That's A Wrap

My little sweeties are tucked in bed tonight, and this marks the official end of summer for us. Jillian will wake up tomorrow and head off into her first grade glory. Adrienne is stuck with me for two more days, then gets to make her debut on Thursday. Outside of my birthday festivities and meeting the teachers, here's how we wrapped up our last week of summer. ....

-Snap bead adventures. Highly entertaining to see if one can make a chain long enough to touch the floor from the catwalk.

-Helping in the kitchen. Jillian helped me portion out 16 healthy lunches for Matt to stock in the freezer.

-Writing music--Jillian wanted to make a "cd" of piano music. So she sat in at the piano writing and playing this little tune.

-Country Clubbin it at the pool. Shockingly not busy on a super hot Friday the last weekend of summer.

-Doing Chores. We're working a new system over here (yes, again). The girls have daily chores that they do just because they are a part of the family (we call them 'Team Chores'). Once those are done, they may ask me for some extra chores for commission. These will vary depending on what I need help with, and they can earn money for them. They were eating this up on Saturday morning. I had help folding laundry, cleaning out the car, wiping down dining room furniture, and vacuuming. Wahoo!

-Having our first lemonade stand. Matt said the girls were asking lots of questions about how to make money (after they saw him sell our old end tables to someone who came by to pick them up. Gotta love the Mayo Classifieds), and Matt told them some kids do lemonade stands. Jillian was immediately on it. I got home from the Farmer's Market/Grocery Store to two excited kids planning a lemonade stand. We of course had no lemonade (and no one thought to text me to ask me to pick some up), but luckily I had gobs of lemons, plenty of sugar, and some cranberry juice, and so we made some homemade pink lemonade that was mighty tasty! Jillian insisted that the price should be $5/glass. Matt finally got her to compromise at 50 cents.

Saturday night we set up the outdoor movie screen and decided to show the girls an "old" movie. We watched Jumanji and they were totally into it. It was a perfect night for enjoying the outdoors and lots of popcorn!

-Hauling around a new sidekick. Adrienne found my old ('vintage') Strawberry Shortcake doll and cannot do anything without it. She even asked me to give her the same hairstyle (what we call 'Shrek ears')

-Sorting bins and bins and bins of kid clothes. I now have 7 bins of 2-4T clothes to pass off to a friend with two little girls, and another 6 for donation. I can't even bear to start the baby sizes. The scent of Dreft wafted out of a baby bin I opened and I had to shut it fast before I had the urge to cry or find myself another baby.

Enjoying a morning at the park. We had no plans on today, this Monday holiday, so we took the girls to Essex park to play a bit. All they do is climb and do dangerous things now. Thanks, American Ninja Warrior.

-First day of school prep. Jillian created her 'all about me' page to take for her class book.

And then she packed her lunch. She decided to make some kabobs with grapes, bread, and cheese to go along with some yogurt and a handful of mini-marshmallows for a treat.

Backpack packed. Outfit selected. Nails trimmed and polished to match her shirt. Anxieties discussed. Prayers said. My big first grader is sleeping soundly and ready to begin the school year tomorrow. Adios, summer. It's been a fun, looooong ride. My mini-me is ready for the resumption of more routine and structure!