Success? Ah, not quite

School started this week for Jack and before I get into my final grade for the summer, I want to say that Jack loves 1^st grade.  He tends to adjust well to new things and, to be honest, I think he is also enjoying spending some time with people other than Callen and I. 

On June 1^st, I posted about some of my summer goals.  (Summer...please be nice to me)  Aren’t my intentions great?!  Don’t I really know how to plan things and then fail to follow through with them?!  Yes and yes, I do.  It’s not true for everything in my life but I really want the best for my boys and this summer, I set my goals a little too high.  But have you noticed that we went the whole summer without an ER visit????  This is a big deal for us and I’m so happy!!!

So, anyway, here’s how I graded myself on each individual goal:

Goal 1:  They’re both doing the summer reading program at our library which includes story times, movies, and prizes for reading a certain number of books;

My grade:  B+.  We did go to several events at the library but I was not able to steer them toward the books that they needed to read in order to enter the contests.  However, they did discover the awesome world of the public library and, for that, I am very happy.

Goal 2:   we’ll be going to the gym every possible morning;

My grade:  A:  Yeah, I kick ass.  Big time.  Oh, and I ran a 10k this summer too.  (But it was my worst ever.)

Goal 3:  I printed out a list of all the playgrounds in our town and we’ll be visiting all of them and a few big ones in Sacramento;

My grade:  C:  Look, I would have totally done this but the boys have their favorite parks and actually complained when we didn’t go to those parks.  Actually, I like the same parks they do so I didn’t push too hard.

Goal 4: the kids on our street will be publishing a weekly newsletter with drawings, jokes, and news about our street;

My grade:  F-:  Perfect example of dreaming too big.  The boys could have done this but when they’re together, sitting down and working on a project just does not happen.  Individually, yes.  Together, no.  I really should have known this would not work.

Goal 5:  they’ll be doing educational workbooks (I’m shooting for daily);

My grade:  F:  Um…let’s just move on….

Goal 6:  lots of playdates!

My grade:  B:  We had several playdates but strangely enough, we really didn’t see anyone from Jack’s Kindergarten class.  I’m not sure how that happened since the mom’s I know from that class are really cool.  I can’t let that happen again.

Goal 7:  chores and work around the house;

My grade:  B:  I did the usual daily stuff but digging in deep with the boys around is hard for me.  I have trouble getting stuff done when I’m constantly interrupted and I hate not finishing something I start, which sometimes makes it hard for me to start.  (Isn’t there an A&E show about that?)

Goal 8:  gardening;

My grade:  F:  I love that Callen is into helping me in the yard, but his idea of helping always involves making mud and then…no gardening done and Callen needs a bath.  Counterproductive!!

Goal 9:  trips to kids’ events and places like Fairytale town;

My grade:  B:  We did quite a bit of this.  We went to Bounce places, Fairytale Town, the Folsom Zoo, a  cattle drive, and a few other things.

Overall, I give myself a C.  Not what I would have hoped for but I did learn a lot this summer.  Mostly, I learned that I’m an excellent list maker!  So, the school year is off to great start and I’m thrilled to have a normal routine again, even if it does get a bit crazy.  (Okay, really crazy).

Spider-man mysteries solved

Yesterday Jack was running around acting like Spider-Man.  A few days ago my husband bought him a web-shooting thing that attaches to his arm and shoots out a shoe string.  So he was springing out from behind doors and corners pouncing on Callen and I.  Yeah, kind of cute the first few times, but as I'm sure you can guess, it got old...very...quickly.  Anyway, I seized this opportunity to get a video interview with Jack.  There's a lot of noise in the background because my husband (who was standing about three feet to my left) was fully absorbed in his IPhone and somehow unaware that I was struggling.  Oh, and later that night, he actually asked ME if I was addicted to my IPhone.  Hello!   The video is too long for blogspot so I had to go through Youtube to post it:

Jacks Spider-man interview

A smart-ass...already????

Tonight after getting the boys out of the bath tub, I sent them each to go pick out their PJ’s.  Jack got his on but Callen walked naked into the kitchen where I was cooking dinner and held up a pair of khaki pants and a brown shirt.  He said that he wanted to wear them to bed.  The following conversation then took place:

Me:  “Callen, put those away and pick out some pajama’s.  Those are daytime clothes; you need sleep clothes.”

Callen:  “But Mom, my thumb says yes”.  (He’s giving me the thumbs up sign)

Me:  “But Callen, my mouth says no.  Go put those away.”

Callen:  “But my thumb says yes!”  (Again, he’s giving the thumbs up sign and now has a huge smirk on his face)

Me:  “Callen, I’m not going to argue with your thumb.”

Callen:  “I’m not going to argue with your mouth.”

He knew that last comment could get him in trouble, so he said it in a cute, joking sort of way.  What a smart-ass!  He's only 3!!!

Ziplines, chipmunks, and magnets, oh my!

Wow, it’s been a while since my last post.  Things have been busy.  We went on a camping trip with family, did some major deep cleaning in our garage, and have been preparing for school to start (in 13 days!).  Okay, so the camping trip.  It was very cool to be all together with my sister, brother-in-law, my awesome nieces, and my folks.  My sister’s family and my family had campsites next to each other and my folks were in an RV not far away.  We were camping at Mammoth Lakes and we took the boys fishing and to Mammoth Mountain where Jack and my nieces rode a kid-sized zipline.  It was a bit small for the girls but Jack loved it.  Poor Callen was super excited to try it but when he got up the ladder and on the platform he got really scared and cried until we could get him down.  No amount of "just like Diego" talk was going to work, so Jack got to do the zipline 4 times.

After that we rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain, and even in late July, we got to play in some snow up there.  In the summer, the ski runs are open up to mountain bikers who can take the gondola up with their bikes and ride down.  I brought my bike camping with us and was thinking about doing it but as we rode up and down the mountain on the gondola and watched people ride the trails down, it very quickly became obvious that I had no business riding on the mountain.  I would have been way out on my league.  Later that night, I took my bike out for a ride.  I ended up on a paved bike trail and after the extreme coolness I had seen on the mountain earlier that day, I couldn’t help but feel lame out there on my bike.  The views were incredible but there were so many little chipmunks running across the path that I could hardly look up to see my surroundings.  I was certain I would hit one, crash into something, and limp back to camp crying about how I killed a cute little chipmunk.  This scenario played over and over in my head until I got off the path.  Maybe I would have been better off going down the mountain.  At least then if I got hurt, it would have been doing something cool.  Overall the camping trip was a lot of fun.  My sister brought along some magnets that are used to clean up construction sites.  My boys were dragging those things all over picking up bottle caps and other old, dirty “treasures”.  I also bought a pack of large paperclips and buried them around the campsite.  Everyone was happy, enjoying some quiet time while they pulled those magnets all over the place.  Ah, it was lovely.  I’ll be putting those magnets on MY Christmas list this year.