Second Summer

This year our summer has been divided into two parts - Lake and Rochester. At first I felt that our summer was over when we came back to Rochester (we are renting the lake for the month of August) but I've realized it is actually just a different kind of summer. We are now in the middle of "second summer" and it is going much better than I thought it would.

First summer: hot, sun, laid back, no shoes.
Down at the lake we take a relaxed approach to life. The kids don't wear shoes and most of the time only wear bathing suits. I'm in flip flops, gym shorts, and tank tops. We are in a routine rather than a schedule. Most days include time at the beach, bikes, fishing, swimming. The kids go on walks with Pap (my dad) and the dog to pick berries. We sit around a camp fire in the evening. I got a great tan! The weather was very warm but a great breeze came off the lake making it very comfortable - warm enough to want to swim but not to the point you get miserable.

I can say that the great weather and fun definitely made it very hard to leave the lake this year!

Second summer: VBS, dance, friends, play.
I was not sure how it would go being in Rochester for summer - slightly cooler temperature have helped I think. The kids have been going to morning VBS. Max was able to go the first week which gave me just Tristan for the morning! I tried out public market since we didn't have our vegetable share we get down at the lake. This past week was a dance workshop so Katrina attended, I taught and the boys got to play at a friends house for the afternoon. We'll finish out the summer with a couple more camps and our church's family camp.

It was certainly a crash back into schedules and shoe wearing but the kids have had a great time!

Transition Time

Confession: I am a creature of habit. I like planning. Keeping to a routine comforts me.

Twist: I like the ending and beginning of things.

How that works: I like the accomplishment of completing something. I like the planning of something new and a fresh routine. I just don't always like the settling into a routine time.

Which is what I am in now.

We are currently bouncing back and forth from the lake to the city which means packing and unpacking food and clothes. We keep stuff at both houses but perishables have to go back and forth since lately I never know how long we are staying at either home. I don't own enough clothes (that fit) to keep things at both houses. The kids drawers at the lake seem bursting while home they are wearing PJ's for lack of clothing. Three hairbrushes in Rochester, coming my hair with a fork Wednesday morning at the lake.

Katrina and Alex finished up all of their preschool stuff from last year but the concept of summer vacation is completely foreign to them, not to mention I don't really like the concept but more on that another time. But we are in the process of ordering their next level of stuff so we can't really work out a routine yet. Plus I haven't figured out how to work them both into the day with Max and Tristan without loosing all my time during naps (for house things, bills, Academy work, and "productive" things like email and this!). I can't complain that they are hounding me to do school but I'm looking forward to when I feel under control with the routine of it.

I am also trying to figure out our summer schedule - family/friend visits, renters at the lake, when to be there or Rochester, family camp, kid fun activities, etc. I think this is where my main head spin is coming from...I like to have the calendar all laid out (and stick to it!). So many options.

Really all of it boils down to the fact we are fortunate enough to have these options. I just need help remembering that. Well, and maybe help weeding out some activities. Probably could use a little help with the housework too...

Accomplishing "Nothing"

Sitting down to lunch, at 2:40, again I was plagued with the feeling of accomplishing "nothing" to this point in the day. As I sipped my tea and thoroughly enjoyed me grilled cheese sandwich I reflected on my morning to see why I did not get to any of my project list items. What had my nothing day been filled with?

Early breakfast for 2, late/second breakfast for 3, lunch for 3, nursing numerous times, a couple diaper changes, a bath for 1, my shower, a couple loads of laundry, paying bills for Justin's business, helping the kids making thank you cards, snack time, more coloring and cutting...and cleaning up from coloring and cutting, reading the kids a few stories, having Katrina read to me, putting out a few fights, responding to potential renter emails...

So what I have realized is that these nothing days are truly something days! It may not be visible to others - the house won't look miraculously cleaner than it did when Justin left, my to-do/project list isn't really any shorter, I haven't invented anything or cured diseases - but I did something!

So for all of you out there that may also be struggling with plaguing thoughts of little accomplishment as you answer "nothing" or "the usual" to the "What did you do today?" question, remember we did do something today, even if it goes unnoticed.

For Sale

http://www.postlets.com/res/3641627

Back to the Blog

Things have been in flux here lately...hence the break from the blog. So I guess some updates would be fitting for awhile.

First major change: House - we left our large, country Wheatland Center Road house and moved into one of our rentals, a small, city house, as a temporary home.

