. More like 8. I think I am literally donated nearly a third of the kids clothes I have been hanging onto. Next in line is papers and photos... organizing the kids schoolwork I want to keep, and catching up on photos (I think I'm behind 5 or 6 years... yikes).

We leave for Utah in 2 weeks and are all really excited for that. We'll be spending a week in Bear Lake with my family, 2 weeks in Salt Lake, then heading down to California with Pete's family for Lizzie and Jason's wedding. Pete will be with us for the first and last week. It will be so nice to spend so much time with family. Until then, we'll continue to enjoy our summer of swimming, biking and camping here on the East coast!