We are having the BEST time together this summer! To be honest, I was a little unsure how everything would pan out with all our little rascals back together under one roof all day long once the boys got out of school. While the Clayton cuties love each other dearly...
they are also very much siblings still and do tend to squabble. As I've heard it said before, there is always an adjustment period at the beginning of the summer and I would say that ran true for us. While we still had loads of fun those first few weeks, I would say by now we have hit our sweet spot...and this momma isn't complaining!
These kids are a hoot! This last week we continued our summer tradition of sleeping in and seeing where the day takes us, but I did decide to take a break from our weekly activities. Therefore, this post will cover shenanigans from the Clayton Crew all summer as well as last week. I will say this summer will go down in the books as the time my kids truly fell in love with books...
As a former teacher and a voracious reader myself, I kind of always imagined we would spend loads of time reading together. This has never been the case around our house because Kason hasn't ever been interested before so I've never pushed. This summer though whenever I would tell Zoe to grab a couple of books to read, I guess the sibling rivalry in him jumped at the chance to join us with his own books. Now I'm not only reading to them daily (where they both get excited), but I'm finding them perusing books on their own...be still my heart! In addition to reading, I'll go ahead and break down what else we do daily. Most days after breakfast we try to head outside before the summer heat is too much...
The weather has been pretty mild this year and I'm definitely not complaining...
we are loving it!
Then, we usually do whatever activity we decide on for the day. Last week we finally made it to the $1 kid movies at Cinemark and Kason even brought his friend Tanner...
Actually, this ended up being the week of Tanner fun since he also joined us on Tuesday for Krazy Praizy at Westover.
It was reptile week which was right up their ally! The presenter was very good and extremely animated so he held their attention well. Not to mention that he brought live manipulatives...eeek!
At the end of the presentation, the kids had a chance to get in line to touch several animals...
and you better believe they were all chomping at the bit to explore through touch. Afterwards, they painted their own snakes...
and played with their friends. As you can see, Max took the "playing" very seriously :)...
After our activity and lunch, we always have quiet time. Max and Zoe pretty much nap everyday, while Kason plays quietly in his room for about 45 minutes...
When his time is up, he usually heads downstairs to play while I finish up whatever is on my to-do list. I don't usually get as much accomplished once he is up because he is always asking me to get something out for him, help him, or he just wants to talk...
but it is still nice to have a relatively quiet home during this time. The picture above is him drawing on a glow in the dark screen...you will find him most often doing some sort of art or playing with his tractors or legos during his quiet time.
We also read together during this time and Big K has almost reached 50 books so far this summer! Can I just brag on Kason for a minute? He has been absolutely incredible this summer. I keep looking at Daniel to see who this kid is...he has grown up so much recently. I really feel like he is the glue between our kids. He bridges the gaps between each sibling and is the one who is always including everyone in their playtime routines...
Both Max and Zoe seriously adore him. Kason is so gentle and compassionate with his brother. I see Max gravitate to Kason a lot :)...
As for my little lady, well she just thinks big brother hung the moon...
Speaking of Zoe, she is still keeping me on my toes...little stinker!
She has a HUGE personality that you can't help but laugh at all the time. I mean, she thinks she is queen of this ship...
no seriously, she really thinks she is royalty. She tells us all the time she is pretty like a princess...haha! Even though that may be true, she can play outside and get dirty with the best of them...
One of her favorite times of the day is bath...especially a bubble bath. She loves all things girly...
like dress up, make up, playing beauty shop with our hair, she even asked to help me shave the other day!
No worries friends, that is Kason's play razor :). Zoe has been a bit harder to train to clean up and help with household responsibilities, but she is finally get much better thanks to Kason's modeling...
she hasn't ever complained about them, she just refuses to do them by running around, smiling, and driving us nuts! As for Maxers, well this cutie pie is as happy and flourishing as ever...
I'll be doing an updated post on his progress real soon...so stay tuned for him :). So yeah, as you can see these munchkins are living up the summer and looking for as many adventures as possible. I mean, doesn't everyone see a hill and just think to themselves...hmmm...I think I need to roll down that, right?!?
Ummm....yeah...us neither ;).
I never said our adventures were big, but even finding joy in the smallest adventures is our goal for this summer. From free independent play, to family play...
to special trips with friends...this summer has been one of our best yet!
Our neighbors Christy and Aaron were both in the military so they took the boys to Camp Mabry in Austin last week...
and as you can imagine, they were in little boy heaven! Just like this momma here, loving spending my days with three rambunctious cutie pies who keep me busy. I wouldn't change any of it! Even on days or weeks that are extra hard because Dad is caught up at work more than normal, we just roll with it. One night last week I was tired of sandwiches and left overs so I took all of them on a mommy date with me to a personal favorite...
We even had a tortilla chip toast to get the party started! I'm definitely exhausted at the end of the day from all the loud, rambunctious fun, but I have my ways of relaxing...
I mean don't all moms share their candle lit mommy time with little boy creatures that have been left behind?!? These are the good days friends...the days where I'm holding my kids tight, giving extra hugs and kisses because they won't be little for long. Until then, this crew is enjoying a little summer lovin' together!
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