The kids and I were treated to one last summer getaway thanks to our good friends the Dicksons. We headed up to their cabin to usher out summer with mountain scenery, watery fun, and good talks. Danny could hardly make time to go to the bathroom because he wanted to be back with "my friends." And Kate discovered three new loves: playing Clue (thanks Casey and Judi), kayaking (thanks Kelly), and monitoring pancakes on the grill (thanks Stephanie). She was seriously hooked on kayaking, and would have rowed across the entire lake if we had let her.
Summer went by too fast, but having one last burst of fun helped me feel like I can focus on getting ready for fall. This morning the kids did a fashion show to see which of their clothes fit, and we put together a playlist of songs for school mornings, with one song for waking up, one song for getting dressed, one for brushing teeth, and so on. We got some fun songs, and were particularly pleased with our own cleverness with a couple of them, like
- "Feeling Good" by Michael Buble for waking up
- "Fabulous" from HSMII to play while we do Kate's hair
On the night before the first day of school, we'll have Brent give the kids a father's blessing, which I always looked forward to getting on the first-day-of-school-eve when I was growing up. Kate is so ready for kindergarten, but I can't believe we are entering this part of our life. It feels like the last big new stage of life before empty-nesthood.
Summer went by too fast, but having one last burst of fun helped me feel like I can focus on getting ready for fall. This morning the kids did a fashion show to see which of their clothes fit, and we put together a playlist of songs for school mornings, with one song for waking up, one song for getting dressed, one for brushing teeth, and so on. We got some fun songs, and were particularly pleased with our own cleverness with a couple of them, like
This post reminds me what fun it was at the Dickson's cabin when we went (several years ago when we lived in San Jose). It looks like you had a blast! My Danny is the same way as your Danny with making time for the bathroom. He's always making a mad dash to get to the toilet, because he just doesn't want to interrupt his fun. BTW, how did you do the photo layout for this post? I'd like to learn to do it for my own blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYes, the bathroom issue with Danny is always tricky. I'm crossing my fingers for preschool!
I actually made this layout on a desktop publishing software. I used Adobe InDesign, but I'm sure it would work with any desktop publishing software. I just created several picture boxes. Now I just go back and throw in pictures. I downloaded the font for this one free from dafont.com. I hope that helps!
Check out this website www.childrensmiraclemusic.com. My kids love it! It sounds like what you've put together for the morning. Each task has a song or set of songs, depending on the length of time it takes to complete, and a point attached to it. i.e. Point #4 Put your pajamas away and get dressed. When they've earned a predetermined number of points, they get to go on a private date with Mom or Dad. Now that we've started school back up, it's great to get things going in the morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amber. I'm going to check it out right now.
ReplyDeleteTell Kate I L-O-V-E kayaking also. Tyandi need to make a visit out to see our Fawson Fam soon.
ReplyDeletelove you tons!