The thoughts behind this seemingly insane move? The end goal is to buy a house close to our rental properties and Justin's work which is mainly on the east side of the city, one that doesn't require a TON of maintenance and remodeling. The Wheatland house was an old farm house that Justin was in the process of remodeling. Even when the remodeling was done, bring a pre-1900s house, it was going to need continual upkeep. It had 6 acres - 3 of which we mowed. We heated it with coal which meant tending the stove. Don't get me wrong - the Wheatland house was a fun house. But we are looking to simplify things in our lives right now and that house was far from simple. Moving to the city simplified our living in many ways - heat was only a turn of the thermostat away, no remodeling or major ongoing maintenance, minimal yard maintenance, close to the rental properties, Justin's work and life in general.

Why not move only once; why move into the city when you know you are moving again? We decided it would be much easier to finish the remodeling process without living in the construction. Justin could leave his tools out without having the kids "helping" during the day while he is at work. It will also be a lot easier to show the place without having to clean it and leave every time.

Summer Events

This year was the first year of summer at the lake house. We, along with my parents and Justin's parents, purchased a house on Cayuga Lake at the end of last summer. The winter was spent remodeling and now, though not finished, the house is ready to be enjoyed.

We had a gathering for Memorial Day/Katrina's 4th birthday which we found that the house and grounds can easily handle 60-some people. The week around July 4th Justin took off of work and our family spent the time together at the lake. Justin left and my family came in - my aunt, two cousins, three kids of my older cousin and her husband, as well as my mom. My aunt lives in Boston, older cousin in VA beach, younger cousin in NYC so it was fun getting everyone together for a little while.

After everyone left, it was just me and the kids. Up until this point there had always been someone at the house that I could leave Max with to take the big kids down to swimming lessons and crafts (the town runs free swimming lessons daily and crafts twice a week during the summer 2 miles from the house). The park has a nice playground as well as baseball and soccer fields - not bad for a tiny town! I was determined to keep going with the swimming lessons so off we went - a double stroller for the boys, lots of snacks, sand toys, towels, etc. Alex pretty much turned into swimming lesson drop out, opting to play on the playground and sand but since everyone was happy, that was fine. I never thought the lake house would give me the confidence (or make me gain the confidence) to venture out with all of them but I'm glad it did!

The end of July brought us home for a week so Katrina could do a gymnastics camp, 9-12 every day for a week. She had a blast! It was interesting having a couple hours a day with just the boys.

August brought a boys fishing weekend at the lake, which Justin decided Alex was old enough to tag along for. While he was gone, Katrina and Max went to Springdale Farm to celebrate the Davis twins 2nd birthday. The farm has animals to look at, a petting area, a playground and picnic area. Nice (free) place.

Then Alex and Katrina did an evening VBS at a little church about 5 min from the lake. While they were there Max and I explored the local library, cute and very small. I think our living room is about the size of the main room! We came back to Rochester for another VBS at a friends church and then it was off to family camp.

The way we do family camp is more of the Marriott of camping - no tents for us...we stay in a lodge that provides sheets and towels. The kids rode bikes, played games, Katrina did crafts, Justin played softball and ran a volleyball tournament - it was a great time. A major accomplishment that came out of it was Aunt Kelly getting Katrina to conquer her fear of the pool. Even with swimming lessons, Katrina was not ready to leave the side of the pool. Some how Kelly got her to start swimming all over the place, with the help of a blow-up tube! Now she is begging to go in Grandma's big pool every day!

August is winding down now and the start of Academy is looming ever closer. We'll be back down at the lake on and off as long as the weather holds I think. Looking back on the summer we did manage to pack quite a bit in!

