Jumping Right Into Summer

So Monday started our first week of summer. Jackson had basketball camp for the first few days but only from 10-11:30. We did have to quickly have a “family meeting” about expectations for the summer to hopefully get off on the right foot.  I do have a certain way in my mind of how I would like the days to go, but I know it won’t happen like that very often. They are all expected to be up and ready for the day, bed made, room clean, and chores done by 9. Then we have other activities we try to get done during the day including reading time, “brain time”, and devotional time along with getting outside. Ellie wants to do the theme days we have done in the past like Make Something Monday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, etc., so we are trying to do that just a bit. Ellie and Lincoln tried to get some play time in with the LaBeths before they headed out for vacation on Tuesday. And our driveway is covered in sidewalk chalk art. The twins and I had fun playing with the video features on my phone and did slow motion and hyperlapse videos of them riding on the Ziggles. Another day we got out some of our sprinklers for a little bit of fun followed by popsicles while warming up in the sun on the driveway.

I started Jackson and Ellie on some of our life skill lessons that we hoped to work on this summer (again, grand plans but who knows if we will actually accomplish much this summer with any of this). They all take turns cleaning a couple of the bathrooms in the house before they go to school in the morning but it mainly just involves wiping down the toilet and sinks. And I know they just did a very quick job of it a lot of times. So this time I went through each step with them of totally cleaning the inside and outside of the toilet and cleaning the floor, sinks, counters, faucets and shower/tub. Lots of fun J.  They also made snickerdoodle cookies and did all of it from getting out everything they needed to preheating the oven to prepping and baking to cleaning up.

One thing that took up a lot of time this week was baseball/softball. We had a total of seven games scheduled for the week but there was a lot of rain in the forecast. Ellie had a game Monday night. She was flustered at bat but had some good plays in the field including catching a pop fly. She is actually using Caroline’s old glove which is fun.

Then Tuesday night Lincoln and Jackson both had games. Lincoln was up first at 5:30. He was so excited that he got a couple hits and is did well in the field. I even caught a picture of his intense face while he was base running J.

Lincoln’s game was pretty short since they were missing some boys so we had time to go to my parents’ and hang out for a bit before going back for Jackson’s game which was at 7:45. My dad got out the pitching machine and Jackson and Ellie hit a bit. Jackson’s game ended up starting late while we waited for the game before us to finish up. Andrew was in charge again since Joe was gone on vacation and we were down to just 9 boys. It started off shaky and we were down by 6 points but they fought back and eventually caught up and then passed the other team. Andrew put Jackson in the pitch the last two innings and I was so nervous for him. He did a great job though and got three strike outs the first inning with a two or three runs in. Some of those runs were from base runners advancing because he balked. He had no idea what he was doing wrong-Andrew hadn’t learned about those on his YouTube videos J. Then he was able to pitch the last inning with a couple strikeouts and the final out was a great throw from the catcher to get a kid out stealing second. They won 18-11 and were a happy team even though we didn’t get done until close to 10. And our other kids did great for a late game. They had fun playing around on the playground and behind the field (with several bathroom breaks). I told them thank you for not whining very much during the game. And Molly took some video for me so she did a selfie with Miles.

We thought Ellie’s game would be rained out Wednesday but we ended up not getting a bit of rain. Her game was just after five so we didn’t eat until afterwards. We ordered Colton’s because that night they were given a portion of their proceeds to a group in our church going on a missions’ trip to Ecuador. Andrew and the boys picked it up after the game while Ellie and I did some quick grocery shopping before heading home.

Thursday Jackson had his last day of basketball camp. I tried to get a quick run in before I had to take him and as I started running down the street I saw Buddy all the way down near the fork in the road. Thankfully I was able to get him to come to me and got him back in the house before taking off again. Then I got back just in time to hop in the car and get Jackson to camp. Jackson said my face looked like a cherry-it was pretty humid that morning J. He came home for lunch and take a little break before I took him to Ray Miller to do his final testing for the RAP program. The counselor said it would take just around 45 minutes so I thought the kids could just play on the playground while we were waiting. They had a lot of fun for about 15 minutes until both twins needed to go to the bathroom. The school was locked up and you had to ring someone to open the door so I didn’t want to do that and explain my kids had to use the bathroom, so we made a quick trip home and got back just a little bit before Jackson was done. Then we went to my parents’ house because Caroline and Jared got into town for a wedding they had that weekend. Lissy also came into town for some shoots and Kaitlin brought Owen and Lola so my parents could watch them while they moved from their rental house into the new house. So it was nice to see everyone and visit for a bit. And everyone was excited that my parents were making a fried chicken dinner. Lincoln was supposed to have a game that night and it was called off at the last minute because a storm was coming and the fields were already wet from a storm during the night before. So we got a few games of Uno in and the kids had a sleepover. They had been begging to have one again so this was the perfect night with the others around. It sounds like they had a late night though watching Scooby Doo but they thankfully slept in a bit.

