Summer Day 1

It is the first official day of summer break. Fifty five days until I have to report back to work. And so there are no excuses. No being too busy, though I likely will be busy. No not taking any pictures, though there are likely to be days when I don't. This is my pledge to you, my 9 readers (by the "followers" count...I know there are more of you out there). I will post EVERY day from now until the end of summer break. It still won't bring me up to 365 posts, the number that I pledged last year to post, but it's a start back in the right direction of regular posting.

I have other goals for the summer. Start exercising, get more organized, tackle the never ending laundry problem. So on this the very first day of summer, I have worked on each of these. I took a walk with the girls. I did several loads of laundry. And I organized.

I have started with Hannah and Charlotte's room. Hannah will be going to school in the fall, and we need to start fostering some independence and organizational skills so that she can be successful. And since she will not learn by example (obviously), it's going to have to be a concerted effort to do so.

Our first task was simple. Contain the Barbies. They are all over. ALL OVER. See?

(note the 6th from the left--the infamous Farrah Fawcett--who, by the way called Snow White a "loser" yesterday)

This was our solution. And Hannah loved it. For about an hour.
Next was the clothes. During the school year, there is no point in keeping them in their dressers. With 15-20 outfits going to Kay's each week, they pretty much went from washer to dryer to diaper bag to Kay's. Now that they will each be going only once a week, I moved all of the clean clothes back into their dressers, and then labeled Hannah's drawers for her--with pictures and words.

Hannah LOVED this, and showed everyone each of her drawers. And then, changed clothes about 14 times. I am hoping the newness wears off soon! This is one of her outfits that she was so proud to wear and I reluctantly let her wear to the store. Yeah...purple Halloween shirt with black bats on it paired with turquoise plaid ruffled skort and pink and white butterfly sandals. Thank goodness for uniforms, or who knows what she would be wearing to school!

And...that's about as far as we got.

Maddy did, however, pack for a camp she is going to in 2.5 weeks. Gotta love her enthusiasm. I think Hannah and Char want to go too!

So...every day. I can do this. Charlotte and Hannah do cute things every day. The big kids will have adventures and places to go. And really, I write about 5 blog posts in my head every day as I go about my day. It's just carving out the time. I am working this summer, though. Tutoring. Oh how I hate tutoring. BUT, as we are in "send Josh to college" mode, I will do what is necessary. I tutored one child at the very end of school. It was pleasant. One hour, after school, two days a week, $40. A little extra money, I thought. Hey...a pedicure. A magazine. Some new make up. Dinner on a night where I don't want to cook.

However, I ended up feeling like Al Bundy.

You know, where he sits on the couch and everyone comes by and takes a little bit of his money and in the end he has nothing? I kid you not. The mom would send in the money in the little girl's folder every Monday. By Monday afternoon at 3:00, it was gone. Every single bit of it. GONE. To the kids coming by saying that they needed money for a book, a birthday present, graduation, field trip, gas. To the school for graduation, uniforms, banquet fees, Spring Fling.

To my father...I get it now. And I humbly apologize. And stand in awe at the way you never complained about it--as I sit here and do now to all 9 of my readers.

And those of you who read and don't "follow?" It's just a push of a button...and I long to see double digits!