Magoomba Monday #16

1) First of all I want to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my novel of a post last week. Between blogger comments, Facebook comments and private emails I had an outpouring of support and it really, really meant a lot to me so thanks again.

2) In regard to my post about feeling like I wasn't constructive enough with my summer, I do feel like I need to make one thing clear. Although we do keep busy (and occasionally are busier than we would like), I am not one of those moms who feels the need to fill up every minute of our days and weeks with structured activities. Despite how it might appear on my blog, we actually enjoy a decent amount of down time in which the kids are engaged in unstructured play. It just isn't always as interesting to photograph and blog about, even if it is equally if not more important than the other things we do. This fall, each of the kids will be in school and be involved in one extracurricular activity. Right now that will be soccer for Jake and maybe tumbling for Jadyn (who really wants to do Kindermusik but it is no longer available, BOO!). We might also have the kids start an AWANA program once a week but that still has yet to be decided (and this would make much more sense if I ever publish my post on religion/faith). Yes are schedule will most likely be busy, but downtime and family time are also a must.

3) This last week in particular we seemed to have a lot of downtime. This is despite the fact that we had two playdates, two baseball games, went to the drive in to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (during which both kids fell asleep), attended a birthday party and went to Scottie and Ali's to *watch* the UFC fight. Funny how when I write it out like that is seems like a lot, but it really wasn't.

4) And speaking of baseball, Jake had his last game and end of the season ceremony for the summer training league in Joshua Tree on Thursday. Why does it seem like the season just started and now it is already over? At any rate, Jake had his best hit of the season, which was deemed a homerun and on his second at-bat, he slid into home plate to avoid being tagged. He was a pretty proud little guy.

His homerun:

Sliding to avoid the tag:

Celebrating after the game with his best bud Adan:

5) The countdown begins - Jake will start Kindergarten in exactly 2 weeks, Jadyn's preschool is T-minus 3 weeks and New Moon the movie will be out in theaters in a mere 101 days (I just had to throw that in there, LOL!).

6) Finally, we are preparing to join Joe down in North County San Diego for the week, as he has to go there for work and I hate the pass up the opportunity for a free end-of-the-summer vacation at the beach. We certainly have spent a lot of time in and by the water the summer, that is for sure. While we are down there, I plan to tackle the kids back to school shopping too. The beach AND shopping. Sounds like heaven to me. But have no fears, I have scheduled a few blog posts to keep everyone entertained (all 10 of my public followers) while we are gone.

Hope everyone's week is off to a productive and great start.