Raising Z and Lil' C

Monday, June 13, 2011

An Early Father's Day Surprise

Daddy was away at a conference for a few days at the end of last week and so Z and I decided to create a BIG surprise for him when he got home.

Unfortunately I was away at a wedding during the big unveil but S did call me and I could hear the shock in his voice. He was so excited!!! S has been working so hard and the summer is going to be a crazy work time for him so I wanted to do something special. He loves to cook (especially grill) and so I took our yard sale money and put it towards this very special Father's Day and early Birthday present. Our old grill was a mess and the lighter was broken on it so I refused to use in for fear that I would burn my face off while lighting it! He hadn't even taken any time to pull it out of the garage yet this year, it was in bad shape. Now he (and I) can grill anytime and the burgers we made on Sunday night when I got home, were delicious!!

I also decided to not get my mother's day present (he promised me a chaise for the porch) and spruced up what we already had. I put up our party tent for shade (our umbrella broke last year), hung Christmas lights, bought two small tables and a new chair and a few throw pillows. Our deck is now another living space and the kids and I LOVE being out there :)

We also have things coming up in our gardens!!! So exciting :) I love this time of year.

Friday, June 10, 2011

{this moment}

A Friday ritual from SouleMama to post just one picture capturing a moment from the week with no words. Here is mine.....

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Simple Schedule

Deciding to homeschool Z this year has helped us to slow down, take a step back and figure out what was really important to us. At about the same time I pulled him out of preschool, I started reading Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne (this is the last time I will mention him....maybe ;)). In his book, Mr. Payne talks a great deal about slowing down children's hectic schedules in order to allow them to have a childhood. I found that getting rid of our hectic schedule as S's schedule heated up, was soooo good for us.

Z starts private Kindergarten in the fall and will be going 5 mornings a week. A part of me dreads this because I appreciate the flexibility of our very laid back schedule. Below are 5 things that we did to help slow down and calm down our family life. These changes have helped my children to be more creative, less stressed (Z stopped biting his fingers) and has reduced the number of tears and tantrums by 80%. It is my goal to make sure that we still try to do as many of the following things next year, even with Z's new schedule.

1. No more than 2 Classes/Sports per kid
We use to be the family who signed up for anything and everything. We were running around like crazy people trying to fit it all in and nobody was really enjoying it. Now we only have 1-2 activities per child and it has made a huge difference. This year Z did Kindermusik and Swimming and Lil' C did her own Kindermusik class. If Z wants to play soccer in the fall we will take a break from swimming for a bit. I do not want to be that family who lives in the car ;)

2. Must have a Home Day
We schedule in at least one "Home Day" each week where we don't go ANYWHERE. These days are time to catch up on chores, play and do special projects. Z LOVES them and is able to wear his jammies until after lunch if he wants. Lil' C does not love them as much (she is a people person) but I find if we change scenery (upstairs/outside) every hour or so...she is just fine.

3. Must have a Home Weekend
Our weekend schedule from April-October is pretty hectic. Last summer I started scheduling in "Home Weekends" where we make sure that we are home and not traveling one weekend per month. We try to make one of the days of those weekends a "Home Day" where we can get much needed chores and relaxation done :)

4. Only Say "Yes" if it makes sense for the majority of the family
This was a big step for me. I use to sign up for activities or events without considering how it affected the entire family. Now I will not schedule anything during Lil' C's nap time, take both kids into consideration when we accept invitations to parties (will there be anything for them to do, is it too far away, too much going on etc.), try to remember that we are all more fresh in the morning and before I schedule anything, I always ask myself, "Does this make sense for the entire family?". Of course there are things that take exception but for the most part it has worked really well.

5. Build Downtime into our schedule
I am a person who thrives off being busy, or at least I thought I was until we slowed down. Now I appreciate downtime just as much as the kids do and I too find that I am more creative. I now NEED time to decompress, time to reflect and time to just BE. The kids and I (and daddy when he is home) spend some time each day reading books, relaxing and just enjoying quiet time together.

Inspirations:
Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne
Simple Kids
Simple Mom

My other Posts about Simplifying our Life:
Simple Cleaning
Simple Home
Simple Eating

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Mini Vacation in Boston

On Sunday we headed down to Boston for a "Mini-Vacation". With S's schedule being as hectic as it is, we thought that spending the day in Boston on Sunday, sleeping in a hotel and then spending the morning together was both economical and work friendly. We had brunch on Newbury street (big mistake with Lil' C), rode the swan boats, saw the ducklings all dressed up with Bruins jerseys, played on the Boston Common and spent Monday morning at the Museum of Science. It was a bit of a whirlwind but the kids had a BLAST. Here are some photos from our trip.

view of Boston from our room :)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Missing You

There is not a day that goes by where I do not think of you and miss you terribly. I love you and hope that you know that your spirit is so strong and it lives on in all of us. We are working on big things in your honor and I hope you are happy with what we are doing. I love you so very much and even after a year, it is very hard to believe that you are gone.

