Random Bits

•Summer is my favorite season.  I didn't even mind the recent heat wave because I was so glad to finally leave the cold weather behind us.
•Celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary with Ethan this week - sushi and a movie.
•I am on (unpaid) vacation for the next week and a half.  I am planning to get my house ready for the people who are going to come give us quotes on a new furnace, and hopefully scrapbook a lot!
•I have been working hard to help Esme finish up this year's Math unit.  Not giving her a summer break, so that she starts out ahead next year.  Also preparing to immerse her in next year's theme, which is American History.
•Looking forward to starting my new preschool music program at work.  This is my first time getting paid to do a music series.

Summer Isn't Over (aka Wishful Thinking)

The truth is, I hate these first couple weeks of September. It means summer is over, and the temperatures start to cool enough to remind me that before long I'll be paying the dreaded heating bill again. Even worse, my husband goes back to work at night, and it's another long, lonely academic year before I get him back for evenings in May through August. For the next couple weeks the fun Summer outings have dried up, but the fun Fall outings haven't started yet. Back to school for me means the phone ringing between 5 and 6 am, and even with my new job, I'm going to have to answer the call one or two days a week. In honor of pretending this isn't all imminent, I'm posting the Summer Dotee I made.

This was the fifth dotee I've made and was for a swap. I really enjoy making these, but now that summer is ending, and I'll have so much to do, I think I'm going to have to finish the last couple swaps I'm in and take a break. I have so many creative projects I'd like to do, like Christmas presents, some painting, and of course lots of scrapbooking, I think I'm going to need to focus a bit. The one thing that cheers me up is that Brownies starts back this coming Wednesday! Nothing cheers me up like a dozen adorable little girls making plans to rule the world!

Summer Pages on a Cold Day

The snow is super deep here and Ethan had to spend most of his day shoveling. We're at about 8 inches so far. Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of summer and parties at Vicki's house. Here's two layouts that include my nephew having fun at her house.

My family got great news yesterday - my husband has been extended through the summer at his job! This is big news because we both get laid off for summer, and we were very concerned about finding summer employment this year. We're ready to book our summer trip - we want to go back to Sandwich this year, for some camping and swimming . In celebration, I'm sharing the ATCs I painted last year while we were there. I can't wait to have the sand in my toes again, and to float down the canals on noodles with Esme at Boardwalk Beach!

One Busy Kid

Esme has been very busy the last few weeks! Last weekend she had her first ballet recital. I was so impressed how well she and all the girls in her class did. Their song was "Every Girl Can Be a Princess" and they were dressed like Cinderella.

This past Monday was her Girl Scout fashion show and court of awards. This was a wonderful evening. I was super proud of all of the girls, especially Esme. She got up and led the entire crowd in singing "Make New Friends" and in saying the Girl Scout promise, in addition to dressing up as Tinkerbell in the fashion show.

She has a busy summer coming up as well. She'll be attending three weeks of Girl Scout camp (I'll be working there) and one week of vacation Bible school. She'll spend one week at our house with Grandma, and probably a significant amount of time with Nonna and Auntie Lisa too. We hae all kinds of plans for this Fall, and we're looking forward to getting back to our regular homeschooling schedule again.

A Full Summer

Esme is staying busy this summer. In June she finished up soccer and Daisies, complete with her first Girl Scout camping trip. She has done two weeks of swimming lessons, a Junior Rangers program, Vacation Bible School, and continued with Lego League. She has ten stamps in her park passport and will be getting a couple more this weekend.

In addition to bringing Esme all over the place and being involved in all of her activities, I was also fortunate enough to get to attend a Project Learning Tree workshop. This is a wonderful environmental education program. I left certified to present the K through 8 curriculum. I learned so much in six short hours. I left overwhelmed by all the things I want to learn!! This weekend I will start teaching Esme how to classify and identify different types of trees.

Who says summer is for relaxing?!?

I was worried that Esme wasn't going to have enough summer activities this year, but so far she's still got lego league, she'll do eight days of swimming lessons, and now she's going to do Junior Rangers. I think we're okay after all.

I am so excited to be out of school and have a chance to actually do Esme's lessons for a while! This year we divided our homeschooling activities almost perfectly in half - I did the research and lesson plans and Ethan taught Esme the lessons. We are about to start a new unit so I have some research to do, and then I'm looking forward to getting started on lessons next week! I am so lucky to have this summer off!