first day of summer break

Today was the first Monday of summer break. It was so wonderful to all sleep in late and  not have to do the school rush! Unfortunately, Daddy was in bed sick so he couldn't enjoy it with us.

But, things went surprisingly well! I expected to have to break up lots of fights and minor irritations between the kids since they're not used to being in each other's space as much these days. But it really wasn't bad!

We did the normal stuff to pass the time like color and play with toys, but we also shook things up a little. We took some quiet time to crack open a new devotional book we bought for the kids over the weekend. Ella was super excited to get into it (she just loves being engaged with questions and learning opportunities). Simon was less enthused as it was his tired time of day since we skipped nap. He had the wiggles and kept wanting to change the subject. I believe he broke into a couple of holy moments with some strategically timed toots as well. Pffft. It's a good thing God has a sense of humor! Josie cried the whole time, but all in all, I think it was a successful ten minutes. I'm excited about the book and about sharing a more focused time to talk about God together. It's always interesting to pick the kids' brains.

Other fun things we crammed into the day were refilling the huge bubble wands and making gigantic bubbles outside in the insane heat and playing with sidewalk chalk. We watered the flowers and then came in muddy and chalky so everyone got a bath. Then after dinner, we did a science experiment per Ella's suggestion, where we soaked dirty pennies in vinegar and then sprinkled salt on them and cleaned them till they gleamed. That was a pretty cool trick I never knew about! And I got to explain to the kids what a chemical reaction is. (Ella's guess at the definition was it was "working together" which was pretty darn close!)

We ended the night with reading and prayers and lots of cuddles. I spent a little extra time chatting with Ella since Simon tuckered out pretty quickly. She is all excited about a new venture she has to make some crafts (bookmarks, scented sachet pillows, painted rocks, tissue paper pom poms, animal masks, the list goes on....) and then sell them to raise money for either some homeless mothers and children or for Joplin tornado relief. We stayed up and made lists together of all the things she plans to make and how much she wants to charge for each item. She is so excited to start, she couldn't fall asleep!

It was a good day...now...what to do tomorrow??