Sweet Summer Days

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I saw this darling picture online and I just had to "pin" it.  Doesn't it just make you smile?!  Maybe I loved it so much because it reminds me of my own boys who have spent hours perfecting their diving skills this summer at the pool.  Looking at this picture, I am determined to find a lake with a long dock to jump off next summer!  That looks so fun!  I am certain my boys would be happy to reenact this shot!

 It has been such a joy to watch all the boyish goofy antics at the pool all summer. One day I was laughing as our pool group had 11 boys in all! I had to pack a lot of pool snacks that day, let me tell you! I really do enjoy my boys and all their cute friends though. The laughter and playful bantering was music to my ears.  I hope they always remember and cherish these carefree, delightful days of their childhood summers.  I know I will:)

Did I tell you that my youngest little man is now officially a swimmer? 

Go Cannon!

Yes! I can now relax with a magazine once in awhile--well sorta!

And a back flip courtesy of Coleman...

and Bridger...

Well now that the boys are back in school the weather is strangely cooler.  It's weird, I mean, the calendar still says August and we are in the South...but hey, I am not complaining one bit.
 I loved summer, but you bet,  I am ready for FALL!  Bring it on!!

I just might switch out my flower pots with some autumn colors this week, but I will make myself wait on the rest of the Fall decor until at least September:)

How about your neck of the woods?  Do you have any signs of Autumn?

Road Tripping 2012

We hit the road yesterday headed to Boston for a family reunion! I even remembered to pack our traditional Christensen family road trip CD, including hits like 'Hit the Road Jack' , 'On the Road Again', 'Drive', 'Another One Bites the Dust' , ' with a few patriotic ones thrown in like 'Proud To Be An American' just for the 4th of July:) My boys all groan when I whip it out but they can't fool me... I know they secretly love it as they happily sing along!

Crank it up, I say!

Next time I'm adding 'Dixie Land Delight'! Just to remind them of home! Making memories... I tell you!

Since today is Coleman's 10th Birthday we started the day off with a fabulous Denny's Breakfast in Allenstown, Pennsylvania!

After a night all squished into the LAST room at the nearby Courtyard Marriott. It was cozy:) and let me tell you we were lucky to find that one, I think Brad tried for an hour to find a room somewhere enroute!

It was fun to have my birthday boy sleeping so close-- at 5am he woke up and whispered to me "Is it my birthday now Mom?"

It was a treat to the first person to give birthday wishes. I whispered to him how much I love him and will never forget the happy day he was born as he drfted back to sleep. I layed there all snug with my boys feeling so blessed!

We are doing our best to make being stuck in the car for 5 hours on your birthday fun:) Now he is riding shotgun and opening a little gift each hour of today's trek. So far a DS Brain teaser game and neon gummy worms. This evening we will be with lots of family to help us celebrate this boy!

I will leave you with a shot of our current location:

Due to not paying our trusty Tom Tom enough attention (oops) we missed a turn and ended up experiencing some big city traffic and toll booths. We are on the George Washington Bridge crossing the Hudson River right now. I am a excited thinking 'That is New York City ' right there and even a little tempted to stop and check it out-- but the big NYC will have to wait, we have sweet little cousins waiting!

It is Boston or Bust for this crew!

Happy Stuff

Three things that brought a smile to my face today:

#1  Eating this delicious Quinoa breakfast--have you tried Quinoa (pronounced "kin wa")?  It is super healthy and yummy.  I posted more about it on The Sisters Cafe today here.

#2 Finding this hilarious picture on my phone from last spring.  Cannon came out of his primary class with those adorable pipecleaner glasses and presenting me with a daffodil!  Precious!  He has the best primary teacher ever!  We love you Sister Harmon!

Have you heard of the ROO CUP?  Unfortunetly my boys caught wind of it and we are now the proud owners of 4.  They purchased them at our local Kangaroo gas station for $6.99 and then all summer you can fill them up with an icee or pop for only a quarter.  I don't love it--but the boys thought it was an incredibly wise use of their allowance.  Now they beg me to stop for refills on our way to the pool.  I never remind anyone to grab them and actually secretly hope they forget:)  I don't want too much sugar in these guys of mine, you know?!

 

This sight may not make me smile but this morning when Cannon saw them all lined up in the dishwasher--he ran and got Bridger saying "I have a happy thing to show you!-- Look, ROO cups!"
(Even though Cannon doesn't have one I get him a little cup of icee when the boys fill up.  He doesn't get allowance yet and I could not bring myself to buy that ridiculous cup for my littlest boy.)

I couldn't help but smile--those cups mean icey cold slushies all summer long--YUM! 

What makes you smile today? 

Hope you have a happy day!

