Summer's not OFFICIALLY over, but it's pretty darn close. Sadness, but I gotta tell ya, Fall is my IT season. It makes me happy and cozy and all warm inside. It's too early for the nasty flu demons to invade your home, too late for 98 degree blistering heat to invade the great outdoors, the perfect time to wear some snug jeans and a light sweater all while gripping a warm mug of apple cider. In fact, I cuddled up with my first mug of Chailua tonight. It made me giggle a bit. And it's time for fall color and pumpkins and crunchy leaves on the ground. Love pumpkins. Don't love or even slightly like picking up the leaves, but love the idea of leaves on the ground. And maybe, just maybe, the grocery store will start carrying canned pumpkin again. That would just top off my Fall happitude.
In preparation for the end of summer, I thought it was time to revisit the big ole' check list. Tim thinks its been a pretty rockin' way to get stuff done this summer, so that's somethin. I'll highlight those that are check checked in green and will readjust those that are not, so as to make them checkable in the brief amount of summer that's remaining - or maybe extend them into the Fall. I know you won't read this entire post, but it's out there. And I know that. And so it'll keep my butt in gear. Thanks for humoring me.
1. Take the dude to a Farmer's Market and actually cook a meal using what we purchase.
2. Turn this blog into a printed book. That's gonna take a couple months of work, so not quite there.
3. Take dude to an art class at our rec center.
4. End dinner with reading bible stories to the dude. This one's half checked as we've done a pretty half *#@ job at it. Summer meals are scattered, so there's room for improvement.
5. Enroll duder in another round of swim lessons (the same lesson he recently completed but didn't quite pass). If FUN was the passing factor, he TOTALLY would have moved up.
This one will occur this winter when the dark, cold gloom sets in and we're dying for an excuse to exit the house.
6. Organize a kickball game. It's all the rage ya know. SO want to do this and SO haven't. Will.
7. Bake an apple crisp and offer a piece to Maria (if it's edible) to prove that I do know my way around the kitchen. Done and she approved.
8.
Go maternity shopping for Brooke. And love every minute of it. Did and did.
9. Mail one card per week to unsuspecting friends and fam. Kinda have. Sent a lot of cards lately, but for good reason. Not so random.
10. Teach dude how to pee standing up (without needing to Clorox the walls every day). Yeah, haven't even attempted to conquer this one yet. My kid might be a sitter. Until he realizes how uncool it is.
11. Go camping. Without whining.
To my credit, I gave my approval for a virgin family camping trip, but the plans fells through. I'm going to be realistic and eliminate this from my 2010 list.
12. Go away for a weekend - without hubbie and child. This one was Tim's idea, just so you know. 2 girlfriends and I gave this a real go, but some very important family concerns came up, so this is on hold. Aspen, we'll get there yet!
13.
Take dude to Pirates Cove for some crazy aquatic fun.
14. Pray. A lot more. The whole "a lot more" remains to be seen.
15. Chow on the balsamic vinaigrette marinated steak at White Chocolate Grill. We chowed on it at home, but decided that the restaurant budget probably won't happen this summer. That's okay. Our version is way cheaper and still rather mouth watering.
16. Make a birthday calendar so I'll stop wishing friends a happy birthday 6 months early. Will do, will do.
17. Visit Nanna Eleanor.
18. List the big box of really nice junk in the garage on Craig's list. $40 richer - who am I kidding? I spent that the next day.
19. Plan a girls night dinner with friends and have everyone bring a friend. Still sounds super fun. We'll see.
20. Invite someone new over for dinner. We met some super fun folk at the park the other day who just moved to town and know no one. They were brave enough to accept our random invite and are coming here tomorrow night. Let's pray Dude doesn't scare them and their cute 2 year old daughter away. Forever.
21. Get involved in a Small Group again so we can keep faith in the foreground. Waiting on our church for this one, but hope, hope, hoping that it'll happen soon.
22. Come up with a game plan for baby #2's nursery. Stay tuned!
23. Play with the dude. Every day. Before there's another kiddo stealing my attention. Trying to capture moments each and every day. He's a farely fantastic little dude.
24. Teach dude how to do a somersault and maybe even how to hang for more than 2 seconds. Tried the hanging concept to no avail. He came home from daycare today doing somersaults (I didn't teach him, but that kinda counts right?)
25. Go to library story time. He started pre-school, which eliminates this possibility from the list.
26. Finish reading the Twilight series.....I'm hooked. 3/4 of one more book to go!
27. Spot clean the spots in the carpet that we touch on a weekly basis, thinking it's a blob of dark fuzz. Exciting, I know.
28. Start thinking about our 10 year Anniversary trip. Yeah, right.
29. Make dude a new playroom so the new teeny one can have a place to rest his/her head.
30.
Mentally prepare myself for the fact that my baby is starting pre-school this month. I don't want to be that mom that's weeping and longing for my child to need me on the first day of class. Next is mentally preparing myself for that fact that my pre-school loving child will most likely always be the class clown, will NOT stay quiet during Jesus time and will get timeouts from his teachers. Oh, and he will not tell me anything that he did throughout the day, leading me to believe that he sat in a comatose state and learned absolutely nothing.
Last night, our fam and the Sheas headed over to Hudson Gardens (one of my favorite local nature spots) for their annual family photo session, aka, jumping through hoops and taking a boat load of shots, trying to round up 3 simultaneous smiles from their girls. Luckily, they were real champs and earned A+'s for effort. And some chocolate milk at dinner following the 2 hour nature romp. Just love those girls.
Posts
