Summer fun list update

Since Last time I posted on our summer list, we've been playing hard! Maybe this is my first summer enjoying being a stay-at-home mom. No scheduled activity for kids. I was originally worried at the beginning, but I really like this laid-back "So, what do you want to do?" kind of days.

Now, last time I said:
 We still would like to:
- go to a local ice cream stop (I know, those who are local, we haven't done it this year yet!!)
- go to our favorite beach about 2 hours away
- go more camping trips

Yes, we did go (finally!) to the local ice cream stop - Check! (courtesy of our library's Summer Reading Program, our kids each got free soft serve)
No on the second one, unfortunately, but we have been to beaches....Ummm, I lost counts, but several times.
And yes, to the last one. We just went last weekend and will be going again in a couple of weeks.

In addition to those, this summer we have;
- had M's first visit from a tooth fairy
- completed Summer Reading Program (Yay!)
- played a lot with cousins and had a serious water gun fight!
- had boys (yes, including my husband and boys and their cousins...I need to make another post on this) blow up a watermelon
- camped with 20 some cousins (sorry, I've lost count on this as well)
- J tried on tubing (behind a boat) for the first time
- J and M become comfortable in the water (I told J I'd give him $2 if he comes in the water with life jacket and learned to float)
- watched beautiful sunsets
- went blueberry picking twice (total 26 lb!)
- and play, play, and more play!

House work? Maybe I'll resume when school starts....

K vs. a garden snake

I did not witness this, but it has to be recorded. No photo either...

 

(Ok, here is a photo of K with beach boy lock before his haircut - nothing to do with this post)

 

The other day, our 2 1/2 year-old K had his first encounter with a garden snake at our friend's place. My husband was holding it to show the kids. K's big brother J touched a little bit. Despite my husband's warning to K not to go too close to the head of the snake, K went to touch its head.

Snap! (or maybe not so much...)

Of course, the snake took a bite of K on his thumb.

K's response?

He wrapped his hand around the thumb, held for a while, then yelled at the snake
"NO! BABY ITAI ITAI!" ("ITAI" means hurt in Japanese and he calls himself "baby", so he was telling the snake that K is hurting!)

He looked at the thumb (no bleeding or anything major) again, then again
"NO! NO!! NO!!! NO ITAI ITAI!"

Got that, snake? No more hurting K!

K vs. a garden snake - a garden snake may have had an advantage of biting K, but K didn't cry....so, stay tune for the round 2! (well, hopefully not too soon for his mother's sake...)

Summer fun check list so far...

Not that I make such a list, but for a record, I wanted to write what we have done so far...(to later convince my children that summer vacation is NOT boring, we did A TON of stuff. Ok, J?)

We, so far, have:
- gone strawberry picking (which kids lasted for about 1/2 hour...)
- gone to a beach with cousins
- bought a 34-year-old pop-up camper and gone 2 night camping trip to a lake
- gone to a spray park, well actually twice so far
- joined our local library's Summer Reading Program (we are in lever 3)
- played with cousins at their lake-front house
- (this was only J and me) gone to a special event where you could experience flying a remote control airplane. J got to control a remote control airplane. We made rocket ships out of papers too.

Here is Josh learning how to use the remote control by simulation - Man, those kids with hand-eye coordination in computer games...*sigh*

- sent off their cousin flying out from an airport
- played at different parks for hours (so Mommy doesn't have to see the pile of dishes)

And of course, we have logged many hours of computer game, TV watching, popsicle  and ice cream eating, and plenty of whining and fighting time as well.

We still would like to:
- go to a local ice cream stop (I know, those who are local, we haven't done it this year yet!!)
- go to our favorite beach about 2 hours away
- go more camping trips

More to come!

Let the Summer begin!

Officially, Summer has began. 

Day 1: we played with play dough.

 J's blue Jay and her eggs.

 

M's Robin and her eggs.

J said her Robin looks like Angry Bird - M was not so happy about that....

 

And the fun with play dough ended by 9 am. 

Yes, 9 AM!  

(Phineas and Ferb, please don't tell me there is 104 days of summer vacation...)

 *sigh*

We decided to go to a spray park in the early afternoon before K's nap (no photo).

Kids had fun. They splashed, took breaks, went sliding, while I sat in the shade reading a book.

It was a nice afternoon.

Then, K got splashed (yes, we were at Spray Park where you should be sprayed by water) on his face, M fell from a slide on wood chips and scraped her knee, and their friend hit her head with one water feature. 

It was time for us to go home. 

A couple of more girls joined us in the backyard and played in the sandbox, with water. A lot of water. (again, no photo, due to my policy of not showing kids' face much on public...)

After 7 wet/sandy/muddy kids later, I had a little quiet time....

No, oh no, we are not done yet. 

 

Because my husband took older 2 monkeys to Summer Festival!

 

 They got to ride

 

and ride

 

and ride.

By the way, this was the gift for my son J's teacher Mrs. R. She was a wonderful teacher.  J asked what her favorite color was one day - it was red. So I made a pair of red themed earrings (no photo). The package and card were scraps of my paper supplies, but I thought it turned out cuter than I thought! Thank you, Mrs. R!

