My summer so far

We are two weeks into summer vacation and this is how it is going.

Week 1

The first week we had no schedule and just enjoyed not having a routine.  Let me re-phrase that.  The kids enjoyed it immensely.  I did not.  I ended up with a very messy, chaotic house and irritable kids who were not getting enough sleep.

To top it off, Chasey took a dive off his scooter and ended up with eight stitches on his chin.  Ouch!  The nurse at the InstaCare asked him if he had had stitches before.  Chase proudly flashed his "skorpy" wound on his arm.  He knows about stitches.

Here's the funny/not-so funny part of the stitches.  I had come home from a swim team meeting and asked Taylor where his dad was.  Taylor, without even taking his eyes off the TV screen told me he had taken Chase to the InstaCare.  "What for?"  I asked, starting to panic.   "I don't know, but Owen came in laughing" says Taylor.    That's all I got.  He had no idea.  Really?  Is that how observant you are?  I won't even start on the laughing bit.

Week 2

Week two started out a bit rough as well.  I announced that there was now a routine and it included a little bit of school work and a few jobs in the morning before the playing begins.  This was met with a lot of whining and complaining.  I am happy.  They are not.  They'll get used to it. 

I have also decided that I am in need of a butler.  Seriously, someone to just open the door every time it rings.  Non-stop I tell ya.  I'm not complaining.  Just stating a fact.  It is so nice to have a neighborhood full of kids.

I have tried to keep my schedule pretty low-key.  An art class once a week for Bennett and Owen and swim team for Owen.  That is about it.

However, the swim team will keep me busy enough.  Last winter I had the great idea of having Owen try out for the summer swim team this spring.   I thought it would be a good fit for him for several reasons.  That child has huge amounts of energy,  loves swimming,  is quite competitive when it comes to sports and surprisingly enough, the pool water does wonders for his eczema. Crazy right?  There is a legitimate theory about that, but I won't go into that here.

I had him in lessons all winter just to make sure he got on the team.   He got on and then I realized after the fact that the swim team meets to practice Monday through Friday.  MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY!  I hesitated signing him up, because I couldn't find anyone to carpool with and his practice time was at noon.  NOON!  But I talked to a few people who have had kids on the team and they encouraged me to give it a try and see if he likes it.  Plus, Scott told me he could help out with the driving.

We are two weeks into it and he loves it.  He told me he doesn't even mind leaving his friends for an hour to go practice.  And you know what he really likes about it?  Wearing the tight shorts. :)