Super Nats, The Colonel, & Dr. Tart: First Week of Summer

Even though it was summer we had to keep a pretty tight schedule because of the kids swimming. They swam at 7:45 in the morning, the same time school started and just as long of a drive. So poor kids didn't get any break to sleep in. They also swam most weekdays in the evening as well. Crazy good exercise, but quite a schedule to keep up with. I decided that I would try to go to the park next to the pool and do some of the exercises from physical therapy out in the sun. Brian loved playing with his ball next to me and having a picnic breakfast every morning. I LOVE the sun and being outside, so it was great for me!! A lot of days I could hear the kids coach calling out their drills as I exercised. It was perfect! As the summer went on, I did get lazy and had David drive the kids on some of his days off, but I tried to keep up with going to the park most days. I did miss watching the kids swim though...they are so fun to watch!

Little troopers, shopping with Mom.

Cutie!! Loved having all my kids home with me!!!

A treat to beat the heat!

Actually, June was way cooler than most years!

In the car wash...

NOT happy about the craft project Natalie was doing.

I tried to get him to help but he was NOT about to enjoy it!!

Remember how I said June was much cooler than normal. It was also a lot rainier than normal and they only cancel swim team practice if there is lightning. So my kids swam in the rain quite a few times. This morning was cold, so that isn't easy especially for Natalie who has a hard time with the cold. I was SO proud of what troopers they were--they are learning real character!!

Brian and I sat in the blanket under the patio while they swam--and yes I felt TOTALLY guilty for that so we went home and I baked them warm muffins and made hot cocoa!!

Proud of these two!!!

Besides swimming, I painted the kids bathroom that first weekend off school and then I dove in and tackled the project of all their school work. That's hard for me because I am sentimental and don't get rid of things easily that have to do with my kids. Plus I didn't keep up with it during the year and they sent a TON of stuff home right at the end. Oh...and I didn't get it completely done from the year before....Sad I know!!

But this poem I found was one of my favorites!! We went to New York during the school year for a special family trip...loved how he expressed his feelings about it. I love how it made him feel "OSUM!!"

Sword fight with Brother--he is SO happy to have the kids home all day!!!!

This is one of my favorite afternoons we spent that first week off of school. I called it Carnival Day, hehe! I let the kids do face painting on each other and learn to make balloon animals. They got SO into the face painting. They LOVED it and I loved how cute they were to each other and how much they cooperated, just like they always did when they were little. Sometimes these days that seems harder to accomplish...