I love summer, really I do

It's the second week of summer. The honeymoon is over, and now I'm trying to survive. No, it's really not as bad as that. We're still doing a lot of productive things with the kids. They're still enjoying their playtime, and I'm still getting not much done. I did discover that Daddy HAS to be home at least one evening, very early evening, so Mommy does not have to clean up dinner and put boys in bed. It's a cruel irony that in order to get time to do family stuff like camping (which takes more work for mom) or swimming (which takes more work for mom) or hiking (which takes more work for mom) that Dad has to be gone more in order to get the time off. This doesn't work for me all the time. There's something wrong with that world. Oh well.

Every morning the kids get up and play, and then by 7:30 have to be dressed and doing their charts. We have these lovely magnets that are two colors (thank you Uncle Keith) and they get to flip them over when they've done the task. Getting dressed is first. Today we're going to try and hurry them (really, just Evin) along by bribing them. Flip a magnet over, you get a marshmallow. Plus, it will help that today is lesson day, and therefore short practice day. I love short practice day.

Half done stairs

Coming down from the kitchen:

The rest of them:

Evin's new room downstairs (the small bedroom) with almost NO toys in there for him to make a mess with!



We still have some wiring to do before we can put the backs on the stairs. Then they'll really look nice! In the meantime, we use them!

The deconstruction

I know many people (mom and dad) have been wanting pictures from our construction. Unfortunately, I didn't take many except at the beginning when we actually took out the floor in the laundry room. I'll have to go take after pictures later. Here's what I've got!
Evin:


Isaac:


Kaleb:


Ian:




Derek going through the floor. Yes, he fit and went all the way through.

June is nicer

Yes, I know I haven't blogged forever. January through May was absolutely insane, crazy, and ridiculously crazy. I know that was slightly redundant, but really, it was difficult to get through those months! Now we're in June, and it's a very nice thing. I managed to get all my lessons on one afternoon, and all the boys' lessons on one afternoon, so we have three afternoons a week (and Saturday) FREE!!!

So far we've been doing a lot of extra practicing, not really longer, but helped more by me, which is a good thing. The boys also are doing summer worksheets from school and typing and piano. We have two more weeks until swimming starts, when I will have to cut back again. Summer is flying by already.