Peace

Monday, June 6, 2011

Summer Goals and Adventures for 2011

Z and I have been working on our family list for the past week and we are really excited about our summer adventure plans. It is going to be a busy summer for S with work (VERY BUSY) and so I wanted to make sure that our plans were in place so he could jump in and out whenever he can. Like last year I hung up our list in the kitchen and Z has been putting up stickers next to the items we have done (we have already done three!!).

This is our 7th year of making these lists (S and I use to do them before kids) and I am so glad that we do. We always find that summer so quickly and before you know it, the leaves are changing colors. These lists have helped us to make sure that we make the most out of our short New England summers.

So here is our Summer Adventure list for 2011:

Themes to Study This Summer
1. Oceans
2. Australian Outback (Z is on a habitat kick)
3. Magnets
4. Kitchen Chemistry

Family Adventures (Z and I made this list together)
1. trip to a baseball game
2. camp in the backyard
3. tidepool/trip to the Seacoast Science Center
4. picnic on the beach
5. get Del's lemonade
6. eat clamcakes and chowdah
7. lobster dinner in Maine
8. mini golfing
9. trip to the driving range
10. trip to the ecotarium
11. trip to the planetarium
12. have fun on the jetski
13. build a sandcastle
14. visit our CSA weekly
15. trips to the 3 Children's Museums
16. make lots of popsicles
17. water fun and bubbles in the backyard
18. work in our garden
19. trip to the splash park
20. spend time at the lake (3 weeks :))
22. trip to Prudence Island
24. Storyland
25. look for fireflies
26. go stargazing
27. go swimming at auntie's lake
28. go bowling (a lot)
29. trip to get gingerbread men at the YUM YUM shop
30. go to the local science museum
31. go on Uncle M's boat
32. rockets with Chi Chi
33. PBS reading challenge
34. Overnight to Boston
35. Trip to the Outdoor Science Center

I know Summer doesn't officially start for a few more weeks but we kicked if off this past weekend because we just couldn't wait :)

Happy Summer and Happy Birthday 30th to my beautiful sister in-law A!! I love you very much.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Mika Moo

This past week, our family dog was put to sleep. She was 10 1/2 and was such a big love. Throughout my childhood, my dad always told us that we could have a dog when he died. We really wanted a dog but having to lose our father over it was not that appealing. He hated dogs and did not want one. Then after my youngest sister went to college, he saw how sad my mom was and finally gave in to the idea of getting a dog. The night he gave in, my sister and mother drove an hour to check out a litter of puppies and picked out our Mika Moo. Two weeks later my mom's empty nest was not so empty when I moved back in and the dog arrived :) I helped to raise that little puppy and she quickly became my furry little sister. She was stubborn, hated kids (except for Z, C, G and J), and was a little slow sometimes (she once missed seeing a big moose that was right in front of she and my dad) but she was our Mika Moo and I will miss her very much. My mom is having a really hard time right now but Mika is in a better place and I am sure she is surrounded by all of those people in Heaven who loved her. Thanks for the memories Mika Moo, I love you!

Friday, June 3, 2011

{this moment}

A Friday ritual from SouleMama to post just one picture capturing a moment from the week with no words. Here is mine.....

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Memorial Day Fun!

We had a very LONG and Summer Like Memorial Day weekend at the lake this year. The kids and I headed up on Thursday at naptime and stayed until Monday evening. We had a lot of fun with family and did A LOT of work to get things ready for the rental season. The highlight for S and I was building Kiki's garden. We had a few dragonflies circling us as we worked and could feel Krista's presence as we created our beautiful tribute to her. She loved coming to the lake and now her garden from my family overlooks the water. It was truly a family event (even the kids got down and dirty with planting) and I hope she is smiling down on it and all the other gardens that have been planted in her honor.

Here are some photos of the garden and the rest of our weekend of fun! BTW...the lake was 57 degrees (I think it was the same as the ocean). Z started off by "falling in" on Thursday and was full out swimming on Friday, Sunday and Monday. I even dove off the dock and joined him on Monday, it was refreshing!