Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Glad Summer's Ending

Sunset in the Florida Keys while on a 14 yr. anniversary date with my hubby

As the sun sets on summer <sigh> I now must make my list about why it is so lovely that it is all coming to an end....<ahem>

Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Glad Summer's Ending

10. It won't be so hot. 

(Nevermind... we live in NJ & it could be hot until November...)

9.The kids can't wait to start school. 

Um... no, they can wait...

8.There are so many yummy Fall foods to look forward to. 

Oh wait... then, I will gain some more 

unnecessary pregnancy pounds...

<sigh> So, it's settled.  I can not go on with this list.

I'm really sad that summer is ending. 

Really.

Top Ten Reason Why I'm Sad Summer's Ending

10. I really do love the summer even if it is hot. 

9. My house is cleanest in the summer, so it only goes downhill from here.

8. I have to spend less time reading "fun" books like 

"The Hunger Games" and spend more time reading... curriculum.

7. I have to start nesting again, because the baby needs a bedroom.

6. I have SO much work to do with my business, home, school, and church.

5. My schedule is about to intensify. 

4. I'm at the point in the pregnancy where I'm remembering how little sleep I have left before I embark on the journey of endless sleeplessness for an undetermined amount of time. 

3. Though I am passionate about home educating my children and my children generally like homeschool, the thought of school beginning is still not a fun thought right after we've returned from a fantastic, relaxing vacation.

2. I will be gaining more weight over the next few weeks from delicious Fall foods that I love, and the pounds might take a while to come off.

1. The baby- though we might have atleast narrowed it down- still remains nameless until my husband and I can come to an agreement.

Really, when I think about it,

I'm just lamenting that I have to be a grown-up after returning from such a relaxing, worry-free vacation. 

I like being a grown-up... sometimes...maybe... 

Just not when the summer is ending...:)

My hubby and littlest guy fishing on vacation.

~Michelle

Killers, Pools, "Naptime", and i wish i was 20 again.

Today's episode of, "Summer Joys" brought to you by Excedrin and marshmallows.

Hmm. Where to start.

Shall i begin this journey with the soda spill on the coffee table by my son, that was in turn, mopped up by the 18m old with pizza? Or the marshmallows, bitten in half and stuck to a wall in the kitchen. Or the 6yr old who "hears sounds" all the time, and will come screaming from other rooms, or refuse to go to sleep without being threatened. Or the pool that gets filled up for the kids, only to have them all come inside the house. Or the popsicle wrappers that no one left all over the place. Hello, ants. Or the nap that is really just 18m old screaming and throwing things out of her crib. No fear, she will fall asleep *JUST* when i was about to get her up, so we can go to the store. To buy a new hose....because i bought the hose last year, and in spite of my son saying, "Mom, seriously, we NEED a longer one than 20 feet", in my head, i was all, "pshhh....what do YOU know, you're 9", and bought the one that was 20 feet, and it only goes...well...20 feet. And apparently, though in my head our yard is supa-small, it's bigger than 20 feet. And if i want to keep the grass-rot-death-smell-Biblical plague of flies from happening, i have to keep strategically moving the pool around. But, because of my brilliant hose purchase, i can't. And i'm a little ticked because no one is even out in the pool that i just dumped, cleaned, moved, and refilled.

No one left this here.

Mickey CLEARLY did this.

Summer also brings me joys, like reading...reading books for ME-ME-MEEEE!!! Which, depending on what was given to me at Christmas or laying around, can range from frun Janet Evanovich books, to books by James Rollins, to my husbands favorite books by Ted Bell (ok, throwing this one out, any ladies out there notice that we will "give in" and read their books that they tell us are amazing, but they never-ever read ours?) to a nice, cozy tale of a serial killer that i can't put down. And now i am thinking i need to vary my daily routine, burn all our trash, carry a weapon, and get ADT. And never-ever trust someone in a cast who is all, "excuse me miss, can you help me with my groceries?". No. I can't. In fact, i am going to throw my groceries at you - hopefully it's a day when i bought alot of canned goods...because, apparently, i am living in the 1950's - and scream, "RUN" to my children.

You can pretend these are smart books that normal homeschool Mommies read. They are all about curriculum.

Summer also brings me MORE joys, i know, i know...MORE than what i just described? yes. Summer brings to me the magic, splendor, and wonder of wearing a swimsuit in public. Who doesn't love that. I didn't mind when i was 20. I even pulled it off after a few kids. Now...well, do i need to really say more than the fact that it is made by Spanx? And that is great. It's good to be sucked in. But sad that all this ain't gonna suck itself in anymore. Yeah, yeah, i had that "take time" post. I was bordering on being in great shape "for a mom of 5" a month or so ago. But then...then, the untimely death of motivation (you know, except for at night, after i ate everything, when i am like, "YEAH! tomorrow it's ON!").Whatever. NOW i have a Spanx swimsuit, and i keep eating ice cream and hamburgers, and the stitching in this swimsuit is screaming. If it goes...look out. Keep your kids and small dogs inside.

This was after i was all, "IF YOU DON'T GET IN THAT POOL"...

