Hello, summer

Doesn't it seem like it takes forever for summer to arrive, and then when it gets here, it goes remarkably fast? I feel this way, and I don't even have kids in school yet. However, even with a light preschool schedule, summer still seems like a break from the normal routine. We don't have a lot planned for this summer, except for a week in Iowa in August, so the girls and I have a lot of free time on our hands. We do have some things going on- the occasional afternoon with a fun babysitter, Vacation Bible School for Bennett, trips down to Cedarville to see Nana and Papa, etc.- but, on most days, we have many long daytime hours to fill before Ben gets home, we have dinner, they go to bed, and I start to work.

Unfortunately, we can't take off and go somewhere every day. It's just too expensive and/or tiring. We're in a weird spot with Blake- old enough to be entering the terrible two's but still not walking independently. It is very difficult to do a lot of activities with a non-walker who weighs 28 pounds. It's just limiting for us, right now. It's not an exaggeration to say that my back is in knots all the time from lugging this adorable chubster around, even at home. Next summer, we should be good to go. But for now, we need some simple home entertainment. Oh, and did I mention we don't have much of a yard to speak of? Besides short stroller walks/bike rides and a little sidewalk chalk or bubbles (which results in Blake getting filthy from inevitably crawling on the blacktop- because what child her age wants to sit still on a blanket?), we get along best indoors.

Hi, I'm Blake, and I am ruining every outfit I own by crawling around outside.

As a mom, it seems wrong to say that sometimes I really don't know what to do with kids. It just doesn't come naturally to me. Growing up, I rarely babysat and didn't enjoy it. I used to babysit for a family with four boys, and I tried to play with them, but they eventually sent me to the couch with my book and opted to entertain themselves. :) I was the youngest on both sides of my family and was never really around kids who were younger than I was. It is absolutely true that when Bennett was born, I didn't really know how to change a diaper. Before Ben went back to work, he gave me a tutorial because I was afraid I was going to mess it up terribly and be the worst mother of all time.

Now, I'm completely confident in my ability to take care of my kids and keep them alive, but I'm just not good at entertaining. When Bennett and I play Barbies, I usually pretend I'm the housekeeper so I can clean/organize the Dream House. Seriously. So, this summer, I'm trying to do better and come up with some fun activities. We do love baking, but we can't do that every day because we just don't need that many baked goods around here. We have made sidewalk paint:

Which was fun to make, but didn't really "paint" that well.

We have made cloud dough:

But we weren't that impressed.

We tried making collages out of old magazines:

But Bennett lost interest and asked me to finish for her!

We'll keep trying. If I come up with anything good, I'll be sure to pass it along!