dance class

Warming up for their performance -- these two were in the "pink" dance :)

A few years ago, Ellie and Owen took an 'art dance' class right near the University. It was a great short car ride (which is all Porter baby could take at the time) and they both really loved it.  Ever since the class ended, I've wanted to get them involved in another creative dance class but the dance company rehearses downtown which has felt so far. :) Finally this summer (last week) we tried out a short week long class and it was just great. (The first day Owen was not thrilled, but once another boy joined their group he was happy.)

I was so proud of them when they did their little show at the end of the week at Logan's Summerfest. Owen had told me all week, "I'm not doing the show" And I was anxious about what he or Ellie might do when it was time to perform. But, I just left them with their class backstage and sat to watch with Grandma Maureen and when it was time they came out and did wonderfully, even with each of their tiny little solo bits -- hooray for these two brave kiddos! They went yesterday to be a part of an extra performance at an assisted living center in town (with no complaints!), and Jordan got to watch them too.

This week I've seen lots more dancing at home too which I love! Hooray for a fun new thing to try out!

Lately

These have been some happy and full summer days. Each week we've had just one lesson type thing going on (tennis for Landon, dance for Ellie & Owen, swim) Still, combined with wanting to fit in school time most days, then some play dates and doctors appointments and other little meetings and activities...  And I've had to keep a close eye on the calendar each day to remember what and when everything is happening!

Reading the kids books just to see what they're reading. This week it's Ivy & Bean (such mischief!) and Justin Case (I just really like that kid!) And reviewing my old labor/birth books (!) Also, this week I've woken up a bit before the kids (!!) a few times and started my day with a conference talk and that has seemed so super nice.

Cooking hot dog roll ups and rainbow fruit salad (Owen's choices for the week, Ellie's & Landon's recipes were more involved and somehow we haven't gotten to them still...) When it comes to dinnertime each day, I'm pretty much starting with "what goes with watermelon?" because even if I have nothing else prepared, so far this summer we almost always have chopped watermelon in the fridge.

Cleaning all the things. (Not really though, more like organizing/finishing up/tidying/rearranging) On Saturday, Jordan said something like "Why don't we spend the day just working on getting some things done off your to do list?" (sweetest words!!) And we did, and it was wonderful!

Adventuring a bit less maybe, but still we've had some bikerides and Jordan and the kids are loving their boating trips to First Dam. Right now Jordan and Landon are checking out Cutler Marsh, so we'll have a report soon on how kayaking is there. We rode to the library and out to eat last weekend and I wondered which was more of a sight -- a so-pregnant me on my bike or Jordan + all the kids on their extreme train bike.

Eating lots of whole fruit popsicles (our other summer staple).

Celebrating Father's day with Jordan (plus his birthday later this week). And new baby nephew Alex! Also lots of lost teeth of Ellie's (and one more for Landon too)

one second a day

Last month I tried out the one second every day app, and it was so fun! With our family, I found that I wanted to do more than just 1 second each day because there were so many little moments and sweet bits I wanted to capture. But that just meant that I was noticing all of those little moments even more since I was watching for them. I kind of forgot all about it for a  little while, but I think I'll give it another try soon because I really just loved these!

Here's a few weeks in May with one second each day -- (video below)

Tennis lessons / summer mornings

I'm loving our summertime mornings. We've had enough going on each day at certain times that I've had to write up a schedule to put up on the fridge and remind me what's happening. But we've got a pretty great little morning routine going. A slow wake up, breakfast & morning jobs (which the kids are getting better and better at!). Then we head to Elkridge Park (this week) for Landon's tennis lessons and the kids all get to play while I watch or read or talk to another tennis lesson mom. (Perfect!!) 

Ellie found a friend (a big sister of another tennis player in Landon's class) and it is so wonderful to watch them play. Today they found a little spot in a tall tree that they decided was a fairy home and spent the hour finding and making treasures to leave for the fairies. 

A quick snack at the park and then we head home for school time (which is still going great, hooray!) That takes us to naptime and quiet time and then Jordan's finished with work for the day and we're likely ready for some kind of adventure. 

Hooray for these fun summer days!

Reading Lately

1776 - I loved this. I finished it and was so sad that it didn't go on to 1777 and 1778 and on and on. I was surprised as I read to realize how very little I know about the Revolutionary War and that whole time period (I should have taken American Heritage!) and I really just wanted to keep reading and reading to learn more.

Auggie & Me - A few more thoughtful stories from the characters in Wonder. I think these are all just great little examples that I'd love to read soon with my kids about how to be a good friend.

