summer simplicity

what?! two posts in one week? that's ludicrous!
peeps, i have been reading so many great summer blog posts that i wanted to share.
--so basically i have nothing original to say but wanted to share the worldly wisdom of the internet.

this one about summer is so good. it's not just this entry. it's all her entries. she's such an encouraging writer. and i love that she's broken down her summer lists into categories. i'm taking her list of things for mom and implementing it at our house.

also, reading:
at our house, reading can be an issue because we have so many young readers. for each one to read to me for 20 minutes....that adds up to like a gajillion minutes and ain't nobody got time for that. i took all the books she listed for her 7-year-old reader and put them on a wish list at our local library. that way, when we are ready for another recommended book, we can just check a box online and wait to go pick it up! the way we are doing it at our house is the oldest boy reads for 20 minutes to himself (he'll be doing chapter books) and i read the same book on my own time, thus making me able to ask him questions about what he's reading. and we get to share an experience, which is always nice. and i've created the list for him, which means i shouldn't have to read too many books about zombies or superheroes. one can only take so much, people. and on his own time he can read whatever he wants. the younger boys are reading me a book a day. at the end of the summer, if they've read a certain number of days, they all get to buy a big lego set together. i just made that up. it could change.

also, this is a great post with a summer reading list for adults. and they are fun, unusual ways to categorize them. i have now wish-listed and reserved several at our local library.

once upon a time, but i can't seem to find it, ashley ann posted about coloring books for grown-ups. so on a weekend getaway with the hubs i bought one from barnes and noble for $8. i love it. with the stressors going on in our life right now, i feel like i have no creative juices to do anything fun. but this is kind of a soothing, mindless activity. plus, to my surprise, my children congregate around me when i color and sure enough, within a few minutes they have pulled up chairs and are coloring in their own books. parallel play is fun.

for us, this summer is going to entail lots of short quick trips, reading, having friends over, going to our local pool and our local library, and doing as many free things that are air conditioned as possible because we live in the hottest place on earth...i mean, we live in south texas. so far, we have found some balance between doing fun things and getting things done. the boys are earning some new privileges and trying some new things on their own. my attempt at summer simplicity is to try to eat at home as much as possible and to only plan at most one fun thing a day. either mornings or afternoons i'm trying to be home. it's been pretty wonderful.

hope y'all are enjoying your summer!
go eat some watermelon.