Sorry for no posts last week. Between the Memorial Day holiday and a week filled with recital rehearsals and performances (not to mention lots of work for my day job) I was a pretty busy girl.  But, it was all worth it in the end. The girls’ performances were wonderful and I have never been prouder of them.

Big Girl danced in two shows – one for ballet and one for her jazz class. She had a blast and did so very well.

Little Bit danced in one show with her ballet class.  She was simply adorable and I loved watching her.

This week should be slower, I hope, and I can get back to regular blogging and scrapbooking. I am missing my creative outlets.

Sorry for no posts last week. Between the Memorial Day holiday and a week filled with recital rehearsals and performances (not to mention lots of work for my day job) I was a pretty busy girl.  But, it was all worth it in the end. The girls’ performances were wonderful and I have never been prouder of them.

Big Girl danced in two shows – one for ballet and one for her jazz class. She had a blast and did so very well.

Little Bit danced in one show with her ballet class.  She was simply adorable and I loved watching her.

This week should be slower, I hope, and I can get back to regular blogging and scrapbooking. I am missing my creative outlets.

The princesses get out of school tomorrow.

We are all anxiously counting down the hours and minutes until they are officially “free” for summer.

Ironically, this week has been the easiest in MONTHS in terms of before-school routine.  Little Bit even woke up on her own this morning. Did the planets all align correctly and no one told me? I tried not to make too big of a deal out of it, just in case she decides she likes doing that and plans a repeat performance.

Now, I don’t know about your kids, but with mine, the whole “school’s out for summer” novelty will wear off in, oh, about 13.25 days. Maybe less.  And that leaves a WHOLE LOT of summer still to come… a whole lot of days to fill.  And you know what phrase I’ll be hearing all-too-quickly?

Mom, I’m BORED!

*run! run for your lives! the BORED monster is here!*

Well, this year, I’m trying to be a little bit more prepared than I have been in years past.  I am a work-at-home mom. I have a “real” job in addition to being a mommy, blogger, wife, scrapbooker, friend, well, you get the picture. So, in order to be able to be productive at work (and remain gainfully employed) and still spend some time with my kids (and keep them entertained and happy) I have been contemplating some survival techniques.

Here are the things I’m considering. Would love your suggestions if you have done this yourself before!

• “Babysitter” twice a week – I have two teenaged girls who are coming by on Tues/Thurs (one each day) to hang out with the girls, do some crafty projects and maybe take them to the park or on some “adventures.” They’ll stay four or five hours, feed them lunch and give them some much-needed attention and direction.  Why am I doing this? Well, Tues/Thurs are my busy days at work. I have back-to-back conference calls, etc. and the kids would just be nutso by the end of the day (and me as well) if they didn’t have someone to hang out with.
• Daily (or almost daily) trips to the pool – I have been working an early-morning schedule while the kids were in school and am hoping to continue to structure my day similarly this summer. Starting early will mean (hopefully) I can quit early and take the girls down to the neighborhood pool for some much needed fresh air and exercise. They always sleep so well in the summer after their nightly swim.
• Daily exercise – on the days we don’t swim (or maybe those days, too) we’ll do some other type of exercise TOGETHER. Walking, swimming, biking, hiking, or maybe dancing around the house like crazy fools while we listen to some music. This will give me a chance to get my exercise in and still spend time with the girls.
• CHORES – Big Girl is already dreading this one. Ha ha ha.  I have decided that this is the summer to get serious about a chore schedule for the girls. This past school year, we implemented a few chores and have rewarded the girls with an allowance if they do their chores.  I am going to kick it up a notch this summer with a few more chores and implement a daily schedule. Do the chores first thing in the morning, play the rest of the day. That’s the plan. I’m contemplating a chore chart or chore jar, but haven’t decided yet how I”m going to implement this. Do I give them a choice of what to do each day or tell them what to do each day?
• Crafty Fun – I am going to dedicate some time each week to some type of crafty project. With SuperMan’s work schedule, I have a longer day to fill for the girls without backup or distractions from Daddy.  So, I’m thinking we’ll do some craft in the hottest part of the day. Hoping the teenage people will be able to assist with this as well, but I want to be a part of some of the crafts.  I get a lot of ideas from the Family Fun website.
• Summer Scrapbook – part of the reason I moved my scrap stuff to the basement was to have all three of our scrap/craft spaces in one room. I am planning to partake in Big Picture Scrapbooking’s class Kidding Around which is all about scrapbooking with your kids. I’m looking forward to doing that class together with the girls. Should be fun.

