Summer is approaching...

I can barely believe it's been two weeks (or so) since I last wrote...  Time has flown by.  I had four PTO events in those two weeks.  My husband was supposed to have a six-day plus two-day business trip (back-to-back), but fortunately that's been scaled down to the two-day (this Thursday and Friday).  There was Mother's Day (Happy Mother's Day if you didn't read my FB posts over the weekend!).  I had an opening on May 3rd at Markeim Arts Center for Birds and Blossoms the 2013 Power of the Flower Exhibit.  Then there was the other day-to-day activities, you know - parenting, housekeeping, chauffeuring, cooking, laundry, shopping for our bathroom renovation, and basic holding down the fort stuff.

Meanwhile, I am counting the days until summer arrives... I get summer fever really bad.  I was a special education teacher for five years before we started our family and I can totally relate to the daydreaming and "senioritis" and all of that springtime behavior that's annoying in the classroom, but a reality that we cannot deny - we all want OUT!

My little one has five days of preschool, plus a school picnic and then he's done, oh the glories of preschool - finished before Memorial Day!!!

My older son has school until June 20th.  It's always hard when school goes past Father's Day.  It was always a marker for me on the calendar that summer had started.  Not this year.  Oh, well.

In planning our summer, I love to have impromptu things that I can pull out of my hat at a moment's notice.  Now last year I didn't really do this.  I was tied to the recovery schedule after my four spring surgeries.  It was not the spring, summer, or autumn that I envisioned with my children.  I think that's why I'm looking forward to this summer even more than usual.

I've started pinning ideas to my Kid Stuff board on Pinterest.

I've also started a list of things that I'd like to do with the kids, things we missed out on last year for one reason or another, and things the kids have mentioned wanting to do...

Beach Day (well, many more than just one)

Sprinkler

Have a cook out with friends

Grow a garden (that's more for me)

Go on a Hayride

Pick fruit

Bake something yummy with the fruit

Make jam to enjoy over the winter

Go whale watching

Find praying mantis (my older son)

Visit Steamtown (my younger son)

Visit Washington D.C.

River Sharks game (local baseball)

Sleep over Nana and Papa’s house (during our bathroom renovation)

Camp out back with Daddy (missed this last year)

Make Popsicles

Make homemade ice cream

Vacation Bible School

Visit Uncle Jon, Aunt Stacy, and Vanessa (yay, they're in the states this year!)

Go fishing with Uncle Joe (missed this last year)

Catch frogs at Grandmom and Grandpa’s (my older son)

Catch fireflies

Play croquet

Play badminton

Learn some bird calls (my older son has the mourning dove down pat, perhaps a few more)

PJ day with movies on a rainy day

Blow bubbles

Watch the clouds (missed this last year)

Track moon phases

Wash mom’s car

Have a science project day (or two)

Make homemade pasta

Make homemade pizza dough (I usually buy frozen whole wheat dough, they make it with my mom, but really we can do this at home ... when the pace slows during the summer)

Play with water balloons

Build a sandcastle

Go on a hike

Go to the library (I've been really bad about this with the boys since we moved to this house)

Use the metal detector at the beach

Fly kites

Make trail mix

Make a fruit pizza

Read  books (have to dig out some classics; definitely continuing the Chronicles of Narnia)

Make slime

Build a tepee (on my husband's list)

Draw on the driveway with chalk

Play checkers

Make a sand cast at the beach

Go swimming

Go on rides at Gillian’s (shore amusements on the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ)

Play mini golf

Do a scavenger hunt

Look through the telescope at the summer night sky

Ride bikes

I hope that we'll get to do all of these things and more.  I'm sure that some of these things will be repeated, some deleted, and we'll add a few more as the summer approaches.

I want to take lots of pictures - of the flowers, of my family, of our adventures.  I want to bring a bag of crochet with me to the shore and sit in the sand crocheting under the umbrella as the kids bury each other and then go jump in the waves with my husband.  I want to tend my garden, eat from it, can for the winter, and share when there's abundance.

I want to savor each moment because really the memories are what matter most.  My children's memories of their childhood will shape how they spend time with their children.  I want them to have magnificent and magical memories that make them want to create memories of their own with their children.

What are you planning to do this summer?  I would love to hear from you in the comments section - maybe I'll add to my list when I hear of the fantastic things you're planning!

I'm currently working on a dark olive large handled basket.  I will be posting progress photos on my Facebook page this week.  Stop by to see how it's going and when it's ready for purchase!

Have a blessed week and thank you for stopping in!

~Nicole