Week One

 

During the summer Mondays are our library days.  We got 17 books today and the kids are worried they didn't get enough to last them until next Monday.  Yeah, they read a lot. I tried to get a picture of all the books, but Britton refused to put down the one he was reading so he put it in front of the pile.  We have a "no TV during the week" rule and that includes summer.  The kids don't even mind the rule anymore, they are so used to it and find plenty to keep them busy.

 

Once Jameson was down for his nap today I decided it was time to go through all the papers from the last school year.  I let the kids save enough to put in a keepsake file folder for each grade and the rest is thrown away.  For Jenna and Korinne the process is especially difficult. They usually have most everything in the "keep" pile and only a few things in the "throw away" pile.  I end up negotiating it down to a respectable size that we both can live with.  Britton is such a. . . well, such a boy.  I walked in and he had one huge pile of papers and another pile with just a few things in the other.  I asked him which was his "keep" pile and he pointed to the small one.   I started looking through it and there wasn't one "keepsake" item from his fifth grade school year. Not one. Instead I found a printout of 500 idioms and winter camping information he received from scouts.

 

"Britton, you don't want to keep one thing from your fifth grade year?"

"Nah, there just isn't anything keep-ee in that pile."

"Keep-ee?" I said, laughing. "Well, what's this stuff?"

"This is a list of 500 idioms, it's really cool."

 

I kept laughing and repeating the word "keep-ee" and finally he looked at me and said, "Just don't put this in the blog." Sorry, son. I can't resist.

 

At this point Jenna has noticed what is going on and rushes over to Britton's "throw away" pile.

"Britton, you don't want to keep this?" she asks in unbelief. The question is repeated every time she finds a "treasure". "You don't want to keep your test scores, or your grades?" At this point she is in a panic.  Why? Why wouldn't he want to keep these things?     

Jenna and Korinne going through Britton's "throw away" pile.

So far our summer has been going well.  Library trips, swimming, going to the park with friends, and playing with friends at home, check, check, check and check.  The house isn't taking it well, however, as I always feel like I am cleaning, but I'm sure we'll hit our stride in no time at all.