For the last day of June, a list
Today is the last day of June. Last day. Half a year. Gone. My goal for our summertime was simple. Fun. Have fun. So for the last day of June I made a list of our top 10 fun things we've done so far. Actually, the list is nine fun things. But number one is my inspiration lately. Whenever I'd really rather just give in to the tired or think of a thousand reasons to say "no" or tackle the to-do list that's always growing and never getting smaller, I remember this. I will never have this day with Mason, Hannah Kate and Ellie again. That has made all the difference lately!
1.
2. Making homemade s'mores ice cream. Of course, not that you can tell from this picture that it's homemade s'mores ice cream. But it is.
3. Sidewalk chalk art
4. A wet sponge race around the house. Not inside the house. But around and around the outside of the house. This actually started because they complained one day of being bored. It was like the only day that week we did not go to the pool. So I drew a big bullseye target on the driveway with the sidewalk chalk and gave them each a sponge. I told them to keep up with their points and to see who could get the most (hello math lesson that they didn't even realize). At first, they weren't impressed. But then they realized they were going to get wet in the process. My kids are all about getting wet. So they played until the water erased the chalk. And that's when the wet sponge race began.
5. Playing dress up and camping inside
6. And more dress up. There's been a lot of that lately, especially since Hannah Kate has figured out she can dress her little sister up like she's a living baby doll. And Ellie is more than willing these days to let her. Oh, and this would also be the Sunday that Hannah Kate requested as soon as we got home from church that I take her bow out of her hair because it was "in the way" of her crown!
7. Swimming. Did I mention swimming already? Because there's been a lot of that. A lot. And one can only look at so many swimming pictures before they all look the same, don't you think?
8. Cousins. One of their favorite weeks is the one Avery and Beau come to town.
When I posted the above picture on Instagram and Facebook, everyone noticed and asked why the little one was "missing." Well, this was like day 14 in a row at the pool, and she was over it. Done. As soon as I pulled out her swimsuit that day, she went straight into meltdown phase. And then she spent the afternoon just standing at the back door begging to go inside while everyone else was swimming.
9. Spending a day at the beach. That's right. A day. Our beach vacation isn't for three more weeks. 20 days to be exact. But who's counting? I am! But last week I decided one night to take the kids to the beach the next day. I'm usually not quite that spontaneous. But refer back to number 1. So we woke up early the next morning, packed a picnic lunch, pulled our beach toys out of the attic and headed to the beach. Mason couldn't believe that we were going to the beach for only one day without staying there. But we did. The weather was beautiful, the water was perfect and it was a great day. We went to Pensacola Beach because I wanted white sand and clear greenish blue water, and it's the closest. It's a four hour drive from here. Trust me. It's really not that bad. The nine hours it takes us to get to Georgia puts a whole lot of other things into perspective! Besides, they were all so tired by the time we left that they slept most of the way home.
10. LSU Baseball Camp. Today begins four weeks of crazy, beginning with baseball camp. Mason loves baseball. He didn't get to play this past spring because the games were on the same days as he had therapy. He was disappointed, but he was so understanding and didn't give us a hard time about the decision we had to make but didn't necessarily like. So we promised him that he could go to baseball camp at LSU this summer instead. Today was the first day.
So the "lazy," unscheduled, not-so-busy days of June are giving way to a July filled with baseball camp, VBS, beach vacation, Mason's birthday, Ellie's birthday, our anniversary. My cup overflows!
