Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Sure, life's busy. But while we're spending our time doing all the things we prioritize, can't we enjoy that? Life is a bowl of cherries. Whether you use that sarcastically, or happily, it just is.
Notice how the cherries are not perfect little blemish-free balls of fruit? That's because they're real. They grow, they experience the weather, the sunshine, the rain, the jostles and bumps and we love them! That's how they grow into this delicious little mouthful of nutrition. Perfect in its imperfection. Just like real people.
Take a moment to savor each moment, the bowl of cherries that you share with whomever you choose. Live and laugh in each moment.

Summer is for Watermelon...

...Preferably with no shirt on and sticky all over your face.


(I just decided to check my posts and found a couple I hadn't published. I probably wanted to edit this, or add the story, or ... who knows what. I'm just publishing it.)

Apples To Apples To Peaches

Apples to Apples...the word:

Juicy

Lots of funny choices, serious choices...and a "create your own" card, belonging to my mom. Dad is judge...here's her card:

A Peach...Picture yourself on a hike high up in the sun...and you pull a nice cool juicy peach from your backpack.

Peach won.

Today, home from our trip, just back from the store, we had fresh juicy peaches with lunch. All other food was forgotten as Allie and Aidan seriously savored every bite of their peach. I think I literally heard that almost-four-year-old give a little "mmm", so I asked them if that wasn't the yummiest peach ever..."tastes like summertime, right?!"
Allie agreed and said, "now I know why Gramma won that card!"


(On a sillier note, while playing that marvelous game, Alex, in all his 15 year old wisdom, informed us all, "If I don't know who these weird people names are, I just save them and put them on mom's turn. I sometimes win when I do that.")

Last Day of School! Woo Hoo!

Maybe I'm supposed to be the *grown-up* here, but I absolutely LOVE the last day of school.

Am I worried about keeping kids busy over the summer? NOPE
Am I mourning my kid-free time? NOPE
Am I dreading 'I'm bored' whines? NOPE (not yet)

I LOVE SUMMER Break!!!

I don't have to drag kids (and self) out of bed in the dark.
I don't have to fight with them to go to sleep even when it's light outside (well, I might have to do that a little).
I don't have to rush around all afternoon picking children up from various schools and taking them to various lessons and activities.
I'm overjoyed.
My kids have changed so much this school year. I can hardly believe how much they've grown (we've gone through a few different clothing sizes this year) and we're all ready to take on the summer fun. Beginning of the year photos: click here.

Last day of school...May 27, 2010!!!

"Little Miss Apprehensive Allie" at the beginning of the year didn't want to stay at school. Every year seems to begin this way, and she loves her class and her teacher in the end. This year, she didn't have her *best* buds in her class, but she quickly found new besties. She loves them. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Duzan (and said so in her card to her at the end of the year.)

Miss Aimee almost ran us out of house and home for the sake of shoes this year. She started this year in a shoe size 4 and went up one size, then another, then another....her feet are now a size 8...and those are my shoes she's wearing to the last day of school.

Aidan became a star at Allie's school. Despite the fact that she likes school, and likes her teacher, she liked us to walk her in ... every day. So, we did. Aidan and I walked the path from our car to the classroom, waited while Allie put her things away in her locker and turned in her homework, then walked her to her other class (1/2 hour of gifted and talented class). It was fun, and we got another few minutes to talk about the day, and every minute counts.
Aidan showed up at school *almost* every day in his pajamas and boot. Some days, he got dressed, some days he wore his spiderman sandals, but most days it was pajamas and boots. These boots rock. They're supposed to be fireman boots, but they're red and black, so most of the time, they're referred to as Spiderman boots. At the beginning of the year, we got a lot of comments like "oh is it going to rain?" "hey, nice boots" "are you heading to fight the fire today?" But in the end, the teachers in the halls that we frequented expected to see Aidan in his boots and LOVED it. LOL
As spring arrived, Aidan has taken up the habit of taking off his clothes. He used to wear his boots with his batman or spiderman costume, but spring got hot, and it became boots and superhero underwear. Standard spring uniform at our house...well, for the 3 year old at least.

Okay, this isn't actually Alex on the last day of school.
This is Alex 5 minutes ago. (almost a week after the end of school and 11:15pm)
BUT.
Alex didn't actually have to go to school on time on the last day of school.
The last week of school they were on "testing" schedule, so they just had to show up to check in at 11am, or for their final in a class, whichever was sooner. The last day of school, Alex wasn't up when I was taking pictures. Alex, like Aimee, used the phrase "I don't have any other jeans to wear" a few times this year, since he got new clothes and then grew out of them, or wore holes in them (and his school doesn't allow ANY holes). He's taller than I, wears a much bigger shoe, and gave his hand-me-down T's to me (some of them).

Off For The Summer

Allie: So, is tomorrow the last day of church?
Mom: No, church doesn't have a break for the summer. It just keeps going.
Allie: Oh man. Aw.

This small exchange tonight took me way back. I remember being Allie's age and thinking the exact same thing. The year I realized that church didn't have a summer break was also the year I realized that Dad didn't get work off for the summer either. Wow, life seemed pretty unfair. Tonight it just made me smile....and shed a small tear for childhood innocence.

Homemade Water Slide: A Story In Pictures