This is going to be a busy summer! My 4 year old grand nephew is going to spend a large portion of the summer with us. The twins are now 16 years old, so it has been a while since we've had a little one in the house.
Things that have fallen by the wayside:
1. Sleeping in : little man wakes up no later than 6:30 a.m.....and there is no going back to bed after that.
2. the ability to go into the restroom and have a moment of peace and quiet...you guys with kids remember this, I'm sure!
3. Housecleaning....I had hoped to catch up with this during the summer. Might have to be creative with this one. The house needs to have a really good Spring cleaning!
We are having to work with little man on amusing himself and not getting into stuff he knows he is not supposed to get into. We've also had to work quite a bit on not talking back to adults, spitting and other things he gets away with at his house. He is here because niece says she can't handle him, but once he gets a strict and firm routine, he settles down. At some point this summer I am going to go to my niece's house to teach her how to be a Mom. She didn't have a role model since her Mom was (and still is) pretty non functional in that area. It does make me realize the importance of role models for our kids. If kids do not have a good role model, it is often hard for them to succeed in public and at home. When you are raising your kids, you are also shaping the world your grand kids will live in. It is not a task to be taken lightly!
On the flip side, I did get our blackberry bushes and grapes planted, along with 2 raised beds. One of those beds has rhubarb, asparagus, and a variety of lettuce and tomatoes. I had put in strawberries, but the dogs dug them up. So we finally got smart and surrounded the raised beds with chicken wire to keep both the dogs and cats out. The other beds have tomatoes, cucumbers, Thai melons and marigolds. After the seeds sprout, I will thin them and transplant to a couple other raised beds so that we have more. I am looking forward to canning our own salsa and tomato sauces this summer. I need to put some bell peppers in the ground this week, but after that I am pretty much done for the planting season. One of the things that surprised me is the amount of soil it took to fill the raised beds! The next ones will not be as deep or as wide!
Another activity this season is an oil painting class at the Wichita Center for the Arts. I have been wanting to take an oil class for a while and decided that this is the right time...This was before we found out we were getting my grand nephew for the summer, but I decided that we will work around that and I stayed in the class. However, finding the place to paint without having little man's hands on the canvas might be a challenge.
The one thing I have NOT been able to do is get any knitting done. I have a pair of socks that have been on the needles FOREVER! I want to get them done soon. I also miss my two favorite yarn shops: Twist in Wichita and The Newton Beadery in Newton. Have to figure out how to make time to knit!
Things that have fallen by the wayside:
1. Sleeping in : little man wakes up no later than 6:30 a.m.....and there is no going back to bed after that.
2. the ability to go into the restroom and have a moment of peace and quiet...you guys with kids remember this, I'm sure!
3. Housecleaning....I had hoped to catch up with this during the summer. Might have to be creative with this one. The house needs to have a really good Spring cleaning!
We are having to work with little man on amusing himself and not getting into stuff he knows he is not supposed to get into. We've also had to work quite a bit on not talking back to adults, spitting and other things he gets away with at his house. He is here because niece says she can't handle him, but once he gets a strict and firm routine, he settles down. At some point this summer I am going to go to my niece's house to teach her how to be a Mom. She didn't have a role model since her Mom was (and still is) pretty non functional in that area. It does make me realize the importance of role models for our kids. If kids do not have a good role model, it is often hard for them to succeed in public and at home. When you are raising your kids, you are also shaping the world your grand kids will live in. It is not a task to be taken lightly!
On the flip side, I did get our blackberry bushes and grapes planted, along with 2 raised beds. One of those beds has rhubarb, asparagus, and a variety of lettuce and tomatoes. I had put in strawberries, but the dogs dug them up. So we finally got smart and surrounded the raised beds with chicken wire to keep both the dogs and cats out. The other beds have tomatoes, cucumbers, Thai melons and marigolds. After the seeds sprout, I will thin them and transplant to a couple other raised beds so that we have more. I am looking forward to canning our own salsa and tomato sauces this summer. I need to put some bell peppers in the ground this week, but after that I am pretty much done for the planting season. One of the things that surprised me is the amount of soil it took to fill the raised beds! The next ones will not be as deep or as wide!
Another activity this season is an oil painting class at the Wichita Center for the Arts. I have been wanting to take an oil class for a while and decided that this is the right time...This was before we found out we were getting my grand nephew for the summer, but I decided that we will work around that and I stayed in the class. However, finding the place to paint without having little man's hands on the canvas might be a challenge.
The one thing I have NOT been able to do is get any knitting done. I have a pair of socks that have been on the needles FOREVER! I want to get them done soon. I also miss my two favorite yarn shops: Twist in Wichita and The Newton Beadery in Newton. Have to figure out how to make time to knit!
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