Summer's start

Our first week of summer has come to a close!

Middle Girl did a little half-day-camp this week with the first grade teacher (the kids truly believe that she is magic).

Big Girl wrote all of her thank-you notes for her birthday yesterday, and today sorted through the huge piles of 3rd-grade work that she brought home. (The end of the school year is rough in this way - the mountains of stuff that comes home!) It took her two hours, but she did it! Now that she has ticked these two tasks off of the To-Do List, she can really relax into summer. She needs to work on her math skills regularly, and keep up the violin practice (recital coming up!), but in general she's in summer mode and I am so glad for that.

As for The Boy, I can't believe his first year of preschool is over! It's been a great year for him. His teachers were fantastic, and he had a lot of fun with his friends. He got over his shyness pretty quickly and really enjoyed himself. Now that everyone is home all day, I have stopped making him lie down for "rest time." That's the big news for him right now! Quietly, and without fanfare, Mommy has phased out nap. (He hadn't been sleeping during nap for several months. Believe me, I would still be giving him nap if he were.)

We had a nice weekend getaway to kick off our summer, traveling to my MIL's house and taking Big Girl to see "Wicked" as her big birthday event. She had a great time in the big, fancy theater, and she LOVED the show!

Looking ahead, I plan to spend the summer trying to say "yes." Once, during a Parent Ed discussion, the teacher pointed out the seemingly simple concept that parents don't always have to say "no" to their kids' questions. She challenged us to see if we can say "yes." Every time I try to think this way, it seems to turn out well.

"Mommy, can we go swimming?"

"Mommy, can we make a snow globe?"

"Mommy, can we play Go Fish?"

I'm going to try my best to alter my plans if necessary, and spend the summer saying "yes!"