Summer Fun

Greetings! It's been awhile since I last posted. That's because it's summer, and things are in full swing around here. We've been busy going to the library every week. The girls are enrolled in the Summer Reading Program. They have to read or be read to at least 20 minutes a day for 5 days each week. If they do they get a prize each week. This has been no problem for P&E as they stay up late every night reading in the semi-dark. Abby, too, thoroughly enjoys the library. She dashes into the children's section and immediately heads for the table of blocks. She also tries her hand at the children's puzzles. She's in the reading program as well, and she LOVES getting to go "fishing" each week. (The kids use a pole with a magnet on the end, and they try to "catch" paper fish with paper clips on them. The person who gets the most pounds worth of fish gets a prize at the end of the program.) She tries to fish while other patrons are taking their turn. Cute but kind of naughty. ☺

The girls have also been enjoying playing with their friends: neighborhood pals and family friends. P&E attended VBS a couple of weeks ago, and they said it was "amazing". ☺ They even invited their neighborhood friends to come with them (which they did).

But mostly they've been asking DAILY to go swimming. I have to say that it's wearing on me. It always seems like such a hassle to gather all the towels, and sunblock, and drinks, and snack, and beach toys, etc. In truth it's not as big of a deal as it seems to be in my head, and they enjoy it so much. But they literally ask me to go every day.

One day we biked to an outdoor wading pool:

It has sprinklers and a slide. The water is no more than 2' deep. Abby was afraid of the water, and had to hold her blanket most of the time. Of course then it got wet. (I took a picture of Paige, too, but it was super bright when I tried to take pictures so I didn't notice until I looked at the photos that evening that it didn't turn out right.)

I have also taken the girls to our state park's swimming pit/pool. It has a sand beach so the kids can make castles complete with moats in addition to swimming. I usually don't take pictures, but I took this one:

Emma and Abby usually play in the sand whereas Paige is in the water the entire time. She makes friends easily with the other swimmers. Here you can see P in the background making a home for a toad she and the boy found; Emma is laying out her towel, and of course Abby is running towards me. Abby did have to be in the thick of their toad-house making.

Since the girls ask me to swim every day (ESPECIALLY PAIGE) we decided to buy them a better swimming pool. We had one of those pathetic plastic ones--glorified dog dishes--and the girls have used it a lot. But on Saturday we purchased a bigger blowup style for them. Dave really wants a 3'+ deep pool so we adults can use it as well, and we will look into buying one of those at the end of July when they go on clearance. But for now this one has worked splendidly. Sunday P&E swam all afternoon, and they are quit tan.

As for myself I have been trying to read more often. I purchased Sherlock Holmes for my nook, and I REALLY like the stories. I highly recommend reading them.

This coming Thursday P&E, my mom, and I are going to visit our state's amusement park: Valleyfair. Dave is there today with my brother and nephew. It should be loads of fun, especially for the girls, but my mom and I get motion sickness so we're hoping that we both do okay overall. The park has a water park inside so we're for sure going to hit that area. Pictures to follow later.

I hope you're all enjoying your summer!

Finally gettin' around to commenting on my last poll ☺

In case you haven't already noticed I have put up a new poll. My latest questionnaire comes compliments of the Wii Poll channel. ☺ Can you believe that there is an entire channel devoted to polling questions? I have a difficult time thinking up one poll let alone many. I suppose it helps when you have literally millions of people contributing ideas. The channel's concept is simple: they present you with a question, you click your choice, then you get another question. That's it. And it's popular, too. ☺

My last poll was about sports. I asked how much of a sports participant were you. All-time gamer? Casual player? Just a fan? Here's how things laid out:

• uh....I just now noticed that my poll results have been deleted from my computer's desktop. Guess I'm wingin' it!
• I know how I voted, and I chose "casual player". I think about 5 others chose this option as well. I like to play volleyball, badminton, and table tennis, and David and I have fun tossing a baseball around to each other while we listen to the Twins game. But as for participating on a team? No way; too much pressure. Plus I'm just a mediocre player, and that's the truth.
• My sister-in-law told me AFTER my poll was complete that she would have voted that she "owned sports", even while pregnant. (She missed the poll.) She would have been the only person who felt that way, although I think that Leah--if she voted--should have picked this as well. She bats .400!
• One lone voter said they didn't play sports. I hear ya, Voter. If this was a poll about exercise I would be writing, "Do trips back and forth from the fridge count as exercise?" I can't stand exercising, and sports are exercise. I try not to think of that while I play. ;-)

Happy voting!

