Summer Rushes To A Close...And Now I Have a Second Grader!

I'm up late (again), watching the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (a weakness of mine), and trying to get caught up on my blogging before I get really busy. You know...before school gets into full swing. When my kids were small, I never thought I'd actually be busier during the school year than in the summer. Yet that's exactly what has happened. So, with that in mind, I've got to finish my summer blogging before all my piano students get back from vacation...and before Lorelai's homework starts to get really challenging...and before Primary has a bunch of activities lined up...and before Celeste's preschool gets underway...and before my fall canning begins...and so on.

Even though we haven't been "school busy" yet, we have been hard at play. That's the best kind of "busy," if you ask me! Here's what we managed to cram into the last week and a half before school started.

-We visited Pump It Up, the Tucson indoor play center with lots of inflatable activity areas. The kids, as usual, played hard and were wiped out by the end. But it's totally worth it!

Notice that my kids are blurry in all these pictures, since they wouldn't hold still long enough for me to photograph them. Especially Aurora; she was on a mission at Pump It Up. She was able to scale the tall inflatable slides all by herself, and she made the climb over and over and over. It was one heck of a workout (and one heck of a nap that afternoon, to my delight!).

-A few days later, we saw a juggling show at the local library. This guy travels all over the state to perform, but he comes to Green Valley every year, and he is great fun to watch. Plus, we were able to check out more books from the library afterward, so it's a win-win scenario!

-I have had more time to cook (well, a little more time) this summer. We decided to make a yummy peanut-butter banana pudding for Family Home Evening one night; and the girls were happy to help out!

Here's just about everything you need; in the mixing bowl is vanilla pudding mixed up with peanut butter & sour cream

You start by layering vanilla wafers and banana slices...

...then cover that layer with the pudding/peanut butter mix...

...then another layer of Cool Whip on top.

You repeat the layers 2-3 times, then top with a few banana slices for garnish. My girls liked layering the cookies (when they weren't eating them!)

If anyone wants this recipe, send me a message. It is very drool-worthy.

And then, it was July 25th, also known as "go time." Just like that, summer came to an end, and I have a child who is in second grade at Great Expectations Academy, a local charter school.

It's all a little hard to take in; summer went by so quickly! I guess that means I did a good job keeping us all busy, though. It's also hard to believe Lorelai is in 2nd grade already; that doesn't sound like a "little kid" grade anymore! This is the first year she gets the standardized testing in the state of Arizona; that, too makes it feel like she's finally "arrived" as a student!

Sometimes I miss my little girl (who's getting shockingly tall and skinny). Still, I am so proud of her, and I'm excited to see what she learns this year. I hope I can help her out in whatever way she needs. I hope she has fun learning and getting involved at the school; she is going to try and sign up for one of the school's clubs this year. I'll post more about that once we've decided what she'll be doing.

School starts earlier at Great Expectations than it does at most of the schools in the area, so my schedule is in a bit of limbo right now. I don't know what times my piano students will be coming in the fall; I don't know exactly what my fall schedule will be like. But for now, I am happy to slowly slide back into gear. Hopefully, I will keep up to date on blogging--because I'm sure you're all dying to know what inane stuff runs through my head on a daily basis.