And suddenly it's been more than a month since I posted anything! That means it 7QT time with the Kelly MToan!
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Let's do some catching up!
Hope your June was as beautiful as mine! I don't know if it has to do with getting older and wiser and appreciating time flying by at the speed of sound, but I seem to really appreciate the seasons more and more with each passing year. Our spring was of course, too fast and almost got missed completely as we went from having a foot of snow on the ground to 85 degree temperatures within a few weeks. But the warmth and long days are not going by unnoticed by me! I can ignore many snowy days, but spring and summer days I legally obligated to notice.
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June was a packed month, just like May was, with activities of every kid, family gatherings and sacraments on every weekend(ok, that last part was just May). We spent a couple days in the mountains and with friends on a little holiday which was lovely. The kids had a great time even though we made them hike multiple days in a row and got to enjoy the city, the zoo, and the circus!
So far travelling with my children has evolved to alternating between "Traveling with kids is so great, they love seeing new things, show all the people that kids can travel to!" and "Why on God's green earth can we not even buy ice cream for less than $100! And could you all just be quiet!" But this is all an improvement to my previous thinking of having to be in the same car and then hotel room with all my children for days on end as unthinkable torture. So. Baby steps, guys.
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Which is my way of making the official announcement that in the fall we're going to be going out of the country for the first time with everyone to go to...Disneyland! Trust me, I never thought I'd be saying those words either. Because before kids I thought people who took their kids to Disneyland were selling their children to the corporate machine in order to stand for hours for overrated rides. Oh, how the tables have turned.
Things just all pointed to doing this thing this year. And I will probably survive. We're going to the park for three days and then spending a couple more days in California. It'll be a huge deal as no one has been on a plane before and it's one of their collective dreams. We also haven't told any of the kids yet, mainly because I just can't imagine having the next four months of my life dealing with how long till Disneyland questions!
I'm fairly sure none of them read my blog.
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Luke celebrated his First Holy Communion in May and it was a lovely day and beautiful occasion. I can't believe three of my kids have already had their first communion. I distinctly remember having the thought when Gemma was a baby that it was practically decades before I would be celebrating, preparing, and seeing her receive her first communion. And now three. We've got a two year break till our next sacramental child!
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Since its Summer, Glorious Summer I've been trying to change up our daily routine as much as possible. I used to think year round schooling was the bomb, but I've come to realize I need a complete break where I don't even think about school for a good two months of the year. I just like the complete freedom to not have a long list of School Things I Need To Make Sure Get Done and just have the regular mom list of Things I Need To Make Sure Get Done. To the untrained eye it looks like not so big a deal, but to the homeschooler of more than one child it's a giant difference! I think it's a general challenge for homeschool moms to differentiate the seasons. I want my summer to feel somewhat summer like, so that means less schedule, more reading, more doing things that I've let get to the bottom of my list, and generally letting the kids go their merry way and for the love to stop fighting. The kids still are reading everyday, doing some science, and of course we're still doing read aloud time because THAT'S MAH THANG. (I need a way of saying that so it doesn't make me sound like a giant loser.) Other than that the kids are obviously outside 500% more than winter and I spend most of the day asking where's soandso?? Which is a nice change from, "Why hasn't Soandso done their spelling? And where's your handwriting page I asked you to do three hours ago?"
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I wanted to give an update on house stuff I've done lately, and then I realized that I've done nothing lately! Which has been a nice change. But then last week the septic backed up AGAIN in the one room of our basement and I literally wanted to burn down my house. I spent the entire day mopping, disinfecting, and disinfecting again because it was a nightmare. We ended up having to rip up a good chunk of carpet because it was unsalvageable, and it's not a huge loss because the carpet is tragically old and I'm fairly emotionally detached from the basement in general, but now we have flooring questions for the basement which I'm trying to summon the will to deal with.
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Last week I got to be part of a Q&A panel with Matt Fradd and Jason Evert at a Catholic conference and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was nice to have a casual atmosphere to talk with big speakers and hear their answers to various questions. I hope that I seemed relatively coherent when I answered a few questions but who knows! These things always feel like a blur and I lose all memory of what I actually said -- which is probably for the best!
Hope you all have a wonderful summer weekend!
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