**** Editor's note: I found my poll results! There were right there on my desktop. ☺ Silly me!

While the storms raged outside...

...my girls were busy coloring and painting inside.

Last night we went to my mom's house for supper. Dave told me before we left that we were in a tornado watch. Pa-shaw I thought. Nothing will happen. We'll be fine. Well, much to my chagrin the storms DID come! The sky turned to black as night, and the clouds rumbled for an hour non-stop. The lightning was incredible, and it hailed, too. The girls were a little frightened, but I calmly reminded them that Grandma's brick house has stood for 130 years worth of storms, and it will probably make it through this one as well. (A fact that my husband had to gently remind ME of regarding OUR house. ☺)

I love how Abby holds a pencil/pen/marker. Right from the beginning she has gripped it like an adult would. It's so cute to me!

After the storm had mostly passed and the sun came back out Dave took me for a ride on the four wheeler so we could check out the flooding between my mom's house and her neighbors'. It rained 3.5 inches in an hour.

While were were riding we noticed that the sky looked lit up in an odd way. I snapped a couple of pictures. It seemed to be glowing off to the east. Then we noticed the DOUBLE rainbow that was surrounding the glowing sky. It was truly majestic!

8 year-old milestone

Paige has been asking me for a few years now if she could get her ears pierced. I told her that when she turned 8 she could do it. I wanted getting her ears pierced to be kind of a special milestone in her life. (Why I picked age 8 I don't know.) Now when Paige's birthday came around she and I had both forgotten about my promise for her to get her ears pierced. Paige reminded me a week later, and I told her we'd do it soon. Well Monday night we went to nearby Mankato to shop at the large mall, and while we were there we saw a jewelry shop with a sign in the window advertising free ear piercing. Daddy said "yes", so Paige got her ears pierced! She didn't cry or seem nervous, but I held her hands just in case. Her eyes got very wide after the first ear was done. After the piercing was complete the clerk gave Paige a bag with cleaning solution inside, and the bag said "just got my ears pierced". Paige carried that bag around happily with the words out so all could see. It was an exciting and special night for her. ☺

Paige's birthday 6-6-10

For Paige's 8th birthday she had a swimming party. She and 6 friends + Emma went to our local indoor pool and frolicked in the shallow end and the hot tub. My nephew and I braved the slides. It was very fun! After swimming we came back to our house to have cake and open gifts. I always let the girls choose the cake decor, and Paige choose a cake with a fake ipod on it. ☺ Paigey received lots of crafts for her birthday, and she has been steadily creating ever since. She also was given several chapter books, and I've been overjoyed to find her curled up in the living room reading at odd times during the day. I so hope she and Emma are bookworms like me. ☺

Which way do you thread your belt?

Thanks to all who voted on my last poll. Judging by the results I guess it doesn't matter if you're left-handed or not: most people who wear belts thread them to the left. Maybe I don't have to consciously insert Emma's belt to the right now.

• 9 votes to the left
• 1 to right
• 1 person doesn't wear a belt

I have come to a crossroads with my polls. I feel like my ideas have been exhausted. So in an effort to vamp up my blog I am asking you for ideas. If you have any thoughts for good poll questions leave me a comment. ☺ Until then, "enjoy" my latest poll about athleticism.

As seen around New Ulm

I've seen some odd things around our town; things that, as my old History teacher used to say, "make you go 'Hmmm...'".
Seen around town while it was raining:

• A boat being washed at the car wash
• Sprinklers watering the soccer fields
• A garden being watered with a sprinkler
• Me carrying a pathetic-looking broken umbrella ☺
• Clothes on my neighbor's clothesline. This happens so often that I felt compelled to write about it. Does the rainwater help their clothing? I guess they think so because if it starts to rain they won't take their clothes off the line; they leave them out to get soaked.

Seen around town when it was 75° at 10 in the morning:

• A lady mowing her lawn wearing denim jeans and tennis shoes. Okay, not so odd. But she was also wearing 2 shirts -- a sweatshirt over a turtleneck. (The daytime high was going to be over 80°.)

Seen around town when it was only 40° (and it wasn't going to get any warmer):

• Clothes on both my neighbors' clotheslines. I think my two neighbors have a competition going to see who can be the first person to hang their clothes outside in the Spring. Why does this bother me? Because then I feel like I too ought to be hanging out MY clothes. *snarl* I want to be lazy and use my dryer! ☺

More Memorial Day pictures