thank goodness for good neighbors!

ryan was cooking some pork on the traeger overnight. he brought it in to add some spices this morning and put it back out on the grill.  i think he added pellets, too.

all of the sudden i heard him on the phone, and he was going back out to the backyard. our neighbor {and friend} had been driving by and noticed lots of smoke…she called him to check if it was our traeger.

yes, it was, but it was on fire!!!

thank goodness brittany called. and,thank goodness we were awake and it didn’t happen in the middle of the night.

the kids have been arguing a lot the last couple of days.

we have been somewhat cooped up inside while i try to get things done at the house, which has ended up in extra screen time. which ends up in poor attitudes when screen time ends. boo.

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need to find my inner peace today.

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i found it!

this morning i told the kids they needed to wait until 10:00 for screen time…no matter what.

they knew what time they were allowed to get on the ps4, and they found other things to do until then!

wow!

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so, i snuck outside for some quiet time…

a little {quiet} chalkboard art creativity was just what i needed to recharge. {i think i am going to color the light bulbs in yellow}

we are planning an outdoor movie for this weekend. ryan and i narrowed the movies down to three and then asked the kids, separately, what their choice would be in order of preference. they both chose the same movie!

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this afternoon ryan had a conference call he had to be on, so i snuck out to get some errands done. another much needed {quiet} break with the bonus of getting things check off my “to do” list.

i got almost all of the errands done. i even was steps away from finishing them, but there was a loud fundraising event going on at the last store i needed to go to, so i turned around and drove home. no need to spoil my “inner peace” to check one more thing off the list. i can sneak back over there sometime this weekend, or even go with the kid on monday!

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so we are hiding out in the AC {thank goodness} while it is 93 degrees in the shade outside the kitchen window!

seriously, this heat is crazy! and, it’s just supposed to continue into next week and the holiday weekend.

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this guy is enjoying his time as the “only dog”, but i know he will miss us when we are traveling. i am sure that our house sitter will take good care of the pets, just like rainy is being taken care of in idaho, but they are my babies, too!

the heat is supposed to be even worse in idaho, where rainy is, so i am sure she will be doing lots of swimming in the rivers up there!

today is supposed to be the first day of some really HOT weather here in the pacific northwest.

the weather has been weird this year. i’m not complaining, but we didn’t get rain like we usually do in may and june.

in fact, i’m pretty sure that colorado and oregon switched their weather patterns this year. i’m hoping they will give our weather back to us soon…i’m sure they would appreciate their hot and dry instead of our cool and wet, too!

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going to try to check things off my list again today.

• planning for a party
  • shopping
  • cleaning
• getting ready for our first big trip of the summer
  • last minute errands
  • laundry
  • packing
  • house sitter lists

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the kids already finished their summer learning for the morning. they both have done the required 3 packets for the week already, so i let them just do a couple of easier worksheets.

baby girl wants to learn to read and one of her workbooks had mini books at the back, so we cut those out for her to carry around with her and practice the words.

the little guy thinks his packets are too hard. they aren’t. he’s just not hugely motivated on his own. i don’t push. he’s smart. i want learning to be fun, not work. i may need to get a bit creative with him.

today was a lazy day.

the kids {especially baby girl} were tired.

i had them watch a movie at 8:30 am…hotel transylvania. we saw a preview for hotel transylvania 2 when we went to see inside out, so i figured we should watch the first one!

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they got a lot of screen time…meaning, no tickets were used. they like to play online on the ps4 with one of their cousins in new york.

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on the other hand, my day was rather productive.

i got the bathrooms deep cleaned, the dog got a bath, i got some other things checked off the “to do” list, and dropped a load of stuff at goodwill!

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i want summer to be lazy.

one of the things i looked forward to at the end of the school year was slow mornings without rushing to get out of the house.

as much as i like to check things off our summer list, i also like to just go with the flow of the day. if the kids are tired, then it means they can “veg out” and maybe get a bit more screen time.

there will be plenty of days where we are busy going all day long, so i like to balance that with some downtime.

today was a good day for downtime…and checking things off MY to do list!

last night i got the kids to bed early. after a few late nights we needed a “regular” bedtime. it’s a delicate balance during the summer. my kids don’t sleep in. 7:00 am is considered sleeping in at our house…and it doesn’t happen often. so, after late nights and early mornings we need to do a little catch up. i’ll probably do a few more early nights this week before the weekend…we could all use the extra sleep!

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our mornings start with coffee and hot chocolate. the kids get some “free” screen time to watch a show or two while we all wake up. i usually sit at my computer to catch up on email, social media, and blog posts.

baby girl joined me to work on today’s summer learning packet.

the early morning light was streaming through the windows…so pretty.

it got cold last night in the tent. i woke up at 12:30 and brought out extra blankets. by 5:00 am i was freezing and came inside to get a sweater!

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9:30 am…learning packets worked on, morning responsibilities done, chore done. now the kids are using a screen time ticket for 30 minutes on the iPad and iPhone.

i am getting some cleaning done. the house has been neglected the last few weeks and needs a good clean up.

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a few errands, more chores.

 

 

happy fathers day!

our nephew is a very talented young man.

check out his father’s day video for the dads in our family…

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yard work.

the front garden was a bit out of control. ryan spent yesterday and today taming it.

with rainy at doggie camp for the summer we can take down some of the “puppy proofing” that we had to put up in the backyard. i was busy filling holes she had dug, replacing extension cords she had chewed through, and taking down fencing around precious new plants.

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backyard campout.

it’s summer solstice! what better time to have a backyard campout?!

6:30 am…we all got up early to say goodbye to rainy. she’s headed to idaho for doggie summer camp! while we will miss her, she will also learn a lot from uncle mike. she’ll get to swim in the beautiful rivers and run the forests of idaho for a few months…not a bad gig!

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we spent the afternoon at a birthday party. the kids had so much fun!

and, i got to hold chickens!!

6:30 am…the kids are still sleeping!

oops. jinxed it…i hear footsteps.

the little guy is up.

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i took the kids to see inside out today. we all gave the movie a thumbs up! go see it!

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i moved the play kitchen to the playhouse. it’s just perfect out there, except for the black puppy who keeps raiding the kitchen! there might be a few less pieces of wooden food thanks to silly rainy!

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i asked ryan to build a fire for marshmallow roasting. the kids had a good time sitting around the fire.

 

the kids slept in!

7:00 am is sleeping in at our house.

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8:30 am…still in pi’s sipping coffee. baby girl is working on a learning packet {her third in 2 days…i’m going to need to come up with a reward for extra work}!

the little guy has had sniffles and a cough for a few days, so i think some good rest time will be in order today. it’s been an exciting first week of summer break!

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9:00 am…baby girl finished a 4th learning packet, and i decided to give her an extra 30 minute screen time ticket {you can find all kinds of ideas for screen time tickets on pinterest}. we’re working on controlling screen time this summer and using screen time tickets for iPad, iPhone, and ps4 play. they get some freebies with morning TV, but they always want to play on the games, so i need a way to limit it.

working with the little guy on his learning packet is fun. they are definitely more challenging and he needs my help, but i love sitting with him. i am excited that they look forward to working the packets…and hoping that the fact that i will sit and work on them with them helps to encourage their learning.