Peace out, Mammas:) ~Sue

I Don't Read Grown-Up Books Anymore

I didn't know it, but my days as a grown-up book reader became numbered when my first child was born.  I remember when she was a few weeks old, getting out The Rhyme Bible and starting her off right.  I was so proud of myself.  After a few days, however, the kid-book thing was getting old.  Breast-feeding seemed like enough work, so I happily passed off the reading-out-loud duties to my husband.  :)

He had been read out-loud to for most of his childhood.  (Well, in between boarding school stints.)  So when he heard news stories on liberal media places like NPR about the importance of reading out loud to your child, he didn't have to think very hard to internalize them.  He happily churned through a kazillion-trillion repetitions of Jamberry and Good Night Moon while I hid in our bedroom and scarfed down some questionable material by Janet Evanovich.  Sigh.  Those were good days.

Then I became a homeschooling mom.  And I fell in love w/ a literature-based curriculum (Sonlight).  I confess now that I originally did this because I thought I would get to read the books to myself and the kids would read the books to themselves, and there would just be a lot of sitting around quietly reading.

Hah.

Anway, what eventually happened is that I learned to love to read out loud to my kids.  (True Confessions moment: it took me a couple of years to get to this place.  Before that, I would find myself pausing in the middle of a sentence I was reading out loud to skim ahead furiously in silence.  I think my oldest might be surprised to go back and read some of the books I read to her back then and realize there aren't actually long pauses built into the book.)  I also discovered this is really, really good for their brains EVEN AFTER THEY KNOW HOW TO READ.  I put that in all caps because I always missed that part of the liberal media news stories before.  So maybe you didn't know that either.

There is a special sweet joy that comes from reading a book to the under-five set when they know it really well.  You can pause and they will fill in the pause.  You can mess up the words and they will correct you.  My favourite game is to put their name in the story, and they shout NOOOOO!!!!  And tell me the right name.  :)

There are a lot of good pictures books out there.  There's also a lot of JUNK!  Oh my.  Nothing brings out my Inner Critic like a poorly written picture book.  I mean, yes, nice pictures are nice, but it's still a book!!  It needs good words!! 

I was recently challenged by a friend to come up w/ lists of books that are on my re-read list.  Well, that list is huge, just because I'm a mom, and can't say no to everything I wish I didn't have to read out loud.  :)  But I thought I'd start out by talking about picture books that I read (and re-read) to my 4yo, w/o crying and whining (on my part).  Since my oldest is 12, I have been reading these books for many years.

• Just to start the list out w/ something unusual, I will mention a book I randomly selected in a used book store just because I had store credit that had to be used and they had precious few children's books: Puff Puff Chugga Chugga by Christopher Wormell.  Oh yes, I also had a little boy and was operating under the assumption that only books about trains would get him interested in reading. (Not the worst assumption, by the way, although the jury is still out on how well it paid off.)  This book is adorable.  Lots of opportunities to play with sounds, a little color recognition, a really big sneeze, and the little train goes home to bed at the end.  When you have little kids, you ALWAYS want somebody going to bed at the end.
• Anything by Virginia Lee Burton, while a bit of a chore to read (IMHO), pays off big-time w/ my boys, and frankly, I think boys need a bit more effort to capture their imaginations, so I don't mind.  OK, well, sometimes I do mind.  Sometimes I LONG for the day when they can read Katy and the Big Snow to themselves and I no longer have to say chug, chug, chug and move my fingers along the roads that Katy plows.  There you have it.  My single flaw.  hah.
• Anything that involves Harry the Dirty Dog.  Harry sometimes becomes a purple dog w/ yellow spots.  Sometimes Tristan the Dog grabs watering can of frogs and sits it next to the Lady Next Door.  But yes, these books are also cute as written.  ;) 
• Anything that involves Frances.  Bedtime for Frances???  LOVE!!!!!!  Bread and Jam for Frances?  I have seriously done this to one of my kids.  I didn't serve him bread and jam for every meal; I served him what we call porridge (thanks to my husband) but what I grew up calling oatmeal.  He lasted a bit longer than Frances did, but he cracked.  Oh yeah, he cracked .  .  .
• Does anybody NOT have Where the Wild Things Are on their list? Well, probably not, and I don't want to be weird, so I guess I better include it. But I do love the subtle humor!
• Horton Hatches An Egg - I'm going to be bold and come right out and admit that I'm not the biggest Dr. Suess fan.  In fact, some of his books are downright tedious.  (I know, you've lost all respect for me now.)  But this book never gets old!  I think about my husband's faithfulness in fatherhood when I read it.  I wonder if I'm a good enough mother when I read it and I'm inspired not to give up, no matter how many times I have told the kids to put their head on their pillow, close their eyes AND STOP TALKING!  I get teary every time I read the line "Because Horton was faithful, 100%." In short, I turn into a complete sap, but you already know it: I'm not normal.

OK, my real love is chapter books, and I'm much more excited to talk about some new ones I just discovered, but that will have to be another post.  Meanwhile, yes, I'm still reading Jamberry and enjoying it.


~Stephanie