PS Thank you all so very much for fabulous reading ideas!  You guys are the best!  I have implemented a great plan, thanks to you!  I will post about it soon!

Sunny Thoughts

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about sunshine and days spent in the water.

I came across these pictures of a day spent on the lake last summer and I think my heart skipped a beat:)

It made a dreary winter day a little brighter.

We are currently making plans and getting estimates on a swimming pool, new deck and landscaping for the backyard. 

 It is so fun!  We are getting very excited!

All this planning has got me thinking about summer...I am really looking forward to those long hot days when the boys run around bare foot and shirtless in and out of the water all day, with an endless supply of popsicles, alarm clocks are unused and bedtime is much later.

 When life is less scheduled and more relaxed....augh right now that sounds heavenly! 

Although, with summer still several months away,  I have to remind myself...

that I really do enjoy this time of year too.

 

Winter means ~soft sweaters, baking warm goodness for my family, a cozy fire to read by and especially... that colder weather gives us an excuse to stay home and slow down more often! 

How about you? 

Are you enjoying winter or counting the days to summer?

Last Days of Summer

On the last the day before school started we wanted to squeeze that last bit of summer fun out of the all too soon ending season.  So after cleaning out the garage (what can I say...I too had to squeeze one more project out of my boys while we had time:) we went 'Disco Skating' with a bunch of friends and then off to the pool.   It was a BLAST!  I have to admit that I usually dangle my feet in the water and chat with friends while my kids play--BUT this last day of summer I felt like really swimming with them and it was so much fun!

It is one of those days with my boys that I will always remember...a day I hope we will happily reminisce about over the years! 
 I know I will!

I really enjoyed playing 'sharks and minnows', 'quiet mouse' and jumping off the diving board with them--and then taking all these iphone shots of daring jumps:)  Even Bridger, who was scared to jump off the diving board just last week, got in on the action proudly performing  front flips!! 

TJ

Bridger

TJ

Connor

Connor

Coleman and best bud Kollin

My little sweetie pie

The only one who still needs floaties and is too scared to jump off the diving board. Geez my boys are growing up fast!!

He still had fun getting in line for the diving board and then when it was his turn,  he would very determinedly run and jump into the water on the side totally bypassing the board:)  He also was out in the games bobbing around with his floaties thinking he was part of it all!

Next up First day of School! yikes

Back on Track baby!

 This summer has been a whirl wind of activity at our house. This little indoor picnic was a rare moment with just my little guys at home.  The big brothers were off to scout camp and birthday parties and we took advantage of the unusual lack of anything going on to have some little people fun together.  They were delighted with our simple dinner served on a tablecloth in front of the movie 'Gnomeo and Juliet'.  What a treat to sit back and soak in my sweet little boys, knowing that soon enough they will be too busy for a family room picnic with their Mom:)

Lately I have missed those "lazy days of summer" that we used to have, even when the boys would drive me crazy with complaints that they were bored. We didn't really have any of that this year!  I am not sure if I have ever been so busy as a Mother as I have this summer. We had swim team practises daily, with meets on the weekends, soccer practises and games, summer weight training at the school, wrestling camps, football camps, basketball camps, scout camps and the list goes on!   I am going to have to think about how to do things a bit differently and what we can cut out next year to find a better balance.  I am so worn out this summer that I am actually looking forward to school starting for a slower schedule...and that is just wrong! 

I will say that I think my boys have had a happy summer--and that makes it worth it.  I think they all loved being busy with sports (their favorite pastime:)  One highlight for me was watching my Bridger play soccer. It was his first time on a team after watching his big brothers play for years.  He was so excited and thrilled with himself,  it was ADORABLE!  I really love watching my children play sports and do what they love. 

 So all in all it was a good summer and with all our activities wrapping up we will have the next week and half before school starts to relax and check a few more things off our Summer Bucket List. 

 Also, I will have more time for this little neglected blog!  yeah!  Thanks for sticking with me:)

How is your summer going?  **And do you have any suggestions for a good book that Brad and I could listen to on our way to Savannah, GA to (finally) celebrate our June 29th Anniversary?  Please share!**

Swimming the Summer Away

The day the team jammers came in the mail.  My older boys would not be caught dead posing for a picture in them:) unlike these little guys who were so excited try them on and feeling pretty cool:)

We have spent A LOT of time this summer at the pool for SWIM TEAM  (thus the lack of posts) and I have loved {almost} every minute of it:)  I love that my boys get a great workout everyday, that they have been part of a wonderful team of coaches, kids and parents all working together to create strong swimmers and build confidence.  Swim team is a big commitment with practices everyday--and 5 { very long} meets.  The swim meets are exciting for the boys--but sitting in the sweltering hot humid southern summer weather for 5-6 hours at a time almost KILLS me, I am not kidding!  But I can honestly say--it has been worth it and we will do it next year and every year that we can.  What a great experience for my crew.  Our last meet is this weekend and although it will be nice to not be spending so much time everyday at the pool, we will miss it!

