Summer So Far

Ah, summer!! So far so good :) It's been a fairly busy week but relaxing just the same. That hasn't happened in awhile. Monday started off with a major decluttering of the upstairs. Seth has spent the entire school year getting into the closet upstairs and tearing it to pieces. I haven't needed anything in there so it was a shock to me when I saw it last week. I gave that assignment to Elizabeth and Jonathan and they did a pretty good job. Nathaniel and I worked on emptying out the bookshelves we were using for school. It is absolutely amazing to me how much crap only two kids were able to cram in there during the school year. This year I was smart and had bought one with doors to cover up that crap :) After working on the upstairs for most of the morning and afternoon we go it all done and it looks great.
Tuesday I did walk into the garage to attempt to find some containers to use to straiten up my sewing room but became so overwhelmed by the disaster I turned around and left. Haven't been back in again, I'm too afraid :) LOL That evening Jonathan received his Bear for Cub Scouts. He was pretty excited about that. I can't wait until next month when he becomes a Webelos and I get to start working with him.
Wednesday we went berry picking with one of our oldest friends in the area. Erin emailed to let me know the lay-offs finally hit her at Nike and did I want to go berry picking since she now has all this free time? Of course!! It was the first time the kids got to go. They had a blast. Seth was great, sat in his stroller the entire time and watched from the side lines. Erin and I were able to fill each other in regarding our lives since we don't get to see each very much anymore. She has promised to call me when she is ready to pick/can peaches. I am VERY excited about that! We had a good time. After that we headed to my dad's since he loves strawberries and we had more then enough to share. The kids spent most of the time on the trampoline actually getting along! Usually takes about 15 mins before someone ends up crying. This time they were out there for at least an hour. I love it when they are getting along so well!
The same day I got home and was looking out the back door at the bird house Jonathan had made. A pair of black-capped chickadees have made it home this year and the other day we heard babies in there. I've been afraid I'll miss them and they'll fly away before we can see them. I was surprised to see one of them just sitting there poking its head out the hole. I thought this was unusual behavior for the parents so kept watching to see what would happen. Sure enough, both parents showed up to feed them which meant the one in the hole was a baby! I grabbed some binoculars and watched for awhile and saw another one push that one out of the way so it could look out too! So there are at least two babies in there. I'm glad I caught this as already they look exactly like the parents. If we saw them flying about we probably wouldn't have known they were the babies. I hope I can catch the moment they start leaving, but I'm afraid it's going to be really quick and then they'll be gone. It's been fun to watch the parents. I hope we get some again next year.
Today was the start of the summer bowling leagues. I wasn't sure we were going to make it before I had to turn around and ground everyone. We've been going through this routine for over a year now and it amazes me how kids still don't get dressed, forget their socks, don't eat breakfast, misplace their bowling ball, etc. But we made it and they found out their new teams for the summer. The boys chose to be on different teams this year, which is good. Gives them a chance to meet more people. Elizabeth got another girl her age on her team and a little 3 year old boy. I'm surprised they let kids that age join. He was wiped out completely after the first game and they have to bowl two games. I was trying to imagine Seth doing a league next year, uh, no way! They all did really well. We then ran out to grab the berries we had ordered. More strawberries. Fortunately I got yesterday's berries already turned into freezer jam. Will have to work on these this afternoon. Other then that the rest of today is pretty quiet. Jonathan is starting up with the "I want to do this, I want to do that". I had to tell him today that this is my break too and I have things planned that need to get done, most of them involving projects around the house. I just am not one of those moms that can spend my summer taking kids everywhere to keep them entertained. Some of that is ok but for the most part I am too much of a homebody. That and with doing school at home there are a lot of things that get put off and undone during the school year. This is my time to catch it all back up :) So, he is just going to have to relearn to entertain himself again :)
Tomorrow should involve a craft project I picked up for the kids. Should be interesting to see how they turn out. Bought them each the letter of their first name made of wood. They get to paint it however they want and then we'll hang them up in their rooms. For another day we bought tie dye stuff and t-shirts. Then, soon, it's off to Yosemite!! Yeah!! Very much looking forward to that :)