Monday, July 30, 2012

Summer Fun Update

At the beginning of the summer, we sat down a wrote a list of 40 fun things to do over the summer. I thought I would give an update on how we're doing. Mostly, the things I found most interested have already been completed. The ones I'm not so into, have yet to be done. You may also notice a trend that the messy projects have yet to be done. 
  1. Family Picnic
  2. Play in the Park
  3. Go to the Library
  4. Go Swimming
  5. Take Swim Lessons
  6. Blow bubbles
  7. Go the to Zoo
  8. Play with sidewalk chalk
  9. Make cookies
  10. Make ice cream
  11. Play with friends
  12. Go Camping
  13. Go to Yellowstone
  14. Run through the Sprinklers
  15. Home Depot Kids Workshop (free on the first Saturday of the month)
  16. Watch a movie
  17. Build a blanket fort
  18. Go to the Dinosaur Museum
  19. Glow sticks in the Bathtub
  20. Painting
  21. Run a Race
  22. Watch Fireworks
  23. Play Playdoh
  24. Balloon Tennis
  25. Shave with Daddy (With saving cream and Popsicle sticks)
  26. Balloon Characters
  27. Write Letters
  28. Act out a story
  29. Go to Cabella's to see the fish and animals
  30. Weeding
  31. Potato Stamps
  32. Make Pizza
  33. Eat Popsicles
  34. Hike Lake Mountain
  35. Roast Marshmallows
  36. Star Gazing
  37. Buy a botanical book to learn about native plants
  38. Target Shooting
  39. Plant flowers
  40. Watch a baseball game

We are making good progress! We also mapped out the remaining weekends of the summer with the things that need to be accomplished on a Saturday (like the Zoo). It's cool to see all the fun things we've done. I think we are going to extent our completiong date into September. Origionally I wanted to be done by the time school starts, but that may not happen. School is right around the corner!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hookie Day: An Annual Tradition

Hookie Day first began in 2010, by accident. It was a July morning. JM and I were both tired of the monotony of getting up every day, and going to work every day. We both agreed to call in sick. Then we had the even better idea of taking the girls to day care AND calling in sick.

We spent that glorious day together. We shopped the Nordstrom Anniversary sale (love it!), went to a leisurely lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and just spent the day together. It was a great day of re-charging our relationship.

Fast forward one year: July, 2011. Similar situation, neither of us want to go to work. We both decide to call in sick. Then we recalled how great that one day was last year and we happily dropped the girls off at day care to spend the day together. This day had a de ja vu effect to it because we shopped the Nordstrom Anniversary sale and ate at The Cheesecake Factory. We also got massages and decided this kind of day should happen more often.

June 2012: Now that we have the basic premise down for what Hookie Day looks like, (and our lives seem to be more crazy) we booked Hookie Day a month in advance. Not as spontaneous, but effective at making sure it happened. JM requested the day off work and I re-arranged my schedule to make it work. This year we mutually decided that neither of us needs clothes so we would fore-go the shopping this year. We had planned on hiking in the morning, but JM has been sick for the last week and wasn't feeling up to it. Instead we went out to breakfast then drove around looking at and dreaming about huge houses we can't afford.

We went back to the house to clean up and take a short nap. Then we set off for a leisurely lunch. While I don't want to go into the details here, this lunch was/will be life changing. Not because of the food, but the conversation. We discussed our life, our goals, and what is most important to us. I may have cried, embarrassing myself in front of our waiter.

After lunch we headed to the spa for a couples massage. It was relaxing and a great way to end Hookie Day. What I love about Hookie Day is that it's a special day just for us. We do plenty of family activities, but often fail to take the time to nurture our marriage. This is a full day to just do what we love together. We take it slow and dream big. It always reminds us of our dating life when we would dream about our future together. It's fun to see how far we've come as well as dream about what the future will hold.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite traditions.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Friday Fragments

(Somehow my scheduled post, didn't automatically post, so you get Friday Fragments on Monday.)
It's been a while since I did one of these and we've had lots of things going on in the last few weeks. In fragment form, here's an update:

We went the my niece's baby blessing last week. At the family party after, BG had to go potty. I went with her since she didn't know where it was. She asked me to go into the bathroom stall with her to untie her dress (she was wearing a halter dress). I told her she didn't have to untie and pull down her dress, she could pull up her dress to go potty. She looked at me with amazement and said "Mom! You are so creative!!" Made my day.

*****
BG has also been praying lately for a baby brother. I figure either way life turns out, it will be a good lesson. Either 1) God answers prayers or 2) We don't always get what we want/ask for.

*****
There have been lots of fires where I live this summer. Many have left people evacuated from their homes. A few homes have been destroyed. It makes me nervous for the long, hot summer we still have ahead of us. I'm very grateful for the firefighters who are working non-stop. It also makes mad at the stupid people who are still target shooting in hot, dry climates and those using fireworks irresponsibly. Most of the fires have been human started.

*****
We went camping at Yellowstone a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun and we survived! It's a beautiful park with incredible views and wild life.

*****
I'm running a 5K this weekend. I'm excited for it, but also a little nervous. Mostly, I'm ready for it to be over so I don't have to run anymore. It also makes me think I need to sign up for another one to keep up the motivation.

*****
Blanche burned her arm pretty bad on Father's Day. She bumped into the hot grill while running around. She is a tough kid because she hardly cried. After the initial tears, she only cried one other time about it- when the nurse tried to take off the bandage and it stuck to a blistered area of skin. Other than that, she's been all smiles about it. It's taken a few weeks, but it now looks like a sunburn vs. charred flesh. Poor kid!