Finding a new normal

HA! Bet you thought I'd dropped off the blog planet! I'm just taking a break. A much needed time of relaxation and enjoyment of my family. Brent came home about two weeks ago and I handed him a honey-do list about a mile long. When you've been out of your home for a year, the home improvements just kind of pile up. Since I've been keeping my dear, sweet husband so busy, I haven't felt able to just sit down and pour out my every feeling on my blog page. We're trying to find a new normal for our life. We go through this every summer when Brent gets out of school. Suddenly, I have my husband home all day, every day. The carefully constructed routines that the kids and I have are a bit disrupted by the addition of another person, albeit a welcome intrusion. We have to learn how to enjoy the long sultry summer days with Daddy in the mix. We've come up with a plan for maximum summer enjoyment this summer before Brent has to head back to school. We've got lots of fun and surprises in store and we can't wait. Below are some of the photos of the beginning of our summer together.

Despite a cool and rainy start to the summer, we were able to find a break in the clouds to go over and swim with Angie and Sarah. Tristan just loved the dog. All the kids loved the pool, although you can tell from Sarah's expression, it was a bit nippy!

Ta-da! Poor Sarah, are those lips turning blue?? Tristan did his best to drown himself in the kiddie pool, but I saved him...many times.

Tristan learned to dance with the vacuum. He loves anything with buttons, hence the fascination with the vacuum. If only I can foster that fascination up into his teen years! Baby Alexandra came to play many times in the past few weeks.

We took the opportunity of another rare break in the clouds to head to the strawberry patch. Maura loved picking the strawberries. They're really the perfect fruit for little pickers--no thorns and they grow right on the ground. Maura reminded me of the book Blueberries for Sal, one of her favorites. In it, the main character picks three berried and eats the rest. You can see the evidence in her basket! She ate WAY more than she picked! Thank goodness the strawberry patch can't weigh and charge you for the ones eaten while in the patch!

My little man is a strawberry addict too and I kept him happy in the stroller by remaining close by and plying him with strawberries. Grammy and Maura with their bounty.

Maura thought this chair was just a little too big!

Tristan enjoyed crawling through the tunnels on the playground at the orchard. Aunt Lorie introduced him to the fun of sliding...while Maura tried of the REALLY BIG SLIDE!

Tristan even tried his first lemon at the orchard. Don't be fooled by the face--he asked for more! My kids will kill me for this one day, but they were just so darn cute wrestling in their skivvies!

We went to Vacation Bible School last week and Maura LOVED it! They had a separate class for the preschoolers, and I was surprised at how into it she became. The teachers said she participated very well. She especially loved the "recess" time they gave the kids!

I took the kids down to check out the "boats" that had been constructed downstairs in the church. They took turns climbing in and out. Daddy with his little crocodile. Even Tristan did well at VBS.

On the last night, they had an ice cream social--hands down Maura's favorite moment of VBS!


"Maura, you better sit down or you'll rock that boat!" "Tristan, I'm not sure if that boat is designed to hold you, hefty boy!"