summer somethings...

well, we have officially crossed over into summer time. i am very grateful to be on this side of the mason dixon line again, when memorial day marks the beginning of summer, NOT the beginning of the end of school.

katie's last day of school was bitter sweet for all of us. her school has a tradition that on the last day of school all the kids run down "the hill".. teachers stand at the top and parents stand at the bottom... everyone cheers as the kids run into summer. it was so, so, cool!

(katie, with faith and annie, her sweet-sweet friends!)

i am going to post through out summer some fun things and mainly the simple things we are doing to fill our time.  don't worry, nothing to get your pinterest pin boards out for.

most of our summer will include the following; pool, pool, cousins, pool, aunts/uncles, grandparents, drool on your pillow at nap time b/c you are so exhausted from the....you guessed it, POOL! this year will be the first summer in 9 summers that NO ONE will need my assistance in the pool. i have fully upgraded to lounging lifeguard. GLORIOUS i tell you, just glorious!

yesterday, we went to The Berry Patch and picked blueberries. DELICIOUS! therefore, this morning we had to make blueberry muffins. i don't do a lot of baking. cooking-yes...baking-no. i am not a big cake, muffin, cookie, pancake, waffle, person... so this was an especially big deal for the kids.

another key for our summer time is popsicles... however, the majority of all popsicles have high fructose corn syrup in them, and the ones that don't are outrageously expensive... 4 summers ago our sweet friends, the Maynors, who we met during our 10 week hotel stay in king george, va, AND ARE MOVING HERE IN A MONTH, introduced us to these amazing popsicle makers. i blend up yogurt, fruit, cinnamon, OJ, and milk and WA-LA... MAGIC!

while i do intend on having a very relaxed, super flexible summer with an emphasis on lots of quality time together, i have made excel spreadsheets for the big kids with some daily things on it like math flash cards, reading, piano lessons, chores, etc... some days nothing will get done on the list, and other days things will get done twice. it's just how we roll.
 
 we hope you have a fabulous memorial day weekend!
(here are some pics from one of our most memorable memorial days in Arlington cemetery. 2010)