Do I get a cookie, Mom?

LOVE this picture of my sweet baby boy!

Some wet fun

Another month in review

Lest you think (from my previous post) that I have spent the whole past month micromanaging and nagging my family, here are some of the things we've done lately:

We had a bad storm one night right at bedtime. Natalie and Karis snuggled up for some comfort from the thunder and lightening. We couldn't believe how quickly they fell asleep next to each other and stayed cozy all night long!

Karis had graduation from Preschool. It's crazy to me that she'll be going to Kindergarten next year, but I'm so excited for her to make some new friends and continue growing into the girl that God wants her to be!

To kick off summer vacation we are starting a new tradition of having a family slumber party on the last night of school. We treated the kids to IBC root beer in the bottle, skittles, gummi worms, and popcorn and a couple movies they had never seen. It was hard this year with Levi wanting to steal everyone's snacks and Natalie trying to get in other people's sleeping bags, but I think in the years to come it will be fun. There won't be a bed time and we'll sleep in as late as we want the next morning!

We brought up this old "springy" horse since Natalie and Levi were fighting over the zebra toy. We have cute pictures of Ethan and Karis with cowboy hats on while riding it when they were little. I couldn't resist getting a couple of Levi and Natalie.

We're in the process of making some "I Spy" bottles to take on our Outer Banks trip. We started out using sand, but I feel like the objects are really hard to uncover. We may try a couple with rice instead and see how that works. Ring around the Rosy has been a big hit with Levi and Natalie. I love that all 4 kids will do it together about 20 times in a row and sing and giggle the whole time!

SUMMER!!

Well, I thought summer would be a time for me to start blogging on a regular basis again. I should have known I would just end up filling my time with other things! I love summer vacation, especially since I'm married to a teacher :O).

I must admit, though, for a control freak like myself, it's not quite as wonderful as it sounds some days. I really have a hard time balancing between feeling like my house should look perfect and our days should run smoothly since I have my hubby home everyday to help, and just letting go and enjoying the time we have spend together. I'm totally wired to get everything done, then if there is time I'll rest. He's totally wired to lay on the couch with the kids and watch cartoons for an hour and a half every morning and then just relax for the day. If I don't accomplish like 12 things before 9am, I start to get annoyed with everyone and everything for not feeling like they need to do the same!

So my goal for the next several weeks is to (once again) work on letting go. I (once again) need to get okay with the fact that my toy room is ridiculously dishevelled, my furniture is dusty, some days nothing "monumental" gets accomplished, we have to dig through baskets of folded laundry to find something to wear, and many of the projects on our summer to-do list won't get accomplished.

I'm (once again) expectantly praying for a change in attitude. With June almost over already, I know I can't afford to waste any more precious time worrying what's not getting done and start investing more energy into enjoying this time that I'll never get back!

In the News!

Mother's Day weekend we ran a 5k sponsored by my friend Angie's Mommy and Me Fitness program. It's a nice race on our local bike trail and she also has a mile fun run that the kids did this year. After being sick with a sinus infection for the 2 1/2 weeks before the race, I was happy with how I did...clocking myself at 26:30. It was fun to run with some of the girls from MOPS.

I love that the whole family can get into these races and I'll be looking for some more 5ks that have the fun runs. Ethan was pumped to go out and win this one, and probably would have had he known where to turn around (he still came in third after playing catch up). I'm thinking Natalie might be the one who becomes a runner...she's already run 3/4 of a mile on two separate occasions! I'll be so excited if we have a couple more runners in the family (and, of course, I'll be happy even if we don't)!

Remember Me?

Hello, blog. Remember me? Yes, I'm still alive, and I'm so glad track season is only three months long. If your husband works 60+ hours a week year round, I don't know how you make it!?!? The kids miss Mark, I miss Mark, he misses us and we are all counting down the (13...woohoo) days until summer vacation!

So here's what we've been up to for the past month:

We had a family birthday party for Levi.

We made a quick trip to Erie when my brother was in town from NYC. We see him about once a year, so this is the first time he's met Levi!Soccer was fun this season. Ethan and Karis had so much fun running up and down the field as fast as they could and scoring goals left and right.
On Wednesdays I take Natalie and Levi to the Nature Center down the road for a mommy and me preschool class. Although I wasn't sure if she was ready to get anything out of it, she has seemed to really enjoy it. She loves the hiking and is always looking for a walking stick! Last Wednesday we got to hike down to the pond to pick up some tadpoles to bring home. Even after that hike, we went out and hiked for another 45 minutes with some friends. The girl is a trooper!

With four kids, there is always some element of chaos in our day, but I've been striving for more rest, peace, and enjoyment rather than the hurry and busyness that so often try to take over. For us that means reading books on the trampoline, playing in the sandbox for hours, enjoying the water table, "campfires" on the driveway, lap after lap around the yard in the truck, playing basketball, watching the baby birds that have hatched right outside the back door, following Levi as he wanders around the yard exploring, planting flowers,sipping fresh fruit smoothies, waiting for our strawberries to ripen...

LIFE IS GOOD!

A long, but very good day

I dread this day every track season...the day of the Elgin Relays. Mark leaves at 7am and is lucky to be home by 11pm. That's a long day for 1 mama and 4 kids! Thankfully, though, they are 4 amazing kids and we had a good day!

We went to the park for a couple hours. Natalie loved all the big slides, but was scared of a teeny tiny bug! Ethan was all over his big brother responsibilities and took Levi down some slides. Karis was very helpful with our friends little girl, who follows Karis around like a shadow!

We enjoyed a big cookie treat when we got home and all the kids had some quiet/nap time for a bit. Ethan and Karis played outside all afternoon building a zoo for dinosaurs and animals with blocks and rocks...and cooling themselves down with the hose every so often.

After Natalie woke up from her nap we headed out to Target to get some warm weather attire...goodness gracious buying clothes and shoes for 4 kids is expensive!! Even when you are just buying a couple outfits for each of them! Karis and Ethan were excited to have a bit of a say in what they could pick out...of course Ethan picked out a Star Wars t-shirt (his new obsession) and Karis picked out a Hello Kitty t-shirt. I was glad to find some crocs that fit Levi's chubby feet. I stuffed his feet in a pair of Ethan's old sandals today and left marks! Natalie carried her new disney princess nighty all around the store and as I was helping Ethan try on a pair of sandals, she started taking her shirt off so she could put it on! Yep, my two year old was stripping down in the middle of Target.

We came home for a waffle/pancake dinner and bubble baths. It is fun to split them up boys and girls lately. Ethan and Levi are so cute sitting next to each other on the couch watching a Baby Praise movie. And Karis jumped right in to show Natalie how to wash her hair while I put away some laundry. And then they all 4 went to bed at the same time with no hassle (Levi surprised me cuz he's been fighting bed time lately, but I just laid him down and he stayed quiet!). Natalie and Levi played peek-a-boo for a couple minutes, but I didn't even have to make a single trip back upstairs!!! Thank you, sweet Jesus!

I'm off to fold some laundry, pick up a few toys, grade a paper or two, and then reward myself with a piece of turtle cheesecake...