Lazy Days of Summer

We have been horribly lazy this summer and it has been absolutely wonderful! If I had to sum up our summer in four words they would be: 1) baseball, 2) swimming, 3) reading, and 4) crafting. 

 

1) BASEBALL- Parker was so excited when he was asked to be on the All Star team this summer.  We just finished the season last weekend when we placed 2nd at the regional tournament.  We spent a lot of time at practices and tournaments and Parker enjoyed every minute of it.  I'll do a separate post soon about some of the tournament highlights that we enjoyed over the past two months.

 2) SWIMMING- The girls have been in Granna's pool probably 6 out of 7 days every week this summer.  Parker hasn't been able to join the girls every day because of his baseball practices/games, but he swims every chance he gets!   They all three continue to amaze me with how proficient they are in the water, but the one who has amazed all of us this summer is Lily.  Our swim instructor did not give lessons this summer so Lily started the season back in floaties.  After just a few days, she was swimming cautiously without them and, now, she can go anywhere she wants in the pool without any help.  She has even taught herself how to dive down to the bottom to retrieve dive sticks both in the shallow AND deep end of the pool!  She can also swim the width (and almost length) of the pool effortlessly.  She hasn't used floaties in several weeks and can now keep up with all 4 of her older siblings/cousins.  I'm so thankful that all of my kids are so comfortable in the water.  They are really going to miss swimming every day once school starts up again.

 

 

3) READING- I have to admit that last summer I was a total slacker when it came to getting Parker to read.  As a reading teacher, I am always talking to parents about the importance of reading in the summer so that their kids do not regress.  Last summer, we went weeks without picking up a book.  I felt like such a hypocrite so I decided to make it up this summer.  I'm happy to report that we have all been very diligent with our reading this summer.  We joined the Summer Reading Club at the library which helps us stay accountable and lets us earn free books for our home library!  It's definitely a win-win for everyone! 

Eden found a new way to hold her book one day...with her toes!!

One day last week, the kids were not getting along (constant fighting from the moment they woke up...ugh!) so I sent them to their rooms to eat lunch.  When I checked on Lily, she was quietly reading while she ate.  Love it! 

We have also attended several of the library programs this summer.  One of the kids favorite programs was the balloon lady who used balloons to tell stories.  Parker was chosen to come up and be the rabbit in The Tortoise and the Hare and his friend Alexis got to be one of the Three Little Pigs. 

4) CRAFTING- At least several times a day, you will find Lily coloring, painting, or doing beads at the kitchen table.  Parker and Eden often join her, but she has definitely been my crafty girl this summer!  Sometimes, in between loads of laundry and preparing the next meal, you might even find me sitting down and joining her too!!

We are more than halfway through our summer and all I can say is that it has gone way too fast!  I have enjoyed every day with these three (except for that full moon on Friday the 13th...that day was a killer.  Not sure what God was thinking mixing those two things!) and am thankful that we don't have to be doing elaborate things every day to have fun! It's these lazy days that I'm going to miss the most when school starts back again here in a few weeks.  Until then, we are going to keep on swimming, reading, crafting, and loving these lazy days of summer!