My Favorite Thing this Week

What a week it has been! ...Final dance recital for Alyssa on Monday, Dance Festival on Wed for all three girls at school, Field days, preschool graduation and last day of school for all.

Memory Mixer (the digital scrapbooking software that I use) posted the question on their blog this week ... what is your favorite thing this week? They are giving away a gift certificate. It got me thinking! My favorite thing this week is the last day of school. Its such a play day. They only go to school for an hour and a half so its kind of a silly day. But I always try to go to their classes and take a few last pictures of them and their friends. Alyssa took her own camera this year (so I didn't go to her class). Its fun to compare the first day to the last day shots! I'll probably upload them later. The last day of school represents the beginning of summer! Wahoo. No more getting up early for school, carpool to school and HOMEWORK! I enjoy the summer and have been looking forward to it. Give me a few weeks and I might be singing a different tune as I go crazy with them home and running around the house all the time. But for now, I'm ready for a break! But the last day of school is also a day for me a day to compare how much they have grown.

I think back to Jessica, just 4 years old starting preschool at Eaglecrest. She was a bit more timid than she is now (but she was always bubbly and outgoing). Now she will be in KINDERGARTEN! Yep folks, that means all 3 of my kids will be full-fledged students at Eaglecrest Elementary in the fall! CRAZY! And I think about all the basics she has REALLY learned (some she knew but not as well as she does now) ... colors, recognizing all of the upper and lower case letters, writing the alphabet and the sounds of each letter, shapes, counting to 100, counting by 10s, writing her numbers, some basic math, and songs, songs, songs and more songs. She is very curious about everything and likes to ask lots and lots of questions. She is so happy but it is hard to see my baby growing up so fast. It seems like just a few weeks ago that she was a baby in my arms.

Taylor ... WOW!! Is this the same kid that started 1st grade? She is a CRAZY girl now. My shy, timid little Taylor has blossomed into a little social butterfly! Don't get me wrong, she still plays that shy card sometimes, but she chatters and talks and sings and interacts with others in a way that makes my heart rejoice! She has truly come a long way in the last year. She still struggles a bit in some categories and will be continuing her speech therapy next year, but she is so much more confident and has caught up so much this year, we are very proud of her. A big thing for her this past month is she has added applesauce to her list of things that she eats! YEAH!!!

Alyssa ... my little girl is gone. She has definitely matured from little girl to pre-teen this year. She'll be 10 in a couple of weeks and it shows in her attitude and abilities. She is a smart girl - only one B+ and the rest A's. She has definite opinions and wants to express them. She likes to be in charge. She likes to be "in-the-know" and wants to be a grown-up so badly. She's learned a lot and likes to share that information with others. She can be a very thoughtful girl, thinking of others and always wanting to do big projects. I definitely need to find a way for her to do some service projects, because she LOVES that! She's always thinking of ideas of things she could do but sometimes lacks the focus and follow-through when she has started on some thing.

And so it is ... SUMMER TIME! Another year of school is over and its time to play a bit! We've made our "I'm Bored List" to hang on the door so that if they say "I'm bored" I can point them to their list of ideas.

I'm always looking for ideas for things to do with the kids (other than the more obvious) and ways to make summer a happier time (instead of arguing with sisters and getting in trouble for not doing jobs). What do you.have you done that works? Keep in mind, I need CHEAP or FREE this summer and I need SIMPLE. Last year we did a Disney Jar (with pennies, nickels and dimes earned for doing chores and other jobs)- they were earning money to go to DisneyWorld. It actually worked pretty well. But I also want my kids to understand that they don't do jobs at home just to earn money to do what they want, they do jobs here because they are part of our family and we all work together. Does that make sense? I hate job charts because I constantly have to check in on them and make sure they were done and mark them off .... what do you do?