Little bits of summer fun

I like to try to keep some sort of routine during the summer. Sam and Nathanael fight relentlessly. They also tend to lean heavily on electronics for entertainment. Though I don't have the fight in me to keep them off the tv and computer all day, I did continue my requirement from summers past that they complete schoolwork before usage. We also keep busy with fun crafts and activities. The pool was a bigger part of our summer this year than previously, or so it seemed. Having never made use of our neighborhood pool previously, and in fact having given our pool key to our friends, the Dyrhaugs, years ago, we actually went several times this summer. We joked several times about how the Dyrhaugs invited us to our own pool, and had to let us in. We also still went swimming at Mimi's house quite often as well. Claire was, of course, fearless in the pool again and the boys got to be pretty decent little swimmers. And Claire is the darn cutest thing I've ever seen in a bathing suit.

We tried to do several new and different crafty things we had never done before. The first was jolly rancher lollipops. The kids thought this was the best ever! And it was appropriately easy for them to do.

We made grass heads from panty hose. The only problem was we used chia seeds, because I had those in the pantry, and the sprouts couldn't get through the hose. So, I had to do cranial surgery on the heads and their faces drooped quite a bit. But the kids thought they were super cool for a few days and then I threw them away. I'll call that a success.

The boys attended an origami class at the library.

Sam lost another tooth.

Claire stuck a lego up her nose. Thankfully she sneezed it out.  

We enjoyed lots more time with Benny. That little boy is such a great playmate for Nathanael. We wish he lived closer. They had a blast using their imaginations together and trying to catch tiny frogs by Pop Pop's pond.

We went to Chick Fil A on "dress like a cow for free food" day. This was a first for us. We were amazed at how much free food we could get just by taping black construction paper on our shirts. Nathanael was disappointed we didn't dine in.

We enjoyed ice cream cones at Sonic just because they were half-price. Seems like as good an excuse as any. 

Nathanael took several weeks of gymnastics classes. Gymnastics is so perfect for his personality.

One of the local craft stores offered a free summer craft make-and-take series once a week. We attended a few. The kids decorated beach pails just before we made our trip to Savannah. They also decorated cupcakes with absurd amounts of sugar toppings and made parachute cord bracelets. 

The summer reading program prizes at the library were so lame this summer that we opted to do the Barnes & Noble program instead. For reading just a handful of books, both boys got to go to the store and choose a select new book. We will definitely be doing that again next year.

One of our final projects was tye-dying t-shirts. The boys really enjoyed that and have loved wearing their shirts ever since. I was pretty impressed with how the turned out and we had enough dye left to make another batch next year. 

It was a great summer and we were all a bit melancholy as it drew to an end. Those kids drive me crazy, especially all the whining and fighting, but I sure love when our time is our own and we can spend it together.