Summer

Summer is this weird thing for moms.  At first you are super excited to have all the kids home again.  Hello sleeping in, pj's until ten, hello late movie nights in the middle of the week, hello not having to argue about getting dressed or homework, hello not packing lunches, hello reading for fun.  Then the kids start to fight. They bicker in the backseat over whose arm is where.  They argue over who gets which Popsicle and who gets to check the mail.  They argue over which TV programs to watch and who was first in line.  Shopping with all four with a holy nightmare.  I ended up in this uneasy limbo.  Giddy at having them home, wishing for them to be back in school.  I think a visit to the grandparents would have made the summer easier but because of finances and lack of days off we spent the whole summer at home.   Luckily we did find a few cool things to do.  

I got these tattoos at the dollar store.  The kids loved them.

 We did a ton of coloring.  I mean a ton.  Captain E still isn't a fan but with two girls over three we colored at least a half hour everyday.  Thank goodness for back to school deals where you can stock up on $.25 crayons.

 Fruit was the main staple of the summer.  We are pretty much free with the snacks here, evidenced by my ever growing bum and belly, so the kids were always chopping on something but I feel better about the fact that it was a piece of fruit.

 When the kids would get really rowdy, I stole an idea from a friend and would let them have a book listening party.  Some pillows, blankets, snacks, and they were happy little clams.

 Cheetah pretty much spent her summer laying around.  Well until she was crawling around and then she spent her summer looking for things to put in her mouth.  She shocked herself twice with cellphone charger...yikes it was sad and scary!

 We did the summer reading program at the library.  The kids earned points that they could use to buy books or prizes.  I wanted to "force" them to buy books.  I mean I can't help it, I'm a teachers daughter who loves books and as a mom the last thing I want is more little nicknacks coming into the house, but I resisted the urge and instead let them choose how they wanted to spend their points.  We ended up with a few books and lots of prizes.  Their favorite was these finger flashlights.  Sometimes I catch all three of them in the bathroom with the lights off having a dance party.  My least favorite was this gooey stuff that Peach decided to dump all over Cheetahs hair.  It was a complete pain to get out.  All the goo was covertly confiscated and thrown out.  Shush, don't tell the children.

 Finally momma managed to get one girls night out this summer.  It felt so good to eat a meal without having to worry about kids climbing under the table or throwing food!  Yeah for mommy time!!!!  Oh and my friend Jamie sitting to the right of me, the week after this picture was taken she delivered a 10lb 2oz daughter.  Who knows where she was hiding her!