Cannon was one of the youngest children on swim team.  I was able to sneak him in since all his brothers were on the team and he would turn 4 during the summer.  This was the first meet--he had a cheering squad trying to coax him into the pool to swim his little "guppie" lap with his dumbell.

He finally did it!! It was so sweet with everyone cheering on the little guys who start the meet off!

One of the line judges (for the real heats:) was congratulating him on his big debut swim--he is so proud of himself!

Bridger preparing for his kickboard heat with one of his best buds Kooper.  They take this very seriously!

Connor and his friend Cameron splitting earbuds waiting for their heats to begin.  He is a couple of years older than Connor and his Mom still requires him to do swim team.  Which really helps back my request up:)

Cannons's little buddy Kristen--she was a huge help with getting him to praticipate on swim team in the beginning.  I LOVE this girl!

Yes--we got this face a lot the first week or two!  He would tell me "I don't fink I can do this"  I can report that he now happily runs to his practise and loves it!

Bridger had no bad days--he was always ready to go!  He is a determined little swimmer and has improved immensly this summer!

Coleman is the swimmer in the center...

He won his heat!  Woo hoo!  Dad congratulating him on a great swim!

Here goes TJ--he is the swimmer on the left.

GO TJ!!

You can tell that who is always at my legs and gets photographed the most.  Next year I am going to do better about getting shots of my older boys, even if they don't want me to:)

Unfortunately I did not get any shots of Connor swimming--I could kick myself! He really did not want to do swim team, but I think he now secretly likes it.  It is a great workout and he has always been a hard working kid.
  

The team had several sweet parties that the boys loved...

including  a pizza party with dolphin balloons. 

What a great experience to be a 'Dolphin'!

Thank you swim team for filling up our summer with good hard FUN!

Summer Bucket List

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As you know  I have my boys working with our Summer Job charts, but I really want them to have some fun too! I want to create some summer magic--sweet childhood fun-- memories that will be with them always.

Sometimes, the best memories are made from spur-of-the-moment- kind-of-fun, but for us I have found that usually fun times need to be planned and created.  I want my boys to feel rewarded for working hard and not just with an afternoon in front of the TV, you know?! 

So as soon as school ends each Spring, we have a very important family meeting (usually over ice cream),  put our heads together and come up with our "Bucket List" of fun we want to make happen over the Summer.

This is what we came up with this year--with a few already crossed off!  But with this LONG list, I am thinking we better get busy:)

2011 Summer Bucket List

Day trip to The Great Smokey Mtns Natl Park with Friends
Go to Disco skate at the Roller skating Rink

Bowling at Pinstricks

Camping in the Tennessee Woods

Make Crayon Cars

Backyard Movie Night

Enjoy theTN River Walking Bridge downtown and Snow cones

7 Brides for 7 Brothers Family Movie Night and Brother Sleepover

Create Tie Dye T-shirts

Tour the Mayfield Dairy and Ice Cream Factory--enjoy samples:)

Rock Wall Climbing

Chattanooga Cho Cho Tour

Go out for Frozen Yogurt

Fireworks Show for the 4th of July

Night Games and Milkshakes with friends

Go to a Chattanooga Lookouts/Atlanta Braves Game

Golfing with Dad

Family Mini Golf night

Go Boating

 Create Popsicle Boats and Race them in the stream

Pizza Dinner at the Pool with Dad after Swim Team Prac.

Catch Fireflies
Squeeze Lemons for Homemade Lemonade

Gotta love having a list of fun waiting to be crossed off.  I hung this list by their summer jobs, hoping it would inspire the boys to get done quick so we have time to get more crossed off!

What is on your Summer Bucket list?

Dreaming of Backyard Magic

I can't get this sweet outdoor movie night out of my head ever since I saw it in the current Pottery Barn Catalogue. Doesn't that look perfect?  Too bad I don't have that tree in my backyard... AMAZING, huh?! I really want to do this for my family.  It may not be as perfectly stylin' as this, but I will find a way.  I know my boys would LOVE it!

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 Absolutely LOVE glass jar lighting.  I am definitely doing this on the back deck!

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Love these sparkling jars...

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Can't wait for firefly watching....one of my favorite things about living in the South!

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How romantic is this?  Perfect spot for a summer dinner party...

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And this last one? 

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What a beautiful spot to cuddle with your love
 --perfect for star gazing and stealing kisses:)

These images have my mind churning with ideas. 
 I am excited to create a little magic in my backyard this summer!