 

Today, on Day 2, we are taking easy. J and M are at their friends' house for a play date (Thank you, M!). K is napping. And me is trying to keep record of this precious moments. 

Happy Summer!

Now I understand...

Some of the things my mom did that I didn't understand before I became a mom:

 

Here is my mom working on her Etegami piece (December 2009)

 

Mom was able to work around the house long before eating breakfast.
That was probably because certain things had to be done before she was able to sit down to eat, like packing my lunch and ironing my school uniform.

Mom was always the last one to choose a piece from assortment of cakes.
That was probably because she loved her kids so much that she wanted them to pick their pieces first.

Mom would tell me sometimes at dinner times when we had rare delicacy, "Oh, I don't like it. You can have it."
She may not have really disliked (or maybe she did) whatever it was. She probably wanted us to have it more than she did.

Mom was always learning new things and taking lessons in cooking and crafts. I remember her working late at night.
That was probably her sliver of "Mommy time" to enrich her life and to escape from the mundane task of housekeeping. And if things need to be done, then late at night can be the only the spare time which may cutting into the precious sleep time (ahem, it is 12:25 am on my clock...).

Mom would tell me that I needed to take a nap even when I thought I was not tired (and of course I fell sleep after a while). It may have been the summer I was in Kindergarten. I remember lying on a small mat feeling cool summer breeze.
She probably knew that I needed enough rest.

Mom would tell me I needed to be quiet while she took her 15 minutes power-nap after lunch before she headed back to work.
She most likely needed it, because I know I need it sometimes so that I can make it through the day.

Thanks, Mom. Super belated, but Happy Mother's Day.
Some things are easier to write than say in person.
Hmm, maybe that's why mom writes me letters....*light bulb*

Guest Post: "Battling Cancer With Support From Family and Friends" by Heather Von St James

Belated Happy Mother's Day to all! (slight delay due to sinus infection...)

I have my first guest post here!

This is Heather and her family. And this is her story:

Battling Cancer With Support From Family and Friends

When I was diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer in November of 2005, I was a new mother whose daughter was just three and a half months old.  I thought I had my whole life ahead of me; so receiving this diagnosis was devastating, especially when I learned that unless I sought aggressive treatment, I would only have about 15 months to live.  No one wants to hear that, and I was only in my 30s.  Despite my fear, I was determined to stay strong for my daughter and husband.  

My husband and I went to Boston to pursue the most intensive mesothelioma treatment options available, and I gathered up all of my energy to face the battle ahead.  While there, I underwent the removal of my left lung, followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  It was exhausting, but my husband was there to support me, and I had many devoted friends and family members helping us from a distance.  I don't know what I would have done without my parents, who took on the care of our infant daughter Lily while I was in the midst of these grueling treatments.  

My parents back home in South Dakota were integral in raising Lily during this period of her life, and the people who I grew up with stepped up to help them in any way they could, providing babysitting services and old baby supplies to help keep them going while they all prayed for my recovery.  Even though I was far away from them, I was constantly aware of their love and concern.  Knowing how much they cared about me went a long way toward strengthening me during that dark time.

Even though getting cancer was a horrible experience, it was truly moving to see how many people would be willing to go out of their way to help me and my family when offered the chance.  Of course, some people who I thought were friends high-tailed it out of there, but I came to appreciate who truly was there for me, and it has given me a better understanding of how to treat others who are in need.  While leaning on the support of old friends, I also made new friends who helped cheer me on through my treatments and whose friendship I will always treasure.

Now I just take one day at a time and am grateful for every moment.  I know that no matter how well I seem, more cancer could always emerge, but I am determined to enjoy every day as much as I can, and this is the way everyone should live, whether or not they are battling a deadly disease.  Life can change suddenly, and all we can do is enjoy it and do everything in our power to preserve it.  Moreover, if we can make someone else's burden lighter along the way, that is truly making the most out of life.

I'm a proud Mama!

 I am a mother of an artist! (I am totally bragging about it)

There are two local public school art exhibits going on right now - one at a gallery on our local university, and the other at a small art gallery downtown. And my son J's art works are at both sites! 

Art is probably his favorite subject. This was his first year having art class and he is absolutely loving it. 

It's one of the reasons why he looks forward to Friday (along with chicken sandwich on hot lunch menu, and having weekend coming so that he can play game with his cousins and all that).

Here is his penguins. 

I love the 2nd guy from left sliding down.  Weeeee!

Each pieces were hand ripped, not cut with scissors, J told me. 

Sounds like fun to me!

And here is his happy smiley lizard guy.

(I sure thought it was chameleon, but...)

Doesn't he make you smile?

Today was "artist reception" at the local art gallery, so we invited his grandma, Papa (a.k.a. grandpa), and grandma-great.  He was explaining to them that, for this piece, he first drew with crayon, then he filled all the white spots with paint. He sounded just like a proud artist would.

Oh, he said both of them took him 4 Fridays to finish, whereas other pieces usually take him 2 or 3 Fridays to finish. So, yeah, they were special ones for him.

I can't wait to display these in my house! I'm thinking making our staircase wall to be art gallery.