Summer Has (Sort of) Begun

I suppose this is what we get for trying to make our summer start earlier by getting out of school on May 18- but it does not feel at all like summer here.

Jay Trobec (our beloved weatherman) said last night on the news, "I hope you enjoyed summer, or as we like to call it around here, Sunday afternoon..." Good one Jay!

Summer vacation means many adjustments to my schedule and the kids' lives. Matt just keeps plugging along, but doesn't have to leave quite as early for work (to take Xander to school).

I have adjusted my lesson schedule so that I only work on Mondays and Tuesdays. I went from 30 students 2 weeks ago to 8 this week. Makes my life considerably more flexible (and less profitable).

Our first week off from school was a little rough- we did teach Xander to get his own breakfast, so I can get my "beauty rest" (amazing how fast I switch to Night Owl mode when summer hits)- though Maia has been climbing into bed with me around 6:30 or so and wiggling around until I decide to finally get up, so that's nice.

We had to limit Xander's computer and video game time to 2 hours a day. It took Xander a few days to adjust to that, but we were getting sick of all of his conversations revolving around video games... We sent him outside to our terraces to play Bionicles on Sunday afternoon (you know... summer) for a while, which he enjoyed once he got the hang of it.

Everyone except Matt has been sick already. Stomach bug of some sort. Maia started it by getting sick in the night on Friday night (then proceeding to climb into bed with me- thereby passing her bug to me in the night). I got sick just in time for church Sunday morning, so Matt had to lead the hymns in first service. He says they'll appreciate me more now. :) Xander came down with it Sunday evening, and had a rough night. By Monday (Memorial Day), we were all feeling fine (though waiting for Matt to fall victim, which he never did).

Memorial Day was nice. Mom & Jim came up and we finished painting the inside of our garage. This was Jim's obsession this week. He came over last Thursday and primed both our garage and the neighbors' (in the duplex), and Monday we finished painting our garage, got some serious organization done and it looks almost sterile out there now (the lack of color is somewhat disturbing to me, but what are you going to do? I only know one person who's decorated his garage- Keith Conner- his is black inside with fog machine, laser light show and disco ball... fun, but maybe not what we're looking for here.

Last week, we had a chance to go to the park and try to get Xander on his bike. That's one of our major goals for this summer (it was our goal for last summer too, but didn't happen), getting him to learn to ride his bike. Matt & Xander spent a while working on a grassy slope trying to get his balance, which is still... undeveloped.

If we can get Maia to encounter a bug or two without freaking out, I'll consider it a successful summer with her.

I had a jewelry show for my friend Kim last week. I know, like I need more jewelry. I think I got about $500 worth of stuff for about $100 as a hostess. I'm looking forward to that coming in! I was moderately pleased with my turnout. I sent 36 invitations, and 4 people showed up, and 2 placed outside orders. If I didn't know the business, I'd think I was miserably unpopular, but that's just the way it goes in reality. I was excited that I knew 36 people to send invites to!

Big plans for the summer include sending both kids to the YMCA camp across the river from our house for a 2 week day camp. They have a very well established camp called Leif Erickson camp for kids Xander's age, and a preschool version called Little Vikes for Maia's age. They'll be going at the same time as a couple of friends, so that should help with the adjustment. I like that they can see our house from there, and that they come home to sleep every night. That will be the last 2 weeks in June.

Xander's also going to a 3 day dance camp. I think he'll have a really fun time. That's the first week in June.

Second week in June is Tour de Kota (Sunday & Monday), Maia's birthday (Tuesday), and then we're sending the kids home with Grandma Georgie & Grampa Bruce while Matt & I go to the Scheels' awards banquet in Braynerd, MN (sp?). So I guess we have a few things scheduled, but really not a huge deal.

I'm trying to avoid the hyper-scheduling of summer, and just letting summer be summer. I've got a recital to prepare for in September, and of course, the school musical in March (which I need to be preparing for already), so I'm trying to do some pre-paration.