Summer is here. Which means...so are the busy days. Busy. Like, unbelievably busy. I am sure I wouldn't want it any other way, but it's busy.

We like to plan our summers to be pretty FULL. We have a method that works for us. You know how during the year, your kids are always asking "can we do ___?" or "can we go to ___?". Most of those things really do sound fun, but all require full days or even overnight trips...which isn't practical during the school year. So, we keep a "summer folder" of flyers, newspaper ads, internet pages, jotted down ideas, maps, brochures, etc. Then, the day after school gets out, we make a fat breakfast & open our folder full of all of the stuff we were interested in during the year. Then we get out the calendar, & plug 'em in! Add to that a beach day each week, library visits on a specified day each week for the summer reading program, 2 hikes a month, and we're BOOKED. It's really great, because having the kids hear no or we can't go is no sweat during the school year... because it just goes into the summer folder!

And---truth be told---it feeds my need to have everything alphabetized, color coded, spreadsheet-ed, and planned. Everyone wins!

So---I'll be posting some pictures of our adventures throughout the summer. Stay tuned, we've got some fun stuff planned! For now---here's a favorite from today:

The kids are going to VBS this week, and today they learned about Abraham & Sarah and their almost-sacrifice of Isaac. Sydney was all "MOM---listen to THIS--"!!! She started in on the story, in excruciating detail (because that's how Sydney rolls), and was really doing a great job of remembering the details. I listened carefully, but then just casually said the name Isaac, because she couldn't seem to remember the son's name. Dead silence. Mad face. Hands on hips. Sydney says, "seriously?? you've HEARD this before?!!" Turns & stomps out of the room. HAHAHAAAAA!!!!!

So, yeah, Sydney. 10 years of Christian school, 4 years of Christian college (okay...3 1/2, but that's another story), ummm....yeah.....I've heard it before.

Sydney does NOT like to be anything but the only know-it-all in the family.

Stay tuned for Summer Spreadsheet of 2009!!