Only 3 weeks to go!

Here we are--only 3 weeks until my daughter's first day of Kindergarten.  I cannot believe how fast this summer is going. At the beginning of the summer I had a list of summer activities.  I remember looking at that list and thinking it wasn't nearly enough and now I doubt we'll even finish half of it.  We have kept ourselves busy; however, this past week I have felt like a mom neglecting her child since we had three showings for our house and I have spent much of the last week cleaning. My self-diagnosed OCD goes into overdrive when we have a showing so imagine me on my hands and knees scrubbing every little inch of my kitchen--not a pretty sight. In last couple of weeks we have managed to do some fun art activities, go school shopping, see a couple of free movies at our town's theater, play outside, and attend a festival.  Highlight of the last couple of days was actually getting rain! I haven't seen drought conditions like this in my life and have never been so happy to see rain.

I have gone off track with my order of days so I'm grouping these pictures together in no particular order from the last couple of weeks.

 We had a Game Day! This is a great idea for any family and it costs nothing-if you already have games at home.

 I LOVE Melissa and Doug products! They are so durable and good 'ole fashion fun which children love. This cupcake toy is a blast for kids. They can take the 'frosting' off and put on a different one.  The 'icing' tubes are markers which you can use on the 'frosting' part of the cupcake (they wipe off with paper towel). It also comes with an oven mit, pan, and cupcake holders. Lastly, you can attach a candle on the top (Velcro).   I also recommend the ice cream cone set from Melissa and Doug.

 School Shopping! She was so excited to get a big girl backpack and lunch box. Again, I love Melissa and Doug items!

Barbie Day! Our tomboy does occasionally play with Barbie's.

At the end of our local library's summer reading program names are picked for certain prizes that children were able to sign up to try and win for reading a certain number of books.  Our daughter got this prize. The Color Twister by Crayola is an easy to use paint spinner. It requires no batteries-children simply push the plunger down and it spins. 

Our very first project from Pinterest! I found these two projects on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try. All we needed were crayons (which are dirt cheap right now because of school starting), a canvas board (2 for about $7.00), a hot glue gun, and a blowdryer. 

We hot glued the crayons to the top of the canvas

We then used a blow dryer to melt the crayons as much as we wanted.  For the other art we also used a canvas and simply hot glued crayons into the shape of a letter (although my middle line on my 'E' should have been shorter) and then melted a pink crayon on the tip of the hot glue gun to make the drops and splatters on the canvas. They easily hang on the wall with a nail.  

Has anyone else done a project from Pinterset?  I'd love to hear about it. I'm excited to try even more.

Something to call my own: I Hate Uncertainty

Something to call my own: I Hate Uncertainty: Yep..I said it. I know I may sound slightly pessimistic but I do hate uncertainty. I should be used to it by now considering my husband and ...

I Hate Uncertainty

Yep..I said it. I know I may sound slightly pessimistic but I do hate uncertainty. I should be used to it by now considering my husband and I have yet to settle on a place we want to live for longer than 4 years. As my daughter is about to start kindergarten I keep finding myself explaining to her that she will start at the elementary school here and may finish the school year somewhere else. I turned down being assistant soccer coach this fall for fear we'd move in the middle of the season. I am also looking forward to going back to work but part of me thinks "What is the point if we end up selling in a couple of months?". If we do sell it would be great NOT to have job so I can pack and deal with the closing and finding a new place. These are the thoughts that float through my head everyday.  I hate uncertainty.

Life is like a roller coaster- I get that. You are not suppose to have your life mapped out in front of you and know all the twists and turns that are going to be tossed in front of you.  I've always prided myself on being a 'go with flow' type of person. I have a giant flaw though--I'm a secret control freak and slightly OCD.  I live by lists and charts. Excel spreadsheets make me giddy and checking off my to-do list is the biggest thrill. I plan things months in advance, am not the least bit spontaneous, and hate being late.

So what does this translate in to when your daughter is about to be at school all day and you have no job and you're in the process of selling your house but still have to live life? A nightmare for someone like me. I'm sure there are others just like me out there. I'd love to hear from you just to know I'm not crazy.  Letting go of control and allowing life to just lead me down the path with extreme calm is my biggest challenge. Uncertainty will not get the best of me!

July already?!

It has been awhile since I last posted...that is a good thing! We are actually busy this summer and I realized this morning my daughter only has 4 1/2 weeks left of summer vacation. Yes, they go back way early due to a new 'balanced calendar' for the upcoming school year. I never expected the summer to fly by like it has and now I think we may not get our 'summer bucket list' done...oh well, we're having fun and time is flying by. I have managed to get my resume down on paper and now I have to actually type it out. The thought of getting a job after 6 years off is more than a little scary but totally exciting as well. In 4 1/2 weeks we start a new chapter in this family and I think we are more than ready.

So these photos are grouped together because the last two weeks have a been a blur (visiting family, baseball game, graduation party, Chicago, swimming, movies, genealogy research, 4th of July, and on and on). I picked out a few, however, because I have taken about 350 pictures over that last two weeks! My only regret was not getting a photo of my daughter riding a horse for the first time! Bummer!

 Summer Vacation: Days 25-45

Yum! Yum! My daughter and I made ice cream sundae's. I compromised on chocolate ice cream because with a sundae I prefer vanilla.

We hooked up the sprinkler in the front yard and she got a kick out of leaving her footprints on the driveway.

Beat the heat! We spent 5 days visiting my family in Northern Indiana and got to swim in my sister's pool a couple of days. Well needed since most of the country is in a heat wave.

Mmmmm....Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Chicago at Navy Pier.

Navy Pier! We had a wonderful day and luckily the storm came while we were eating lunch. This is my favorite skyline--I just love Chicago!

Every time we visit Chicago we have to go to the fountains...yes, that tower with a face on it is a fountain. Water runs over the top and when the face makes an "O" with its mouth it squirts out water. The faces change every minute or so on each tower (can't see the other tower in this picture).

Got to enjoy an evening at South Bend Silverhawks minor league baseball game.

Evening on the porch at my parent's house. So serene and beautiful...I can only wish to have a house like this someday.

My parent's house is a treasure of photo opportunities!