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook - Really great. A boy grows up with his mother in a low-restriction prison. So many loving characters and kindness and just an interesting new perspective in this boys life. 

Far North - Jordan read this to me so just for that I loved it. It's a book that I've had on the bookshelf since my teaching days (from the Farrer Middle School library when they gave away all the extra books...) A fun adventure story that made us so grateful for our warm home and warm blankets and warm everything :)

Hit the Road Helen - I didn't quite make it through this one but it was actually pretty fun. The covers on this series (Myth-o-mania) are not great so I had low expectations... But Landon likes these so much I decided to give it a try and it was interesting and clever. 

Essentialism - I kept thinking as I read this about how my life is already pretty simple! The author would give examples of high stress, packed to the minute days, etc. and I almost started to wonder if I ought to have a little more of that! (but not really)  I think one chapter was maybe enough for me, but I did really like the overall message of choosing which things are most important and focusing on those. And in another season of life when it was more applicable I probably would have really enjoyed it quite a lot. 

Fodors London - Just fun London planning!

Winter Sea - I got this recommendation from a favorite blogger, so I really wanted to love it. And it was fine, but not a favorite. Maybe the sequel will be better now that I get the gist of it? What I did love was that I got to read this all the way home from England (hooray for long international flights!?)

The Sopranos Last Song - This was kind of strange. Maybe because I started mid-series? It was a childrens book, but it felt more like a YA book and I had a hard time placing how old the characters were supposed to be and such. Maybe I'll try again with the first one and see what I think then.

Waiting for Normal - I really liked this. I finished and then realized it was the same author as All Rise for the Honorable... And that seemed like a good fit. Creative characters and kindness and friendship in unexpected places. And like the other book, more interesting perspective.

Uprooted- This was really interesting. It was the story of a family from England who lived in Canada during the war as evacuees. I don't think I've ever really known/thought about people doing this, but after reading this I'm interested in learning more. 

garage cleanout

With summer temperatures on the way, we decided it was time to start parking our van in the garage again. So the trampoline came down and Jordan and the kids had a super-fast-garage-clean-out challenge. I came home to see all of our bikes and strollers and scooters out on the lawn and it was just a fun and funny sight to see! Mostly because we actually use all of these! (Except for 2 smaller bikes that got packed up for a while).

I remember when Landon was born that I felt like it was important that we have only one stroller. (little did I know...) And I can remember rollerblading with that one stroller and the wheels would go all crazy because we were going too fast and they were too small... When Landon outgrew his car seat, we picked up a stroller at DI and Landon (who didn't love my morning walks quite as much as I did) broke through the straps in his efforts to escape...
When Ellie was born we got the BOB and that was just about the best purchase we have ever made.

Then more kids, more scooters, bikes, strollers...

I was thinking that someday when our kids are all grown, our garage will just be a boring old place for cars and 2 grown up bikes. But really I think Jordan will keep that garage interesting with all of his new 'things that go' hobbies.

 (Right now the van is actually back out to the driveway because the garage floor is taken up with a kids kayak, a rental tandem kayak and a big inflatable raft from Jordan's latest adventures!)

school time (first report)

We've had two days of summer school time now and so far, so good! (Though yesterday we did have to adjust our schedule a bit!)

In the past we've done everything all together and had a theme we were working on (Portuguese basics, A to Z,  Countries of the world...)

This year, we're trying out stations and not sticking with any set theme. The big kids each have four stations and we just rotate every 15/20 minutes. Together, Screen, Piano/Mom, Independent.  (I haven't yet decided how to work Porter in, but we'll just see how that all goes :)

Together -- This is some fun game or activity that we do all together. Yesterday we had little front room races where the kids had to crawl from one side to the other and use tweezers to fill up a jar with puff balls. Today we used droppers and tiny spoons to make orange cream popsicles.

Landon is doing half of his eye patching time during school time, so as I've brainstormed activities, I've tried to think of ideas that will be fun for everyone and also hopefully help him strengthen his vision/depth perception/etc. (and maybe without him even noticing that it is work :)

Independent -- This is some of the same as above (activities to help Landon's vision hopefully). Yesterday was mottik blocks and today the kids did puzzles. They might do some math work or word puzzles, lego building challenges, writing practice...

Screen -- Landon is doing Duolingo & Splashmath, Ellie Duolingo & Reflex math, and Owen has a few reading/math apps on the ipad to choose from.

Piano/Mom -- piano practice for Ellie and Landon, reading time for Owen and me (and Porter).

We'll see how it all goes! I'm sure we'll make some adjustments along the way, but so far I think it's going to work out fine :)