Aunt Olivia's Pool Party

One of our last "summer" bashes was Aunt Olivia's Birthday party. Olivia was born on the feast of the Assumption, but waited to have her party on the 22 of August. Nana hosted it at the local Y and had pizza for everyone after they swam.

The Y had a great indoor swim/splash area for the kids. E had a very good time in the water and was fearless. The older kids loved the slide and "shower flower" that would rain down warm water when you pulled a string. I think they all would agree that the pizza, pop, cake, and ice cream was wonderful, as well. Talk about sugar overload!

Grandpa's Got Skills!

At our most recent visit with Grandpa, he showed us some of his skills. T and Grandpa took turns using T's new slingshot. The poor tree got way more hits than the empty pop can thanks to T, not Grandpa.

Then Grandpa moved on to show the kids how well he can do pull ups on the swingset. This really impressed T. The girls tried pull-ups, too, with Grandpa's help.

First Day of School 2010

School officially started back up at the Copper Corral on August 16th. Though we have four of the kids in school this year (grades 5, 3, 1, and Pre-K), I only have desks for the oldest three. B does most of her work at a table or the kitchen table. (I'll be posting picture of her pre-school activities soon).

I have tried to get a little more organized this school year with a schedule, individualized lesson plans for M and T, and a list of books to be read aloud. We've been able to stick to our schedule pretty well. I pray that we will be able to keep going despite the inevitable set backs and interruption that will be headed our way.

Just this week I had two unexpected meetings that took the majority of my time on Wednesday and little school work was able to get done. However, because I was more organized we were able to plan ahead and do most of Wednesday's work on Tuesday and Thursday. Surprisingly, we've even been able to attend daily Mass Tuesday through Friday. I always had a rough schedule in my head over the past few years of doing school, but the written one for all to see has really helped the kids to know what to expect and when to expect it.

Summer Reading Program Pool Party

We've been blessed with three very good readers. The three oldest all love to read. They beg me to go to the library, even though we have hundreds of books in our own library. I often times have to tell them to stop reading and go outside. The usual response to that correction is, "Can I take my book and read outside?"

That being said, we took part in our local library's summer reading/incentive program. My kids were finished with their 20 books each in a matter of two weeks. It would have been sooner, but they limit each child to 5 books per visit. As a reward to those who completed the program, the library rented out the local pool for a pool party.

It was really nice that Daddy could join us to celebrate the closing of the summer with a nice swim. Elias had a blast swimming and stayed in the water so long that his little feet looked like raisins.

I think T's favorite part was the diving board.

It is hard to believe that the summer is coming to a close. We are gearing up for another school year. M is 1/2 way through 5th grade, T is starting 4th, C is doing 2nd grade, and B is doing K. It will be a busy year with four of them doing school work, but I am looking forward to some new adventures we have planned. I'll detail those later. Happy Dog Days of Summer. God bless.