blog catch-up

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I have entered a blog post (again). Miss J and K turned 5. Boy, how is that possible? My little girls are growing up fast. With the end of school year, I was busy planning summer camps, activities, and going crazy trying out new crafts.

I wrote the school where J and K would be attending Kindergarten letting them that I want my girls in separate classes. Of course with this request come the mental preparation of separation. At first K said, "Yes! I want a different classroom!" especially when we told her that no one would be confusing her with J. J on the other hand was not very enthusiastic. She said she wanted to be K, she wouldn't know which classroom she has to go to, etc. I reassured her that the teachers would all be helpful and that she would see K during recess and lunch.

Big M finished spring soccer and as soon as school ended, he started soccer camp. I only singed him up for 3.5 hours a day for 2 weeks, and I think that was more than enough. There is a long walk to the soccer field and every day he could barely carry his soccer bag. He can handle the physical activity, but the heat and the fact that he doesn't drink enough water is making him exhausted. He came home the first day with a water bottle that was barely used. I had to make marks and asked him to make sure he drank to the marks every water break. He is loving it though.

Little M continues to be a handful. We've caught him playing in the toilet, using applesauce as lotion/sunscreen, sneaking into his sister's room to rip out their wall decals, etc. Daddy and I look at each other at the end of the day and thing, "none of the other kids ever did any of this!" He is so smart and talkative too. Opinionated. We can't forget that part. Just like his mother father.

This summer has proven to be our most active yet. I think it's because Little M is to the point of being able to endure/enjoy the outings and the four kids are slightly more manageable. We tried hiking in our local park, which we all enjoyed: even terrain, fairly short (1 mile). The next week we went on a challenging hike off a cliff of a mountain where we had to go up and down rocks. We got to walk behind a waterfall. It was a lovely hike, the trees shaded us so it was not hot at all. Little M was on my back the entire time, which made some of the downhill and uphill challenging. On another occasion we hiked a preservation park. Upstate New York is such a lovely place for so many outdoor activities. Just days ago, we also started Geocaching. Why not combine hikes and treasure hunting? I found a very recently placed cache full of toys and as a family went to look for it. The kids were excited about treasure! Unfortunately, not all caches have toys/treasure. Big M loves it though, even finding the littlest ones where all we can do is sign it that we found it.

Today we tried bowling. This is Little M's first bowling and he did great. He loved it, except for the fact that he had to wait for everyone's turn.




Fun!

break-dancing at the bowling alley

So here are the trio doing some break-dancing at the bowling alley. With the lights and sounds you'd think they're in a dance club.  K is the one wearing the sideways stripe and glowing pants, J is the one with the necklace and of course Big M is the moon-walking fool. It's still moon-walking even if he's moving forward instead of backward, right?

Family bowling

We spent memorial day having our family's very first bowling games together. In between turns we ate lunch. Little M was in the table getting fed by everyone, though we didn't know it at the time until the poor little monkey threw up from over eating.

Bumpers went up for the kids and came down for Daddy and I. The kids also used a ramp, but on our second game try kids tried without it. J won the first game. We didn't finig the second game but Daddy was in the lead. At one point the lights in the alley were dimmed, black lights turned on and music blared. The kids started dancing as if they were in a club. I will post a video of it another time.  We played a little arcade better heading home. It was a fun holiday.