Changing Seasons

Piggybacking on the general theme of my blog friends from last week, our summer is winding down and I absolutely cannot believe that it is almost over. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was blogging about all the fun and productive things we were going to do this summer, and you know what? Unlike last year when I got really down on myself for not being productive enough, this year I think our summer struck a pretty good balance.

Although I may not have had time to blog about everything yet we made it to the beach twice and the river three times (with one or two more trips still possible). We did one session of swim lessons, spent one day at the spa pools and dozens of afternoons in our own pool not to mention countless play dates and BBQs with friends that we don't get to see quite as often during the school year because of all of our busy schedules. We also managed to use our passes to go to Legoland an impressive 3 times. In the end however, it was also nice to have plenty of days where we had very little to do except to play, play and play, something Jake and Jadyn do very well together. It has been a fun summer.

And even though I started off slightly more ambitious on the educational front, the one thing we did do continually this summer was READ and I am happy to report that when school starts next week, Jake will have have read a total of 40 books. The other thing I am pleased with is that despite the heat, I managed to get back into a regular routine of working out and have been both running on the treadmill and strength training (gotta love the extra room in our new house). It has been a productive summer.

So now it is time to prepare and look ahead to fall, which promises to also be both busy and fun. Since Jake will be going into first grade he will be in school pretty much full day (9am-3pm) and Jadyn will be in the 4-year-old class at the preschool attending 3 days a week (Mon/Wed/Fri). The really great thing is that I won't be driving all over the place at tons of different times. I can drop Jake off and then drop Jadyn off immediately afterwards and actually have (gasp) some time to myself. I am definitely looking forward to that because our evenings this fall our going to be CRAZY!

Jake and Jadyn are BOTH playing soccer. I was a little hesitant about Jadyn playing because I just didn't know how she would do. I had no doubt that she could do it because she can be quite athletic but she can also be quite stubborn when she doesn't want to do something but she swore up and down that she really, really wanted to play and so far she really seems to like it. Ironically both the kids teams are the same color (green and black) and coincidentally both teams picked the same name - The Ninja Turtles. LOL! Jadyn practices from 5-6 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays and Jake from 6-7pm on Tuesdays and Fridays and no, their practices are NOT at the same location. Because frankly that would be too easy for me.

Now originally I was going to have Jadyn take a break from ballet during soccer season. That was until last week when her teacher approached me about moving Jadyn up from creative movement to pre-ballet because she is doing so well. Moving up to the 4.5-6 year old class means she will get to participate in the winter recital (I secretly squealed picturing Jadyn in her cute little costume). Soo, I am going to break my rule about one activity at a time and let Jadyn continue ballet while she plays soccer because missing 2 months of classes would make it harder for her and the entire class to prepare for the performance. Eventually however, Jadyn is going to have to choose which direction she wants to go - seasonal sports or dance. I think I know which she will choose but really only time will tell. She might surprise us.

All girl playing dress-up:

Ready for her first soccer practice (there is something about the shinguards and cleats that suddenly makes her look so grown up):

So for anyone keeping tabs, this is what our schedule looks like for the next 3 months -

Monday - Jake school, Jadyn school, Jadyn dance

Tuesday - Jake school, Jadyn soccer, Jake soccer

Wednesday - Jake school, Jadyn school. (EVENING OFF)

Thursday - Jake school, Jadyn soccer

Friday- Jake school, Jadyn school, Jake soccer

Saturday - soccer games

Sunday - NOTHING

Throw in there our usual fall traditions of going to the county fair, apple picking, the pumpkin patch, Joe's birthday AND my highly anticipated blog friend weekend in Vegas and there is little doubt this fall is going to be both busy and fun.

We still have one week left of summer vacation and my goal is to squeeze in as much relaxation and fun as possible. We better take advantage of the more relaxed atmosphere of our days because you can feel it in the air - a new season is coming.