June 2012 Update
June 30, 2012
This month has been so great! SO great. I’ve had weeks and weeks of happiness. Oh my goodness, it has been glorious. Part of it is just because it’s summer and I ADORE summer. However, I think one of the main reasons I’ve been so happy is because I stopped doing medical transcription. Between my new event planning job and trying to keep up with Skylar, I knew some of the irons had to come out of the fire, so to speak. It’s hard enough to juggle all three during the school year and I knew there was NO WAY I could keep that up during the summer months. Granted, I’ve had to come up with some interesting scheduling to get my duties accomplished but we are still having tons of fun. In fact, it’s kind of liberating to NOT have a schedule. I try to get dinner on the table in a reasonable time frame and we try to go to bed before 11 p.m. but that’s about it as far as timetable goes.
So, on to the summer activities. We celebrated school being out with a trip to Knoxville to visit with some of Mike’s family. Here’s my post about the whole trip. We’ve also been going to the lake most every Friday, even this last Friday when it was over 100 degrees! That’s hot, even for me. We also made a trip to the Dyer Observatory. I’ve been trying to get reservations for months. The night we went was perfect. The sky was so clear and we actually got to see Saturn. Up close. It was WAY cool!
Skylar has also taken part in a few camps over the last few weeks. First was Art Camp at Art Life. Oh how she adores Ms. Juli. I was so excited for her to go because art is her “thing.” Truly. They made some really cool stuff and she had a blast. My favorite was either the Tie-Dye shirt or her canvas painting. I can’t decide. We are waiting for her clay projects to be fired in the kiln so I haven’t even seen those yet. She will go back for a mini camp at the end of July and is very excited. As part of art camp, we also got advanced screening tickets to see the new Disney/Pixar film, Brave. She had seen the previews and was excited to see the movie. The only problem is that it was a bit scary for a 5 year old. She’s still drawn to the photos we see but she is adamant that she doesn’t want to see the movie again. Something about a bear. Still it was pretty cool to have advanced passes.
Next was gymnastics camp at Magnitude. We specifically picked this week because it was “pirate” themed. They run a top-notch camp over there and Skylar really enjoyed it. They also have swimming days and my girl came home O-SO tired so I know they played hard. I’ll consider this camp again for next year too.
She has also been to a few vacation Bible schools in the area. This has been a nice change since she was too young to go to many of them last year. Same thing with art camp. It seems that 5 is the magic number so I’m pleased that we have crossed this milestone. Her favorite was at Donelson Heights. This is where she attended preschool and has been back there for a few drop in days this summer. Their theme was Operation Overboard. She really loved the songs. A lot. We’ve had to look them up on You Tube so she can continue to sing along. How cute is that?
Mike has seemed happier this month as well. Him and neighbor Wade have been doing some camping and rock climbing. To be honest, they are kinda in love with rock climbing. Surprisingly, Mike says it doesn’t hurt his knees and, in fact, he feels like it is making them stronger. This is music to my ears because he has struggled with chronic knee pain for so long and I’m thrilled he has found a physical activity that he enjoys. Things are clicking right along over at Bass Pro and we are anxiously praying for him to receive a promotion soon. He’s happy there and quality of life is something that is very important. If you aren’t happy where you work, then what’s the point. Word?!
As for me, I can officially announce that I am a Certified Doula. I completed my training this month and submitted all of my assignments. I can finally put the special letters behind my name and charge for my services. I have no idea how full or part-time this will become but I’m excited at the possibilities. So, if you know of someone who is pregnant, please recommend they have a doula. I feel this is so important for every woman. Maybe you could even point them in my direction over at Nurturing YOU Naturally to learn more about what a doula does.
One last little summer fun detail. You all know how much I love summer, right?! Oh yes, I think I have in fact mentioned that a time or two. Well, early on in 2012 I decided that we would have a little party to celebrate one of my favorite summer days, the longest day of the year. Skylar has been helping me plan our little Summer Solstice Party for months. She had lots of great ideas too. We had some friends over and served ice cream and popcorn and cocktails. (side note: in my early parenting days, dear Kelli Morell told me that it was perfectly acceptable to serve ice cream & popcorn for dinner. If you pile a little fruit on top, you essentially have all of the food groups covered. Bless Her!) Anyway, we had a great time at the party but the highlight of the night was launching floating lanterns into the sky. Just like in the move Tangled! Be still my heart. Once I got over the fear of burning down the neighborhood, it was thrilling and beautiful. That night before bed, Skylar told me it had been the best day of her life! Indeed it was a magical and memorable night.
That’s about it for now. Tonight we are headed to a local baseball game, with fireworks (squee!) and then leaving tomorrow for Alabama. Stay tuned for more summer details. *Insert rant about there only being 8 short weeks of summer. Ugh!* Why does it have to go by so fast?
One Comment
Anonymous
I love love love this happy update!! 😀 – hp