Summer Apocalypse

It's August. Which means it's time to buy shoes, get haircuts, school supplies, find the math books that I've stopped hounding about, find the book list that I put in a prominent place so it wouldn't be lost, schedule dental appointments, or....or....or....we could go to the pool this afternoon and I'll order us dinner from the stand, chicken fingers, French fries, lemonade and funnel cake.  

Okay. Maybe we could schedule all those things and find all the things but instead of the pool, which would wipe us out physically, we go berry picking or buy ice cream?  Or go the park? The movies?  Play baseball?  Fish!  We haven't gone fishing yet this summer.  How about that?  That would be fun and kinda (sorta) kinda educational.   Yeah.  We could go to the aquarium!  That would really seem educational.  Or the museum! Or the mall to see the monuments.   We could play in the hose!  We could make tomato salad and grill corn on the cob.   See a parade, a concert, go to the fair.  I'll buy us fried oreos or fried something if we go to the fair.   We could see cows, we could go horseback riding.   We could visit a farm and get eggs and pet sheep.  

It doesn't have to be huge, but it could be. Let's hike Sugarloaf mountain or skip stones in the creek near our house.  Let's rent a canoe or go biking on the trail next to the C&O Canal.  I'll take us to the airport and we can watch takeoffs and landings and sip Slurpees.   We'll stay up late and watch meteor showers or go out at dusk and catch fireflies and watch the bats.  Anything. Everything.  All things but please please please please please....don't tell me school starts August 26th.  I'm the parent, I'm the grown up, I'm the adult for crying out loud, and I'm so not ready for summer to end.  

Thursday's Small Successes

Today is the day we take stock of all that we got done last week.  The thousands of little things that make up those seven days includes a lot of small victories and love and show that while we may not have achieved what we seek to get done, we're making progress. 

I don't know about you, but sometimes the weeks just fly.  Next week, school starts for everyone and the world will seem to move even faster.  I need my Thursday to slow things down. 

This week's small successes include:

1) Got high school sophomore off to first day of school.  So far, we've been on time each time.  (Trust me, it's a victory).  

2) Last weekend, we drove up to Connecticut to see Grandparents and go to a reunion.  It was a blast and a delight and reminded me how much we need feasts in our lives, how much we need to have those relationships with family that extend outward and back in time.  My favorite moments were sitting and listening to people tell stories I did not know.  Also, Latvian desserts (a 12 layer mocha cream and apricot jam frosted cake) rock!

3) We got school supplies!  Now I have to pack them. 

4) This week we went to Urban Pirates in Baltimore and took a pirate cruise with 8 of my kids and my brother's kids and their mom and my parents who are visiting from Texas.  It was a blast and I will treasure to my dying day, my four year old daughter wiggling her hips in the Pirate dance and saying "Arrrgh! Shiver Me Timbers." in one of the games.    Awesome. 

5) My parents are here!  My heart is full. 

6) The baby is up on all fours and she can scoot some.  She's getting ready to be mobile.

7) Paul yesterday was playing with dinosaur puppets and would pretend to have one bite his hand and then fallen down.  He did it multiple times to show me that he was acting as if the dinosaur had eaten him.  It was amazing to see him using his imagination in such a complex way. 

Now it's your turn!  Just use Mr. Linky to showcase your blog here and list your successes for the week on your blog.  Be sure and visit the other blogs linked here and leave a comment for them.  It's part of being neighborly and part of the fun of this exercise.  So join in!  We can't wait to see what you did this week.