Summer "break," end of school, DANCE, etc.

 Is summer break over yet? I might rehome the next person who says the word "snack." IT HAS BEEN ONE DAY of summer break, as of the time of this writing.

Minnie made a glue heavy collage AND did an entire workbook. WHAT NOW.

Jack is all packed up for his national speech trip (he leaves at the literal crack of dawn on Sunday and is gone for a week in DC)

Coop taught Minnie how to to tell time

Minnie had her first pizza night at the pool

Cooper had his last practice at Wisconsin Dive Club and will be diving with a new club and new coaches (same facility) starting next week (there has been some dramz).

Jack got to do his senior walk at Minnie's school (which was his elementary school from 4K to 5th grade).

4th grade teacher

4K teacher

kindergarten teacher

And then there was a massive thunderstorm/ tornado and the last day of school dismissal was delayed because everyone was sheltering in place, so Minnie did not get to leave the building to bubbles and. music and dancing, which is the usualy tradition. I wanted to bring her home with me when tornado sirens went off at the end of senior walk, but she didn't want to miss a minute of her last day, so the big buys and I had turkey sandwiches and watched the storm.

Dorothy had 7 friends ride the bus home with her to go to the pool, and, luckily, the clouds parted just in time, Phew!!

No pics of that, but I do have some epic first day/last day shots

And! Of course! DANCE RECITAL PICTURES YOU GUYS I MEAN.

Dress rehearsal:

THE BIG SHOW

You know what's awesome about living so close to school? Minnie's teacher was making farewell keychains for the class and taking pics for them with another teacher to help, and we saw it all unfolding on the way to the bus and wasted no time jumping in:

Also for real summer running is horrible

Balance, a day late to Tuesday Topics, which is soooooo apropos

 Jenny wrote a terrific Tuesday Topics post answering this question: How do you find balance during summer chaos?

And I? Am still thinking about the answer. I have been mainlining Lazy Genius podcast episodes as I always do when the season changes, and I have been struggling to name what matters, which is her brilliant first step. Enter Jenny's post and a total lightening bolt moment. BALANCE. 

Balance matters.

 In fact, if I were picking a word for my season (which, actually? According to my blog, I am), then that word would be BALANCE. Season 1, second semester, was FUN (because on paper, it did not look like a very fun season. So season 2, which, on paper, looks totally kid and house-heavy even though I have work to do and fitness goals to hit, is going to be BALANCE because that is the thing I would most like to have.

I cannot even tell you how relieved I am to have that first -- most important--planning step out of the way. I mean, of course I have done the summer calendar, so I know what our time commitments and activities are, but I have not let myself think about our daily rhythms and how to make sure my non-negotiables are smoothly incorporated. But now! I can! Because I know that BALANCE is the thing.

So many balls in the air this summer, and I want our days to include:

time to exercise (I exercise between 90 and 130 minutes a day, if you count my 60 minutes of walking)

time to get dressed and put on my makeup

time to work and think deeply

time for kid activities (dance and dive drop offs ad pick ups, plus swim lessons, plus Minnie's theme of the day)

time for kids to have fun (boring, 90's-style, unstructured fun)

time to tidy

time to feed everyone (thoughtfully and intentionally, even if that intent is pizza and vodka lemonades at the pool)

time to read

time to loaf on the couch

time for friends (mine and theirs)

BALANCE, you guys, is the key to making sure most of these thing happen in the course of most days, even when (especially when?) I am the only parent home (but not the only adult! we have FOUR ADULTS in our house this summer!)

Above please see a stand-in adult attending Minnie's school picnic since Ben and I were at Cooper's 8th grad graduation. (SOMETIMES THE BALANCE IS TENUOUS, and that's OK).

Also, side note: running in the summer SUCKS. Gvie me a 5-degree morning ANYTIME.

Cooper Jedd, NATIONAL QUALIFIER!!

Cooper and Ben had so much fun in Iowa City, where Cooper qualified ALL THREE EVENTS to nats!

He's back in West Virginia at the end of July/beginning of August, and he could not be more excited. Plus he caught this YUGE fish (lol)