Summer ups and downs

I swear, I don't know what happens to time in the summer. It's like it just disappears into a black hole. I have all of these things to do and nothing gets done. Perhaps I need to hire a couple of preschoolers/kindergarteners to come over and entertain my big kid so I can do something other than keep up with her.

So, somewhere between the last post and this one, school ended for the year and summer break got well underway. Olivia has been...difficult. It's weird...she's at this age where she can reasonably do things now, like sit still for long periods of time working with me on reading or a craft project. And that is good. But for some reason she has regressed in sleeping to that stage where she has nightmares and can't fall back asleep and/or she refuses to go to sleep at night without vast amounts of fighting and someone to sit with her until she passes out. This is annoying and exhausting. I am going to chalk it up to lack of proper schedule and pray it disappears when school starts again because the thought of dealing with this AND school...well, I just can't go there.

There are some ways that we are winning this summer, though. First, Olivia is big enough for all of the rides at Local Theme Park now, and though we have not yet convinced her to get on a real coaster (and I'm not really trying all that hard because I'm not a coaster fan myself), she has embraced a few big kid rides.

Her first ride on the super-tall water drop ride. Perhaps it would be better if you had a photo of the drop.

OK, there. Now you know.

This summer has been weird so far. By this time last year we had something like a dozen days in the 90s. We have not reached that point once this year. We have not had a whole lot of days in the 80s. We don't really know what to do with ourselves when the weather is consistently in the 70s. You would think we'd enjoy the opportunity to get outside and play without sweating constantly. But mostly we just wonder when we can get to the pool.

The pool (waterpark). Strangely enough, this pic was taken in May on an actual hot day. We have not been back to the waterpark since then.

Warm enough this day to put a little water in the baby pool. Not nearly warm enough to pack up and head to the waterpark, though.

The upside to a mild summer is that we have been able to use our porch a lot. Our porch is our main living space anytime the weather is below 85 degrees. Lots of windows, lots of light, lots of toys and projects and mess (and a TV). Right now, we have the sewing machine out because, a couple of weeks ago, Olivia proclaimed that she wanted to learn to sew. The weird thing about this summer has been that the TV has mostly been off and Olivia has been OK with it. This is because she has taken a sudden interest in learning all of the things. She has asked to have reading time and is trying to sound out words and practice her spelling now and again. And then came the sewing. She just got it in her head that she wanted to sew something. So I got out the machine and a bag of small scraps and tried to teach her to do a nine-patch quilt block.

Yeah, that didn't work out so well. The pieces didn't exactly match up. And we were not patient with each other AT ALL. So I started having her sew seams just for practice. And then a small pillow. And then she discovered my stuffing stash and drove me out of the room and made a dozen tiny ugly pillows for her Barbies all by herself. And now she is just sewing random things. (I made a dog! I made a glove! I made a bracelet!) Most of her random things are completely non-functional, but she is having fun. She's learning to stitch and snip and THREAD THE MACHINE OMG. (Side note, I could not successfully thread a sewing machine by myself until after my first year of 4-H, when I actually sewed and actual piece of clothing with a HUGE amount of assistance from my Mom, God bless her.)

Threading the machine. Oh yes, she does.

I just...wow. I mean this kid will sew random bits of nothing for HOURS, TV off and everything. Aside from picking up little bits of fabric and thread all over the place, I am really loving this new passion of hers.

Future designer of haute couture originals.

Martin continues to be a major cutie. He enjoys eating cheerios off of the floor and pulling books off of bookshelves. He will pull up but will not cruise along furniture. I am fine with this. Also, he nods and claps...often AT you when you are in the same room. It is lovely being applauded for doing nothing.

Yeah, you know you can't resist my smiles.