Oh, people, the things that have happened to the interior of our home in the last two weeks... are... frightening. The amount of stuff brought home from school, with no home... because... its home was AT SCHOOL... that is now piled on every conceivable surface is mind boggling. It's paralyzing. So much for easing into a relaxing summer break, this shit has to get taken care of ASAP or I'll lose my mind. Hopefully by the end of the week it won't look like burglars just ransacked our house. Right now it kind of looks like the hotel room at the end of The Hangover... I wouldn't be surprised at all to find a chicken roaming around.
Also, we may be the only parents in the history of the universe that had to lay down the law: "You may not read all summer!" Girlfriend has read 4 books since Friday. Unfortunately, books are to Kid what handheld game devices are to other kids. She cannot stop reading, she can't hear what you say, she becomes obsessed with finishing a chapter and is rude and dismissive to those around her while she does it. So, she can read as much as she wants before 9:30 AM and after 6:30 PM. In between she has to actually engage in life.
I have been desperately looking forward to the summer so I can finally carve out a consistent workout time (which I will be able to keep us this coming year, with Baby going full time). To that end, I got an UP by Jawbone for my birthday (oh, yeah, I got older... so did Mr F... you didn't miss much), and I LOVE it. People, this might be the greatest thing to happen to me in a long while. I'm sure it's magical-ness will wear off eventually but I am mesmerized by it now. It is totally motivating. And as an chronic insomniac I'm super into the sleep tracker. Oh, and being able to take pictures of your food's barcodes and have it import into a food diary?! Magic!!
So combining many daily goals... working out, getting Kid to stop reading and engage with the family, and having the girls do a little school review every weekday... I have masterminded the ultimate solution: Kid gets them dressed and ready and then runs a school for Baby every morning during my workout. She helps her practice her reading and math, and does a small math assignment herself. Boom! Done. They are super pumped. Kid gets to act out her older sibling need to boss, while Baby is just happy to play along if it means she's getting attention. Their work gets done without me having to nag them, and once they are engaged with each other they usually keep playing non-stop until bedtime.
My other major goal for the summer is doing all of the organizing tasks I never have time for: bathroom closet, pantry, refrigerator, craft closet, girl's rooms, paperwork, etc. I also intend to get SERIOUS about batch cooking for next school year. Trying to deal with the homework load, after our commute, while making dinner was just hell on Earth. Especially if I had a migraine. Which is, well, 30% of the fucking time. So I might be getting a deep freezer for the garage. But first we need to figure out if we'll even be living here next year... (seriously).
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Also, we may be the only parents in the history of the universe that had to lay down the law: "You may not read all summer!"
YES. THIS IS US WITH LUKE. His little brothers really want him to play with them and it's like he's totally checked out. (Us, for the past week: "We don't just want you to READ about interesting things...we want you to DO interesting things...") Plus, it's not like he's reading encyclopedia brittanicas. (do they still even make those?) No. he's going on the SIXTH round of the Percy Jackson series. eyeroll. We'll figure it out but yes, I feel ya.
Ha! Ruby is pounding through the Percy Jackson series right now... a book a day... it's like crack!
Baby came in the room at 5 PM and said "Mom, she's reading! Is she allowed to be reading?!" ;)
She's also obsessed with paper airplane making... she made 40 yesterday. Today I had to say "Please stop using up all of the lined paper, there are really only so many paper airplanes that we need!" It's vacation day 1 and we're already running out of supplies.
RE: Encyclopedias my grandmother is giving us her set (circa '70 maybe) because Ruby could not stop reading them when we visited... grossly out of date encyclopedias and she is so excited. I'm fairly sure she is going to be a librarian.
I saw the UP in a magazine and have been meaning to look into it glad to get a review from one of my favorite people! Oh summer is definently here my kids spend 90% of the summer with grandparents so its on like donkey kong exercise, eating right and throwing away so much crap that has accumulated in every corner of the house!
Smitty Jr loves the Percy Jackson series. He's been starting on the Carter Kane series by the same author; this is the Egyptian mythos. He deems himself now an expert on hieroglyphics.
A buddy of mine recommended the Leviathan series. It's an alternate history WWI, with the Allied countries relying on biotech tech, and Germany relying on mechanical tech. Typical "youth save the day" books like Riordan, very exciting, fun play on WWI.
Good luck with cleaning and organizing. If you do it, and manage it, I will hire you to do the Smitty household, which is honestly in a hopeless state. We are untidy people with hopes and dreams of someday being tidy. It's nice to have dreams.
Good news on the diabetes front.
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