Training Them to Work

I decided recently that it was time to assign jobs to the kids. Up to this point Katrina has been a half trained jack of all chores - with minimal proficiency she can do basic jobs such as folding laundry, putting clothes away, picking up toys, etc. She has been more an overall helper but with no real purpose. Alex has been coasting comfortably through life, being asked to help with toy clean up at most.
Many people I have talked to say that silverware is the first job they give their kids. As they are unloading the dishwasher, the child is set up with the silverware rack and the drawer and it is their job to put it away. I tried this - Katrina wasn't bad at it but it didn't seem in any way a help to me. If she was to do the entire dishwasher, that would be a different story. But to give her one section of a job didn't seem to make sense to me. If I am going to take the time to train the kids on a job, I want it to be a job that benefits me not just a job to have a job.
Alex seems to be last at breakfast so it seemed natural to have him in charge of putting the cereal boxes away. In most houses this probably wouldn't be a large task but for some reason Justin and the kids need to make cereal mixtures in the bowl so there are 2-5 boxes out every morning. Alex has been in charge of cereal for two weeks now. At first liked this job. I think then he realized that it is his job not an option and suddenly it wasn't as fun but today he turned around and did it quickly with enjoyment (and a little help from Katrina).
The question of what job to give Katrina was still stumping me until yesterday. Then I figured out something that would be both do-able for a three year old and helpful for me! I decided that she was going to be the dirty laundry collector. It is actually a two step job. The first part is to go room to room, collect up any dirty clothing or bedding (if it is a change the sheets day) and throw them down the stairs. This is the fun part. Then once the clothes are downstairs, the second part is to drag them to the washer. This is the not so fun part.
Yesterday was day 1 and part 1 was was accomplished with little resistance. Once the clothes were downstairs in a heaping pile, moving it to the washer was a struggle. At one point Katrina was lying in the pile content to stay there for ever if it meant not having to carry anything else the 10 feet to the washer. The entire process to about two hours. Yes I could have done it all in about 15 minutes but I reminded myself this is the training processes.
So today after breakfast I announced it was job time and off we went. Katrina went upstairs to begin. I fed Max while she got started. I went up stairs and checked her progress. She had gotten the clothes out of three of the five rooms before getting sidetracked - not bad for day 2 I thought. She got back on task and the rest of the laundry came tumbling down the stairs. Now came the dreaded part two. To my surprise this only took a few minutes. Yes, there was not nearly as much to move as the day before but she seemed to get the concept of finishing the job so she could go on to other things.
We'll see how the rest of the week goes!

Working with Daddy

Justin was home today working on our yard project. In early spring we began accepting dump truck loads of dirt (around 400 loads) to make drastic changes in our yard. We buried two foundations and increased the amount of flat usable yard on the both the creek and driveway sides. Here are pictures from the beginning stages:

Today, Bill Thomas was on the bulldozer spreading top soil over an acre of our land, Adam was hauling boulders, and Justin was hauling and directing traffic. Alex and Katrina, outfitted in coats and hats (to combat the cold) and boots and mittens (to combat the dirt), alternated between digging in the dirt with shovels and rakes and hauling rocks alongside Adam and Justin. They are at the age where working with Daddy is a privilege, not an obligation. At one point Katrina had filled a stroller with rocks and was using it like the guys were using the wheelbarrow. When Alex was brought inside he was exclaiming, "work...my daddy...outside!" I hope their enthusiasm continues for years to come!

I feel so many good things happened today. To name a few:
1. The kids spent time with Justin.
2. They worked hard and contributed to family life.
3. They got fresh air.
4. They had fun.
5. Our yard is one step closer to being finished.

Joining the Blog World

Well, it is official. I have joined the blogging world. I think that Lindsay getting a blog inspired me to take the plunge and get one myself. Here is an update on the family to get things started.

Justin is self-employed doing mainly remodeling work and managing investment properties. One of the current remodeling projects is the lake house we purchased with my parents and his parents on Cayuga Lake. He is currently playing in volleyball leagues at hotshots not that his summer softball leagues have finished. He's also gearing up for hunting season.

I am home with the kids, teaching chemistry and physical science at our homeschool Academy, and assistant teaching Irish dance. I should be folding laundry not starting a blog but this is definitely more fun.

Katrina is 3 now. She is in taking gymnastics and tagging along to dance with me. She lasts about half the class and then plays in the hall with Aunt Luissa who is waiting for her class to begin. I'd say that her favorite movie is Little Mermaid and book is any Clifford book. She loves putting on multiple outfits a day, much to my washing machine's dismay, and making sure things match. Is she really my child?



Alex is 2. He is talking up a storm and very excitedly told us, "my daddy....big fish!" followed only days later by "my big fish!". He LOVES fishing. He has shown me that there truly is an innate difference between boys and girls. No one had to tell teach him to love cars, trucks dump trucks and getting dirty. His big eyes and fun smile problem get him out of more trouble than they should.

Max is 8 months and on the move. He is crawling all over now. All that crawling has made him very hungry and he now loves eating. He's a happy guy and smiles and talks often. He recently made his mother very happy by doing the "mamamamamama" babble.




Sandor (dog), Sid (dog) and Steve (cat) round out our quiet house.