Summer Fun 2017

Ahhh...This summer has flown by! I loved, loved having my girls home this summer. I love not having to rush to get ready for school, rush to pick them up, rush to get to an activity, rush to do homework and get dinner, and rush to bed. School=a lot of rushing. Summer=less rushing. Not that there isn't rushing. We still had swimming lessons to get to or if there wasn't swimming lessons, I tried to make an occasional exercise class, but it isn't the whole day long.

Not that we didn't have a schedule because we did. I am a schedule kind of girl and so are my kids. We work well when we know what to expect for our day and don't have so much 'whatever' time that we get cranky with each other (Okay, that is just the kids. I don't actually get cranky with too much time on my hands. Actually, they would say that they don't either, but experience would say otherwise.)

In Eliza's second grade class, they had a buck system where they got paid with play money for good behavior and getting things done. They could use the money to buy coupons for fun things. Eliza had the idea to implement that system with our family for the summer. I said yes, and the girls were all in.

They loved getting paid for things and came up with a huge list of coupons of fun activities to buy. Everything from dessert before dinner to painting nails to a trip to the Children's Museum. The coupons were priced according to how 'special' the activity was, with the more expensive/difficult activities costing substantially more than the more commonplace activities.

They had their eyes on the prize and spent most of the summer (the summer break from school isn't that long here!) saving up for the cooler coupons. They saved up for a trip to the Children's Museum and eating out at a fast-food place that had a play structure (they picked Carl's Jr.). Each of those cost $150 bonus bucks from each of the girls.

We did other non-coupon related fun activities of course like a lot of swimming and practicing writing with our feet. :)

The way the girls earned their bucks was completing their schedule without complaining, not fighting, and being helpful. They lost bucks for fighting, making not smart choices, and complaining. For the most part, this really worked well. I was super impressed with how little the girls fought this summer. It probably helped that we had a little schedule to follow and that Miriam turned a new leaf when it comes to reading and is really starting to want to read longer books independently. This gives Eliza time to read independently, which is her main desire in life. 

Our at home schedule included individual reading time with mommy (and independent reading practice for Miriam--two chapters in a book of her choice), piano practicing, a few workbook pages, math practice, scripture reading, and an activity that depended on the day of the week (Monday Dreambox, Tuesday art project, Wednesday typing practice, Thursday gymnastics practice, Friday science experiment). Rarely, if ever, did we get everything done every day of the week, but we stuck to it pretty well. Don't worry this still gave plenty of free/play time. Just not enough to allow for too much bossing around which tends to happen if they're left to their own devices for too long. If they completed their schedule without too much complaining and didn't fight throughout the day they earned $10 bonus bucks.

Like I said they got more bucks for being extra helpful, kind, or whatever I told them they could earn extra for. For example, this last session of swim lessons, if Miriam asked her instructor to take one step back before she swam to him, she earned a bonus buck. If she asked him to take two steps back, she got three bonus bucks. If Eliza didn't have to be reminded to behave at swim lessons she got three bonus bucks. If she only had to be reminded once, she got one bonus buck. (For some reason uncharacteristically she has a hard time obeying the rules at swim lessons.)

We had lots of homemade ice cream and treats this summer...too many probably. It has been so fun though to come up with our own recipes and stir in whatever we fancy. :)

We had fun watching our little friend Sophie. Her mom had her baby this summer, so we got to see Sophie a bunch.

I am bouncing from topic to topic, but that is how the summer went. The first session of swim Holland and I did a parent toddler class. She didn't like it, poor thing. She didn't like to be controlled or have to do things she didn't want to in the pool. Oh well.

The girls also did indoor soccer (futsol) this summer. It was on Saturday mornings. I loved that it was air conditioned. It was also very convenient that Holland could play at the childcare while the girls were doing soccer. One parent stayed home and cleaned bathrooms. The other parent watched the girls. And Holly girl played like she normally does almost every day.

They were on the red team. There was a very advanced boy on the blue team that made it so 100% of the games were won by the blue team. The girls quickly gave up on the idea of winning and the coach played all of the games on the red team. It was kind of funny how much the girls liked it despite always losing.

Eliza was on the blue team this day. There were always more red players than blue players.

We had lots of fun other times. Holland has the best big sisters that just dote on her. Yeah, she's probably spoiled.

Our garden this summer is actually still going strong with the Armenian cucumbers still producing. We are loving the fresh cucumbers. The tomatoes are pretty crispy scorched, but that's okay. I took this photo right before the first heat wave of the summer. I didn't know what would survive. I was so pleasantly surprised to see how well the cucumbers have been doing in this crazy heat. Although I can tell they do better with extra hand watering and not just the drip system watering.

Right before the first heat wave!

Cause it got hot this summer. We love the fan.

The girls got some new "sassies" at the gym one day. Even though I couldn't make it to classes most of the time, I tried to go daily and work out on my own. Needless to say, I am going to be hurting once school starts again, and I return to the much more challenging and physically taxing classes. Bring it on. :) 

These photos are from when the girls used their Children's museum coupon. They did it as a special date with Daddy. We decided that as much as Holland would like it, she and I best stay home while she napped. She would wander off before I blinked twice I just know it. I experienced that with Miriam when she was younger and have no desire to have a repeat of that terrifying experience.

Children's Museum day!

They had so much fun though! They love their handsome daddy!

Apparently one station was painting your own face. Needless to say, they didn't do it halfway.

 

They had a grand time in the play food area. Miriam offered food to many people who were delighted to accept from this darling girl with a colored face.

We also did some school clothes shopping. They wanted to get twinner shirts. Turns out the time has come that they can start sharing clothes. Miriam is six now, so she thinks size six is her size. Eliza has tried to fit into size 7/8 clothes, but really for this brand a size six is still plenty big for her. (Really 4/5 fits Miriam just fine like the shirt in these photos, but I just don't have that fight in me to get her to wear the size she considers too small for her.)

Also, we have been gorging ourselves on cherries this summer. Turns out we all love cherries and fortunately we have an awesome cherry pitter so the little one can enjoy them too. That's a happy face. :) We love summer!

Happy cherry face!