Whew!

Looking at this list makes me tired! 

When am I going to do all this and still work, clean house, do the laundry, cook the food, do the shopping, save the universe from destruction, and paint my toenails?

I have no idea.

But that is the plan, anyway.

Wish me luck!

The girls had their very first Bridging Ceremony (with the Girl Scouts) yesterday.

And we actually held it right here – on this bridge. How cool is that?

So, now Big Girl is a Junior and Little Bit has one more year as a Daisy before she bridges to Brownies.

And, they received their badges, petals and other various awards

Big Girl received the “LifeSaver” award for always being willing to help others out.  Little Bit received the “Gummy Bear” award for always being so sweet and loveable.

Who knew they’d enjoy this so much? Or that I would, too?

I just watched this video on another blog this morning and, after watching, wanted to share with you.

If you’re a mom and have ever felt like some days you are invisible, (and I know I have!) this is for you.

Check out The Fragrant Hand, the blog on which I found this, if you have a chance. It’s really good.

Hope you have a great day.

I just watched this video on another blog this morning and, after watching, wanted to share with you.

If you’re a mom and have ever felt like some days you are invisible, (and I know I have!) this is for you.

Check out The Fragrant Hand, the blog on which I found this, if you have a chance. It’s really good.

Hope you have a great day.

The girls had a field trip this past weekend with the Girl Scouts.

This was one of those field trips best left to SuperMan to handle.

There were bugs.

and dirt.

and worms.

Not my kind of gig.

But SuperMan and the girls had a blast.

 The Little Princess caught three fish. (and touched a worm!) Big Girl caught two fish. (and didn’t touch any worms, thankyouverymuch!)

Me? I went shopping. 

Hi, there. If you subscribe to my blog or read it regularly, you are probably wondering if I fell of the face of the earth.  Well, I am here to assure you that I haven’t.  I’ve just been crazy busy at work and spending a lot of time outdoors with the girls in the evenings. 

Amazingly, this is the first  year that I have not been miserable with allergies in the springtime and I am making the most of it. I have been walking in the evenings, playing with the dogs (and kids) and just enjoying the balmy springtime weather and sunshine. I don’t like the heat, so I am enjoying the outdoors before it gets hot and muggy – which it will soon, I am sure.

Although, you never know… I may find I like the heat this year.  All sorts of things are changing about me – it is almost as if I am blossoming into a new person.  Nice, kinda neat, and definitely interesting.

Last week was spring break for the girls. I took half of the week off and we played, shopped, and visited the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. We love that aquarium and although we have one close to home as well, we prefer the one in Chattanooga. I think it is partly because we like the downtown ambiance in Chattanooga and because they have an awesome children’s museum and other great things to do (like the zoo, which is being remodeled and looks promising)

Here are some pictures from our adventure last week.

I had fun playing with the settings on my camera. The nice thing about going to the aquarium so often is that I wasn’t worried about missing a shot of something because I probably already have 5 or 6 of those very same things from years past. So, it was a good opportunity to start pressing buttons and finding out what happened. 

I figured out how to change the “film speed” on the camera. How weird is that? “film speed” on a digital camera? Anyway, it was neat to see how I could use that to take some low-light pictures without the flash. Now, I just have to figure out the sweet spot so I don’t get the graininess you see in some of these pictures.

No scrapbooking planned right now. I am pretty well “caught up” on things (except these recent pictures) and it is hard to justify being inside scrapbooking when it is so beautiful outside.