Jackson actually came home with me instead of staying at my parents. And Andrew went home soon after dinner because he had not been feeling well most of the week with some respiratory gunk. The next morning Jackson commented that he had the best sleep he had had in a while. We went over to my parents later and the kids got to spend the afternoon swimming. They impressed us with their tricks J.

Lincoln had another game that night. He had a fun game with hits each time he was at bat and some good fielding. He was excited to see my parents, Lissy, Molly, Owen and Lola come to the game too. Jackson was supposed to have a game that night too but a big storm came in just as Lincoln’s game was finishing up so the rest of the games were called off. We eventually made it back home so I could finish packing up for the rest of our weekend. Ellie and I were going to Kansas City to go see Matilda at the Starlight Theater and then Jackson and Ellie were going to St. Louis with Lissy and Molly for some fun activities. Ellie’s theater ticket was her early birthday present from her cousins and the St. Louis trip was their birthday present from Lissy. Andrew kept things under control at home with the boys while I was gone. They went on a couple bike rides around the block and went to La Fuente for dinner. Andrew said a guy sitting next to them commented on how well-behaved his boys were J. He sent me a picture so I had to send him one of where we were eating…Garozzo’s. We had a yummy dinner at Garozzo’s, took the leftovers back by the house and the made our way to the Starlight. The traffic was unusually backed up getting to the parking so Autumn let the girls and Sara and I out to go ahead and get to the show while she finished parking. Ellie wanted a snow cone so we quickly got that and got to our seats just a little after the show started. But there were a lot of people still coming in. And we ended up sitting right next to Mrs. Reese, one of the kindergarten teachers at the Primary. She actually taught Sara, Andy and Lissy and this was her last year. The show was really good and I’m glad Autumn set it all up for us all to go. I think the girls really enjoyed it too although it wasn’t over until about 10:30.

The girls played for a bit the next morning before we all headed home. Sara took Briley and Ellie with her to St. Louis and I went back to Kirksville. Lissy had big plans for all of them. Back in Kirksville the boys were excited to see me when I got home. I thought I may go for a bike ride but the call of doing laundry and picking up the house, etc won over and I worked on that stuff while Andrew went for a ride. Then I took the boys over to my parents to swim for a bit. Owen and Lola were still there so they all had fun swimming together and laying out together.

Then my parents decided to take them to the movie but I still needed to get to the grocery store. So they took all of them without me. I finished up laundry, prepped some stuff for dinner and did some cleaning before going to the store. Andrew grilled hamburgers and everything was ready to go when I got home. We enjoyed a quiet dinner out on the patio and the boys got back a little after we were done. The next morning Andrew went to the office and when he got home I went for a bike ride. He took the boys out to the ranch (Ty had just gotten home from vacation and he joined them too) so they drove past me as they were heading out there. I did my longest ride yet, 30 miles, and it went well. They all got back from the ranch a little after I was done. I got ready and we had lunch before Lincoln found all his friends again. They went to Josh’s house for a water balloon fight and then he went with them to the country club. Andrew went out for a bike ride and the twins and I ran a couple errands and then went to my parents to swim for a little while. My parents were still gone taking Owen and Lola back to Pella but showed up while we were still there. Then Andrew and Buddy came by for a little bit. The twins have a lot of fun with each other in the pool…and they like to annoy each other. Bennett is definitely braver in the water and will just run and jump in anywhere while Miles just likes to jump into the hot tub.

But then it was time to head home so that we could be there before Lincoln got home and get dinner ready. After dinner, Andrew and the boys headed outside while I cleaned up. When I got out there they were all cleaning bikes, including mine.

We got texts throughout the day of what the kids were up to in St. Louis. Sunday night they got to go see The Jungle Book in one of the fancy theaters where you can get dinner too. The next day they had all sorts of fun. First Jackson, Ellie and Molly got to do a ropes course while Lissy did kayaking with the other kids that weren’t tall enough. Then they all went paddle boarding. After resting up, they got to go to Sky Zone. I think they had a lot of fun!