Summertime blues

Every year at about this time, as summer days drag on and on, I start to get a bit restless and, dare I say, grouchy? It's funny how I begin the summer giddy with anticipation of all the swimming we'll do, popsicles we'll eat, and just how much free time we'll have to relax at home. But, now I'm over it. I'm tired of sunscreen, burning hot seat belts, mosquitoes, dying grass, and sweating on the two house walk to the mailbox. I'm ready to resume our normal schedule and I'm ready for the weather to cool down enough to allow me to send my kids outside to play without them returning in 30 seconds because "it's too ho-ot to play outside!" Unfortunately, we're still a long way from respite from the triple digit temperatures and crisp fall days seem almost unreachable.

Being stuck inside has never agreed with me, and I'll admit I've fallen into a bit of a funk. I realized today after a "discussion" with Avery about the need for gratitude, that I need to try to focus on the good of today, rather than dwelling on the negative and wishing our lives away. So, I'm going to work on remembering the good things about summer and life right now, and hopefully my posts over the next few weeks will reflect that.

In that spirit, I'd like to list five things I'm grateful for today:

1. The armful of puppies that I have in my lap right now. We're dogsitting Jet, mom's Labradoodle puppy, in addition to our own little Oliver. Really, who could be in a funk with an armload of squirmy, furry babies like these?

2. I'm grateful that I got to go today to a job that makes me feel like I'm making a difference.

3. I'm grateful for the silly nonsensical stage that Griffin is in right now and the crazy things he tells me. For example, today he said, "I had my half birthday on platform nine and three quarters, but I turned three on March twenty thirty."

4. I'm very much enjoying the philosophical phase that Rhys is in. Although his questions sometimes make me squirm, it's amazing to see how he's developing and just so curious. He seems to be a neverending fountain of curiousity about God, the universe, and, of course, Santa Claus.

5. I'm grateful that my daughter and I were able to have the "discussion" that reminded me that I, too, need to remember to be thankful. I'm also grateful that she's generally very gracious and appreciative, which is why today's Incident garnered such a reaction from me.

6. I'm grateful that I actually remembered to return our latest Netflix movie, so that we have a new disk of The Closer to watch. Seriously, who could be grouchy with plans to snuggle up with their wonderful husband, a couple of cuddly puppies, and a cat or two, and watch commercial-free television? It doesn't get better than that!

Pupdate (Ha!)

Things are going great on the puppy front! He has now been officially named Oliver, and he is such a calm, easy-going puppy. (Yes, I know he's still essentially a newborn. Shhh!) He seems to be a housetraining genius, and is easily redirected from chewing things he's not supposed to. Mostly, he's just a sweet, cuddly ball of fluff!

Future track star?

Today we took Jasper for a we-still-love-you-even-if-the-puppy-is-the-cutest-thing-ever outing to the new dog park today. He thoroughly enjoyed himself for about twenty minutes, running, playing, and chasing the other dogs. After that, he abandoned all his new friends and found a tiny sliver of shade behind a chair, flopped himself down on his side, and tried to recover from all of the excitement.

While Griffin and I kept Jasper company (and watched to make sure that he didn't suffer from a doggie coronary), Avery and Rhys wandered the park and introduced themselves to lots of dogs. After Jasper had recovered enough to get back on four legs, we went to check up on the kiddos. It turns out that Avery was busy challenging herself by hurdling the dog agility jumps. Another dog owner came up to me and told me that she thought Avery might have a future in track. I think she might be right! Avery was hurdling over jumps that were chest high. Wow. Now I guess I need to see if I can locate a homeschool-friendly track program!

Diving

Avery has been taking diving through UT once a week for the past month. She has really enjoyed it and seems to have a knack for it. I'm sure those years of gymnastics didn't hurt!



After diving this week we continued our annual tour of local snow cone sellers. This time, we tried Molly's, which shares a parking lot with P. Terry's. Yum!

New puppy!

We just got a new puppy yesterday! He's a Labradoodle -- his mom was a standard poodle and his dad was a black lab. He's only six weeks old and is so sweet and cuddly and has THE BEST puppy breath. We're all in love already. :-)

A boy named Pookie

Even when Griffin was a tiny baby, he had quite a strong personality. We started calling him Pookie (being ironic, since he is the opposite of everything the nickname conjures). Well, it stuck. And now he thinks of himself as Pookie. Just today, I heard him saying to Bill, "Let's play a game. It will be two people. You and a boy named Pookie. Okay?"

I can see it now. Pookie L., Attorney at Law. It has a certain ring to it, don't ya think?

Library volunteer

Reposted from Avery's blog:

On Friday, I went to volunteer at a church library not far away. After picking up a friend, we set off on our bikes to the library. There, I found out exactly how they bind books for safety, number them, sort their titles, etc. I had a lot of fun, actually. And the person who helped me and my friend let us bring home one of the books each they were going to get rid of*, and also supplied us with chocolate chip cookies and lemonade halfway through. (Mmm... chocolate... my favorite!) After a little while, (what seemed like 30 minutes) I checked the clock and was appalled to find we had been going for two hours! After about another 30 minutes of work, the library was about done. Thanking the helping person a million times, me and my friend left the library and rode home. Fun!

*The book I took home from the library was called "Roman Art and Architecture" by Mortimer Wheeler. It's really interesting already, and I've barely read two pages.

British Soccer

Rhys spent last week learning soccer from the pros at British soccer camp. The coaches were young men from England and Ireland, and my anglophilic children were in high heaven. I think Avery had just as much fun as Rhys did, even though she was just sitting on the sidelines. Griffin thought he was every bit as much a participant as Rhys, and he wore Rhys's old cleats and dribbled the ball back and forth on the sidelines the whole time.

Rhys got some good instruction, but mostly had a fabulous time. The coaches came up with all sorts of ways to keep the kids entertained. Friday was "Friday Fun Day" and the kids came with painted hair and/or faces. Rhys had green hair for the occasion. But every day, they got to play lots of games. (That's him in orange.)


We all got to hear hilarious, but borderline-inappropriate, stories.


Meanwhile, Bill and Griffin had time to practice their "punching".


Rhys bonded with Coach Ed.


And all the parents got involved with the games on Friday. Bill was chosen to be the Big Fat Scottish guy ("get in my bellll-ay") during the Austin Powers game.

Fiesta Texas

Yesterday, my sister and I took Avery and Rhys to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. The kids had earned free tickets through a reading program several months ago, and have been dying to use them. It was a nice, overcast day that seemed to keep the masses at bay. We were very surprised at how empty the park was; we didn't have to wait more than ten minutes on any ride! Rhys wasn't such a fan of the bigger rides, but Avery was quite the daredevil. It took a while to work up the courage, but by the end, she was riding the big, looping roller coasters with Linah. She even dragged me on a couple, but I think with age comes sanity....