Summertime

Summer is here and that means........ time to play!!!!!! If you have read my blog over the past summers you know that my summertime motto is Fun, Fun, Fun. The reason I became a stay-at-home mom was to be able to spend time with our kids and not have them spending the whole day in daycare environments. So every summer, I treat it like the summer vacation that it is. I get away from the school time schedule and focus entirely on having fun with our girls all summer long. I may be spoiling them a bit by doing this (as I know not every child gets to do summer vacation all summer long, some have to be in day care centers and even though most centers try to plan summertime field trips and such, its still a bit of a regular routine for the kiddos as their parents are at work). Even if this is spoiling them a bit, I feel its my perogative to do this, as the reason I am not working full time is simply to BE with them. So if I am going to BE with them, let's BE TOGETHER and BE having some FUN! Yes, we still have to do chores and our house has to get cleaned, dinner needs to get made(a couple nights a week ha ha), the lawn needs to be mowed, bills need to be paid, and Daddy still needs to work a regular day (until he retires which we look forward to in anticipation), but we can make those things NOT be the focus of our day and NOT make them the foundation of our schedule. Instead, during the summer, I focus on making our fun together the foundation of everything. I look for things for us to do that will be considered 'fun and vacation-worthy' rather than just regular plain days, counting down till school starts again and we go back to a more structured (less room for extra activities) time.
So, here's what we have been up to for those of you who are interested in keeping abreast of our activities....
We have been enjoying lots of 'girls lunches' together, and they seem to think we should be getting dessert too (???) so being the "spoiling summer mom" that I am, I have obliged ha ha. We've done some little bike rides, although I hope to do lots more, as well as some more outdoor activities.  The girls have had fun swimming in our pool and having friends over. Tomorrow we are having our first 'open pool' day of the summer, where moms and their kids can come and go at our pool for a designated time period. Its a good way for the kids to all get to see each other and play, as well as for us adults to get a chance to hang by the pool too. Our fun trip to the zoo was blogged about before , as well as a visit from my mom. The girls have started to get a little spoiled with real pedicures at the nail place. I took them there for T's birthday while we were in Dallas this spring. Since it was her birthday I let them get whatever they wanted from gel to extra massages to nail art. Well, $200+tip later, that was one very indulgent treat. Until that point I have never paid for them to get their nails done. That was a special occasion and at the time I expected it to only be repeated for each of their birthdays....well, when my mom came to visit I decided a good gift to give her would be to go get pedicures together with me and her granddaughters. So we did that and the girls loved it!!!!! I have been telling my husband for years that he needs to go get his feet done by a professional (not me) because I felt his feet were nasty and needed help. So after our trip with grandma, the girls and I decided that for Father's Day we should take daddy and the four of us get pedicures together.  I know what u are thinking "what, that will never happen!" But we suggested it to him and he said he would!  (I'm telling ya, I think he gets the #1Daddy Award for agreeing to get a pedicure with his daughters to make them happy!) Well, last week T was away on a camping trip with a friend and W wanted to do something 'special' with mommy and daddy since T was gone. She wanted either the pedi or a movie. Dan agreed to either, but thinking the pedi place wouldn't be open that late, he said 'sure go ahead and call them, I'll go"   lol you can see where this is going.... They WERE open and he was then locked into going and getting a pedi with his wife and daughter instead of going to a movie lol.  We went and W loved it, and Dan actually said it was fine, although he was very happy to point out that the nail lady said his feet weren't really bad at all and not nearly as bad as I think they are as compared to other men! lol
We have also gone to the movie theater a few times and done some swiming at our gym, as well as swimming in our own pool of course. Tonight we have some Redbox movies to watch  and we are planning on making some zucchini cookies.  We will also go bowling, ice skating, and partake in some library programs as well as craft activities in town, but haven't done these things yet.
The girls did do a beading class at the library while I was working (they went with grandma) and they loved it and now want to make lots of jewelry :) We have also done some shopping, which normally would not be an enjoyable activity with my oldest, but these shopping adventures have actually turned out to be pretty good, fun, and productive :)
W has already completed her Farm Camp week, which she LOVED, and T is in the middle of her Cheer Camp. W starts hers next week. Both are looking forward to cheering so hopefully that will go well for them. We recently bought a boat and took it out for the first time this past weekend to try it out. It was so fun! I can't wait till our vacation house is done and we will keep the boat there and spend half of every week living there and enjoying the lake and boat (not to mention the beautiful peacefulness of the house location!!!) Speaking of which, we are getting closer and closer to completing it and are at the point of needing to pick out flooring, paint, lighting, etc.  Lots of decisions to be made, but it will be super wonderful when it is all done. I love all the appliances we have picked out, but there are still so many decisions that need to be made. We are under no time constraint (construction loan) to finish it, and we are doing it ourselves, so we have been pretty laid back in our approach, which means that we have none of this stuff picked out yet or decided upon! So all that work comes now. It will be fine though, we will get it done and I am sure it will look beautiful.
Anyway, it will all come together I am sure :)
We have some fun plans made for a fishing/hiking/camping trip as well as a trip to Branson and an end-of-summer vacation to the Chateau on Tablerock Lake. We will take our boat with us when we go there and use their marina so it should be super fun.
Its hard to believe it is already June, and our kids go back to school the second week of August. Which is why we are truly focusing on summer fun till summer is done. Lots of you I follow on FB, so I've been keeping up with all your activities too and it sounds like everyone is having lots of fun! Its so fun to be able to shrink the miles between us and keep that communication flowing :)

Signing off, as its time for me to jump in the pool! :)
Have a great summer!